Page 21 of Night's Bride

“Until me, you mean,” Emily murmured as she too sat up. “Do you feel some regret about mating, Vrel?”

The male thankfully immediately shook his head. Vikt did not want to contemplate what might have happened if he had hesitated.

“Never. It just made some things clearer,” he admitted. “And I loved it because I saw how you completed me in ways that Viktcould not… and then when Nash came along, he also did so. But it also scares me because I’ve always shared a world with Vikt. It makes me afraid that everything is changing and one day I will wake up and you and I will not feel the same.”

Vikt’s ears flattened with remorse, and he clasped one of Vrel’s hands in his and threaded their fingers together. “Having room to grow does not mean that I will ever leave you. I like that I will be able to go and hunt with the other males to know that you will be safe. I like that I have Nash’s companionship while patrolling near the den. And that you have Nash keeping you company here whenever I’m not here. And then there is Emily, who is the heart of our family and our den. But it’s not just you and me sharing a world… now it is all of us.”

“Right. I have the worst senses of anyone in our family but you three are stuck with me because we are one,” Emily added as she threw her arms around their necks. Suddenly she blinked and glanced around. “Speaking of… where is Nash?”

“Here,” the alpha rumbled as he stepped warily into the room. “I did not wish to interrupt, but there may be a problem that you should be aware of.”

Emily frowned but staggered to her feet. Vikt rose and assisted her so that she did not lose her balance on the pillows and furs within their nest.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“There is a female here to see you. And she has her triad,” he replied cryptically as he drew away from the door.

They followed him out of the room and down the hall that led to the main chamber. He understood immediately. A familiar pale female wore a nervous expression as she stood there amid her triad. She shot Nash a brittle, distrustful look but it quickly melted away and was replaced with a look of relief when her eyes found on Emily.

“Oh, Emily, thank goodness. Hazhel did not recognize this male here and I was worried that something untoward happened to you,” she said as she rushed toward their mate, her hands outstretched as if to snatch her away.

Vikt considered growling but Nash caught his eye and shook his head wearily. Apparently he had become very familiar with her before coming to fetch them.

Emily glanced over at him and then Vrel and Nash uncertainly but did not rebuff the female as she grabbed her hands and drew her away from them. She did, however, attempt to extricate herself as gently as possible while attempting to draw the other female to a stop.

“Trish, I am all right. You never met my mates Vikt and Vrel, but you just dragged me away from them,” she added with a kindly chuckle as a look of mortification descended over the other female’s pale face.

“Oh! Oh, so sorry, Emily. I didn’t mean to… I just reacted.” She glanced over at Nash and jabbed her thumb in his direction. “And who is that one?”

“Patricia,” Hazhel drawled slowly, “I tried to explain to you that, while the male is unknown to me, he is clearly an alpha. Their alpha,” he said pointedly before glancing over at them apologetically. “My Trish is easily excitable, but forgive her as she is particularly overwrought right now. It seems that there was something that she failed to tell us when we retrieved her. In result, she had a very unpleasant shock.”

Trish twisted her fingers together and winced. “I’m sorry. My mind wasn’t exactly in the right place when we met. And I never truly believed they would do it.”

“Didn’t think who would do what?” Emily asked, her alarm growing palpably so that Vikt’s hackles rose warily in response.

“My brother. He was not pleased when mother and father sent me away for this mating. I admit that I may have cried alot and made a huge fuss over it,” she added, her head hanging shamefully. “He promised that he would send someone to get me. That he wouldn’t let… let… monsters… have me. That he knew hunters who could make the whole thing disappear and bring me home where he could hide me. I thought… I thought he was just making it up in an attempt to placate me so that I would cooperate. But he wasn’t,” she whispered.

Someone who could make the problem—the Ragoru—disappear? The only thing that he could imagine was something he had only heard of and yet it had given him nightmares upon first arriving in the clan lands. Vikt glanced over at Hazhel for confirmation, and the male nodded.

Huntsmen were in the territory.

“It is just two of them and we managed to catch one as he was attempting to build a trap near our den, but the other escaped,” Hazhel grumbled. “We lost his trail quickly. The male is clever and disguises his movements with considerable skill. Truthfully, we would not have even known that they were there if one had not alerted Trish in an attempt to ‘save’ her. They did us a favor as our mate’s impressive lungs were put to good use in alerting us, but the other huntsman was able to take advantage of the distraction to get away.”

Vrel’s ears twitched nervously as he glanced over at Vikt before looking over to Nash. “What do we do now?”

“All we can do is raise the alarm and keep watch,” Nash growled, and Hazhel nodded soberly as he and his triad gathered their mate to them.

It was clear that they were all still highly reactive to what they had experienced. He could not imagine being that close to losing his mate and his family all in one blow. Swallowing thickly, Vikt nodded in turn, which earned a glimmer of respect in Hazhel’s tired gaze.

He did not care what it would take—he was prepared to do whatever was necessary to protect his family.

Chapter

Nineteen

CHAPTER 19

Every day was fraught with tension to the point that it felt as if they were walking on ice, every sound outside or even within their den a source of suspicion that had to be investigated. It was making them all paranoid. Even though the weather remained unusually clear despite the threat of snow in the gathering clouds, what should have been a time to enjoy breaking free from the confines of the house was overshadowed by a potential threat that had yet to be located by the clan. All triads were advised to remain close to their dens and protect themselves and their mates while those unmated formed hunting parties scouting the woods.

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