"Da, why?" Dimitri answers quite tersely. Nico taps his finger on his chin for several moments then looks to Dom.
"Aurora looks exhausted. We'll stop here for the night. Secure enough rooms for everyone." Dom nods then leads Aurora off. Once they were out of range, he places his hand on Dimitri's shoulder. "What if I told you I think you're a victim of Elena's tea as well?" Nico backs up and looks at me then back to Dimitri, waiting for it to dawn on the great bear.
Several moments passed before you could tell when it hit him. Dimitri falls to his knees and his hands fly up to cover his eyes. Is the big guy crying? Holy hell, he is crying. The atmosphere changes radically and, in an instant, Dimitri shifts to his bear. That hulking beast is out for blood. His bear stands on its hind legs and roars it's pain and anger into the night, shaking the very ground we stand on. Those yellow orange orbs lock on Sebastian and his mother.
Over a half ton of enraged great bear thunders across the field between the rest stop and the motel. Sebastian's and Elena's faces visibly pale as they watch their death approach. With his full force, Dimitri hits their Jeep, sending it flying through the air. The metal of the Jeep is twisted upon impact, and we all watch in horror. Nico raises his hand, halting anyone from interfering. Dimitri launches the Jeep once more before a blur of white and frost stands before him. Aurora's hybrid beast roars at the great bear. He slowly lowers his head and swings it from side to side. Aurora's beast looks back at the Jeep in time to watch Elena and Sebastian crawl out of the wreckage. They look like they barely survived. Aurora's beast moves forward and presses her forehead to Dimitri's bear. They stand like that for what seemed like forever before they turn and head our way.
The whole event played out like an action movie crossed with horror. It was very surreal; I still can't wrap my head around it.
As they walk side by side, Aurora's beast has its taloned hand resting on Dimitri's neck. Usually, it’s her animal that needs to be reigned in. This is fucking backwards as all hell. She stops several feet in front of us and shifts back to her human form. Quickly, I remove my flannel shirt and help her slip it on. Aurora doesn’t move far from Dimitri, her fingers running through his thick fur.
"I don't know what was said to Dimitri, but whatever set him off… I almost wasn't able to stop him." Aurora looks at the three of us. Nico waves off the approaching crowd.
"I wouldn't," He cautions the group. Once everyone leaves, Nico looks back to Aurora. "I have reason to believe that it's possible you and Dimitri may be mates. But, something Elena put in her care packages blocked it." Nico studies Aurora's reaction.
You can watch as the rage moves over her face. Scales erupt then recede just as quickly. She takes off my shirt, shifts back into her beast’s form, and howls her rage into the night. Dimitri's bear bellows right along with her. I move quickly and place my hands on Aurora's chest, trying to stop her. Aurora drops her muzzle until she's eye level with me. She places her forehead against mine and does the happy growl she likes to do. I feel the moment her body shifts back, and Dom helps her slip my shirt back on.
"They have a lot to answer for tomorrow," Aurora states then grabs my hand and heads toward the motel. "I need a shower and sleep." I turn Aurora to face me and kiss her on the lips.
"Go with Dom. I'm going to help your dad sort things out." Aurora nods and follows my brother inside. Nico approaches me with Dimitri in tow.
"It's obvious that Elena lied about knowing the old magics. The real question is, What else did she do?" Nico turns to look at the remnants of Sebastian's Jeep. We stare at the crumpled, twisted remains. How in the world did they walk away from that wreck? Dimitri eventually shifts back to his human form and looks between Nico and me.
"I regret losing my temper, but I do not regret attacking them." Dimitri crosses his thick arms over his chest, looking at us. Apparently, he doesn't care about his dick swinging in the wind as well.
"I'm impressed that Aurora was able to stop you," Nico states, studying Dimitri. Dimitri looks down, his brows furrowed.
"I would never hurt Aurora." He looks up and at us each in turn. "However, you fuckers wouldn't make out so well." Dimitri flips us all off then walks toward his room at the motel.
"Jayce?" Nico says as he watches Dimitri walk off.
"Yeah?" I tilt my head to the side, looking at Nico. He moves closer to me and puts his arm over my shoulder.
"We should go see what Elena and Sebastian are up to." He's got that mischievous look in his eye. It's almost like he's saying “let's just kill them now and surprise Aurora with the heads.” I raise my eyebrows, looking at him after reading between the lines.
"Let's go get'er done." I might not be as bulky as my brother, Dom, but one bite from me and it's a death sentence. That knowledge makes me smile as I follow Nico into the night. We creep around the motel exterior, trying to catch their scent; two laps around the building and nothing. I text Dom and ask for their room number. He responds quickly and says it’s room 35—the one right in front of us. Nico places his hand on the door on and freezes it. He makes a fist, busts the frozen knob off, and pushes the door open. There’s no evidence that they were ever here. Nico growls and his dragon's eyes are visible.
"They're on the run." Nico darts to the parking lot and starts counting cars. No vehicles are missing, which means one of two things: either they ran off into the night or they were picked up somewhere. We stare at each other for several moments.
"Use your phone and tell everyone what happened. Alert Ellis as well. We need to change our route and plans. I will not give them an opportunity to ambush us!" Nico storms off into the night. Well, this trip just got more interesting.
It’s some time after midnight when my phone dings, letting me know I received a message. It's from my brother, Jayce, who alerts me on what occurred while Aurora and I slumbered. Apparently, shit went down after we went in to relax. Now, Sebastian and Elena are on the run and missing—hence forth proving the fact that they were the rats. Now, according to my brother, we have to amend our original travel plans and change our course of action. Aurora's father is looking over the maps and plotting which roads we should take and which ones we should avoid in case of an ambush. It's quite suspicious that they left without any kind of vehicle. They were apparently prepared in case of discovery.
Now, I wonder exactly how much information they've already passed on to the other side. Nico is handling all the planning from this point on and only allowing us knowledge of it within moments of his adjustments to the course. He's trying to eliminate any possible threats or leakage of information between here and our destination in the northernmost part of Alaska.
I sit up in bed to shoot a message off to my brother, letting him know I understand the necessity for all these extra preparations. My eyes slide over the sleeping form of my mate, and I watch her in her restless sleep. Aurora's skin occasionally ripples with fur or scales —depending on where the ripple occurs. I know her subconscious mind is working overtime, wanting to plot how to kill and destroy all those that stand against her. The betrayal of her mate runs deep, and it cuts her so deeply that our hearts ache with her. We could all feel it. Going forward now is going to be like walking around with a ticking nuclear bomb, never knowing exactly when she's going to explode.
I text my brother again to let him know about Aurora’s rippling scales and the shifting of her skin in her sleep. I warn him that we have to be on guard. He replies quickly, saying that her father knows of a way to help her sleep without dreaming. He'll figure out something within the next day to help us so we don't have to worry about her disappearing in the middle of the night.
I know previously, long before us, her beast took advantage of her deep sleep. Somehow, it put her human thoughts to the back of her mind, allowing herself to run on instinct alone. This knowledge causes me great concern, and it's why I don't sleep soundly tonight. I heard the stories of what happened before her awakening; how her beast had hunted the prostitute down just b
ecause Dimitri came home smelling like her.
I listen to the doorknob turn and a little ray of light comes into the room. Slowly, my brother pokes his head in and looks around. As silently as possible, Jayce closes the door and locks it then comes into bed and crawls on the opposite side of Aurora. At least this way we could possibly sleep in shifts to make sure both of us get some semblance of sleep. I nod to Jayce and allow him to curl up and slumber first. I feel a bit stalkerish watching them. Let's face it, taking these kinds of precautions isn't normal. But then again, our situation is anything but normal.
~Several hours later~
Dawn breaks over the horizon, painting the sky in blues and purples. As the morning progresses, the colors change to hues of oranges and reds until finally, the sun nears it's apex and changes the sky to blue. I leave the room early and grab breakfast for the three of us. Nico and Dimitri are organizing our caravan and letting them know what transpired last night.
I return to our room to find Aurora and Jayce screaming from their climaxes. Well, at least someone is having a great morning. I wiggle the bag full of breakfast sandwiches. The first to turn around is Aurora, and she's off Jayce before he even has a chance to look at me. Aurora takes the bag from me and pulls out what she wants then sits at the table to eat.
Jayce is the first to speak as he grabs his breakfast, "What's the plan?" I hop up to sit on the table top and look between Aurora and Jayce.
"That's a great question. Unfortunately, I don't know. After yesterday's debacle with Sebastian and his mother, Nico isn't telling us shit. He's going to take point when the caravan gets rolling. Nico is concerned that there might still be spies." I shrug my shoulders and dig into my breakfast sandwich. There's almost an uncomfortable silence that I have to break.
"All I know is they bailed after Dimitri launched them last night." I ponder that for several minutes. "Now, I know why great bears are beasts of legend. Fuck, remind me to never piss Dimitri off." My brother and I nod in agreement and Aurora shrugs her shoulders. She lowers her head and sets her sandwich down. I've never seen Aurora look so broken. I don't know what changed in her internal monologue, but I notice the minute that fire sparks back to life within her.
"I'm going to fucking destroy them all. I will tear them limb from limb and put their heads on spikes in my yard." Her voice is mostly the growl of her beast. Her mercury eyes have an eerie glow, and her hair is blanketed in frost. We could feel her rage building. Quickly, she jumps off the bed and runs out the front door. Nico meets her halfway in the middle of the parking lot.
"Father," Aurora says in a rather hollow tone. "They have stolen so much from me." Aurora's hands shift into armored scales, her long black talons lightly dusted with frost. "They will die by my hands. I will make their entire bloodline extinct." She bares her canines at everyone who gathered. Aurora is so enraged that she's not calming down for anything.
My phone rings and it's an unknown number. I stare at it for several seconds before I answer it. It's Ellis, and apparently Aurora's mood is sending Alaric's dragon off the deep end. Ellis instructs me to go near Aurora and put it on speaker.
I do as instructed then I shout, "Okay, NOW!" Alaric's dragon bellows and forces Aurora's shift. Her beast whines and whimpers before she shifts back to her human form. I give Aurora my hoodie, and then she snatches my phone from me and goes to sit in her truck. I look back at Nico; the cocky fucker is just smiling. Nico looks at the truck then back to us.
"Alaric's dragon just forced Aurora's beast to submit." He shrugs his shoulders like it was nothing.
"How in the Nine Hells is that possible?" Dimitri's Romanian accent is definitely more pronounced when he's angry. Nico huffs like we just asked him to perform a miracle.
"Male dragons only choose powerful females. Aurora is probably the most powerful female born in generations. His dragon basically said, ‘If I am worthy you will stop.’ Her shift and whining was her beast’s way of telling him he was." Dimitri, Jayce, and I look between each other. Something is definitely missing in translation. It looked more painful than a romantic conversation. Nico huffs again. "Load up! We need to get rolling; we're burning daylight." My brother and I head back to Aurora's truck, and Klaus is right behind us.
When we get back to her truck, we find her in the backseat with her headphones on still talking to Alaric. Jayce grabs the keys off the center console and fires up Black Betty. Nico reaches over in front of Dimitri and honks the horn. Off we go again. I sit in the back with Aurora and position her so her head lays in my lap. I've always hated road trips because my wolf hates being trapped in a vehicle. Every five to six hours, we stop and refuel, switch drivers, then move on. We’ve been traveling like this for almost a week already. Our food is passed around while we continue our journey.
Something must have happened that spooked Nico because we suddenly take a hard right. We all snap to attention as we watch what unfolds around us. A truck comes out of nowhere and side swipes the truck behind us; the one holding all of Klaus’ men. Two more come from opposite directions as they try to box us in. Klaus cuts the wheel hard and turns our vehicle around. The rest of our caravan stops to assist. We are within one hundred yards of the impact zone when we all jump out. The shift takes us all quickly as we move as a single unit.
Klaus' lycan is definitely heavier built than Sebastian's. His fur is grey and black, and he looks like the devil himself. He roars into the night and charges toward his pack’s truck. Out of nowhere, a van speeds into the scene and twenty unknown lycans pour out of the back. They head straight for the other truck and begin their attack. Klaus springs into action, clawing the back of their necks and severing their heads.
A great, white mass leaps into the fray, joining in on the action. Aurora's beast is larger and faster than Klaus, and her rage is palpable in the air. More lycans file out of the trucks, but we outnumber them two to one. In the back of my mind, I realize this is a set up.
We fight valiantly and obliterate the opposing forces. Nico stands on the tailgate of his truck like a brigadier general. I can see him scanning the horizon for any more enemies. After we all shift back to our human forms and get dressed, we head back to Nico. He looks at all of us as we gather around. Not a single loss on our side. Every one of our attackers has been killed.
“They are testing us, trying to find a weakness.” Nico begins to pace before speaking again, “Check all the trucks, and look for anything that may give away our position.” Dimitri taps Nico on the calf, and he bends down to listen to what Dimitri has to say. “Dimitri says it's called a tracker or a GPS thing. Find it and destroy it.”
We return to Aurora’s truck and Jayce, who already shifted back to his wolf, walks beside Aurora as she inspects her truck. Jayce stops by the left side of her bumper. Quickly, Aurora slips under the vehicle and we hear something snap. She slides out and holds up a small, black box. Nico and Dimitri come over with three other trackers in their hands.
“We need to send a decoy with the trackers in it,” Dimitri says in a very calm tone. I pull out my phone and look at the map program I have. There’s a rather large truck stop up ahead. I show Klaus and Aurora, and she nods before taking my phone from me.
“Dad, Dom found a truck stop about fifteen miles ahead. We can hide the trackers on trucks preparing to leave to send them in different directions.” Aurora shows her dad what she’s talking about and he smiles. Nico approaches me and gives me a hug.
“I am proud to call you one of my daughters mates.” He gives me a brief nod before he turns to address the others. “Roll out! We stop at the next rest area!”
Jayce, Klaus, Aurora, and I look at each other before running back to the truck. Aurora grabs a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt then hops into the driver's seat. Several moments later, we arrive at the rest stop. Nico sends everyone out in different directions to look for trucks that seem to be ready to depart. Everyone moves quickly, hiding the little black boxes on unsuspecting tractor trailers. Aurora sit
s on the roof of her truck’s cab, eating a smorgasbord of tacos. Her mercury orbs scan the surrounding area, watching everything that comes and goes from the yard. It’s moments like this where I feel the loss of Andre the most. Usually, he would be the one on look out, but it looks like Aurora tasked herself with remaining vigilant.
Nico and Dimitri are having a heated debate as they lean over a map that's spread out over the tailgate of Dimitri’s truck. Neither one is speaking English, and I can only assume it's Romanian. Earlier this week, I learned that Dimitri’s people was one of the proud Romani tribes of Gypsies. I clear my throat so as not to startle either of them.
“Ah, son, perhaps you can settle this for us. I want to take this route which is about fifty miles longer. Dimitri wants to take this one because he’s concerned about snow. Which do you think is better?” Shit on a shingle. Now I'm being pitted between my father-in-law and Aurora’s possible new mate. I'm so fucked, and not in the good sense. Lucky for me, mother nature makes the decision easier because large snowflakes begin to fall. I look up to the sky and silently thank the wolf goddess for saving my tail.
“In light of the most recent developments, I believe the shorter route will be to our benefit. We’re over three quarters of the way to our port. We need to get as close to that land bridge as we can before we have to shift and travel by foot.” Dimitri and Nico both look up at the sky. I want to tell them staring at the snow isn't going to stop it.
“He’s right, my king, we may not have that much time left. We’ve been traveling for what seems like forever. Only four hundred miles to go and we are at the Wales port.” Dimitri is trying his hardest to get the king to see reason. Our animals are getting restless from being caged in the trucks. I can only imagine what his dragon is feeling. Nico shakes his head and smirks.
“Ok, the snow wins. We take the short route. Get everyone loaded and ready to roll in twenty minutes. We don't stop until we hit the port.” Nico heads back to the passenger side of the truck and gets in to wait. Dimitri and I shake our heads before heading off in different directions. I make it back to the truck to find Aurora asleep and curled up in a little ball. I furrow my brow and look at Klaus, who is standing watch over her and the truck.
Hunt Little Wolf: The Aurora Marelup Series Page 15
