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Humidity smacked me in the face, and even though it was dark outside, I was already starting to sweat. Hell, this was worse than Drago.
My stomach churned as I righted myself before I could fall over. I’d never been teleported before and had only seen Beatrix use the portal. Something told me she’d purposely tried to throw me off balance.
“Doing okay there, dragon?” she asked, the left side of her mouth rising ever so slightly.
I was going to need to be more aware around this witch.
“Just fine.” I glanced at Dawsyn, and she had her eyes closed. For a brief moment, I’d thought something was wrong, but her face was relaxed and there was a smile lifting at her lips.
I wanted to ask her what she was feeling, but I held my words back, waiting for her to come out of the moment.
When she looked at me, her golden eyes sparkled under the moonlight and her skin practically glowed. “Home. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed my pack until I began to feel them all reappear within my mind.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Wolves are part of a pack,” she said. “Everyone here is tied to my father as the alpha, and because of that shared connection, I sense each one of them when I’m close enough. Being as far away as I was at the academy, I’d lost that connection. At first, I’d been thankful, but now, I’m not sure how I thought I could live without it.”
Hearing her words reminded me of one of the bigger obstacles we still faced. Being with Dawsyn wasn’t going to be as easy as justbeingwith her. We both had homes that we were deeply tied to. Homes that weren’t in the same realm.
A woman with pinkish-purple hair came running toward us. She glared at me briefly, then smiled widely for Dawsyn.
I had a feeling this was going to be the way I was greeted for the foreseeable future. Hopefully, I could keep my thoughts about that to myself for my mate’s benefit.
“Dawsyn,” the woman murmured just before wrapping her arms around Dawsyn and picking her up off the ground.
Dawsyn hugged her back just as enthusiastically “Aunt Embry. I missed you.”
“Missed you, too, kiddo.” She finally put her down, then turned to me. “You must be Cillian.”
I nodded. “Nice to meet you.”
As she appraised me, I did the same to her. I may have wanted to keep my thoughts to myself, but that didn’t mean my face couldn’t say plenty.
She wore loose black pajama shorts and a dark-blue tank top with no shoes on. She must have been up and sensed Dawsyn’s arrival. After hearing Dawsyn say she had a connection to all the pack members, I assumed they’d felt her return.
“You don’t look like I expected,” she said, her eyes softening toward me, then she turned back to Dawsyn. “You’re okay?”
She nodded. “Thanks to him, I am.”
“That’s a lie,” I cut in. “She escaped on her own. I only found her shortly afterwards.”
Embry looped her arm through Dawsyn’s. “Let’s go inside the pack house and you can tell us all about these crazy-ass dragons.”
Dawsyn went with her, but I stood, unsure if I should follow. Until Beatrix moved next to me, making me highly uncomfortable with her closeness.
“Wolf shifters thrive on their family,” she said. “It’s not normal how much they depend on each other. Don’t feel too sorry for yourself when she chooses to ignore you.”
Gods, this woman was a piece of work. Possibly even worse than my Nannio. Well, who I used to think she was.
When Dawsyn stepped onto the wraparound porch of the oversized white house, she finally turned. “Are you coming, Cillian?”
I smirked at Beatrix. “Seems you spoke too soon.”
She didn’t reply and didn’t follow me as I walked toward my mate.
Embry was putting off a less hostile vibe as she led the way inside and took us to the left. We went down a hallway that was dark—as was most of the house this time of night—and ended up in a dining area.
She flicked on the lights and nodded up. “Want to go get them yourself or need me to do it?”
