The realization should have filled him with dread and dread alone. Instead, relief flooded through him in equal measure—relief that she was safe, that he'd reached her in time, that she was here and whole and alive. The terror of what had just been activated warred with overwhelming gratitude that nothing had happened to her.
"Thank you for saving us," Maple said, reaching out to touch his arm with trembling fingers.
Even that simple contact sent fire racing through his bloodstream, the mate bond amplifying every sensation until her touch felt like coming home and losing control simultaneously.
"How did you know where to find us?" she asked.
"That artifact is like a beacon," Rune managed, his voice rough. "I was able to pinpoint you that way."
What he didn't say was that the mate bond had become a beacon too, and now it blazed between them like wildfire.
The man approached them, extending his hand toward Rune with straightforward gratitude. "I'm Ben, Maple's friend," hesaid as Rune shook his hand. "Sorry for all the trouble we've caused."
"Let's not worry about that right now," Rune replied, pulling out his cell phone. "Let's just get somewhere safe."
He speed-dialed Kade's number, his second-in-command answering on the first ring.
"Meet us at the V-shaped intersection on the canyon road," Rune said without preamble, then ended the call and started walking toward the designated meeting point.
Maple caught up to him quickly, Ben following close behind, the treasure chest still clutched protectively against her chest. "Who was following me?" she demanded.
"I don't know," Rune admitted, "but until we find out, you'll need to stay with me as a precaution. Someone clearly knows about the claim marker, and it's becoming dangerous."
"I'm not staying with you unless you can offer my friend Ben protection too," Maple said with the kind of fierce loyalty that made his dragon stir with satisfaction. "He's in danger now too."
Of course she'd protect her friend.
"Fine," Rune agreed.
They reached the intersection as Kade's black SUV appeared around the bend, pulling up beside them with military precision. Rune claimed the passenger seat while Maple and Ben settled into the back, and immediately the confined space filled with her scent—that intoxicating blend of citrus and roses now permanently embedded in his consciousness.
"What happened?" Kade asked, taking in Rune's disheveled appearance and the smoke rising from the canyon behind them.
"Long story," Rune replied, shooting his second-in-command a look that clearly communicated to not press him further right now.
Kade, reading the warning in his Alpha's expression, simply nodded and put the SUV in drive. The remainder of the journeyto Rune's mansion passed in tense silence, but Rune's mind was anything but quiet.
The mate bond is irreversibly locked into place. No going back now.
Maple's presence behind him was already driving him toward madness, every breath filled with her scent, every heartbeat synchronizing with hers through their new connection. And now he'd offered to keep her at his mansion, where her presence would seep into every corner of his carefully controlled domain.
This isn't going to end well.
SEVEN
MAPLE
The silence inside the SUV felt suffocating, broken only by the low hum of the engine and the occasional crunch of gravel beneath the tires. Maple pressed herself deeper into the leather seat, the treasure chest clutched against her like armor, her knuckles white from gripping it so tightly. The claim marker inside pulsed, sending that familiar warmth through Maple's body, but now it felt different—more insistent, more alive, as if it were responding to Rune's proximity in the passenger seat ahead of her.
This past day has been nothing but one impossible thing after the next.
Twenty-four hours ago, she'd been a respected archaeologist following what she'd assumed was just another fringe lead. Now she sat in the backseat of a dragon shifter's SUV, having nearly plummeted to her death over a canyon edge, saved by a powerful Alpha who somehow knew exactly where to find her. The rational part of her mind—the part that had been trained in evidence and methodology—kept insisting this couldn't be real. But the heat radiating from the artifact in her lap and shooting straight through her body said otherwise.
Ben shifted his weight beside her, his field-weathered face pale. He kept glancing between her and Rune, clearly struggling to process everything they'd witnessed over the past day. The man who'd spent five years grounding her in practical reality now looked like he was questioning the very foundation of the world.
What did I expect?Maple thought, watching the canyon landscape roll past the tinted windows.I read enough dragon folklore to know their worlds were full of politics and power and danger. So actually finding one that existed wasn't going to be simple or safe.
The SUV began climbing, winding through roads that definitely hadn't appeared on any maps she'd studied. They passed through the hidden town she'd visited that morning—was it really just this morning?—but the man driving didn't stop. Instead, he continued driving toward the canyon's upper reaches, where the red rock formations grew more dramatic and ancient.
