The Mating Season: Werewolves of Montana Book 6

by Bonnie Vanak

Sebastian gave him a level look. “I don’t blame you for hating Drust’s guts. But that’s in your past and Alex is our clan’s future. However, if Sky says no, I don’t care if her scale can spring that whole frigging clan of mine. No is no. Deal?”

  He smiled. He’d always respected Sebastian for serving him without complaint, and for his loyalty, but he respected him even more now. “Deal.”

  “Let’s tell her now; let her make the choice.”

  “No,” Tristan said. “Let them have their girl time. Skylar needs it as much as Nikita.”

  The dragon looked surprised, then gave a wry smile. “Damn, I have been hogging Sky all to myself, huh?”

  “A natural reaction among mates. Come. Grab a beer and show me around the compound while they get pampered.”

  Two hours later, after Sebastian had not only taken Tristan on a thorough tour, but also enlisted his help in repairing a broken limestone wall, Skylar and Nikita emerged from the castle. Nikita looked much more relaxed, her blue eyes shining as she greeted them. He kissed her cheek, needing to ground himself by touching her soft skin.

  Skylar’s expression was troubled when Tristan finished explaining to her what he required. Nikita looked ill.

  “Is it truly necessary?” Nikita asked. Then she bit her lush lower lip. “I’m sorry. You wouldn’t ask if it were not.”

  His mate’s reaction pleased Tristan. She was beginning to trust him.

  “You can say no, Skylar. There will be no retribution.”

  Tears formed in Skylar’s eyes. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t restored Sebastian after he died, Tristan. Anything you wish, it is yours. And Alex is needed by his clan. He is the heir. He is the future of uniting Clan Drakon and Clan Ciamoth.”

  Sebastian kissed his mate. “You certain about this, sweetheart?”

  Skylar nodded. “Let’s just get it over with. Now. The longer I wait, the more scared I will get.”

  “I wish I could administer something to make you feel no pain, but unfortunately, if I do that, it will alter the scale.”

  He looked at Sebastian. “It is best that you not witness this, Sebastian. Your natural instinct will be to protect your mate, and strike out at me. In doing so, you could seriously injure Skylar. Why don’t you take Nikita for a little ride?”

  As Skylar shifted into her dragon form, her diamond scales glittering in the sunshine, Tristan felt his former protégé’s worry, but it was mixed with trust.

  Sebastian went to the large yard and shifted into a silver dragon. He looked back at Nikita, who laughed as she climbed on his back.

  “Hang tight,” Tristan called out. “Enjoy. It is better than a ride on a roller coaster.”

  When they soared into the sky and were out of sight, Tristan turned to Skylar. Her huge emerald eyes reflected trepidation.

  “I will not lie, Skylar. This will hurt like hell, but only for a moment, and when I finish, you’ll be stronger than ever. Strong enough to resist not only disease, but any other dragons trying to defeat or injure you.”

  Skylar grinned, showing rows of jagged teeth, and nodded.

  Tristan gritted his teeth and took out the crystal he had snipped off Xavier’s hair. Then he removed a small silver knife from his pocket, and coated it with coldfire, the most cleansing, and potent of fires. Only with coldfire could he penetrate Skylar’s diamond scales. The coldfire would numb the area, but only slightly.

  Coldfire, his most potent power.

  “One, two,” he murmured. “Three.”

  He sank the blade into the chink between Skylar’s scales. She roared, fire pouring from her mouth, and inside his mind, he heard her human scream. Tristan winced and dug. No time for emotions. He worked quickly, cutting and dropping the bloodied diamond scale on the lawn. He summoned his powers and turned Xavier’s crystal into a new scale, glittering in the sunlight. Coating it with coldfire, he gently placed it upon her bloodied skin. It melded to her skin, and snugly fit against the other scales.

  Stepping back, he murmured a chant and placed a calming hand on her body. And then watched, transfixed, as the sparkling glow from Xavier’s crystal engulfed her body. Skylar’s roar of pain turned into a howl of joy. Oh yes. Feel the power. Skylar would now be practically invincible in dragon form, unable to be defeated by even the most powerful dragons.

  Trust. He trusted Sebastian with his beloved’s life, and he trusted Sebastian’s mate with such incredible magick.

  Finally, the glow vanished from Skylar’s body. She turned and looked at him, her eyes shining as he put the bloodied diamond scale into a protective bag and slid it into his pocket. And then she shifted back, and conjured clothing as Sebastian landed with Nikita. As soon as Nikita slid off his back, Sebastian shifted to Skin, conjured clothing and rushed to Skylar’s side.

  “Wow.” She beamed at Tristan. “That hurt like hell, but only for a moment. The rush of power after? Holy dragonfire, it was almost as good as an orgasm!”

  Tristan laughed, greatly relieved to see her in good spirits.

  “What’s almost as good as an orgasm?” Sebastian demanded.

  “My touch with women, Sebastian. It is almost as potent as the pleasure you give your mate,” Tristan told him.

  Sebastian growled and fisted his hands, and Nikita giggled. “Tristan, please. Stop poking the dragon in the cage.”

  Skylar cupped her mate’s cheek. “Easy, big boy. I said almost.”

  Judging from the way they gazed at each other, it was time to leave. Tristan slid an arm around Nikita’s waist and held out his hand to Sebastian. “Thank you, for everything.”

  Sebastian looked surprised as he shook his hand, but Skylar gave a shy smile as Tristan kissed her cheek. “Thank you, Tristan. For everything.”

  Tristan pointed to the back of the compound. “That back fence is most sturdy now. And you shall not have to worry about intruders or attacks. I warded your entire compound with my magick. It will not fade.”

  Nikita said good-bye as well. Tristan waved a hand and they dematerialized.

  When they materialized seconds later, she looked around with a stunned expression. “I can’t believe it.”

  He had taken her back, to her home, where the portal was to the Shadow Lands.

  The Blakemore Ranch. He knew she would not like what she saw.

  For everything, all she had known her entire life, was gone.

  Chapter 7

  Nothing was as she remembered.

  Tears blurred her vision as Niki walked around the lodge. The entire ranch had a feeling of disuse and even the fresh aroma of pine wafting from the nearby trees had vanished, replaced with the acrid stench of old smoke and ashes. The cabin where Nia had lived was gone, burnt to the ground.

  “Aiden burnt it because he did not want to take chances with the parvolupus disease and your lab,” Tristan told her quietly. “Then Xavier destroyed the remains with coldfire to ensure the disease would never again infect anyone or the land itself.”

  “Gone? That quickly?” she whispered, staring at the overgrown pasture, the corrals where horses had once pranced and played.

  Weeds grew around the lodge, and as the wind rustled through the trees, she could almost hear them sigh with regret.

  “I had asked Xavier to handle any problems with Lupines in my absence and when he discovered what Aiden planned, he helped. It was for the best.”

  For the best. Her childhood home, her refuge, gone.

  “My parents’ graves…”

  “Are still in the forest.”

  Tristan watched her quietly as she went to the ruined shell of her twin’s cabin. “My things…”

  “I’m sorry, my sweet. I salvaged your pajamas, and Nia asked Xavier to save jewelry plus the electronic files on your laptop and all the family photographs, but everything else was destroyed.”

  Everything gone. Her computer. Her diary, where she’d jotted down notes about the ranch and trying to find a cure for the disease. Her lab, all her brothe
rs’ things that she had kept in the closet to remind her of family—like their favorite baseball mitts—gone.

  Even the stuffed wolf she’d had as a child. One ear had been missing and a glass eye gone, but she’d put it in her armchair, for it comforted her on nights when she was so lonely and could not run herself as a wolf.

  Niki sifted through the ashes, not caring that her hands got dirty, not caring that Tristan stood by, watching her. Her life was…gone.

  Nothing was hers anymore.

  “Please go away; leave me alone,” she told him quietly. “I need some privacy.”

  “I cannot. It’s too dangerous.”

  Exasperated, she dusted off her hands, scrubbing away tears with a fist. “Dangerous? What, something will rise from the ashes and destroy me? A phoenix with rabies? There’s no one here and I’m already broken, Tristan. Can’t you give me a few damn minutes to mourn? Stop coddling me as if I were made from glass.”

  He looked away, his body tense, and she realized he had changed his clothing back to the black tunic, black leather pants with the laces, and the soft doeskin boots. It made him look dark and dangerous again, and reminded her of his status as the Silver Wizard.

  Powerful and immortal, a being not to trifle with. But she steadied her nerves. If she never asserted her needs, then she was doomed to become little more than the mild, obedient Lupine she suspected she’d been all those centuries ago. She would never be locked up again, unable to pursue her own dreams and passions.

  Once she dreamed of having a mate who would love her and set her needs above all others. They would have children, and the children would have children, and as she grew old and contented with her mate, their grandchildren would play at their feet.

  Nikita looked at the ruined land. That dream seemed as dead as this ranch.

  “Tristan, please give me privacy.”

  Finally, he nodded. “I will be over by the trees so that I can still keep my eye on you.”

  When he walked away, she combed through the charred remains of the cabin, sifted through the ashes. Maybe her wolf was still here…perhaps she could salvage a small part of it, a keepsake.

  A few minutes later, she realized the futility. Niki stood and fisted her hands. Anger was better than tears and grieving. She had grieved enough when the disease took away her family and all of the pack’s males. Logically, destroying the cabin made sense.

  But a small part of her cried out for the past. Her past, not the one she had shared with Tristan, but her past in this life.

  She was not going to cry, no, not in front of him. Gathering the shreds of her dignity together like a tattered cloak, she walked down the path to where he sat beneath the sheltering branches of a shady oak tree.

  When she saw what he was doing, she smiled a little.

  Flicking its bushy tail, a squirrel ate a nut Tristan had held out to him. Then the animal saw her, scolded them and raced up the tree.

  Niki flopped onto the grass beside Tristan. Her grass. Her property, and Nia’s. No other grass would ever feel the same, for it would not belong to her legally. Suddenly she felt exhausted, her muscles trembling with fatigue.

  “Is that how you pass the time? Feeding prey?”

  Tristan flipped a peanut shell into the air and caught it. “I like animals, and squirrels are not prey for me. Not any longer.”

  “You don’t hunt in wolf form? What about the night you saw me by the bonfire pit?”

  He snapped his fingers and the peanut shell vanished. “The night you were so terrified of me that you tried to run.” His gaze went smoky. “You need not fear me, Nikita. I would never hurt you. And no, I do not hunt prey. If I do, it is to give the kill to a Lupine.”

  She stared at the lodge, remembering the laughter of women, the times when she had come out of hiding to address the elders and play with the children. “This was my home. I have nothing now.”

  “Not nothing. I did ask Xavier to save this.”

  Tristan reached behind him and brought forward a battered stuffed wolf, missing one glass eye, one ear chewed off.

  Overwhelmed, Niki cried out and hugged the toy.

  His expression guarded, he watched her.

  She caught a wistfulness in his gaze, as if he wished to be the stuffed animal.

  Emotions churned inside her. She felt torn, for she wanted to trust and draw closer to him, yet she feared his power and his ruthless streak. But he had not pressured her. Yet. He had not pushed her into sex, though it was obvious from his tension and the hungry way he kept watching her that he desired her very much.

  And then what, once he had claimed her, made her his mate? He wanted to sire a son, probably to replace the son they never had in their past life. And the biggest question of all remained unanswered…what would happen to her and the baby? Would he abandon them as he had before?

  Words were words. Tristan had uttered vows of devotion centuries ago, and put war before her needs. Would he put his responsibilities first now? Surely he must, for he was a being of enormous power and duty.

  She had nothing to guide her except dreams from the past, and her own instinct. But for now, she was grateful he had done this small favor.

  “Thank you,” she told him, squeezing the toy. “This means so much to me. Silly, because it’s just a toy.”

  “Nia wanted to come herself, but Aiden would not allow it, for he feared the disease might still linger on the property. She told Xavier about that stuffed wolf. I told him to save anything of yours that had sentimental value and could not be replaced.”

  Sensing he felt almost jealous of her affection for the stuffed toy, Niki set down the wolf. “Long before I experienced my first shift into wolf, I used to pretend Jax was a real wolf and we’d go hunting. I’d sneak out at night when everyone was asleep and take Jax with me and prowl through the forest.”

  “I know. I watched over you during those times.”

  Startled, she stared at him. “I sometimes felt I was not alone…”

  “You were not. I stayed hidden, for I had no wish to frighten you. But I would not see any harm come to you. By the time you grew old enough to shift, I no longer visited, for your senses were developed enough to warn you I was near.”

  And that was when she had fallen into real trouble and eaten the berries that nearly caused her death, which had made her father gamble everything to secure Pandora’s Chest. She, Nikita, had caused the curse that fell upon the ranch.

  So many choices and regrets. Niki plucked a strand of grass, her throat tight.

  A cool breeze rustled the branches overhead, making her shiver, despite the sunlight dappling the pines. The squirrel Tristan had fed scampered down the trunk, and landed on his shoulder, waving his tail. Tristan conjured another peanut and fed him.

  She was glad to see wildlife return to the ranch, for since the disease, many animals had pushed back further into the deep woods. Perhaps soon the wildlife would take over the ranch. Maybe it could be a refuge for the creatures. Certainly it was depressing as it stood now…abandoned, as haunted as a ghost town.

  “Must we go to the Shadow Lands? If this potion you gave me won’t last and I’m going to die unless you get me to Tir Na-nog, then why not simply zap me there?”

  His jaw tightened as he petted the squirrel, which had jumped into his lap. “You cannot be ‘zapped’ into the afterworld, Nikita. Unless you are dead. The Shadow Lands offer the only safe passage for you.”

  At least he would be with her.

  And then she caught his tension, as clear as his scent change, for his delicious aroma of spices and cedar changed to bitter almonds and cold metal. What was the reason for it?

  She caught another scent, now, that made her stomach roil. The coppery, slick scent of blood. She had scented all that the day Tristan was executed.

  “Are you going with me?”

  “I will be with you as you enter the Shadow Lands.” Torment filled his gaze as he stared at the distant lodge. The squirrel jumped off his
lap and ran off.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “It is not a place I wish to revisit, Nikita. The Shadow Lands for me are…filled with dark memories.”

  Sweat beaded her forehead. At least she would not be alone. She reached for the wolf and hugged it again, feeling her world tip on its familiar axis. Death did not terrify her, but the process of dying certainly did. Not for the first time that day, Niki wished her twin, Nia, was here, squeezing her hand and telling her all would be well.

  “You went there after you died?”

  He nodded.

  “Was I ever in the Shadow Lands? When I died?”

  “No.” He avoided her gaze. “You went directly to Tir Na-nog. Eventually when I became the Silver Wizard, I was not permitted to have any contact with you, not until you were reincarnated.”

  “Why? Why did I go there and you couldn’t see me?”

  “It was…part of my agreement with the goddess when I became the Silver Wizard. Contact was forbidden so I could concentrate on my duties to all shifters as their judge and guardian.” He gave a soft smile. “If I had you in my arms in the afterlife, I would surely have neglected all my duties.”

  “When must I go? Can’t I have more time…perhaps visit Nia?”

  “No. Even now your body is growing weaker. You have little time until you collapse. Once you enter the Shadow Lands, you will be a little stronger, but eventually the potion will wear off. And the danger that followed you to the hotel is growing closer. This forest may be cleansed of the parvolupus disease, but other dangers lurk.”

  Tristan’s jaw tensed. “There are Fae present nearby, and I know not if they are friendly. I doubt it.”

  She reached out with her senses, but scented nothing except the familiar aroma of pine, the stench of charred wood and the smells of woodland animals. And Tristan, whose aroma remained dark and deadly. Nikita listened intently, but heard nothing, either.

  “If there were Fae, I would detect them. I know every inch of these woods, and if Others are present.”

  “There are Fae able to cloak their scents. They can blend with the woods and move through the air like blowing leaves. You would not know of their presence until they strike.”