by Haley Ryan
He looked down at me, his eyes still a little wild. “What are you talking about? Where are you going?”
“I’m going with my brothers,” I said, and he glared at both of them.
“Why?” he demanded. “Why not stay here? You know we’ll take care of you. Faris will deal with this elemental, and we’ll make sure they can’t get to you again.”
I shook my head, the rightness of my decision even more evident in light of his objections.
“No, Seamus. I can’t. I think this time it really is all about me—about me being a dragon.” His stubborn expression didn’t waver, so I kept going. “There are too many things I don’t understand—about dragons and about myself, and I need to understand them. I know better now what I’m capable of, but I need to know more. I need to know who I am and where I’ve come from. The only way I can do that is to go, now, and take the threat with me.”
Oh, but it hurt. It hurt to know that I was leaving like this—leaving the only life I could remember, leaving the only friends I’d ever had, to go with people I’d only known for a few hours.
Seamus threw his head back and swore a few times.
“Okay, Kira,” he said finally. “Faris is going to kill me, but you do what you need to do, and we’ll be here when you get back.”
He fixed my brothers with a feral stare. “I don’t care what kind of dragons you are. If Kira gets hurt due to your meddling, we’ll come after you, and we’ll make you pay. We’ll make you all pay.”
My respect for Ryker shot up considerably when he didn’t laugh or sneer or dismiss my friend’s concern. He only nodded. “I would expect no less,” he said. “But we are her family, and she is correct about this being a dragon affair. She’ll be safest with us.”
“And Waffles will be safest with you,” I said reluctantly, handing Seamus the leash. My poor dog was still trembling and trying to hide behind my legs. “Hugh will take care of him if the store survives.” I choked back a sob.
“You go,” Seamus said. “Keep yourself safe, and trust us to take care of this.”
Why did it always seem to come back to an issue of trust?
I’d been taught for most of my life not to trust anyone. Then my aunt—the one person I had trusted—disappeared, and I was forced to learn to trust others.
I’d trusted Draven to help me find my aunt. Trusted the fae prince Rath to have my back. Trusted Faris not to betray me, and trusted my brothers to be telling me the truth… the list went on.
Some of the people I’d trusted had betrayed me, and the jury was still out on a few—like Misty, and now even Draven. But if I hadn’t been willing to take a chance on trust, I never would have found my strange little circle of friends. Never would have discovered how much I was capable of. In essence, the risk had been worth it, and now I was going to have to take that risk again.
I looked at my brothers and nodded. “Let’s go,” I said.
We pulled out onto Twenty-third Street with a squeal of tires, and I really hoped Ryker knew what he was doing. Getting pulled over by human cops didn’t seem like a great exit strategy.
Fortunately, his driving got a little less erratic after he merged onto I-235, and once we were safely on I-40, headed west, he settled in at only ten over the speed limit.
Declan, who was in the front passenger seat, kept glancing over his shoulder.
“Are they back there?”
He nodded. “I think so. There’s a gray Ford pickup that’s hanging back a ways, but it’s changed lanes twice when we have.”
Good. At least, I hoped it was good news. If the attackers stayed on our tail, Hugh and Seamus could call for help, get the fire put out, and hopefully salvage what was left of the store. If there was still enough left to be worth salvaging.
On the other hand, that meant we were being followed by a couple of elementals who wanted me dead. Or were being paid to kill me, which seemed the more probable of the two, unfortunately. I just hadn’t pissed off that many people in my short, relatively uneventful life.
The only people I’d annoyed that much—other than Bronwyn—were fae. As much as I’d like to believe they were behind this, it seemed unlikely when a summons from their king was currently sitting at the bottom of my backpack.
So either I had new enemies popping up out of nowhere, or this attack was just as my brothers predicted—a statement about my dragon heritage.
It was quiet inside the car as we sped down I-40, Ryker focused on the road and Declan continuing to glance behind us.
But when we reached the edge of the city and kept on going, past Yukon and eventually El Reno, both of them seemed to relax.
“Are they still back there, or did we lose them?” I asked, when neither of them volunteered the information.
“We lost them.” Declan twisted in his seat to give me a reassuring nod. “They peeled off as soon as we left the city. Out here, they’re at more of a disadvantage because we can shift without worrying about the consequences. I imagine they’ve elected to try again later. Probably tracking us some other way,”
Oh. “So we aren’t safe yet.”
“Safe enough for now,” Ryker assured me. “If they hit us out here, we’re free to fight back, which is the last thing they want. And pretty soon, we’ll be ditching them entirely.”
Did I want to know how?
Later. I would ask that question later. Because now that we were safe, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold myself together.
Thankful for the darkness, I turned my head towards the window and let my tears fall where neither of my brothers could see. Not that Declan wouldn’t know, but I hoped he would be kind enough not to rat me out.
For all my brave words to Seamus, all my determination to seek the truth, now that the immediate danger was past, I felt anything but brave and determined on the inside. I was leaving behind everything familiar, running headlong into a world of uncertainty—escaping the immediate threat of violence, but trading it for a world of invisible political threat.
And by getting into the car with my brothers, I’d risked losing my ability to choose. Risked returning to a life where my path was chosen for me, where I would be pulled every which way by the decisions and desires of others. It was how I’d lived for most of my life—at least up until a few months ago when I’d finally taken ownership of my future and my decisions.
I refused to live that way again.
For my first nineteen years, I’d done as I was told. Believed what I was told. Accepted omissions and evasions and half-truths because it was safer and easier.
But no more.
It was Draven who’d kicked me loose from my willful blindness. Who’d convinced me to search for the truth and not be satisfied with hiding. Helped me embrace the reality of being a shapeshifter and a dragon.
And now, whether I was ready for it or not, that reality was about to hit home in a lot of new and terrifying ways. The dragons had found me, for good or ill, and I could already see that I would have to fight to keep my freedom. To stand on my own and make my own choices, no matter what they turned out to be.
And I faced all of this with even less going for me than I’d had in the beginning—now I had no home, no bookstore, and no Draven. No gorgeous, winged assassin to stand at my side and tell me that I was stronger than I knew and capable of more than I ever dreamed.
I couldn’t rely on anyone else to give me courage. I couldn’t even cling to my relationship with my aunt—not when I wasn’t entirely sure we still had one.
All I had to hold onto were memories, and the hope that my new family would turn out to be worthy of my trust. It was an uncertain foundation, and as I stared out the window into the darkness, I wondered how long it would be before I could return home—or if I still had any home to return to.
And even if I did, would that home ever feel safe again?
We drove for hours, and I think I even dozed off a time or two before we finally pulled off at a nameless exit somewhere in Texas
. Ryker drove for a few miles down a dark, rutted dirt road before he pulled off at… an abandoned barn?
“You’re scaring me a little,” I said, only partially joking. “This is the kind of place where serial killers bring their victims so they can dump the body without being found out.”
“You really think we need to bring you to Nowheresville, Texas, to make you disappear?” Ryker responded. Pretty sure he was only partially joking too.
“So what are we doing here, if you’re not planning to bury me in a shallow grave?”
“Ditching the car,” he said briefly, and I experienced a moment of shock at his willingness to so casually discard one of my last links to my aunt.
“How will I get it back?”
“If we’re lucky, no one will notice it until I can send someone to retrieve it,” he told me. “But if not, we can replace a car easily—there’s no replacing a life.”
I knew that. I really did. But before I got out, I snatched the little green bobble-head dragon off the dashboard and stuffed it in my backpack. I’d bought it for my aunt when I was twelve. That was before I’d seen her emerald-green dragon form, but it had made me laugh, and for some reason, she’d kept it.
Now I would hang on to it a little bit longer, because if I didn’t… Leaving it would feel like a declaration that Aunt Morgan was really gone. That I was abandoning all hope of seeing her again, and I wasn’t ready to do that.
Once outside the car, both my brothers began to empty their pockets.
“What are we doing?”
“We’re flying,” Declan said, and I could hear the relief in his voice. No doubt, he would feel more comfortable once they were in dragon form—able to face any potential danger as enormous apex predators with very few weaknesses.
“We have allies in Arizona,” Ryker added. “A small dragon clan that prefers to live outside the enclave.” He stripped off his jacket, then his shirt, revealing what appeared to be a leather pouch strapped across his body. He proceeded to put his phone and other personal effects inside and then handed it to me while I tried not to stare.
Brother or not, that was a seriously ripped chest.
“We’ll fly there overnight, and one of Mother’s jets will meet us at a regional airport.”
I tore my gaze away as I realized both of them were basically stripping right there in the middle of nowhere.
“I, uh…” It was embarrassing, but hiding the truth wasn’t going to do us any good. And anyway, I needed a distraction from their bare chests. “I don’t know if I can fly that far. I’ve only flown”—I bit my lip and stared at the ground—“once.”
“We’ll carry you,” Declan said, handing me his own similar pouch.
I wasn’t sure that made me feel better. Carry me how? And what if they dropped me?
It was one thing to fly with Draven, who remained in human form and could talk to me in case I freaked out. Which I had totally done, I recalled with embarrassment. It had been a terrifying experience for someone who had never flown before—either as a dragon or a human.
Now I wished I could have that moment back, if only so I could see Draven again. Except in this case, I’d be likely to punch him for not calling me, rather than freak out about flying hundreds of feet above the ground in the arms of an absurdly hot half-fae shapeshifter.
Never mind Draven. I needed to stay focused.
Fortunately, my brothers looked utterly unconcerned, as if they did this every day, so I contained my worries for the moment as I stuffed their pouches into my backpack.
“What are these?” I asked, unable to suppress my curiosity as I looked them over. “Man-purses for shapeshifters?”
Instead of being offended, Ryker chuckled. “Something like that. They have a notch in the strap at the point where it will fit around our arm in dragon form. That way, we can carry what we need, even if we have to shift in an emergency. For right now, though, it’s easier to let you carry them.”
He handed me his leather jacket. “Hopefully, this will keep you warmer while we fly.”
“What about your clothes?”
Declan shrugged. “We’ll replace them later.”
Replace cars, replace clothes… These dragons certainly didn’t seem to lack for resources.
“I don’t think we’ll be able to talk again once we shift,” Ryker said, “so if there’s anything else you want to know, ask now.”
I thought about it. There was so much I wanted to know. But none of it was as important as getting to safety.
“Just don’t break me,” I said. “And if you deliberately try to freak me out, I swear I’m dropping both your phones in the first lake we fly over.”
Declan’s chuckle disappeared into the deep rumbling growl of an adult dragon, who took shape so fast I didn’t really see his transformation. He was beautiful though—larger than my aunt, but smaller than the poor, tortured black dragon who had saved my life. Moonlight glinted softly off his silvery scales, revealing long, graceful lines and a less war-like profile than I’d expected. No horns or spines, no razor-sharp hooks on the leading edges of his wings. He even appeared to glow softly, and something about him seemed to exude peace. Contentment. I kind of wanted to wrap my arms around him and soak it up like sunshine.
Beside him, Ryker’s change was nearly as swift, though I couldn’t quite tell what color he was. But he was definitely scarier looking—his fangs were longer, and his head seemed to transition smoothly into four, wickedly sharp horns over his pointed ears. Spikes flared down the length of his neck, while armored plates covered his chest and belly.
I knew he wouldn’t hurt me, though, so I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty at my relief when it was Declan who held out one forefoot for me to climb onto.
As soon as he had me cradled in his grip, the two dragons lifted off, and I closed my eyes as we took to the air. I didn’t want to see the Subaru fading into the darkness. Didn’t want to think about the implications of this moment.
So I focused on the rush of air, and on being grateful that I was warm enough, cocooned inside Ryker’s leather jacket and the surprising warmth of Declan’s scales.
Somewhere over New Mexico, I fell asleep. And somehow, I didn’t wake up again for quite some time.
My eyes opened slowly, and it took a few moments for me to recall why I wasn’t in my bed back in Oklahoma City. Another few moments for me to wonder where I really was, and whose voices I was hearing.
I sat up. Threw off a cozy fleece blanket and shuddered as I realized I was still wearing yesterday’s borrowed clothes. They smelled like smoke, and I probably smelled worse.
Smoke. From my burning house… I looked around frantically for my backpack. I needed to find my phone and call Faris. Find out whether the store had survived the fire. Whether Hugh and Chicken were okay.
“Everything is fine.”
I yanked my head around so fast I heard my neck pop.
I was resting on a reclining chair, in a narrow space, with half a dozen other chairs that didn’t look like they moved. Declan and Ryker were sitting at a small table behind me, sipping on what smelled like coffee.
“Coffee. Me. Want,” I mumbled, stretching out my shoulders and trying not to groan. There was a window next to me, and from the shape of it (and the view of clouds beneath me), I realized that we were probably on the private jet Ryker had mentioned.
“When you say everything is fine,” I queried, “do you mean you already checked?”
Ryker nodded. “I’ve contacted your friend Faris. The main damage to your house was to the windows and roof, and mostly smoke downstairs. The attackers set fire to some debris and threw it through the broken windows, so aside from the front desk and one shelf of books, everything else is intact. The gargoyle terrified the neighbors a bit, but didn’t cause any damage.”
“What about Chicken?”
“Your terrifying naked demon cat? He’s fine too. Apparently, he was sitting on the gargoyle’s shoulder, probably cackling wit
h glee the whole time.”
That actually totally fit with what I knew of Chicken. He purred whenever my dragon got angry, so watching Hugh have a hissy fit was probably his idea of high entertainment.
I was so relieved by the news that I thought about just curling back up and sleeping some more, but I suspected there were more urgent concerns.
Like getting out of these clothes and asking my brothers a few questions.
“Any sign of those elementals?”
“Not yet. And we’ve got radar on the jet, so we’re watching for any sign of an air assault.” Like the one that had taken down Callum and Lady Tairen. Well, that didn’t help my nerves at all.
“How is…” I still couldn’t quite say the word “mother,” but Declan, as seemed usual for him, anticipated what I wanted to ask. Having an empath around might actually prove to be useful.
“They’re home. Doing fine. Mom was injured in the crash, but she’ll heal, as long as she doesn’t let her anger get the better of her and do something rash.”
“And do they know yet who was responsible?”
My brothers exchanged glances, and I could tell the question bothered them. Or maybe it was the answer.
“Callum said the marks on the plane indicate it was taken down by a dragon.”
Whoa. “Can they tell who?”
Ryker’s tightly clenched jaw revealed both anger and frustration. “No. The wreckage was too badly burned to reveal any scent. It could have been anyone. And we can’t investigate too much, because if the humans find out dragons are capable of taking down jet aircraft…”
He didn’t need to finish that sentence. It would be a nightmare, and we all knew it.
I couldn’t help shivering a little. What if that dragon was still out there? We should be safe, considering that he or she would need to anticipate a flight path in order to intercept us. Our spur of the moment decisions should make it impossible for them to determine our location, let alone attack the plane.
But what if there were more than one dragon involved?
