Barely able to hold on to his name.
If they could see into his mind—he was so damaged. Beyond repair, this time, it seemed.
He couldn’t let them see it. Had to hide it from them. Or they’d leave him.
The house. Focus on that. He needed to show them the lab. Maybe Rindek had left behind something they could use to help the Dragons.
And track a monster.
32
As Tyrez followed Ash up the rocky path to the house, he tingled all over from Dani’s embrace.
It had shocked him when she’d taken his hands. He’d tried to stop the energy pulsing from him—he knew it was laced with his pain. She had enough to deal with, without that.
But then she’d embraced him, and her life essence reached out to fold around his. For those few precious seconds, he’d experienced a storm of sensation. Like being hit by lightning, and as a Dragon, that was something he understood.
It had felt like coming home. Like he’d found where he belonged, and who he belonged to.
Then she’d stepped back. His heart hurt; he desperately wanted to pull her close again, but instead, he’d let her go.
But how could he feel that way for her, when he’d had a similar experience with Ash? Was it because he’d bitten Dani? Maybe it wasn’t so much fated, as simple biology.
She had given him every indication in the past that she wasn’t interested in him, not in that way. And it had to be her choice.
Ash was different. The golden Dragon shifter was about destiny. Not biology.
The debate tumbled around in his brain as he followed Ash. The young man moved as though his body hurt. He kept glancing around, as if to see if Tyrez and Dani still followed. And he paused every so often, staring at the rocks. Tyrez followed his gaze, but saw nothing.
Ash’s hands moved in small, abrupt gestures—unconscious echoes to whatever was going on in his mind. What Tyrez had seen in those eyes—he shivered. Ash needed serious help. Could the Gryphons heal him, body and soul?
They topped the rise. The house blended with the cliffs at its back—in fact, it appeared to be created right against them. Ash took them not to the front door, but around to one close to the towering stone.
That door stood ajar.
“Wait.” Tyrez called.
“They are gone.” Ash’s tone was empty of any emotion at all as he stepped through the door. Tyrez cursed and lunged forward to follow him.
He found himself in what was the kitchen. Cupboards and drawers stood open. There were a scattering of things left within—chipped plates, a cracked glass. Anything useful had been removed.
Rindek hadn’t pulled out in a hurry. He’d expected to abandon this place.
“How long did he live here?”
“Forty-four years, at least.”
When Tyrez shot him a look, Ash frowned and then shrugged. “I was raised here.”
He didn’t sound at all sure. As though he couldn’t quite remember. After a moment, he added, “Rindek wasn’t often here. Orena raised me. She’s his mate.”
Orena? Rindek had amate? Tyrez’s heart accelerated. The figure he’d so briefly seen... “Does he have children?”
Ash paused at a cupboard right beside the doorway to the hall. He stared at the door before opening it. “Yes. Two.”
Rindek had two children? “How old are they?”
Ash lifted a key from a hook and calmly undid the manacles from each wrist. They fell to the ground with a harsh clink of chain, and he met Tyrez’s gaze. His silver eyes swirled with color. “Old enough.”
