Page 57 of Enemy Wolf

“Because I lived in those woods!” I cried out. “And I have a nose like a wolf because I am one.”

“And you’re so desperate to impress a mate, you’d even turn to a dragon, your enemy, if it would benefit us both.”

“Shut the fuck up!” I snarled. “I would never.”

But the damage had already been done. I could sense the change in the air, scent my half brother’s smugness all too clearly.

“I’m done listening to this,” the alpha bit out. “You, dragon, are an active threat to my territory and its citizens.” Derric lifted up from his seat, standing on his foot pegs as gray fur rippled over his body. “We’ll return your corpse as a message to those in Shadowburn Cliffs. Howling Death!”

The pack answered his bellowed call, tearing off their clothing as men became wolves. I joined them, fighting my way to the front. The secrets of my past I had intended to bury and leave behind would have to be addressed later. Maybe I would no longer have a pack as well as a mate after this was done. But no matter. My last act as a Howling Death wolf would be fighting alongside my packmates, protecting the territory and my mate.

No matter what she thought of me from now on, I would always consider her mine.

Howling Death rushed the dragon as a single mass of snarls and snapping jaws. We surrounded him, but the coward used his one advantage—flight.

Broad orange-gold wings sprouted from his back, lifting him into the air. I didn’t intend to let that stop me, so I jumped onto a packmate’s back and lunged at the enemy. It didn’t matter if I shared blood with him, he harmed my mate. Whatever his plans with the potion and territory were irrelevant to me in that moment. His blood needed to spill for what he did to Shiloh.

I was airborne for a second, maybe two, when something broad and heavy like a tree trunk slammed into my ribs. The ground caught me hard, knocking out the rest of what little air I had left.

The dragon finished shifting in midair while I wheezed for a breath on the ground, his tail thrashing around in case other wolves got the idea to jump at him. He stretched his long, scaly neck forward, letting out a keening cry. Then, with another beat of wings, he lifted well out of our reach and began flying away.

Some wolves ran, following him from the ground, but the dragon was already climbing higher until he was no longer visible through the clouds.

“Fucking knew that would happen,” Derric’s voice said from somewhere nearby, which meant he’d already shifted back. “You okay, Orson?”

A whine left my wolf’s throat, my ears flattened and tail low with the shame of what had just been revealed.

“It’s alright.” Derric scratched my scruff. “I’ll take your word over his any day of the week. We’ll regroup and find a way to take him down.”

I pulled back my wolf until I was sitting naked on the ground. Derric’s hand rested on my shoulder while I stared at my feet. “Thank you, Alpha.”

He patted my shoulder before standing. “Looks like you should talk to your mate, though.”

I tried to collect myself before rising to my feet and finding my clothes. Everyone else was doing the same, commiserating about the dragon getting away as they got dressed and remounted their motorcycles.

Derric let out another whistle through his teeth. “We regroup at the lodge and make another plan.” To me, he said, “Join us when you’re ready.”

I nodded, and there was no time left to stall as motorcycles took off, leaving me, my bike, and the beautiful witch standing next to it.

“So, it’s true?” Shiloh asked, her tone taking on that deceptive calm while the scent of anger and hurt flared. “All of it?”

I swallowed, struggling to take a deep breath. “It’s true that Mokir and I are half brothers—”

“Oh, so you are on a first-name basis.”

“No, it’s not…” I started coughing, my lungs still aching from being hit by the dragon’s tail. “I swear to you I haven’t seen him in decades. I hate him. We’re not friends, and I absolutely was not in on his plan. Please believe me, Shiloh.”

“I want to, Orson. I really wish I could.” Her eyes glittered with unshed tears, lower lip wobbling. “But you lied again. I asked you not even an hour ago if there was anything else you were keeping from me. And this? The fact that you lied about having a dragon brother is worse than I could have imagined. How could you? After what I told you about my mother--”

I closed my eyes as she choked up, trying to force another painful breath into my lungs. “I’m so sorry, it didn’t feel right to explain it all right then. I…I don’t know what else to say.”

“Probably better if you don’t say anything.” She sniffed and stuffed her hands in the pockets of her sweater. “I can’t go back to the lodge with you.”

Fear sliced through me like claws, my brain grabbing onto her words and reading into what she didn’t say. “You have to, it’s not safe anywhere else. You don’t have to stay with me, but—”

“I can stay with the witch community. But I can’t be around you.” She sniffed again and released a deep sigh. “I need some space to clear my head.”

She wasn’t being explicit, but she didn’t need to be. I knew she was ending it. Leaving me.

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