by Tate James
“What the hell?” he exclaimed, looking at his arms with wide eyes.
“No idea.” I shrugged unhelpfully. “But warming you up seems to be helping…” Already the scales seemed to be fading and not coming back anywhere near as quickly as before.
He nodded hesitantly, and I could read the panic on his face as he tightened his arms around me. Rightly so, too. Fuck, even I'm freaking out right now, and it's not happening to me!
Cuddling into his freezing body, I laid my face on his neck. Given how achingly cold his skin was, my own must feel like fire in comparison, but the long sigh he gusted out told me it was a good thing.
After only a few moments, my cheek was numb with cold, so I shifted my face to lay the other side against his skin, and he hissed at the initial contact. His body was still trembling with shivers but gradually slowed as I snuggled into him like a koala bear.
I had no idea how long we had sat like that when his shaking finally ceased all together and his temperature felt almost normal again. Pulling back, I grabbed his face in my hands to bring his eyes to mine.
“Thank fuck for that,” I whispered, seeing his eyes totally back to normal again. Releasing his face, I picked up one of his arms to check for scales.
“Anything?” he asked, inspecting his other arm carefully.
“All clear, I think,” I released his arm and sat back on his knees. “So um… what the fuck was that?”
“I wish I knew,” he muttered, his face pale and his eyes a bit wider than usual.
“I know,” Vali chimed in, and both Cole and I looked over the aisle at him. The rest of the team was still gathered around us, and the carpet was soaking with melted ice.
“Now is hardly the time for keeping secrets, Dragomir,” River snapped, his usual controlled demeanor fraying around the edges as he glowered at the Romanian.
Vali flicked his gaze across all of the guys, pausing on Cole then resting on me last. He held my gaze steadily as he responded.
“Apparently, as a little bonus to you saving my life when I got shot, you’ve also somehow turned me into a dragon. And by the looks of things, Andrei too.” His words seemed to hang in the air as everyone simply stared at him.
“Sorry, I could have sworn you just said dragon.” Caleb was the first to recover, squinting at Vali as though he was considering a hearing aid.
“I did.” Vali was still holding my gaze as he raised an eyebrow. “After you left Nevada, I entered into a somewhat heated debate with that vile old bastard who calls himself my father. The next thing I knew, my bedroom was halfway destroyed when I shifted into a dragon the size of a fucking semi-trailer.” My jaw dropped slightly open at this revelation, but I was at a total loss for words. What the hell does one say to that?
“Fuck,” I whispered, for lack of anything better.
“And yet, despite you all looking a little surprised, none of you look anywhere near as shocked as I was.” Vali raised his eyebrows at me in a bit of an accusatory fashion, which was entirely warranted. “So now that my little brother is no longer in danger of ripping this aircraft to bits like it was made of paper, do you think maybe you can catch me up to speed with what the hell you’ve done to us?”
Sliding off Cole’s lap, I half staggered, half fell into the empty seat opposite Vali. My knees were weak, and it had nothing to do with the biting cold that had so recently seeped into my bones. I puffed out a long breath, nervously twisting my hair over my shoulder while I thought about where the hell to begin. A sick, guilty feeling was churning in my gut as I thought about the consequences of my actions. Yes, I had saved both Cole’s and Vali’s lives. But at what cost?
“Caleb, I could probably go for some more vodka right now.” I was only about thirty percent joking. My world was getting crazier by the second.
Vali deserved some answers though, so I had better suck it up for now.
Sitting forward, I sighed. “Okay, let’s start from the beginning…”
31
Seagulls screamed far too close to my ears as we stepped off our seaplane and onto the docks at Harrow, Alaska. The pilot of the small aircraft had barely spoken two words to us during the entire flight from Anchorage, and as we made our way up the dock, he took off again as if he were being chased by wolves.
“Well, he was friendly,” Caleb joked quietly as he took my hand to help me across a broken board. “Anyone would think we all smelled bad or something.”
“I don’t think it was us,” Wesley commented. “He seemed more worried about this town. River had to pay him three times his usual fee to bring us here.”
My mouth gaped open at this news. What could possibly cause that sort of reaction?
Making a quick mental note to pay River back when that was all over, if we were alive, I sped up a little to catch his hand.
“You okay, love?” River asked, his sexy accent on that endearment making my heart flutter like I was a schoolgirl with a crush.
“Yeah, I just wanted to say thank you for funding this little expedition. I would have suggested we use the Omega jet, but I just had a bit of a gut feeling that we needed to keep our movements to ourselves for a bit, at least until we know who is trying to kill us.” I scanned our surroundings as we approached the shops facing the wharf. It seemed eerily quiet, like the whole town had been abandoned or all the residents were hiding.
“It’s my pleasure, Kitten,” he replied, dropping his voice low so as not to be overheard by the other guys walking loosely spaced around us. “But if you really feel so inclined, you’re welcome to show me your appreciation later…” One corner of his mouth twitched up, and the heated look in his eyes left no doubt as to what he meant.
“I may just do that… sir.” I grinned back at him and was rewarded by a quiet moan in his throat.
“All right, are we splitting up?” Austin asked in a loud voice, pulling everyone’s attention. “It’s fucking freezing and I’d rather we not fuck around any more than what’s necessary.”
During the remainder of our flight from New York, after we’d filled Vali in on everything we knew this far and after we’d all recovered from the fact that my new found healing magic had turned both Cole and Vali into dragon shifters, we had discussed a brief plan of attack. We knew that our contact, whoever he was, wouldn’t be back for another few weeks. The goal now was to either get some sort of contact details for him so we could at least call him, or possibly to find someone else in this town who might also have the answers we were seeking.
Entirely based on hope and assumption, I was determined that if this guy really was a shifter, and my gut told me that he was, then there could possibly be others like him living here too. Animals tended to live and travel in packs after all, so hopefully shifters would do the same.
“Agreed,” I said, raising my voice a little to be heard over the icy wind, which had just picked up. “Wes and I are going to go talk to the neighbors; between the five of you, can you sort us out somewhere to stay and also speak with some locals?”
“How come just you and Wes?” Caleb questioned, frowning.
“Because we are clearly the least threatening of the group.” I raised an eyebrow at the five of them. All standing firmly over six feet tall with broad shoulders and dangerous good looks, they were the picture of intimidation. Not that Wesley was any less handsome, in his own way, but he just lacked the air of aggression and danger that the other five vibrated with.
“Great, thanks, princess. Leave us to deal with these drama queens,” Austin muttered, but I know I hadn't just imagined the small smile crossing his lips.
Neither Vali nor Cole had spoken much since the flight, and I didn't blame them. Cole had just halfway shifted into a fucking reptile, and Vali had just been dumped with information on magical plagues and power plots and hidden wars. It was a lot to take in, even for those of us who had been living it for months, so I could only imagine how scrambled his brain must be.
“Yep.” I stepped over to the silent, impo
sing brothers who, for the first time, were actually standing close to one another. “Are you two going to be okay?”
Vali quirked a small, flirtatious grin at me. “Are you worried we are going to kill each other or have a mental breakdown?”
“Uh,” I hesitated. “Both?”
“We'll be fine, Vixen,” Cole assured me, his face still a little pale and his eyes hard. “Go with Wesley; he will take care of you while we sort out somewhere to stay. River and the twins can speak with the townspeople. Vali and I probably shouldn't interact with the public just yet.”
Vali raised a surprised eyebrow at his brother, then gave me a tight nod. I had a bad feeling about how this was all going to play out but couldn't see any better solutions, so I quickly gave them both a kiss on the cheek, then grabbed Wesley's hand and tugged him away from the group.
“You know they're probably going to kill each other, right?” Wesley chuckled as we walked hand in hand down the street towards the address Mr. Gregoric had given me. Fuck, so much had happened since that night it felt like it was a year ago, but it hadn’t even been three months.
“Probably, but I figure they need to work it out themselves.” I smiled at him. “They're big kids, right? And worst-case scenario, I can probably heal them again. Surely I can't do much more damage than what's already done?”
“Sweetheart…” Wesley said softly, pulling me to stop so he could look at me. “You're not feeling guilty about what's happening to them, are you?”
Staring down at my shoes, I shuffled my feet uncomfortably. We had done a quick clothing restock at the shops in Anchorage before boarding the seaplane, thank God; otherwise I would have been freezing my tits off.
“Well, it is my fault. I turned them into fucking dragons, Wes.” My toe kicked at a particularly interesting crack in the ground. Nearby, a motorbike engine kicked over, and I faked a bit of curiosity looking for it.
“Hey.” Wesley tapped my chin to raise my face back up to his. “You saved their lives. I am positive, beyond shadow of doubt, that they'd prefer to be alive and a little scaly over human and dead.” His description made me smile, and his own lips pulled up in a grin, his clear blue eyes laughing behind his glasses.
“It's going to take a little more to convince me, but I do see your point,” I admitted, and his hand slid up to cup my cheek, his fingertips resting on the soft skin behind my ear.
“I'm glad,” he smirked. “I like it when you see my point.” My eyebrows shot up, and I snickered a quick laugh, to which he blushed furiously. “That's not what I meant. Oh God, that sounded dirty, didn't it?” My grin spread wider, and his thumb caressed my lower lip. “You have a grubby mind, sweetheart…”
“If only you knew the half of it,” I whispered, my tongue flicking out to touch his thumb in a teasing lick. He gave a pained groan then dipped his face in close to mine, pausing when he was just a fraction of an inch away. Warm breath fanned across my lips, and my heart was galloping so fast it was like a runaway thoroughbred.
“Hey! Who the hell are you?” an angry voice yelled at us, and we broke apart like guilty teenagers. A red-faced man in faded overalls was stalking towards us from across the road while he wiped his grease-covered hands on a rag.
“Oh, hi!” I called back, pasting a friendly smile on my face.
“I asked you who the hell you are.” The man glowered, stopping in front of us. The embroidery on his jumpsuit indicated his name was Frank, and based on the grease stains, he had likely just come out of the mechanic’s garage opposite us.
“We are just visiting,” Wesley answered with a friendly smile of his own. “We are heading to see someone at”—he fished a slip of paper out of his pocket with the address on it—“sixteen Coalstream Lane?”
Frank eyed us both with suspicion. “What the hell do you want with Vic? He's not here. Won’t be back for two weeks or more.”
“Vic? That's who lives at this address?” I blurted, smooth as ever. As if that didn't make me seem suspicious.
“What are you two doing with Vic's address if you don't know him?” Frank's eyes narrowed at us in anger. “We don't take too kindly to strangers around these parts.”
“Someone gave it to us and said Vic might be able to help me with some answers,” I replied, chewing my lip nervously. This guy obviously knew Vic, which wasn't so shocking given how small this town looked, so maybe he could put us in touch with him?
Frank snorted a humorless laugh. “Answers, eh? That's one thing Vic can give you for sure. Who was this 'someone' who sent you here, anyway?”
Wesley's hand tightened around mine for a second, and we exchanged a glance. He seemed to be warning me not to say too much, but the whole point of this trip to Alaska was to find information, wasn't it?
“We knew him as Mr. Gregoric, but he said to say that 'N' sent us…” As I said this, Frank’s bushy eyebrows shot up so high they almost disappeared into his floppy hair.
“N?” He clarified, “Just the letter?”
Wesley nodded. “Yeah, just the letter. You know him?”
A strange look passed over the man's face but was gone faster than I could catch what it was. He nodded sharply and tucked his greasy rag into his pocket.
“You need to come with me.” His tone accepted no arguments; his gaze was rock hard and uncompromising.
“Umm,” I glanced at Wesley in question, but he just shrugged. This was what we’d come here for, after all. “Sure…”
Frank jerked his head in the direction we had been going, indicating we were to follow him.
“I’ll text the guys and let them know what we’re doing,” Wesley whispered to me, and I nodded in agreement. Better safe than sorry.
“So, you know who this ‘N’ is?” I attempted to engage Frank in conversation as we walked but may as well have spoken Japanese for all the reaction I got out of him.
“Hey, buddy,” Wesley tried. “We came here for answers, so anything you might be able to tell us would be great.”
Frank cast a look over his shoulder at us that suggested we were morons but said nothing and continued leading the way down the street.
“Is this guy giving you a bad feeling at all, sweetheart?” Wesley asked me quietly, and I considered this.
“I think this whole town is giving me a bad feeling, to be honest. Ever since we got on that seaplane, I’ve been feeling anxious.” I rubbed at my arms, trying to squash the gooseflesh that had taken up residence the moment we’d boarded the small aircraft. “Let’s just… stay alert.”
After a few minutes of walking in silence, Frank stopped us outside a friendly-looking cottage. The gardens were meticulously manicured and lush, despite the dusting of snow over everything, and the front porch held a well-worn rocking chair.
Frank rapped on the door a couple of times before calling out, “Granny Winter?”
Granny Winter? I mouthed to Wesley, and he gave me a confused headshake. At least it sounded like a considerably less threatening situation we were walking into if it was an old lady Frank had brought us to.
“Frank? Shouldn't you be at work?” an old lady’s voice called back, and the sound of her footsteps reached us as she approached the door. Opening it, she blinked at us a couple of times, and I pasted on my very best friendly smile. The last thing we needed was for these people to think we were some sort of threat.
“You…” she breathed, staring at me with wide eyes. She had to be in her seventies, with snow white hair and a heavily lined face. Her milky blue eyes were glued to my face, and her lip curled up in… anger? Why would she be angry?
“You… how dare you show your face back here?” Her voice shook as she hissed the words at me, loaded with venom.
“Um… sorry?” I looked over my shoulder. Maybe there was someone standing behind me? Nope, no one there. “I think maybe you've mistaken me for someone else?”
The old woman laughed bitterly. “I would never forget that face. Oh, but you're going to regret coming back to Harrow,
you demon. Frank, get her into the cage. I'm calling a meeting.”
“Woah, what the hell?” I backed up a step, my hands raised defensively. “Lady, I don't know you. I've never even been to this town before!”
Frank stepped towards me, his hand outstretched to grab my arm, but Wesley swatted it away from me.
“Don't touch her,” he warned in a threatening voice, which was exceedingly hot at a totally inappropriate time to be getting turned on.
Frank barely even acknowledged Wesley before raising his fist to hit him, which, incredibly, Wesley managed to dodge. Enraged now, Frank swung again, and I jumped back out of the way to give Wes some space to move. It was a short-lived fight though, as Frank clipped Wesley’s shoulder, making him stumble, then smacked him hard across the face, sending him flying across the porch, where he landed in an unconscious heap.
“What the fuck?” I screamed, attempting to run to Wesley, but Frank’s thick, greasy hand clamped around my arm, yanking me back.
“Do not mess with me.” I snarled, rounding on Frank, the first and only warning I would give him, but his grip was way firmer than any normal human’s would be. Experimentally, I pulled hard to break his grasp, but he held firm.
Well, that answers my theory about there being other supernaturals in this town.
Sizing him up, I was confident I could take him on, but two more rough-looking men appeared behind Granny Winter.
Shit. Chances were, they were also supernatural, and therefore I was screwed.
“Come on,” Frank snapped. “Don't make us hurt your boyfriend any more than necessary.”
Grudgingly, I allowed him to escort me into the house while keeping one eye on Wesley's unconscious form. One of the other men picked him up, throwing him over his shoulder like a sack of rice, then stomping on Wesley’s phone when it dropped from his pocket.
Inside Granny Winter's friendly-looking home, I was roughly patted down for my phone, then directed to some stairs off the kitchen and down into a dark, spacious basement where several cages were set up. The bars were thick and cemented into the floor to prevent even someone of supernatural strength from ripping them out. Frank shoved me roughly into one of the cages; then his buddy tossed Wesley in with me. As the cage door clanged shut, Granny Winter's sneering face popped up in front of me. She was a tiny woman, no more than five-foot-three, but she clearly held a lot of power in this town.
