Page 1 of Ash
Prologue
Ash
To anyone glancing in my direction, they would have seen nothing but mud and trees. The frigid air had turned the ground rock hard but that didn’t matter to me. My body naturally ran hot. One of the perks of being a dragon. So, I barely felt the ice seeping through my clothes and cooling my skin. The others would be far more uncomfortable. But they would be ok as well. We weren’t the best of the best for no reason. A little cold, the first snow of the winter falling on our heads and backs as we maintained our position in the Welsh hills wouldn’t bother them much.
I shifted in position, and there was no noise. I was better than that. I wouldn’t be foolish enough to roll over onto some frozen leaves. I didn’t want to be seen.
Or more specifically I didn’t want her to see.
My mate.
Of course, she wasn’t the one I was meant to be watching. The fact that she had wandered just metres from where I was hiding was just a coincidence. A happy one in my case because at least I could look at her without her knowing. Creepy, yes. Necessary, probably not. But I was glad I was here anyway. Because Lainey sure as hell shouldn’t be.
Beautiful Lainey. I had felt the draw to her the moment Oz’s mate had introduced us in the bar, but the bond hadn’t really snapped into place until I had been tasked with taking her back down the mountain after her kidnapping. She was traumatised, dipping in and out of consciousness. And I had felt the overwhelming urge to fly away with her. Like the dragons of the past, I wanted to have her all to myself. The most precious of gems for me to covet.
I didn’t of course. Times were different now. I had taken her to the hospital. Sat with her until I knew she was fine and that she hadn’t seen anything that could jeopardise the shifter community and then left… kind of. But I had wanted to.
Hell, I still wanted to. Badly.
But that wasn’t the brief. The brief was to watch the ragtag collection of derelict huts in case any Dire Wolves turned up. Dire wolves, in Wales. It still took some getting used to even though we had been here three months already. Then again maybe it wasn’t that far-fetched, after all, there was a dragon laying half-covered in foliage on the mountain as well.
What was surprising was the fact that Lainey was back up here. It was far enough from the main walking tracks, so I doubted it was a coincidence. A defenceless human woman alone here? Especially Elaine sent my hackles rising. And it raised a question that I desperately needed answers for.
Did she remember more of what happened when she was taken with the Dire Wolves than she let on? At the time I had been sure, she had been telling me the truth but now... now I didn’t know what to think.
“Ash.”
There was the smallest of cracks as a heavy body fell into position beside me. I didn’t turn away from Lainey. She was barely more than a shadow moving through the building. Her newly dyed flaming hair was like a beacon though.
“What… ah,” King whispered next to me, his gaze following mine. “She’s back up here then?”
I snapped my head around. My dark eyebrow slammed down over my eyes. “What do you mean, she’s back up here?” I hissed.
King shook his head. “She’s been seen a few times, wandering around. Snooping around the buildings.” The lion hissed back. “It’s like she’s looking for something.” As if sensing my hostile gaze even though he hadn’t turned his head towards me, he lowered his voice. “We kept an eye on her brother, don’t worry about that.”
For a second, I could do nothing but stare straight ahead, my eyes unglazed. “Why….”” I trailed off. Not able to finish. It wasn’t surprising that they all knew, or at least suspected that Lainey was important to me. I hadn’t exactly been subtle about making sure I was wherever she was but still….
“Not ready to admit it yet huh?” King chuckled low in his throat. and my eyebrows lowered even more. It wasn’t that I wasn’t ready to admit it. More the fact that Lainey didn’t seem interested in me at all. No matter how much I turned up, no matter how often she caught me staring at her.
My mate was totally and utterly oblivious to me.
To her, I was just the friend of her friend’s boyfriend. And I didn’t know what the hell to do to make her see me.
“Nothing to admit,” I said when the silence had stretched on too long. Ignoring his pointed look. “But I don’t like her being up here alone.” Again, my eyes found Lainey, she was staring out of one of the glassless windows. Her fingers curled around the ledge and the urge to go to her was overwhelming. She would be cold. Her hands like icicles. And what kind of mate would I be if I didn’t warm her up? If I didn’t look after her?
“None of us like it, Ash, but I promise you we won’t let anything happen to her.”
Of course, nothing would happen to her. I was going to stay right here, all day and night if needed and make sure she got home safely. “Wait, what…”
“You and Leo have been summoned”
My heart fell. Orders from head office couldn’t be ignored. Not if I wanted to keep my spot on the team. “Now?” The timing honestly couldn’t be any worse.
“Afraid so brother and then we have….”
I knew the tone of his voice. the weariness of it. I had heard it a hundred times before.
“Exercise,” I answered for him. “Surely, they must know the risk here and…”
“Operation.” King shifted his weight slightly, and the noise of the small stones rolling into the incline he left behind made Lainey glance in our direction, her eyebrows knitted together. She couldn’t us, I knew that. But she knew something was out there watching her.
We stayed perfectly still and silent until she turned away again. And it was only then that King carried on. “There have been sightings of Dire wolves, and we need to check those out.” He smiled ruefully. “It seems they aren’t quite as extinct as everyone thought. Shouldn’t take more than a week or two.”
A week or two I frowned. Two weeks without being able to make sure Lainey was ok. Without anyone watching over her? it might as well have been a year.
I didn’t give a shit if more Dires had been spotted, all I cared about was that my mate never came into contact with them again.
