Page 63 of The Night Burning
“We barely have any wolves left in the pack. If you banish more, then what will be left of us?”
“We don’t need those kind of wolves in our pack.”
“I agree, but maybe there’s another way to solve this problem.”
“Like what?”
Raika shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just … I would rather have a civilized talk and solve things that way than fights that end in banishment.”
I could see her point, but wolves like Serge wouldn’t. They were beyond reasoning. To them, a harsh and fast action was worth a thousand words.
The sound of a car approaching held my attention. Raika and I glanced to the same spot five seconds before an SUV came down Main Street. Killian was behind the wheel and—
“What the … ?”
The SUV stopped beside us. With a grin, Killian climbed out. “Look who I found.”
The passenger door and one of the backseat doors opened, and Evelyn and Ash spilled out.
“What the hell?” I finished my previous sentence. “What are you two doing here?”
I blinked. I hadn’t seen them in six or seven months, since we ran from the Nightmist witches together.
Evelyn smiled at me. “You’ll never believe us.”
Ash grabbed my forearm tight. “How have you been?”
I tilted my head. “Could’ve been better.” I stared at them for a second, then gestured to Raika. “Evelyn, Asher, this is Raika, my mate.”
Raika’s eyes rounded, as if she didn’t expect me to tell them that. I hadn’t spent a lot of time with Evelyn and Ash, but I knew Lavinia trusted them blindly, and that was good enough for me. “Evelyn and Ash helped Lavinia and Killian take down the Nightmist witches’ lodge. That was when I was freed.”
“Oh.” Raika’s face brightened. “Then I owe you thanks for saving him.”
I scoffed. “You say that as if I was a damsel in distress and didn’t do anything.”
Evelyn cupped her mouth and whispered, “He didn’t do anything.”
“Hey!” I snapped.
Evelyn chuckled. “It’s so nice to meet you, Raika.” She had long, dark hair, smooth olive skin, and big chocolate eyes.
Ash waved at Raika. He was tall with light-brown hair, and blue eyes that rivaled Raika’s. He glanced at me, one of his hands on the hilt of the long sword hanging from his hips. “I didn’t know you had a mate.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “Yeah, well. Until a month ago, I thought she was dead.”
Raika winced, but her eyes met mine and a wave of gratitude filled me. In the craziness of our days, it was easy to forget how good it was to be here with her, even if we still played pretend when around others.
“And I thought he had been a coward and abandoned us,” Raika said. Sweet revenge. I smiled at her.
“Ouch, that must have been hard,” Evelyn mused.
Raika nodded.
I grimaced. “Can we change subjects? Go back to my first question? Like … what the hell are you two doing here?”
“I felt a dragon’s magic,” Evelyn said. “It got stronger once we entered the town.”
Right. Evelyn was a light witch with a dark witch’s power—she could sense and absorb a dragon’s magic. It was said that when a dragon died, their magic was stored in their bones. Evelyn went around finding dragon bones, to keep them away from dark witches. She kept them hidden, even from herself, since it was easy to lose her mind to the dark magic.