Traded To The Lycan King by MG Wattsons novel Chapter 170

“He is baiting us.” Teiran gruffs, looking around for something more than the few droplets that linger on the ground.

“Or it’s someone else.” I mutter, focused on the way the blood seems different. Pinker, almost like paint from the store in shades lighter than blood red.

“Both of you are wrong,” Kyra murmurs in thought, scooping up a leaf with some of it on it as she brings it closer to her nose and sniffs.

“And what makes you think that?” Teiran asks, walking over to her.

“There is fur in it,” she explains, but he huffs in disagreement.

“The fur could have happened before or after the blood was here.” He parries.

Kyra shrugs, her smooth locks falling over her shoulder and swinging toward her face as she looks carefully at what’s in her hand.

“I suppose that could be true, too. But this blood smells like a deer.

“Then why is it pink?” He frowns and I grin. It feels nice to know a little more about this than others.

“It’s from the lungs. It’s more oxygenated and therefore looks more pink than red. Do you not hunt deer very often?”

Teiran looks at me with a blank stare, “We don’t hunt our deer the same way you do.”

“Right,” I mumble, remembering he is a big ass dragon under that human skin. He probably doesn’t have to chase and tackle, but does more swooping and swallowing.

“Are you sure it is a deer?” He asks, as Kyra stands and walks further from us.

We follow her, watching as she processes everything in her head, her eyes focused and her mind unable to hear anything we are saying now. Until she stops and places her hands on her hips.

“I am positive.” She says, looking back at us and then nodding forward to where a dead deer hangs, partially butchered.

“Ezrah?” I ask, moving closer, looking at the jagged cuts closer.

“Most likely,” Kyra says.

“Well, at least we can salvage what he left.” Teiran says, moving closer and proceeding to process the rest of the deer.

I can see Kyra already moving forward in her head, her eyes scanning the different ways Ezrah could have potentially gone. She moves forward, passing the deer and stepping into a tiny clearing where she places her hands on her hips and sucks in her bottom lip, chewing on it intensely.

I want to follow her, like a shadow forever attached to her but always beneath her, but it feels somehow invasive to see her like this, in a way I have never known her to be.

This is the version Tyler knew, the version he helped to shape, and that she loves so much. It feels wrong to admire her for it and yet…her focus is adorable and her commitment admirable.

“You follow her and see what else you two may find, then come back for me.” Teiran says from behind me. “There is enough meat here that we can turn it into jerky and have supplies for some time.”

“Are you sure?” I ask him and he snorts a laugh.

“I have been out here on my own for a long time.” He responds and I smirk.

“I mean, are you sure you know what you are doing? Because it looks to me like you are cutting that deer like a novice.” I wince as he just takes chunks out of the veal.

“Meat is meat, no matter how it is cut.” He says, looking mildly confused. “Now go before she leaves you.”

His eyes look at where Kyra was moments before, but now there is nothing but a hint of her scent left behind. I follow it, weaving through trees until I see her. Her fingers touch various trees before she swoops down, touching the mossy ground. Then she drops to her knees and listens to the ground, popping up with a disappointed frown.

I see it before she does, the quick movement under the trees on the opposite side. My eyes stuck on the thing as it darts around, before stopping and standing at the edge of the light that shines through the trees.

I stride to Kyra, coming up next to her, my hand sliding up her lower back to alert her to my presence. She shakes her head out of a daze, then blinks at me, a curious shimmer in her eyes.

“We have an audience.” I whisper to her, only for there to be a chuckle that echoes through the trees.

“It’s not Ezrah.” She tells me, her head tilting to the side.