Chapter 23
Vega looked around, blinking at the unfamiliar surroundings. She should feel scared that she had no idea where she was but there was a soothing scent in the air. Like lavender and jasmine.
Pushing to her feet she realized she was wearing some type of robe, a pink-colored thing that reminded her of a toga. Slowly turning around in a circle, she saw that she was in a forest clearing by a glistening pond. She could hear a few animals in the nearby trees and… Why the hell was she here? More important, where was here? And why was she alone and dressed like she was going to a Halloween party?
At a sort of shuffling sound, she turned to see a small wolf pup hiding behind a cluster of elephant ear leaves. Crouching down, she said “Hello?”
The little pup took a few steps out and she grinned. The thing was all black with two white ears and one that seemed permanently flopped over.
“Aren’t you just the cutest thing?” she murmured.
The pup yipped as if in agreement and trotted over to her as if he ruled this entire forest. A little prince.
Grinning, she sat down and crossed her legs, letting the pup jump in her lap.
It was definitely a shifter, not a regular wolf. And the eyes looked strangely familiar…kinda like her own. “Who are you?” she asked, as if expecting an answer.
In response the tiny pup licked her face. Then he licked it again. Inside her head she heard what she assumed was his voice. Go home. If you don’t, we will never meet. Please go home now.
“Where are we?” she asked, hoping for a response.
The pup licked her again as it wiggled in her lap. And again, she heard the words, Go home now. You can’t be here too long. Time is running out.
“Vega!” She heard her name being screamed.
Was that…Gabriel?
“Gabriel?” Her voice sounded raspy to her own ears as the pup and forest faded away.
“That’s it, open your eyes. Open your eyes, sweetheart!” Gabriel’s voice was frantic.
She was aware of other voices—Mira the eccentric dragon, the Alpha, and some other people whose voices she didn’t recognize.
Pain splintered through her chest as she struggled to sit up. Or she assumed she was trying to sit up. Her body felt as if it was coming apart at the seams. Blinking once, she ordered her eyes to open and found herself looking into the clear green eyes of Gabriel. “The door?” she asked, as everything flooded back.
“We closed it. But the impact of it closing threw you off the boulders.” His jaw tightened, emotion filling his eyes.
“The demon!” She started to sit up but he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, even while cradling the back of her head. He stared at her as if she was the only thing in the world that mattered. As if she hung the damn moon.
“It’s dead.”
Damn, she’d been out for everything. Frowning, she felt the middle of her chest and looked down at herself. She could’ve sworn she’d been injured, and her shirt was torn but her skin looked fine. And…she actually felt okay too. A little sore.
Looking around, she saw that Mira was chanting something over the very still dragon. “What’s wrong with her?”
“I’m not sure.” But there was something in Gabriel’s voice that said he knew exactly—
She grabbed Gabriel’s torn and bloodied shirt. “Why can’t I feel our link?”
“You died,” he whispered, agony in his voice. “You died and the link severed.”
“Wait…what?”
“Prima, the dragon—Mira’s sister—did something to you. Breathed something inside you. Like what Liberty said Arya did to her.”
Vega swallowed hard and rubbed the middle of her chest. It was a lot to take in and she’d analyze the heck out of it later. For now… “The door closed for good though, right?”
He nodded, his expression still grim as he looked back at the two dragons. “Yes.”
“And you’re okay?” He was covered in blood but didn’t seem to be injured.
“I’m okay.” He nodded once toward the others. “She might not make it. Her sister is releasing her from the binding spell that connects her to the earth. She… I think she sacrificed herself for you. She only wanted you here to close the door. Not to kill you. She was able to connect to you so she called you.”
“Help me up,” Vega murmured, holding her hand out to Gabriel. It was clear he wanted to say no, but very gently he took her hand and set his palm at the small of her back as he helped her sit up fully.
For a moment, she took stock of herself to see if she was okay. She was covered in a whole lot of stuff she didn’t want to think about, including her own blood. The scents in this cave were nearly overwhelming. But none of that mattered now. She was definitely going to freak out later about having died, especially since she remembered the place she’d been in. She’d tell Gabriel about all of that later.
“Come on,” she murmured, taking Gabriel’s hand as she knelt next to Mira who’d stopped chanting and simply had a hand on the dragon’s huge snout.
Vega placed a hand on her upper shoulder. “What can we do?”
Mira looked up, her gray eyes bright with unshed tears. “Nothing. She’ll either wake up or she won’t. I…thank you for what you did. I didn’t realize what was happening at first. It never occurred to me there might be a Hell Gate down here. The world has shifted so much since we went into Hibernation so…” Sighing, she shook her head. “When—if—Prima wakes up, I’ll ask her for details and let you know what happened. For now…” She looked at Judoc. “I’d like to be alone. I just want to be with my sister.”
The Alpha looked conflicted. “What can I bring you? Clothing? Food?”
“I need nothing. Just to be with my sister. Alone. I…” Her voice cracked slightly. “Maybe I shouldn’t have bound her to the earth. She would have been able to close the gate on her own. If anything, I could have helped her. This is my fault.”
“No, it’s not,” he said. “You did what you did with the best of intentions.”
Instead of responding, she turned away and laid her head on the dragon’s scaled face.
Vega wanted to do something, to find the right words, but knew there weren’t any. Taking Gabriel’s outstretched hand, she let him pull her to her feet.
Vaguely she heard Judoc tell one of the other shifters to leave their packs for Mira and to send more back with food and fresh clothes.
Vega leaned into Gabriel, not because she needed the help, but because she wanted to feel his arms around her. Right now she felt as if some part of her was missing. As if a piece of her heart had been ripped right out of her chest.
It was the mating link missing. She knew that.
She just wasn’t sure what happened now.