Halfway through breakfast, a tidal wave of doom slammed into Michael.
OUR MATE IS IN DANGER!
His Dragon roared to life, sending him hurtling to his feet and knocking his chair over.
“Michael, what’s wrong?” Hannah’s eyes widened in shock. Children and family, sitting around Jackson’s breakfast table, gaped at him.
“Something’s wrong. At the Wellspring.”
“Oh no! Annie?”
He didn’t answer her. He was already bolting for the car and dialing the pilot of the private plane that had brought them here.
Fly! Fly! No time for planes!
Foolish, but the urge to throw himself into the heavens was maddening.
Planes are faster, he reminded his Dragon. Much faster!
His Dragon raged with disbelief and fury.
Michael didn’t know why Annie was at the Wellspring or who had threatened her. But he knew he needed to get there.
Now.
Tess’ call arrived a half hour later as he boarded the Learjet. By the time his pilots were tearing east toward New York, he knew it all.
The Fangs had seized the Wellspring and the Stiles’ farm. Lorde, Morland, Donnelly and Jackson… all captured, bound by a powerful spell. The Bears had fled. Of Walker, Jackson’s vile Rat, there was no sign. Tess and Annie headed, now, to a motel a safe distance away.
No, not ‘Annie’.
Dakota.
His Mate had lied to him. And, it seemed, this whole mess was her fault.
By rights, his Dragon should be berserk. Nothing enraged a Protector more than a threat to his loved ones. Michael half expected to spend the entire flight fighting to prevent it from ripping through the side of the little jet and flying off.
Yet it crouched, silent, stunned by the shock of this betrayal.
I don’t even know who she is. She could be a member of the Fangs.
Tess said Dakota swore it was a mistake. That she’d been tricked.
Neither he nor his Dragon soul drew much comfort from that.
How could she deceive me? How could she doubt me and fall for their lies?
How could she embarrass me?
Petty and selfish, that thought rang through his head time and again. Amid the pain, shock, and grief, his mind kept circling back to a different emotion: shame.
Embarrassment.
What will the Flight think of me? I Claimed a dupe of the Fangs. I’ll never be able to hold my head up among them again.
Michael had always thought himself Brandon Lorde’s equal. Age and experience gave his Alpha an edge, but that was all. In time, he could be the Master of the First Flight. He above all his brothers kept the Alpha on his toes, challenging him whenever he made mistakes.
Now this. Lorde had never even dreamed of a screw up this big.
Am I really so petty? Does my pride matter most? More than love, even?
He couldn’t honestly say ‘no.’ A fact that horrified him and shamed him yet again.
So, as the jet sliced through the stormy skies, Michael drank and brooded. The doom that haunted him faded to unease. Wherever the women were, they were safe.
Somewhere over Minnesota, Tess texted an address for the Franklin Motel. A car awaited him at the Schenectady County Airport and Michael sped north at once.
A run-down, dingy little strip motel, the Franklin languished too far off Route 90. Newer, nicer places gobbled up all the travelers. Tess’ and Dakota’s rooms were obvious, since there was only one vehicle in the parking lot; a big Harley hog.
Surveying the litter and dead ‘lawn’, his Dragon grumbled.
Our Mate deserves a better lair.
Let me get this straight. The woman who humiliated us and may have gotten our Flight killed… deserves a better room?
Sighing and muttering, the great serpent settled back down.
Tess answered his knock, unsmiling. “Hey, Michael.”
“Tess. Any idea what’s going on at the Wellspring?”
“I know Darian’s still alive – apparently, you Dragons aren’t the only ones who know when your Mate’s in danger.”
Okay. That was something. A big something. “He still at the Wellspring?”
“Yup.”
Moving a Dragon might be difficult, but why wouldn’t the Fangs kill him?
The door to the next room lay open. Movement drew his eye to it. And to a woman with downcast eyes and cheeks blazing red with shame.
Annie. No.
“Dakota.”
“Michael.”
“And… that’s my cue.” Tess snatched up her room key. “I’ll go grab some food and let you two talk.”
Neither of them said a word until the roar of the Harley faded into the distance. Then, eyes fixed on the floor, Dakota sighed. “I am so sorry. I am so, so sorry.”
“Why?” Wounded pride set an edge to that word. “Do you work for the Fangs?”
“No, I work for a homeless shelter.”
Which didn’t make sense at all. Michael began to pace back and forth across the cramped room. “Why did you lie to me?”
“Because I didn’t know you. They said Dragons were predators. That you ate your Mates.”
“And you believed that?” Shocked to his core, he stared at her in disbelief.
“I don’t know what Dragons are like!”
“We’re Protectors!”
“I know that… now. But in most stories, you’re awful.”
She thought him a monster. Some princess-eating beast from a fairytale. Michael shook his head, appalled.
Shame made his Mate’s cheeks burn almost as red as his hair. “I was going to tell you.”
“When?” he sneered.
“As soon as you got back. Once I saw your Flight together, I knew it was mostly lies.”
“‘Mostly’? So, some part was true?”
Dakota hung her head. “I still thought they might be right about Owen. Maybe he was betraying your Flight. I mean, he did bring that Rat.”
Owen Jackson. The guy who just uncovered a corrupt Warren of Hares, working for the Fangs? “That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Michael!” Tears welled in her eyes and, to his complete disgust, they ate at his hard heart like acid. Even his Dragon roused, hissing at him in annoyance.
Do not upset our Mate.
“I’m sorry. They told me he killed my sister, Cally.”
Dammit, none of this made sense. “Why would Owen hurt her?”
“Cally was kind of wild and… and they told me he got her pregnant.”
“Oh.” For the first time, his proud outrage faltered. “He actually might have done that. His Mate Ariel calmed him down, but Jackson used to be pretty wild himself.”
“Wild enough to murder a woman because he didn’t want their child?” Dakota grew still, her eyes drying.
“No. Wild enough to get her pregnant and run out on her, though. He’s got three kids by some woman he used to hook up with. I doubt a fourth would have ruffled him at all.”
Her shoulders slumped at that. “Then I guess I was wrong about everything.”
She looked so sad, so dejected. Some idiotic urge to protect her welled up in his heart. Michael folded his arms across his chest before he could scoop her in a hug and promise that everything would be fine.
Because it wasn’t. She’d shamed him.
“So, what happens now?” Dakota wouldn’t look at him. “Are we still Mates?”
“The damned vows were for all time, so I assume so.” She flinched at his anger and he felt guilty. Him, dammit! The guy who was wronged!
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.” It was the best he could do. He couldn’t honestly tell her he forgave her.
A painful, awkward silence fell. Desperate to break it, Michael cleared his throat. “So, tell me something about yourself.”
Your real self, not the woman you pretended to be.
He bit that part back.
Somewhere, deep inside him, his Dragon keened and chewed anxiously on its talons.
He forced himself to stop pacing as she took a seat on one of the beds. And then, she talked. About her sister and their parents, two real estate professionals with very little interest in raising a family. About her work and how she drifted apart from Cally as her sister grew distant. Her suspicion that drugs played a role in their estrangement.
“I still should have been there for her. It was my fault.”
His Dragon rumbled with disapproval. A feeling Michael shared. “No, it wasn’t. Your sister made bad choices and…”
A Harley’s guttural roar silenced him. Tess popped inside, carrying a 7-11 bag of chips.
And with a familiar Rat trailing along behind her.
“Hey, guys! Look who I found sniffing around the dumpster.”
How convenient. Michael’s eyes narrowed. Walker Smith ‘just happened’ to show up at their hiding spot? Screw subtlety. He decided to be blunt. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Following them two.” The sullen Rat jerked a thumb at Tess and Dakota.
“Why?”
“Figured they’d try to save you Dragons.”
“And what? You’re offering to help us?”
“You? No,” Walker sniffed. “But I owe Jackson. A lot. Like to pay that debt off.”
“Remember,” Tess interjected, “Rats make the best spies. Something we could really use right now.”
A good – if annoying – point.
“Okay, fine. He can stay.”
“Ain’t that nice of you.”
At that hint of a sneer, his Dragon reared up. How dare this Rat challenge him? Michael had to rein it in, hard, before it snapped at the impudent creature.
Driving our one spy away will not help us.
Hissing with displeasure, the serpent settled back down. Reluctantly.
“All right.” He gazed around the room at his allies’ tired, baffled faces. “Let’s figure out how to save the Flight!”