Eternal (Dragon Wars, #2) Read Free Page B

sometimes be between ventures. She’d go to work at the school.”
    “Teaching, fine. Nursing, ok. Scientists? What the hell?” His friend wasn’t so easily mollified.
    He snickered. “In all the years I’ve known you, Brett, I don’t think I’ve ever realized you were such a chauvinist.”
    “I’m an Alpha Werewolf. We’re a male dominated world. Look at the dragons. This war happened because they have a woman running things. The sick dragons.”
    “Um, Brett. They’re winning, brother.” And if the fire thing Caitlyn wanted to try worked, then it would be her female run lab turning the tide of the war. Things changed. They had to. Nothing could be counted on in life except time pressing forward. Maybe all the Werewolf soldiers would find there was nowhere left for them when they got back.
    “So you didn’t know Devon got mated.” Brett didn’t seem interested in keeping his head on his neck.
    “I don’t talk to the home front. I don’t call. I don’t write. I don’t want to. Neither do you.” And it wasn’t because he didn’t care. He could do nothing for them. What would he tell them about his life?
    He smelled her before he saw her. Caitlyn approached them slowly, as if she expected them to tell her to go away. She carried home on her, and he wondered if she had any idea how appealing he found her scent. Lilacs. Roses. Sugar. Gods, he wasn’t going to survive the melancholy on its way.
    “Okay if I join you?”
    Brett stood. “Ma’am.”
    “It’s miss, obviously. I’m not mated.”
    His friend nodded. “Alright, miss, then. I think the reason the commander put you in his tent was for your own protection. It’s been a very long time since any of us have seen a female. I’m sure of my own good behavior and Dougal’s. Beyond us, I worry for your honor.”
    “Oh she’s okay with us.” Dougal patted the ground next to him, although he had to agree with Brett’s statement. The scents she brought with her were too precious to let drift off without savoring them.
    Not to mention he wanted to know about his brother.
    She wasn’t pretty, not in the traditional sense of the word. Her older sisters had been. Before he left home, the Knox family boasted seven daughters, no sons. Maybe there were more since the war. They’d been considered great beauties of their pack.
    The three older than Caitlyn had been downright gorgeous. All of them possessed the same streaked-blonde hair and light eyes. Brett had been lucky to have seen at least one, maybe two, naked.
    Dougal didn’t know what Caitlyn would have looked like if she hadn’t been burned. He didn’t know if she would have been considered pretty. Her nose was a little too long for her face and her chin jutted out with a small cleft. She had long shapely legs she covered modestly in long pants and beneath her loose blouse were large breasts he suspected would fill his hands if he ever got to see them.
    She sat next to him while Brett placed himself on her other side, flanked by the males who should have been her pack. Something moved inside of Dougal and he didn’t know what it was. Familiarity ?
    “It’s cold in the tent. The commander is sleeping, snoring actually. I’m not tired. Too wound about tomorrow, I guess.” She put her hands in front of the fire. They were small, at least compared to his, only they didn’t look dainty. Her fingers were solid and steady. Working hands.
    “Which is exactly why you should be sleeping.” Brett’s voice irked him like ripping paper. He’d always hated rough sounds. Dougal rubbed his forehead. He’d never had such a strange reaction to Brett before.
    “Hey, Brett. I think the lady could really use a drink, as could I. Want to be a sport?”
    His friend eyed him for a second before he rose. “Sure. Not sure where I’m going to find any. I guess I’ll look for it. Might take a while.”
    “Take your time. No rush.” If he wanted to spend all night searching, it would be fine with