The alpha took another pull from his flask before screwing on the lid and setting it on his desk. He grabbed the bloodstone and studied it before pushing off the desk. His eyes had softened slightly by the time he approached me. “You gave the pack the legup we need today. If the dragon comes calling, we’ll handle the threat. We always do.”
Our pack had already suffered so much.
My eyes flickered to a picture on the corner of my dad’s desk, as they often did when I was in this office. I could only see a sliver of the five-by-seven framed photograph from my position, but I knew that image like the back of my hand. It was the most valuable thing in the room. The most important possession my father owned. A picture of his dead lifemate and their son.
Cassandra and Joseph were in the district when the Mondeine had bombed it with silver. They had been my father’s world, and they were slaughtered. Now, the time was coming to finally avenge their deaths.
Dad slid the bloodstone back into my bag and zipped the pocket. “Keep that safe,” he said. “You’ll need it soon.”
He released Rust and me with a wave of his hand.
We both nodded and backed up a few steps, heads bowed in submission, before pivoting to exit. Rust draped a comforting arm over my shoulder as soon as we were out the door. We made our way down the hall and out of the building.
“I should have killed the bastard,” I said.
Rust squeezed my shoulder. “We all make mistakes, pup.”
“Oh yeah? How many dragons have you left alive to endanger everyone you care about?”
He chuckled, but the sound carried more tension than humor. “This is a whole new ballgame for me, but we’ll get through it.”
The night’s events crashed into me, draining away the last dregs of my adrenaline. Trying not to drag my feet, I turned toward the tunnels, but my mentor tightened his grip on my shoulder to prevent my escape.
“Come have a drink with the pack.”
I glanced toward the commons and felt a pang of longing for something that could never be.
By now, Hitch had likely spread word of my failure,completely glossing over my success, and I lacked the energy to defend myself tonight.
“Did you know he was a dragon?”
Rust frowned and looked away. “The alpha has his reasons for everything. We must trust?—”
“The process.” I finished for him, taking a step back as I pulled away from his father-like grasp. “That’s not what I asked.”
Still, he didn’t look at me as his arm dropped to his side.
“That icy predator scent… I asked you?—”
“No. I didn’t know,” he snapped. “I’ve come across one of the beasts in the past, but this one smelled different.”
The relief I felt at his admission threatened to take my legs out from under me. Had Rust known, Dad would have likely ordered him to keep the information from me, but it meant something that my mentor hadn’t lied to me.
“I’m exhausted,” I said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
He hesitated for a moment, and some unidentified emotion flickered behind his eyes, but he didn’t press. “Sleep in tomorrow. We’re taking the day off.”
“Sure,” I lied.
He might be, but I sure as hell wasn’t.
A dragon was coming for us, and I needed to be ready.
STORED MEMORIES
Arioch
When Tyrin reached me, I was sprawled upon my back in the grass, staring up at the sky through breaks in the tree branches, trying to focus on anything but the fluid seeping through my fingers to paint my chest.
