Page 34 of All's Fair in Lion and War
“You will meet them both. I want your Tribe to know their scent. We have family in this town. Friends. My mate and one of our lion’s mate both have infant children.” Col stilled and his fire rose to the surface warming the air in the room by at least ten degrees. “There will benomistakes during this hunt. Is that clear?”
“Yes,Vaaedri.” Novik bowed again, this time lower. “We will all defer to your authority while in your territory, myself included. But they have my mate. I will not be kind to the Ka’lagh.”
“There will be no executions without my word.”
“Agreed.”
“Your females and children?”
“They are being moved to a secure central location in this town. Our permanent homes are in the woods, on the west side of the river, but they are not as defensible with such a large pride of warriors loose on the mountain.” Col turned to face Tor who stood behind him and to the left. “Has Saul returned from the Community Center yet?”
“Yes,Vraka. All are secured in the bunker. Kann and Penny are on the mountain. The rest wait outside.”
“You have people out alone?”
“Scouting for numbers, positions. We have three young wolves unaccounted for on the mountain as well.”
“If Rivian found them, they’re dead.” Novik’s tone was soft, laced with sympathy.
Col nodded. “We know. But they live mostly in their beast form. We’re hoping they got away before being discovered.”
“Should I signal my Tribe to enter town?”
“Tell them to come through and meet on the west side of the river. Over the bridge north of here.” He pointed out a large window at the road. “Follow this road north. When it splits, go to the left. We will be there waiting. We’ll regroup from there and see what Kann and Penny have reported back.”
“Thank you.” Novik extended his hand again to Col. “I am grateful and look forward to meeting the rest of your tribe. It will be good to have Reylean allies in this new world.” He gave a quick nod to Tor and then focused his gaze back to Col’s. “Our Tribe settled in a mountainous region humans call the Yukon. It is not too long a flight from there to your Mystery, Alaska.
Col clasped his arm again. “It will be good to have neighbors then.”
Novik smiled for the first time. The dragon male’s shoulders relaxed and the heat from his internal fire retreated. He was cautious and smart, but Col sensed he was speaking truthfully. He had no doubt the Ka’Lagh lions had stolen Novik’s mate. And Col admired the male for keeping his shit together as his Naomi would’ve said. Had the roles been reversed and Naomi been the one missing. Col knew he would’ve burned everything and everyone in an attempt to get her back.
He’d done so when the Li’Vas wolf pack had taken her the first time. Then with Tara’s abduction, he’d made an example of them and most had died. He regretted that now. After meeting Ryder and Knox and realizing the influence Tai and Raish had over the younger men, it had been an unnecessary slaughter. But guilt wasn’t something he allowed himself to wallow in.
The presence of the Ka’lagh was a chance to show mercy. An attempt to remove a bad leader and give a new one a chance to show genuine change and remorse.
Justice would be served and many of the Ka’lagh lions would die. Col wouldn’t stop Novik from getting his vengeance, but he would attempt to temper it. There were only so many Reyleans left. He didn’t want to be the cause of any more of his people’s deaths if it could be avoided.
He and Tor locked the sliding front doors on the grocery store, then they exited through the back, turning the bolt so it would lock behind them. They moved quickly through the packed snow and cold wind around the back of the building to the parking lot.
The sun was low in the clear sky but reflected so much light off the ground, it made it feel earlier in the afternoon than it was.
Novik drove away in a big black pickup truck.
The rest of Col’s tribe were loaded up into several vehicles, running and waiting. The steam from the exhaust clouded the air. The sun would be setting soon, darkness would blacken the sky, and by midnight tonight they would be hunting the Ka’lagh.
Col climbed into the driver’s seat of a red truck with Tor next to him and Ryder on the bench seat in the back. Owen and Henrietta and Saul were in the other truck.
“Tor, check in with Kann and Penny, let them know where we are meeting and that we have dragons on the way.”
Tor pulled his phone from his pocket and Col drove the truck up the incline and out of the Jenkins’ store parking lot. The snow was packed and hard, but the four-wheel drive on the pickup truck growled its way along without trouble.
This was Col’s second winter in Alaska. Second winter anywhere. Reylea didn’t have winter. They had a wet season and a dry season, but neither were particularly cold. And he’d never seen snow before coming to earth. Not that it couldn’t have existed on Reylea somewhere, he’d just never seen it.
So much had happened in a year.
He had children. Two daughters and a son. There were five other couples in a Tribe that he hadn’t realized could even exist. A tribe that probably wouldn’t have existed if it weren’t for Naomi.
Now he couldn’t imagine life without lions and tigers and bears and even the wolves. He cared for each and every one of them.
