“What makes you think we would want to work with a rogue dragon to hurt your pack?” Orson asked.
“What makes you think we want to waste our time killing one of yours?” Garret flared, walking right up beside Levi.
Orson growled at him, baring his teeth as he shifted just a little, his claws and teeth ready to go. Lyra and the others lowered their hands, waiting for the word from their Alpha. Levi quickly saw that things would go south quickly if he didn’t stop Garret, so he grabbed Garret by the neck and shoved him backward into a tree.
“If you cut in one more time, I’m going to cut out your damn throat myself, you hear me?” Levi asked, pinning him to the tree. “Do you hear me?”
Garret growled, his skin growing incredibly hot as he stared at Levi. Levi shoved him, before turning back to the werewolves. “Look, we have no idea what you’re talking about, and we did not kill anyone.”
“Sounds like your pal there disagrees. I’d like to have a talk with him,” said Orson, getting closer.
Levi got in the way, seeing that Orson was going to try to intimidate him. As much as he knew that Garret was being unbelievable, Levi was certain that no member of his pack had attacked anyone. He would vouch for all of them with his life. He stepped into Orson’s path, putting a hand against his chest.
Orson looked down to feel the heat behind Levi’s hand. Levi glared at him, gently pushing back. “You deal with me, Orson.”
“One of my own is dead, someone has to pay for that.”
“Not mine, my pack has nothing to do with this,” Levi replied, taking a step forward, causing Orson to step back.
Orson quickly reached up and grabbed Levi’s hand, pulling it away from his chest. Both men locked eyes, growling as they stared at each other. Levi wasn’t going to back down. The werewolves had the numbers, and if the dragons gave them a reason to, they could do a lot of damage to the dragon pack. Levi wasn’t going to start a fight, but he certainly wasn’t going to look weak either.
“I’ve given you my word, as did my uncle. Now respect it. We did not kill your shifter.”
Levi watched as he scanned the faces of all of his dragons. He knew Orson to be levelheaded, and didn’t think the man had called the meeting just to kill someone. Orson shrugged Levi’s arm off before turning back to Levi and baring his teeth at him. Levi growled louder, not backing down.
“I’m going to find out who did it, and I pray it’s not one of yours, because when I find out, I’ll come after them, and if anyone gets in my way I’ll take them down as well.”
Levi opened his arms, taking a step back. “You’re welcome to try.”
Orson turned around and began walking back toward his pack. Levi watched, seeing that they had relaxed and were not going to attack. Lyra stood for a moment, staring at him. Levi took a step forward, wondering if this was the time. It had been so long. He wanted to say something, anything. Ever since he had left her, Levi had felt incomplete, as though he wanted closure.
“What now?” Val asked.
Levi heard her, but was too deep in his own thoughts. “We head back.”
“He just said he’d hunt us down,” Val replied, raising an eyebrow.
“Did you kill a werewolf?” Levi fired, causing her to shake her head. He turned to the others. “Did any of you kill a shifter? Something I should know about? As long we didn’t kill anyone, Orson isn’t going to do anything, so we won’t either. He’s looking for answers, and we don’t have them. We don’t agitate them, and we do everything we can to keep the peace, do you understand me, Garret?”
Garret turned to Levi with a snarl. As he let out a breath, the water in the air quickly burned up and turned to steam. Levi had always known Garret had a temper—it was the reason he was most likely next in line to become the leader of the group. But with the way he was acting, Levi knew that he would have to put him in his place soon, before he could outgrow him.
Levi walked up to him, staring right at Garret with fiery eyes. “You understand what I’m saying to you, Garret? If you meet with a shifter, and you attack unprovoked, that’s on you.”
“Are you saying you’re not going to protect the pack?” Garret asked, taking off his jacket as it was beginning to burn slowly.
“I’m saying if you’re stupid enough to attack, I’m not going to risk the rest of the pack just to save you. We have avoided conflict for so long, and we are going to continue to do so,” Levi finished. “Everyone, head back.”
“Are you coming?” Val asked, a frown across her face making Levi wonder what was wrong. No matter what, Val always seemed happy to talk to him.
“I need to take a moment to think, but yeah, I’ll be back.”
Levi took the scenic route, walking all the way back to the bakery. He stuck his hands in his pockets as he walked, barely feeling the heat of the midday sun as he considered what he could do. He hadn’t seen Lyra in forever, and had no idea what seeing her again would do to him. Now that he had, it felt like all he wanted to do was talk to her again. He was bombarded by memories of the time they spent together, and a large part of him wanted that again.
But there was no telling whether she felt the same way. He was certain that she was quite upset with him for the way he had vanished, and then again, it wasn’t the best idea for him to be seen with the wolves now. His dragons, Garret especially, had lost all respect for him. Now, with one of their shifters dead and the blame falling on the dragons, Levi knew it was not the time.
He put his hand in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, taking out the only photo of Lyra he had left with him. He stared at it for a moment, feeling emotions swirl inside of him. Anger at himself for falling for her, despite knowing what she was. Guilt for leaving her, without saying a word. Hate for not knowing where to go from here.
“Fuck it,” Levi whispered, before tucking it away. He was going to see her. Even if it was just one more time.