It took hours until we reached the tree-line of the forest the others were supposedly waiting in. Dante circled above us, lengthening his journey in order to protect us, for he would have been there several hours earlier otherwise.

It made me feel gratitude, especially since he'd saved all our lives. Slowly but surely I was seeing the reason behind the golden color in his signature. Though Dante had a hard shell, one that was covered in red anger, his core was soft and gentle. The colors of his emotional signature finally seemed to make sense.

Then again, maybe it was Kendra's influence. I doubted all of it was. Probably a large part, though.

Either way, the journey through no-mans-land was strenuous, to say the least. My entire intestines still felt like they were sore, barely recuperating from the agony they'd been in. My body was sore, and running so soon after having been through an attack on my guts did nothing to make matters improve.

Reece, Emmet and Kendra kept asking me if I was okay, which meant we couldn't uphold a Rukhs' and just ran without generating magic. Running like that felt strangely naked, as though something were missing. But I was appreciative of them caring so much about me.

We had to stop multiple times to take a short break, since my muscles were agonizingly screaming with pain and my stomach wasn't quite as it used to be. Bile kept rising, but I never fully needed to vomit. Still, it was awful doing physically demanding things when my stomach wasn't having it.

Once we finally reached the tree line, the pain and nausea didn't seem as bad anymore. But there was still a way to go until we would reach our destination—the dragons had sought refuge within the forest, away from sight.

I saw Tyrion first. He was the bulky, slightly smaller brown dragon amongst the three. After him, I spotted the largest of the three, Ryker, who's scales were a shining gray that almost seemed to glow white. His eyes were equally bright and intense. He was the polar opposite of the sleek black dragon that I noticed last but felt first. Reagan blended with his surroundings, the setting sun aiding him. His glowing, golden eyes were what would give him away, if anything.

"Leiirin, are you alright?" Reagan asked right away, concern lacing his voice.

I nodded simply. When his huge body arose from his previous laying position and he came towards me, I nearly backed up out of pure instinct. He craned his neck and inspected me with one eye. "I was worried about you. Are you sure you are okay?"

Nodding again, I appreciated that he cared though I wondered why he'd not contacted me at all.

I tilted my head in confusion when Reagan glanced over to Ryker, who seemed to understand whatever it was he told him with nothing but a look. Ryker's gray slits turned to me and I felt something vibrate in the air between us. It was a brief change in the atmosphere and was gone quickly. "She's bleeding internally."

Alarmed, Reagan grew tense. "I got it," Ryker said before Reagan had the chance to reply and the weirdest thing happened.

Something warm flushed through my stomach and the tension and pain completely vanished.

"Are you better?" Reagan asked, urgency in his voice.

I nodded. Whatever you just did, Ryker, thank you. I turned to Reagan. Will you explain this? When Reagan wordlessly shook his head, I decided to let it go and appreciate that the pain was completely gone.

"Where is the shaggy wolf?" Tyrion asked as he let his sight wander through the pack. I felt bad being slightly taken aback that he'd noticed.

Dead, Cora answered promptly, getting straight to the point. Her voice was hard and sharp. Bitterness streaked it with a dark undertone of anger. She directed it towards them.

Though Tyrion and the rest didn't seem to notice. "I'm sorry about your loss," he offered politely. It only made the anger in Cora rise.

You should be, she growled, taking Kendra and Emmet aback. They both snapped their heads to her. Confusion snuck onto my radar then, carrying both Emmet and Kendra's concern.

Dante landed just in time—he interrupted by causing a shattering quake that caused my legs to nearly give out under me.

From my peripheral vision I saw the towering trees in the form of black silhouettes tremor, pines dropping to the ground as they rattled. I could hear little pines drop with thumping sounds as if a herd of animals were stampeding towards us. Birds cried out and flew out of their nests, up into the sky. Did Dante need to be so melodramatic?

Cora was frustrated, understandably so. And she was letting out that anger on the dragons, probably just because they were here and messing up our plans. I couldn't imagine a different reason. She needed this. She needed someone to blame.

"No need to blame those who have been protecting you ever since you decided to leave," Dante answered without much emotion, keeping his calm as he moved closer to his siblings. All four of them now stood beside each other, a palette of colors invading the otherwise stale forest. Reagan's right talon was formed like a cage, trapping the traitors beneath. It was a fist that touched the ground and formed somewhat of a shelter, too. His claws curved inward, rendering those trapped unable to move.

Cora flared her nostrils angrily and took a step closer to the dragons, squaring her shoulders. You are the ones who attracted that thing!

Dante tilted his head, an amused expression forming on his face. I felt his intention to provoke her. "He didn't even know we existed. No one does, darling."

Still, we could have gotten rid of him without you. Your tactic killed Derran!

She was losing this argument and she knew it. She should have also known that the tactic they had used hadn't been one Dante even knew of.

He didn't take long to voice my thoughts, as he'd likely thought the same thing. "Attacking from all angles is not common for my kind. It is for yours. And that's how we attacked. Your friend went in for the kill and that alone was his decision."

Cora growled again but had nothing more to say. I could feel grief take a hold of her again and it washed away the frustration and anger within seconds. She broke down in front of us, howling.

He shouldn't have died, she wailed.

Emmet finally moved, as if he'd been petrified, and neared Cora. She seemed not to take notice of him, or if she did, she didn't mind his presence as he came close enough for their fur to brush.

Let's get some rest, shall we? We've been on the run for hours. We could all use some time to recuperate.

Reece, Jarred and the rest all sent affirmation through the link.

☼

I woke up breathing rapidly, my heart racing as I processed the nightmare that had torn me from my sleep. It was in the middle of the night—I heard loudly chirping crickets and the hoot of an owl nearby. It was otherwise a very quiet and calm night, a stark contrast to how my soul felt. Tumultuous emotions leaked out of me, though I tried not to let them wander towards the others. In my human skin, I stood up from my former sleeping position and decided to clear my head by walking a little deeper into the forest. Walking towards a small opening which the moon illuminated, I took a deep breath to rid myself of all the fear and paranoia.

Once I stepped over the threshold and into the beam of milky white light, I suddenly saw Dante sitting there with his back turned to me.

He was the last person I would have expected to encounter here, in the middle of the night. I hadn't seen the dragons when I'd left—I'd simply assumed everyone was scattered close by, sleeping soundly.

Though he must have heard me approach, he didn't turn around nor really acknowledge my intrusion. Without finding the right words to say, feeling as though I'd intruded in a private moment, I turned to go back. But before I really made the first step, Dante spoke up.

"You don't need to leave on my account," he muttered, his voice hoarse, as if he'd just awoken himself.

Quietly I approached him and let myself slump into the bed of leaves beside him. Closing my eyes, I let the moonlight shine onto my face though it didn't warm my skin like the sun would have. Still, it was a position I relaxed in no matter the lack of warmth.

"How's your stomach?" Dante asked, surprisingly making conversation.

I needed a few seconds to process that he was actually making an effort to talk to me. Taking the opportunity I answered, "Still sore but better, thank you. How's your back?"

I glanced at his back, though it was covered by a black shirt. Not his scales, strangely.

He raised his eyebrow slightly as he noticed. "Your brother's paste seems to help, though it is also still raw."

I nodded, trying to find anything else I could say to keep the conversation going. Asking him about Kendra floated around in my mind, though I was unsure how he would react to that since he didn't exactly like me. Especially not for what I had done...

"I'm sorry for interfering in the process of your bond," I started, fiddling nervously with my hands. I figured that would be a good start, since we needed to start somewhere... Especially considering we were starting to become somewhat close to family. I could no longer deny the bond that kept growing between his eldest brother and me, or the bond he shared with my Maecena.

I knew the hatred he'd harbored towards me had stemmed from my meddling. It was completely understandable, too, but had been unavoidable at the time. Now felt like the right moment to try and explain my reasoning behind it, although I wasn't sure why it was important to me that he hated me less. I could probably continue living if he did, even if it would be a pain in the arse.

Maybe his declination in hostility in the past few days had gotten to my head. Either way, I needed to say what he needed to hear. And apologizing for something that did someone else wrong was never something to be ashamed of.

"I only did it because we were certain you were human. A bond between a shifter and a human is not possible nor is any form of relationship towards anyone other than a promised tolerated. The council would have shunned Kendra. Her actions were much more closely watched than anyone else's, since her grandmother is the Supreme Elder. I couldn't risk her losing everything on something that raised too many questions to begin with."

I kept my eyes set on my hands, driving along the lines on my palm with my index-finger. Dante made me nervous. Especially now, as I couldn't even begin to imagine how he would react. I hoped to all the gods willing to listen that he wouldn't eat me alive.

"I am aware, Ryker did try to explain that to me," Dante answered solely, his voice clipped and his facial expression completely unreadable. I only saw his profile from where I sat, not turning my head fully so he wouldn't notice I was looking at him. Guilt ripped through my heart then.

"I don't think you're aware of the magnitude of the risk you took by interfering. You are also smart enough to know that there has never been anyone before you to even achieve delaying the process of the Promsed Bond. You could have hurt yourself and us. It could've gone very wrong."

Dante kept his tone very balanced and void of any emotions, which meant he was calm. Besides that I could not detect any kind of feelings from him. Maybe he was masking them?

Deciding to leave the situation up to him, without my interference in any way, I refrained from peeking at his signature. I didn't want to risk him noticing, though it would be difficult since he had never consciously felt my signature.

"Maybe I'm not. Smart enough. Be what it may, I am truly sorry. I didn't mean to cause you or Kendra any form of harm," I offered, hoping he would grab on to my olive-branch and bury it with me so there would be hope to move on and maybe even grow into something new. I was sick of hatred within my walls. There was no need for anger. I wanted to leave that behind, back in Everett Valley. I couldn't keep dragging it along. Sooner or later it would destroy me.

Maybe my nightmare of being followed and killed had not only made me insanely panic, but also realize that life was not long enough to harbor grudges nor was it dull enough to keep them alive. Grudges needed to be buried before they even came into existence.

"It will take me some time to accept your apology. But I appreciate you giving it to me." Dante finally turned his head. Our eyes met as I turned mine too, and the sincerity in his made my heart warm up.

"I understand. If you ever need anything, I'll do what I can. I'd like to make it up to you, in any way possible. If you let me, that is."

I tried to add some humor to the last part, though I wasn't sure if he caught on to it. His face remained motionless, and his eyes grew distant. He nodded.

"You can start by waking up Reagan. He's a mean morning-gruff and hates to be awoken before he decides."

And so I got up and walked towards my fate—had I known what awaited me, I wouldn't have gone quite as willingly.