Luna, page 6
part #2 of Five Fangs Series
I closed my eyes and kissed the fingers she still held over my mouth.
"Look at me, my beautiful dragon."
Dragon?
My eyelids flew up, surprised by both her tone and the endearment. I hadn't heard her use any with me or my brothers before.
And why am I a dragon, of all things?
"You are not to feel guilty about what happened." Her blue gaze was as stern as her tone. "You are not Quartz. You are Jayden. Jayden Carson, who plays guitar - acoustic, not electric - and sings us to sleep at night and reads a book a week. You are kind and sweet and a far better man than you give yourself credit for."
"Posy, I don't—"
"And I love you."
Whatever had been clawing its way up my throat for the past hour finally broke free, and I dropped my face into my hands and sobbed.
Her small fingers threaded into my hair and pulled my head to her lap. Craving her comfort, I crawled even closer, and she opened her knees so I could kneel between her legs and rest my head against her stomach. My arms went around her waist and I held on for dear life, hating the gut-wrenching noises coming out of me almost as much as I hated myself.
"It wasn't your fault," she whispered. "You didn't do anything wrong. I love you. I love you so, so much, my dragon-eyed mate."
She said those things over and over while massaging my head, and I slowly regained my composure and stopped crying like a pup. Pulling up the front of my t-shirt, I wiped my face on it. Then, with red cheeks and redder eyes, I let her help me up onto the bed. We lay wrapped together and facing each other for several minutes before she asked me a pair of questions that I didn't expect.
"Are you mad at Wyatt? Do you hate him?"
"Of course not," I said with a little frown.
"Could you tell him that, please? And do not apologize. I forbid you to apologize! You did nothing that you need to apologize for. But please let him know that you don't hate him and aren't angry at him."
"I can do that, sweetness." I nodded and gave her a shaky smile.
"Wyatt didn't realize how often he was interrupting. I showed him memories of all the times he did, and he was shocked." She laid one soft little hand on my cheek. "He wants to correct that, so we'll need to help him. Okay?"
"Wyatt was always the baby, and I guess I spoiled him a bit." I rolled my shoulders. "It's a little my fault that he's a brat sometimes."
"No, it's not. You spoiled Ash, too, and he's not a brat. Now." She took a deep breath, which reminded me to start breathing again, too. "May I please speak with Quartz? In his wolf form, if you're okay with that."
With a sigh, I slipped off of the bed and began stripping down, and Posy fled into her bathroom with a squeak. Any other time, I would have laughed at that, but I was a long way away from laughing about anything.
And, despite her kind words and sweet kisses, I knew I probably would be for a while.
8: Not an Auspicious Start
Quartz
As soon as I was back in my own fur, I lowered my head and tucked my tail under me.
"Don't even do that," Posy said as she came out of her bathroom. "You are not sorry. You meant everything you did."
True, I admitted.
I turned to face her standing tall and proud, which put us nearly eye-to-eye.
"Were you going to kill Wyatt?"
No.
"He was unconscious on the ground, and you were still going for him."
I wouldn't have killed him. I overreacted, but I wouldn't have killed him.
"What about Ash? What about Mason?"
I wouldn't have hurt them.
"Even though they stood between you and your prey?"
He wasn't prey. I—
Dropping my eyes to the floor, I felt a wire of shame burn through my belly. I'd gone too far. It was as simple as that.
I regret causing a ruckus. I regret hurting Wyatt's head and Granite's feelings. I regret upsetting both Jayden and you, especially since we're leaving today.
"I understand why you did what you did. What I want you to understand is that you can't literally go for the throat to settle disagreements. That can't happen. I mean it, Quartz. If any of you died, I would be crippled with grief for the rest of my days. On top of that, I'd be even more devastated to know that one of my mates was responsible. Can you understand that?"
Yes. I can.
"I love you. Even when you mess up, even when you're violent, even when I can't agree with what you're doing or have done, I love you. That does not mean you get a free pass to do whatever you want. Look at me, Quartz."
Raising my head, I met her gaze and held it. What I saw in her eyes made mine narrow in wariness.
"As painful as it would be, I would rather see you dead than watch you turn into one of those males who needs to brutally control everything and everyone. Who destroys anything sweet and kind and gentle." Her little hands curled up into fists at her sides. "Who uses his mate's devotion to break her again and again until she's absolutely ruined."
My heart shattered. Neither hitting nor yelling nor the silent treatment nor crying would have hurt as much - or been as effective.
Was that the path I was on? If that witch downstairs looked in her crystal ball, was that what she would see in my future?
If it is, I'm taking a new path, starting here and now, I promised myself. I'll smash that future.
My throat as narrow as a straw, I shuffled closer and humbly pressed my nose to one of her fists, and she opened her hand so I could nuzzle into her palm.
I'll never become that kind of wolf, Posy. I swear it.
"Good." Wrapping her arms around my neck, she buried her face in my ruff. "Now, my beloved wolf, I expect you to find time on your trip to apologize to Jayden and your brothers. Wyatt and Granite will also be saying sorry. Jayden, however, is forbidden to. If you catch him even thinking of apologizing, you remind him I said no."
I wasn't good at apologies, but I didn't want to disappoint her. No, I wanted her to be proud of me.
As proud as I was of her.
My dear little mate whose soft heart hid a core of solid steel.
#
Ash
"Ash?"
I turned my head to see Jay standing in the doorway.
"She wants you."
"Me?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, you."
I left the supervision of repairing our back door in Mase's hands and walked over to Jay. Clamping one hand on his rigid shoulder, I squeezed it gently and stood there until his eyes met mine.
Stop, I linked him. You're on the 'everything is my fault' train again. Time to get off.
He pinched his lips together until they turned white, then kind of deflated with a sigh. He gave me a little nod, which I returned before I released him and jogged up the stairs.
Following my nose, I found her in our bedroom. She had her back to me as she stared out of one of the wide windows.
"Princess?" I murmured as I stood just inside the door.
"Can you please close the door?"
"Sure."
I did, then took a couple of long strides until my chest was inches from her ruler-straight back.
"Are Cole and Peri here yet?" she asked.
"No. Peri's taking forever. They'll be another twenty or thirty minutes."
She turned then and studied my face for several long moments. I wasn't sure what she wanted to see, but I wasn't hiding anything from her. I had never hid anything from anybody, and I probably never would.
I liked being underestimated as the simple, easygoing alpha.
"Are you okay?" she whispered at last.
"Yeah. Not the first time I've stood between Wyatt and someone who wanted to kill him," I smirked, "or between Quartz and someone he wanted to kill."
"Are you sure?"
My smirk curled into a genuine smile and leaned down to place a kiss on her forehead.
"I'm sure, cupcake."
"Then," her voice quavered, and my smile dropped, "is it okay if I'm not okay for a few minutes?"
"Baby, you can be as not okay as you want for as long as you need."
"Mason is too mad, Wyatt and Jayden are too upset, and Cole's not here, so would you mind ... holding me ... while I ... cry for ... a bit?"
Oh, Goddess.
I had her up in my arms and cuddled on the bed before the first tear finished its path down her cheek. Tucking her head under my chin, I wrapped my arms around her neck and shoulders.
"Don't tell the others," she sobbed into my chest. "Just for a minute. I need to let it out just for a minute. Don't tell them. Don't tell them."
"Shh, princess. Cry all you want. I'm here." I pressed kiss after kiss to the top of her head.
"I'm ... so ... sorry."
"Don't, Posy. I mean it." I tightened my arms around her a bit, careful not to hurt her, but wanting her to know I was serious. "You have nothing to be sorry for. Let the pain out, sweet girl. Let it all out."
"I wish ... I was ... stronger—"
"You are one of the strongest people I've ever met. You know why?"
She sniffed and hiccuped into my shirt.
"Because ... I get up ... and I ... keep going?"
"That's right. You cry. You get up. You keep going. That's what makes you one badass bitch, baby."
That earned me a watery giggle which, after this morning, was far more than I hoped for.
Will she ever stop surprising me? I wondered with a grin.
Nope! Sid grinned, too. We'll be oldie-old, and our mate will still be surprising us.
I hope so, buddy, I said as I marveled over 'oldie-old' in my mind.
She will, he insisted in his earnest way. Ashy?
Yeah?
Do you think we could get some more kissies?
You know what, buddy? I think I can make that happen.
He shivered in delight, and I giggled, which caught Posy's attention.
"What is it, waffle?" she asked as she wiped her face on my shirt.
"Sid was asking— Wait." My brain finished processing her words. "Waffle?!"
"You smell like maple syrup." She moved so she could look into my eyes.
"Well, why waffle? Why not pancake? Or French toast?"
"I like waffles better than pancakes and French toast is too long to say." She shrugged. "Anyway, why did you laugh like that?"
"Sid wants kisses."
Her eyes widened and red crept across her cheek, but she reached up and framed my face in her palms.
"Well, I can't deny Sid his kisses, now can I?"
"No, ma'am, you cannot," I purred.
KISSIES! Sid shouted.
Then her lips touched mine and the world turned into pink fuzz and chocolate chip cookies.
#
Cole
We rode in silence, not even the radio on to help.
It's going to be a long drive, I thought.
Of course it is, said my very literal wolf. Tall Pines is several hundred miles away.
I closed my eyes as I counted to ten.
Jay ended up riding in the king's SUV, and Mase and I figured their wolves had worked out something between them.
Which is not a bad thing, I admitted as I looked over at Wyatt.
He was curled up in his seat and drawing, all of his focus on what he was doing.
"Wyatt, when did you start a new sketchbook?" I asked in a quiet voice.
"Couple days ago."
"Does your head still hurt?" Papa Bear butted in. "You shouldn't draw if your head—"
"No, Mase. 'S fine."
"Can I see what you're drawing?" I held out one hand.
With a shrug, he gave me his sketchbook, and I looked at his work with a smile.
What's he drawing? Ash and Mase linked me at almost the same time.
Lark, I said and projected the image. When she was chasing butterflies in the field.
"I think we all want a copy of this one when you're finished," I told Wyatt as I handed him back his sketchbook.
He took it without a word and turned his face to the window.
I sighed.
We knew from the first that today was going to be difficult. All of us - man and wolf - were sad to leave Posy, but Topaz, Sid, and Granite were taking it exceptionally hard. Sid shut down completely, and Topaz and Granite were whining and crying like pups who'd been left at the daycare for the first time. Garnet and Quartz were their usual silent selves, although not even they could keep their unhappiness from leaking into the bond between us.
Then, the 'incident' happened and added an extra layer of misery to an already bad day.
I'm glad I missed it all, although I'm sorry Mase and Ash had to deal with it on their own.
Now, Wyatt was both embarrassed and ashamed. Embarrassed that Posy had seen Quartz hand him his ass, and ashamed that he'd intentionally-unintentionally provoked Quartz when he knew how hard Jayden worked to control his wolf.
Or at least, that's what I thought he was feeling. He didn't want to talk to us, a sure sign he was more upset than angry. When he got angry, his fists were flying. When he got quiet, his heart was bleeding.
Such an auspicious start to a long journey, I grumbled sourly.
What is aw- aps- awpas-
Stop before you hurt yourself, Paz. I smiled a little. It means lucky. Bright. Good. Fortunate.
But it isn't, boss. Topaz tilted his head to the side, his almond-shaped eyes wide and unblinking. Granite is upset and Quartz is grumpy and Wyatt and Jay are sad and-
I know, Paz. It was a bad joke.
No way was I going to tell him I was being sarcastic. We'd had that conversation a couple of years ago and the most I could get him to understand was that sarcasm meant a lie to insult someone. He'd scolded me and told me, "Don't sarcasm again because that's just mean."
Very bad, he agreed now. At least Posy got everyone calmed down enough to leave with no arguing. That was aw-pish-ist.
He was right about that. We'd all ignored her red eyes after Ash warned us to, then she'd given us hugs and kisses and told each one of us the same thing: "I love you. Take care of yourself and your brothers."
Auspicious. I slowed it down so Topaz could hear the syllables. And yes. Our mate is amazing.
Of course she is. He nodded, then frowned. You know what, boss? I don't like that A word. I will say good or lucky. You can still say it, though.
Thanks for your permission, Paz. I rolled my eyes, but he wagged his tail, taking it as praise.
Welcome, boss!
Yep. It was going to be one long-ass drive.
9: Treasure in the Dungeon
Cole
About ten miles from Tall Pines' border, we found a dumpy motel that would work perfectly for what we wanted.
Since it was 9 p.m. and the place was dead, we were easily able to rent all of the vacant rooms.
Thank the Goddess for the red-eyed human running the desk. He took one look at our dangerous expressions and Mase's heavy tattoos and snapped his mouth shut. He swiped my card, handed over a bunch of keys, and turned the desk sign to closed.
Taking the biggest and cleanest room, we dropped our gear, and King Julian gave Gisela and Ranger the amulets that Ariel had prepared. After they put them on, they would have eight hours of nose-silence to snoop around.
"Unless you're a dragon, there is no such thing as true invisibility," Ariel had told us before we left.
That was more than I'd known about either dragons or invisibility, and I could tell that having a witch in our pack was going to be handy.
"The best I can do is hide your scent, which should work well enough for wolves if you go in after dark," she'd said. "You're on your own when it comes to keeping quiet, though."
The plan was for Gisela to take a stroll around the alpha house and offices while Ranger monitored the patrols to see if they had been switched up since Luke left. The rest of us planned to add details to Luke's map as they sent information to the king through the royal link.
Our spies left as the last of the daylight slipped below the horizon, and it didn't take them long to infiltrate Tall Pines territory. We had no need to alter the map, we quickly discovered. Luke's memory had been plenty accurate.
Seeing as the dining hall was only a mile away from the alpha house, the king told Gisela to check on the shifters that Halder had locked in there. In the meantime, Ranger found Halder hadn't changed a thing about his patrols.
"Is he dumb or arrogant?" I snorted.
"Maybe both," Ash said with a big grin.
King Julian's eyes flicked from Ash to me to Mase, and I knew he was debating which of us he'd use.
This was a part of the plan we'd been careful to keep from Posy. She would have worried herself sick if she knew one of us planned to sneak in, too.
In other circumstances, it would have been Jay. The king found it invaluable to have Quartz on the inside as his own personal agent of chaos. With Tall Pines, though, no one wanted to risk a killing spree with so many innocent lives at stake.
Besides, Jay was not in the right mindset. Same with Wyatt.
That left Ash, Mase, or me.
"Figure it out between yourselves," the king said, pointing at the three of us.
We immediately assumed the position, and Ash counted, "1, 2, 3!"
We all tied, so we prepared to go again.
"1, 2, 3!" Ash called.
"You guys never change." King Julian shook his head with a small smile.
"What?" I asked him. "It's the easiest and fastest way for us to reach an unarguable decision."
"Yes, it is," Mase agreed.
His smug tone made me look down to see he'd thrown paper while Ash and I had both thrown rock, and Ash and I groaned in defeat.
I could tell that Ash didn't like it any more than I did, but we had a long-standing agreement that Rock-Paper-Scissors results were indisputable.
#
Ash
Beta Gisela and Ranger returned a few minutes before midnight and filled us in on the last bits of information they'd gathered on their way out of Tall Pines territory.
From what Gisela could see through the windows, the shifters in the dining hall were not in good shape. We'd specifically asked her to look for the little girl and the pregnant woman that Julio had told us about.
