Remembering the conversation he had overheard between Mitch and Theo during their first sleepover, Alek braced himself to step in in case Mitch needed him to.
The boys, actually none of them, had seen Mitch like this. Although Alek had seen plenty of demons in his life.
Mitch stood over seven feet tall now. His wide eyes were fixed on Wylder as their human mate reached up to run his fingers over the two black horns on Mitch’s forehead.
“They’re bumpy,” Wylder commented.
Mitch swallowed visibly.
They were amazing horns. Alek knew that demons used their horns to show their power and virility.
Wylder moved his fingers down the ridges of Mitch’s narrow nose to the ones on the bottom of his chin. Wylder kept touching Mitch. His shoulders, arms, and to his stomach. “Theo is going to be so mad he missed this.”
“I told him,” Mitch said quietly. “That I looked different in my true form.”
“He told me,” Wylder admitted. “Theo wanted to give you time until you were comfortable.”
“Me?” Mitch repeated with a laugh. “I’m not worried about me.”
“But Theo was,” Wylder told him. “Theo was worried because he felt like you were scared we wouldn’t accept you just the way you are.”
“I don’t…didn’t want you scared of me,” Mitch said.
Alek moved closer and Dario did the same.
“I’m not scared,” Wylder assured their demon warrior. “And neither will Theo be.”
“I love seeing your true self,” Alek added.
“Me too,” Dario said.
Mitch dipped his head. “This moment would be perfect if our little shifter was with us.”
Alek grasped Mitch’s shoulder and squeezed. “Then let’s go find him.”
“We need to hurry. I smell blood,” Mitch said. He turned to point farther into the depths of the forest. “Our mate went that way.”
He had already picked up the scent of blood. As a vampire, it was like a beacon to his kind. Theo’s blood. And gargoyle, which had to be Garrett’s. It was a good thing that they’d sent Josh ahead of them to inform the dryads on the seelie side of the realm or Josh would be very upset.
While the blood trail was small it did mean that his mate was still alive. And Alek would follow that trail until the last drop and he had his little mate back in his arms.
Chapter Three
Theo
“That doesn’t seem too bad,” Theo commented, looking out over the bridge that according to Steve they had to cross.
“It’s not the bridge that we have to worry about,” Steve responded. “It’s whatever troll has claimed it.”
“Troll?” Now they needed to deal with trolls? How was that fair? They had already been walking forever. And Theo was tired and hungry. It was getting darker too. “Should we wait for morning?”
“I would feel much better getting on the other side of that bridge before we stop to rest,” Steve replied.
“What should I know about trolls?” Theo inquired.
Steve hummed while rocking back on his heels. “Even though trolls live on the dark side of the realm, they’re neither good or bad. Neutral. All they care about is collecting trinkets to allow passage over their bridge.”
“A trinket?” Theo asked. “What kind of trinket?”
