Page 4 of The Alliance

Chapter 2

Alfie

Ifelt the change in atmosphere as soon as we drove into the Hoskins’ territory. My skin prickled and I tried to shake off the feeling of… wrongness.

Even though I reminded myself that we’d been invited and that I was hoping to make an alliance with Lady Hoskins, my dragon was unsettled at my core. Being in someone else’s territory made it uneasy. Somewhere in my deepest instincts, I knew that being in someone else’s territory meant war or invasion or captivity.

“We were invited,” I said aloud to myself. I was trying to convince my dragon of it.

From the front of the car where he was sitting next to his mate, Rhod looked over his shoulderat me. He was clearly wondering whether he was required to answer that.

“I was just saying,” I said.

Rhod nodded and faced the front again, but I saw him cast me a couple of concerned looks in the rear-view mirror. Maybe Glenwise could tell something I couldn’t, maybe Rhod’s scent changed, because Glenwise reached out a hand to rest on Rhod’s knee.

I could still hardly believe that Glenwise of all people was so good at offering his mate comfort. He wasn’t normally the type.

Blaze liked cuddles and he liked people, which meant he was nice to everyone and all of our clan loved him. They kept fussing round him and I knew he felt more and more secure and loved the more they fussed.

Glenwise wasn’t like that at all. The only person he ever really touched, unless in a medical capacity, was Rhod. I focused on his bonds, just to see. Glenwise had a bond with every member of the clan. He even had them with all of the sprites of our clan, which I’d seen before and never questioned. No wonder Mrs. Wilson had known where he was.

Those bonds were thin and efficient, though. Glenwise cared about every member of the clan, his dragon wanted to heal and protect them, but it was holding them at a distance.

The bond he shared with Rhod was very pretty. It changed as I watched, and I realised that Rhod had been very tense before because he relaxed and his bond became calmer. Glenwise had taken care of him.

We drove up the long drive to the Hoskins castle and, as we got nearer, I grew more and more tense. Looking out the window, I saw the great castle loom in the distance, solid and large and grey, just like thecuraidh.

Our car was at the front of the convoy, which meant we got there first and I stepped out of the car first. My dragon was pushing against me, and I wasn’t yet used to it so I couldn’t be a hundred percent sure what it wanted me to do. All I knew was that my protective instincts were firing strongly and I needed to check there was no danger before I let my clan out of the cars.

When I got out and stood there for a minute, nothing happened. Nobody attacked. Nobody shouted.

Behind me, Blaze’s sweet voice said, “Excuse me, my darling.”

His soft little hand pressed against my back and I allowed him to move me to the side and slide out of the car. I didn’t let him take a step away from me, though. My arms were around him before I realised and he was pressed close into my side, just where I liked him to be.

His scent was woodsmoke and ash, tinged with excitement and nerves and amusement. The fact that I couldn’t scent any fear on him settled me. He didn’t believe for a second that we were in danger.

Ididn’t believe it, not really.

My dragon wasn’t sure, though. No matter how many times I told myself that Morgan was my brother and he’d never invite me here if it were a trap, my dragon didn’t like going into a strange dragon clan’s territory.

I’d never met Edith Hoskins. My dragon didn’t trust her as an ally.

Which was silly, I knew, but I couldn’t help the way I felt. I’d met Morgan and Seren’s mates and they were nice. They were large and dark-eyed but they both smiled a lot and their bonds with my brother and cousin were beautiful. It was clearthey adored their mates. Still, they were the only Hoskins I’d ever met.

When everyone was out of the cars, I moved first, walking up to the large front doors. They had already opened and a tiny old woman was standing in the entranceway. I didn’t dismiss her for a second. She radiated power in a way my dragon recognised. She was the elder. She had the power to protect her clan.

Inside me, my dragon prickled, pressing up closer to my skin as though it were going to protect me.

I kept walking, subtly pushing Blaze away from my side so he was behind me instead of beside me. Not that I wanted to be first just for the sake of it, only that if there was going to be any danger at all, I wasn’t having my mate get in the line of fire.

I could feel my clan around me. Glimmer was nowhere to be seen, although I saw his bond shining with bright protection, flashing silver like a sword in the sunlight. He was close, right beside Blaze.

Lady Hoskins kept her eyes on me the whole time and I wondered if that was out of politeness or whether she was feeling some of the same strangeness I was.

“You’re welcome in my home, Lord Somerville.”

Compulsively, I glanced behind me. Even though I knew my father was dead, I suddenly expected him to be looming there, his cold eyes glaring.

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