Page 122 of Centaur Bolt

39

Havoc

Fate, the sharding bitch, was laughing at me.

I led the way along a game trail, which I was pretty sure was taking us in the right direction, but no guarantees. Something I would never admit to the two following me. Although it had mostly stopped raining, the foliage that slapped against me was cold and wet.

The Centaur, or whatever the fuck he was, staggered along as a human. No way he was in any shape this morning to shift to horse, let alone carry anyone. Don’t know what the crystal dust did for him. It certainly didn’t heal him. His entire shoulder was swollen this morning and blackened by bruising.

Riley was another matter. She’d barely slept. Despite munching on the dust like it was candy, she was in no condition to Jump us out of here. Her skin was so flushed it almost glowed, and her scent…

Dragons of old had gone to war over such scents. There was no longer any doubt that, along with the yellow scales, she’d inherited a full-blown Dragona cycle.

Inherited? I’d never heard of this absorbing-a-shifter bullshit. But then, I’d never met a Jumper before, either.

My thoughts had swirled annoyingly all night. So much so that I’d let the Centaur off the hook for the watch shifts. So long as the mini bitch smelled like that, I wouldn’t be getting any sleep anyway.

I no longer doubted we needed a Watcher. A Watcher could stop the cycle. Because if we couldn’t find one—Riley would burn up.

Unless she was mated.

Even the thought sent blood rushing to where it had no business being. Not if I wanted to be free.

And why she would matter to me was a mystery. But, dammit, she did.

I told myself she was just another Dragona on cycle, that mating her would settle her hormones. If she were full Dragon, it would grant her a squalling bundle of trouble in a year. But the mating would break her cycle, regardless.

I could mate her and walk away like I always had. Did my bit. Not my problem.

But it was a lie. Every time I caught sight of her out of the corner of my eye, it wasn’t just my body leaping to attention. This damned woman had walked through mydreams. Had called me down from the sky, made me shift to a human with only a touch. And then, she had fuckingkissedme.

No one had ever kissed me. They hadn’t wanted to. I hadn’t wanted them to.

It was only a dream, but for shifters, dreams could be so much more. I’d never believed in that until now.

The Centaur added a further complication. Every time I even looked at Riley, the energy blasting off him shifted wildly, as though that beast inside him threatened to burst through. He’d clearly like to claim her for his own, and he wasn’t resistant to her scent, either. The fool was currently walking behind her, as if he was in any shape to defend her if the need arose. It merely ensured he traveled with a raging boner as her pheromones swirled around him.

Fuck it all to hell. I had the same issue. Served him bloody right to be suffering for insisting she come along to begin with. But if we didn’t get Riley’s situation resolved, he and I were on a collision course that could only end one way.

The Deranger took no prisoners. Ever.

My tiny fuzzy passenger tickled at my neck, and then, she wandered out from beneath my hair.

The footsteps behind me hesitated. “There’s something on your shoulder,” Riley said. “Is that—what is that?”

I sensed what Fang was going to do only a millisecond before she did it. Tried to twist and grab her, but she was already gone.

She launched herself straight at Riley.

Riley might have avoided the Webspinner if it weren’t for Marcus drooling over her shoulder. She backpedaled into him, and Fang landed on her left tit.

She went to swat her away, but Marcus lunged and grabbed each wrist.

“Don’t move,” he stated urgently. “It’s a Webspinner. They are highly venomous.”

“It’s only Fang.” I reached for her. “She won’t bite her.” At least, I hoped she wouldn’t. If Riley swatted at her, all bets were off. I moved in close and scooped the Webspinner off her, my fingers brushing her tits as I did so. I inhaled and looked down to Riley, now pinned between me and Marcus.

We all froze, hyperaware of each other and of the scent swirling around us. And I couldn’t breathe, because suddenly, I was seized by a sense ofrightness. Like she belonged there, between us.

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