by Jadyn Chase
The dragon took his stand a short distance farther up the road, and when he narrowed his eyes at us this time, I recognized the resolve in his features. He wouldn’t back down again—not like that. He was ready for anything Piper could dish out.
At the same moment, a cloud of five more dragons circled over his head. They descended with every turn of the spiral and they eyed the confrontation with their heads cocked to one side.
I saw the situation deteriorating before my eyes. We couldn’t go on this way. Piper must recognize the same thing. She let me go for a second and stuffed her hand into her pocket. She brought out a handful of shotgun shells and started cramming them into her weapon. I dared not look at her face.
Our enemy crouched in the road to block our path. Piper didn’t put her arm around me again. She laid hold of her shotgun with both hands. She jammed the butt into her shoulder and bared her teeth down the barrel at her foe.
At that moment, a thunderous impact struck us both from behind. I experienced the nauseating vertigo of flying off Piper’s shoulder. I pitched forward. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her whiplash from the waist. The blow hit her square between the shoulder blades. She buckled at the knees and slammed face first into the ground. Her gun sailed out of her hands and landed in the mud.
My guts twisted in knots. Piper! She couldn’t go down like this, with a sucker punch from behind. Only the Lynches would do something so low.
I came to rest with a powerful bang some yards away. I landed on my stomach and my cheek hit the dirt hard enough to make my head spin. I lay stunned for a second until a guttural snarl startled me alert.
I shook the stars out of my head and looked around. Piper stretched out not far away but she didn’t move, not even when a medium-sized dragon strutted up to her and nudged her with his nose.
He grunted under his breath and raised his head. I scanned the surroundings and my heart plummeted into my shoes when I saw four more dragons moving in from all sides. They all converged on Piper.
No way. No way in hell were those demons getting anywhere near her. I don’t know what came over me. I shot across the road with a feral shriek. My human skin peeled back and left the raging dragon soul underneath exposed for all the world to see. I spoke their dragon language, and by God, they would hear me roar.
I bowled three of them out of the way getting to her, but my fury wouldn’t go back into its container once I let it loose. I rocketed at Piper thundering to the skies. If that didn’t alert the Kellys, nothing would.
I plowed into the Lynches’ midst and took my stand over Piper’s prostrate body. I couldn’t even be sure she was still alive, but that didn’t matter. Any gutter rat who wanted to get near her would taste my fire.
I rounded on them bellowing mad. I locked eyes on the little one that hit Piper and aimed a devastating strike at his head. He dodged and I doubled back for the counterstrike. I caught him before he could recover, and I sliced his throat open under his chin. He jerked backward screeching in pain. Blood fountained from the cut. I barely wheeled around in time before all the others piled in at once.
The other six attacked from every side. I lost track of them all biting and spitting and lashing as fast as I could go, but I became aware of more dragons flying in from all around to join the fight. I spat my fire at them, but it did no good against so many.
They tackled me in a mass and weighed me down with their coils. I couldn’t whip my tail and neck quick enough to fight them all, and in a second, they wrapped me in their own sinuous bodies so I couldn’t fly or fight.
Teeth punctured my skin in all the wrong places. My injured shoulder snapped and ripped, and the pain threatened to inundate me in unconsciousness. I couldn’t take much more.
I sensed myself sinking under a tide of reptilian muscle. Red scales, clicking fangs, and beating wings filled my sight no matter which way I turned. I knew it would end like this. I had no reason to be disappointed, but I still ached for Piper. She didn’t deserve this. She deserved so much better than I could give her. She never signed up to die like this, surrounded by monsters.
In the last desperate minutes before they completely immobilized me on the ground, I looked up at the sky. One huge brute winged closer up there. The sun glanced off his scales and he dropped another few feet toward me. God only knew how many more of them were up there, just waiting for a piece of me.
I rotated my head to one side so I could see Piper before it all went south in a big hurry. I considered shifting so I could say her name one more time even if she didn’t hear me.
At that moment, a jet of flame sizzled across the sky over my head. It blasted the red dragon out of the air, and the creature tumbled over himself trying to get his wings to function.
The next thing I knew, dozens of dragons poured out of the clouds. They zoomed over me at the speed of thought. They hammered my enemies with fire and brimstone. I crouched for cover under their armor-plated bodies and let the inferno blister around my head.
When I dared peek out at the battle, I blinked in amazement at dragons of every color whizzing in to attack. Black and blue, green and gold, they kept up a constant barrage of fire against the Lynches.
My enemies screeched and writhed on top of me, but it still took several minutes for them to give up and unwind their coils from me. They launched into the air to return the assault, but too many newcomers swarmed onto the road. The Lynches didn’t stand a chance.
I cowered under the last body until the noise subsided. I tried to shake my enemy off, but he wouldn’t move. I struggled ineffectually against his convoluted bulk until I realized why he wouldn’t budge. It was the dead body of the small dragon I killed. He lay on top of me. I couldn’t push him off with my shoulder out of action.
Once I made that connection, my energy returned in spades. I gave a mighty heave and toppled the corpse to the ground. Dragons alighted all around me, but none of the red menaces remained to bother anybody.
They surrounded me and Piper and examined us with their ferocious eyes. I recognized every single one of them. My uncles, my cousins, my nieces and nephews—this was our Clan. The Kellys formed a wall of dragon strength to defend me from my enemies—me and…..
I lowered my gaze to the still form lying at my feet. She still hadn’t moved since she fell on her face. Was she dead? The very thought made me want to die, too.
The rage and bloodlust of a few moments before evaporated. I couldn’t maintain my dragon form looking at her. I collapsed in on myself and became once again a man with blood running down his side.
I took a step and my knees folded under me. I hit the ground, but I couldn’t keep away from her. I crawled to where she lay and took hold of her shoulders. I pried her back and she flopped into my arms.
“Piper!” I croaked. “Please wake up, Piper. You have to wake up.”
Mud caked her features and glued her eyelashes together, but her crystal clear brown eyes stared straight up at the sky beyond my face. She didn’t respond to my voice at all. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t die. I refused to let her.
I studied her chest. She was still breathing. We still had a chance. I scanned the circle of dragon faces all watching me. They knew. I had to act now. I had to save her if it was the last thing I ever did. She saved me. Now it was my turn.
I heaved to my feet. I growled through the pain, but my determination to save Piper overruled everything else. It gave me the impetus to shift one last time. I arched my back and my wings unfolded from my back. I curved my neck forward and sniffed her inert body.
In my dragon form, I smelled the life pulsating through her. I could smell it better as a dragon than I could as a man. Yes, she was still there. Her life ebbed to a minimum, but it still breathed inside her.
I pumped my wings. My shoulder hurt like hell, but I shoved that away. I took a step, picked her up in my claws, and took flight. I flew far away from the battle scene and the destroyed Jeep and all the blood and pain and terror that dogged our footste
ps up the Ridge.
13
Piper
I twisted in my sleep. Instead of pain and shattering agony, cozy flannel goodness enveloped my bare skin all around me. I stopped moving to try to comprehend it all, but when I slid my arms and legs from side to side, I felt it again. Yes, I really was comfortable.
I pried my eyes open and found myself in an immaculate white bedroom. A magnificent quilt covered the bed. Pillows and cushions cradled me in a nest of warmth and delicious softness. Sunshine poured through a window dressed with gauzy white curtains. The place smelled fresh and homelike.
The minute I wrapped my head around my new situation, the door opened. A short, beautiful woman entered. A fire-red hair hung down her back, and wisps of gleaming hair waved around her ivory features. Brilliant green eyes radiated out of her face and her crimson lips curled into an easy smile. “You’re awake!” She spoke with a slight Irish accent. “How do you feel?”
I tried to sit up. Nothing hurt. “I feel fine. Thank you. Umm….”
She let out a peal of silvery laughter. “You have nothing to worry about, dear. You’re safe here.”
Her easy manner gave me the courage to hazard the question on my mind. “Where am I? Where’s….?” I couldn’t ask.
“You’re in Whistler’s Gulch, dear.” She sat on the bed and patted my leg. “You’re on Smokey Ridge under the protection of Clan Kelly. You needn’t worry. The Lynches won’t come for you here. The whole Clan is out protecting our boundary to make sure those dolts don’t try anything. And if you’re wondering where Wyatt is, he’s right outside. He’s been waiting for you to wake up ever since he brought you in.”
I stole a glance up at her face. “How do you know about that?”
“I’m his mother, dear,” she murmured. “I’m Irma Kelly, and I’m the one who doctored your broken head. You don’t remember anything after the fight, do you?”
I shook my head. “I don’t remember him bringing me here.”
“That’s because you suffered a hemorrhage in your brain from the Lynches attacking you. We had to operate.”
I blinked at her. “You…. operated?”
“I didn’t, but I helped. We have doctors up here, you know. It wouldn’t exactly do to have a human doctor operating on the dragonfolk, would it?” She laughed again. “They would ask too many awkward questions.”
I nodded down at my hands on the quilt. My mind didn’t want to accept everything that happened, but I couldn’t ignore the evidence of my own eyes. I saw those dragons as plain as I was sitting here. I fired on them. I tried to kill them and they tried to kill me.
Wyatt. He brought me here and saved my life. I would give anything to see him again, but I didn’t know how to ask for that. What if his mother didn’t approve?
In answer to my thoughts, the door opened again and Wyatt came in. He glanced first at me and then at his mother. “Ma? How’s she doing?”
Irma stood up and squeezed his arm. He wore a clean white t-shirt with no sign of injury underneath. “She’s fine, dear. You two can catch up now. I’ll be right outside if you need anything.”
She slipped out of the room. Wyatt fidgeted in the middle of the floor with his fingers stuffed into his jeans pockets. He looked right and left. He looked anywhere but at me. “So…you’re all right?”
“How about you?” I asked. “Your shoulder looks all healed. How long have I been out?”
“Only two days. We heal faster than humans.” He shrugged. “I’m all right. It’s you I was worried about.”
I ran my fingers through my hair and blew out a shaky breath. “I’m all right, too, thanks to you. I’m grateful to you for bringing me up here.”
“It’s me who’s grateful,” he returned. “You saved my bacon first. We never would have made it anywhere near the Ridge if it hadn’t been for you. You put up one hell of a fight. The whole Clan is talking about it.”
I looked up at him. “They are?”
He nodded down at the floor. All at once, he rushed forward and sat down on the edge of the bed close enough for his knee to brush my thigh. That familiar crackle of electricity passed between his body and mine.
“Listen, Piper, we have a big problem.” The words poured out in a flurry. “I asked my Ma to let me be the one to tell you. The whole world is out looking for you. It seems like your old boss at the Wildlife Sanctuary got his panties in a twist when you didn’t check in on time. He called the local Sheriff and there’s a search party hunting all over these mountains for you. We didn’t know what to do when you were still unconscious, but now that you’re awake, we have to do something. We have to show you to the world so they know you’re all right.”
I went rigid on the bed and gaped at him. “Are you serious? If they come poking around, they’ll find out about you—all of you.”
He nodded. “Yeah, that’s part of the problem, but the fact remains that….”
I shot off the bed. I got into a sitting position before I realized I wasn’t wearing any clothes. I clutched the quilt to my chest, but I couldn’t sit still a second longer. “We have to find my computer. We have to find my tablet and my phone and erase the footage of the dragon that I recorded. If the search party finds it before we do, the evidence could be splashed all over the internet before you know it. I have to get out of here. Where are my clothes?”
He laid his hand on my arm. “You don’t have to worry about that. We already found them.”
I froze. “What?”
“Your tablet and your phone. We found all your gear. It’s all here.”
“Where?” I cried. “Give it to me and I’ll erase it right now.”
He opened a closet near the bed and took out my stuff. It looked perfectly intact, and when I tapped the tablet, the screen flickered on. I navigated to my Files and found the recording of the bats.
Wyatt observed me from a few feet away. “If you do this, you won’t be able to take the footage back to the Wildlife Sanctuary. Do you really want to take that step?”
My eyes climbed up him to his face. I squared my shoulders and braced myself. “I would do a lot more than that to protect your people. I owe you that much.”
I didn’t give myself a chance to hesitate. I hit Delete, and the file vaporized into the ether of cyberspace.
Wyatt puffed out his cheeks, and his hand flew to his forehead. “Dang. I know how much that footage meant to you.”
I tossed the tablet onto the bed at my feet. “It doesn’t matter. I still have the data from the lookout. That’s more than enough, and if it means protecting you and your family, I would go back empty-handed.”
“Would you….?” He faltered. “Wouldn’t you be destroying your career by doing that?”
I shrugged and looked away. “Maybe.”
I couldn’t explain myself to him. I couldn’t understand it myself. I ought to care a hell of a lot more about my precious career than a bunch of strangers. I didn’t feel that way, though. I didn’t care about anything as much as Wyatt and his people.
I fought to the limit of my resources to save his life and to preserve his Clan. The fight did something to me that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It rewired my priorities. I might go back to the Sanctuary with the data I still had on my tablet. I might write a big, important grant proposal based on my findings. I could become the greatest bat expert that ever lived.
No matter where I went or what I did in life, Smokey Ridge would always be more important. Keeping the Kellys’ secret and keeping Wyatt and his family safe would take precedence over every other consideration. I would hold that secret sacred for the rest of my life.
I stole another sidelong peek up at him. He never looked more handsome, more appealing. I wanted more than anything to touch him one last time, but larger issues stopped me. “I have to leave, don’t I? I have to go back.”
He nodded down at his own hand resting on the quilt where my leg made a mountain in a sea of white. “It looks that way.”
I
settled back on the pillows as the realization sunk in. If I stayed, not even a press conference would alleviate the reporters’ curiosity. It would spark a feeding frenzy. They would never leave the Kellys alone until they discovered exactly what happened to make me abandon a promising career to stay with them.
I never intended to stay with the Kellys, anyway. I never anticipated feeling this way, not only about Wyatt but about his whole family. I didn’t even know them, but I knew enough to care what happened to them. They saved my life. I owed them something for that.
Still, the thought of sacrificing Wyatt to that end tore my heart to shreds. I couldn’t look at him. I picked up my phone to distract myself. “Look I…. uh…. I probably have a thousand emails to answer. I have to get in touch with my boss and tell him I’m coming back.”
Wyatt got to his feet to leave the room. “Sure. Take all the time you need.”
14
Wyatt
A notification came up on my phone. I slipped it out of my pocket to read the message. Hello, Wyatt. It’s Piper Wilson from the Watering Hole. Remember me?
My hands shook typing out a response. How could I forget? Send.
I’m in Norton. How about a drink?
My heart leaped into my mouth. A drink with Piper—in Norton? You bet. Let me guess. You’re cleaning out every dollar at the Watering Hole as we speak. Send.
As a matter of fact, I’m eating a turkey sandwich. There’s no one here but Larry.
I cringed. No wonder you contacted me. Send.
Would she rise to the bait? Why did I have to get all petulant about it? She invited me to meet her, didn’t she?
Are you coming or not?
I tapped my response with one hand while I yanked off my toolbelt with the other. I’m on my way right now. Send.
I dropped my toolbelt onto the workbench and slotted my phone back into my pocket. Adrian called after me on the way to the Jeep. “Hey! Where do you think you’re going?”
