Page 35 of Lion Conquers All
The crowd parted. Some left the lot. Some moved toward Connie’s truck. More humans than Aarav would’ve preferred were mixed in with the Reyleans waiting for assignment. Still, he couldn’t help but be impressed. They were brave. Tough. And willing to help.
Connie followed him down the ramp and they made their way through the milling and dispersing crowd to the dozen or so people next to her vehicle.
“Thank you for volunteering.” His brothers stood together. “Shenn and Raj, you take these locations.” He handed them several maps. “Ivann and Veer, you guys take these.” He handed another set of papers to his other brothers. They were some of the furthest locations to check, but none of the Reyleans would get lost or die on that mountain in the storm.
“No problem, brother. We’ll check in as soon as we have eyes on them.”
All four of them slipped away immediately.
Aarav turned. More of the tribe was there, along with six or seven humans. “This one isn’t too far. You should be able to get in and out in less than two hours.” He handed a paper to one of the humans.
“Not a problem. I know this area well. I’m Detrich Pavlovik, Deputy Di’Rham.” He held out his hand and Aarav shook it it.
“Nice to meet you and thank you for your help. You should pair up with—”
“Grigory can come with me.” Detrich pointed at a man on his right. “We hunt together often. We know the land here.”
“Good. Thank you.”
Both men nodded and headed off.
Aarav handed out several more, being careful to make sure the humans paired with each other. When only tribe were left. He handed each of them the sites he had left.
“You all should pair up as well. Even though you can tolerate the weather, it’s still not a good—”
“Aarav, we will. Give us the maps.”
He handed the stack to Col and the chief glanced through them, handing several to each of the men. Tor and Owen left together. Knox went with Kann.”
“Vraka, you shouldn’t…” He let his words fade away under the glare of the dragon. If anyone wasn’t worried about a storm, it was a fire-breathing dragon. Col’s heat vision alone would allow him to scan the mountain faster than any of them. But the dragon couldn’t shift. He couldn’t fly. It would be too risky. Thermal vision or not, Col would be slowed down to walking like the rest of them without wings.
“Ryder went to look for the three younger wolves. I will find him first, then we will check these sites.”
“I saw them. The wolves. They were up near Crooked Rock.”
The dragon male’s eyes lit up with a hopeful fire. “Good. Perhaps they have seen the children then. If they are patrolling this side of Denali, there’s a good chance they have.”
“They showed themselves?” Connie’s voice tripped a little on the question.
“I think they were curious. There were a bunch of high school boys out camping there. I think they were watching them. The Tragher boys were with me. They saw them too.”
“But, they would know they weren’t natural wolves. If they got a good look at them.”
“Connie. It’s fine. The boys made a comment that they looked bigger than normal, but that was it. There wasn’t a long debate. It’s fine.” Aarav stopped himself from touching her. It was so difficult. Every fiber of his body was fighting him. His lion knew the promise they had made, but it didn’t make it any easier.
“If they were that close, Ryder probably found their scent quickly. They will be easy to find.” Col rolled his neck and cracked a couple of knuckles.
“What about the Tragher boys and everyone who was up there? I should go. I should make sure they made it back home.”
“They’re likely already down off the mountain. Those boys know what they are doing.” The last thing Aarav needed, was Connie headed up the mountain too. “Call Mrs. Tragher and verify for me. Can you do that, please?”
“Yes.” The request for help seemed to snap Connie out of the panic and planning she’d sunk into. “Yes. Of course. You’re right, they probably came home at the first sign of the storm. I’ll check back with you as soon as I speak with Helen.”
Aarav stepped in front of Connie and made eye contact. “Promise.”
“Yes. I’ll step outside to call Helen. Then I’ll be right back to the office.”
He watched her walk away and shook off the worry nipping at the back of his neck.
