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“Vash, buddy,” Draik chuckles, shaking his head as he gently wraps the bandage around. “As lovely as your mate is, I have a mate that would skin me alive if I even thought about trying anything with another woman. Take a breather.”

“Sorry,” Vash sighs as he relaxes.

“Don’t apologize,” Draik says “If you knew Vruna, you’d understand why I was quick to point that out. She can be a feisty little thing.”

“You mean she scares you,” Striker asks with a chuckle.

“Absolutely terrifying,” Draik laughs. “How does that feel, Leli?” he asks, securing the bandage. Leli sets her foot down and takes a few steps with Vash nearby. “Much better, thank you,” she smiles softly as she returns to her seat. Vash sits next to her, holding her hand. We all come over and sit down with them. Thuly curls up at my feet, chittering softly as Callum pulls me into his lap. Draik pulls out a phone and dials a number. “Hey, beautiful… You’ll never guess who I ran into out here in the woods. No… No… Getting closer,” he laughs heartily. “That’s right, the very same. Yeah, I told them we’d be able to give them a ride to the orphanage. Mhm… yeah, yeah. That’s the idea.” He steps away briefly as he continues his conversation with her.

“Love you too, Starshine,” he says, walking back towards us and takes an open seat near the campfire. “She said they should be here by morning,” Draik says.

“You all are welcome to camp out here,” Kael says.

“We’d appreciate that,” Draik says before looking at me. “Lilith, did you say earlier that it was Zypher Fallins holding the foxes?”

“Yeah, him and Brion Morwen” I frown. “Why?”

“Were you assigned to him when you were a maiden?” he asks.

“How do you know that?” Striker asks, his tone is icy and borders on hostile. Draik sighs and looks back at me.

“I was. How do you know that?” I answer, calmer than my brother.

“I knew what Zypher and his pack were up to,” he says as he sighs and wipes his face.

“I’m sorry?” Daemon asks, his eyebrow rising. Callum pulls me closer against him. “You knew?”

“Yeah, shit, I’m sorry,” Draik says. “We tried for years to get close enough to get to you, but I think he was suspicious and was worried about what we were up to. He never brought you out for long enough. We could never get close enough to you.”

“I think I might have only left twice in the five years,” I say, my voice sounds far away, as if in a memory. I shake my head to clear my thoughts before they haunt me. “How do you know what he was doing to me?”

“We’ve rescued a few girls that his pack got a hold of,” he says. “Zypher spoke about you enough that the girls we helped knew who you were. What you meant to him. They told me what happened to them and how Zypher was, it was enough that I knew we needed to get to you. I can’t even imagine everything he did to you.” his voice cracks with emotion.

“Uhm… It was bad,” I admit. “I’ll spare you the details unless you really want to know.” Thuly begins to stir and lifts his scaly head to nudge my hand, offering comfort.

“I know that the girls we helped were assaulted, brutally. They mentioned having to service five or six of them at a time,” Draik says.

“Five or six?” Leli asks and Draik nods. “That would be a dream compared—”

“What do you mean compared? Compared to what?” Draik interrupts her.

“I was assigned to Zypher after Lilith went to the kings. He sent that entire pack after me, on top of what he was doing. That’s what he did to Lilith for five years,” Leli says with venom in her tone.

“That’s…” Draik starts but stops himself.

“Almost forty. I know,” I say, nodding as I swallow back my emotions. “I keep catching myself almost defending it because I didn’t see it as assault at the time, it was just how life was, but… yeah. It was bad.”

“I’m so sorry, Lilith. I really wanted to get to you. I got close once when he had you out at some pack meet. I think he caught wind of us being close and took you back before we could get there,” Draik says.

“He’ll get what he deserves,” I say, coldly. “One way or another, he will pay for what he did to my sister and me.”

“If you don’t kill him… I will,” Leli says.

“Deal,” I laugh.

“As great as catching up is, It’s late. We should probably get back to sleep if we plan on moving early tomorrow,” Kael says. “Feel free to set up anywhere you can find space. We have some extra gear if you need it.”

“We have also been putting up a barrier, so we shouldn’t have to be worried about someone unwanted coming in,” Leli says.