She turned to walk away, but Nicole grabbed her arm. “Vera, is that what’s wrong with him?”
With a sigh, Vera turned and pressed her lips next to Nicole’s ear. “He smells like blood. A lot of it, but there is no way he is going to let us tend to him. I asked. Wolf said, ‘Fuck no,’ and then Link literally snapped his teeth at me. Don’t mention it, and if you see the injury, don’t gawk. He needs to focus.”
Shocked, Nicole watched Vera walk into the snow toward the woods that lined the runway. Link had blood on him when he’d finished with the McCalls, but he hadn’t acted injured so she’d assumed it was from the wolves he’d killed. But now it made sense why he Changed away from her, deep in the woods, and came back to her fully dressed. Shit. Was this a fight to the death like with the McCalls? He was about to fight these Dawson men injured and reeling. Was she about to watch her mate bleed out from a wolf fight?
Her stomach curdled as Tobias strode past her after his mate. Beside her, Link looked like a ghost. Pale skin, white eyes, dark hair hanging over his forehead, making the rest of him even more pallid.
Link turned and pulled her against his chest. “I’ll be okay. We smell your worry. You don’t have to. We’re still with you.” But his words were strained.
Braving the falling snow, she tilted her chin up and gripped his jacket. “You go get us a new pack. A good pack. And then you come back to me, do you hear?”
Link didn’t answer, though. Instead, he leaned down and kissed her. His lips moved urgently against hers, and he pushed his tongue past her lips. This moment with him was a beautiful distraction from her fear, and from the harsh reality they would soon face. Slipping her arms over his shoulders, she nipped his bottom lip, then licked the bite. “Mine,” she murmured against him.
Link’s hand went to the back of her hair, and he pulled her closer, but he didn’t get rough as she’d expected. Instead, he softened his lips against hers and angled his head to kiss her more thoroughly. And when he eased away, there was a smile that had replaced his pained scowl. And damn, it was so stunning it stole her breath. There he was, her Link.
“Mine,” he whispered.
He took her hand, eyes still discolored but steady on her. Turning, he pulled her with him, then led her through the snowy woods until they reached a clearing. She was stunned to stillness when she exited the tree line. Vera and Tobias’s cabin was the biggest she’d ever seen, but this place was three times that, at least. Big windows, two stories, a sprawling porch, and glowing lights from inside, like a beacon through the falling snow. And down by what looked like a frozen river was another separate deck with lounge chairs and a fire pit.
“Jenner owns half this place,” Link gritted out like he was choking on the words. “The Dawsons work here, too. They’re good.” He gave her a significant look and repeated, “Good. The wolves in my head will drive me mad but the Dawsons won’t. If I don’t do this, Vera’s viruses have no chance of fixing me in time.”
Nicole followed Vera and Tobias’s tracks to the lodge and stomped off her boots on the mat in front of the giant door. Inside, she kicked off her shoes and lined them up with the others, then unzipped her jacket as she looked around the lodge in awe. It was incredible that Jenner was a part of this place. It was all antler chandeliers, grizzly skin rugs, dark leather furniture situated in front of a massive stone hearth with a fire crackling inside. And behind that was a long table, then a modern kitchen with gleaming countertops and stainless steel appliances.
Jenner was talking to Tobias with his hands hooked on his hips. “You think he should what?” Jenner jerked his bright blue gaze to Link and muttered, “Oh, hell.”
A tall, dark-haired man with dark eyes sauntered out of a hallway with an outdoor magazine dangling from his hand. He jerked to a stop the moment he saw them. He inhaled deeply and arched his attention to Link. “What the shit?”
“Hey, Dalton. Where’s Chance?” Link growled out in that unrecognizable voice that said he was not okay.
“Uh, Chaaance?” Dalton called out, his dark eyebrows arched high.
The Chance in question came out of the hallway in a pair of jeans and nothing else with a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. He was Dalton’s complete opposite. Blond hair and eyebrows so light they barely existed, and his eyes were a striking icy blue. When he spied Link, he murmured around a mouthful of toothpaste, “Oh, fuck. Are you here to kill us or something?”
Link swallowed hard and shook his head. “I’m here to challenge you for alpha of your pack.”
“Uhhh,” Dalton said, giving Chance a what-the-hell look. “We aren’t exactly a pack.”
“You are now and I—” Link gritted his teeth as a snarl ripped out of him too loud. “I need you under me.”
“Sounds dirty, and I don’t do dudes,” Chance said.