Page 36 of All's Fair in Lion and War
Tor leaned closer to Saul and showed him the face of his phone. “Kann and Penny found several groups. They’ll be here in about fifteen minutes.”
Saul nodded and stepped away from the truck to approach the seething mass of dragon warriors. The whole road was starting to turn to slush. It would be impassable before they left this area.
“Vraka.”
“This is Saul Di’Mara,” Col said, gesturing to him to come forward to meet Novik personally. “He and Kann have been with me since almost the first day through the portal.
Saul nodded. “Novik.”
“You didn’t see my mate when you freed the other woman?” Novik’s eyes blazed hot.
Saul shook his head. “The pod of warriors only had the one woman with them. She was a lioness. She was my mate.”
That got Novik’s attention. “You took one of their prisoners?” He glanced back to Col. “You were already planning a hunt, were you not? Your tribe is small, how were you going to defend against Rivian’s entire pride?”
A pickup truck roared down the road from the direction of the cabins. The older red truck was Kann’s. He and Penny jumped from the truck and jogged toward the group.
“She’s human,” Novik said.
“Shecan hear you.” Penny shot back with her typical go-fuck-yourself attitude. She had a rifle slung over her shoulder and handguns in holsters on both hips.
Saul assumed there were knives too. Penny always had knives.
“Anyone you need me to slice into ribbons,Vraka?”
Col shook his head and met Penny’s I’m-way-more-dangerous-than-you-think grin and met it with another look that told her to cool-her-heels.
Kann stood right behind Penny, his blue eyes flickering gold. The male was ready to take on anything to protect his mate. As it should be.
“This is Kann and his mate, Penny. Don’t underestimate the human. She is a weapons expert and carries as many claws as you do.”
“We have a few rifles,VrakaCol, but we don’t rely on those weapons when we ourselves are the better ones.” Novik stood a little taller and a little prouder.
Col didn’t respond to the Novik’s posturing. “As Penny has taught me in the past, sometimes an enormous tree-smashing dragon isn’t the most stealthy approach.”
“Thank you,Vraka.” Penny turned to face Novik and looked up at him without fear or hesitation. “Can you drop a man from a half mile away?”
He opened his mouth to speak and then snapped it back shut. “I cannot.” Novik stared at Kann’s female with a newfound respect.
A low rumble started in Kann’s chest. He stepped closer to Penny, slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her tight against his body, backing away from the dragon males by a couple of steps.
“I would never hurt your mate.” Novik made eye contact with Kann and took a deep breath, no doubt setting both Kann’s and his scent into his mind.
“You are not Tribe. Trust is earned, not given.” Kann bowed to Col, said something into Penny’s ear and then pushed her toward the red truck they’d arrived in.
“Penny is going to the MCC?” Col watched Penny all the way to the truck, making sure the little spitfire actually climbed into the vehicle.
“Yes,Vraka.”
The old red truck drove past, Penny in the driver’s seat. It stopped briefly next to Owen’s truck. Henrietta climbed out and got in with Penny. Then they were gone.
“Kann.” Col looked at the younger lion male.
“The lions are on the south side mostly, though there were a few pods on east face. We found the boys too. We dropped them at the cabins and told them to wait for us there.”
Saul breathed a sigh of relief in conjunction with Col, who had been very concerned for the semi-juvenile wolves who roamed Denali. “Did you already text the others?”
“Yes.” Kann tapped the pocket on his pant leg holding his phone. “So I suppose we’re playing sniff the lions before we head off together, right?”
