Ward of Wyvern: A dragon shifter fantasy (The Dragon Mage Book 1)

by LJ Andrews

  My voice rose as I ripped my sleeve up revealing the entire tattoo on one arm.

  Jade brushed my cheek with her hand, and a calm silenced my rambling. “Teagan, something is happening, and it involves us both. Look at the color of your marks,” she said. “They’re my color.”

  “Your color?”

  “I’m the jade stone bloodline. Your marks are green. My full name is Arianna of the Jade Stone, but we’ve always used the stones as our nicknames, I suppose.”

  “We?” I knew I was panicking and tried to back away, but something always pulled me back.

  “The five royals. We are the keepers of the stones of wyvern, one line of two original powers of the earth. And we’re all in danger. Me most of all. Our enemies are desperate to take control of the stones and have been since the wars. Teagan, if they take the stones, the human race, magis creatures, the world as we know it, will be destroyed.”

  I stared blankly at her for too many breaths. Then, kept my voice low. “Are you trying to tell me you’re from the Dragon Mage wars?”

  Jade sighed. “I am, Teagan. I’m of the wyvern race, as I said.”

  “Help me . . . wyvern as in—”

  “I thought you were too,” she interrupted, “but no, you’re something else. The willow carries a different power than mine, but it feels the same as the power flowing inside you.”

  “Jade. What are you?”

  Her hands tangled with mine as if her touch would brace the blow of what she was about to say. In truth it helped because what she said next took my breath away.

  “I’m a dragon.”

  Part Two

  The Dragon Queen

  Chapter 13

  It wasn’t all at once, but slowly fissures and cracks split through the barriers only the dragons in this town new about. Then, a new force arrived. Not new, exactly. Some of the same, only stronger. As if another young, powerful willow tree had been planted. I didn’t know the source of the new magic until I saw Teagan for the first time.

  The power in the blood of Teagan Ward drew me to speak to Konrad weeks earlier. The willow had been pouring its warning for weeks, and I was the only one who seemed to care.

  Eisha continually paraded her assurances that our haven was well-protected. The elemental wyvern’s greatest enemies were the serpentine lindworms and their hired killers, the zomoks. Wyvern Willows had protected us from all serpents thus far, but that all changed.

  And I didn’t even know what the change was exactly.

  My family took protections too far. Rarely explaining old magic, the war, or how I’d ever be able to escape this form again. The time for secrets was at an end because Teagan Ward was something I could no longer ignore.

  All gods, he was something I didn’t want to ignore.

  Raffi and Dash were the greatest warriors I knew—they could sense danger like it was part of their seven core instincts—yet neither saw the zomok at school.

  Teagan had.

  My youth, it was always the excuse for sheltering me from harsher truths in our world. Even Konrad, who had carried the burden of the Sapphire stone for nearly sixty years longer than I’d been alive, treated me like I was an infant or a foolish human girl who had no instincts.

  But he was a terrible liar. I knew there was something different about Teagan, and so did Sapphire the second those marks carved into his skin, but now silence grew deafening.

  If I wanted information before, I’d not get it now. All I knew about the willow was it had been planted at the end of the Dragon Mage war, the divide, to protect royal elemental dragons from lindworms. It had served us well for two centuries. The magic inside offered guidance, warned us of danger. Its magic was old, and I knew it was different than dragon abilities.

  Different like Teagan and it made little sense to me now.

  Defective, Sapphire called him, but I recognized the same, warm, silken hum of magic in him as the willow. He restored strength. In me, in this town, and I didn’t understand why no one would say anything.

  Now, as I stood near the beloved willow tree, Teagan stared at me as though I was a lunatic.

  “Teagan, please say something.” My true self breathed fire, was the master of the sky, yet my knees trembled under his stare.

  He shook his head, gently easing his hands from my hold. “Jade, I don’t know if you’re playing with me or what, but I need to get back. I’m not willing to get locked up for a joke. Wyvern Willows—I get it.”

  My rapid heart thumped wildly, threatening to pound a hole in my weaker body. The thing about dragons—we were incredibly sensitive to emotions. We bleed for compassion and the true heart in others, but in turn wyverns have incredibly powerful emotions themselves.

  No mistake, my heart chipped the more distance he placed between us.

  In my young life I’d never been drawn to another lifeforce the way I did with Teagan Ward. Romance wasn’t something I cared for—most wyverns were paired by the elders anyway. Love was for lesser species. My destiny didn’t have love in the stars.

  A strong match with a powerful dragon would be expected, purposeful, and the right thing eventually.

  But the way my molten blood surged through my head when Teagan glanced at me, I knew it would be impossible to yoke my fate with another. The willow screamed at me that our destinies were interwoven through the very soil I was atop, and though he didn’t want to see it now, I knew he’d felt something too.

  I reached for him, taking his wrist in my grip. “I’m not joking. I wouldn’t put you at risk of losing your freedom.”

  He chuckled, but I wasn’t deaf to the quiver in his own voice. “You expect me to believe you’re a dragon?” His eyes scanned my body, but not in an inappropriate way. “You don’t look like you’ve got wings, a spiked tail, and breathe fire.”

  I sighed and took two paces closer, hoping he’d listen. To my relief, Teagan didn’t back away. I could smell the sweet masculine scent of soap on his skin, could taste his unusual power, understood why humans swooned when his eyes poured into mine.

  “That’s not all true,” I said, grinning. “I don’t have a spiked tail.”

  He laughed, a stressed sound, reserved, but at least he wasn’t darting away. “Oh, but the rest all checked off on the dragon list.”

  “Yes,” I said sincerely. “This body is my human form. Much like wolvyn, I shift between bodies.”

  “Really? Okay, well turn into a dragon then.”

  Closing my eyes, my fingers trailed along the beautiful, ancient language wrapping his arms. Teagan didn’t know what the marks meant, but I recognized them as the marks of guardians. The mark of a ward of the wyverns. I’d thought they were legends, fairy tales for wyvernian youth. I’d made it my personal mission to study the legends completely. That was until Eisha placed her own energy against the library doors to keep me away, and forbade Raffi and Dash to leave me alone.

  I shuffled my feet, sheepishly. “I can’t shift.”

  “Convenient.” Teagan was soft-spoken to me, but betrayal lived in his voice. I was losing his trust the longer we spent away from the reform house.

  “I’m not permitted to change my form. All the royals—”

  “Royals?”

  I nodded, unsettled. “Yes, I’m a royal dragon, but we’ll get to that later. We’re locked in our human shape; we can’t shift to our wyvern body without the enchantments being lifted.”

  “Enchantments?”

  “I only know what Eisha has told me.” I sighed in desperation. This was not going as I planned. I wanted his hands to wrap around me again. There was safety in those hands, fuel for my strength in his hold. He had no idea what a simple touch did to me. “Wyverns are connected to the elements of the earth, and by such we can use the energy to create certain spells, if you will. I don’t know the specifics of the enchantment over my ability to change forms, I was too young when I was blocked. Believe me, I’ve tried to change many times through the years.”

  “Jade, list
en. You’re really cool,” he said, but I could hear the change in his tone. He thought I was stark-raving mad. “But dragons died centuries ago. And whatever power you think I have, you’re wrong. I’m broken. I come from witches who didn’t want me and I cannot call out any power. I need to go.”

  “Don’t lie!” My voice came shrill. He looked at me, stunned. I took a few breaths, then lowered my voice to a whisper. “You’ve felt your power stirring. Don’t lie.”

  He shifted on his feet, those blue eyes carving through my heart. “I might’ve picked up on some weird energy, but no magic has come out.”

  “At least let me prove what little I can, Teagan.” I heated in shame at the croak in my voice. “I’ll show you what I can do.”

  This was forbidden. Showing power in front of humans could converge the council of elders on me, then again, Teagan Ward wasn’t human. Glancing once more at the beautiful writings on his arms, I took heart that this needed to be shown.

  Slowly, with my gaze never leaving his, I knelt onto the cold earth near the willow, my palms hovering just over the twigs and soil. Eyes closed, my command bled into the veins of the ground. The whispers of energy obeyed my call, as I knew they would. Who was the one who protected them, after all? Smiling, I nodded at the suggestion offered by the surrounding trees. “That is a good idea. It will certainly impress him.”

  I smirked when Teagan glanced at me with his mouth slightly open. His brow furrowed, and his eyes shone like the stars above, making it difficult to turn away. Of course, I could have answered the call of the forest in my personal thoughts, but I thought it more dramatic to speak out loud—and Teagan already thought me mad, so what was the harm of having a little fun?

  “Who exactly are you talking to?” His eyes flicked around the clearing.

  “The trees. Don’t tell me you don’t speak to them sometimes.” I winked, enjoying the red flush in his face. “They’ve come up with an excellent idea. Will you hand me that broken branch please?”

  Teagan’s eyes followed my pointed finger. Though he moved cautiously, he obeyed and gently placed the branch in my hands. The thrill of warmth blossomed inside my powerful heart when I beckoned to my abilities.

  The hot power broke and split the bark until it took the sleek shape I’d formed in my mind.

  Teagan backed up, his eyes wide when the aura of energy formed a subtle glow between my hands and the branch. Graciously, the wood bowed to my every command, and in a matter of moments it was done.

  Teagan’s eyes stretched when he looked at me. “You said you didn’t have magic.”

  I grinned. “I said my magic faded. And it did. Besides, I was referring to being able to shift anyway.”

  His eyes dropped to the branch, but it wasn’t a branch any longer. With expert craftsmanship, the once dead thing had smoothed, sanded, and shaped into a stunning wooden dagger fit for a king.

  “So your magic is . . . earth magic?”

  “Yes.”

  “As in the old earth magic?”

  “Yes.”

  “And, uh, how did you do that?”

  “I asked,” I said. “I connected to the energy of the forest. Teagan, I haven’t been able to connect so purely in years—not until you came here. Those tattoos, as you call them—” I touched his arms, mostly because I’d felt distant for too long. “These are ancient wyvern markings. They’re supposed to be fiction, but here you are. My power is alive, someone tried to kill me, and now the wyverns want me to stay away from you. I need to understand just as much as you do.”

  “Wait,” he said, all fear washing from his face when his grip surrounded my wrist. “Someone tried to kill you?”

  He was struggling to keep up. I grinned. “The zomok. It wasn’t simply an assault, it was an assassination attempt.” I curled my hand behind his neck, enjoying the way he closed his eyes and drew nearer to my body. “Zomok pyre. It’s what you caught in your hands. The gas is poisonous to a royal wyvern—someone like me. Zomoks are a skittish type of serpent dragon, and they are banished from the Willows, but the most frightening thing about a zomok is the beasts can conceal themselves from other wyverns, humans, and most creatures. He was invisible to us, Teagan, but you saw him. You saved me.”

  I took his hand, connected in a way I never imagined possible. “The zomok clan answers to the higher lindworm race. Lindworms are terrible creatures that only wish to dominate other species. They were the spark that began the Dragon Mage war.”

  “I’ve never heard of lindworms, only elemental dragons.”

  I nodded. “Most histories get it wrong. The elemental dragons are what stand between the serpents from taking control. As an elemental, I thought we’d always be safe here, but we aren’t. If a zomok found me, it’s only a matter of time before more serpents slither their way into Wyvern Willows.”

  “This is insane,” Teagan whispered his face inching closer toward mine. “Jade, this can’t be real.”

  “Why is it so impossible to believe when you live among magical creatures of all kinds?”

  “Dragons are dead. They’ve been dead. They’re supposed to be the ones who held lost magic and . . . now you’re telling me you’ve been here all this time! That you’re two hundred?”

  “And six,” I said lightly. “I know it’s hard to believe, but we’ve had to remain in hiding. We’ve had to protect the stones.”

  “Then mages are alive.”

  I shook my head. “I can’t say exactly, but Raffi and Dash said most were slaughtered in the wars. They joined with the lindworms.”

  He dragged his finger through his hair. “Oh, hell. Jade, what if, what if I’m one of those snake dragons. Maybe that’s why I can feel the willow.”

  I snorted a laugh, then clapped a hand over my mouth. He was serious. “Teagan, the Lindworms are our enemies. They wouldn’t have provided us protection. Besides, your skin is too cool to be a dragon. You’re warmer than humans, to be sure, but not quite dragon. Frankly, I should’ve touched you more a long time ago and I would’ve known you weren’t like me.”

  He shuddered when I let my fingertips follow the curve of his throat.

  “The willow is from the earth,” I said after a pause. “I don’t know what power you have, but I need you to trust me. Trust your feelings.”

  He stared at my palm when I rested it over his heart. The beat spread a seductive heat through my lower belly. I blinked through the rush.

  Teagan’s eyes shifted toward the ancient tree, the muscles in his jaw twitching slightly before his magical eyes—that was the only way I could describe them—settled once more in my gaze. “I felt something in the willow. I’ve always felt something inside,” he said. “When I was a kid I used to believe the trees could speak to me—like you—nature has always felt like home to me.”

  He paused, brushing my hair from my face. My head spun, like my brain had filled with water. Teagan’s sly smile twisted in the corner of his mouth. “When I saw you for the first time, I couldn’t breathe. I felt like I was being struck by lightning. They can’t keep me away from you—I’m not kidding. It’s starting to become physically painful.

  “I worry about you, though I don’t really know you. When I stopped that . . . zomok, I guess an entirely different instinct took over. I couldn’t have resisted going after him even if I tried. Do you think . . . do you think touching that pyre stuff brought these?” He lifted his arms.

  “I don’t know. The stories say the wards of the wyvern bear the marks. Bound with our people as defenders, loyal companions, and the truest warriors. I always took the wards to be a type of dragon, though.”

  “Do you know what the dragon stones in the forest mean?”

  I sat on a fallen tree, brows raised. “What dragon stones?”

  “This weird place in the middle of the forest. There were stones forming a circle, all with the head of a dragon. They had symbols on them I couldn’t understand and an energy that burned me inside. I heard . . . things. The same things I feel
from the willow. The strangest part—” He paused, clearing his throat as though he wasn’t sure he wanted to go on. “I couldn’t find a way out, then, well, a path opened up. I thought I was imagining it at first, but after what you just did with that twig, I’m not sure what to believe anymore.”

  “I’ve never heard of such a place,” I said. We fell into a comfortable silence. Gray dawn bridged on the horizon. I sighed, wishing the moment could go on forever. “Teagan, I blocked Sapphire from wanting to check on you, but only until dawn. We should go back.”

  “You what?”

  “It’s a gift of mine. I can block others. It’s more manipulation, sort of like fae. I can convince the mind it isn’t seeing what it is truly seeing. That’s why when you saw Konrad and I speaking I was flabbergasted. I’d made certain any prying eyes would be convinced there was an empty lawn.” The thought drew a laugh deep in my throat when I replayed Raffi’s lecture after the few classes Teagan and I had had together. “I was getting in the habit of blocking Raffi and Dash in Mrs. Tiddel’s class whenever we spoke. They didn’t appreciate it.”

  Teagan smiled. For the first time since my confession, his shoulders didn’t seem weighed down. “So, that’s why I challenge you. You can’t manipulate me.”

  “Yes, but there’s more that I find interesting about you other than your resistance to my charms.”

  “I wouldn’t say I can resist your charms,” he whispered.

  My pulse found its way to the sides of my head. I’d never felt so incredibly unsteady. Was this the emotion I’d read so much about? How could a wyvern—a direct royal blood wyvern—have such a connection, such a budding passion for a man who was anything but a dragon? My weak body wanted to know what Teagan Ward’s lips felt like, wanted to feel his hands on my skin. I settled for slipping my fingers into his. “Come on, we need to get back.”

  “Should I tell Sapphire I know he’s a dragon and a huge liar?” Teagan asked. “I still can’t believe I just said that. This can’t be real.”