“Shit.” Brycen groaned, and his shoulders slumped a little. “Right. Meet me at the cottage. We’ll start from there.”
His knuckles were white with the grip he had on the phone when he returned it almost too gently onto the table. He didn’t face her right away, instead, taking a deep breath, then another.
“It’s okay.” Stella wasn’t sure what was going on, but she’d gotten the gist of the one-sided conversation. She could wait for him to get back. “Will you be gone long?”
“A few hours at most, it shouldn’t take much more than that.” He looked at her then, his jaw set. “I’m not going to start our relationship with lies, not even ones of omission. I have to look for Alexandra, the woman you saw with me in the woods. She’s gone missing.”
What the hell? In an instant, her insides heated and the muscles in her abdomen clenched as jealousy burned hot and bright in the pit of her stomach. Only the fact that he didn’t look any more pleased about it than she did, calmed the fury.
The hurt from the past weeks bubbled up to the surface again, but she shoved it down. He wasn’t running from her anymore. It was his job, nothing more. “It’s okay.”
“Stella…” When he turned to face her again, his eyes pleaded for understanding. “I would give anything to stay here with you, but I wasn’t given a choice. As soon as we find her, I’ll have one of the others take over the assignment, and I’ll come home. To you.”
She nodded, giving him what she hoped was a confident smile. “I believe you.” And she did. Even though he had initially hidden from her, he hadn’t given her any doubts about his intentions from the moment they had met the night before. “Go to work. I’ll be waiting when you get back.”
Reaching down, he took her face between his hands and took her lips in a sweet kiss that left her yearning for more. “Make yourself comfortable and rest while I’m gone. When I get back, I intend to complete our mating, and you’ll need all the extra energy you can get.”
Chapter 7
Brycen stomped through the forest, not caring who heard. Of all the times for Alexandra to go running off without protection, this was the worst. Stella needed him, and where was he? Chasing after Alexandra of all people. If she wanted to play games, she’d be in for a disappointment. He wasn’t in the mood. Every cell in his body screamed in protest with every step he took farther away from Stella. The sooner he could find the spoiled brat and deliver her to Jace, the better.
His skin prickled as his scales poked below the surface, responding to the anger flowing through him. Nothing should come between him and his mate, not work, and certainly not the self-absorbed woman he was tasked to protect.
Before heading to the cabin, he headed to the clearing where Alexandra had asked him to meet her before, hoping she’d gone there to wait for him. Too late, he realized two things, one, the animals were quiet—too quiet. And two, the air reeked of human sweat and fear, and a whole lot of excitement.
He should never have let his guard down. Thoughts of Stella and the need to get back to her had taken his focus from his surroundings—huge mistake.
There hadn’t been any hunting activity in the woods for well over a year, at least none that didn’t involve game and wildlife. Since they had circumvented a dragon raid almost a year ago, things had been quiet in the area. Up until a few weeks ago, he would have welcomed the distraction of tracking and eliminating a group of dragon hunters. But with Stella waiting for him at home, engaging the enemy was the last thing he wanted to do.
He sniffed the air again, this time using more of his dragon senses. He caught a faint familiar scent coming downwind and had to keep from growling. If they didn’t know where he was, he sure as hell wasn’t going to lead them to him by being more careless than he already had been. The sound of a snapping twig around the bend of the dirt path he’d been on had him ducking behind a thick patch of bushes.
“You said he’d be here.” A deep male voice with a heavy southern accent reached Brycen long before he saw the man come around the bend with Alexandra at his side. Of average height, the man stood maybe six inches taller than Alexandra, but there was no mistaking his solid build. He would pack a mean punch if he managed to land it.
She smiled up at the man, reached and squeezed his bicep, and then giggled as she leaned closer. “He will be. And he’ll bring his friends. You’ll have beautiful trophies to put on your walls. You just have to be patient, Trevor. And if you’re lucky, Brycen will bring his dragon bitch into the forest, and you can hunt her as well. I hear he’s mated her already. It’s rare to bag a female dragon these days. There are so few of them left.”