Page 19 of Tamhas

If my dragon told me to be cautious of him, I knew his was telling him the same of me—even more so, perhaps.

“How did she come to find out about us?” he asked, eyeing me up and down.

“I can’t tell you that. I honestly don’t know. I would like to go back there and see her, find out for myself. She might be more forthcoming with me.”

“But how do you know her at all?” Leslie asked.

Other than Alan, who was our leader, she was the first to speak up, which opened the floodgates and gave the rest of them permission to voice their questions. Who was she, how did I meet her, how did she know me, how long had this been going on, did I know she was a Blood Moon Priestess when we met?

“All of you, silence!” Alan raised his hands above his head, above all of our heads, and his voice towered over the echoing, ear-splitting roar. “We’ll learn nothing this way. Tamhas is right, he should go back to the woman and speak to her on his own. We’ll find out more about how she came to find us, what her business is, and the rest.”

“And if she doesn’t speak to him?” Ainsley challenged, asking Alan but staring at me. So, she didn’t take well to a human beating her down, either. I happened to glance at Dallas and found that he was just as resentful. His dragon screamed and raged, which my dragon picked up easily.

“Well, we’ll find a way,” Alan decided with a careless shrug. “If she doesn’t wish to speak while we’re being polite, we’ll stop being polite. She’ll see that we mean business soon enough.”

They would torture her until she gave them the information they wanted. I saw it in all their eyes, felt it in my bones. My dragon coiled, silently snarling, ready to spring should the need arise.

I hated the feeling that it was me against them. It had always been us, always a clan acting as one. You were the one who broke rank first, my dragon reminded me, sounding for all the world like Alan. You wanted something for yourself. This was always going to be the result.

There were too many questions competing for my attention all at once, enough to make me want to raise my hands to my ears and tell them to stop. That wouldn’t help. I’d still hear my dragon telling me to go to her, warning me to protect us both.

“Has she eaten?” I asked, looking around. “She’ll want food. Drink. We must at least work with her.”

Ainsley snorted, but retreated to the kitchen, returning moments later with a canvas backpack. “She was carrying this.”

“I assume you’ve already been through it.” It wasn’t an accusation, but she recoiled as though it were.

“Aye, naturally. Wouldn’t you?”

“What did you find inside, then?” I asked as I took the bag. It was light. Keira hadn’t packed for more than a short hike.

Her mouth twisted into a cross between a smirk and a pout. “Nothing of value to us. A flashlight, food, water bottles.”

“And that tells you nothing?” My gaze swept over the faces of my family. “Do you believe a hiker carrying food and water is a true threat?”

“You weren’t out there with her,” Dallas muttered, his brows knitting together in a frown. “She needed little more than her fists to be a threat, believe me.”

“It matters little,” Alan cut in, shooting looks at the two of us before focusing on me. “Take it to her. Do what you can to convince her we want nothing more than the truth, that there’s no threat here.”

I blinked, stunned. “Convince her there’s no threat? You realize you’re implying that there is, indeed, a threat?”

He scowled. “What do you think? That we’re going to invite her to live with us? Bring her into the clan? You’ve gone soft in the head if you don’t see this for what it is.”

My dragon reared up, threatening to strike or at least to lash out verbally. My hands tightened into fists, the canvas crumpling.

The last thing we need at this time is to start a war, I warned the dragon.

We’d be horribly outnumbered, for one.

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