“How long will you do what she told you?” Dougal snarled at the dragon.
“Die, Werewolf. Die.” It hissed only didn’t move.
Caitlyn took a deep breath and tried to count to ten in her head. Nothing worked. Her mind itched and she wanted the sensation gone.
“I don’t think the dragon here intends to listen to me.” Dougal sighed loudly. She wouldn’t have guessed he could remain so calm in the face of all of this. She would have thought he would long ago have lost him temper. Gods knew, she wanted to.
“How long are you going to listen to me?” Her head panged again.
“Until you release me.”
Dougal actually laughed this time. He threw his hands in the air before he answered. “See, honey, until you release it.”
“Not helpful.” She needed to approach this like a science problem. There was an answer to be found if she kept her pounding head on the task at hand. Should Dougal want to rant, he could go ahead and do so.
“You’ll have to excuse me if I’m terrified about what is happening to you.”
After she reached his side, she slid an arm around his waist and rested against him. “Don’t be terrified. If this gets out of hand, you can kill it. The worst I have going on is a headache.”
“The dragon is making your head hurt?” He was shouting again. “Did you eat the tangerine I brought you?”
“I’m afraid I didn’t see it.” She’d lost focus again.
Caitlyn walked over and took the stick Dougal had to drop earlier. She walked over to the dragon. “Light this on fire.”
“Without burning you. Say those words. I don’t want any mistakes here, since you don’t know why the thing is listening to you or exactly how precise you have to be.” He nodded toward it. “Trust me on this. Dragons are not to be trusted.”
“Light this on fire without burning me,” she amended.
The dragon did as she instructed and then made a sound, which sounded akin to a huff. The purple dragon did what she said, but didn’t like it.
She handed the burning stick to Dougal who made a similar noise to the one the dragon had made. Clearly, she’d gotten better at identifying the sounds of annoying creatures from all different species.
“Why are you listening to me?”
“You’re one of the few.”
Dougal raised his eyebrows. “Do you understand what that means?”
“No.” She extended her hand to the dragon. “Could you elaborate please?”
“You are one of the few Werewolves with the power to make us do what you will. It was my job to capture you before you realized your powers as we did with the rest of them.”
Dougal stepped forward, which was a good thing because she’d lost the ability to think. Others? Control? What did any of this have to do with her?
She wanted her mate and she wanted to get back to her lab. Her safe, benign, sterile lab, where she could pretend there was no war and the dragons were far, far away creatures she didn’t need to worry about.
Caitlyn had fainted the day before. A good swoon might be in order. Only nothing happened.
“Tell it to answer any questions I pose to it.”
She stared at the dragon. Her brain felt actually tired. “Answer any questions he poses to you.”
The dragon huffed and Dougal spoke through gritted teeth. “What others?”
‘The other Werewolves who had the ability to control us.”
“How can they do that?” Thank the gods Dougal still had his presence of mind.
“They’re born with the ability. Our Queen can sense them when they’re close by and she sends us to them, to eliminate them, before they realize what they can do.”
“What happened to the others?”
“What do you think happened, Werewolf? We fed on their bones. Our Queen makes a feast of them. She says they add to her powers.”
Dougal nodded. “I need you to do something you aren’t going to want to do, Caitlyn.”
“What’s that? If you told me to pass out, I’d be okay with doing so.”
“I want you to tell it to die.”
She looked at him for the first time in a few minutes. His face had hardened, the lines around his eyes deepened. This was the Dougal who had walked into the commander’s tent after killing the dragon. The Male who would stop at nothing.
“I...”
He put his hand on her shoulder. “You can’t keep it under your control forever. It needs to die before it can tell the Queen you know what you are. Already, your head hurts. What happens if five or six of them arrive? We have to get you some place safe. That means killing anything and everything which knows about you.”
Dougal’s warm hand steadied her. He was right. She really didn’t want to do it. She’d never killed—not outside of a hunt, and rarely there.
“Tell you what, never mind.” He let go of her. “I wanted to see if it would die if you told it to. I was curious and my interest’s not fair to you.” Dougal winked at her only there was no mirth in his gaze. “Tell it to stay still.”
Easy. That she could do. “Stay still.”
The dragon screeched and didn’t move. Dougal moved to the beast. She expected him to shift and when he didn’t she realized she really had no idea what he planned. He climbed the dragon’s wings. In less time than it would have taken her to tie her shoes, he snapped the dragon’s neck.
Soundlessly except for the click of its neck breaking, the dragon hit the ground. She stared at the purple carcass.
“Why did you kill it that way? Why not shift and tear it?” As soon as she asked, she wished she hadn’t. This place—where the dragons were born—it was a death trap, whichever way she looked at it.
“I wanted to see if I could. If I had the strength in my hands to end its life if it wasn’t flopping around. Don’t feel bad for it.” He jumped. “If you hadn’t realized you could make it obey, it would have brought you back to its Queen to be eaten.”
“I...”
Dougal stepped in front of her. “I’m a brutal male. I’ll never be otherwise. Whatever version of me existed before the dragon wars, he ceased to exist. My only objective is to keep you safe from this point on.”
“Maybe we could have made it fly us home.”
He shook his head. “Then everyone would have known what you could do. This is important.” He tugged her to him. She let her head rest on his shoulder. He was her safe place, she decided. “You can never tell anyone what you can do. Not only will the dragons be hunting you if they know—which apparently they already do—the military will never let you go. Someone is helping the dragons distribute this junk as drugs. I don’t know who. I don’t like any of this. No one can know. And we get you out of here as fast as we possibly can.”
“I need to look at the eggs.” She had a job to do.
“Get to it, beautiful.”
She would. Science made sense. Nothing else did anymore.
Chapter Seven
Dougal cursed himself the entire journey to the base. His plan had worked and his crew had shown hours after he’d set the fire. Why had it taken them so long to get to them?
One problem at a time.
Gods help him, he’d told her he was going to be a very bad mate and he’d meant it. Why had he let her see him snap the dragon’s neck?
She had to think he was a brute, and she wouldn’t be wrong. He’d honestly wanted to see if he could do it. How easy was it to wring the creature’s neck if it couldn’t move?
This was after he suggested he kill the thing to begin with.
Something had gone terribly wrong. His mind couldn’t stay focused. It had taken the boats six hours to come back for them and no way in hell should it have taken half the time. Why hadn’t the boats come back in the first place? How were the dragons getting the drugs to the general population? Nothing made sense and the only thing he knew was his mate had to be kept safe. If anyone found out what she could do the dragons would come for her, or the
Werewolves selling drugs would be after her, or maybe his own Werewolves would want to use her abilities.
Caitlyn had to be kept safe.
He rubbed at his head. Caitlyn stared at her hands. “Are you okay?”
She looked at him. “Are you?”
Not even close. He wasn’t going to discuss things in front of any of the others. Davey, the young soldier who shot her, sat across from them, his mouth in a thin line.
Dougal debated how he wanted to get his information. Davey was probably a good source. He wanted to kill Davey. Regardless, the other man’s guilt for shooting Caitlyn could be useful. Maybe the Werewolf would be chatty.
It was a bad day in the hell which was war when he could no longer trust the motives of his fellow Werewolves.
“Davey.” He caught the man’s attention. “Were you trying to finish the job?”
The young man’s eyebrows raised. “Sir?”
“You shot my mate in the boat. And then left us there on the island with the dragons. Were you hoping they’d finish the job for you?”
He didn’t believe Davey had shot Caitlyn on purpose. Not at all. Davey didn’t have to know Dougal had relieved him of guilt. Caitlyn opened and closed her mouth. Whatever she wanted to add, she’d thought better of it. Good girl.
Intellectually, he knew she could protect herself—had been forced to with the war. She was his to defend, and though he would not be with her always, he needed her to consider every word, every action in her defense.
“No, sir. I’m sorry I shot Miss Caitlyn, I mean, your mate. I didn’t mean to, I swear.” Davey touched his own neck in the same spot where his teeth marks showed on Caitlyn’s. “It was an accident. We didn’t come with the boat because Brett told us it wasn’t okay to. He said it wasn’t a feasible plan.”
“Did he, now?”
Dougal sat back in his seat. He might have preferred it if he’d thought they hadn’t returned because they thought Caitlyn and him perished. This was much worse. Brett didn’t think a return trip feasible? Since when?
Yet, it had suddenly become something they could do when Dougal had lit the damn fire.
“Yes, sir.”
“Okay.” Dougal tugged Caitlyn tight to his side. He had a lot to say and little ability to do so. Once they got back on shore, he’d have almost no opportunity to have her alone at all.
He nuzzled her neck and although she raised her eyebrows at his sudden public display of affection, she didn’t resist. Their mating was so new, he wanted to treasure it—treasure her.
“Listen carefully. This is important,” he whispered and she rubbed his knee. My wonderful girl. “One for yes. Two for no.”
She tapped once and he bit lightly where her skin had started to scar from his marking. Caitlyn shuddered.
This close, his lips barely moved. The spray of the ocean combined with the men’s voices would muffle his low whispers. “When we return, you’re going to say you’re going back to your lab. It’s important everyone believe you are. Only, you’re not.”
Her eyes widened and she tapped his knee twice. Yeah, he hadn’t expected her to like his statement.
“No choice, beautiful. Someone here has betrayed us. They’ll tell the dragons. You’re going into hiding. You’ll have to send the information the lab needs to them without going yourself.”
She sat back. He could see the emotions warring in her eyes. Caitlyn didn’t like it. She would want to work on the project to destroy the eggs. She wouldn’t like hiding, and the idea of her leaving him behind drove them both nuts. He blinked as he realized how easily he’d read her thoughts. How strong was their mating bond? Could she read him the same way? Would he want her to?
As if to answer, she squeezed his hand. “War changed all of us. I couldn’t kill the dragon. Frankly, I don’t care how you did.”
He kissed her knuckles. “My family has a cabin. They almost never use it. I’m hoping that hasn’t changed.”
She nodded. “My sister and Devon went there on their honeymoon.”
Good. She knew of it. “Go there. Key under the mat in front of the house. Get what you need miles and miles away. Don’t reach out to anyone. Don’t contact me. Figure out somewhere else to go your first week there.”
“What?” She brushed his face gently. He was going to miss the easy way she touched him. He’d not known he craved tenderness.
“I can’t know where you are. Week one, you leave there.”
Her brows furrowed. “Then how will you know where to find me?”
“Leave me a clue. Somewhere in the cabin. Hidden. Don’t make it easy. Trust me, if I somehow do the impossible and live through this war we’re losing, I’ll come to you. There’s nothing I want more. I have an account at First National. Tell them you’re my mate and get them to empty it for you.”
“Dougal.” Her voice hitched. “There are no more banks. They’re all gone.”
“What?” How much stuff was being kept from them at the front line? “How are you all living?”
“Some bartering. Some places seem to have food and to be thriving. It’s not clear. Those of us at the lab are doing okay. We get sent home with meals.”
Dougal sat back. Who the fuck was funding her lab?
She patted his knee once. Good girl. None of this was easy. It all sucked giant dragon balls.
“Hey, you two.” Exactly what he’d wanted. “Knock it off. Just because you were lucky enough to find your mate in the middle of the war doesn’t mean you have to torment the rest of us with it.”
“You’re jealous.” He grinned and Andrews. The man could always be counted on to act the asshole.
Caitlyn twisted her mouth. He’d made his mate so unhappy. Was there any lower creature than himself?
****
“Well, this development was unexpected.” The commander smiled at Dougal and Caitlyn. Instead of snarling, Dougal worked to keep his face passive.
“For us as well.” He nodded. Could the commander’s kindness all be a show? Was he in league with the dragons? How far exactly did this go?
“You two get stranded on an island, somehow survive despite the odds against it, and mate. I never would have predicted it.”
“Well,” Caitlyn’s sardonic grin showed and he knew before she did it he wouldn’t like what she said, “Dougal got himself mated to a defective werewolf. I can’t imagine it’s anyone’s dream.”
Her mate cleared his throat and raised his eyebrows. She couldn’t have forgotten the spanking rule, which meant she knew exactly what she’d done. His palms itched. He’d never hated anything as much as he hated hearing her criticize herself.
They didn’t have time for her punishment. He had a long memory. He wouldn’t forget.
The commander laughed. The amused sound made Dougal’s skin crawl. Exactly how many times a day did his mate make fun of her perceived flaws to keep other people comfortable?
“Are you okay, Owens?” The commander addressed him directly. “You’re giving off a scent which is unusual for you. Anger? Losing control?”
They were all taught from childhood how to read emotions from scent and then how to work on not giving off any. If the commander scented his than he really was losing control.
“I’m sorry, sir. As you can imagine, I’ve had a long couple of days.” He put his hand on Caitlyn’s back. “Exactly how long since you saw your mate, sir? Have you gotten home any time in the last sixteen years?”
His commander drummed his fingers on the desk. “Once every few years I’ve managed a week home. Nothing about this is easy on any of us. Certainly not the life we envisioned having.”
“Sir?” Brett entered the tent. “I wanted to check in and see if Dougal and Caitlyn were okay.”
“Thanks for sending the boats back so fast, brother.” Dougal directed all his venom toward Brett. It would serve his plans for later.
Brett nodded fast. “What did you want me to do? The boats were nearly overturned by dragons who should have been
sleeping. I wasn’t prepared to risk the men a second time. Not when I thought, much to my utter horror, you died.”
Liar. Liar. Pants on fire. Brett’s breathing sped a degree. He was nervous. Not a good sign.
Dougal approached his former pack mate and friend. He patted him right on the shoulder. “I know. I get it. Hard decisions. No harm done.”
Brett nodded. “You’re a better Werewolf than me, brother. I’d be seriously pissed. And I understand congratulations are in order.”
Dougal grinned at Caitlyn. She was pale although he doubted anyone else would notice. He was showing him all the worst parts of his personality in one day. She’d get to know what a fabulous liar he could be when the situation called for it.
She might never believe a word he said ever again.
“You’re right. Luckiest guy ever.” He moved from Dougal to Caitlyn. Being close to her calmed the beast inside of him. Damn, he was going to need to shift to work off his agitation. His need would have to wait until after Caitlyn left.
“And on that note, it’s time for my mate to leave. The front line was never a place for her. Now that she’s mine, I won’t have it at all. I’ve spoken to the transport. They’re going to take her home. Immediately. She’ll be back at her lab tomorrow.” Let them look for her in the wrong place.
Brett’s eyebrows shot skyward. “So fast?”
“Yep.” He took Caitlyn’s arm. “Right this very instant.”
Before anyone else could harm her. Caitlyn was going to be safe, if it was the last thing he ever did.
****
Caitlyn stared at the large truck, which was supposed to be bringing her home.
She’d found out she had a mate and before she could blink Caitlyn was being shoved away from him so fast her head spun. The transport was ready to go. Some poor soldier had been awakened and told to drive her. She’d get off at home and then keep going. Somehow she’d find somewhere to hide.
“Caitlyn.”
Dougal pressed her against the back of the transport. His stiff cock pressed against her rear end. She gasped.
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