Filed To Story: Traded To The Lycan King Novel (Colette & Merikh) by MG Wattsons
“No. I think Teiran and I will be able to take him on while you get the egg.”
She scoffs, looking away before she looks at the ground, her tongue pressing against her inner cheek as she tries to find patience.
“You want me to steal the egg and run off and leave you two to fight a Fae?”
“I have fought many Fae.” Teiran says, his tone flat and unoffended.
“See? Between the two of us, one has fought fae, before. It will be fine.” I tease her and she glares at me, then her tongue darts out and licks her lip, wetting the plump rosy flesh. My lycan stirs, wanting to come forward and take her and yank her to me and claim her. But that’s not something we will do, or can do.
“Hah, Hah.” She barks out a fake laugh. “So happy you found a sense of humor now.”
“You are the one who wanted to split up. This was kind of your idea if you think about it.”
“Great. You get yourself killed and I get the blame for it. How quant for me.” She mutters, stalking off. “How does this plan mean he will die?” Teiran asks, giving me a bemused look before following after her.
“I need quiet, Teiran, if I am supposed to be finding a trail.” She hollers up to the sky, so she doesn’t have to look at us. “Probably shouldn’t be yelling then.” I call out to her and I hear her grunt before she shoots me an annoyed scowl.
“I liked you better when you were mean.” She hisses, then turns around, stepping to the left and into the trees.
“She said she didn’t get much sleep last night. I assume that is where this temper comes from,” Terian says, his eyes wide, looking a little shocked by her change in mood.
“That and she is hungry. And thirsty.” I exhale.
“Mmm, the trifecta.” He muses. “Do we have anything for her?”
“Yes. I do.” I say, holding up the spare bag I packed especially for her.
“Do you plan to give it to her?” He asks, quirking a brow. “Or are you going to wait for her to realize she needs a snack?”
I snort, shouldering both straps to our bags and pat them gently with a grin on my face.
“She’s a big girl. She can tell us when she is hungry or needs a drink.” Then I walk with him chuckling behind me.
“One would think you two are in love.” Teiran says more to himself than to me, so I don’t respond. I don’t dare hope to think love can exist between Kyra and me again.
This mate bond is here, thriving and pulling me in, but I know all too well that a mate bond isn’t instant love. That is part of my pain over Leandra. Knowing her, wanting her but yet having the chance to truly love her the way she deserved. And giving that opportunity to anyone else…it feels like a dishonor to her memory.
“Hey!” Kyra hisses under her breath, breaking through my inner thoughts, snapping her fingers frantically. “Get over here. I found blood.”
“He is baiting us.” Teiran gruffs, looking around for something more than the few droplets that linger on the ground.
“Or it’s someone else.” I mutter, focused on the way the blood seems different. Pinker, almost like paint from the store in shades lighter than blood red.
“Both of you are wrong,” Kyra murmurs in thought, scooping up a leaf with some of it on it as she brings it closer to her nose and sniffs.
“And what makes you think that?” Teiran asks, walking over to her.
“There is fur in it,” she explains, but he huffs in disagreement.
“The fur could have happened before or after the blood was here.” He parries.
Kyra shrugs, her smooth locks falling over her shoulder and swinging toward her face as she looks carefully at what’s in her hand.
“I suppose that could be true, too. But this blood smells like a deer.
“Then why is it pink?” He frowns and I grin. It feels nice to know a little more about this than others.
“It’s from the lungs. It’s more oxygenated and therefore looks more pink than red. Do you not hunt deer very often?”
Teiran looks at me with a blank stare, “We don’t hunt our deer the same way you do.”
“Right,” I mumble, remembering he is a big ass dragon under that human skin. He probably doesn’t have to chase and tackle, but does more swooping and swallowing.
“Are you sure it is a deer?” He asks, as Kyra stands and walks further from us.
We follow her, watching as she processes everything in her head, her eyes focused and her mind unable to hear anything we are saying now. Until she stops and places her hands on her hips.
“I am positive.” She says, looking back at us and then nodding forward to where a dead deer hangs, partially butchered.
“Ezrah?” I ask, moving closer, looking at the jagged cuts closer.
“Most likely,” Kyra says.
“Well, at least we can salvage what he left.” Teiran says, moving closer and proceeding to process the rest of the deer.
I can see Kyra already moving forward in her head, her eyes scanning the different ways Ezrah could have potentially gone. She moves forward, passing the deer and stepping into a tiny clearing where she places her hands on her hips and sucks in her bottom lip, chewing on it intensely.
I want to follow her, like a shadow forever attached to her but always beneath her, but it feels somehow invasive to see her like this, in a way I have never known her to be.
This is the version Tyler knew, the version he helped to shape, and that she loves so much. It feels wrong to admire her for it and yet…her focus is adorable and her commitment admirable.
“You follow her and see what else you two may find, then come back for me.” Teiran says from behind me. “There is enough meat here that we can turn it into jerky and have supplies for some time.”
“Are you sure?” I ask him and he snorts a laugh.
“I have been out here on my own for a long time.” He responds and I smirk.
“I mean, are you sure you know what you are doing? Because it looks to me like you are cutting that deer like a novice.” I wince as he just takes chunks out of the veal.
“Meat is meat, no matter how it is cut.” He says, looking mildly confused. “Now go before she leaves you.”
His eyes look at where Kyra was moments before, but now there is nothing but a hint of her scent left behind. I follow it, weaving through trees until I see her. Her fingers touch various trees before she swoops down, touching the mossy ground. Then she drops to her knees and listens to the ground, popping up with a disappointed frown.
I see it before she does, the quick movement under the trees on the opposite side. My eyes stuck on the thing as it darts around, before stopping and standing at the edge of the light that shines through the trees.
I stride to Kyra, coming up next to her, my hand sliding up her lower back to alert her to my presence. She shakes her head out of a daze, then blinks at me, a curious shimmer in her eyes.