Page 16 of The Alpha's Rejected Mate

“Of course I will, Gavin, no worries,” Everett said. “And thanks for the heads up. I’ll be sure to investigate it.”

The phone wasn’t on speaker, but with her shifter blood, Aislin’s hearing was heightened and she’d heard Everett. As Everett said, “investigate,” Aislin’s eyes bugged out. The obsessive look shealwaysgot when chasing anything Mythguard related wound over her face. The reason I’d even heard about Mythguard was because of Aislin. As well as being headstrong and opinionated and a pain in my ass most of the time, she liked to seek out any rumors about the secret organization.

I’d lost count of the number of times she’d convinced me to go on wild goose chases because of some story she’d overheard in the Pioneer. Her latest wild theory was that Everett was part of Mythguard.

I rolled my eyes, biting back a smile. All Alphas would “investigate” dragon shifters being in Gunnison Park. It didn’t mean he was part of Mythguard.

“Thanks, Everett,” I said. “Take it easy.”

As soon as he hung up, Aislin exclaimed, “What did I tell you? Didn’t he sound totally official?”

“You’re obsessed,” I said.

Aislin flinched. “Am not,” she said defensively, to my surprise.

“Sure, you totally don’t have a hard-on for Mythguard.”

She blinked, then shrugged, looking much more at ease. “It’s healthy to have interests outside pack duties,” she said, “You should try it.”

“So, I suppose you want to wait for Mythguard to investigate the dragons’ trail—” I began.

“And let them have all the fun?” Aislin interrupted. “I don’t think so. What do you say to a nighttime stroll?”

I was up in a shot, blood zinging through my veins, eager to be back out there and one with the wild woods.

Aislin ran back to her parents before shifting and informed them where we were off to, telling them to be on call should we summon them and the pack. Despite relishing the shift to my beast’s form, as Aislin and I took to the wood’s trail, there was definitely a sense of expectation weighing me down.

We were on the hunt. We investigated by Pine Creek first, but the dragons’ scent there was stale and days old. We took to the trail leading into Dalesbloom lands, tracking a fresher scent of ozone and sulfur. As we stalked through the dense trees of Dalesbloom, both mine and Aislin’s ears swiveled lower against our skulls, as the trees were definitely tainted by the thick scent of dragons.

Anticipation zipped through my wolf as I sensed that we couldn’t be far from the beasts we hunted, given the pungent aroma. But suddenly, pain fired through my left flank, and I almost buckled to the forest floor.

Instinctually, I knew deep in my bones that it had come from Billie. It was common for fated mates to have a telepathic ability, which would be sealed when they marked one another.And despite having rejected her, I couldn’t ignore her pain. She was in trouble, and just as the urgency to see her after the Moondream had slammed through me, now the urge to find her shot through me. I tore through the Dalesbloom woods with Aislin hot on my heels.

We hurtled out into a clearing where four dragons stood, and not a moment too soon. My wolf’s eyes hit upon two who were closing in on the obviously wounded sandy wolf on the forest floor. A deafening snarl split the air, and it wasn’t until I was in front of the sandy wolf that I realized it was rumbling from out of my throat. I was twice the size of Billie’s sandy wolf, and as I leaped between her and the two dragons, my bulky frame caused the ground to resound.

Distantly, another surprise hit me as I took in aunicornfighting on the other side of the clearing with the two other dragons.

Aislin’s howl pierced the night from behind me. She was summoning the Grandbay Pack to us. Thank Vana, we were on the borders of Grandbay and Dalesbloom land, near enough for our pack to hear.

In a moment, my friend was beside me. We each took on one of the dragons.

I engaged the huge female dragon. Aislin and I moved with precision, targeting the dragons’ tender hides beneath their legs and darting in to bite their soft undersides whenever we got the opportunity.

We both focused on protecting the injured wolf rather than the unicorn, who seemed to be keeping the dragons at bay as she reared up on her hind legs, flashing her horn toward them. Abright light radiated from it, and the dragons kept backing away each time she presented the horn to them.

The dragons roared with fury at the unicorn, but I noticed they didn’t use their fire on her. The dragons on our side of the moonlit clearing didn’t use their fiery breath on us either. I reckoned that they wouldn’t, as they were set against accidentally injuring the unicorn.

For a moment, anger fired through me again about Billie involving herself in this dangerous situation. But then, I focused wholly on my adversary.

The huge female snapping her jaws at me kept using her massive wings to propel herself forward. Her wingspan was so vast that she dimmed the light of the moon as she spread her leathery wings to propel herself.

Then, howls, snarls, and the beat of dozens of paws punctured the air as the Grandbay Pack careened into the clearing. In a moment, I felt the electric energy of the attack zipping through my packmates as they bit and clawed at the dragons. As I dodged out of the way of the female dragon’s talons, three other wolves surrounded her as they came to my aid. With reinforcements, she twisted her long neck up, snarling at each of the wolves as it was her turn to twist and back away from each one of their attacks.

With one last futile snap of her massive fangs in my direction, my adversary took off. Within a few moments of the Grandbay Pack filling the dell, all four beasts spread their wings and climbed into the night. The thud of their wingbeats hitting the sky was like the crash of waves against cliffs until theyclimbed so high that they and the noise disappeared into Earth’s stratosphere.

My wolf approached Billie’s on the ground. The fur on my back bristled with anger as I took in the deep tear in her side. What had she been doing out here alone? She’d almost gotten herself killed. Was she so green that she thought she could take on two dragons?

But my anger waned as her bright green eyes, limned with pain, turned on me. My fur receded, and flesh clothed my bones as I crouched down to examine the wound. I scanned the wolves in the clearing for Helen, the pack healer, when the unicorn wandered over.

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