The last few days had been the worst for Clarissa. She’d been officially off any dosing. Two months it had taken to get here. She wanted to snap and yell. Instead, she was just staying silent. That was the best way. So between August and herself, their house had been silent for almost twenty-four hours.

He sat on the porch on their newly acquired outdoor furniture and stared at the sky. Did he see something up there, or was he just obsessed with the clouds? She wasn’t going to ask. That was snapping, that was being mean because she felt like hell, and her mate didn’t deserve that. The truth was she had fallen in love with that man.

She didn’t know if he loved her, and she couldn’t blame him if he didn’t. Clarissa had been nothing but sick since he’d known her. He was devoted, that much she knew and wasn’t surprised that he was. August Owens was an incredible male. He’d hardly left the house since they got here to be there for her, and yet half the pack showed up for advice.

Apparently, Robbie had named him first advisor to the Alpha. August hadn’t known his brother was going to do that. He’d growled but adjusted. Anyone who wanted business with Robbie had to first tell Auggie.

August had the right to tell them to handle it themselves, which he seemed to be doing about sixty percent of the time.

She got to her feet. “I’m going to go walk around.”

He dropped his gaze from the sky. “Where to?”

“The whole length of the pack. I need to start moving around. I can’t be this person anymore.”

He sucked in a long breath. “Do you want to shift?”

Did she? Her wolf preened at the idea. “Yes.”

August rose. “Come on. Let’s go.”

He was shifted before she understood he meant to come with her. Staring up at her, her four-legged, almost all black wolf gave off a wounded scent before he masked it. She hadn’t missed it though—he wasn’t okay.

Clarissa walked toward him, kneeling down in front of him. He grunted and then whined. Yes, he hadn’t liked her kneeling the last time she’d done it either. “Tough.”

He huffed. Well, he was just going to have to deal with it. She wanted to be right where she was. “Mate.” She rubbed his head. He seemed to sigh when she did so. His fur was soft. “You’re not okay. It’s been all about me all the time. I want to know what you need, too.”

He took two steps away from her, indicating with his head something in the distance.

She sighed. “What you need or want right now is for me to shift, get to it, and go for the walk I told you I wanted.”

August nodded his head. She sighed. “Fine.”

It had been months since she’d shifted, and it hurt. Her bones stretched and broke, reshaping. Her skin altered, and fur sprouted everywhere as her entire body transformed into her wolf self. She sighed. Yes, this felt good.

Easy. Oh, this had been a huge change since she’d stepped down the drugs. Her wolf hadn’t felt this good. She could breathe like this.

August huffed again, and she laughed. Yes, he wanted to get moving. Well, okay. Clarissa ran. Because she could. For the first time in years.

The thing about being in her wolf form was she could easily lose track of time. Clarissa raised her head. It was nighttime. The moon was in the sky—almost full. She’d missed the last one, somehow not shifting, and August had stayed with her, hadn’t he? How had he done that?

Thinking of her mate, she whirled around to find him right behind her. He’d been there the whole time. He was a beautiful wolf, but she missed his human face. Her shift back was easier this time. Her muscles were looser, and in a few seconds, she was back in her human form. A few seconds later, August returned into his body, too.

“You doing okay?” August stretched his arms over his head. “Nice out here tonight.”

It was. She walked into his arms and wrapped hers around his waist. “Hello, August.”

He wrapped his own arms around her. He was getting better about this. He used to be stiff. “You’re feeling much better.”

“So much. Thanks for this evening. I didn’t realize how much I needed this. How long it had been since I shifted.”

He was quiet for a second. “We’re both, right? Wolf and human. We have to be both. You needed to be human to heal. Now you need to be both.”

“Tell me something I don’t know about you.”

August took her cheeks in his hands. “I absolutely hate the taste of beets. Hate it.”

She snorted. That had been completely not what she had in mind. “Okay. I won’t ever cook with them.”

“Thank you.” He kissed her right there under the moon. She’d never been happier in her whole life.

For once, Clarissa woke up before August did. On the rare occasions she opened her eyes first, he always jolted awake right after. Today, however, with rain pouring down outside, her mate snored loudly enough that she suspected he was still in a deep sleep.

That was something he’d started to do, too. He’d been a silent sleeper when they first met. Now he spent part of every night snoring loud enough it woke her up. She didn’t mind. Clarissa could be wrong, but maybe he was snoring because he was actually getting some rest.

She expected him to wake up when she got out of bed, only he didn’t. He rolled over, and the snoring continued. He said he only had nightmares. She hoped that had changed. His scent was relaxed, easy, like he wasn’t currently feeling any stress.

Clarissa didn’t want the drugs, most of the time. There was a portion of every day that she did actually crave the dragon drug. There was no one offering her any, and she’d like to think she’d have said no if they did. Maybe. It was still early.

Her body was loose, agile, and she didn’t wince when she saw her face in the mirror. Maybe she would surprise him with breakfast. He was always feeding her. That was one of the ways Auggie told her he loved her without ever having said the words. He took care of her needs. Or at least that was what she told herself.

A noise outside caught her attention, and the scent of fear wafted through the air. She detoured to the front door instead of the kitchen and took a look. What was happening?

It took just a second for her to realize what she saw. There were a dozen dragons in the air. Wolves were rushing around, shifting, and running all over. She gasped.

“Auggie,” she called as she rushed up the stairs. Her mate couldn’t be caught asleep. She dashed through the door, grabbing his leg to shake him gently. “Dragons.”

He woke, blinked at her, jumped from the bed and shifted on his way down the stairs. She chased him down in her human form and watched as he rushed to the center of pack land before jumping skyward to land on a dragon.

She pushed down her fear. He was brave. She would be, too. A child cried a distance away. Whose baby was that? Where were the parents?

Clarissa ran forward, scooping up the child a second before a dragon darted down. Oh, those beasts were nasty. She ran as hard as she could into the closest house and slammed the door behind her. The flying reptile could burn her out, but he wouldn’t reach her in there otherwise.

“You’re okay.” She spoke to the child who was probably too young for much speech. Maybe he was eighteen months old. Maybe. “I’ve got you. We will find your mom and dad when this is over.”

More cries sounded in the distance. Children? What was happening? She set the screaming boy on a chair. “Don’t move.”

Hopefully, he’d understand she didn’t want him to go anywhere. Clarissa ran to look out the window. Sure enough, there were slightly older children, both bleeding, down the block. They were both strewn out on the ground. She rushed forward, picking them up quickly as she darted around another dragon.

This was becoming a thing.

Clarissa rushed back to the house where she’d stashed the eighteen-month-old with the two new children in her arms.

She turned around to see if she could spot August. She couldn’t. That had to be good. He was busy. He was fine. She refused to think it was anything else.

Everything was quiet outside. Inside, the dozen children she’d rescued all cried, various degrees of sobbing. The door swung open, and her sister Caitlyn ran in. “Oh thank the gods. You’re okay! And the kids are okay!” She was shaking, and Clarissa pulled her into a hug

“What happened?” She was glad to have saved the children, but how had this happened?

“The dragons set the child care facility on fire. All the kids got out. Then some went awry. You found them.”

Throat dry, Clarissa swallowed. This was the time of day when she always wanted the drugs. But like every day—crisis or no crisis—she’d ignore the need until it passed. “Glad I was in the right place at the right time.”

“Not surprised. You were always the smartest of us all.”

“Oh.” She shook her head. “Not true. I…”

The door busted open again, and her mate was there, covered in blood. “Clarissa.”

“August,” she called, running to him. “Are you hurt? Where are you hurt?”

A crowd of adults burst past them, collecting children, thanking her. But she only had eyes for her mate. “Are you okay?”

He nodded once then held her tightly against him. “I didn’t know where you were. The smoke masks a lot of smells. I couldn’t scent for a bit.”

She didn’t try to move out of his embrace. Instead, she stayed right there. “I just holed up here with the kids and waited. I figured unless the place caught on fire, I’d just stay here with them.”

“That was smart thinking.” He sighed against her. “And brave. You must have had to run out to get the kids.”

She nodded. “I don’t know about brave, but yes. How many did we lose?”

“None,” Robert answered, coming through the door. With the exception of her mate, all eyes dropped to the floor as his power filled the room. Robbie was in full Alpha mode. “I can breathe now that we’ve found the kids. I hear that’s thanks to you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

With his Alpha power riding the room hard, Clarissa’s wolf preened at the praise. “My Alpha, they are my pack, too. I know I’ve not been present, but I used to be someone who could be counted on.”

August still had his arms around her, and he squeezed her a little tighter. “None of us can do anything about the past. Just what we do from this moment on. You did what I would have expected you to do. You’re strong.”

Between her Alpha and her mate, she was rolling in a wash of happiness. “I’m just glad it all worked out.”

“We mated women too good for us.” Robbie walked past Auggie and knelt down in front of several of the pups, patting them on their heads.

“That’s for sure,” August answered, the amusement she expected to see in his eyes missing.

“August?” She didn’t know what she would have asked, because Robbie spoke again.

“My mate could use help. You were a healer, right, Clarissa? Could you go help her?”

When the Alpha asked, it wasn’t really asking. It was a polite way of telling her to go help. In any case, she was happy to help. She nodded and stepped back from her mate as Robbie continued. “August, I need a meeting. A big one. Clearly putting the children all in one place was a mistake. Then we need to plan. We need to find the Alphas from the other packs that have formed. Start making some plans.”

“They came for me.” Auggie’s voice was strained. “They found me. They’d never expose themselves like this otherwise.”

Robert stood. “You don’t think it’s possible you’re being entirely paranoid?”

“No.” He let go of Clarissa to step back.

“Then we need to talk about that, too.” Robert held his twin’s gaze, and I wondered if they had some sort of unspoken communication I’d never really understand. A twin thing.

Auggie looked at her for a long moment. “I don’t know whose blood this is. I don’t have a clue.”

Her earlier question finally got an answer. August, her mate, who she loved, carried burdens on those broad shoulders she wasn’t at all certain she would ever understand. He was alive, they both were. For now that would be enough.

Tatyana plopped down next to her. Clarissa had spent the last hour bandaging, wrapping, repairing, and helping the Alpha’s mate take care of the members of the pack who were hurt. Nothing was serious, and for that, they were lucky.

“Has August told you about me yet?”

No, none of their conversation had really been about Tatyana. She knew they pretended she was their cousin. Clarissa’s sisters had told her that much, and she’d been too miserable withdrawing at the time to question why. “Nothing from August, cousin.”

Tatyana nodded. “Take a walk with me, away from here for a bit.”

Clarissa was pretty wiped, but this woman had saved her life. She was also mated to the Alpha who was August’s twin. It would probably be a good idea not to make her upset. They’d walked a distance into some woods when Tatyana stopped.

“You’re feeling okay?”

Had they come to the woods to discuss her health? “Little tired still, but I suspect that’s to be expected, yes?”

Robert’s mate nodded. “Sure.”

“Are those who came with us okay?” Now that she was mostly in her right head, Clarissa could admit she hardly knew those she’d called packmates. It was more like they’d just existed in misery together.

Tatyana’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, yes. They’re all doing well. Everyone stepped down okay. They’re finding their way like you are.”

That was good. She thought perhaps she should go see them, but none of them had come to find her either. They were like strangers now that they were off the drugs. She would seek them out. Tomorrow.

“That’s good.” She cleared her throat. “Did you want to talk about something in particular?” It had been a long time since Clarissa made friends. Was this how it was done these days?

“I was human.”

Well, I couldn’t have been more surprised if she’d told me she had wings. “Humans are long extinct. We only have their technology left behind.”

Tatyana shook her head. “I’m afraid not. We’re not extinct. We’re not here anymore, but we’re not dead. We took to the skies for other planets when this one went to hell. I became a werewolf when Robbie bit me. I’m his mate. I tell you this—and most people will never know because as a human I have had the opportunity to know things that most wolves never will. Much of what Robert knows about dragons, he learned from me. The fact it takes ten years to grow a Dragon Queen.” She put her hand on Clarissa’s arm. “I’m not telling you all of it right now. It’s too much. The point is that those eggs—I know where they are. I didn’t think of it until now, but it has to be that mountain range with all the caves.”

Yes, that was where Clarissa fished August out of the river. Where they had procured drugs most of the time.

“I see in your face you know the spot. That’s where you guys—for lack of a better word—scored, right?”

Clarissa cleared her throat. The Alpha’s formerly human mate just said scored. Life could be truly bizarre. “Yes.”

“There’s no way August is getting back in the cave the way he got in. They’ll have shut that down. He’s…”

Clarissa could easily follow her train of thought. “He’s going to need someone who knows how to get back in. One of the dealers.”

“The dealers aren’t going to talk to any of those guys.”

Once again, Tatyana was completely right. The things she loved about her mate would make every dealer in a two day radius run for their lives. That was true of every male here. Robert’s pack were upstanding, and they looked that way. Not a drugged out male among them.

“I would suggest one of your former pack mates, but there’s another problem.” Tatyana put her hand on her stomach. “I’m pregnant. It’s wonderful news except I can’t shift until the baby comes. Big design flaw for females. They’re going to need a healer to go with them.” Tatyana paused in speaking for a minute. “They’ll never ask you. Auggie’s mate. Just getting better. Too much risk letting you be near the drugs. But you saved all those kids today. I think they underestimate you.”

Clarissa put her hand on Tatyana’s arm. “What do I do?”

“Well”—the Alpha’s mate nodded like she hadn’t been surprised—“I think we go to a meeting we weren’t invited to.”

Clarissa swallowed. Without Tatyana, Clarissa would never consider this. She didn’t have enough dominance in her to go traipsing into meetings where the Alpha didn’t command her presence. With Tatyana? She could probably pull this off.

“Congratulations on the baby.”

Tatyana smiled. “Thank you. I’m utterly terrified.”

The pack was going to be so happy. The Alpha’s mate pregnant was always cause for celebration. “You’re going to be a great mother.”

“Mate,” Robert shouted as they entered the door. “Tell me you haven’t done what I think you’ve done.”

She smiled sweetly, and Clarissa tried not to hold her breath. “If you think I told Clarissa she was the perfect person to go on this quest with all of you, then you’d be correct. Anything else you were wrong. You tell me.”

Robert groaned, and August rose to his feet slowly. “I will not risk you.”

“Well,” Clarissa said, finding her voice, “I would not risk you either. I can help you with this. You’re not getting it done without me.”

Dougal was the next to speak. “We’ll be going into the place where you had problems with the drugs. Do you think you can manage?”

“Not to take the dragon drugs? Yes. I think so. I won’t be alone. I can’t imagine wanting to fall back in that pit. Even in my worst moments.”

Homer made a sound of agreement. “Yes, she’d have to really be low to go back. I’ve had very bad moments and resisted. She’d be with us. Not alone.”

August held her gaze across the room. “Why does it have to be you?”

“Because I know the dealers. They know me. They don’t know you, so they won’t trust you. There’s little law, but those who try to keep order hate them. The dealers don’t want to be killed. They’ll see you as a threat.” She sighed. “I can help. I can.”

“I think you can,” Robert finally spoke. “But you’re my brother’s mate. I defer to him.”

Ultimately, August couldn’t stop her from going. Robbie could. She didn’t move. August had no ability to forbid her anything she wanted to do—except that their life at home together could go from happy to miserable in a second. She didn’t want that.

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “You stay by me the whole time.”

She nodded. “Okay. Except when I’m dealing with the drugs. You can’t be with me and the dealers. That would negate the point.”

Poor August. She could smell his frustration all the way across the room. Better they sort this out now than later when it mattered. He leaped over the desk he sat behind and strode toward her. Clarissa’s heart rate skyrocketed. What was he going to?

His mouth met hers, hard. “This is because Tatyana’s pregnant, isn’t it? You’re also a healer. That’s what’s not being said.”

Robert laughed. “So much for keeping anything a secret.”

His mate groaned. “Like they all wouldn’t have been smelling it by tomorrow anyway. August always had the best sense of smell of any of you.”

Someday, when things weren’t quite this confusing, Clarissa was going to find out how Tatyana knew all the things she did. Being human didn’t make her… psychic did it?

Questions for another time.

The cheer in the room for the Alpha’s news echoed off the walls. August stared into her eyes. “Did you think I would hurt you?”

She forced herself to speak. There could only be truth between them. “I was afraid for a second. Fear isn’t always rational.”

“No, it’s not. Probably doesn’t help I am covered in blood and look half deranged.”

Clarissa snorted. August was letting her off the hook. “You know I have to do this.”

“You don’t have to. You want to. Maybe you need to. That’s more important. ‘Have to’ is often things we’d rather have nothing to do with. The point is you wish to help. Okay. We’ll do this thing. Together. And then I may never let you out of the boundaries of this pack ever again.”

When they were done, she might never want to leave.

She’d expected August to have trouble sleeping after his abrupt wake up, but after making love to her twice with almost no down time in between, he was out cold. She’d taken her space on top of him as usual but rolled over a bit later. He was showered, the evidence of the battle gone from his body.

Dougal hadn’t been wrong to question whether this was a smart move on her behalf. It was easy to stay off the dragon drugs when there were none available. It was going to be quite different being back there.

August rolled over, seeking her, and didn’t settle down until she was back in place on top of him. Clarissa oomphed. In his sleep, he wasn’t gentle. That was fine. She didn’t want or need space, just clarity.

Was this going to beat her for the rest of her life? Would she always be at the will of her own weakness?

Outside, wolves howled. She gasped at the sound and listened as Auggie’s breathing changed. He was awake. Finally, he spoke. “They’re coming down from the adrenaline. It’s a lot. Sometimes fighters just have to let it out, and that’s the only way to do it.”

That made sense. “What did you do to relieve the stress?”

“Nothing.” He ran his hand over her back. “When I was in the war, I just tried to sleep, eat, stare at the moon. Whatever.”

Even with Robert there, he had been so alone. But then, she knew how it was to be alone in a crowd.

“All I could think today was there were dragons and they were going to destroy everything. I’d brought them here, somehow. The really smart ones can track forever. I… I won’t be responsible for losing this place. If we can’t beat them, I’ll go.”

She grew very still, his words sinking in. “August, there is nowhere you could go that I wouldn’t go with you. You are much more important than where.”

He let out a small sigh. “I needed to hear that. I didn’t know I did. But I did.” He kissed her cheek, the sounds of the howling moving through the night. “Snuggle down further. Switch with me tonight. I want my body between you and the rest of the world.”

That was funny. She wanted to put her body between August and the universe. He was raw right now. She didn’t argue. Loving him meant knowing when he had to have his way.

This was one of those times.