On Wings
Her Secret Menagerie Book 2
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living, dead, undead, masked, or unmasked, events, places, or names is coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced or transferred in any form or by any means without the written permission of the author. Upload and/or distribution of this book without permission of the author is illegal and punishable by law. Though, if you happen to find some hot shifters hanging around trying to sue me, let me know. I need to meet them.
Text © 2020 Katelyn Beckett
Cover by Enchanted Ink Studio
This one’s for Milo and Liz, two of the most positive and empowering people I’ve ever known. The world would be significantly less bright without you two in it. Readers: Find the people who push you back up when you fall down. Because they’re the ones you need, and the ones you’ll never feel like you deserve. But, trust me on this, you do. Everyone deserves a Milo and a Liz in their corner.
Time for a grump dragon.
Chapter 1
Eskal
Dragons care not for the land, for we are kings of the air.
The sale of a former nesting site had been exceptionally profitable, something that meant more than the sentimental emotion of selling the place where I had been hatched.
For all that you have heard of dragons and treasure is true, and so much more that you have never heard, will never hear.
I drifted past the dig, amusing myself at the Fontaine pack’s current irritation. Fossils had been found on the parcel, meaning that they had to hire a group of humans to come in and shovel dirt around until they were satisfied there was nothing worth keeping.
Had I been feeling generous, I would have managed the situation. It would have taken me minutes to convince the humans to never return, simply paying them off and letting them go on their way.
I was rarely generous.
A pack of werewolves, all of them in their human bodies, emptied from a vehicle the size of a small house. The Hummer had become their mode of pack transportation, but I thought it was a lifelong poor person's manner of showing off. Real men drove cars that snarled to life, roared down the street, and shone like the sun even in the darkest part of the night.
Mine was as black as I was and I liked it that way.
My wings folded to my sides and I hurtled toward the ground, catching myself a few hundred feet up and slowing my descent. One does not do well to land on your allies, however small and annoying they may be. It simply isn't good manners and I certainly attempt to impose myself with such mannerisms.
In truth, I don't know why I bother. People have long forgotten eloquence at this point.
"Eskal!" called the omega female, a smile full of teeth on her face.
It was a close thing. A werewolf should know better than to bare her teeth at another shapeshifter, though I had to remind myself that she was still new. Those of us under the Supernatural Secrecy Pact usually gave the young and the newly changed a half-decade to learn the intricacies of our way of life before we held them to it. I glared at one of her alphas. Hudson and the others were in charge of teaching her and, had I not been so forgiving, I would have been well within my rights to demand satisfaction.
Sadie Fontaine, once Adelaine, ran to me and threw her arms around my neck. I wrinkled my lip and continued to stare, pointedly, at all four of her alphas. Gabe ignored me. Hudson moved to pull her off of me. Xavion was busy with their pile of puppies. And Leo?
Leo grinned like a hyena. I blew a puff of smoke at him, wishing it could be flame. I only spoke once the werewolf was off of me. "How goes the digging? Has the museum moved back from this yet?"
"Soon, we hope," Hudson said. "We're six months behind schedule and keep falling. We can't afford a whole year. I don't suppose you know anyone we could grease to help the situation along?"
"No one I know," I said. "If I did, I would surely tell you. I, too, desire to see this land formed and worked with. With business down in the unicorn's trade, we have been forced to move along with the sale of flight land to another buyer. Yet they are aware of this situation and hesitant to do business with us due to this."
The last word came out with a hiss on the end of it and another short cloud of smoke. It was only the truth; the griffins weren't interested in our land offering for their new hunting area because of this. Though they only intended to build a small mews, there were still requirements, there were still permits to file and inspectors to bribe. What if that land, too, had some sort of fossil profile that had to be investigated?
I couldn't allow my flight to become less than respected within the supernatural community. Though we dealt with human funds, features, and finances, I much preferred to gather and resell what we found within our own world. It was easier to deal with others who were intent on keeping money within our people.
It also meant that we could have slightly steeper prices, though I took pity on the griffins. Their third year running and they had lost their nests. There would be no chicks again during the holidays and, though they shrieked so loudly that I thought my ears may burst, I did enjoy the savage little beasts.
There would be no dragon whelps, either, but I tried not to think about that.
"That's too bad," Gabe said, picking up one of the pups before it scrambled over to me and decided to use me as a chew toy; something I would not take kindly to. "That's not the only reason we asked you to meet us here."
"It isn't?"
"No," Hudson said, walking to me and holding a sheet of paper up. He was kind enough to do it in such a way that I could read it without needing to shift back to my bipedal self.
I muttered as I read, something I'd never quite broken myself of. "Mr. Eskal Vervain is requested with his lawyer to meet with the museum manager in accordance with-" I paused, then looked back at the Fontaine pack's leader. "Are you suing me?"
"No, we're just trying to clear your name with the local authorities. They think you off-loaded some cheap land to us knowing that it would be restricted. So does the firm that represents Fontaine Feeds. We could choose to go ahead and tell them that we know better, but that would imply that we know each other."
Ah. "You're attempting to uphold the secrecy act by annoying me. Clever move, Fontaine."
"I don't see any other way around it. I'm sorry."
My paws dug talons as long as their torsos into the ground beneath me. Forced, dragged before some human judge that would act as juror and executioner. This would cost thousands to clear up and under the guise of protecting the pact. I paced before them, attempting to think my way through a manner in which this would be delayed until my own staff had time to go through it, destroy it, and send it back to these foolish people in a shredder bag.
There didn't seem to be any way around it. I was trapped by the laws we upheld. Our industries were too different. The Fontaines were in the business of making pet food and were, admittedly, extremely successful at it. Of course, formulating food for a dog was simple when it was practically cereal to your inner mongrel.
My cover job for the moment was that of a real estate entrepreneur, primarily in rural and commercial real estate that could be quickly flipped for a higher profit. This was, of course, the smallest amount of wealth the humans I dealt with could wrap their minds around.
Had they seen the caverns in which my true wealth, collected over the past fifteen centuries, was laid hidden they would not have been capable of understanding it. After a certain number, humans and non-dra
gon shifters alike seemed to let their tongues roll out of their heads and allow their eyes to turn into dollar signs.
The Nightflight, that which I lead, was similarly wealthy. None of us knew the location of another's hoard, but that was common within our community. We were all well-equipped to become independently wealthy from birth, especially in the era of which we had been born.
In which none of these yammering, irritating, squishable humans would have dared to demand I show up for a fucking meeting regarding the ethical nature of the property I had already sold.
"Lunch. Tomorrow. I desire that there be payment for it upfront, Hudson. Should you force me to attend something that does not offer wagyu, I will roast all of you. Am I understood?" I grumbled, stretching my wings.
Sadie was the one who answered, smiling up at me. "We just appreciate you helping out, Eskal. Thank you. I'll make sure we get something worth your time."
I didn't answer her and crouched. My wings cupped the air and I launched myself back into the sky, scooping the night beneath me with wings larger than that of the clearing below me.
With an expanse such as I have, the trip home took little time. I owned a comfortable abode, showy enough for business meetings but large enough to allow me a basement in which to curl up in when I was in a sour mood. I had lost count of the size of it; something perhaps in the 10,000 square feet range.
Feet. Really. In the civilized world, we used meters.
Though it was possible that my flight may decide to stay with me in the home, they rarely did. I didn't use most of it. Upon arrival, I retired to my library, which was settled well out of the way of the rooms which I used to entertain. The further I went, the more personal my belongings became.
An old suit of armor, slightly charred, stood upon a platform. The lord who had ridden into battle against me had never made it home, though he had been threatening a clutch of my mother's eggs, my siblings, when he did it. We had stood accused of disappearing with the local farmers' livestock, charges which were horrendously accurate, but a dozen goats were not worth the lives of my family.
Had I been given the chance; I would have killed him again.
Though dragons were somewhat casual about the recent selfie craze that had started some time when Kodak had made cameras affordable for the entire family, I had retained pictures of my direct family for a number of reasons. The primary one seemed to be rational; they were all that I had left of them.
You see, there were rumors of magic and mayhem during the World Wars. That was because there was. We had made the Pact shortly before the second of those nightmarish time.
The problem being, we were an absolute requirement for the Allies to win. When their technology could not get them close enough to the enemy, we took the bombs to their final resting place and assisted in their victory. Their next move? Find the dragons, kill us all with those same weapons, and bury the secrets of our existence while gathering our riches to restore their militaries.
I wasn't angry about the latter part of it. I understood that money was the fulcrum on which the world shifted. Without it, all went to ruin.
But the echoes of my siblings' screams still rang in my ears. I could smell the pitch burning as it crashed over my family and fried a semi-circle into my forehead. The color had grown back white, the speckles of burning droplets dotting my flesh. I was only grateful the scars weren't apparent as a human. A smiling half-moon just above my brow would have made my business dealings difficult.
My feet paused as I reached the library door. This was not what I wanted; not tonight. Alone was too stagnant, too on the nose. I retrieved my cell phone from within and dialed a number.
The music was a blaring explosion from the other end. "Hey Eskal, what's up?"
"Where are you?"
I scowled as he waited to answer, though the music in the background dimmed significantly. I assumed he'd stepped outside or gone into a private room. "Tyg's place, there's a fight going on with a phoenix and a lion. You need something? I've got forty bucks on the lion."
"Why would you ever bet against a phoenix?"
"Odds are better thattaways. Whatcha need?"
I rolled the thought through my mind for a moment. "Is it open bar?"
"It's always open bar on a Tuesday night."
I didn't need my books or the silence of the library. Most likely, they would only serve to overwhelm my mind and make me more tired than I actually was. I needed a drink. And maybe a fight, if the lion had defeated the phoenix; I wasn't about to fight one of the firebirds.
If Nariti was there, the rest of the flight probably was, too. I hung up without another word, though he would know what that meant. All I had to do was get something to wear, my car keys, my credit card, and drive down to Masque.
Masque was the kind of bar that you don't know about unless you're supposed to, and even then, it was a difficult place to get in to for the vast majority of shapeshifters. It served only the supernatural crowd, allowing us a place to relax, get drunk, and know that our secrets would be safe no matter what. Cameras were strictly forbidden and anyone caught taking pictures inside simply disappeared.
The Nightflight donated to the legal relief fund for Masque, as well as their insurance bills. It was both the ethical and polite thing to do, considering how much they offered to the supernatural community. We needed a place to congregate and mingle, though it was rare for shifters of varying types to find long-term relationships with one another, they did happen from time to time. And we needed that place to allow that to happen.
You also have no idea how much it costs to replace a roof after a dragon has too much tequila and ends up shapeshifting through to the outside world.
Not as though it had been me, but the rational persisted. We didn't want lawsuits or emergency fundraising to need to occur. We put the money upfront first and dealt with whatever happened when we went on benders afterward.
I arrived at Masque to find a line outside filled with young shifters; most of them werewolves. I didn't recognize the majority and I was glad of it. I had enough frustration from the wolves already in my life. The bouncer dared to swing an arm in front of me. "Masque is full for the evening, sir. Head to the back of the line."
My head turned up toward him and I allowed the slightest rage of my dragon self to shine through. My slit-pupiled eyes reflected in his nighttime sunglasses and I watched the color drain from his face. "I am Eskal Vervain and if you do not remove your arm from the direction in which I am going, you will have a very poor night ahead of you."
The man, and he was certainly a man as I could smell the stink of humanity all over him, looked as though he may faint. He immediately removed himself from my path and went so far as to open the door for me. Perhaps he was aware of who I was, or maybe he only knew that the only dragons in the area were my flight. He'd certainly backed down quickly enough and I was pleased to see it.
What I was not pleased to see was my flightmate in a caged arena with a young man who was absolutely on fire.
Literally.
I moved up to the front of the pack of cheering people and frowned. Nariti's dragon form was that of a blue beast with amber eyes, but his human form couldn't have been more different. His dark skin and sharp silver eyes painted a contrast that brought the eye of men and women alike; something that he enjoyed lording over me. Though he wasn't the picture of the ridiculous bodybuilders you often saw in movies, he was getting close to it. He breathed the gym and spent his time doing stupid things like this when he wasn't busy being my lawyer.
"We have a meeting tomorrow for lunch and you are about to get your face smashed in," I told him, casually leaning against the chain link mesh; which was mostly a joke. If any of we shifters wished to free ourselves from the cage match, they would need far stronger material to hold us in.
He blinked back at me, grinned, and shook his head. "I thought you were hassling the Fontaines tonight."
"I finished early. Again. We have a meeting in
the morning and you are about to get destroyed."
His only response was another grin and the ringing of a bell. It had not been enough for him to lose untold amounts of money, but he simply had to prove that he was stronger than a phoenix, too. The problem being; he wasn't. Nariti was a tough, intelligent dragon nearly as old as I was. That didn't mean he was going to beat a shifter that had been trained from birth to fight. Heaven's flames, the phoenixes threw their newborns off cliffsides and if they didn't fly back up upon rebirth or catch themselves on the way down, they left the poor creatures down there to rot.
Though he did better than I had first guessed, the unknown phoenix beat him to a bloody pulp. As the crowd booed, Nariti staggered out of the cage. I turned to join him but the phoenix caught me and dragged me close.
His voice was a growl most unbecoming from a bird. "I heard you say you have a meeting, you prissy bitch. That's the only reason I didn't break his fucking neck. Didn't think you'd want to be mourning your boyfriend during your little business luncheon tomorrow."
On Wings: A Reverse Harem Dragon Shifter Romance (Her Secret Menagerie Book 2) Page 1
