Page 50 of Midnight of Ashes
I bit the inside of my cheek so hard I tasted blood.
“Yes, alpha.” Then the call cut out.
“They’re getting bolder,” Easton muttered.
Cillian gripped the wheel harder as we made another sharp turn. “Hayden changed things. They want to get to her before we bond.”
My stomach bottomed out. Because they wanted to use me as some fucked-up breeding animal.
Cáel let out a rumbling roar.
The rest of the guys cursed.
His chest rose and fell in ragged pants, and his whole body vibrated. “Need. To. Hunt.”
“Control, Cáel,” Cillian ordered.
Scales rippled over Cáel’s forearms. “Can’t.”
“Another minute and we’ll be in the forest,” Knox promised. “Then you can hunt.”
Cillian’s green gaze flashed in the rearview mirror. “Take him alive.”
Cáel growled. “I’ll try.”
Pain and fear swirled in my chest. “Don’t. Stay with us.”
Cáel twisted in his seat, agony clear on his face. I wasn’t sure if it was from fighting the shift or the fact that he was about to deny me. “I have to, Little One.”
We hit gravel, and the SUV slowed. Cáel was out the door with a speed that had his body blurring. A second later, a white-and-silver dragon was taking flight, and the SUV was picking up speed again.
Tears burned the backs of my eyes.
Knox squeezed me tighter. “He needs it, Hayden.”
“Why?” I croaked.
“He’s been through a lot. If he doesn’t let that part out, the part that needs to protect, to hurt those who intend us harm, then there’s a chance he could go feral.”
I stiffened. “What does that mean?”
Knox and Easton shared a look, but it was Easton who answered. “It means that his human side would lose dominance, and his dragon would take over completely.”
“What would his dragon do?” I whispered.
“Hunt. Kill,” Easton answered.
Knox looked down at me. “And the Cáel we know would never come back. He’d be in his dragon form forever.”
26
HAYDEN
The three SUVs pulled to a halt in front of the house, and everyone piled out. My muscles were wound so tightly it was difficult to get them to move. When they finally obeyed, it was in a tripping sort of fall that had me landing with an oomph against a hard chest.
Strong hands grabbed my arms. “You okay?”
Easton’s deep rasp swirled around me, and I struggled to straighten. “Sorry, I?—”
