49

The bus from Springwood rattled and shook as it veered about the winding country lanes. The out-of-town members of her pack were all present—they had just attended the same emergency pack meeting—but there was only one on her mind.

As she beside Riley on the bus, Scarlett fought the urge to touch him. Now that Adrian was in prison, she figured he would make a move but so far… nothing. If anything, he seemed even more distant.

‘Maybe he’s afraid Adrian will kill him,’ she thought.

Adrian was still protesting his innocence, but as a precaution, the pack were now forced to choose an alternate leader. They had only one other Alpha in the younger generation—a twelve-year-old boy who some argued had even greater potential than Adrian. He’d transformed into his wolf—pure white and almost as big as a grown adult—at age eleven and grown stronger and bigger since.

Of course, Adrian’s mother was livid. She insisted her son was framed, even accusing the boy Alpha. At that point, the older members of the pack insisted the only other option was to merge with one of the other small packs. They could not move forward without a strong leader. It was suicide.

“Do you think we’ll take the young Alpha or merge?” Scarlett asked, just to make conversation. Just to hear his voice and get his attention on her.

He shrugged without looking at her. Since the meeting—seeing that woman—he’d been quiet. Maybe he felt guilty or maybe he was lying when he said he’d only been with her because of Adrian. She wanted to ask about it but would have to wait until they were alone.

“Do you want to come and hang out at my house?” she asked, knowing that her house would be empty until this evening. Her voice held a casual inflexion but deep down she was pleading for him to say yes.

“Err, I’m not sure it’s a good idea. I… find it hard to control myself.” Riley looked out of the window as he trailed off.

“Why do you have to?” Scarlett asked. She lowered her voice, getting close to him so the others didn’t overhear. “You told me you were only with that woman because you had no choice. Adrian was forcing you—"

He fiddled with the orange fabric on the back of the chair, a faraway look on his face.

“No. I never said Adrian was the reason. There are scarier things out there than Adrian.”

Scarlett’s face screwed up as she failed to understand him. Something scarier than Adrian? What could that mean?

“What? What are you talking about?” she asked.

Riley took his head, twisting away from her as if her gaze might crack his oath of silence on the matter. “I can’t—”

“Please. Just tell me. Maybe I can help,” Scarlett pushed.

Riley glanced about the bus as if to make sure nobody was listening. One thing she had learned since transforming—everyone was listening all of the time. She couldn’t help but overhear everything and assumed the rest of her species were the same way.

“Come on.” She pressed the little red bell to stop the bus. “Let’s take a bit of a walk.”

Riley followed her as she walked down the aisle, saying goodbye to her mum and Ron on the way. Both nodded, probably too busy and distracted by the Adrian problem to notice she was sneaking away with her crush.

“So if it isn’t Adrian… then who is it?” Scarlett asked when the bus had disappeared down the road.

“He’s like us but he’s not like us. He’s something…” Riley shuddered. “You know there are other types of shifters, right?”

“Right.” Scarlett nodded. “But they are rare and outnumbered—”

“He doesn’t need to outnumber us,” Riley said. His eyes were fixed straight ahead, unblinking. “He could wipe us all out in one breath if he wanted. It’s best to just do whatever he wants. He tells me what to do and I do it and we get to live. It’s simple.”

‘A single breath?’ she thought. ‘Surely he doesn’t mean…’

“A dragon?” She asked, unable to suppress the sceptical frown. “You know a dragon?”

“You know him too. You’ve carried his scent a few times,” he said.

“I—I do?” she asked. “Surely I’d know…”

“He’s tall. Dark. Black hair and ice-blue eyes. He’s a know it all, but you know… he’s been alive for a fair few centuries I guess.”

Scarlett let out a strangled sound that was closer to a snort than a laugh. “It sounds like Damien.”

Riley didn’t laugh. He just carried on walking.

“No way,” Scarlett muttered. She remembered thinking his scent was strange but hadn’t thought too much more about it.

Then something occurred to her.

“I—is he dangerous?” she asked

“He’s only the most dangerous thing alive,” Riley said with a sarcastic chuckle. He gave her one of those, ‘Are you stupid or what?’ looks.

Scarlett stopped dead.

“Sienna said she was going to ask him to be her boyfriend today.”