“You’re dreaming, bro.”

“Shut up,” Drantos snarled. “Pay attention to our surroundings. I’m smelling bear.”

Kraven sniffed. “Shit. It’s more than one. The last thing we need is to run into some of them this time of year. They’re going to be hungry.”

“You better not put me and Bat in danger,” she snapped. “This was your crazy plan to leave the crash site. We had fire and people there. I don’t care if you two get eaten but my sister and I better not become dinner for a bear.”

Drantos rubbed her ass again. “You’re going to be a meal alright, but it won’t be a bear putting its mouth on you, sweetheart.”

What the hell does that mean?

Dusti clenched her teeth when it sank in that he was making another sexual innuendo. What an asshole. “That’s never going to happen,” she swore.

“It will,” he promised. “Soon.”

“Listen up, you son of a bit—”

“Enough of that, you two. We don’t have time for an argument. Stop taunting her, Drantos. We should separate here,” Kraven murmured. “It will double our chances of running into our clan. What do you think?”

“Good idea. You go a bit to the left and I’ll go right.”

Dusti panicked. “My sister and I stay together.”

“You’ll be rejoined with her soon.” Drantos sighed loudly. “Keep just under a mile distance. We’ll cover more ground that way. Whoever finds someone from our clan first, we’ll know where to search for the other and still be close enough to hear if one of us runs into trouble.”

“Good idea,” Kraven agreed.

“We’ll make camp at the river to eat and get a little break before we continue. How does that sound?”

“Bat’s out still, so I’ll keep going for as long as I can.”

“That will put more distance between us and we need to make rafts. They might get sick otherwise.”

“Right.” Kraven paused. “I just want to hand this one over to someone else as soon as possible. She’s annoying when she’s awake.”

“You can’t keep her unconscious for too long.”

“Got it. She’ll need food. We’ll both take a break when we reach the river. It shouldn’t take more than a few hours to hunt up some food, cook it, and build a raft. Then we’ll move out again. How about that?”

“Sounds good.”

“Okay. We have a plan.”

Dusti turned her head, horrified as she helplessly watched Kraven walk away with her sister tossed over his shoulder.

“Make him come back with Bat! Please?” she pleaded with Drantos.

“She’ll be safe. Our chances of being found are better if we’re in two places. We’ll send help to them or they’ll send help our way if he runs into our clan first.”

Chapter Five

“Please put me down. I need to go to the bathroom and I think my head is about to explode from the blood rush.” Dusti didn’t expect Drantos to listen. He hadn’t all morning as they’d marched through the woods. “Remember the puking threat? How do you feel about bladder issues? I can hear water and it’s making it worse.”

“That’s because we’ve reached the river. We can take a short break.”

Drantos stopped to bend over. Dusti had to clutch at his leather jacket when he eased her onto her feet. A dizzy spell had her swaying on shaky legs that suffered some numbness from being in the same position for too long. His big warm hands caged her hips to help keep her steady.

She lifted her chin to stare into his eyes. If she wasn’t mistaken, she saw concern there.

“Are you all right?”

“No.” The dizziness passed. “You’ve kept me upside down for hours.”

“We needed to move fast to put distance between us and the plane.” He frowned, studying her. “You don’t look so well.”

“I don’t feel so hot.”

He opened his jacket and reached inside, withdrawing one of her shots. “Do you need this?”

She’d forgotten about them with all the stress she’d been under. Clearly he hadn’t though. “Probably.”

His eyebrow arched. “You aren’t certain?”

“I was in a plane crash and I’ve been abducted. I’m not sure if the lightheadedness is from you carrying me, the hypnotizing stuff you’ve done, or if my anemia is acting up.”

“Sit down.”

She glanced around and spotted a fist-sized rock nearby. She sat, feeling a bit better that there was a weapon within sight if she needed one. Drantos crouched in front of her. He removed the cap, frowning at the needle. “How often do you have to take these again?”

“It depends. Sometimes I can go a few days, even up to a week. At other times, every day. My doctor told me to take one every other day but I hate needles, so I avoid it when I can. I usually make sure I eat well-balanced meals. That helps a lot. Stress can also activate it and make it pretty bad. I’d say I probably need one, now that I’m thinking about it.”

He offered it to her. She took it and peered at him. “Did you bring my entire case?”

“No. It wouldn’t fit inside my pocket.”

“Did you grab the alcohol packets?”

“No. I didn’t see your sister use one on you.”

“That’s because Bat was freaked-out after the crash and not thinking straight.” She pulled her skirt up a little, twisting her legs to keep her modesty in place by only revealing the upper part of her thigh on the side. She injected the meaty area and winced. “I hope I don’t get an infection from not cleaning the skin first.”

He took the syringe from her and sniffed at it.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to figure out what it is. They aren’t marked. I looked at them very closely.”

“It’s my medicine. It’s called Bord-orallis.”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“I’m not surprised. It’s a rare disorder.”

He capped it, and shoved it back inside his pocket. He pulled out another syringe. “I think you take after your grandmother. You know that anemia you suffer from? While you smell pure human, you aren’t. Your grandmother inherited more Vampire traits than Lycan. Your body is starved for a blood source.”