Page 17 of Dallas

“Stop!” Iris slid between us. Literally. Her feet slipped in the mud, but I caught her before she went down. “This is ridiculous! We have to remain focused on helping Callie. She needs us!”

Hecate glared at me. “I’ll kill you without a moment’s regret.”

“I’m sure you would,” I sneered. “Now isn’t the time. If we’re to reach the top of the mountain, we need to go now. Every moment we spend out here is dangerous—especially to her!” I thrust my arm out, pointing to where Callie still sat.

“He’s right,” Iris cried out over the roaring wind and the roaring in my head as my dragon fought to make himself heard.

My dragon wanted Hecate dead. He wanted the satisfaction of sinking his teeth into her soft flesh. Of feeling her blood run over his scales as the rain drenched him and washed it away.

Yes, that would be satisfying. It had been too long since he’d experienced the thrill of a good kill.

It seemed neither of us was skilled at thinking rationally when in the grip of a tense situation.

“We don’t all need to go,” Owen shouted into my ear. “What if we take the vehicle that’s still running and continue up?”

“Is that even safe?” Electra asked.

“What’s safer? We can drown out here, or get crushed by a falling tree or we can continue. We must reach them! And they might be able to come down and help her!”

“That’s true,” Isla agreed. “Don’t they have a scientist or some such person up there? Someone who knows… something?”

There were too many questions, too much hanging in the balance. Even Hecate looked uncertain, the fire in her eyes dimming momentarily as she considered this.

“I’ll stay with her,” I decided on the fly. “We can wait here, in the SUV. It’ll be safe enough until someone comes back down for us.”

“Absolutely not!” Hecate shook her head, her teeth bared. If I didn’t know better, I would think she was the shifter and not me.

“Someone has to stay with her!”

“Then I’ll be the one to do it!”

“Your mother would never allow that, and you know it. She would want one of us down here with you in case there’s trouble.”

She burst out in incredulous laughter. “There’s already trouble!” Her barking laughs held a tinge of desperation at the edges, the laughter of one who struggled to maintain a grip on themselves. Once again, I softened, just a touch. Only because I knew the horror of seeing members of my clan lying dead at my feet. The certainty that there was nothing I could do for them.

Wondering if I was about to lose my mind in the midst of the horror all around me.

“We’ll both stay,” I concluded, “and that’s final. The rest of you can continue up the mountain.”

“How would we be able to contact you?” Leslie asked, clutching my arm again.

“I don’t know. I suppose you wouldn’t.” I walked her back to the SUV, as it seemed she wasn’t willing to go on her own. “You’ll be fine. We’ll be fine, too. I promise.”

“You cannot promise something like that. You don’t know.”

“I do know. So do you.” I pressed my palm to her chest. “You know. How many storms have we withstood? Yet here we stand.”

She threw her arms around me and squeezed just once before retreating to the relative safety and quiet of the vehicle. Isla followed, then Iris. Owen got behind the wheel, our eyes meeting through the windshield, and Electra sat beside him.

“I still think you should go with them!” Hecate shouted.

“Yes, I’m sure you do.” I brushed past her on my way to the wrecked SUV, which still sat with its lights on and engine running. No sense in leaving that as it was. “Come on! We have to help her somehow.”

8

It was a nightmare.

I should’ve ridden with her.

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