Talk about timing. “What are you doing here?”

Pierce looked ready to kill.

Gate looked exhausted.

I could only guess at how big an earful he got throughout the drive. Poor guy probably wished he had brought earplugs along.

“No. You don’t get to ask the questions.” He pushed past me, looking around the room. “Where is she?”

“Jasmine’s next door. She got the room next door.” Alina looked up at me with wide, anxious eyes.

I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring look.

“Who are you to take her away like that?” He put his hands on my shoulders and shoved.

I staggered back a half-step, then shoved him in the same fashion. He stumbled back and hit the wall beside the door.

“Knock it off!” Gate stepped between us. “This isn’t a fight between two kids, for fuck’s sake. Get it together.” He turned his back to me and held Pierce at arm’s length. “I warned you, I wasn’t gonna let the two of you get to this point.”

“He took her from the cave,” Pierce snarled, glaring at me. “He kept her away for an entire day. This whole day, I didn’t know what the fuck happened to her or if this wasn’t some kind of a trap they fell into when they were looking for Alina.”

“I wouldn’t lead her into a trap,” I spat.

“No? You brought her out here, didn’t you? You made this happen.”

If looks could kill, I’d be dead. I sensed his dragon, knew he wanted to do more than just snarl and curse at me. I knew it because my dragon was roaring in rage. And I was around a hair’s breadth away from reminding him who he was dealing with.

“Excuse me, but could you not talk about me like I’m a child, being led around by the hand?”

The three of us looked to the doorway, where Jasmine stood with her arms folded and her eyes shooting green fire straight into Pierce’s skull.

He broke away from Gate and went to her, wrapping her in his arms, but she was having none of it.

It stunned him. “Why are you pushing me away, when I came out here to find you?”

“How did you know we were here?” Gate added.

She snorted. “I would have to be dead and buried not to hear you guys thrashing around in here like a bunch of animals,” she replied. “And if you’re not careful, you’ll get us all in a lot of trouble. We don’t need management coming up here because other guests complained about fighting.”

Pierce didn’t seem too concerned with any of that. “You don’t know how worried I was about you.”

Her expression softened, but just slightly. “I’m sorry. I really am. I knew you would be worried, but I couldn’t imagine what else to do. I’ll tell you more about it later, if you want. I’d rather not rehash the whole thing right now.”

“No, we’ll talk about it now.”

“No, we will not,” she retorted through teeth clenched so tight, I almost couldn’t understand what she was saying. “I need you to remember right now that I love you, but you still don’t get to order me around. And I understand that it was dangerous for the two of us to come out here, but it was dangerous for Alina, too. Much more dangerous. I couldn’t leave her out here all alone. If you want to yell the mountain down over it, fine. But let’s wait until we’re back there.”

He was ready to blow his stack.

I exchanged a look with Gate that told me he was thinking the same thing.

Then, Pierce blew out a long breath and closed his eyes. Though his hands were still balled into tight fists, he muttered, “Fine. We’ll have it out later.” He opened his eyes just enough to see me. “Us, too.”

“I would expect nothing less.” I turned to Gate. “How did you find us?”

“Bluetooth. Remember, we had all the cars hooked up with it in case any of us got in trouble going up or down the mountain?”

“Right.” I could’ve kicked myself. Of course, all they had to do was call up the account on an app to locate the vehicle. “That’s a good thing, right? You didn’t have to wait for us to get back.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s a good thing.” Pierce shook his head. “Who are you right now?”

“Who were you when you first brought Jasmine to the cave?”

“This again?” Jasmine went to the bed and took Alina by the hand. “Come on. Let’s go to the other room if the boys insist on dredging up old news.”

“Wait. Don’t go.” I wasn’t about to let Alina out of my sight, ever again.

I had just gotten her back. My dragon agreed with me. I wished I could shake the feeling that we weren’t out of the woods, but the dragon was never wrong.

“Now you’re telling her what to do?” Jasmine asked.

Alina, on the other hand, was silent. Maybe she felt it, too. The sense that she wasn’t out of the woods.

I went to the window and looked out over the parking lot. I could see the Jeep by the office, and the rear of the SUV the guys had driven to the motel. Neon light reflected off the rain-slick pavement. Everything looked quiet. I knew enough to know that didn’t matter.

“What is it?” Pierce asked.

“I don’t know.” I glanced at him, at Gate. “Do you feel it? Something’s off.”

“I thought it was just me,” Gate admitted, taking his turn at peering outside. “My dragon’s been bugging me for hours.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Pierce murmured.

Gate scoffed. “Maybe because I was too busy getting my eardrums blown out by somebody else in the car. Who could that have been?”

Even with my instincts sounding a warning, I had to smile. Pierce mumbled something unintelligible.

“Is something wrong?” I hated to hear the note of worry in Alina’s voice when she stood behind us.

“I don’t think so. Just… a feeling.” My dragon roared at me to hold her. To tell her that I’d keep her safe. That she was mine now as she was always meant to be.

I settled for putting an arm around her waist. She leaned against me, ever so slightly but enough to show how she trusted me.

There were two options: stay or leave. Leaving would mean bringing Alina with us—I wanted to and had planned to, but I hadn’t planned on my brothers showing up. It was one thing to appear back at the cave with her in tow, but another to convince him that she should come with us.

Staying meant the treasure only being half as safe as it normally was. Even though only one of us ever guarded the entrance at a time, there were still five dragons waiting inside if there was ever a need for backup.

“I think we should go back,” I decided. “So what if it’s dark and raining? I won’t sleep until we’re back where we belong.”

“What about…?” Gate cut his eyes in Alina’s direction.

No hesitation. “She’s coming with us.”

“Don’t you think we should talk about this first?” Pierce asked.

“I thought you would be in just as much of a hurry to get back to the cave as I,” I said, shooting him a look. “We can talk about it once we’re there.”

“There won’t be anything left to talk about once we’re all there,” he argued.

“Exactly. So what’s the point of talking about it now? Let’s just go. We all know Alina’s coming with us, we all know she’s going to stay with us.”

“You mean that?” she asked. Her voice was soft with wonder.

I turned to her, taking her face in my hands. “Yes. I mean it. I want you with me, now and always.”

Gate cleared his throat. “I really do hate to break in on this, but you realize it isn’t totally up to you. Right? Whatever happened to the good of the family? What happens when her uncle decides to declare war on us for keeping her?”

Alina beat me to a reply. “You’re right.”

Gate looked about as stunned as her words left me.

I almost reeled, while my dragon bellowed in outrage. “What do you mean, he’s right?” I asked.

“The longer I’m with you, the greater the danger for you and Jasmine,” she whispered. “Please, don’t fight me on this. I have to do what’s right.”

“Where do you plan on going?” Jasmine asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t know when I ran away, either. But being with you has made me stronger. I’m grateful for that.”

“I don’t accept this.”

Her smile was sweet, sad. “I hate to say it, but whether or not you accept it doesn’t change anything. I want to be with you, but I want your safety even more. Yours, my sister’s. My uncle is probably hell-bent on finding me now. I can’t run the risk of him finding me when I’m with you. I’d never forgive myself.”

“Do you think I could ever forgive myself if anything happened to you? You’re all alone out here. I won’t let you do it.”

“And I won’t let you jeopardize your family or yourself for me.”

“You two.” Pierce put his hands on our shoulders. “Listen.” He cocked his head to the side.

I heard what he was listening for moments later. Footsteps outside the door.

“Could be someone walking past on the way to their room,” Jasmine whispered.

I shook my head. A nice idea, but too convenient. Plus, the dragon didn’t like it. He had never steered me wrong.

I turned to Alina. “You two, stay in this room. Do not leave under any circumstances.”

“What’s the matter? Something is wrong, isn’t it? I knew it.” Alina chewed her lip. “They came for me, didn’t they?”

“What are the odds that any of them would know where you are?” I asked. It wasn’t a completely rhetorical question. “You’re sure nobody saw you leave?”

“Nobody saw. I was careful, believe me.”

Pierce stared pointedly at her bruises. “Somebody was hurting you.”

She lifted her chin and answered with quiet dignity. “Yes. Bradley did. But not as badly as he wanted to once he married me off in my sister’s place.”

They held each other’s gaze for a long, silent moment. Even though my blood boiled when I imagined what she went through and my dragon screamed for vengeance, I was sure I would never love her more than I did right then. The way she held her own against my brother…

“We can handle Bradley and whoever he brought with him,” I promised, guiding her to the bed and sitting her down. “Please. Whatever you do. Stay here.”

“I’m not in any hurry to see him again, even if he is out there.” Her smile was an attempt at being strong.

But she knew he was, just as well as I did. There was no use in lying about it for the other’s benefit. She and Jasmine held hands.

Gate peered out from behind the curtain and nodded to signal that the coast was clear.

I took one more look at Alina, who gave me a firm nod. One more look at her bruises.

I would kill the bastard if he was out there waiting for us.

It had been too long since I was really, truly a dragon. Alina was as good a reason as any to be my true self.