The next morning dawned fast. They were leaving. There was no time to waste, and as a small party of ten wolves, they were going to head straight for the dragons. The beasts had to know they’d be heading straight for them after the assault they’d dealt on the pack. The idea was to sneak out as a small group instead of tearing forward in a large pack assault that the dragons would be expecting.

August would have preferred to go by himself altogether. He’d made this mess. He’d fix it.

His brother, however, wouldn’t allow it. They were pack. They handled these messes together. August didn’t want to leave the pack, and disobeying Robert meant the end of pack life for Auggie. He liked how it felt to see his mate surrounded by pack. When the dragons had attacked, he’d known she’d be protected.

As it was, she’d actually been the one doing the protecting.

He reached out to rub her back. There was a particular spot along her spine that made her eyes go dreamy when he touched it. So he did that all the time.

She turned toward him, her face in the early morning sun really making her look angelic. There was a reason he called her Angel Face. The nickname fit.

“I love you, August Owens. I want you to know that.”

His world stopped. Time paused all around him. She loved him?

Clarissa was his mate. That had been instant. She belonged to him, and he would care for her until the day he stopped breathing. If there was an afterlife, he’d see to it that she was with him there, too, someday. But loved him? That was something else.

He loved her completely. She was smart, strong, funny, caring—a survivor. He’d never known a female who could hold a candle to her. She was everything. She loved him? Why? He really wasn’t worthy of her. He kept screwing up. Wolves had died because he wasn’t…

Oh no, he’d waited too long. Homer, Dougal, Oliver, Dwayne, James, and Nehemiah were there. He knew all of them. In addition to his brother, the others had served in the elite squad with him. They were all talking and Clarissa said something back to them, laughing when she did.

He hadn’t said it back. Now they had a crowd. He’d completely blown the moment. When your mate, who you loved, said I love you, you damned well said it back.

And he hadn’t.

She kissed his cheek. “Come on, guys. Let’s get this over with.”

Nehemiah patted him on the arm. “Do you remember the time we scaled a mountain to look for a dragon lair in our human form? We did it because there was no way to do it on four legs only to find that there was nothing up there at all?”

“Yes.”

That, he could find his voice for?

His mate glowed in the sunlight. Yes, he loved her, and the second they were alone again, he was going to tell her.

They staked out the cave entrances, trying to find a way in. If he could figure out how to spare his mate from interacting with the drug dealers, he would do that. She’d been quiet. He didn’t know if it was because they were back where she’d been so desperate. This was where she was going to throw herself into decline. Was she anxious about having to find the people who had helped keep her in that condition? Was she upset because he hadn’t said I love you?

Every conceivable entrance was closed. How had the dragons gotten out to attack? There was no way they had left all those eggs without any protection. Not if one of them really had the queen. August gritted his teeth.

If Robert was here—and the Alpha didn’t leave his pack, so he couldn’t be—he’d have told him to relax and wait for the sign he needed to show itself. Only, that wasn’t happening, and August had never been very good at waiting for anything.

Over and over, he seemed to have to learn that lesson.

“What if we reverse engineer what happened to you?” His mate spoke in a low tone. “I found you in the river. The dragons can fly above it. They don’t have to swim. They may just come in and out of it that way now.”

He supposed that was a possibility. “We can’t climb up the waterfall I jumped down.”

“Maybe we can.” Dougal sighed. “There are ways to make that happen. I think, first, we see how the wolves who deal with the dragons are getting the drugs. We check it out.”

Hatred for that idea settled in Auggie’s stomach. He knew it was a possibility. That was why they’d brought Clarissa. Well, that and her healing skills.

But the truth was, he’d have easily made the case they didn’t need a healer. It wasn’t like Robert would have let Tatyana come without him, and Robert couldn’t come. Maybe let was the wrong word. They didn’t ‘let’ their mates do anything or not do anything. But Robert would have found a way to persuade Tatyana to not go, and August would have done the same.

It was this moment—the needing help from the wolves who had sold her drugs—that really had determined why he didn’t give her a hard time about coming.

It was a good plan.

She nodded, touching his arm gently when she stood. “I’m going to need the bag.”

Homer got up, retrieving it from where he’d stashed it behind a tree. “Smart to bring what you did.”

“She’s brilliant.” August didn’t know what she’d brought, but he was sure whatever it was would prove very useful.

She smiled at him before she pulled out clothes wrapped in a small bag. Took him a second to recognize what he saw. Those were the clothes she’d been in when he’d first found her. The scent of the dirt, the drugs, the pain hit him hard. He growled, his wolf surging to life at the push back into the past they had put behind them.

No, his mate was not supposed to smell like that anymore. That was how she’d been when she’d been dying.

She raised her eyes to meet his gaze. “August, I can’t smell clean and healthy. That’s as much a giveaway as you guys walking up and suddenly wanting to buy drugs. In these, I am who they need me to be.”

Words would fail him, so he didn’t say anything. She. Smelled. Wrong. They were all both human and wolf. Somehow he had to outthink this. Only he couldn’t. His ears rang. He wanted to tear those clothes off his mate’s body… and do things to her until she only wore his scent.

“Auggie?” Oliver called out to him.

Dougal hissed a response. “Leave him alone. Seriously. For a good long while, we are giving my brother some space.”

Clarissa looked down. No, he hated that, too. She met his gaze now. Putting on those clothes brought her back to a time when she couldn’t? They had to come off. He breathed through his nose.

His mate stepped back. “I’m going to go and come back. I’ll at least know where the dragons meet the dealers. Wait for me. I was basically alone here for years. I can handle myself.”

She turned and left. In a split second, he decided she couldn’t go. Fuck the not ‘letting’ her bit. His mate wasn’t going into danger without him and…

Dougal tackled him to the ground. His brother only had one hand, thanks to the dragons, and yet he was among the most capable wolves August had ever known.

“You can’t go with her. They’ll scent you. You’re new, and you’re scary. You can’t go.”

He fought Dougal’s hold.

“August Owens, brother, come back to yourself. Use your brain. This is a small thing. She’s not going into the dragon lair. She’s walking to town, then she’s coming back. Easy. I would hate this, too. I had to send Caitlyn from me and tell her to do such a good job hiding I wouldn’t be able to find her.”

“Dougal.” It was better when Auggie didn’t speak. Sometimes he kept quiet for everyone else’s safety. Sometimes there was nothing to say, and it was better not to utter a word than speak the wrong ones. Sometimes he had no control whatsoever. “Get off of me before I kill you and make your mate a widow and your children fatherless. You have no idea how dangerous I am.”

Dougal laughed. “You didn’t scare me when we were kids, and you don’t now. Besides, I’ve got eight other people here who will all pile on top of you if need be. She will be right back. The Knox women are amazingly resilient. You can burn the clothes when she gets back if you want to.”

He was going to tear them to shreds and then hold her until she never smelled like that again. “She almost died. In my arms. In those clothes.”

Homer squatted next to them. “If the gossip is to be believed, she saved your life in those clothes, too. They don’t make her weak.”

That was right. He stopped struggling, and Dougal let him go. “Two hours.”

Dougal shook his head. “You’re going to have to do better than that. It may take longer than two hours.”

“That’s how long until I go find my mate.”

That was the best he was going to do.

“Are you counting in your head?” Homer sat cross-legged watching him. Auggie paced. He had been since he decided that two hours would be his time limit. She had ten more minutes until he went and, yes, he’d been counting the seconds.

The wafting disgusting scent of the dragon drugs on his mate hit him like a brick thrown at his head. She appeared a few seconds later, and he rushed her. His wolf howled. Yes, their mate had come back, and she would not be doing anything like this again.

He hugged her to him. Gross clothes didn’t bother him. She was here. “How did it go?”

“Fine. I bought drugs.” With shaking hands, she gave them to him. “Take them, please.”

He took the plastic bag and shoved them in his pocket. He’d keep it for Tatyana in case she ever had to use the stuff again. Clarissa kept talking. “He’ll be out of product tonight. There was enough of a crowd that he’ll sell out. Follow him. He’ll go to the dragons.”

August kissed her head. “Good work.” He wanted to tell her he’d been scared, but he didn’t. Those were his feelings to deal with, not hers. Instead, he finally spoke what he should have said earlier, whispering in her ear. “I love you so much I don’t know how the world spun when I didn’t know you were my mate. It would never turn again without you.”

She shuddered, pressing her forehead into his shoulder. They stood there like that. His wolf was happy, tail wagging, smile on his face. He’d made this right. She knew now. That was the most important thing.

“I need to get out of these clothes and never get back into them.”

August nodded. “Yes.”

Stalking a drug dealer wasn’t something August had ever thought to do in his life, but as he trailed them, flanked by his mate and eight males he trusted, he had to admit the disreputable male did take steps to make sure he didn’t get involved with the law.

Clarissa called the drug dealer Mac, so they all referred to him that way. August doubted that was the male’s real name. Mac seemed like a good name to take if you didn’t want people to know who you really were.

Mac shifted and that meant only he was moving forward from here. “Homer, like the old days. Get everyone in position. I’ll go forward. Space between us. The usual amount. Silence all around.” He called his wolf to himself.

August could never be entirely sure what the canine would do in battle. But in stealth, he was certain he and his four-legged self would be on the same page. Neither one of them would make a sound.

He was downwind, which helped. During the war and if there was a dragon anywhere in the vicinity, he could do things to disguise his scent. Usually that meant someone nearby had to set a small fire. There was nothing like fire to distract everyone from what was going on. The fire took all their attention.

Mac in his wolf form was either an idiot or he overestimated his ability to not be tracked. Both were possible and not mutually exclusive. He stayed behind Mac by at least fifteen paces. August moved tree to tree, keeping himself blocked when he could. It was easier in his Wolf form than if he’d stayed human.

He didn’t have to turn around to know his men followed. Dougal would hang back until he figured out the process, and his mate would stay behind Dougal. These weren’t conversations August had to have to count on things happening. His wolf trusted them completely.

August sniffed the air. Was that… sour lemons? No, it was just a pungent overabundance of the dragon drug coming from a hole in the ground. Well, now. Wasn’t that interesting? An underground entrance. How completely clever of the flying beasts. No one would ever accuse them of being stupid. Or at least no one who wanted to stay alive would.

Mac howled, and a dragon poked his head out of the hole in the ground before taking to the sky, his wings tucked against him so he was almost a cylinder. The purple dragon landed on the ground, and Mac shifted back into his human form.

August swallowed his temper. He’d always known this was awful, but to actually see a wolf conspiring with the dragons was an entirely different kind of despicable. He’d clearly not properly prepared himself to witness this.

He swung his head around, catching Homer’s gaze a distance away. Now might be as good a time as any to get down that hole. It wasn’t like the dragons were regularly coming up. People would see them.

Homer nodded. His friend understood and passed the signal behind them. Did he have to specify that he didn’t want his mate coming down? Nine shakes to the left would convey the message, and then it was passed on.

It was too bad, really, that wolves couldn’t speak telepathically. That would just make things so much easier.

He charged forward. In a fair fight, he’d give warning, a howl, or a growl to tell the opponent he should expect aggression. There was nothing about dealing with the dragon that was ever fair. They just had to be killed.

All of them.

Auggie couldn’t say at what point in his life he started to see red during battles and lose track of time. It had gradually taken place. This fight was no different. One minute he was outside the dragon cave, the next he was inside, staring at the eggs again. How long had this taken? What had happened exactly?

Next to him, Dougal shifted into his human form. August blinked and decided to do the same. Dougal wouldn’t be shifting if there was danger around.

“Remind me to never hold you down again, won’t you, big brother? You’re scary.” Dougal said the words with affection, yet they did nothing to get rid of Auggie’s overwhelming concern about his lack of memory from the experience.

“I think I may have to stop fighting.” There, he’d said it aloud. “Is… What happened?”

Dougal whistled through his teeth. “If you are losing time, you really do need to stop. Well, you tore and tore and tore through them. I got a few licks in, but nothing like you. The dragons are dead. Our people are not. And just like you said… more dragon eggs than anyone has ever seen are right in front of us.”

August cleared his throat. “Is my mate okay? The others?”

“You’d never have come back to your human self if she wasn’t, I suspect. At least, I wouldn’t if it were me. She’s fine. As you indicated, she stayed back. But she’s down now. In the caves, fixing up Homer, I think. Got a little singed, but he’ll be okay.” Dougal held out the egg-burning formula Caitlyn had invented several years ago. It had turned the tide of the war for the wolves.

Clarissa was good at helping people. When August had been dragon burned she’d helped him and… August’s senses went on high alert. Something was off. He whirled around. Inside, his wolf stood at attention, but his other half didn’t know what was wrong either. Just that something was.

He turned to look behind him in the caves. His mate was there. Was that it? Was something about to threaten her? No…

August jumped toward the eggs the same time a giant purple dragon appeared from beneath the eggs. She knocked some over on her way up, but that was okay. They protected their Queen but otherwise killed their own babies to make the drugs. They were cutthroat in the things they did.

The dragon only had eyes for Dougal, and his brother hadn’t seen it yet, his gaze on the burning solution he had to handle one handed.

“Dougal!” August shoved his brother to the ground, taking the hit of the dragon’s fire on his own back. His brother was shouting something, and then August was on the ground as well. Through the pain of the burn on his human back, which took most of his attention, he saw Dougal shift and take down the dragon.

It was possible to have so much pain that he went numb from it. He’d not known that before.

Homer’s face was in his line of sight, and then Clarissa. No, there could be more dragons. That wasn’t safe. Homer rolled him over. August’s ears rang. Were people speaking to him? He was lifted off the ground, and then he saw his beloved’s face again.

His mate. The gods had given her to him. She was so lovely. He hated to leave her just yet. “I thought it would hurt more.”

“What?” He could hear again. The world was loud. Everything pounded against him all the time. Not just now. “You thought what would hurt more, my love?”

“Dying.”

She sucked in her breath. Where were they going? He should ask, but it was hard to think, to keep track of what he was supposed to say next.

“You’re not dying.” She sounded sure, not afraid. “I won’t allow it.”

“If there is a next step, I’ll wait for you there. Don’t hurry to follow me.”

She shook her head. Her blue eyes were steel. “Knock it off.” Something went into his mouth—it tasted bitter—and then his love was talking to someone else. He wanted her eyes—those blue, violet eyes—on him.

His head floated. What had she put in his mouth?

“It’ll help with the pain. Just this once. It’s twice where you get into trouble. I won’t let that happen to you.”

Had he asked it aloud? Her words filtered through the haze. “Oh, the dragon drug. That’s sort of… funny.”

Maybe he wasn’t making sense. She shook her head. They were running from the caves, smoke behind them. Had they set fire to the eggs? He hoped they had.

“It’s not funny,” she finally answered him.

The world drifted away.

August sat on a log next to his father. He rubbed his eyes. This wasn’t possible. Dad had gone into decline shortly after his mother died. That had been one of the last messages he’d received from Robbie before Auggie dropped out of communication months earlier.

He hadn’t let himself think about his parents. Not seeing them before they left their human lives bothered him as little else did. They’d been good parents. Robbie and Auggie had hurt them when they’d faked their deaths in a way they’d never recovered from. Like the mate he hadn’t known he had at the time. August had really taken selfishness to a new level.

“You’re not here. You’re in decline.”

His father shrugged. “We go somewhere when we give over to our wolves. We don’t cease to be. We just move on, and eventually, the wolves do, too.”

Auggie digested this piece of information. “So is that what happened? I’ve given over to the wolf.”

Dad sighed. “I don’t actually know, son. You were hurt badly, right? You might be dead.”

Well. That wasn’t a particularly comforting thought. “I don’t want to be dead.”

“No one ever really wants to be dead,” his father shot back. “You got burned by a dragon. That usually kills people.”

Yes, that was true. “My mate said she wasn’t going to let me die.”

“Clarissa is strong. Maybe you’ll pull through this.” His dad had always been able to see both sides of every issue. Maybe he was dead, maybe he wasn’t dead… They could do this all day every day.

A new topic was needed. “How is Mom?”

“I don’t know, August. I’m just a figment of your imagination.”

He was? “What is going on here?”

“Well, your mate went ahead and gave you some of that dragon drug. It has medicinal properties. Actually, if Caitlyn were given some interrupted time to work on it, I bet she could make it fully medicinal and take out the addictive nature that is killing so many wolves. Your mate is saving your life. In the meantime, you’re in some kind of delusional state where you aren’t conscious. I guess you wanted to see me, so your brain manifested this illusion.”

That seemed more and more likely, since his father would never have said the words ‘manifested this illusion’ in his whole life.

Well, if that was true, then August was going to say something he’d always wanted to say to him. “I always admired how you never quit, Dad. Those inventions you made, most of the time they never worked, but you tried and tried again. I admired the heck out of that. I don’t think I ever told you. And I’m sorry Robbie and I did what we did. There’s lots of reasons why, but none of them seem to matter anymore.”

When it came down to it, he’d been a lousy son. His father had been great and a wonderful example of how to love a mate. If August really did live through what happened, he was going to take a page out of his father’s book—he was going to love his family the way he’d been raised to do.

The dragons took everything from so many people. August was done letting them take from him.