Auggie knew when he was on the brink of losing it. Usually, he could pull himself back. This time, however, he’d not managed to catch himself in time. Biting his mate—claiming, marking her—first thing in the morning in front of her pack and two dead bodies had not been the smartest thing he’d ever done.

Not that he thought the dead bodies particularly cared.

When he’d smelled them leaving, he’d jumped up. Basic medical training was something every soldier knew in the secret elite unit Robbie had run. Nothing Auggie had done, however, had brought them back. They were gone. What concerned him even beyond the death of two wolves he hadn’t known, but felt responsible for, was the fact they had smelled less sick than his mate.

She seemed worse off, and they’d died… what was going to happen to her?

His reaction had been instinctual, and he was usually better at controlling himself. But he had to tie her to him. Her wolf had to fully understand how committed he was to this—so that she couldn’t go anywhere without him holding onto her and saying not yet. He’d heard it could work that way, and so help him, if such a thing was possible, he was going to see to it that it happened.

He’d yet to kiss her; their circumstances hadn’t exactly been conducive, and she was only half conscious most of the time. Biting her had woken up the need, and now he was hard as a rock with nothing to do about that for the foreseeable future.

Auggie reached out to stroke his hand down the side of her face. “I’m… I’m not going to hurt you.” All evidence to the contrary, since he’d bitten down on her human skin with no preparation, no tenderness. He’d marked her, hard.

She nodded. He didn’t scent fear. Confusion, yes. The slightest waft of arousal, which had a bit of a citrus scent on Clarissa. All of it tainted by the drugs and the sickness.

“We’re moving.” He dropped his hand, addressing the group. “Get ready. We go now.”

There was no time to wait. He’d push them and push them until he could get them some help.

August heard the dragons before he saw them. The years living constantly on the go, chasing the big ones to their lairs, finding where they slept—killing them before the dragons could harm any more wolves—had made him attuned to their sounds. He stopped walking. In his wolf form, he’d know for sure, but he wasn’t going to leave his mate’s pack to try to handle the dragon—where there was one, there were likely two.

No one had seen a healthy dragon in the skies in months. This one sounded like it had a pretty good wingspan and was flapping in a strong way. Had this happened because he’d stumbled upon their egg lair? Were they looking specifically for him?

Or was paranoia all part of the strange way his mating was going. He was clearly not acting entirely like himself.

They needed to shift and run. The problem was that he wasn’t entirely certain all these people could. Had those two folks died this morning because he’d pushed so hard?

Being soft and gentle didn’t come naturally to him.

It never had.

“Hey, everyone, listen. I hear a dragon.”

The other wolves went quiet, and Auggie sought out Clarissa. She'd paled quite a bit at his statement. He didn't blame her. Dragons were scary, even when you were used to dealing with them.

“I'm a war survivor, too.” One of the men walked toward him. “My name is Cal. I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself. I don't hear a dragon.”

August nodded. “We all have our expertise. Mine tells me I'm hearing a dragon. We aren't going to shift. Frankly, I'm not sure that would be a great idea for any of you right now. We're going to hide. Or at least, you are going to hide.”

Hiding wasn't really in his nature.

He pointed toward a group of trees. Most places had been torched. Dragons knew that wolves liked the woods, and so most of the trees were gone. But here, they weren't. Why was that? It had to be related to the hidden egg farms. He'd talk to Robbie about this if he got these people to his brother's pack in one piece.

Robbie would decide what to do.

That was what his brother's job as Alpha entailed. Auggie took Clarissa by the hand. “Follow me. All of you scrunch down. Stay that way. I'm going to… handle the dragon.”

Cal's mouth fell open. “Alone?”

“Yes.” He did most things alone, even if he was in a pack or with his brothers. Nothing was really communal when it came down to it. “Come on, everyone.”

The growl in his voice must have made them move. Inside of him, his wolf stood at attention. Yes, there was a battle coming. His canine liked the fight almost as much as Auggie did. They'd both been born bloodthirsty.

Clarissa gripped onto his arm. “August, can you be careful? Can you maybe not do this? Hide with us?”

He shook his head. “I'm not built like that.” She had an adorable nose. Why hadn't he noticed it before? Auggie slid his finger down the slope of her nose, and she smiled. The grin halted him in his tracks. Despite the fact she was disturbingly sick right then, he'd managed to make her smile. “Don't go anywhere.” He hoped she understood he meant that in two different ways. One: in location. And two: in death.

She nodded. “Where would I go?”

“I don't know. Unless a dragon comes sweeping toward you, stay where I put you. I will notice if you move. I don't want to be distracted. I'll come back for you before I do anything else. I'll stop fighting to get to you.”

As he spoke the words, he realized they were true. She was his. Even in battle, she would always be first and foremost in his mind.

“Be careful. I…” Clarissa sighed. “I used to be different. I had a sharp mind, lots to say. I'm sorry I can't seem to string thoughts together in any kind of reasonable way other than when I'm snapping at you.”

He cupped her cheek. “All you have to do for now is survive. We'll figure it out. I have a dragon, maybe two, to get rid of.”

He stepped away from her and toward Cal. “Hey, soldier, come over here by this tree and watch my back. If you see another dragon while I'm managing the first, you let me know.”

Cal nodded. “We mostly ran from the dragons. My command really had no idea how to battle them.”

And that right there summed up nicely why the war had gone the way it had. If Auggie's sister-in-law, Caitlyn, hadn't stepped in and figured out how to burn the dragon eggs, they'd still be fighting or they’d be dead by now. As it was, two decades of war had decimated the very makeup of their society. Packs were gone. New ones were trying to form, even though most were failing. His mate and this group were hardly the only ones suffering like this.

The damned dragons had started the battle, and he was proud to say he was there the day Robbie took off the Queen Dragon's head and ended the fighting.

The remaining dragon population was dying off… or so everyone else thought. August had known in his gut that this wasn’t over.

The beast came over the horizon. A tremendous, purple dragon. The multi-colored design on its wings were intricate enough to indicate she was one of the smart ones. Dragons had a matriarchal society. The women were stronger and tougher than their males, who were either pure green or green with some purple on them if they were really strong.

Almost from birth, the dragon’s designations were clear. A dragon hatched all black then shed those scales, and their true colors were revealed in weeks. Auggie had seen it. Spying on them had been part of his job, which was why it was so utterly pathetic that he’d gotten caught the way he had been earlier in the week.

His head wasn’t where it was supposed to be. Not then, and not now. The dragon looped down. She had eyes only for Auggie, and it reinforced his maybe-not paranoid view that she’d been out looking for him.

He leapt into the air, shifting as he did. Behind him, he heard gasps. Yes, not every wolf could manage that feat, but all the men in his family could.

Every wolf they’d had in their elite unit had been able to as well. Maybe they’d just been made to be dragon killers. Right now, it didn’t matter.

He tore at the dragon, but she wasn’t a green male pawn. She fought back. The bitch had claws. If she could, she’d burn the fuck out of him. He’d already been singed this week, and he wasn’t looking for a repeat. He bit down hard. He’d have the taste in his mouth for a day at least. Dragons tasted bitter.

Auggie was overthinking this. He let go. The wolf had to kill this dragon, and he had to be his wolf. With the world going red and then finally colorless, August Owens took down the dragon. One bite at a time.

He blinked, walking toward the crowd who watched him from the semicircle they’d formed. He sniffed the air. The dragon was dead although he didn’t remember doing it. There had just been the one. He’d dwell on that later. His wolf had handled things as he’d known it would. He trusted his wolf. They’d been constant companions.

Mate.

Clarissa dropped to her knees in front of him, grabbing onto his face. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

What had he done? He wasn’t quite ready to shift back yet. He could if he insisted. Except for the times when he completely gave himself over, he could always make the wolf give back control. Right now, he wanted to calm a little bit before he shifted. He’d bark at everyone in his human form, and that meant yelling.

Why was Clarissa on her knees? This was his mate. She needed to be strong and proud. The scent of her illness wafted over him, and he remembered. Yes, she wasn’t well. Yet.

He lowered his eyes. He’d failed this woman before he ever met her. Or re-met her. She should never have been on her own where she could be swept up in the pain of the world. If he had to be gone, she should have been protected under the care of his family.

In his wolf form, things were simple. There was right. There was wrong. There was protecting and caring. There was love. There was family. Death didn’t come with regret. It happened. As was natural.

“August, can you hear me?”

He raised his gaze. He could.

“Thank you for doing that. I’ve never seen anything like that, and the males here who have fought before said they’ve never seen anything like it either.”

Cal dropped to his knees. “Why couldn’t you have been our leader when we were fighting?”

There were lots of reasons and that was a human discussion. So much for getting a minute. He shifted back to his human form. The first thing he did as soon as he could move seconds later was touch Clarissa’s cheek. “Stand up, mate. You don’t ever kneel around me.”

He rose, taking her hand in his when he did. She dropped her gaze, and he sighed. He’d botched that. She thought he was upset with her now.

“Look…”

August never got to finish his thought. As soon as Clarissa rose, her knees buckled and she fainted into his arms.

No.

His wolf, still close inside of him, howled. He would not lose her. She was breathing, but they were going to have to move fast.

Clarissa had roused once to murmur something he couldn’t understand. As long as she was breathing, he was happy. Closing in on pack territory, Auggie was greeted by his brother, the Alpha himself, and his two younger brothers, as well as several other members of the pack. He didn’t know if his auspicious welcome was because he was the Alpha’s brother or because sentries he hadn’t spotted had seen their approach.

With his mate unconscious and on his back, Auggie hadn’t done a great job of watching for spies. He didn’t care. He wanted Robert to know he was coming.

It was possible that Robbie had simply known August was coming. They did occasionally have that twin connection.

“My Alpha.” Auggie had encouraged Robbie to take the role. He needed to give him the respect of it now. “I started out with twenty-five; now I have twenty-three. On my back is my mate. She is nearly dead. Would you please help me?”

Robert raised his eyebrows. “You think you need to ask? This is your pack. Guys, help them. Now.”

Things moved fast then. The twenty-two souls he’d gotten here were taken from him. Robbie’s pack had grown. Auggie didn’t know all the males who approached to help, but when Homer—his friend and ally when he’d first set out to chase dragons—tried to take Clarissa, Auggie growled at him. What’s more, he meant it. If Homer made one other move toward August’s mate, Auggie would tear open his throat.

Intellectually, August understood this was ridiculous. She needed help. He was going to have to pass her to someone. But Auggie couldn’t let go. He held her body to his own, knowing that doing so might be the only reason she still had a pulse.

“Auggie,” Robert said his name, but his twin couldn’t take his eyes off Homer.

His friend nodded. “She smells like the dragon drug. I was addicted to it myself. Earlier this year, I was kidnapped and the addiction was forced on me. We can help her. But you have to give her to me. I have a mate. I have a daughter. You can trust me, as you always used to.”

Homer’s words were a balm to his temper. If Homer understood her pain, then he was, perhaps, the right wolf for the job. August did trust him. If Homer had a mate and a daughter, then even more so. He would understand how precious she was to Auggie, even though Clarissa and August didn’t know each other yet.

Everything was happening in the wrong order.

August gave her to Homer, who nodded to him one more time. “I’ll see to it that she is in your home.”

His home? Oh, that was right. He had one. When he’d been here very briefly, he had picked out a house. Why had he forgotten that? He had a mate; it was a good thing he had a place to live.

“Homer…”

He didn’t know what he wanted to say, exactly. It didn’t seem to matter. Homer nodded to him and took off with his mate.

“We’ve had some success treating the addiction. A step down process that Tatyana developed. It works. It’s not easy. But they don’t die.” Robert put his arm around Auggie. It had been such a long time since they’d been together. For two people who had spent almost no time apart, the last year had been strange.

He found his voice. “She’s Clarissa Knox.”

Robert sucked in his breath. “What is it with us and females from that gene pool?”

Auggie had asked himself the same question. “There are fields of dragon eggs inside a mountain two to three days walk from here. The dragons are chasing me because I saw it. I think. I might be… losing it.”

Robbie squeezed his shoulder. “I know the feeling. Whatever is coming for you comes for all of us. We’ll talk about the dragons if they show up or after your mate is well. Your head will be clearer after she’s okay. Trust me, I know.”

He would. Robert had almost lost his mate, too. August had resisted this. He hadn’t been ready to come home and live like a pack after everything they’d done and seen. But now he had to admit: it was more than nice to be back.

“I have to get to Clarissa. I can’t leave her alone.”

Robert nodded. “Go.”

His house was unfurnished except for a bed where his mate thrashed in her sleep—a sight he liked better than the utter stillness she’d had before. Robert’s mate, Tatyana, was in with her. She’d kicked him out of the room for a little bit, which left August standing in the empty living room surrounded by Caitlyn and Lena, the mates of his brothers Dougal and Devin.

They were also Clarissa’s sisters. The girls next door he and his brothers had never particularly noticed. How had all of this happened? With everyone who’d died, how was it possible they were all still here?

The thought jarred him. His mate wasn’t out of the woods yet.

He stayed still. That’s what he always did. If he didn’t react, people left him to his own company. Most of the time that was best.

“It’s just crazy to me that this could happen to Clarissa.” Lena sighed. “She was the steadiest out of all of us. Elizabeth, yes. It makes sense she’d do what she did. But Clarissa?”

She wasn’t speaking to him, but he answered anyway. “This has happened to most of our population. Steady, unsteady, or somewhere in the middle. I realize Robbie has made you a haven here, but don’t forget what the reality is the second you step outside the borders.”

Lena raised her eyebrows. “I wasn’t judging Clarissa, August. She’s my sister. I love her.”

“You were, actually.” He should absolutely not be talking to Devin’s mate like this. Mates were to be respected. If he had a problem, he should take it up with Devin. He understood that. But that was Auggie’s mate she spoke of. Despite the fact he didn’t know her reasons for having done what she did—or really anything about her—he’d put himself between Clarissa and anyone who criticized her. Sister, brother’s mate, whomever.

Caitlyn walked to him and put her hand on his arm. “You’re right, of course. We’ve seen this, but only with Homer and the others who were forced into it during their captivity. We don’t really know what it’s like out there anymore. I’m so sorry to hear that so many people are suffering.”

He sighed. “I’m not some sort of do-gooder. I was hunting dragons. I only started thinking about this when I met Clarissa. She saved my life, despite how weak she is.”

“Knox girls are made of tough material,” Lena said, coming to stand next to August. “I…”

Just at that moment, Devin and Dougal came through the door. They must have gotten the rest of Clarissa’s pack situated in other places. He’d have to ask. Despite the fact he’d have preferred otherwise, they were now his responsibility until Robert took them in permanently—if he did.

What were they going to do if his brother didn’t?

August pushed away that thought. Dougal, who had one hand since his terrible time in a dragon prison, hugged him, and then Devin followed. His wolf settled just a little bit. He wouldn’t be comfortable until Clarissa was out of danger, but like earlier with Robert, they could both feel the truth—this was home.

This was pack.

This was solid ground.

“I was just going to apologize to August.” Lena looked at the ground. “I said something stupid that I didn’t even mean, and I love my sister. I’m… worried.”

Devin pulled his mate against his side. “Hey now, I’m sure there was nothing you could say that would be so bad. August doesn’t really get caught up in small details. You’re not angry at my mate, right brother?”

August would have to be an idiot to miss the threat in his brother’s voice or the sudden uptick of adrenaline from Devin. In the past, he’d have thrashed his little brother just to teach him how to fight. They weren’t children anymore, and Auggie had a mate struggling for life in the other room. How long was this going to take Tatyana anyway?

“No, of course not.” He nodded toward Lena. “I’m sorry, Sister, if I misunderstood your intent. It’s been a long week.”

Devin’s temper cooled, and August leaned against the wall to wait some more. His brothers talked to their mates while Auggie turned his attention to the other room. Tatyana’s scent remained calm, and some of the pain had left Clarissa’s scent. He took a deeper breath. Yes, Clarissa was easing. As if the thought of her made her appear, Tatyana left his mate’s side and came out to him.

“Well, it’s obviously very bad. You couldn’t have gotten here a moment later. Well done doing this at all. Twenty-three of them across two days. Wow.”

“I lost two.” He didn’t know why he felt compelled to tell her. “Clarissa?”

She touched his arm. “Robbie would be obsessing about the two as well.”

“I’m not obsessing.” Was he?

Tatyana ignored his remark. “She was dehydrated. I’ve taken care of that and given her a low dose of the drug. We’re going to step her down. It works. She’s going to be cranky. Angry sometimes. But she’ll get through it.” She patted his arm. “I’ll be back every day to dose her. She’s sleeping right now. Calmly. I’d be surprised if she got up before morning. Get some rest. You’ve lost twenty pounds since I last saw you. Granted, you seem to be all muscle right now, but I think people could actually tell you and Robbie apart, you look so different.”

He shrugged. What he looked like wasn’t at all concerning to him. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Going to go see everyone else.” She nodded to Lena and Caitlyn before she left.

Dougal called from the other room. “We’re going to go, too. Give you some alone time. If you need us, we’re here.”

“Thanks.” Did he need them? He listened to the sounds of them leaving his empty house. Auggie walked on quiet feet towards Clarissa and sank to the floor. She could have the bed. It was hers. They didn’t know each other well enough to share it yet. If ever. She might not want that kind of a mating. There were stories about people who lived together, side-by-side, and didn’t share the kind of intimacy his parents had known.

His mate fought for her life, and he was clueless about how to proceed with her. Auggie couldn’t even blame this on the fact they’d hardly spoken. He would have been clueless with any mate—even if they’d had a million conversations before he bit down. Relationships weren’t his forte.

Did he need his family? No. Truth was, he needed nothing when it really came down to it. There were things he wanted. Pack, apparently, was one of them. But he’d long ago learned how to do without.

His wolf shifted inside of him, bumping him slightly before settling for the night. Okay. Maybe he was lying to himself. He needed the tiny woman on the bed. From the moment he’d heard her voice—he needed her.