Page 40 of Bryce

No reply.

I took a deep breath and willed myself to remain calm. He most likely simply could not hear me, wherever he was.

“Bryce?” I called out again, louder this time.

There was nothing to answer but my own voice, over and over. My dragon was on the alert, close to the surface, straining to break free and tear the place down stone by stone if it meant finding him.

“Bryce, answer me!” I barely stopped short of screaming, panic and primal urgency combining in a dangerous cocktail. It would kill me, that cocktail. It would stop my heart.

I could not allow that to happen. No matter what.

Calm. Breathe.“Bryce.” I wasn’t screaming now. I wasn’t asking. I only spoke his name, loud and clear.

A voice. “I’m coming.”

My knees went weak, and I leaned against one of the newel posts for support. The beam from his flashlight appeared before he did, and when he emerged, he was carrying rolled-up sheets of paper in his other hand. “You would not believe what I just found.”

I didn’t care one way or another what he’d found. I went to him. “You didn’t answer, and I didn’t know what I would do if you were hurt or killed.”

He held me tight for one brief moment. “Come. We’d better hurry. I’m sorry I frightened you. All is well.”

We left through the front door, as it seemed to matter little if we tripped an alarm at this point. I heard no sirens, not even a beep from a system registering we’d opened the door. Nothing.

But I knew the Gwydions well enough to know that did not mean we were in the clear. And we wouldn’t be until we reached the mountain.

We ran across the lawn before ducking into the woods.

“I had better shift again,” Bryce announced, stripping off his clothing as he did. “You had better ride me.”

“Pardon?” I sputtered, looking over my shoulder, my chest heaving from the effort of running with an overstuffed pack on my back. It was one thing to be physically fit, all shifters were, but another to exert myself with so much added weight attached.

“You heard me.” He bent to unlace his boots, making short work of them before taking off the rest. “It will be faster, and I can find any additional traps or wires.”

“This is crazy,” I hissed, shoving his things into the bag. It wasn’t easy to fit anything else in there, but I managed. By the time I finished, he had already shifted and was waiting for me.

What a strange situation this was, but he made a good point. He would cover more ground, more quickly, and could see better with his lion’s eyes than either of us could in these bodies.

“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” I whispered, swinging a leg over his back.

Riding a lion. This would be a story for our grandchildren. What would Leslie think when I arrived on his back?

It would not be long before I found out, since he took off at full speed.

I grabbed for his mane, squealing in surprise, apprehension, delight. We made it back to the rest of the team in little time.

And as I’d suspected, Leslie’s jaw dropped when she saw us coming.

“We can talk about it later,” I promised, sliding to the ground. “We can talk about everything later.”

I looked down to find Gate looking up at me. He was in a half-seated, half-reclined position, propped up on folded sleeping bags.

“You’re awake!” I gasped.

“I’m awake.” He managed to smile. There was fatigue in every line of his face, and his eyes were a bit dim, but he was awake. He was smiling. My relief was on par with what I’d felt when Bryce answered me, back in the mansion.

“How do you feel?” I wriggled out of the backpack, and Bryce dragged it away with his teeth for a bit of privacy while he dressed.

“A bit confused,” he admitted. “I don’t remember much, but I am sorry.”

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