Ugh, he had a point. Even Tyler knew to play nice with his allies. “Fine.” My appetite vanished.
If you don’t want to go … Donovan started, acting as the considerate mate he naturally was.
No, he’s right. I wanted to pout, but that would make everything ten times worse. They’re going to fight beside us. Hell, they already had twice now. It’s only right that we spend time with them.
Maybe you could stay back?
Nope. I was the alpha of our little pack, and they were facing a battle against the fae because of me. It’s only right that I go, but thank you. I squeezed his leg lovingly.
Axel chewed the rest of his pancake and licked the syrup off his lips. “What do you think we should expect?”
“Well, I’ll know whether Titan is game or not. You two,” Egan said, pointing at Donovan and Axel, “need to shift again and bond with your wolves.”
“We’re supposed to be there in twenty minutes.” Katherine tapped her phone. “Are you all about done?”
“Talk about springing it on us.” Roxy lifted an eyebrow. “On behalf of my sister from another mister, I’m not thrilled about this.”
“Exactly why we waited.” Lillith stuck her tongue out at her. “We didn’t want to hear you whine and complain the whole time.”
“You two behave.” Dawn pointed a finger at Lillith. “You two are acting up while Sadie is taking it in stride.”
I wasn’t sure I would consider it in stride. My half-eaten plate of food mocked me. I should have eaten more, but my stomach wouldn’t allow it. “I’m ready whenever you are.”
Everyone else had cleaned their plates, which further frayed my nerves.
Donovan motioned to my plate. “Are you sure you don’t want to eat more?”
“No, I’m good, and Katherine is right. We’re supposed to meet them soon.” I stood, grabbed the duffle bag that contained a change of clothes for us, and headed to the sink. “We don’t have much time. We should get going.”
The group followed suit with the shifters putting their plates in the sink and the vampires rinsed their glasses.
I was the first one out the door, needing a small reprieve from Egan’s and Donovan’s watchful gazes. Their attention was daunting. Even though I could be honest with Donovan, I needed to find the strength within me. He could be my rock, but I had to stand on my own.
Roxy linked with me. Wait up.
I slowed but didn’t stop. I wanted to maintain some distance.
She caught up within seconds and walked next to me. How are you doing? she asked.
I’m fine. Maybe that wasn’t the complete truth, but we needed our heads in the game. I didn’t need to wallow or get all emotional. It was hard enough heading straight into Titan’s pack.
She pursed her lips but stopped her line of questioning.
We walked through the woods quickly. We moved faster and faster until the trees flew past us as we ran. That was the nice thing about all of us being supernaturals. We could move faster than a human and didn’t have to worry about them seeing us.
From what Lillith and Katherine had told us, the closest human neighborhood was over thirty miles away.
Normally, I’d enjoy being out here like this. We allowed our wolves to peek through. I’d have shifted if we hadn’t been meeting up with Titan. But I needed to stay human to communicate with the other pack. However, my wolf was getting restless. It’d been way too long since I’d let her out.
My skin crawled the deeper we got into the woods. The fae seemed to appear without much notice. I could only hope they wouldn’t cloak themselves from me, but from what I’d gathered, they refused to. They wanted to make sure we knew they were coming.
“Everything okay up there?” Athan called from the back.
He wasn’t as quiet as Luther, but still not loud. The same could be said about Katherine’s parents. But he liked feeling included when possible. “Yeah, I don’t sense them.” I glanced over my shoulder at Egan, Donovan, and Axel directly behind us. “Do you, Egan?”
“No, I don’t.” He scanned the area, on high alert. “But we still need to be careful.”
I focused forward again. The air was chilly, and the leaves were turning various shades of reds and oranges. Fall was here and in full effect. This was my least favorite time of year. Everything was dying, which meant the holidays would be here soon.
Thanksgiving and Christmas were isolating and lonely. Most of the time, Dad had run off, not wanting to be near me. I’d wound up spending the holidays at Roxy’s house. Even though they were kind and accepting, they hated my father. They’d never said those words to me, but it was clear they’d wished to spend the holidays without me.
Luckily, we were getting to Titan’s pack without any issues. I didn’t know why I’d expected to run into the fae first thing. Last time, a few days had passed between attacks.
When the trees thinned, my legs almost collapsed with relief when I saw Winter and Titan standing outside with forty men.
At least I didn’t have to worry about going inside and running into my grandparents right away. Even though shifters aged slowly, I’d bet money that Winter refused to let them fight.
“Hey.” Winter smiled at me but didn’t move closer.
Maybe she’d meant it yesterday when she’d said she’d respect my wishes. “Hi.”
Titan nodded at me and launched straight into business. “These are our strongest fighters. The others aren’t fit for this kind of battle.”
A tall, thick fighter’s eyes widened. “Whoa, is that a dragon?” He appeared to be in his twenties, and his long black hair was pulled into a low ponytail.
“Yes, I am.” Egan sounded amused. “And you are?”
“Torak.” He pointed to Titan. “He’s my dad, so I guess that means …” His eyes landed on me. “… you’re my sister.”
My heart stilled. I’d always wanted a sibling growing up, and I hadn’t even considered the possibility that I might have one. I didn’t know how to respond.
“Step-sister,” Winter clarified.
“Eh, same difference.” He grinned, and it surprised me that he came off as a nice guy. “And the broody one must be your mate.” His dark green eyes locked on Donovan and stopped on Axel. “Dude, you smell so familiar.”
“What?” Axel’s brows furrowed. “I’m not sure what that means.”
I glanced at Winter, who looked everywhere but at me.
“Nothing worth discussing right now,” Titan said forcefully.
“Uh …” Torak laughed nervously. “Yeah.”
A scent could be tied to a family. If Torak recognized Axel’s scent, that could be huge. Could they know who Axel’s family was? Now wasn’t the time to ask and get his hopes up, but if Winter thought we wouldn’t be talking about this, she’d find out otherwise.
“We thought it would be wise if we all hung out in animal form together,” Titan said. “That way, our animals can get to know each other, and you and Egan can alert us if the fae show up.”
“That sounds like a good plan.” Even though I was scared, we had to do this. “But a few of us need to stay in human form so we can talk.” I normally would shift with them, but I wanted to be able to communicate with Egan, Cassius, and Titan. If yesterday’s conversation was any indicator, I wanted to make it clear that killing any fae wasn’t an option.
“Yeah, that’s a smart idea.” Titan gestured to the vamps. “Maybe we could hang back and strategize.”
“Then, let’s get to shifting.” Torak headed over to the tree line with the pack following him. Axel and Roxy headed to their own section.
Are you sure I shouldn’t stay human too? Donovan took my hand and turned me toward him. I don’t mind.
No, you can protect yourself better by getting familiar with your wolf. I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his. I’ll be right there with you.
“Maybe you can get the wolves to train you.” Cassius glanced at the younger vampires. “It would be good for you to see how they move and maybe even brawl with them. The more we can get in sync with one another, the better.”
“Sounds like fun.” Athan clapped his hands. “I’ve never fought a wolf before.”