Page 81 of Oath of Revenge

“More about the prophecy. More about the dragon hatching, which sent your grandmother racing home to the cottage.”

Scarlet stared unseeing into the now normal fire. “That was when Knox’s shell had begun to crack, the first crack in hundreds of years of the druids protecting it.” Emotions swirled through her, and it took several minutes for her to breathe through them.

The Elder finally broke the silence. “The slaughter of our warriors birthed a legend among the Growlers. The druids were always revered, but now even more so. You will be safe here, especially now that Wulfric has claimed you as his mate.”

Scarlet looked at the woman. “Except we haven’t really completed the bond, have we.” It wasn’t a question, but she did have one for the woman.

“What will happen if we don’t?”

Elva’s brows rose. “If you don’t finish the mate bond?”

Scarlet nodded, hoping that Wulfric had lied about that too.

Elva frowned. “Then you will both die. No other Growler has ever lived through a mate rejection.”

Scarlet swallowed hard and turned to stare into the fire again. A knot of dread settled in her gut as the truth hit her. She would have to complete the mate bond process. It wasn’t such a big deal, was it? After all, she enjoyed fucking him.

She frowned. “And we just bite each other in the heat of the moment?”

Elva’s lips quirked and her eyes were mischievous. “That’s about it. You’ll need to say vows to each other to seal the magical bond, but that’s all it is.”

“I will leave you to contemplate your choices and these truths.” Elva shifted onto her feet and went to the corner, settling into a wide, wooden rocking chair.

She settled her hands on her lap and nodded to Wulfric. “Wake me if he needs me, dear. Or you too, for that matter.”

Scarlet stared into the fire and took a deep breath, the images of her mother playing through her mind. As a Hunter, she was trained to pick up on details, and she needed to go through each image of those Growlers one by one.

She leaned back against the side of the bed, Wulfric lying near her head on the canvas mattress. His breathing was deep and seemed to be stronger than before her chat with Elva.

In her mind, she analyzed each of the Growlers who had attacked her mother. The detailed combing of her memories made her eyes grow heavy until she finally fell asleep.

A soft hand stroked her hair, just behind her rabbit ear. Her foot bounced as she drifted slowly awake. A soft mewling sound made her eyes flicker awake.

Elva snored in the rocking chair in the corner. The fire had died down. She swallowed hard and straightened, grabbing a few logs and adding them to the fire.

When it blazed brighter, she finally turned to see Wulfric staring up at her from the bed.

He smiled softly and patted the bed with a palm. “Come lay down, bunny. We need rest for tomorrow.”

“How are you feeling?” She didn’t deny him. Her sleepy state made her more pliable to his demands. She frowned even as she climbed over him to lay down next to the canvas wall of the tent.

“Much better now that you’re here,” he said, drawing her head down to rest on his shoulder. He sighed a deep breath, his body relaxing once more.

“How are you feeling?” He stroked her hair, adjusting her head so that her horn didn’t stab him in the neck or eye.

She yawned and snuggled closer to him, pulling a blanket over them both. “Tired. Elva… she showed me how my mother died.”

He tensed beneath her. “Oh?”

Scarlet nodded, closing her eyes once more. “It was the Buspartan Growlers. They wore the dragon circlet on their shoulders.”

“What’s that mean?”

She yawned again. “It means they were Hunters, sent to kill my mother or my grandmother.”

“Hunters? Like you?”

She nodded, pain pressing on her chest. “Yes, I’ve heard whispers of an elite band of Hunters known only as Dragon Claws. They don’t answer summons from the Hunter’s Guild Masters, not in any of the cities I’ve worked in. They’re elusive, to say the least. I thought they were a myth until I saw the circlet.”

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