The wolf ducked her head and took a step closer to the opening, and then turned to look at Magnus, who took a step forward and then another. Time to conquer his past. Good or bad, he would embrace it and move on. No man was set in stone. If he had done bad things, he could spend the rest of his life doing good. Repent and redeem himself, with Ruby to guide him, that would be his plan.
“Want me to go first?” Ruby offered as she stood beside him, looking at the opening.
“No, I’ll go first.” He swung his head around to look at her. “But thanks for the offer.”
Ducking down, he assessed the opening. He wouldn’t fit in there with the pack on his back, so he loosened the straps and eased it off his shoulders, pushing it through the gap first. If it fell into a gaping abyss, at least he’d know not to follow it. If only he had a flaming torch.
Fara, now back in human form, nudged his shoulder. “Flashlight.” She held a small cylinder out to him.
“What is a flashlight?” he asked, looking at the metal object with suspicion.
Fara flipped a switch and the cylinder lit up, blinding him with its stream of light. “Shine it in there.”
He took it gingerly, unsure where the flame was contained, but happy to use its light to illuminate the darkness. The cylinder was cool to the touch, and he held it with his right hand, before placing his left hand in front of the beam of light. “No heat. Curious.”
“It runs on batteries, dumbass,” Fara told him bluntly as if he were the village idiot.
“Hold on, Fara, if Magnus has never seen a car before, he couldn’t have seen a flashlight either. And he certainly wouldn’t know how it was powered.” He appreciated Ruby defending him, even if he didn’t need it. There were worse things in the world than Fara’s words, and as he removed his hand from the flashlight and shone it into the opening, he hoped he was not about to meet one.
“Are you goin’ in?” Fara’s voice cut through the silence that surrounded them. The trail was sheltered from the wind by an overhang about a foot wide. On either side of the opening the mountain butted out into the valley, concealing the entrance. He looked inside the opening. It appeared a recent landslide had cleared a number of rocks that had covered the entrance.
If this was where he’d come from, it was only luck that had enabled him to get out.
Or fate, a voice whispered in his head.
“Are you sure this is where my footprints lead?” Magnus asked, looking past Fara to where the trail disappeared around a solid rock wall.
“Fairly sure, plus, I went a little further along this ledge. It ends in about a hundred feet.” She pointed above them. “A rock slide took out a section of it.”
“Perhaps the same rock slide that opened up this cave.” He peered inside. “I’m going in.”
He crawled on his hands and knees into the semi-darkness. The flashlight gave off a flickering light as he moved, illuminating the space around him. It was narrow, a tunnel rather than a cave, and as he crawled, he had a sense of recognition, as if he’d been here before.
Behind him, he heard scraping, and looked over his shoulder to see Ruby following; behind her, Fara stood waiting. He couldn’t see her face as she bent down and peered into the tunnel, but he could feel her apprehension on the air.
“What do you see?” Ruby asked as she crawled along close behind him.
“Not a lot. It looks as if this tunnel used to be wider. But the cave is blocked off.” He shuddered, not wanting to think about waking up underneath a hundred feet of rock and finding himself trapped.
A sudden need to get out of there hit him and he stopped. The walls closed in on him and fear of being buried alive gripped him and threatened to choke off the breath his body desperately needed.
“Relax.” Ruby placed her hand on his ankle, and then moved it further up his leg, soothing him. “I’m here, it’s okay.”
“I could have died in here.” His throat tightened, and his words came out in a strangled gasp.
“But you didn’t, and you won’t. If anything happens, Fara will get help. She’s waiting right outside.”
“That won’t help if the roof caves in on us.” The sense of being trapped hit him, and a wave of anguish washed over him.
“Let’s take it one step at a time.” She tapped his foot and urged him on.
He did her bidding. There was a part of him that couldn’t refuse. And part of him that would never want to.
Chapter Nine – Ruby
Ruby kept her voice level as she encouraged Magnus to crawl forward, hiding her own apprehension.
Dragons don’t belong in confined places, her dragon told her sulkily.
I thought you were brave. Ruby focused on the man in front of her. Her priority was to keep him safe.
Which we can’t do, if we’re buried under a mountain of rock, her dragon informed her bluntly.
Ruby ignored her dragon and instead followed her own advice and focused on the man in front of her. Particularly his butt, which she could just about make out as the light from the flashlight bounced back off the walls on either side of them. If he’d been asleep for a couple of centuries, he must have worked out in his sleep, because he had one tight…
The light vanished, and she took a sharp intake of breath. “Did you drop the flashlight?”
Then she realized the light hadn’t gone out; instead, it was sucked into a dark abyss before them. “I found the cave.”
Magnus scrambled forward and stood up, turning the flashlight on her. Thankfully he didn’t shine it in her face; instead, he aimed it at the ground. “And I found a gold coin.” Ruby’s fingers closed around it and she picked it up from between the small rocks that littered the floor of what looked like a large cave that stretched out behind Magnus.
He stepped closer to her, aiming the flashlight at the coin. “How did it get here?”
Turning in a circle, he aimed the light at the ground, but there were no other gold coins or gems of any kind. She caught the disappointment on his face and reached out for his free hand. Lifting it up, she opened his fingers and placed the gold on his palm. “This is yours.”
He weighed it in his hand. “It feels…familiar.”
Ruby smiled. “A dragon always knows his treasure.” She inhaled deeply. “There’s more close by.”
Her heart hammered with excitement and her dragon fluttered around in her head like a lovesick fool. Only a dragon could be this impressed by gold and jewels.
“How do you know?” Magnus asked as he turned back to look at her.
“I can sense it.” She was about to add, it’s a dragon thing, but stopped herself. He didn’t need to hear it. Not now. “Come on.”
She took his hand and pulled him forward, following her nose, or whatever sense it was that led her toward the treasure. They stumbled over small rocks and splashed through a puddle of water created by rain seeping through the rock above. When Magnus shone his light on the water, they could see stalagmites forming on the ground. “This section must have been untouched by the cave-in, or else these stalagmites would be broken.”
“So you don’t know about cars and flashlights, but you know about caves?” Ruby asked.
“Yes.” He nodded and frowned. “I know this cave.”
“This must have been your lair.” Excitement bubbled up inside her. “How amazing to have a real cave as your lair.”
“My lair.” He sounded unsure.
“You must be a dragon shifter, this is your lair and…that is your treasure.” She stopped dead in her tracks and pointed at the pile of gold and silver, littered with trinkets and gems.
“What if it’s not mine?” Magnus asked.
“But you were here,” Ruby insisted. “It has to be yours.”
“Or there could be another explanation.” His tone was troubled. “What if I came here to put a dragon shifter under the Ancient Slumber spell, and it somehow reversed and got me?”
“You think the reason you were in here was that you trie
d to put a dragon to sleep?” Ruby contemplated that for a moment. “Impossible.”
“Why?” Magnus asked as he approached the treasure.
“Because it could never happen.”
“Why? I’ve seen how strong you are. Your dragon could easily overpower me.”
“Yes, it could. But you are missing the point.”
“Which is?”
“A dragon would never leave someone else here alone with his treasure.”
“What if that dragon was dead? I could have killed him. Or her?” Magnus was searching for answers, some kind of explanation. Why couldn’t he accept that he was a dragon shifter?
“You don’t think you can be a shifter, do you?” Ruby pulled him forward, wanting him to touch his treasure. One thing she knew above all else was that a dragon’s treasure sang to its true owner. “Pick it up, touch it.”
Magnus hesitated. Then he plunged his hands into the gold and lifted it up, letting it rain back down. “It feels familiar, but I still don’t remember a thing.”
“Give it time.” Ruby walked around the pile of gold. She longed to pull her hiking boots off and wade through the treasure, just as she waded through the mountain stream on a hot summer day. Both were equally refreshing to a dragon.
Magnus made his own way around the edge of the treasure. Occasionally he would stop and lean forward, looking at a jewel-encrusted dagger, or lift out a wooden box filled with gems, but he always replaced them as if he were a stranger here and the valuables belonged to someone else.
“There’s so much of it.” He stood with his hands on his hips. “What do we do with it all?”
Ruby circled around and stood next to him. “Leave it here for now. I won’t tell anyone, and I think you can trust Fara. She’d likely rip the throat out of anyone who tried to steal from you.”
“What then? What if it is not mine?”
“Finders keepers,” she offered lamely.
He hunkered down and cupped his hands, filling them with treasure. “Why can’t I remember?”
She crouched beside him. “Listen, I’ve seen the Ancient Slumber spell cast once. Maybe whoever cast it on you used a variation?”
“You mean the spell still has an effect on me?” He let the gold slip through his fingers. “That makes sense.”
“All we have to do is figure out how to break it.” Ruby reached out and grabbed hold of a silver chain, pulling it toward her. “This is pretty.”
She held it up and a silver moon dangled from the chain, glimmering in the light. Magnus’s heart rate quickened, she could hear it thundering in his chest. “I remember this.”
The breath rushed from her chest as relief swept over her. A breakthrough, no matter how small, gave her hope. “What do you remember?”
Magnus lifted it up, so it dangled above their heads. “I don’t know.” He shook his head. “It belonged to someone special to me.”
The room spun around as Ruby fought the jealousy that wanted to consume her. Whoever it was meant nothing compared to his mate. She knew it, he knew it. Only he didn’t know it, because that side of him was still dormant. Ruby might be his mate, but as they crouched here next to his treasure, she was no more to him than any other woman in his life. No, she might mean less to him than whoever the crescent moon pendant belonged to.
“Do you know who she was?” Her voice was small in the vastness of the cave.
“No. Not her face.” He lowered his hand and stared with unfocused eyes at his treasure. “But I do know she is the reason I am here.”
Not what a girl wanted to hear. Especially not what a girl wanted to hear coming out of the mouth of her mate. “Did you love her?”
Magnus turned his head to look at her. “Yes. I think so. But I don’t remember her face.” He palmed the pendant and shoved it in his pocket, before cupping her face in his hand. “It’s not the same as this.”
Her forehead creased as she said, “Do you know what this is?”
“No.” He lifted her face as she tried to pull away. “But I do know, deep down in my soul, that no sleep, no matter how long, could make me forget you.”
He leaned forward and kissed her lips—in his lair, surrounded by all his treasure. Her dragon swooned, to her this was the most romantic gesture in all the ages of all the world.
Ruby agreed. His words were heartfelt and she believed him. He might not have his memories or his dragon, but he recognized Ruby for who she was. As their lips moved, he awoke a part of her that had been dormant, too. The woman inside her, the primal side that wanted a man, a mate, and a family. Children had never been a priority. Yes, she loved Harlan Jr. as if he were her own blood, but she’d never gotten it before, that intense need to procreate.
Yet, if Magnus asked her to, if he made a move, she would lay down here on his treasure and make a child with him. Make a future with him.
His tongue slid along her lower lip and she opened her mouth, their tongues entwined as they explored each other. Ruby ran her hands over his hard-toned chest, her thumb brushed against his taut nipple, and he groaned, deepening their kiss and pulling her closer. She wanted to climb inside his skin and be one with him, two beings joined forever.
When their lips parted, she felt a sense of loss. Leaning forward, she rested her head against his chest, then raised her eyes to his. “I don’t suppose true love’s kiss woke your memories?”
“Alas, no.” He stroked her jawline and gazed into her eyes. “However, I am in no doubt this is true love.”
A smile crept onto her face. “That’s the most important thing for you to know. The rest doesn’t matter. Only that we’re together.”
He leaned forward, his lips as gentle as a caress as they touched hers. “You have faith in me.”
“I do.”
“I wish I could share it.” He pulled away and stood up abruptly. “You deserve answers, Ruby. You deserve to know who I am.”
“I deserve your love and that is all. The rest is not necessary.” She took his hand and he pulled her to her feet. “But I think you need answers, and if we haven’t found them here, then we’ll look elsewhere.”
“Like where? This is where I must have slept. If there are no clues here, then where will we find them?” Magnus turned his back on his treasure and walked back toward the narrow entrance, with Ruby’s hand still firmly in his.
“We have a couple of choices. First, we go through the records in Bear Creek and look for a clue. Second, we visit my sister’s relatives. Tiberius, her father-in-law, has some knowledge of the spell.” She forced herself to sound upbeat and confident.
Magnus didn’t need to hear her doubts. She’d been convinced they would find the answer here. That would have been the easiest way. And she liked easy. Ruby’s hope that finding his treasure within the cave where he slept would jog his memory and make him remember was dashed. But she would stand by his side and work through every possible way he might regain his memories.
“Wait, what’s that?” Ruby looked down at something wedged beneath two sharp stones that jutted up from the cave floor. She bent down and picked it up. “Shine the flashlight on it.”
Magnus aimed the light at her fingers. “What is it?”
“A scale.” She looked closer. “A dragon scale.”
His eyes widened, and he took it from her, holding it carefully between his finger and thumb. “Do you think it’s one of mine?”
“I think it belongs to whoever this treasure belongs to. No other dragon would be in here.” She pointed at the entrance. “Perhaps this is where you shifted back to human form.”
“I don’t remember any of it if I did.” Magnus frowned. “But it’s a clue.”
“It’s a good clue. When we get outside we can have a good look at it. I can’t see the color properly in this light. It looks turquoise.” She took a steadying breath to control her excitement. They might not have found his memories, but if they had found a part of the dragon, it might be enough for Tiberius to work out a spell that co
uld link the human and the dragon side. It was a long shot, but Ruby was ready to grab hold of any hope and hang on for dear life.
Magnus closed his hand around it and held it in his fist as they exited the cave. Outside, Fara waited with a hopeful, expectant expression on her face. Ruby shook her head slightly to let Fara know Magnus hadn’t regained his memories. “We found a scale.”
“A scale.” Fara didn’t sound impressed. “What about the treasure?”
“Oh, we found that, too.” Ruby showed her a gold coin.
“It’s like the one in Magnus’s pocket. And there’s more of them?” Fara asked as she took the gold coin from Ruby. “Aren’t you supposed to use your teeth to check if it’s real?”
“A dragon knows gold when she smells it,” Ruby assured her. “Why not go inside with Magnus and let him show it to you?”
Fara handed the gold coin back to her. “I’ll take your word for it. A wolf has no need for treasure, not when she has the mountains around her, a roof over her head and good friends around the hearth.”
“That sounds like an ideal world,” Magnus agreed. Then he looked over his shoulder at the cave mouth. “Yet to me, the treasure is like an old friend.”
“Can you hear it singing?” Ruby asked.
His face saddened. “Alas, no, I cannot.”
“You will. One day, you will.” She took the scale from him. “This is what interests me.” She held it up to the light. “It’s a beautiful color, look how the light shines off it. It’s gorgeous.”
“Maybe one day you will see me in all my glory.” Magnus didn’t sound convinced.
“Oh, I will. A dragon always gets her way.”
“Right now, this wolf wants her way,” Fara told them. “I’m freezing cold. I’m going to shift.”
Without waiting for an answer, she shimmered into her wolf and set off down the mountain trail, retracing their steps.
“Are you ready to go?” Ruby asked, sensing his reluctance to leave.
“For now.” He looked around. “I wish I could hide the entrance.”
“Don’t worry, hardly anyone comes up here. Not to this altitude. The treasure has been there for hundreds of years, it’s not going anywhere for the next few days.”
Awakened Dragon Page 7
