by Zoe Chant
It certainly did seem strange that he’d slipped the note into her mission folio. If anyone had found out he’d given someone – even another hunter – a clue as to where to find him while he was on his own deep undercover mission, it would have put him in a world of trouble.
Alanna swallowed, feeling a chill in her bones. Perhaps Benedict had heard something, but hadn’t been certain enough to say anything. Going against the Hadleys would have put him in a very precarious position, especially if he’d been wrong. Pulling off a conspiracy like this certainly would take a lot of people, some of whom had to be very powerful within the coven. Alanna knew it couldn’t just have been Casper, even if he was, for some reason, carrying a particularly impressive grudge against her.
And whoever had come up with the plan to kill her and use it to push her father into war with the Novaks would have known not to recruit Benedict into their plans. Even if he hadn’t been her mentor, the man who had taught her everything she knew, the Dacre family’s loyalty to the Carlyles was legendary. Benedict and her father were friends – no, more than friends. They were allies. And in the competitive, cutthroat world of dragon hunters, that counted for a lot.
More than can be expressed in words, Alanna thought, turning her head to look at where Magnus sat in the driver’s seat, his expression grim.
She was still getting used to the mated bond. She’d never felt anything like it before in her life, not to mention the idea of having someone else inside her head, who could feel what she felt and think what she thought. And vice versa. The loss of Magnus’ clan seemed to burn just as brightly in her chest now as it did in his.
But even if they hadn’t been mates, Alanna knew it would have been her responsibility to put things right.
The mated bond had given her a chance – a chance to redeem the wrongs that had been done to Magnus. To help him heal the parts of himself that had been hurt. To help him find his family, his clan.
And Alanna promised both him and herself that she’d stop at nothing to see Magnus happy again.
She’d spoken about it briefly with Josie before they’d left – and luckily, Josie had seemed to know exactly what she was talking about.
The mated bond gives us a chance to be better than what we are, she’d said, nodding her head knowingly. As lucky as we are to have them, it’s also a responsibility. Not everyone gets to experience this closeness to another person. We have to make sure we’re worthy of it.
What she said made sense, Alanna thought. She was new to all of this: new to the idea of love, of seeing someone as a partner, rather than a rival. She felt daunted by all she knew she had to learn about how to be a good mate for Magnus, especially after what had been done to him.
But at the same time, she was completely determined to do it. To help him. To make sure his future contained every bit of happiness that had been denied to him in his past.
“We’re almost here,” Magnus murmured from beside her, glancing in her direction. Even if she hadn’t been able to sense his thoughts, Alanna could read his feelings clearly in his mind.
This could be dangerous.
Alanna pressed her lips together.
I know. But believe me, I wouldn’t be doing this unless I trusted Benedict with my life.
Magnus nodded, but he didn’t look convinced.
Reaching across the space between them, Alanna rested her hand just above his knee, feeling the warmth of his skin through his well-worn jeans. The muscles of his thigh were hard beneath her palm, and she felt the same tingling of her skin that she’d felt every time they’d touched since the very first moment they’d met.
“I know him, Magnus,” she said aloud as he turned a corner in the rental car. “Benedict is... well, if he’s not trustworthy, then no one is.”
As she said it, she realized how ridiculous this must sound – trying to convince Magnus that people who belonged to the same group who had collared and enslaved him could be in any way honorable.
But she had to believe that most of the Loric Coven hadn’t known what Bain had done. The Loric Coven was huge, with members on every continent. Bain had clearly been acting on his own when he had attacked Josie and Isaak. And collaring dragons hadn’t been allowed in decades.
“Things have to change, Magnus,” she murmured, squeezing his leg lightly and feeling a jolt of electricity up her arm. “I’m going to make them change. Dragons and dragon hunters can’t keep going like this. My father has been trying to bring peace for a long time, and if some hunters can’t accept that, then maybe...”
She trailed off, uncertain.
Alanna wasn’t certain what she could do to make sure that would ensure nothing like this ever happened again. But that could come later. Change would be slow, maybe. But it would come.
Of that, she was determined.
“Near here,” Alanna said, leaning forward in her seat. The numbers Benedict had given her had translated to map coordinates, which they’d looked up on Google Earth. As far as the satellite photos were concerned, there was nothing there. The tree cover was far too thick to show anything of interest.
But Alanna knew better than that.
Dragon hunters who were undercover tended to do one of two things: they were either extremely hidden, or extremely visible. It seemed that Bain, with all his money and business power, had been hiding in plain sight: no one as flashy or free with his money as he was could possibly have had a secret identity as a dragon hunter.
But Benedict had apparently gone in the opposite direction. He was hidden away in the middle of nowhere. Alanna wondered if he even had a shack or cabin he was living in, or if he’d just been living off the land, hunting for his food and sleeping on the ground. He’d always been the rough and ready type, after all, and had always emphasized to her the need to be able to go into hiding at a moment’s notice, if necessary.
Sometimes, she’d joked with him that he actually liked living rough – but maybe, she thought with a small smile, it had been less of a joke than she thought.
“Maybe it would be better if I go in alone,” Alanna said, as Magnus pulled up on a dirt track, slightly off the road. Magnus glanced at her sharply, and she felt his anxiety rise.
“I know, I know,” she continued. “But remember, he doesn’t know you’re no threat to me. He probably knows what you look like – in fact, I’m certain he does. If nothing else, he would have seen your photo when he slipped his note into my mission folio. He might not understand what’s happening.”
Magnus narrowed his eyes slightly. “You mean he might think I’ve brought you here against your will?”
Alanna nodded, swallowing. “You have to remember, I know you’d never hurt me. But he might just see you as a rogue dragon. It would be better if I could go to him first and explain what’s happened, what Casper did, and how you were the one who saved me. After he knows the truth – the real truth – it might be safer for you to... make your appearance.”
Magnus still looked uneasy, his blue eyes trained on the thick woods beyond. “I understand what you’re saying,” he said slowly, frowning. “And I agree. But still, I just don’t like this. I don’t like sending you in alone.” He grimaced, his eyes pained as he turned to look at her. “If I can’t shift, I don’t know if I can protect you. Not properly.”
Alanna felt a slice of pain carve its way through her heart. She knew what he was talking about. “You can. And you did. I would be dead right now if it wasn’t for you. First you came for me when Casper was attacking me, and then you healed me from the wound he gave me. I could have bled to death. And you shifted. You can do it.”
Magnus closed his eyes, swallowing. “I know,” he said softly after a long pause. “But ever since then... I can’t describe it, Alanna. Every time I try to reach for my dragon, I feel as if it’s slipping away from me, like water running through my fingers. I always knew I had a limited number of shifts left in me. But I’m worried that might have been the last. To shift, a dragon needs to focus themse
lf completely on the dragon, to let it take over their mind. Now, I know the dragon is there, but...”
Magnus trailed off, before taking a deep breath. Alanna could hear the pain throbbing in his voice.
“I thought it might be different, after the dream,” he said after a short pause. “But if anything, the dragon is even fainter than before. But it means I don’t think I’ll be able to shift again – not until I find out more about who I am.”
Alanna nodded. “And we will,” she said, hoping he could hear the determination in her voice, feel it in her mind. “But Magnus, believe me, Benedict is a good man. He held me when I was a baby. My father wouldn’t have assigned him to mentor me if he didn’t think he could be trusted. He’s like a second father to me.”
A father who has actually been present in my life, she thought. A father who was there for me when my real one was too busy with his duties as Lord High Hunter to care.
“I know,” Magnus said. “But all the same, please, be careful.”
Alanna gazed into the clear blue of his eyes and swallowed. She could hear everything he wasn’t saying as well.
She shivered. And he was right, she had to admit. If someone had told her last week that she would be betrayed by a fellow dragon hunter as part of a conspiracy to start a war with a dragon clan they’d had a peace treaty with for decades, would she have believed them?
Probably not.
“I promise you, I’ll take care,” she whispered, leaning in to kiss him.
Fire leapt between them, just as it always did whenever their skin touched. Warmth flared through Alanna’s chest, and she could feel an answering heat growing in Magnus’s as he kissed her. It was almost as if she could feel everything he felt, amplifying the sensations that raced through her own body, heightening them...
She pulled back, gasping for breath, even as she wanted to stay. Such intensity of feeling, of pleasure, was something it was going to take a long time to get used to.
From the way Magnus was looking at her, she could see that he felt the same way.
“I should go,” Alanna said, her breath still heavy in her chest. “Every second, every moment that goes by could be crucial. I don’t know what Casper and whoever he’s working with are planning, but I can’t let it happen.”
Magnus nodded, the determined, wary look coming back into his eyes. “Remember that I’m here,” he said, as Alanna opened the car door. “Call for me. I’ll hear you. And I’ll come.”
Alanna turned to look at him as she stepped out of the car. “I know,” she whispered.
Chapter Twelve
Alanna
The woods were even denser than they’d looked.
Alanna was hurrying, jumping over fallen logs and avoiding low branches as she made her way through the thick undergrowth. She could feel sweat crawling down her back, the heat of the day still heavy even in the shade of the trees. Pausing, she crouched, looking around.
There were signs here – signs that no normal person would be able to pick up, but which she as a dragon hunter had been trained all her life to spot. The little signals hunters left for each other, or to show each other the way through unfamiliar terrain. A pale scratch against a tree trunk here, a knot of vines there. They were virtually invisible, but to Alanna, they might as well have been beacons pointing the way.
Benedict may not be here, she thought as she studied the fallen log in front of her. He may be out on his mission... or maybe he was called back. Maybe I’m too late.
Swallowing, Alanna pushed the thought from her mind as she found what she was looking for: a small, curved indentation in the log, telling her to go right.
No, she decided as she set off again. If the Hadleys were planning something, it would make more sense to have any hunter who was loyal to her father to be away while they did it. The fewer people her father could count on, the better.
Pushing aside a branch, Alanna felt a clutch in her heart as she realized just how difficult the task ahead of her truly was.
All I have is hope...
But no. No, that wasn’t quite true.
I also have Magnus.
No matter what happened, she was determined to get justice for him.
It was only a few moments later that she finally found what she was looking for: a rustic shack, almost hidden amongst the trees. Moss covered the roof, and it looked as if it had been abandoned.
But Alanna knew that that was far from the truth.
Or at least, she hoped so.
Slowing, she paused as she gazed at the shack. There didn’t seem to be any signs of life there. But then, that was the mark of a really good undercover hunter. You wouldn’t know they were there until they were upon you.
And Benedict...
...Well, he was one of the best.
It was likely he’d even heard her coming, if he was here, and was waiting to find out who exactly she was before he revealed himself.
It’s now or never.
Stepping out from behind the tree and walking toward the cabin, Alanna held out her hands.
“Benedict! Benedict, if you’re here, please—” Alanna paused, realizing she wasn’t sure what she wanted to say, or how she could possible explain what had happened. “I need your help,” she finally settled on.
Benedict was her mentor. Even if she’d seriously broken dragon hunter protocol by coming to him while he was on a mission, he was the one who had told her where to find him. Surely he’d understand?
“Alanna?”
Alanna couldn’t stop herself from gasping as she heard that familiar voice.
She hadn’t realized just how desperate she was to see Benedict – not just because she knew she’d need his help, but to reassure herself that some things in her life were real and true. Casper’s betrayal had shaken her world to its core.
“Benedict! It’s me!” she called out, twisting her head this way and that as she tried to find him in the dense wood despite the fact she knew that with a hunter as skilled as Benedict, she wouldn’t be able to find him unless he wanted to be found.
Thankfully, it seemed he did.
Relief flooded through her body as at last Benedict appeared – climbing down from the tree he’d been hidden in, utterly invisible to the naked eye. She made her way over to him quickly, standing at the base of the tree by the cabin as he swung down from the high branches with strong, easy movements.
When she’d been small, she had been in awe of Benedict’s strength, and dreamed that one day she would be as strong as he was.
At last, a few feet from the ground, he let go, dropping into the ferns and undergrowth in front of her.
“Alanna,” he said again as he stood, his voice quiet. “What’re you—”
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I know I’m compromising your mission, but believe me, I wouldn’t—”
She broke off as she saw something she hadn’t expected flit across his weathered face.
For a moment, it was almost as if she had seen a look of...
... Of anger. Or disbelief.
Deep in her gut, Alanna felt a sudden coldness.
But then it was gone, and Benedict was looking at her with nothing but concern.
“Alanna, what’re you doing here?” he asked, reaching out and clamping her shoulder in one of his strong hands. “Weren’t you on a mission?”
Alanna blinked, looking down at his hand. The coldness in the pit of her stomach hadn’t gone away. Benedict’s fingers were digging into her shoulder.
Almost as if he’s trying to stop me from running away.
The thought was in her head before she could stop it, and Alanna almost shook her head to get rid of it.
Benedict was her mentor. He was her father’s best friend. He wouldn’t – he would never—
“I... I was,” she said, turning her head to look up at his face. She searched it for any of the anger she had seen in it just moments before, but all she saw in his eyes was concern.
But his fin
gers are really starting to hurt my shoulder.
She swallowed. “I was,” she tried again. “But there was a... complication.”
“There must have been, for you to come out here to find me,” Benedict said, the hint of a smile ghosting over his face. “When I left you that note, I never expected you’d actually need it. What happened?”
Alanna frowned. Maybe he hadn’t suspected anything after all. Maybe he’d just given it to her as a precaution.
“It’s difficult to explain,” Alanna said. She wanted to tell him more – the words were on the tip of her tongue: Casper betrayed me. He stabbed me – he intended for me to die. I don’t know what he’s doing, but he’s not working alone. We have to warn my father...
But somehow, she couldn’t force the words past her lips. Alanna stared up into Benedict’s gray eyes as if searching them. Every instinct she had was warning her that something was wrong. The flash of anger she’d seen in his eyes was like nothing she’d ever seen before.
“If something’s happened, you need to tell me,” Benedict said, his voice grim, lips pulled tight in concern. He glanced up, looking toward the tumble-down cabin. “Are you alone? Did you come straight to me?”
“I – yes,” Alanna said, the lie slipping out of her mouth before she had time to think about it. “I just – I—”
What’s wrong here? She thought wildly, as Benedict’s fingers dug even more tightly into her shoulder. Benedict is my friend, my mentor. I need to tell him everything right away...
“You should come inside,” Benedict said. “Sit down, explain to me what’s going on.”
His eyes hadn’t left the shack.
Alanna looked over her shoulder as Benedict’s hand tugged at her, almost pulling her toward the cabin.
Danger. Something’s not right.
Alanna almost shook her head to dislodge the sudden thought.
No. No. I don’t believe it. I trust Benedict.
But the thought – and the terrible creeping fear in the pit of her stomach – wouldn’t leave her.