by Sophie Stern
All I can do is sit and wait.
I get a grand tour of the clan’s town, which is lovely and wonderful, and then Henrietta returns home to put Daisy to bed for the night. There’s no way I’ll be able to sleep or even to relax, so I choose to wait on Wilson’s front porch.
It’s stupid, but I can’t stand the idea of being anywhere else but here.
I need to be here when they get back.
“Rough night, huh?” A soft voice says.
“You have no idea.” I don’t look up.
“Oh, I do,” a woman says, stepping out of the shadows. She comes over and motions to the step where I’m sitting. “Mind if I join you?”
“By all means. I’m Peggy.”
“Natalie.”
“You have someone out there, don’t you?”
“My friends,” she says.
“Why didn’t you go?” I ask. “No offense. I’m not trying to be rude. I had to stay because I’m not a dragon.”
“I’m not, either,” she says gently.
“What?” I look at her sharply. A human living in a dragon clan? “Are you mated to a dragon?”
“No,” she chuckles, shaking her head. “I’m adopted.”
“By dragons?”
“Yep.”
“Wow.”
“You can say that again. I guess I had kind of a weird childhood. For a human, you know.”
“I didn’t realize dragons adopted outside of their clan,” I tell her. I suppose I just didn’t really think about it. It makes sense, of course, but the thought never really crossed my mind.
“Fablestone Clan members are giving and caring,” Natalie tells me gently. “They’ll do anything to help the people they love.”
“I can tell.”
“You’re Cameron’s mate, aren’t you?”
I pull my hair back and lean my head back so Natalie can see the mark on my neck. She examines it silently for a minute and then smiles.
“I thought so. Congratulations.”
“Thanks.”
We’re silent for a long time after that. Neither one of us really has anything to say. What is there to say?
“I hope no one dies tonight”?
“I hope they all come back”?
“I hope this isn’t a suicide mission”?
So we wait in silence and we hope for the best.
Eventually, despite our best efforts, sleep claims us, and Natalie and I pass out in front of the clan leader’s office in the darkness of the night.
*
“Wake up.”
Natalie shakes me and I sit up quickly. Instantly, I grab my head.
“Bad decision, bad decision,” I murmur as my head starts to throb.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “But they’re back, Peggy. They’re back.”
Instantly, I’m alert. I jump to my feet and rub my eyes, trying to get rid of that last little bit of grogginess.
And then I see them.
I see him.
And I run.
Cameron is walking alongside a woman: someone I recognize. Ellie. He found her. He found her, and he brought her back, and everything is going to be okay. The group of dragons is walking toward Natalie and me. The rest of the clan, the people who were left behind during the attack, are coming out in droves. Word got around quickly that they returned, and within minutes, a huge crowd has gathered with Cameron, Ellie, Wilson, and the rest of the fighters at the center of it.
And then I notice that something is wrong.
Someone is missing.
“David?” I whisper before I can stop myself, and Ellie instantly locks eyes with me. I see her tear-stained face, and I realize that despite her best efforts, she lost her husband. Her mate. The one who cared for her more than anything.
“Human,” she whispers, and she comes to me. She doesn’t run. She walks slowly, with a limp, and I know the scientists hurt her deeply, but she comes to me, anyway. Then she wraps her arms around me. “You kept your oath.”
“Of course I kept your oath,” I whisper. “Daisy is safe with your mother.”
“You warned my clan,” she says. “You got them to launch a rescue mission.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say I got them to launch it,” I tell her. “Cameron and Wilson arranged all of that, but I did get Daisy here.”
“You kept my oath,” she repeats, and then a smile spreads on her face as she pushes back my hair, revealing my mating mark. “And you took another one, I see.”
A blush spreads over my face and I nod quietly.
“Who’s the lucky dragon?”
“Yours truly,” Cameron says, stepping forward. He wraps his arms around me and Ellie and for a long time, he just holds us. All around us, dragons begin to touch and hug one another. They begin to reunite, but then Wilson steps forward and calls out.
“Someone go for Henrietta,” he says. “We have wounded shifters here and we need a doctor.”
“Wounded?” I ask, looking behind Wilson. That’s when I notice that the shifters brought back cages with people in them. They look like humans, but they’re not. They’re not human at all. They’re shifters who have been captured, tortured, and experimented on. They’re shifters who could be sick and who are definitely hurt.
“We need to get them out of these cages,” Wilson says. “And into the clinic.” He jerks his head in the direction of the building. It’s close to where we’re standing now, and instantly, everyone begins to move. Even Ellie, with her limp, and Natalie, with her human strength, move to begin helping the shifters.
I hear Henrietta’s voice before I see her. Instantly, she jumps into action and begins directing people. Someone starts breaking the locks on the cages, careful not to hurt the shifters inside, and then Henrietta begins guiding us as to where each person should go.
“My mom was a nurse,” I tell her, jumping into action. “How can I help?”
Henrietta looks me up and down and then a grin spreads on her face.
“You’re going to do just fine here, human. You’re going to do just fine.”
Chapter Sixteen
Cameron
Despite our best efforts, we lost a dragon.
We lost David.
We lost my brother-in-law.
I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself for that. He sacrificed himself for me and that’s something I can never repay. No matter how long I live, I will never forget what he did for me, and I’ll never stop regretting that we didn’t get to him sooner.
If we had gone as soon as he went missing, we may have stood a chance at saving him.
This might not be true.
It might just be wishful thinking.
Still, I have to fight the urge to scream at Wilson that we should have moved sooner, earlier. I know being a clan leader isn’t the easiest job in the world, but if we had gone full dragon the second he went missing, we could have rescued him. I know it.
“Hey,” Peggy comes over to me. She’s covered in sweat, but she looks beautiful to me. “I think everyone is stabilized for now. Your mother said we should go home.”
I glance around the room at all of the shifters we saved. A dozen men and woman lay in beds now. Most of them are makeshift because a veterinary clinic doesn’t usually have beds. People ran home and hauled cots and couches and futons, and now the clinic looks like a mish-mashed teen hangout.
“They’re going to be okay,” she tells me. “We aren’t sure what’s wrong with everyone. A couple of them appear to be sick, but your mom is certain we’ll be able to get whatever it is under control quickly.”
“Good,” I tell her. Ellie is already home with Daisy. As soon as she got a splint for her leg, she was sent home to rest. I hope she’s actually asleep, but I also know that’s not going to happen. No, I get the feeling that Ellie has many sleepless nights ahead of her.
Peggy and I turn to go, and as we walk away, a sense of dread covers me.
“We’re going to Ellie’s, right?” Peggy asks
sweetly, and it’s one of the things I admire about her. It’s only our second day as a mated couple, but she’s not concerned about getting alone time or making love. She just wants to help my sister.
“Yeah,” I manage to choke out. “She’s at my mother’s house with Daisy and my dad.”
“Then let’s go.”
Peggy slips her hand in mine and we walk toward the house. We’re silent on the walk, both running through the events of the day.
We received word that Thunderstorm destroyed the Lucky facility they knew about. Like the one we found, there were close to a dozen injured and ill shifters. We don’t know what they were doing, but we do know that neither one of the buildings we destroyed were the primary headquarters for the organization.
Why do I say that?
Each building only had four employees. Thunderstorm sent a dragon a few hours ago who explained the situation was almost exactly the same as ours. Four employees, 12 captive shifters, and little security aside from a couple of guns.
What the fuck are you planning, Lucky?
If I didn’t know better, I’d say these little buildings are decoys, traps. I’d say they’re planning something bigger and we’re not out of the woods yet. We need to watch our backs because something darker and more dangerous is coming our way.
We need to be ready.
When we reach my mother’s house, Peggy turns to me.
“Cameron,” she starts.
“It’s okay,” I tell her. “You don’t have to say anything.”
“David is dead.” She shakes her head. “If I had gotten to you sooner…”
“It would have been the same,” I tell her. “He died saving me, Peggy. He didn’t die because they hurt him or because they tortured him. He died because he was watching over me.”
“I’m so sorry,” she says, and I notice that tears are streaming down her face. “I can’t believe this happened. I can’t believe we were too late. I mean, I know it was a long shot, but I guess I was hoping it would be this magical ending where everyone got back okay.”
“Peggy,” I whisper, and I pull her into my arms. “There isn’t always a happy ending, love, and that’s all right. Sometimes, the best we can do is just give it our all. We all did our very best and we lost David.”
“Cameron, I’m scared.”
“Why?”
“There are more of these groups, aren’t there?”
I don’t want to tell her there are. I don’t want my mate to live in fear. I don’t want her to be scared. I can’t lie to her, though. We aren’t through the darkness yet. We still have a long way to go.
She’s my mate, though.
I can’t lie to her.
I know that no matter what happens next, Peggy is going to be by my side. She’s strong and determined, and brave as fuck. She’s not going to back down just because she’s afraid. No, that’s not Peggy. Peggy is the girl who’s going to look death in the face and then she’ll spit at him.
“There are more,” I tell her. “Thunderstorm destroyed the other facility. It was almost identical to the one we attacked.”
“So when Ellie said they were coming?” Peggy asks.
“She said that when she first broke into the facility to save David and Daisy, she saw a memo about Fablestone. It was just written on a piece of paper, but they had notes that made her think they’d found her base. They spotted her with Daisy before she could finish reading the memo. She ran, escaping, and that’s how she found you.”
Peggy shivers. “What happened next?”
“They caught her shortly after she gave you Daisy and returned her to the facility. They didn’t speak to her or any of the other shifters, but the scientists did administer medication that made shifting impossible.”
Peggy shakes her head. “Seriously? Those fuckers.” Then she pauses. “Even though we lost him, I’m glad Ellie got to see David again, one last time.”
“Me too,” I tell her.
It’s no consolation.
Not really.
But I’m glad my brother in law got to see his beautiful wife before he lost everything.
Chapter Seventeen
Peggy
One.
One second is all I need.
One second is all I’m asking for.
One second and my entire world can change.
That’s all it took for David to make the choice to save Cameron.
That’s all it took for me to decide to kick Cameron and steal Daisy at the stone tower.
That’s all it took for Cameron to save me from the wolf.
One second.
One second can change your future.
I’m snuggled on Henrietta’s couch between Ellie and Cameron. Daisy is asleep in the play pen and Mocha and Frappe are curled up in front of the fireplace. Henrietta and Luther, Cameron’s father, are asleep upstairs.
And the world is quiet.
“What’s going to happen next?” I ask. I hate to break the silence, but not knowing is killing me. Will there be a ceremony for David? Will he be honored by his clan? Surely he will. Surely there’s some sort of dragon way of honoring the passing of a loved one.
“We’ll make funeral arrangements in the morning,” Ellie whispers. “We brought back David’s body. He’ll be buried with the clan. He would have wanted that.” She sniffles, and I reach for her. I can’t imagine the pain she’s feeling right now, the loss. This is the kind of pain she’ll carry the rest of her life. There’s no way to minimize the fact that today, she lost her mate, and she’ll be raising her daughter without him.
She won’t be on her own, though.
We’ll all be there for her every step of the way.
David might be gone, but his daughter? She’s going to be so loved. She’s going to be taken care of. She’s going to be protected by all of us.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her.
“Don’t be,” Ellie squeezes my hand. Then she runs her fingers over the scar she left when she bit me. It doesn’t hurt anymore. “You kept your promise, Peggy, and you saved my baby. I can never repay you for that.” I look down at the place where she’s touching me and I think of that day not so long ago. I swore an oath, and I never imagined that doing so would mean I’d end up here.
I was just an ordinary janitor, happy to do my work and go home to paint, and now?
Now I’m a dragon’s mate.
A lot can change in a week.
“What happens to the scar?” I ask, suddenly curious.
“What do you mean?” Cameron glances at it.
“I mean, the scar from my oath. Will it be here forever?”
“Yes,” Ellie says. “As a reminder. It’ll fade, like a normal scar, but you’ll always have it, and everyone who sees it will know you took a dragon’s oath and kept it. That says a lot about your character, Peggy. Not everyone would have kept their promise.”
“What if I hadn’t kept it?” I don’t know how dragon magic works. Will the scar have turned black or something like that?
Cameron and Ellie exchange looks, but neither one of them speaks for a long time. Suddenly, I feel uneasy as I wonder what they’re keeping from me. There’s so much I don’t know about the dragons, so much I have left to discover.
“Come on, guys. What’s the big deal? I kept the oath, so you can tell me what would have happened if I didn’t.”
“A dragon’s oath is tied to your essence,” Ellie says.
“So, what? Breaking it would have destroyed who I am? Would it have killed me?”
“You won’t die from breaking an oath,” Cameron says. “But a dragon’s oath is a very serious thing. Breaking one means you’ll slowly go insane. The longer it takes for you to fulfill your oath, the more crazy and distraught you’ll become until eventually, the only thing you’ll be able to think about is the oath itself.”
“You didn’t tell me any of that,” I say sharply to Ellie. “What if I hadn’t kept the oath? I didn’t know what would happen.”
I glare at my new sister-in-law. “You probably should have warned me, to be honest. It would have been nice to know what I was getting into.”
She chuckles, and then she gives me a little hug.
“Peggy, I should have warned you, but I figured that if I explained everything to you, you’d freak out and wouldn’t keep your promise. It’s kind of a lot of pressure. Besides, I didn’t have a lot of time. There were two evil scientists hunting me, remember?”
I think of the two people who showed up on my porch, and I shiver.
“I remember.”
We sit in silence for a long time then, just watching the kittens sleep in front of the fire. Life at Fablestone is going to be different from anything I’ve ever experienced. It’s going to be scary sometimes, but it’s also going to be incredible. It’s going to be strange, but it’s also going to be wonderful. Right now, I’m happy to take the good with the bad when it comes to my new life.
Next week, Cameron and I will fly back and get my belongings from my little cabin. I’ll tell my landlord I’m moving and pay my break-lease fee, and then I’ll officially be a resident of Fablestone. I’ll be part of the dragon clan for the rest of my life, and I don’t know if there’s anything better I could have wished for.
I don’t know what’s going to happen next.
I don’t know if we’ll be able to defeat Lucky.
I don’t know how things are going to turn out, but I do know that with Cameron by my side, the future is bright, and somehow, I think everything is going to be just fine.
Epilogue
Peggy
Three Weeks Later
The smell of muffins wakes me from my slumber, and I roll noiselessly out of bed and pad quietly down the stairs. Still, no matter how quiet I am, he always seems to know I’m coming. I sneak into the kitchen and for a minute, I just look at him. His back is to me and he’s not wearing a fucking thing.
The view of his backside is completely unbeatable. I don’t know if all shifters are this damn fit, but I’m not going to complain about mine. He’s hard and edgy and toned. Sculpted. I like it. I like everything about him.
