by Riley Storm
“It’s not like I’m going to be able to convince them to change their minds. Not at this stage,” Lilly said. “Only if I succeed. Then they might be forced to admit I was right.”
Trent opened his mouth to say something, but Lilly wasn’t done. She growled, slapping her free hand against her thigh.
“That’s why I will succeed at this. I know it.”
“I’ll help,” he said instantly. “Whatever I can do.”
Lilly gave his hand a squeeze. “You’re already doing a great job. I couldn’t ask for much better help.”
He frowned internally. Did she know they were holding hands then? That squeeze…had it just been automatic on her part? He wasn’t sure.
“Well, if you can think of anything, just let me know,” he said.
“I will, trust me. But for now, you being willing to come help fix the damage you caused is already enough, and then sticking around after? Unnecessary. You’ve been amazing, Trent.”
He smiled, trying to calm the sudden churning in his stomach. Although he had no intention of ceasing to help her, he technically was under orders from Kladd to continue coming by for a few more days. True, he could ignore that, but dragons mostly operated on an honor code.
Trent had done the crime, now he had to do the time, to put it in human parlance.
“I’ve never minded getting a little hands on,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.
The word ‘hands’ had both of them glancing down to their interlocked fingers at the same time. He smiled to himself at the sight then glanced up, only to find Lilly staring back at him, a smile tugging at her lips.
Time paused.
For a single instant, he was blinded by her brilliant beauty and that tiny hint of a smile that was only meant for him and no one else. Her hair, short and bouncy, seemed to flutter softly in a nonexistent breeze. Light made her brown eyes glow with golden amber.
She was utterly perfect. Trent’s heart thundered. Before, he’d told Lilly that he would never care for another the way he would her. He’d known that in his heart, known it was a fact, but this was the first time he’d experienced it.
No one else would ever look the way she did, right here and right now. Trent took it all in, absorbing every precious fleeting moment, knowing that once time returned to its normal pace, he might never experience that first sight again.
He was in love, and that fact was printed indelibly upon his soul.
“Come here,” he growled and pulled her into a kiss.
She didn’t fight him. If anything, Lilly surprised him with her willingness. Her mouth was hungry, eager, and she kissed him back hard. His eyebrows rose in surprise, but he quickly sank into the moment, shutting off his brain, and simply kissing his mate.
Trent had no concept of time, nor did he care what any passerby might think. His entire being was wrapped up within Lilly, and she was all that he could see, hear, or feel.
Except for that beeping.
He frowned and then pulled away with reluctance. The beeping was coming from in his pocket.
“Something wrong?” Lilly asked.
“Not with you,” he growled. “Only with whoever thought now would be a good time to call me.”
Although Lilly didn’t say anything, her face made it clear that she thought he should have ignored it. Trent very much agreed. Unfortunately, the beeping ringtone meant it was one person in particular.
“I wish,” he said to the unspoken words that flashed between them. “Any other ringtone and I would have. But I have to take this.”
“Of course,” she said with a smile.
Trent pulled his phone out, stabbing angrily at the answer button.
“What?” he snarled.
“Get your ass down here right now,” Kladd growled. “I don’t know what you did to it, but Caladin called looking for you frantically. Said ‘it’s doing it again’.”
“Shit,” Trent said, hanging up the phone and facing Lilly. “I’m so sorry. I have to go. Something urgent has come up. I’m sorry. I have to go. I can’t wait any longer to explain. Take my stuff for me? I’ll be back for it.”
Lilly was staring at him. “What? What stuff?”
Trent shrugged out of his shirt and shorts, dropping them on the ground along with his boots.
“Trent! What are you doing?” she hissed.
“I have to be somewhere now,” he rumbled, and clad only in his underwear, he raced for the parking lot, power pouring into him as he changed on the run.
He took two steps, spread his wings wide, and then mighty dragon legs hurled him up into the sky. He cleared the top of the building behind Climbers with inches to spare, and the thunderous downsweep of his wings sent all kinds of debris swirling away across its roof.
Then, Trent oriented himself and winged north at breakneck speed, swiftly gaining altitude to where the flying would be easier and faster.
He had to get to Mount Verdent before it was too late.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Trent
He dove to the ground, his eagle-sharp eyes easily picking out the hole in the side of the mountain.
As he fell, he shrunk into something resembling a human, except for the fact he was nine feet tall and covered in blue scales. His wings were still tucked back along his sides, the horns on his head sticking forward and piercing the air as he fell headfirst.
There was no time to spare for anything safer.
The hole grew larger as he approached, and Trent used his wings to angle himself to the center of it. The air was screaming over his scales now as he fell with speed toward the old mine shaft in the side of Mount Verdent.
Trent swept through the opening and continued to sail down the wide, broad tunnel, having arrived at the perfect angle to keep his speed up. It wouldn’t last forever though, and he curled his body in slightly, bringing his feet under him and beginning to move them.
He hit ground, lost his footing, bounced twice, rolled—tucking his wings in carefully so that they weren’t ripped from his body—and then got to his feet, his scales absorbing the worst of the damage as he continued to run down the shaft, bleeding momentum bit by bit.
The bottom came up fast, and Trent knew he wasn’t going to be able to make the turn.
“Crap.”
That was all the time he had before he slammed hard into the solid rock of the mountain. Pain lanced throughout his body as he rebounded off, leaving an imprint an inch deep in the rock face where he’d hit.
The impact would leave marks on him too, but he would heal from them. Trent’s main concern was the Gate. He rushed forward, shouldering his way past a pair of fire dragons standing watch.
The Gate was enormous. Fully twenty feet tall and half that wide, the oval shape practically glowed with energy.
“Trent! Finally,” Caladin snapped. “What the hell is going on here?”
“I don’t know. Whoever is causing this, it’s on the other side.”
“Well, make it stop,” Caladin ordered. “We can’t afford to let it continue like this.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Trent muttered, unhappy with Caladin’s assumption that he would know what was going on. Trent knew no more than anyone else what had caused the Gate’s spike in energy. It wasn’t like he was a part of it.
The grounding pole Damien had created last time was still present at least. Trent walked forward, eyeing the Gate nervously.
“This is a lot of energy,” he said uncomfortably. “A hell of a lot more than last time.”
He was already having doubts about his ability to channel that much. Frowning as he approached, he reached out a hand, feeling the energy of the Gate, trying to get a sense of why it was acting this way. What did it mean?
The feeling he received sent his eyes wide.
“Uh, you guys had better get ready,” he said nervously.
“What? Why? Ready for what?” Caladin snapped, his own worries translating into anger that he was taking out on everyone around him.
>
“Because if I fail, something is going to come through,” he said to deathly silence. “I can feel the pressure of it. There’s something on the other side. Something powerful trying to force its way through.”
“I thought it was instantaneous,” Caladin said quietly. “How can you be sure? How do you know this, Trent?”
“I don’t know!” he shouted. “I’m just telling you what I feel, okay? There’s a pressure here, a pressure working its way through. Maybe it’s not something coming through, but it certainly fucking feels like it. Now if you don’t mind, quit being a fucking ass and let me concentrate, because there’s a good chance I’m going to die by trying to funnel this much energy through me. Got it?”
Caladin opened his mouth to reply, but Trent was done with that, done listening to him.
“Ah, screw this,” he muttered, slapping a hand on the grounding pole and then reaching out for the energy in the Gate.
The pain would be better than the judgmental crap that came from the other dragon’s mouth. At least this way, Trent could be in control. His hand reached the Gate.
Pain lit up his entire world.
His body went rigid, spine arching backward as he screamed. Or tried to scream. The muscles of his lungs refused to work. Trent simply bent backward, mouth open, scales taut across his limbs.
The power surged into him and then out the other side into the grounding pole.
It’s too much. It’s too much, he thought over and over again until even thoughts were blasted from his mind by the sheer agony.
Trent was faltering. He could see his scales beginning to blacken in spots. It was tiny at first, little lines that raced between the scales, but they continued to grow. He was burning up from within, and his armor was close to failing. The fires of purple power were consuming him.
He was dying.
His right arm, the one touching the gate, began to glow with purple-blue light as power surged into him anew. Now Trent did scream. And scream. And scream. He shrieked until his throat was raw and bleeding.
His eardrums went next, warmth flowing down the sides of his head as they burst violently. Then an eye erupted as the power filling him sought every nook and crevice.
Bolts of lightning showered the interior of the cavern, and the Gate Guards retreated, lest they be impaled by the purple-blue power as well. Whatever remained of Trent’s rational brain didn’t blame them.
Nobody should have to experience this pain.
Scales ripped across his chest as a burst of power nearly tore him in two.
I’m sorry, he thought with his last thoughts.
Lilly, I’m so sorry. I won’t be there for you after all.
The final thing he saw was that moment in the parking lot. Of Lilly, looking beautiful, radiant, and perfect.
Trent had known he would treasure that image for the rest of his life. He just hadn’t expected the end to come so soon.
Then, the power reached his brain.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lilly
She was staring at her phone when the heavy knock on the front door came. It startled her so badly she dropped the phone on the counter.
Looking up, she saw a big burly man in a uniform of some sort standing at the door waving at her, trying to get her attention. She lifted a hand to acknowledge she’d seen him and then hurried out from around the counter to go and unlock the door.
As she got close, she saw a work truck parked right outside the store. A rack attached to the side of it held a large panel of glass that looked about the same size as the plywood board attached to her shop front.
“Don’t tell me that’s for me,” she said as the door opened.
“Are you Lilly Vickers, and is this The Dragon’s Treasure?” the man asked, glancing at his clipboard and then back up at the sign above the door.
“But…how?” she asked, astonished at the speed with which the glass had arrived. “That’s so fast!”
“No idea,” the man said with a shrug. “They just send me out to do the work.”
She smiled. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I’m not complaining, I just expected it to be a week. Two days is…unbelievable.”
The man frowned, looking at the pane and then at her. “Yeah, to get it out here that quickly is pretty unlikely. You must have someone pulling some strings rather high up.”
“I guess,” she said, suddenly distracted.
Had, would be more like it. She’d had someone helping her.
Two days. That’s how long it had been since Trent had taken off, leaving her in the parking lot to wonder what was so urgent. She’d seen the fear on his face before he left, but there’d been no time for her to say anything. No time for him to explain.
Now, she was wondering if she’d ever hear from him again. What had he been racing toward? Who had needed him so badly, so urgently, that he’d changed in the middle of a parking lot like that?
Those questions and a million more filled her mind constantly. They hadn’t let up either, keeping her awake, preventing her from sleeping much. Lilly was a mess without Trent. She needed to know that he was okay, but she had no way of contacting him.
Or do I?
“Um, ma’am?” the worker said, clearing his throat, interrupting her mindless thoughts.
“Oh, sorry.” She backed away from the door letting him in. “Do you need anything from me?”
“Just your signature to start,” the man said, handing the clipboard to her and pointing at a line.
Lilly scribbled her mark and handed it back to him. He grunted a thanks, and another worker emerged from the van. Leaving them to it, Lilly walked outside, feeling the need for some fresh air at the moment. The last thing she wanted was to be cooped up inside.
Was it something I did?
The thought didn’t seem to line up with the way Trent had departed, but she still couldn’t shake the idea either. Why else would he not have returned?
He wouldn’t have left his phone if that were the case, she thought, chiding herself for the self-doubts. Something had happened to Trent. That was what made the most sense.
It had to be something dragon related. To the best of her knowledge, nothing else would have sent him off like that after a single phone call. What she was unable to figure out was what, and the question was driving her up the wall.
It was also revealing to her just how little she knew about Trent and about dragons. What did they do? How did they live their lives up on the mountain? What was their daily life like? Why were they here in Five Peaks? She had a mental list a dozen pages long of questions she wanted to ask and things she needed to know about him and his kind.
He says we’re to be together, but how can we be together when I barely know a thing about him?
“Opening soon?”
Lilly turned. “Hey, Rodney,” she said, nodding her head in greeting at the owner of the convenience store next to her shop. “Soon, I hope, yes. How are you?”
“Oh, I’m fine,” he said. “The renovations upstairs are driving me insane, but otherwise it’s life as usual.”
Lilly smiled. She knew the apartments weren’t managed by Rodney but by their landlord. So, he probably had no idea that the ‘renovations’ had been brought about because of Trent and his team’s strike at a bunch of criminals that had apparently been hiding out there.
It seemed best if she kept that information to herself. Rodney already worked hard enough to make his store successful. She didn’t need to add any stress or worry about the upstairs neighbors to that.
“How are your repairs?” he asked. “I thought you fixed everything from before already? I haven’t seen you to ask what happened with the window.”
“This one is new,” she said. “One of those Church of the Anti-Wyrm crazies decided to chuck a rock through it.”
“Bunch of nutjobs,” Rodney said with an angry wave of his hand at the air. “They need to get a life.”
Lilly laughed, appreciative of his support.
“Yeah, tell me about it. They really do have a hate-on for the dragons, don’t they?”
Rodney shrugged. “It was only natural, I think. After they revealed themselves, Five Peaks was bound to get flooded with people of all sorts.”
“Those tent cities sure are something, aren’t they?” she said quietly, glancing to the west.
“They’re only going to get worse,” Rodney said quietly. “The grocery stores are ordering overtime. So am I. Business is great, but we’re too small a town. We can’t support thousands more people living in tents out there. Even the RV campers are going to start putting a strain on things soon.”
Lilly grimaced. She’d been so preoccupied with setting up her store, she hadn’t stopped to think about the conditions on the outside of town. So far, the sheriff’s department, along with some government organizations, had been keeping people from setting up camp inside town, but that only limited where they slept.
Every morning, Five Peaks was flooded with people desperately clamoring to see a dragon, to talk to one, touch one. To get a picture. It was insane the demand, and the dragons had made themselves scarce.
Which meant that the populace of Five Peaks, the people who had lived there before the announcement, were getting annoyed with the dragons for bringing all the attention down on them and then bailing.
Combine that with the darker elements, those who did not like the dragons, who wanted them gone, and it was, as Rodney was pointing out, a powder keg waiting to be lit.
“The dragons are good people,” she said, defending them even in Trent’s absence.
“Never said they weren’t,” Rodney agreed. “But the only thing that’s going to get a handle on this is if they come out of hiding and help deal with the crowds. Maybe a few of them go to a big city, one that can handle this, and do some public appearances there or something.”
“In a big city, it would be ten times worse,” she countered. “Far more people able to come by without needing tents to stay.”
