Page 6 of Dragon's Revenge

Something about his tone alerted Oliver. It had an edge, a deeper emotion that echoed pain. What was he really saying?

“So we learn from it and do better,” Adar said, clearly not picking up on anything.

Delton looked from Oliver to Adar, then took a step back. “What I have learned is that I have to follow my intuition. I didn’t before, and I allowed myself to believe things I should’ve never opened myself up for.”

Adar’s eyes widened. He was clueing in now too. “What do you mean?”

Delton took a deep breath. “I’m out. I can’t do this. Breaking promises is not my habit, and I know I said I’d give it a try, but I can’t. I’d only be setting myself up for more heartbreak, and no matter how much you try to convince me I’m already hurting, Adar, I can’t add on to it.” He took another step back. “You two belong together, and I wish you all the joy and happiness for the future. But it’s gonna be without me. I don’t belong with you, and I never will.”

Before Oliver could even respond, Delton turned on his heels and walked away, his shoulders hunched as if he were carrying the weight of the world. Oliver’s heart hurt so much that it felt like someone was squeezing it. A sound of distress flew from his lips, and Adar immediately gathered him close. “I know, angel. It hurts. But this is not the end. We’ll have to convince him to give us a chance. I don’t know how or what it will take, but we’re not giving up.”

Oliver clung to him, silent tears streaming down his face.

Adar kissed the top of his head. “As much as it hurts to see him walk away, I can tell you one good thing about it. The idea of him leaving is ripping me apart so much that I’m confident he is indeed our third. So we’ll have to prove to him that he belongs with us. Don’t despair, angel. We’ll figure it out.”

A tiny spark of hope flickered inside Oliver. At least Adar now believed it too. But how would they ever get through to Delton?

If only he could turn back time…

ChapterThree

Where was Rhene?

Erwan hadn’t slept in days, unable to even close his eyes without knowing where his mate was, his other half, his everything. Rhene was alive. Erwan knew that much beyond any doubt because he could feel their connection. But that was only a small consolation when they had no clue where he was.

And Fergal and Gregor hadn’t reported back in either. They were probably still on their way home with the group of omegas, and somehow, Erwan had never thought to get their phone numbers. And neither had they, which only proved they were products of the time they’d been born in, when phones had not existed.

Initially, Rhene’s brothers tried to reassure Erwan that everything would be fine, but now that they hadn’t heard from Rhene in four days, they were also beside themselves with worry. Palani and Kean had gathered with Erwan and Jermon, as well as with Sivney and Emma, to see if they could figure out a way to locate him.

“His last location was near Jokkmokk,” Palani said, holding up his phone.

Erwan frowned. “How do you know? He never made a call.”

“I have him added to an app that can track your friends’ locations, and it says his last location was there.”

Erwan hadn’t even known that existed. “Do I have that too? Sorry, this is all new technology to me.”

He handed his phone to Palani, who made a couple of quick swipes and then handed it back. “Yup. See? That’s his location. You’re sharing your location with him as well, by the way, which you need to turn off. If they have his phone, they can see exactly where you are. Or at least, where your phone is.”

Crap, Erwan hadn’t even considered that. Not that he’d known about the whole location-sharing thing in the first place, but still.

“I would suggest leaving it on for now,” Sivney said. “If they have his phone, they would’ve seen it already, and turning it off now will only make them aware we know about it. If we leave it on, we may be able to use it to our advantage.”

Smart. Sivney was clearly thinking ahead.

“Good thinking,” Palani said.

Kean had already pulled up a map of Sweden on his phone and was now zooming in. “Jokkmokk is still pretty far north, and there’s not much around. It is, however, located on the only road leading north.”

Palani frowned. “A road means anyone can get there. If he’d still been in the wilderness, it would’ve narrowed things down. Humans—non-shifters, I mean—can only cover so much distance in a day and are very limited in what they can do, especially once winter hits. It’s a little easier for dragons or wolves, though we’d still have to shift.”

“Which is also more complicated in the winter,” Sivney said. “In the summer, clothes are optional, but in that climate, that’s not possible.”

“So let’s put ourselves in Rhene’s shoes,” Palani said, leaning forward. “We all know him well. The plan was to take a plane back, right? What airport was he heading toward?”

Kean tapped on his phone. “According to Wikipedia, Kiruna is the most northern airport in Sweden.”

Erwan shook his head. “We didn’t want to fly in there out of fear others attending the Dragon Council might be as well. We wanted to show up unannounced. He would’ve been heading for Luleå, which is on the Baltic Sea, close to the Finnish border.”

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