Chapter Ten

 

What was taking so long? It felt like hours since Vyr had re-burned the territory.

Grim and his Crew were inside the mobile home at the end, probably cleaning up after the fight. Some of them definitely needed stitches.

She was standing out by the firepit keeping warm, and beside her, Nox had dragged up a bright green plastic lawn chair that was held together with duct tape, like someone had thrown it against a tree or something.

More reminders of home, ha.

The flimsy chair legs were splayed in the dirt under Nox’s weight, and beside him was a six pack of some kind of beer named Pen15 Juice. The font on the logo was unfortunate since it looked like it said PenIS Juice. She pursed her lips against a smile and snuggled deeper into her jacket. Clouds were covering up the sun now, and it made everything look and feel colder.

“What’s wrong with him?” Rose asked softly as she approached from behind.

“Nothing,” Nox answered without looking at her. He took a long drag of a beer and did the man-sigh afterward. “He’s just an outlaw, and outlaws can’t be tamed.”

Rose came to stand on the other side of Riyah, holding her hands out to the fire to warm them. “I’m serious.”

Riyah parted her lips to say something, but it was Nox who answered again, “He’s a territorial dick, land-hungry, has a dragon he can’t control, pyromaniac, multiple personalities, aggressive, mediocre Alpha, closed off when he’s hurt, doesn’t talk about feelings, can’t stay in one place, and is the only person in the world who actually likes eating pea soup. Pros, he’s best friends with me.” Another swig of beer as Riyah stared down at him with her mouth hanging open. “Oh, and his mate is pretty cool, too.” He winked and did a silent cheers, then whispered, “Manners. You bitches love compliments.”

Riyah slapped him in the back of the head, and he spewed beer onto the fire. The flames leapt a little higher and then simmered down again.

“He’s been hurting,” Riyah said. “The dragon is hard enough to manage when everything is steady. When he suffers? It’s ten times harder to keep him in control.”

“What hurt?” Rose asked softly.

This was the part Riyah hated. The part where she was supposed to admit without breaking down that she’d lost her own children, that she hadn’t been able to get them to air safely. She was still a work in progress on this part. Clearing her throat, she said as steady as she could, “We lost twins. It isn’t our fate to have biological children. Their dragons were too strong too early.”

“Oh, my God,” Rose whispered. She hugged Riyah. “I’m so sorry for what you’ve both been through.” The woman hugged her tighter. “When he came to burn Tarian Territory, I feared it was something bad that had happened to him that set him off, but my heart hurts that it’s this. He deserves better. So do you. You both would’ve been amazing parents to those precious babies.”

Riyah’s heart stuttered as she melted into the woman’s hug. She’d talked about this so little with outsiders. She stared at the sky, praying for strength not to break down. Because that’s what happened, right? The pain never went away. A person could only hope to grow strong enough to hold the pain.

“Did you steal that from the shed?” Rhett asked.

Riyah released Rose and turned to find the Rogue Pride Crew all filing out of the trailer.

Nox lifted his beer up in the air. “I give it sixty-nine stars. Highly recommend.”

“You could’ve given us a heads-up you were coming into my territory,” said a tall, muscular, tatted-up man with a Mohawk. Grim. He came to stand beside Rose.

“You mean Vyr’s territory,” Nox said.

Grim let off a low growl. “The Reaper doesn’t like surprises.”

“Yeah,” Riyah said understandingly, remembering Vyr’s immediate reaction to Grim charging out of the woods. “Neither does the Red Dragon. I get it, and I’m sorry we didn’t give you a call. Vyr didn’t want you all on your best behavior. He wanted you…”

“All fighting each other?” Ash asked brightly. “Because we totally did that.” She had a scratch across her cheek, but she didn’t favor it when she grinned.

There was a loaded moment of silence, and then Juno let off a little giggle. And then Remington joined along with Ash. Kamp stood back, arms crossed over his chest, both him and Rhett fighting smiles.

Nox cleared his throat and stood. Riyah couldn’t read his face as he looked from person to person, but he hesitated when he got to Juno. Slowly, he traced three long-healed claw marks on the side of her neck. When Rhett snarled, Nox dropped his hand back to his side. “Wasn’t my choice,” he murmured. “Torren and I never wanted to hurt any of you. We didn’t know we were there to claim Tarian Pride territory.”

“Nox Fuller,” Ash whispered, stepping right up to him and wrapping her arms around his waist. “Did you just apologize?” She squeezed him hard until his back made a popping sound and said, “I never in a million years thought you would go soft!”

Riyah cracked up. This was awesome watching Nox’s cheeks turn the shade of cherries. “His mate has been teaching him manners.” She scrunched up her face at him and repeated his words, “Bitches love compliments.”

He glared at her, but pulled Juno in for a hug, and then Remington.

She could feel Vyr now. He was close. He still had the wall up between them, but it was thinning.

He and Torren strode out of the woods, both bare-ass naked, covering their nethers and damn near blue-skinned from the cold.

“’Scuse me,” she said, stepping around the fire pit. She bolted for him. She’d been so worried! He caught her just as she launched herself into his arms, and Vyr hugged her so tightly. He buried his face against her neck and was making a purring sound she hadn’t heard in months. The dragon was content. Thank God. “You did good,” she whispered against his ear.

Torren was standing there, tall as a building, shivering. But his face looked different. He was smiling, and it had been a while since Riyah had seen that. And then he did something that shocked her. Torren winked at her and then made his way toward the others where he hugged up the girls and offered his hand to Grim to shake. They looked alike, two tattooed giants standing there in the evening shadows, one with gold eyes and one with green, both brawlers. The Reaper and the Kong. Riyah was suddenly filled with pride for her Crew. They could’ve gone their whole lives not making apologies for war. It was easier to not give a fuck. But they did the hard thing and made amends.

Grim broke from the crowd and strode for Riyah and Vyr. He was holding a pair of folded sweats and a hoodie. Vyr eased Riyah to the side and straightened his spine, lifted his chin.

The Alpha of Rogue Pride was growling a threatening sound, and his face was a study in ambivalence and uncertainty, but he handed Vyr the clothes and murmured, “Thanks for not burning us all to ashes.” Grim cleared his throat and canted his head at Vyr, studied him. “And also thank you for letting us keep working in these mountains. It’s…well, it’s become home. I never thought I would feel that about a place, but you…you gave that to us.”

Vyr ducked his chin once. “You’re welcome.”

Grim scratched his thick beard with his thumb and glanced back at his Crew. Ash, his mate, was looking at him with the mushiest smile. “We were heading into town to celebrate New Year’s,” Grim murmured. “It’s why the girls were all dressed up. It’s my grandma’s last day with us, so we wanted to cut loose a little.” Grim shifted his weight and cleared his throat. “Would you and your Crew like to stay for a while?”

Vyr first looked to Riyah, then back to Grim and nodded with shock pooling in his bright eyes. “We’d love that.”

Two broken Alphas and both men of few words, but that didn’t matter. It was so clear they understood each other, and more than that, they respected each other.

Riyah could see it now, why Vyr kept coming back here. Why he kept watching Grim. She could feel his relief when he was around him. Someone else like him existed. Someone who would never have full control over his animal side. But who, like Vyr, kept trying anyway.

And as she watched her Crew talking to Rogue Pride, dissipating memories of war between them with laughter, she could imagine another deep crack in her Crew being welded together.

And that’s what healing was about. Mending one fracture at a time until a bond could bear weight again.

They were doing the work, and they didn’t need her protection from Vyr anymore. So, she closed her eyes and exhaled softly, lifted the shield she’d been blanketing them with for all these months. Torren and Nox had grown strong enough to stand on their own again and shoulder the bond with the biggest, baddest, most volatile dragon in the world.

When she opened her eyes, Torren and Nox had locked their attention on Vyr and wore matching smiles. And Vyr—her Vyr, because that’s what he was again—stroked his fingers down her spine and nodded to Nox and Torren.

Everything is okay, he whispered through the bond. I’ll make everything okay. No matter what happens from here on, I’ll never let us get broken like that again.

Riyah slipped her hand into his and reached for his mind.

Good Alpha.