Chapter Five

 

“The boys need to apologize.” Riyah looked from Torren, who yawned, to Nox’s blank face, to Nevada’s downturned gaze, to Candace who was holding Dane. And then she braved a glance at Vyr, but he was staring out the window, sitting by himself on the couch, away from the rest of them.

“Apologize for what?” Torren rumbled low.

“To the Daughters of Beasts.”

Vyr huffed a breath and shook his head, eyes still on the window to the snow outside.

Riyah lifted her chin and stood from the bar stool she’d been sitting on. “There are so many broken things we need to fix. So many. And starting now, we will tackle the big ones. One of the cracks in our foundation is that war. Vyr, you forced it. You dragged the boys into it, and they had to go against your friends from Damon’s Mountains. It’s left poison in our bonds. It’s left resentment. I can feel it. I know you can feel it, too.”

“I can’t feel anything because you’ve closed everything off,” Nevada whispered.

Riyah closed her eyes and pulled her power away from her friends. Not just a little either. She let them see what she’d been absorbing. Let them feel it.

Nevada and Torren doubled over. Nox swallowed hard and looked like he would retch. Candace did gag, and Dane started crying. And Vyr…Vyr ran his hands down his red beard with a shaking hand. A shaking hand. She’d never seen her mate shake before.

She sighed in relief at not having to bear the burden of their sick bonds for a few seconds. And then she closed her eyes again and imagined coating them all in her power. The green sickly aura redirected into her, and she steeled herself to take it back without flinching.

When she opened her eyes again, Vyr’s eyes were bright silver with elongated pupils and locked on her. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I don’t want you to hurt. I love all of you. If I can stop hurt, I always will.”

“How do we apologize?” Nevada asked over the sound of Dane’s snuffling.

“Vyr needs to move again. His dragon is searching for something. We have to keep him from claiming new territory, but we can’t just tie up the Red Dragon in the basement. We all saw what that shifter prison did to him. He wanted to burn the entire earth when he got out. I think we should go to Grim’s Mountains and see his Crew. Vyr sees something special in Grim. A kindred spirit maybe. He can re-burn the mountains there and maybe it’ll settle the dragon for a little while.”

“Decline,” Vyr growled. “I didn’t kill them. That was apology enough.”

“Well, that’s the thing, mate,” Riyah snarled. “You don’t have a fuckin’ choice anymore. It’s on you to save yourself and save us. Keep going like this, and your dragon will drag us all through hell, and I’ve already seen it. I’m tired of rock bottom.”

“We all are,” Torren said low, attention on his mate. Whatever passed between Candace and him, Riyah couldn’t tell, but after a few seconds, Torren cleared his throat and said, “I’ll need a day to get everything situated with the lumber yard.”

Candace nodded slightly and smiled at Torren. It was a small one, but a smile nonetheless. “Nevada and I can keep it running so we don’t have to close it down while you’re gone. Go. Keep Vyr safe.”

Torren huffed. “My job was never to keep him safe. It was to keep the world safe from him.”

“An impossible task,” Nox sang softly. He’d been uncharacteristically quiet. “Do you feel the sickness of the bonds all the time, Riyah?”

She inhaled deeply. “I don’t want to talk about—”

“Do you?” Vyr asked sternly.

Riyah tried to smile. “When it gets really bad, I go to the orchard. I don’t know what it is about that place, but it makes everything feel better. Maybe it would be good for you to go sometime, too.”

Vyr’s face smoothed of all emotion in a heartbeat. “I’ll make the travel arrangements.” He stood and made his way toward the office, his stride stiff and fast, his hands clasped behind his back.

Riyah was good and done with these infinite rejections, though, so she stood and followed him. No more escaping her. No more running away. He was sitting in the office chair by the time she got there, his back to her, the drawer open.

“I love you, you know,” she said. “Always will.”

He closed the drawer and cracked his knuckles, stared at the dark laptop screen. “I know. I saw that when you lifted the wall. I wish I could just get better for you.” A long, low dragon’s snarl filled the room, rattling the floor beneath her feet. “Fuck,” he whispered, scrubbing his hands over his face until the noise faded.

Riyah approached him slowly, slipped her arms around his shoulders, and kissed the side of his neck gently. “Go see them.”

“See who?” he asked carefully.

She reached over him and pulled the desk drawer open. Oh, she’d found his hidden stash months ago. It was a pair of ultrasound pictures, worn at the corners as if he’d held them a hundred times.

“See them.”

As she pulled away, he suddenly grabbed her wrist and kissed the palm of her hand. “Everything will be okay.”

She smiled again. Actually smiled. “I know it will. No one will ever have as much faith in another person as I have in you.”

“You’re not going to let me fail, are you?” he asked softly.

And with utter confidence, she inhaled deeply and uttered, “No.”

She would do horrible things to make sure he succeeded in controlling the dragon. She would use her power against the Red Dragon himself if pushed. Come hell or high water, Vyr was going to cage his demons and gain control again.

Even if she had to be the cage.