Page 17 of Cursed of Frost: A M/M Shifter Mpreg Romance Story (The New Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga Book 16)
Terrick
I woke up with my hound’s tail wagging inside his inner sanctum and Scott’s head resting over my heart. His pulse was the gentle thrum of a sleeping wolf. I kissed the top of his head and held off the moment when everything would come flooding back.
It started the night before after whatever magic the claiming vows used to override the memories Frost’s magic blocked. I was more comfortable with the dead than the living. Even when the dead were assholes it wasn’t like they could actually hurt you. Most of them grew tired of badgering me and moved on in a few days. Did the others know about the dead who weren’t my father? Did they sense them and flinch away from me? I shook the thoughts away, because it didn’t matter now. I was staying here or wherever Scott went. I’d have to do something about Salta, but that was a battle for later.
I didn’t want to leave Scott behind in the warm bed alone, but thirst burnt my throat. Despite the bloodshakes, Scott had chomped on me a few times the night before. I didn’t mind, but it left me craving blood and protein. Holding my breath, I slid out from under him and wiggled my pillow into place under his head. A smile still pulled at the corners of his mouth. I left the bedroom already missing him, but feeling pretty damn good that he was still smiling in his sleep after last night.
I opened the fridge first. There were no ready to go blood pouches. I stared down the blender but in the end started making shakes and prayed Scott was a hard sleeper.
“TERRICK! TERRICK! I’M HERE BUT THEY WON’T LET ME GO!” A desperate high-pitched voice sounded off in my thoughts. “TERRICK! HELP ME!”
The hound growled and I searched the room for something it put on. Salta! Fucking aye! What was she doing here all alone? Who had her? Looked like I was live feeding after all this morning!
I sprinted back to the bedroom where Scott lay on his back spread eagle and shoved myself back into the sweats Dara gave me the night before. Still pulling them up, I sprinted back to the kitchen and out of the back door with my baby sister’s voice still booming in my head.
“Yell out loud, Salta!” I said sniffing the air and mostly finding the scent of dragons and wolves.
“TERRICK!” Her voice rang down the street and I started off in that direction.
“TERRICK!” she yelled again.
I ran smack into someone who was running in the opposite direction of me.
“Fucking aye!” I recognized Liam’s voice but leaped over him.
“Terrick!” Liam called a second later, but I didn’t stop.
“TERRICK!” Salta screamed my name as a group of people came into view.
“Put the sword down, miss, please,” Dara’s voice broke free from the group.
“I’m getting my brother back!” Salta’s voice rose above the chaos. “Now move! I know how to use it!”
“Salta!” I shouted above the noise and Dara turned to look at me.
He might’ve been the smartest dragon there because he stepped aside, and Salta dropped the stolen antique sword to the ground. She sprinted past the men surrounding her and leapt into my arms.
“Salta,” I breathed out her name. “Sweetheart, are you all alone here?”
Gone was the bravado she carried while brandishing our mother’s old sword. Tears broke free of her eyes and she wailed. I held her close to me and turned my back toward the crowd. What in the hell did they need to crowd around a little girl for? Sword or not, she was eleven and far from home.
“Terrick?” Someone else called my name and I nearly growled until I smelled Scott.
I breathed a sigh of relief. He could get her out of here if I had to fight. Only she wasn’t letting go of me.
“It’s Salta,” I said as he came to a stop at my side.
“Did she come here all on her own?” he asked.
“It would appear so,” I said, glancing over my shoulder at the crowd. “Do me a favor and grab that sword. Our mother is going to shit dinosaurs if they break it.”
Scott disappeared into the crowd and returned a second later with the sword. It looked nice in his hand and I wondered if Hemlock education included sword fighting. From everyone’s response to Salta showing up with one, I guessed that was a negative.
“They found your car!” Salta sobbed into my shoulder. “It was all burnt up and they thought--- they thought you were too!”
“No, baby, I’m right here. I just got a bit lost that’s all,” I whispered to her.
The crash came back to me. Anger boiled my blood and I looked over when the phone rang. It had been her calling me after my banishment. The tree and my car smacked together and then it was over. Everything was over until I woke up as a Pit hound outside the gateway here in Heartville.
“Then there was a lady who made a video and said you were here. Only mom thought it was a lie or that they hurt you. She forbade anyone to come here but forget her! I couldn’t leave you kidnapped!”
“Sweetheart, I wasn’t kidnapped. I was just hurt and then they brought me here to fix me up,” I said, leaning back to look at her.
Tears and her long unbrushed hair clung to her face. I pushed away the locks and did my best to dry her tears. Dara appeared beside us and offered me a handkerchief. I took it and nodded my thanks.
“You smell different,” Salta said, sniffling and sniffing the air.
“I met my mate, baby sister,” I said, turning so she could see Scott. “He’s like us. He’s a vampire. He has a wolf too.”
“You smell like a wet dog, though,” she said, leaning over to see if Scott was the cause of it.
“Oh, him,” I laughed and rolled my eyes. “I think he helped save me too and I think he’s tagging along with me.”
“That’s so cool! Mom would never let me have a dog and now you became one!” She laughed through her tears.
“We should ---” Liam started, but I was already walking away.
The First Mate of the pack could do whatever he wanted. I was taking my sister and mate home to have breakfast. Then we’d deal with my mother and the rest of the world.