Page 23 of We Hunt the Night

Chapter 14

KANE

“Is there really something wrong with the clans, or did you just want to interrupt?” Maz asks the second we are away from our bonded and walking outside, around an old balcony. “I wasn’t going to do something stupid.”

He forgets that I know when he is lying. It’s clear, from his tone to the tell he does when he messes with his shirt and tugs it down, which he is doing right now.

“You were about to fucking kiss her.” I hiss at him. I almost want to grab his shirt, pin him to the wall and punch him for being a fucking idiot. Crossing a line with Juniper—that’s fucking too much for even a punch to get through to him. I would know because I think about crossing that line daily. She haunts my dreams; she haunts my every waking moment. She’s all I can think about. And I hate myself because I can’t tell her. I burn for her, and she hates me. It has to be this way, for her own safety, but fuck, this is hard. In every fucking way.

I don’t know if Maz can read that in my eyes like I can read him. We both have feelings for our bonded when it’s forbidden to cross that line. They kill shifters for a kiss like that. They make an example out of them if they fall in love. An example whichcould mean all of the people we care about ending up dead. Maz drops his gaze and turns, leaning on the banister. “I know, and if I kissed her, I wouldn’t have stopped unless she told me to. I’d have risked us both and loved every moment. I’ve never felt like this, Kane.”

“Look, have sex with someone else and you will get over her. Go back to the shifter clans. You’re a dragon. They all fucking love you. But not her.” I pat his shoulder and look out at the forest. “We bonded to her for life. We have to protect her, and they would hurt her if she kissed you back. If you have feelings for her, swallow them and don’t act.” It’s what I do. Every morning when I watch her sleeping for a second when she isn’t looking. I’ve turned into a creepy fucker just to have stolen moments with her that she can never know about. “You’ve never cared for any woman before. It’s just because she is forbidden and pretty.”

“It’s not like that.” He grits his teeth.

For a second, I actually believe him because it’s her. It’s Juni. I dreamt of her for years before she arrived, wondering what she looked like from when we were kids. But she doesn’t remember me or those years we met first. I don’t know how she’s forgotten that we were all together when we were kids, that our parents were rebellious, that they wanted a community with their bonded. They wanted a safety net for their daughter. But I was a kid too. I don’t know the exact reasons why they did everything. But I do know something went wrong; something went very wrong. And it was her fault.

I lost everything that night and so did she. Somehow, her memories were taken with her. Yet she isn’t the dark-haired, wild, rebellious girl that I remember when I was a kid myself. Now she’s a beautiful woman who is tempting—really fucking tempting. If I’m honest with myself, seeing them close like that, it made me jealous. I still feel like there is a sinking rock in mystomach that won’t go away as I picture them over and over. I don’t get jealous... except when it’s her. She somehow made me more jealous than I think I’ve ever been in my life. Maz—he’s like a brother to me and I don’t get jealous of him. Fucking hell, what’s wrong with me? Maz is kinder than the lot of us, and if she wanted him, it would make sense. I’d never deserved her and once she learns half the shit I’ve done in my life, she’d be afraid of me. I’d betray my family by even touching her, too. She is meant to be someone I hate and since day one, since I pushed her away from me, it hasn’t really felt like that. I never imagined seeing her again, and there she was.

“Enough about Juniper. There are genuine problems in the clan. I was looking for you. Some students were pissing about, and they caused a flood on the south side of the village. Kids were injured. Two people have died.” I grunt, tasting the sadness of their loss as my dragon grieves. There is an old saying in the dragon culture.

“By flames they are reborn, by time they are endless.” Maz says it before I can. “Who? Tell me Granny is?—"

“She wouldn’t die on us. Knowing her, she will outlive us all.” I joke, but it doesn’t last long enough to make either of us smile. “Alder and Exei.” I tell him. Elders. They were old, pushing at least one hundred fifty, but they didn’t deserve to be drowned inside their own home on a random night while witches laughed at their joke. From what I’ve heard from Black, a massive part of the south village is damaged, and we will need to work all night on repairing the homes, so people have somewhere to sleep. “Everyone is coming back to help and see if we can do a cleanup before morning. They wouldn’t have fucking done that if we were there.”

I know it’s pointless to feel guilty when it changes nothing, but the guilt is there, haunting me. The clan is my responsibility—mine and theirs. Our parents were the clan leaders, and weare to inherit that title if we survive the war. Even without the official title, they all look at us like we should have a clue what to do next. I don’t know most of the time, but I know I will not give up. I have to fight for our people and get us out of the forest. I’d take my chances against the enchantress. It’s better than dying as the witches’ slaves.

Maz is shaking. I rarely see him angry—he’s just never been like that, or he hides it very well. “They killed us for a joke? When will this ever-fucking end?”

There’s so much going on that we hide, and moments like this only fuel our secrets. “Their blood will run down the halls and we will laugh one day, brother. We will burn the rest of it down and our people will be free. Nothing has changed.” The clans are not meant to communicate, but secret correspondence is passed around the world by small creatures. They want to be free too. What the witches will never understand is that keeping an animal caged up is only going to make it bite you when it gets free. The changelings are ready to be free and the witches will not see it coming.

Sometimes I wonder what Juniper will think... but I hope she will understand when we explain it to her. I don’t think she is as loyal to her race as much as she pretends to be. “Does the headmaster know about the flood?”

“I told him.” I say flatly. “And he didn’t offer any help. Told me to deal with it and to get out.”

He is the first witch I’m going to burn when the real war begins. “Fucking asshole.” Maz mutters. “Maybe Juniper will help. We should ask her.”

“No, I don’t want her involved yet.” I stop him. “Maz, no.”

Being honest with myself, I want to go back and make sure she’s okay. I don’t like leaving her alone without one of us around. She doesn’t know it—not that we follow her—but we do. The amount of people who I’ve had to threaten to make sure theydon’t lay a finger on her since we’ve been bonded is growing to an insane amount. Sometimes it’s fun to break a few noses and bones. Maz drops it, knowing he has pushed his luck tonight and we have to get to the clan. We can fly there from the nearby open balcony area. We are walking towards it when I hear an obnoxious, grating laugh.

Lock walks out onto the balcony in a suit, with a smug smile. He is healed from my fist, but the vengeful glint is strong in his eyes. Try it, fucker. He is lucky he is alive, considering what he did to Juniper. Lock is a fucking asshole. Why she was ever with him I won’t ever understand, but I’d rather kill him than let them get married. That would mean he’d have to be permanently around and it’s just not happening. Plus, she would be miserable with him. Juniper deserves a male who will fall to his knees for her and die to make sure she is okay. This asshole wouldn’t bow for anyone, and he wouldn’t risk a single strand of his hair for her. I know men like him and he does nothing but cause pain. I’ve been plotting his death for months. He’ll die a painful death that looks accidental, and no one will know it was me. Or us. Men die in the war all the time and it’s a shame he will join them. I’ll dance on his grave when all is said and done, too.

“Ah, there’s my fiancé’s bonded little dragon pets.” He looks me up and down like I’m less than him. When we both know in a fight, I’d win. In fact, I’d really fucking enjoy it. His friends laugh behind him, backing him up. Cowards.

“What’s your name again?” I pretend to have no clue, even though if I’ve named him Lock, the already dead ex asshole in my head.

“Lock.” He grits out and the flash of anger fades into a charming smile. I don’t know who that idiot smile works on, but I see right through it. “Have you seen my fiancé around? I’m looking for her. I want to get her a drink, get her alone. Run my tongue?—”

“Shut the fuck up!” Maz growls and steps forward, silver bleeding into his eyes. I’m tempted to let him shift and watch Maz’s dragon eat Lock. Well, I don’t think he’d actually eat the fucker. He likely tastes like an asshole too.

“You’re catching feelings for her!” Lock claps as he laughs loudly. I put my hand Maz’s chest to stop him from going closer and level him with a look. He growls low but stops. “She’s pretty, isn’t she? I can tell you she’s far more fucking pretty with all her clothes off. The moans that she made when my cock was inside her... fuck, there is nothing like it. Juniper is easy to bed because she is desperate for someone to love the poor foster girl. But even she has limits, and fucking a dragon has to be one.”

Silver bleeds into my eyes as my dragon roars in my mind. It’s jealousy. It’s rage. All of it echoes through my blood, like we’re exactly the same being right now because I feel it. How fucking dare he speak about her like that? I know my eyes must turn silver, but the fucking idiot says nothing. Maz is now turning to push me back, away from them.

“You realize she is mine? You’re going to have to be nearby, listening to me fuck her every single night. I’m going to get her pregnant. She’s going to have my babies, and you can watch—watch as I do anything I want to her, because she’s mine.”

No. Juniper is mine. I’ll burn anyone that dares to touch my bonded.

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