He’d known they were dead the second they hit the ground.
“How are we going to get them to talk?” Diem pointed to the two wolves. “I don’t have any doggy treats.”
The wolf on the right bared his teeth and growled.
Gideon pinched the bridge of his nose. “Doggie treats won’t work, but Kirin has a shot we can give to force them to shift.” It would be painful.
“And you have no phone,” she snapped.
“Watch them, and I’ll walk to the garage and call from the burner phone.”
“I don’t see a garage.”
“Because I use magic to keep a few places hidden from the world. If you hadn’t had the tracker, they never would’ve found us.” He turned to walk down the wooded path.
She reached out and grabbed his arm. “What happens when the vines let go or the shifters chew their way through?”
“If you’re in danger, shift and eat them.” He drew his arm from her grasp and took a few steps, but he stopped when the air shifted.
One of the wolves had transformed back. Gideon used his powers to bind the man’s legs and arms with the vines. He paused and watched the collar around the man’s neck start to blink red. When the man was in wolf form, his black fur had covered the device.
“Run!” he yelled.
They barely made it out of the way before the man’s body exploded, killing the wolf next to him. An arm fell from the sky and hit the ground in front of them.
“Now what?” Diem stared at the man’s arm.
“We head to Kirin’s house and ask for his advice.”
“They don’t like me.”
“Kirin’s protective of his family.”
She tapped her foot on the ground. “He has no reason to want to help me.”
“Kirin will help us. If he doesn’t, Talia will, but they are our only options.”
Diem looked off into the sky. “What happens if they won’t let me go?”
He would fight to keep her out of harm's way. Taking on three dragons wouldn’t be easy, but he would do everything in his power to keep her safe. “I won’t let that happen.”
“So, this magical garage…” She arched her brow. “Do you say a word three times and it appears?”
“This way.” He turned away from her and continued down the path he’d planned to go on earlier.
“You can’t go that way,” Diem yelled as he walked into a tree. The tree was an illusion. On the other side was his garage.
Seconds later, she appeared next to him. “Wow.”
She followed him over to the garage, and he typed his code into the panel next to the door. Once inside, he grabbed a set of keys from the shelf and pulled her to his sports car. “You ready to go see Kirin?”
“No, but if you think it’s the best option…” She let out a breath. “Let’s go.”