Alice straightened. The air smelled of flowers under the hot sun. Reece stole a glance at Bryce, whose lips had formed a flat line. He didn’t throw his hands in the air, though he really wanted to.
“I’m sorry, but have either of you met the girls? River and Raven were born from the strongest dragon this family has produced since Logan Montoya. Do you really think their mates would dare betray them?” He glanced from Bryce to his mother. Convincing Bryce was easy, but his mother was made of unfeeling stone. “Let me repeat that word again. Mates. They’re fated mates, Mom.”
“The girls are weak. You should know that by now, considering that you’re the one who made them weak.”
Reece was floored. His mother had never turned that against him before. She’d always praised him for being the strong child. She’d prepared him to follow in her footsteps until he’d drifted away from the family.
Uncle Quincy watched it all with a smile on his lips. A tingle ran down Reece’s spine. He had a suspicion, but no way to prove it right then.
Reece didn’t wait for Callum to pounce. Someone had sent Calum this way, and Reece had a good idea of who it was. Quincy was still trying to pull everyone’s strings. He was trying to pull threads to see who would come undone first. Who would unravel? Alice or Logan?
What would it take for either of them to fall? Alice’s fragile grasp on the Montoya family’s power had thrown her, but she would truly fall apart if anything happened to Reece. It seemed that Quincy forgot to take his own nephew’s power into account, though.
Head thrown back, Reece unleashed a long plume of fire into the night. It grazed the tips of bare branches until they smoldered. The recent snow kept them from catching, though. He knew better than to start a wildfire.
Callum tossed his head and stormed forward. The dragon’s stampede made the ground shudder. Reece threw his wings open at the last second and took to the air. Callum sped past his quarry and into the trees. They cracked and fell. The sound echoed, probably reaching the cabin.
Was Teagan safe? Was she going to stay out of sight? Or would she spend the last of her energy to shift and try to lead her father away? Reece was doing his best to take care of the situation, so she didn’t have to get involved. He would keep doing so even if it meant taking a few blows from Callum.
Not that Reece planned on getting hit. Reece was a force to be reckoned with. He had his mother’s strength and learned cunning from her and Quincy. No one, especially not the hammer-fisted Callum, was going to get the best of Reece.
He landed where Callum had been before his stampede. Reece planted his feet firmly and raised his head, hoping that Callum would be able to read his body language. If Callum’s rage had pushed him past reason, then this wouldn’t work. Callum wouldn’t be able to discern offence from defense.
Callum eyed him for a long moment. The dragon’s eyes flashed with burning fire. The same flamed flickered on his tongue, the light strobing behind his teeth. He cut a frightening image. Reece could see why Teagan obeyed her father to her own detriment.
The thought only made Reece angrier, though. Was this how Callum bent his family to his will? Did he stand tall and use his fire to intimidate them? Reece couldn’t figure out how that might work on Ember, but it made sense for Teagan. She was only an owl shifter. Small and mostly made of feathers, she was no match for a dragon.
Reece dug his talons into the earth and roared. Callum’s snarl was drowned out. As the sound of Reece’s roar faded, the two dragons stared each other down. Reece dared Callum to make another move. There was no real reason for Callum to bring his rage onto Reece’s territory. This fight could reignite the family feud all over again.
For what?
No good reason. All because Quincy wanted to play quiet power games. He likely sent Callum this way in an attempt to get Callum to hurt Reece. If Callum had made it known that he couldn’t find Teagan, Quincy would have latched onto Callum’s concern and used it against him. Quincy might have told Callum that Reece was keeping Teagan without even knowing the truth of the statement.
Reece shifted back. His beast was unsure of the move at first, but it relented. His form shrank until two human feet stood in the muddy snow. He locked gazes with Callum across the clearing. Confusion made Callum cock his head.
“Get off my territory,” Reece demanded.
Callum rocked back, watching Reece intently. Reece figured the man was weighing his chances against Reece now that he’d shifted back to human form. Callum obviously had the advantage as he was still a dragon. But he didn’t know if Reece could change shapes again.
Reece savored the knowledge that he had enough energy left in him for a quick change. He had enough fury to fuel him through a scuffle, should it come to that.
But Callum didn’t attack. He backed away without breaking eye contact. Reece held his breath. This could be a ploy. He had to be on guard until Callum was off his territory altogether. Thoughts of Teagan interrupted Reece’s thoughts.
He held onto them while he waited for Callum to finish his retreat. Hopefully, Teagan had made it back to the cabin while all this had gone down. If she didn’t…
Callum lifted his head. He sniffed the air. His attention broke away from Reece for the first time. Callum thumped his tail against the ground, a show of annoyance. He spun away from Reece and sniffed again.
No! Callum must have found Teagan’s scent. Reece didn’t curse, though he really wanted to. He couldn’t give any indication that he knew about Teagan’s presence. If he did then…then Callum would have reason to attack. The fight would get ugly.
Reece had to strike before Callum could find Teagan. That was the only way they would all stay safe. Reece wasn’t going to let Callum drag her away tonight. Reece wanted to make sure Teagan had the break from her family that she deserved.
No one should have to cower before their own family. That was a lesson Reece had wished he’d learned a long while ago. Maybe then, he could have helped his sisters. He could have given them the support they’d deserved. He wouldn’t feel so far away from them now.
Reece would pay for his sins by helping Teagan. At least, that’s what he told himself he was doing. He wasn’t going to fight Callum for any other reason.
8
Teagan fidgeted on the tree branch. She could hear the angry roars of dragons even from this distance. She was sure that if she took to the sky, she would be able to see the flurry of snow and dirt from their fight.
She never meant to leave Reece to her father’s mercy—or lack thereof. She needed to make herself move. This wasn’t right. Sitting here and waiting like a coward filled her with shame. If she showed herself to her father, his ire would be aimed at her for a while. That would give Reece time to flee.
Her father wouldn’t forget Reece’s involvement. That was for sure. She would do her best to keep her father away from Reece, though.
The scent of flowers danced on the wind. A calm washed over Teagan. She sighed and relaxed so much that she nearly fell off her branch. She managed to adjust her weight just in time to catch herself.
Uncomfortable with the sudden change in her mood, Teagan glanced about warily. A woman strode between the trees. Her hair shifted from shades of blue to teal to green. When the woman lifted her hand and waved cheerily to Teagan, the sense of familiarity grabbed ahold of Teagan and put her at ease.
“Damn it,” the woman muttered. “I’m sorry, bird. I don’t always have the best control over my abilities. I know I just charmed you with magic, but I promise I’m here to help. You can trust me.”
Teagan rocked back and waited for the flush of unfamiliar magic to drain out of her mind. The sounds of dragon fighting had halted for the time being, but that wasn’t always a good sign. Fear that her father had won made her heart race. The image of Reece, dead in the snow, shoved the last of the magic from her body.
She flapped her wings nervously. The woman standing below nodded.
The woman extended her arm for Teagan
to perch upon. “You’re welcome to come with me. I’m going to make sure those two don’t get up to anything that could have serious consequences for everyone.”
Though they’d only just met, Teagan was desperate. She jumped from her branch and circled around to fly over the woman’s head. She wasn’t about to touch someone who could dominate emotions from afar. That would have been stupid. Teagan wanted to see what the woman would do to stop the fight, though.
Their trek took longer than Teagan would have liked. The woman’s speed on foot tormented Teagan’s sense of urgency. Teagan wished she was a dragon, that way she could have lifted the woman in her talons and carried her toward the fight. Instead, they had to travel slowly.
Distracted by her frustration with the woman’s slow pace, Teagan didn’t notice her father prowling between the trees until the last moment. She swooped upwards, but the movement caught her father’s attention. He lifted his head in search of her.
Reece called out. His voice turned into a roar. His form grew, changing from human to dragon as he leapt forward. Slamming into Callum, Reece tumbled over the snow and crashed into a tree. Callum shrugged him off and tossed him back.
The woman sighed dramatically and held out her hands. Teagan didn’t understand what the woman thought the gesture would do until the sensation of calm fell over her like a blanket. This time, Teagan almost plummeted out of the sky. Her body went slack, and she dropped.
Reece rolled back onto his feet and caught her in his talons. The magic in the air grew heavier. Reece sank towards the ground. Even though the magic tugged at him, he was still careful of Teagan’s fragile bird body. He cradled her carefully as his eyelids drooped.
Across the way, her father collapsed. His eyes rolled back, and his tongue lolled out of his mouth. When he hit the ground, she expected the impact to wake him again. Yet, he remained inert.
Teagan looked back to the woman. Who was this person? Why was she helping them? Teagan worried that this witch had come to cause trouble. She could think of no other explanation for the sudden appearance of someone with such power.
“We’re even now, Reece,” the woman said. “You stopped my mother from creating another mystery spot. I stopped your girlfriend’s father from throwing a tantrum. Tell your mother to leave us alone from now on.”
The blue-haired woman turned and left without another word. The shadows of the woods claimed her faster than what should have been possible. Teagan suspected magic again. This wasn’t the kind of magic witches employed. It was different. It was softer, more natural.
They didn’t have time to waste. Teagan pecked at Reece’s face to wake him from his stupor. He shook his head and slowly got back onto his feet. His wings trembled, evidence that he probably wouldn’t be able to carry them any time soon.
Before leaving, Reece spared one last lingering glance at Callum’s sleeping form.
A voice drifted towards them on the wind. “Don’t worry. He won’t remember tonight. He’ll wake with a hangover, which will probably make him think he spent the night drinking.”
Teagan would have laughed. It was so oddly fitting. She wouldn’t have put it past her father for one of his benders to leave him sleeping in the snow of the Montoya territory.
“You shifted again,” Reece said after they’d gotten back to the cabin.
Teagan stiffened. She wasn’t about to tell him that she’d shifted to fly after him then gotten cold feet. Instead, she let him think that she’d honored his unspoken request for her to stay put.
“Shifting that many times back to back,” Reece said. “Your body should be close to normal again.”
She heard his voice trail off, as if there were more that he wanted to say. Reece glanced back, out the window. The dark woods sprawled out beyond the window. Somewhere out there, Callum slept face down in the snow.
Teagan understood what Reece wasn’t saying. She nodded. “You think I should use this time to go home.”
It made sense. Her father was distracted. She could use the time to clean and wipe away Reece’s scent. When her father woke in the morning and came knocking on her door again, she could tell him that she’d gone out of town to see an old friend. He didn’t know that she didn’t really have any friends to visit.
Silence turned the air thick. Teagan stared at Reece. He watched her intently, as if waiting for her to make a move so that he could feel something. It was as if he stood on a precipice, holding his breath because there was relief on one side and devastation on the other. If she told him that she wanted to stay a while longer, would that tip him into devastation?
She’d already brought her father to his doorstep once, to his territory twice. If her father got more desperate, would he attack Reece’s place of work. Would Callum cause a ruckus the way he had when Cash and Ember were courting?
This wasn’t the same. Teagan wasn’t trying to court Reece. She simply wanted to avoid her life for a little while longer. Just a little more peace and quiet out here in the middle of the Nebraska woods.
“It’s okay,” Reece said.
At first, she thought he was comforting her so that she would get out of his house. Then she saw the open invitation written across his face. Her heart flipped. She grinned, her own relief palpable.
Teagan nodded. “If you don’t mind…”
Reece flopped into the nearest chair, legs akimbo, and gave her that practiced playboy grin. She wondered what he was hiding behind that mask. Was it hope? Or was it something that she didn’t want to know about?
Teagan thought about going over to him and climbing into his lap. He wore so little, only a pair of pants he’d hastily pulled on after shifting. She wanted to run her hands up his chest and savor the feeling of skin under her palms rather than scales.
She’d been so afraid that he would get hurt. She’d never worried about someone so much in her life. Part of it had been guilt because this situation had been caused by her presence in his life, but it was more than that, too.
She sat near his feet, facing away from him so that he would not be able to see her face as she pressed her shoulder to his calf. The contact allowed her to breathe easier. She’d thought she would lose him tonight. This feud had never seemed more wrong than right now.
Baylee’s drive to see it come to an end made sense to Teagan now.
9
The next morning, Teagan spun her phone between her fingers. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. She’d had to apologize to her sister before, but every time felt like the first time. With Ember’s wild moods, Teagan never really knew how her sister would react.
If Teagan compromised Ember’s spring wedding, then there would be hell to pay. Even if he was an asshole, their father was still a part of that wedding, and leaving him unconscious on the edge of Montoya territory was asking for disaster. Someone had to go get him, and that was not going to be Teagan.
The phone rang before Teagan could muster the courage to call her sister. She thought it would be her father, at first. She’d been afraid that he would wake and remember everything. She could avoid his calls, but that would only make him show up on Reece’s doorstep and she didn’t need that today.
No. The face on the screen belonged to her sister. Ember’s photo smiled, two fingers held up in a peace sign. Teagan’s stomach flipped. She’d wanted to call her sister, but now that Ember was calling her, she grew even more anxious.
Teagan held the phone to her ear.
“Why the fuck do you have silver jewelry in your apartment?” Ember snapped.
Teagan was at a loss for words. She babbled for a moment then pressed her lips together to silence herself. She pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to gather her thoughts.
“You have a silver bracelet on your nightstand, Teagan! Why would you keep such a thing?”
“Why are you in my apartment?” Teagan asked softly.
“I thought I would bring you some more clothes and some books since it doesn’t seem like you’re going to leave yo
ur roost any time soon. This was supposed to be an olive branch,” Ember said. The sound of something small hitting the wall came through the phone. Ember swore sharply.
Teagan imagined that her sister had thrown the bracelet. It was a small ring of metal that had been plated in silver, nothing special or remarkable. Ember must have seen her wear it a hundred times, always slipping out from under Teagan’s sleeve even if she’d tried to keep it hidden. Of course, Ember would have tried to bring it to her.
“Dad is unconscious on the western side of the Montoya territory,” Teagan said, trying to change the subject.
Ember let out a barking laugh. In the background, Cash asked her if everything was alright. Ember’s voice softened when she replied to Cash, but Ember didn’t save that softness for her sister. No, Ember launched into her motherly tirade and reprimanded Teagan for her foolishness. She berated Teagan, bombarding her with questions.
Teagan couldn’t handle this conversation any longer. She wanted a sister. Not a mother. This wasn’t how her relationship with Ember was supposed to be. It made Teagan feel even more alone in this world. She didn’t know who would be there for her should she fall.
That was a lie. She’d fallen and Reece had caught her. Reece stood by and helped her when she needed him.
She’d never thought of him before. Of course, Teagan had known of Reece’s existence but her relationship to the Barnes family had forced her to give him a wide berth. She’d been smart to pretend like he didn’t exist at all.
Thrown together, she found that she quite liked Reece’s company. It was far better than her actual family. He didn’t make demands of her. He gave her the room to do what she needed to do. That wasn’t something she’d gotten from others very often.
And he knew how to fly with her. Reece didn’t make excuses to keep her locked away. He didn’t tell her to stay out of his way. He made an effort to watch out for her and keep her safe when he flew with her. The night had seemed filled with infinite possibility before her father had shown up.
Wings of Destiny (Great Plains Dragon Feud Book 5) Page 8
