Page 37 of Bound By My Alpha Mate

“Go get it.”

We waited for Gavin to bring in the wicker basket full of little items the unicorn had collected during her time with the Grandbay wolves. I rooted through it, searching for anything that might resemble the sappy byproduct of the northeastern fir tree in question. “I thought maybe she would have carried some balsam on her.”

“When we originally found Muriel, back in the summer, she didn’t have anything at all.”

“Balsam,” Everett said suddenly, snapping his fingers. “We process balsam at the lumber mill!”

The rest of us sat up and zeroed in on Everett. “Do you have any unprocessed logs?” I asked.

“I bet we do,” he said, already reading my mind. “Let’s go.”

As everyone mobilized, I hesitated by Muriel’s basket. There were some medium-sized crow feathers that she had collected, shaped like darts with their hollow shafts carefully carved into a needle-like point. The unicorn didn’t seem like the type to carry weapons, but I understood instantly what the purpose of these feathers was supposed to be. They wouldn’t look like weapons to the untrained eye. I grabbed a handful of them and joined the others outside; they were already in the car.

The lumber mill smelled strongly of sawdust but even more so of pine when we entered the processing floor. Each of us donning bright yellow safety gear, we approached a room where the logs left over from the day’s processing sat waiting, categorized by length, size, and of course, species of tree. There were five balsam logs, shorn of their branches but still covered in bark swollen with pustules of resin.

“Drain and collect the resin,” I advised. “Then, using syringes, we can put it into these feathers.”

“What are we going to do, stab them with feathers?” scoffed Aislin.

“These are actually darts. We’ll throw them.”

Her eyes widened with revelation. “Clever, Muriel.”

“Clever indeed,” murmured Everett.

We made quick work of collecting the balsam resin, using metal tins from the factory. On the way home, we stopped at a pharmacy for syringes; then, back at Everett’s place, we spent the rest of the evening painstakingly filling all the darts that Muriel had made—fifteen in total.

“I don’t know how much balsam resin dragons can tolerate, but each feather holds at least half a teaspoon. If all of that enters their bloodstream, I can’t imagine it’ll end well for them,” I said.

“Save at least one for Lothair, if possible,” suggested Everett.

“Good call on the resin darts, Colt,” Gavin said, catching my eye.

Praise from Gavin was unexpected. The bridge of my nose still stung every now and then from the scar he’d left me with, but I supposed he suffered the same from the one across his eye. His eyelid always seemed to hang a little heavy.

All of our wounds had come from my father fostering hatred within us. But tomorrow night, we would bring an end to his reign of terror. He was going to pay for everything he’d taken from us.

Chapter 23

Kiara

I’d thought we’d be going straight to the city of Gunnison from Everett’s place, but instead, Sebastian took me into Grandbay, to the hotel where the surviving operatives on his team were staying. There was still police tape strung up in front of the room that David and his dragons had burst into a few weeks ago, the night they kidnapped my mother and killed Aislin’s father. The stench of blood and burning oil permeated the walls even though the hotel staff had tried vigorously to wash it away.

In the Mythguard operatives’ hotel room, I hovered uncomfortably while Sebastian and his colleagues packed up their things. “You can take a shower while you wait,” he offered. “In fact, I recommend you do.”

“Why, do I stink?” I eyed him pointedly.

Sebastian hesitated, implying to me that I did, even though my unicorn lineage tended to remove the worst of my body odor. But then he said, “We have special soap and shampoo that dilutes your scent. It may help you avoid getting tracked.”

I shrugged and did as he’d suggested, removing my clothes in the bathroom and indulging in a steamy shower. Actually, I couldn’t remember the last time I had a nice, hot shower. Usually, I bathed in rivers or lakes outside without soap. Even at Everett’s place, I hadn’t been comfortable enough to shower. I closed my eyes, relished the steam coiling around my body, and scrubbed shampoo and conditioner through my long, silver hair. When I was done, I wrapped myself up in a towel in front of the sink as the bathroom fan worked tediously to remove the fog on the mirror. As I dried my hair, I noticed brown streaks coming through alongside the silver: my wolf lineage contending to make itself known.

It was dark outside by the time I was dressed again. The operatives had finished packing up, so I followed Sebastian outside and climbed into the back of one of the SUVs. “Where in Gunnison are we going?”

“We’ll be going to another hotel,” said Sebastian from the passenger seat. “It’s a fairly busy place, so your scent should be masked by the large number of people there.”

“Are there shifters? Another wolf pack?”

“We’ve already contacted them to warn them we’ll be hiding a shifter there. They won’t bother us.”

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