Page 58 of Enemy Wolf

I had no chance of winning her smiles and laughter again, not with the chasm between us. Not with this detachment she now held herself with.

“I need to know you won’t try to come find me,” Shiloh went on. “You won’t reach out or show up where I’m staying. When I’m ready, I’ll reach out to you.”

There it was, the final nail in the coffin. If I agreed, I would be giving up the clever witch I’d fallen in love with, my mate. If I didn’t, I was a selfish asshole she’d hate even more.

In the end, my instinct to please her, to give her everything she wanted, won out. I may have been both man and beast, but she owned all parts of me.

Through an impossibly tight throat I said, “I will do as you ask and leave you be.”

Chapter 21

Orson

Tryn’s hands moved in front of his face like he was gathering up strings, his eyes not focusing on me but somewhere far away. He pinched his thumb and forefinger of each hand and drew them apart, as if stretching out invisible lengths of string between them. The rest of the pack waited with bated breath as Tryn inspected the air between his hands.

“Orson tells the truth. He did not conspire with the dragon,” he announced. “His truth thread is perfectly intact. No knots or kinks to be seen.”

My chest eased, letting out the breath that I felt like I’d been holding for hours. Still, an ache had settled there ever since Shiloh told me not to contact her. I had a feeling many moons would pass before I felt any relief in the pit of my chest.

“Good,” Derric said from his place at the far end of the great room. “I had no doubts, but for anyone that did, let this be your proof.” The alpha leaned forward, his sharp eyes scanning the room. “Orson is one of us, a Howling Death wolf. The circumstances of his birth does not make him an enemy. The one we’re fighting is an enemy we’ve always known, a scaly bastard with wings. And we’ll drag him out of the fucking sky if we have to.” Derric slouched in his seat, awaiting any complaints or grumbles. When none came, he looked at me. “Now that I’ve squashed any conspiracy theories before they can arise, is there anything you can tell us about this dragon, Orson?”

With everything churning through me at that moment, I was grateful he did not refer to Mokir as my brother or even half brother. I might have done something I’d regret, like snap my jaws or growl at my alpha.

“I haven’t seen him since I was teenager, when I was forced out of Shadowburn Cliffs,” I said. “Of what little I do know, I’m not sure how much is useful.”

“Is he or your—his father, associated with Hellfire MC, to your knowledge?”

“I believe our father may have been exiled from Hellfire. I remember him being very…bitter and hateful toward the club. Especially Aran, the president.” My eyes lifted toward Derric. “Our original theory probably has merit. I think Mokir wanted to drink the potion from Shiloh—” my chest squeezed painfully at the mention of her name “—so that his toxic fire would wipe out Hellfire, giving him an opportunity to seize power over the dragons. And after that, us.”

“And now that he’s been discovered by us, any ideas on what his next move is?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. He flew away when confronted. He…he may try to take hostages? I truly don’t know his thought process.”

“We should have civilians go into hiding,” Ruse suggested. “Bunker underground, ideally. Especially the witches, just in case he’s still intent on getting this potion made.”

“I agree,” Sawyer cut in. “Everyone should go underground. I wouldn’t put it past him to start fires indiscriminately.”

“Orson.” Derric leaned toward me. “Can you put out an alert that everyone in the territory will see?”

“I can push a notification to every phone in the territory, yes.”

“Good, do that. Everyone else, spread out and start searching the higher elevations. Dragons can’t stay in the sky forever. He will need to land in order to eat and rest.”

“He’ll avoid the colder regions,” I said. “If his blood temperature drops too much, he’ll slow down and get all sluggish. So he won’t be too far from us.”

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Ruse quipped before clapping his hands once. “Let’s go, Howling Death.”

The pack filed out of the lodge with a commotion of howls, barks, and growls while I headed up to my room. To send an alert to everyone in the territory, I needed to access the emergency system I set up years ago on my computer for situations precisely like this one.

It was the work of a moment to push the notification out, and I was out of my chair the moment I hit send. Maybe I should have expected Tryn to darken my doorway, but I nearly crashed headfirst into him on my way out.

“Tryn, what?” I barked. “We gotta move.”

“Don’t rush into this like a martyr, Orson.” He had that faraway look in his eyes again, like he was watching something play out in the distance. “It’s not too late yet.”

“What, do you read minds now?” I snapped. “I’m joining the hunting party with everyone else.”

“No, you’re not.” Now the other wolf’s eyes focused on me, his expression knowing. “That was clever what you did, making sure no one would search the colder regions. How do you know your half-brother will be there?”

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