Page 19 of Mates for the Rejected Wolf

I don’t get the insult, but I can only assume it means the Nightshade Hunters know all about Roddrur and they are here to cause issues. I shoot Slane a panicked look. How are we going to get the message to Griffin and Roddrur now? I don’t think he should make an appearance today. Slane must be thinking what I’m thinking, because he quickly fires off a text message. I hope that gets through to them quick enough to put a stop to everything.

“Well, I can’t make any promises,” I reply with a thin smile, “but I can let you know all about the legends of the lake and the histories of our town.”

Madison boos quietly. It’s not going to be the easiest thing to feign confidence when she is determined to make me look stupid. Thank God I have Slane here; that makes me feel a little better. I honestly don’t know how I managed to do these tours alone before.

The boat pulls away from the dock and I start my speech, one I’ve given more times than I can count.

“Hey, I can’t hear you,” Madison says, interrupting me. “I’m coming to sit closer to you, because I’m interested in this.”

Digby doesn’t move with her, which only amps up my nervousness. What the hell are they planning? Why does it feel like I am being cornered? I swallow hard and keep talking, trying my best to take comfort from Slane’s presence.

“Whoa, what is that?”

Shit. Someone is standing up with their camera in hand. That only happens when…

“Look, it’s the dragon! It’s real!”

I snap my head up to see that my worst nightmare has come true. Griffin didn’t get the message quick enough, or he didn’t pass it on to Roddrur, because there Roddrur is, soaring in the sky above us, his great magnificent reddish body glowing. Of course a million pictures are taken, but Madison isn’t one of the people with her phone sky high. She rises to her feet with a smug smile on her face and a “gotcha” look in her eye.

“Fuck you, dragon freak,” she hisses. “You might think you have Jace exactly where you want him, but he knows the truth about you now. He knows all about you.”

I don’t knowwhatshe’s talking about, but I don’t get a chance to ask any questions as she slams her hands so hard into my chest that she knocks the air out of my lungs. I tumble backwards and hit the bars hard. I barely even realize what’s happening. It’s hard for me to process that I’m falling towards the water. If I go in, everything might go to shit…

Slane wraps his arms around me, saving me from going over. He’s my freaking hero.

I grip on to him tightly, wishing that I could express my gratitude, but a loud bang rings out before I can say anything. Some people scream and others fall into a deathly silence. I look towards where the sound came from and see Digby with a gun in his hand and he’s pointing it at the sky. At the gorgeous beast who is now howling in what I can only assume is pain. My brain tries desperately to connect the dots, to fix the jigsaw pieces together so that the picture makes sense, but I can’t do it.

“Shit, Digby,” Slane yells, agony and fear lacing his tone. “What did you do?”

Digby turns the gun on Slane, and guests fall to their knees in terror. “You think we can just allow a terrifying beast like that to roam our skies?” Digby yells, but there is a calmness to his voice that I’m sure others will mistake as rationality. “We know nothing about dragons. Only that they can breathe fucking fire and destroy towns in an instant. Are we really going to allow Iron Mountain to be destroyed like that? Huh? Where is it even going? Back to its little cave so it can spy on us from a distance? I don’t know about you, but I think we should destroy itnow.”

I glance at Slane. If we make a wrong move here, we risk everything. Digby could turn his gun on anyone on this boat. He looks crazy enough to do just about anything.

“I think we need to kill this fucking beast before it destroys us all,” Digby continues, glancing around to make sure everyone is really listening to him. “I don’t think we can leave Iron Mountain vulnerable like this.”

“This bitch wants us all to die.” All of a sudden, Madison jumps up and grabs me. “She fucking loves dragons because she is one herself. Why don’t you tell everyone?”

She swings at me, and chaos erupts. Everyone seems to be yelling and fighting, losing their damn minds. This boat tour has gone to shit, and it will be a God damn miracle if we make it out of this alive.

12

RODDRUR

The pain burns through me, making me want to tear myself limb from God damn limb. I barely make it back to the cave before I collapse, half shifted into my human form because of the bullet that ripped through my wing.

“Fuck, what the hell happened?” Griffin runs to my side and starts looking over my wing, assessing my injury. “I told you not to go out there. Slane said not to—”

“I know!” I yell, the agony I’m feeling so intense. “I didn’t want to leave Fern down there in danger, and now she is. Shit is unraveling on the boat. Go help her,” I beg. “Make sure she is okay. Don’t let all of this be for nothing.”

He’s torn. Of course he is. His focus has always been on me. He’s only ever had to focus on me. I’m his best friend and his duty, but now our world has widened, and Fern is far more important than I am.

“Go!” I scream. “Make sure she’s okay.”

After a brief moment of doubt, he flies off, leaving me alone to care for my wing. Thankfully, I have a selection of medication in there that I’m sure will help me. My family has always been good at creating medication, so I wanted to keep up the tradition. It hasn’t always been fun to sit around and do nothing, so I concocted cures to keep me busy. Thank God, because it’s going to help me now.

I grapple with the bottles, trying to recall which one will be best for me now. The pain is sizzling in my brain the same it is in my wing. Why was that asshole Nightshade Hunter even on the boat? It could be another stupid, menacing way to upset her, but this felt different. This wasn’t just the normal threats that they have been sending her way. Shit is getting real.

I land on the right bottle and pour the liquid all over my wing. Probably too much, but I will doanythingto stop the agony from shredding through me. As the medicine works its magic on me, I lie back and close my eyes, wincing as my body finally recovers enough to fully return to my human form.

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