“Okay, so what’s the plan exactly?” Enzo asked as we went out the back door instead of through the main areas of the headquarters.
“Well, there really isn’t one. We’re just seeing how things go. It’s the middle of the day, so people should be out, and there will be others you may run into that wouldn’t ever be at the academy. Just make sure not to go into any of their houses if invited.”
“And what if someone attacks?” I asked.
“Then defend yourself, obviously.” Her tone made me feel like I’d asked the world’s stupidest question.
Sure, let me just attack dragons who were fully trained in killing and seemed to hate anyone who wasn’t just like them. Yep, it sounded like a great plan and I was going to die. Super fun.
Enzo’s teeth ground together, but he actually held his tongue, which surprised the hell out of me. Maybe he saw some value in this little training exercise that I couldn’t.
When we entered the forest, JayLeigh disappeared into the trees like a damn monkey. Just grabbed on to a branch and, poof, she was gone.
“I still can’t decide if I like her or not,” I grumbled.
“You like her, or you wouldn’t still be here. She just pushes you beyond your boundaries; that’s the part you don’t like.” He grinned, and I recalled all the times he had pushed me when I first arrived at Shadow Veil.
Not one time had he ever thrown a knife at me. Apparently, I should have been more appreciative of him back then.
About ten minutes into our little adventure, we came across two guys headed in our direction. They saw us and began whispering to each other but didn’t move defensively or act like they were going to shift.
“Did you two get lost?” the blond one asked, attention mostly focused at the dagger on my thigh.
“No, JayLeigh said we could practice out in the woods, so we’re just looking for a good spot,” Enzo answered confidently.
The other one with dark hair glanced around. “Where is JayLeigh?”
Shit, that didn’t sound like an innocent question.
“Not sure. She said she’d meet up with us shortly,” Enzo replied again.
Blondie pushed the other one. “See? Told you there was nothing to worry about.”
“What would you have to be worried about?” I asked curiously.
The two shared a glance before the first one answered, “We’re supposed to be in class right now. JayLeigh is normally an attendance enforcer of sorts. We thought we were busted, but don’t worry about telling her anything. We’re headed there now. If you could just not even mention you saw us, we’ll be on our way.”
A smile formed on my face. These guys were truly afraid of JayLeigh, and it cracked me up. “I promise not to say anything, but I can’t promise she won’t see you on your way back, so I’d hurry up.”
“Damn it, bro. I told you it wasn’t worth it,” Blondie said.
“Whatever. Let’s just go before someone also sees us chatting with them.” That last bit was said with more malice than I liked, but we let it go as they continued past us.
When they were out of hearing range, I turned to Enzo. “I don’t understand it. We’re missing a huge piece to all of this. We’re all supernatural. Their hostility toward us doesn’t make any sense. Nothing about how Drakken operates makes sense, either. They’re tucked away safely in a realm that only dragons can enter. Why are they prepared for war?”
Enzo nodded. “Whatever the reason is, unfortunately, we may not figure it out before all of this is over. Or, we will learn their reasons and it will be worse than we could imagine.”
I sighed. He was right. I had a feeling we were the tipping point for something and all hell was going to rain down on us. We just didn’t know when.
We kept moving through the forest and didn’t come across anyone else directly before we made it to the boulders that housed the caves. This was the section that gave me the most pause. The dragons there were nomads. They lived by their own rules and didn’t play well with others from what I understood.
As we crept past the entrances in the rocks, my hand stayed on the hilt of my knife and I felt the tingle of a shift just beneath the surface. Not a full-on shift like we were hoping for, but enough of one that I’d have some added protection if needed.
There was still no sign of my dragon other than the heavy presence she threw my way from time to time. Never any real connection as JayLeigh had described so many times. Enzo had come up with the idea that maybe she wouldn’t come out until we were fully bonded, but all that got him was a book thrown at his head.
I had decided that we could be friends for the time being, but there would be no more sexy time until I could truly figure out what it meant to have a bond with someone, especially if they weren’t a dragon. When Enzo had mentioned my girl hadn’t come out to play because we weren’t fully bonded, it had also given me the opposite idea.
Maybe she hadn’t because we were bonded.
Enzo wasn’t a dragon, and I had inadvertently given him some of myself each time we’d had sex. Maybe he was the reason I couldn’t shift, and if I truly wanted to utilize my dragon, there was a decent chance I’d have to let Enzo go for good and figure out how to break what little bond we had already created.
I hadn’t filled him in on those possibilities, because I knew it would crush his heart. While he had broken mine, I had come to the realization that it hadn’t been with malevolent intent and I needed to let things go before it changed who I was. Holding on to the anger wasn’t good for me.
Enzo snapped his fingers in my face. “Earth to Raegan. Are you even paying attention?”
Shit, I hadn’t been at all. Glancing around, I noticed we’d walk right into a dead-end between two boulders. Well, not exactly a dead-end, but the only way to continue past was to go through a cave entrance, and there was no way in hell that was happening.
“Sorry. Let’s head back. I think this was a waste of our time, and JayLeigh is probably having too much fun laughing at us,” I said.
He nodded, and we turned back toward the forest. This time, my guard was up and I was on high alert, so when a hand suddenly reached for my wrist from behind us, I let my reflexes take over. I spun around and knocked their legs out from underneath them with a swift kick.
I was feeling pretty proud of myself until I peered down at my attacker and realized she was just a little old lady and I was officially an asshole.
“Oh, my gosh. I’m so sorry!” Kneeling down, I grabbed her hand to help her up. When I did, a unique zap of power unlike anything I’d ever felt ran through my body. The shock caused me to pause, but before I could really process it, she shook loose from my grip and laughed.
“I should have seen that coming. Old age is getting the better of my visions.” When she was on her feet again, she reached a hand to me, which I had no hesitation in taking. “I’m Ophelia, the last Dragon Seer.”
My head snapped to Enzo, and he simply shrugged his shoulders, no help at all.
“Uh, I’m Raegan, and this is Enzo.”
Her opaque eyes moved to Enzo as she took a few hobbled steps closer to him. “Yes, he who is but shouldn’t be.”
“What does that mean?” I asked as they seemed to share a moment that was freaking me the hell out.
“I’m a seer, dear. Not a fortune teller. Unless the world is ending, I don’t interfere. I only prepare those I see the best I can without changing the timelines that shouldn’t be affected. If I were to tell everything I saw, the future would never be correct, and I wouldn’t really be a seer, would I?”
Shaking my head, I tried to make sense of what she’d just said. She was talking in circles and I had a feeling she did it on purpose, and often, while getting a kick out of it.
“So, how can we help you?” I asked, assuming she had come out from her cave for a purpose.
“We can help each other. Each of us has a path to follow. All you need to do is stay on that path, even when it is crumbling, and you wi
ll succeed.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. I get that you can’t outright tell me something, but you need to make more sense.”
She eyed me carefully, and I wondered if she could actually see me. Her eyes were so clouded over, they were almost translucent. I couldn’t even make out their true color. Her skin was tanned and aged, likely from living outdoors for how many decades old she was. Her hair was bright silver, though something told me it wasn’t from age, but was her natural color even when she was younger.
“You are more than you understand. To succeed, you must let go of what you know and become what you were meant to be.” She spoke more riddles, and as glad as I was that she wasn’t trying to kill us, I was still frustrated as hell.
Even though I was certain she wouldn’t answer, I still asked, “Who am I meant to be?”
She grinned a toothless smile, then surprised me. “A dragon.”
My mouth opened to tell her I was already a dragon, but then realized, maybe I wasn’t really. I couldn’t shift into one, so what did that make me?
“You need to go. Find your path and follow it. Be prepared for obstacles and don’t avoid them or you won’t ever move forward.” She pushed us back out of the boulders. When we hesitated, she pushed harder than I would have thought possible for her slight frame. “Go. Now.”
Not needing to be told a third time, Enzo grabbed my hand, and we took off at a sprint back toward the forest. Once we were within the trees and hopefully closer to JayLeigh, we slowed down.
Neither of us spoke while we watched our surroundings, wondering if the previously mentioned obstacles were going to appear immediately, but nothing stood out.
Once I wasn’t on such a high alert, I began to toss the seer’s words around in my head, trying to make sense of them. Had I been correct in wondering if the bond with Enzo was holding me back? She said I had to give up something to become what I was meant to be, and he was the only thing I could think of that I could let go of.
“Raegan, we have company,” he whispered, and I followed his gaze.
Sure enough, there were two dragons coming our way, both already shifted with their heads down and eyes narrowed.
“Maybe they need directions?” I suggested, trying not to freak out.
“Maybe,” Enzo replied while pulling his sword from its sheath.
I did the same with my dagger and tucked in my shirt for easier access to the throwing knives. My dragon stirred as my heart rate increased, but there was still no real connection snapping into place.
The dragons stopped about fifteen feet from us. They were similarly colored in deep russets and golds, making me wonder if they were twins or at least related.
“You don’t belong here,” the one on the left snarled.
“Leave before you no longer have a choice,” the other added.
“We were just on our way out. We didn’t mean to intrude,” I replied, taking a step to the right.
“Not just the forest. You need to leave Drakken. This is your last warning. You’ve already received one, and there won’t be a third before we act.”
So, these two were working with Onyx. Great.
Glancing around, I was waiting for JayLeigh to appear, but she hadn’t made any attempts. Though, we weren’t in immediate danger, so I shouldn’t have been surprised.
“You don’t think the king would notice if you killed us?” Enzo snapped. “You’re signing your own death sentence if you lay a hand on us.”
They both snarled at Enzo’s attitude. “Don’t disrespect us.”
The one on the right brought his wing forward and swiped it at Enzo. He fell to the ground to avoid barbs at the wing points, but it had only been the distraction as the dragon’s tail quickly followed behind at a more rapid pace.
A scream ripped from my lungs as it connected with Enzo’s head and he was rendered unconscious. The only reason I didn’t lose my shit completely was because there was no blood coming from anywhere that I could see.
Without pause, I shifted as best as I was capable of and charged. My dragon was fighting to come through, but it never happened. I could feel a pressure like nothing before as I drew closer to the dragons, but it didn’t matter.
She couldn’t break through, and I was on my own until JayLeigh decided to make her appearance.
With the dagger raised, I pretended I was going to aim high, but at the last minute, I slid on the ground and sank the blade into the dragon’s underbelly.
He roared and bucked while I held on to the hilt, pulling it out just as he backed away. The dragon who had hit Enzo came charging for me, teeth exposed and ready for the kill shot.
“You drew first blood. That makes you free game,” he snarled right before grabbing my legs with his back claws that sank all the way to the bone as he tried to fly away with me.
“Not today, asshole,” JayLeigh roared from above in her dragon form. She already had Enzo in her grasp as she swung her tail around to slam the dragon above me in the head, just as he’d done to Enzo.
He promptly let me go, and when the beast stumbled back, JayLeigh grabbed me gently with her other claw and flew up through the branches.
Glancing down, I made sure we weren’t being followed before I gave way to the blood loss and passed out. My final thoughts were a jumbled mess as my eyes stayed open just long enough to wonder if Enzo was only unconscious or worse after the hit he had taken by a dragon a hundred times stronger than us.
The odds weren’t in his favor, and my heart slowly broke as the world around me disappeared.
Chapter 14
My legs were on fire. Literal freaking fire. When I opened my eyes, thinking my brain was exaggerating, I realized how very accurate my thoughts had been.
“What the hell is going on? Why are there flames covering the lower half of my body?” Panic was rising within me, and I was close to a full-on eruption until I saw Enzo’s still-unconscious form lying next to me.
In a feeble attempt to get to him, I only hurt myself worse and JayLeigh’s arms locked tight around my chest, effectively keeping me in my own bed. “He’s fine, but you’re not, so stay still unless you’d like to lose your legs.”
Her voice was firm and her hold unyielding, even when I relaxed against her. I trusted she was telling the truth and Enzo was fine, so I focused on myself as a burning sensation moved throughout my lower half.
Marek stood over me, hands hovering just above my bare legs and covered in the flames he seemed to be creating. His face was tense as he concentrated on the task in front of him, which, from the looks of it, was a pretty big one.
I hadn’t realized how bad the dragon had gotten me in the moment with adrenaline pumping through my body, but even after the healing had already begun, I could tell it was worse than I previously believed.
Gashes, several inches in diameter, covered my legs in eight different spots from all the places the dragon’s talons had sank in, made worse when JayLeigh had hit him and he’d stumbled back.
“How long have I been out of it?” I asked, then flinched when Marek’s fingers wrapped around one of the wounds.
“About an hour. I wanted to keep you under, but Marek thinks you’ll heal faster when you’re awake,” JayLeigh replied as she loosened her hold and stepped away.
“What about Enzo? Why isn’t he awake yet?”
“We kept him under. Neither of us thought he’d handle it well if he woke before you and saw your condition. He doesn’t seem like someone who would be easy to calm down, but I would have had fun doing it.” JayLeigh smirked, and I assumed it had been Marek who kept Enzo unconscious, based on her last statement.
Taking in my legs again, I took pleasure in knowing I could feel the pain radiating off them. Feeling nothing could have meant way worse, but then I frowned when I tried to move my toes and they wouldn’t cooperate. The harder I tried, the quicker I realized I couldn’t move any part of my lower body.
“What’s wrong with my legs besides
the obvious holes in them? Why can’t I move them?” I asked while checking the rest of my body, which seemed to work normally.
“The damage was pretty extensive, Raegan,” Marek finally spoke but didn’t elaborate as he moved to another gash.
“And?” I pushed for more information.
“I was able to stop the bleeding relatively easily, but now I have to repair the nerve damage. It’s more severe internally, and if I’m not careful, you won’t ever walk again, so some silence and patience would give you the best chance of my success.”
Well, alright then. DDD was on the cranky side, and I didn’t feel like being wheelchair-bound for the rest of my life, so I shut my trap and let him do his thing. JayLeigh left the room and came back with food and pillows, so I could sit up easier.
By the time we were done eating and our mess had been cleaned up, Marek stepped back from my legs, but the fire remained on them. Though, it didn’t burn nearly as much as when I had first woken.
“You’ll need to stay here for the night, and I’ll boost the healing flames every three hours or as needed. I’ve done all I can for the time being. Now, it’s up to your body to do the rest,” Marek said with a frown.
“Don’t give me hope where there isn’t any. What are the chances that my lack of feeling won’t be permanent?” I asked.
His hands rubbed over his face. “I honestly don’t know. You have a lot of magic within you, but there is nothing normal about the workings of your body.”
I harrumphed. “No shit. I guess if I was going to connect with my dragon, I would have done it when my life was literally on the line. I could sense her, but she’s blocked somehow.”
“Yes, I would have to agree,” Marek responded.
A decision settled firmly inside me at his reply. I didn’t belong in Drakken. If Enzo and I stayed, there was a better chance we’d end up dead before I figured out what was going on with my dragon.
Deadly Declaration (Shadow Veil Academy Book 2) Page 12
