Zane (Keepers Of The Lake Book 6)

by Emilia Hartley

  His jaw dropped. Anguish deepened the lines of his face. Slowly, they twisted into anger. She stumbled back, but he didn’t approach her. He spun away from her and let out a heart-wrenching howl. She couldn’t stand the sound and clasped her hands over her ears. It was her heart breaking. It was her soul leaving her body.

  This hurt her just as much. Yet, she couldn’t let him stay if he wasn’t going to listen.

  She loved him. The realization was painful, but it was the truth. How could she keep falling for men who were so bad? Was it something about her that attracted all the wrong ones? Did she have a sign around her neck that begged men to treat her so badly?

  Her house was a mess. Zara bent and picked up a broken frame. Chelsea reached for her friend just as she cut her thumb on a piece of glass. Zara hissed and sucked the wound. By the time it left her mouth, the wound was gone.

  Chelsea shouldn’t have been surprised, but she was.

  Zane stood in the middle of the room like he had nowhere to go. Which, he didn’t. The only place he had was with her and she was casting him out. He could leave with his idiot friends who helped him trash her apartment. Maybe they could make up as they led him away.

  She didn’t care. So long as he didn’t stay the night. She couldn’t stand to look at his face for another moment. If he wouldn’t listen to her, then he would never hold anything she said with any kind of value. She would be better off screaming into the void.

  “Out,” she said, calmer this time. “All of you. I want all of you out of my house.”

  She was going to pay through the nose for these repairs. And with her jack-ass ex getting remarried, she was sure he would do his upmost to minimize his alimony payments. They were the only thing getting her by these days. She didn’t have any marketable skills. The thought of going back to ringing up groceries for a living filled her with dread.

  She couldn’t handle any more wads of cash pulled out of sweaty bras or douchebags bringing back meat they left in their cars for too long. Chelsea refused to work at a grocery store ever again.

  One by one, the visiting shifters left until it was just Chelsea, Zane, and Zara. Zane stood in the center of the room like a lost puppy. Chelsea held her ground even though a part of her was ready and willing to break. That part of her wanted him back in her bed. It wanted to return to the moments when he was eating bacon from her fingers and she wasn’t thinking about her stupid ex.

  “I told you to get out,” she repeated.

  He swallowed and nodded. Chelsea didn’t watch him leave. She couldn’t bring herself to do it. If she saw him step through the door, his back to her, she might have called out that she changed her mind. It was easier this way.

  She crouched next to the mess of glass and drywall. Zara knelt across from her. For a long while, they were both quiet as they gathered glass. Once they dumped it into the bin outside, Zara went and found the broom and dustpan. It was like she never left. Chelsea was grateful for her friend’s quiet company.

  Until she spoke.

  “He’s your mate,” Zara began. “Maybe the two of you should talk. I didn’t think we would be stirring so much trouble…”

  Chelsea got to her feet. She scowled down at the mess, but mostly at her fucked up life. She wasn’t sure what she’d done to get handed this much crap, but she almost believed she deserved it. It was her fault for thinking things could change. Putting her future into the hands of another man had been a bad idea.

  Her textbooks called her name. They were the only things that could bring about change in her life. There was no other skill she honed. She didn’t know how to tailor a pair of pants or how to cook or even fix her internet router. Without any applicable skills, she couldn’t get into any good jobs.

  These classes were the only things that could save her now. It was obvious she would never become a rich man’s wife. That dream had been nothing but pipe smoke anyway.

  “I need a drink,” Chelsea groaned. She barked a laugh. “Did I tell you that the last time I went out for a drink I was nearly kidnapped?”

  Zara cocked her head. She wouldn’t have understood anyway. Zara was a shifter. Maybe she wasn’t a dragon shifter, but Chelsea saw how quickly she could heal. That had to come with super strength, too. The man at the bar would have been no match for Zara.

  Chelsea was just a human, weak and fragile. It would be all too easy to take her life.

  “You cannot be left alone,” Zara acknowledged. “I don’t know how you’ve survived this long.”

  It would have been nice to keep her dragon man, but she wouldn’t give in to his quest for nonsensical vengeance. Maybe, if he could clear his head, she would invite him back in. Chelsea didn’t want to go through this life alone. The promise of someone who might have had her back was all too enticing.

  Zane could have been the one.

  Zane was lost.

  Chelsea kicked him out of her life. He didn’t understand just how badly he needed her until she was gone. He stood on the side of the road, not really going anywhere. Behind him, the other shifters lingered. If any of them took a step near him, he would be the first to throw the punch.

  It was their fault Chelsea kicked him out. Their lies had worked. They infested his relationship and invited rot inside it.

  He knew Alistair was alive. The man had not died. The clan wouldn’t have killed him if they were following him, if they were the ones to subject Zane to the curse. That day was like yesterday to him. When he closed his eyes, he could hear their shouts. Heath’s hollowed out scream. Cole’s near-death rattle.

  They all fought that day to lock Alistair away. Zane didn’t know when they turned. The clan had suffered at Alistair’s hands. Their hearts had been pure, and their blood had been spilt. Zane worked through his memory to try and find the moment it all changed.

  He clenched and unclenched his fists. The beast inside him was new. It recalled the long years locked under the lake, but not the day on the shore. It made his memory muddy. Who had been the first to betray him? Trying to find out was like trying to swim through stone. It didn’t work.

  The memory slipped away from him, leaving him with the whisper of one voice. The witch. The last thing she said to him was an apology. The spell closed around him like a coffin. Water rushed over the top. He had thrashed, but darkness filled him with a chill that slowed his heart.

  He came back to the present, gasping.

  Cole and his mate, Jude, were watching him. He could feel their gazes on the back of his neck. There had been a time when Zane looked up to Cole. He’d been the most reliable of them all, always there when he was needed. Zane wondered what happened. Had some sort of ichor infected Cole’s wounds after the fight? Was it addling his brain?

  That didn’t explain the mates. Why would the mates involve themselves with Alistair? Especially a gold dragon. They were infamous for being rulers, not followers. He couldn’t imagine Jude bowing before Alistair. Even pregnant, she wanted to barge into enemy territory.

  Zane glanced over his shoulder. The dragons watched him, but Zane couldn’t read their expressions from where he was. All he could see were dark, beady eyes. A chill walked up his spine. He shuddered and turned around.

  This wasn’t the place to fight. He would strike another day, when they were all far away from Chelsea. Then, when it was all over, he would dedicate himself to her. For he could see now that he would never give her everything she needed so long as he was working to dismantle the clan. Chelsea required all of him at all times.

  He didn’t quite understand why, but he was willing to give it to her once he could. She deserved the world. He would give it to rest his head on her thigh, to breathe in the sweet scent of her desire once more.

  “Don’t think we won’t be watching,” Cole shouted after Zane.

  There was a small shuffle and Cole muttered ow.

  Before the clan interrupted, Zane and Chelsea were having an important conversation. She’d been about to say something, and now Zane woul
d never know what it was. Could he have nothing? Was the curse still trying to tear him apart?

  He couldn’t fly. His wings weren’t made to carry him through the air anymore. His body was too heavy, and it required the buoyancy of water. Soaring over open fields and feeling the air currents on his wings would never happen again. He thought he could give up flight so long as he had Chelsea, his mate.

  Now he wasn’t even sure he would have her when this was all over.

  The scent of dragons warned him of their approach. He turned to find Cole and Asher behind him. They were uncomfortable, moving their weight from foot to foot. Cole’s hands were bound tight in fists. Asher had shoved his into his pockets, but Zane could still see the outline of clenched fists.

  “Neither of you mean anything to me,” Zane growled.

  Cole blew smoke out his nose. Asher put a hand on his shoulder. Both were different from what Zane could remember. Not only had Cole added a lot of tattoos, he still bore the scars left over from standing up to Alistair. Zane couldn’t understand why the first to fight back against Alistair now bowed to him.

  Asher, too, was scarred. He was bulkier than Zane remembered, like he’d been hammered into physical perfection by thousands of knuckles. The cut of his clothing was sharp, as if it cost a lot. Where would Asher have come into that kind of money? Zane saw his own bank account. He knew the fishing tour business hadn’t blown up over the past ten years.

  Zane narrowed his eyes at Cole. “You put money into my account. Why?”

  Cole’s lips curled before he mastered himself. “I thought you up and left us. Almost everyone did when it was all over. The only person I cut off from the profits was this asshole.” Cole jerked his thumb toward Asher.

  “You’re telling me I could have been making bank this whole time and you didn’t think I deserved it?” Asher slapped his hand over his heart.

  They were being too friendly. Zane couldn’t trust this amicable behavior, even if it was trying to suck him into old habits.

  Cole rubbed the scruff on his chin. Slash mark scars rose from the top of his beard and marred his cheekbones. “I camped my ass on that shore for ten years, thinking it was Alistair in the lake.”

  “And when Alistair walked back into your life, you threw caution to the wind and accepted him all over again? Your lord and savior, king of the dragons?”

  Cole spat a curse at Zane. Asher put a hand on Cole’s shoulder and held him back. Asher’s knuckles went white with the effort. Zane almost wanted him to let go and let Cole have the fight he was aching for. They needed it. There was a score to settle and a clan to stop, but Zane caught a glimpse of Chelsea through the window of the house behind them. The fight bled out of him.

  “I’m tired of your lies,” Zane growled.

  He set off, walking along the road. The lake pulled him back, a magnetic force he would never be able to escape. If the bond between him and Chelsea held tight, he would have to tell her that he couldn’t leave this place. He worried what her reaction would be. Did she want to explore new destinations once she got her degree? Was there another patch of land she called home?

  Zane realized just how much trouble he caused. His presence was electric, shaking up all sorts of problems from his relationship with the clan to the one he needed with his mate.

  “Lies?” Asher’s voice broke. “You want to accuse us of lying?”

  Before Zane knew what happened, he hit the ground. Gravel and asphalt sliced his skin, leaving behind a stinging trail. He twisted and palmed the man’s face. White hair slipped between his fingers. Asher had been composed, but now he was rabid.

  Asher pinned Zane to the ground with a knee on his chest. He closed one hand around Zane’s throat and brought back his fist. This wasn’t the man Zane remembered. Since when could Asher fight so cleanly? There was nothing wild or untrained about these strikes. Asher delivered pain efficiently.

  Zane’s jaw and cheekbone felt like they should be dust. He scrambled to find purchase, but no amount of bucking or kicking could get Asher off him.

  “You destroyed my house and nearly killed my mate,” Asher snarled. “Over and over, you threatened us. Our mates are afraid of the lake. Fucking hell, you nearly destroyed the second house I bought.”

  Zane used Asher’s moment of distraction to grab his face. It was a dirty ploy, but Zane dug his thumb into Asher’s eye. The shifter howled and reared back, giving Zane time to turn the tides. He flipped Asher and mimicked his maneuver. Asher’s eyes gleamed with fire when they snapped open. His lips twisted and embers sparked the air.

  Zane barely had a second to escape before Asher blew flames into his face. The smell of singed hair soured the air. They both got to their feet, keeping distance between each other. Asher fumed. Smoke poured from his lips, his nose. From the heave of his chest, Zane could tell that he was heating up another plume of fire.

  Zane had nothing he could fire back with. There was no water inside him; there certainly wasn’t fire.

  Just as Asher’s chest swelled, Zane heard footsteps. They thundered in their direction. Zane dared a glance away from Asher and found Chelsea racing toward them. Before her was Zara, the fox shifter.

  Zara slapped her hand over Asher’s mouth. The man’s eyes went wide with panic and he swallowed the flames. A grimace twisted his lips.

  “I kicked you out so all of you would stop fighting!” Chelsea placed herself between them. She was just a small human and yet she stood in the line of fire to keep them from killing each other.

  Behind her, Zara mumbled that Asher had looked worse. Asher still glared at Zane like he wanted to finish the job. There was a fight pent up inside the man, one that must have been waiting for Zane to leave the lake. Zane couldn’t figure out why.

  Those things Asher said weren’t true. Zane had done nothing but dream while trapped in the lake. The nightmares had held him captive most of the time, only giving him brief glimpses of the water. Like when he saw Alistair or the moment he saw Chelsea for the first time.

  Asher had no base for his accusations. Zane realized that Chelsea had been in range of the fight the whole time. She could hear the things Asher shouted. And Asher’s mate had been with his. Everything Asher threw at him wasn’t true and they both knew it. The only person who didn’t was Chelsea.

  Zane grabbed his mate and tugged her close. She tried to pull back, but eventually rolled her eyes and stepped into him. Her teeth were clenched tight. Already, Asher was turning her against Zane. His heart did flips in his chest. He needed to make her understand what the clan was trying to do, but he couldn’t say anything in front of Asher.

  Chelsea wouldn’t let him go inside. He wasn’t sure he was even welcome back in her house. But he needed time to talk to her. Even if all she gave him was ten minutes.

  10

  Chelsea sighed and buried her face in her hands. The air smelled of smoke and beef, making her stomach grumble. Zane returned from the counter with a tray of cheap burgers and a milkshake.

  The restaurant was full of humans, and maybe a couple of shifters from the way Zane eyed a pair near the door. At least here, Zane couldn’t start any fights. He had a secret to keep. No one could vomit fire or send someone through a wall here.

  That was only partially why she chose it. The other reason was the cheap prices. She couldn’t afford more than a fast food burger. Not without a job. On the way, her phone had dinged again. Just like she thought, her dumb ex was working to end her alimony payments altogether. He had found a lawyer who excelled in cutting all ties from previous marriages.

  Chelsea knew she’d been taking advantage of her ex through the payments, but to her it was a kind of revenge. He’d kept her as a housekeeper for years while he banged other people. Letting him pay for her school was the least he could do.

  The idiot that sat down across from her had a shadow obscuring his eyes. He sucked in a breath, like he was about to start in on a speech. Before he could say anything, she snatched a burger from the tr
ay, unwrapped it, and shoved it into his mouth.

  “I’m not in the mood. My place is a mess, I might not have money for school, and you’re a dumbass.”

  Zane scowled at her, but dutifully chewed the piece of burger pushed past his lips. “Says one dumbass to another.”

  She shrugged and didn’t bother fighting it. They made a stellar pair, mucking their way through life and leaving behind as much damage as possible. All Chelsea managed to hurt was her own liver. Zane, on the other hand, left two large holes in her walls that the landlord was going to tack onto her rent.

  “What Asher was saying…”

  “Is all true,” she snapped.

  He stopped, going completely still. The shadow over his eyes darkened further. She couldn’t read him. Recalling the way smoke poured from Asher, she searched for similar tendrils coming from him, but nothing happened.

  “The clan is lying,” he pressed. “They want to split us apart.”

  She laughed. “Like there is an us. I just messed up and let you into my house. The night we…” she lowered her voice. “The night we slept together, I told you it was no strings attached. You don’t have to sleep on my couch or make me breakfast. I didn’t ask for any of it.”

  Even though she really enjoyed it. She liked seeing his presence around the house. Her heart fluttered when he returned each night and went straight to her. It was something she shouldn’t want. It was dangerous to love him. Love hurt for her. She wasn’t sure she could bear it again.

  She shook herself. That wasn’t the point.

  “You’re going to get yourself killed,” she told him. The truth of the statement hurt. The pain told her it was already too late. She really liked him. If only they would both stop being idiots. Maybe then there would be a future for them. They had nothing so long as they kept wrecking everything in their path.

  His hands rested on the table. She wanted to grab them, to feel him. A part of her felt like he would become a ghost and vanish if she touched him again. The good moments were too good to be true. Away from the clan, when it was just the two of them, Chelsea was actually kind of happy.