Page 143 of Facade

Lyra looked red as an apple as she stood behind his naked body. And for all the talk she gave, her gaze dragged to his backside, eyes widening to saucers when they landed between his legs as he turned. I was beginning to think she’s never seen a naked male before.

“I just couldn’t live if anything happened to you,” he said to her, smiling. She tentatively returned his smile, cheeks bright red beneath her freckles.

“Pants!” Dimitri demanded, pinching the bridge of his nose. Poor Brax fumbled with the fabric I hadn’t seen tied to his ankle as he pulled the britches up.

Horns sounded in the distance.

“We need to go. That’s reinforcements from the surrounding Lords,” Malachai said with urgency.

“What about the Werewolves, Dimitri?” I asked, taking in how many were injured.

“We’ll go into the mountains beyond until it’s safe. There’s a camp hidden deep in the mountains where our families are. You can only get to it with four legs.” He winked. “The Fae won’t venture in. But we need to go now. Take care of yourself. I’m sure we’ll meet again.”

Trees groaned, the wind picking up, as if they too were urging us to hurry.

“Let’s go,” Dimitri said, waving at Brax.

Brax whimpered. “I’d like to stay, sir. With them.”

Dimitri raised a brow. “They’re returning to their lands. None of our kind is there. If you leave, you won’t be a part of our pack anymore.”

My heart strained, thinking of Brax leaving his pack.

“I may be a lot of things, but I’m not a thief. I won’t steal you from your family,” Lyra said somberly.

“You’re not. I understand the implications, and if I could keep you with me, I would. But where they’re going—it’s too cold for humans. Most stay in wolf form to keep the cold at bay.”

“You’re welcome to come with us,” Ryker said, looking at Brax and Lyra with understanding, making my chest tighten—he’s hardly looked at me since his battle with Aiden. Maybe I’m reading into things, and we’re fine. Maybe he’s just coming down from the fight and what he did to Aiden.

“Thank you, sir.” Brax turned back to Dimitri, standing taller. “I want to go with them,” he said with determination.

Dimitri limped over and put a hand on Brax’s shoulder and gave him a tight smile, before turning and shifting into form, pants shredding.

Dimitri let loose a long howl, all of the wolves answering with one of their own before they gathered their injured and readied themselves for their journey.

I let loose a breath, as I slowly shifted back to my human form, and stared after Brax and Lyra embracing one another. And as I watched them, my eyes slid to Ryker, now back in human form as well, wondering if the distance forming between us was only in my head.

As my inconsequential thoughts churned, I hadn’t taken note of how pale Ryker had become.

He swayed.

I yelled.

He fell.

42

Evanee

We’d barely missed the onslaught of Fae when we left.

Lyra made quick work of cleaning the wound on Ryker's side and stitching it, surprising all of us with her skill.

Malachai and I worked swiftly, even with our injuries, to retrieve Freesia’s body, carefully wrapping her. Silent tears streaked down my cheek as I thought about her never seeing our homeland again. That she had to die here, in this cold foreign place. But we knew exactly where we'd bury her back home—in the protected burial lands of our warriors. A place of honor in the valley of moonflowers.

Brax had gone to the stables and brought back a smidgen of joy when he pulled Luna behind him, along with Shadow. Apparently, the two animals had grown quite fond of each other, and Luna had refused to move until Brax grabbed Shadow too. Good thing he went back for them, because a scroll was tied around Luna’s neck with instructions from Thaddeus.

We hitched them up to the wagon, and it took all of us to lift Ryker, but we managed it. I walked alongside, my leg screaming with every step, yet my underlying worry for Ryker overshadowed the pain.