by R. E. Butler
Looking down, he picked up a thick tree branch and whipped it toward the something. It hit, and a winged-man, like the one who had been tossed into the tree appeared out of thin air. The man grunted when the branch impacted his head, and he fell to the ground. The sunshine and clear sky disappeared, and Wyked and Hanai shouted in surprise. Three winged men with swords tried to get past Georgette, who stood in front of the house, her body glittering with blue lightning.
She shouted in a strange language and lightning hit the ground, knocking down one of the men.
“I’ll get them. You see if Treasure needs help,” Hanai said.
Wyked nodded and melted back into the woods, running around to the back of the house. He saw another winged man, and he cracked his neck and called for his beast, wanting the enhanced strength and speed that being a shifter gave him. He could shift and attack, but then he wouldn’t be able to talk, and Treasure might be scared or hurt. Silent and swift, Wyked moved behind the man who was trying to break down the back door. He put his hand on the man’s head and shoved his face into the wooden door. There was a squishy, cracking sound as the man’s nose broke and he was knocked unconscious. Wyked pulled him to the side and peered into the house through a window.
“Treasure? Are you okay? It’s me, Wyked. You’re friends with my wife, Jilly?”
He couldn’t see anything, but he could feel a presence, and he wondered if Georgette was using a cloaking spell on Treasure. A winged man moved into the room, his head moving from side to side. He slashed his sword suddenly, and there was a scream of pain, and Treasure appeared, clutching her bleeding arm. Her wings stretched out and she backed away from the man. Tears slipped over her cheeks.
Turning to the door, Wyked looked to see if there was a lock he could pick, but the lock on the old-fashioned doorknob had been covered with a metal plate. Calling for his beast once more, he backed up a few steps and hurled himself shoulder-first into the door. The door was so solid it felt like he was hitting a brick wall. He moved to the window and pounded his fist on the glass, and then he looked on the ground for something to throw at the glass to break it.
Treasure screamed. “No! Go away!”
Her wings beat wildly, and she bent over, clutching her stomach and crying. And then she changed. From one moment to the next, the girl disappeared, and a pink-and-blue-scaled dragon appeared. She roared and a clicking sound was followed by a stream of fire that shot out toward the winged man. He screamed as his clothing caught fire, but his scream was cut off when Treasure leaped on him, grabbing his neck between her jaws and squeezing until his spine cracked. The man went limp, and she lifted her head and roared angrily.
Wyked couldn’t find a rock big enough to break the glass, so he pulled off his shirt and wrapped it around his hand to protect his skin.
“I’m going to break the glass, Treasure,” he said in warning. He smashed his fist through the glass. Then he carefully extracted his hand, unwound the shirt, and reached into the hole and found the interior lock on the door. Unlocking it, he pulled his hand out and opened the door.
Treasure was roughly the size of a full-grown horse in her shift. Iridescent pink and blue scales covered her skin, the same colors as her wings when she was in human form. Her wings were tucked against her back, and she sat on her haunches with her tail tucked around her clawed feet.
“I hope you heard me before when I said that you’re friends with my wife, Jilly. That makes you and me friends, right?”
She tilted her head and regarded him with eyes that were so bright blue they looked electrified. Then she nodded slowly.
Letting out a relieved sigh, Wyked said, “Can you shift back?”
She rose into the air suddenly, her wings flapping as she lifted from the floor and then she spun in a circle and changed forms. Once she shifted, she lowered herself to the floor. Her eyes still glowed, but tears now tracked down her cheeks. Wyked saw a quilt draped over the back of a chair and gave it to her. Her wings disappeared into her back, and she wrapped the blanket around herself.
“Your aunt is up front with my uncle. Let’s go see what’s going on. Are you injured?”
She didn’t say anything, simply shook her head. The injury to her arm was entirely healed, which Wyked suspected happened because of her shifting, which could accelerate natural healing abilities.
They moved through the house, and he unlocked the front door.
Treasure screamed, “No!” She raced to where Hanai knelt on the ground holding Georgette.
“What happened?” Wyked asked as he knelt next to him. Treasure dropped to her knees, covering Georgette with her body. She sobbed loudly, clutching at the woman’s clothing.
Hanai said, “We thought all the guys were dead, but one of them came at me out of the woods, and Georgette knocked me out of the way. He ran her through with his sword. I killed him, but it was too late.”
Wyked counted six dead fae outside, and one inside the house. “They look like soldiers.”
“I think they are. The fae realm has an army.”
“Did they come for Treasure?”
Hanai shrugged and scrubbed the tears from his cheeks.
“Auntie,” Treasure said with a trembling voice. “No. Please. Don’t leave me.”
“I’m really sorry,” Hanai said. “She was a wonderful lady.”
Wyked pulled his cell from his pocket and called Fate. “Bring Jilly.”
He could hear Jilly ask, “Is everyone okay?”
“Hanai, Treasure, and I are fine,” Wyked said. “Come in the SUV.”
He ended the call and looked at Georgette. She wore a peaceful expression, her eyes closed as if she were only sleeping, but he knew she wasn’t.
“What are we going to do?” he murmured to Hanai.
“I don’t fucking know.”
Chapter 9
Jilly saw the ruined house, and her worst fears clawed inside her mind, but she pushed them aside, knowing that Wyked and Hanai were fine. When Fate stopped the SUV, she got out and saw Treasure wrapped up in a quilt, laying across Georgette.
Wyked looked at Jilly and held out his hand. She wasted no time joining them. He scooted away from Treasure so that Jilly could sit between them. Resting her arm lightly over the girl’s shoulders, she looked at Hanai.
“What happened?”
Hanai shook his head sadly. “I don’t know. When we got here, Georgette was fighting the soldiers. I believe one of the soldiers was making the storm to prevent anyone from outside of the immediate area from seeing what was really going on.”
“What were they doing?” Fate asked.
Treasure straightened. Her voice was rough with emotion when she spoke. “I was inside, and she was in the garden getting ready for your visit. Then she ran into the house and said that she saw a portal opening. She said that despite the protections she’d cast around me and the house, that someone in the fae realm had found us. She locked me in the house and stood out in the front when the soldiers came, and she told them that there was no one here but her, but they didn’t believe her. The storm started and they attacked, and one of them broke into the house through a bedroom window.”
She shivered hard, and Jilly drew her into a hug. “Oh sweetie, I’m so sorry. Are you hurt?”
She sniffled and brushed at fresh tears. “I shifted so I healed.” She blinked blue eyes at Jilly that were luminous with tears. “Why did she have to die?”
Hanai said, “The universe has a plan for all of us, little one. I don’t know why your aunt was taken from you, but she died saving your life. I know she only wanted you to be safe.”
“Where will I go?”
Jilly’s heart both swelled and broke at the same time as emotions rushed through her. She looked at Wyked and Fate, and they both seemed to understand what she was thinking without her having to say a word. They nodded, and Jilly looked back at Treasure and said, “You’ll come home with us. Obviously, this isn’t a safe place for you anymore.”
&nbs
p; “What should we do with the bodies?” Wyked asked with a low voice.
Treasure rose to her feet and clutched the quilt around her tightly. “They have to be burned. If you’ll carry them into the house, I’ll shift and set it on fire.”
“We can bury your aunt,” Hanai said.
“Actually,” Fate said, “if someone comes looking for the soldiers, it would probably be better if it appears that they died in a fire.”
Treasure nodded.
Jilly said, “Let’s go pack a bag for you. Then we can go home.”
She led the girl past the bodies and into the house. She followed her down the hall to her bedroom, which was decorated in the same shades of pink and blue as her dragon scales. Jilly opened the closet and found an overnight bag with a picture of a cartoon fairy on it, and she set it on the bed. Treasure stayed wrapped up in the quilt because she was going to shift once more, so Jilly set aside a pair of leggings and a tunic and tucked them into the bag with her shoes. Treasure wasn’t talking, and she was moving slowly, which made Jilly wonder if she were going into shock.
“Here, sit down before you fall down,” she said, guiding Treasure to the bed. “I’ll grab your things.”
She filled the bag with the undergarments and pajamas from the dresser, and took the clothes off hangers and folded them neatly in the bag.
“You don’t have a lot of clothes in the closet, is there a laundry room where you have more things?”
“I didn’t bring much from the fae realm when I came here. Georgette wanted to take me shopping, but she was afraid that if we left the house too much we might be discovered.”
Jilly folded a soft purple cardigan. “I’m so sorry that you were going through all this. It must have been scary and confusing.”
Treasure rubbed her arms as if she were chilled. “I want to have a home. I’ve lost everything.”
“You’re alive, sweetie,” Jilly said, joining her on the bed. “That’s what matters. You can always start over and move on, but the important thing is that you’re safe now, and my family will keep you that way.”
What Jilly didn’t say was that she had no idea how the soldiers had found them in the first place, and she didn’t really know if there was a safe place anywhere. But in Ashland, with the lion pride, was as safe a place as Jilly had ever known.
“I feel like we were meant to meet. Destiny must have known that you’d need someone to help you, and that’s why we had our dreams.”
Treasure gave a ghost of a smile. “I followed you in the dream. I should follow you now, too.”
Jilly kissed the top of her head and gave her an extra squeeze. “Good call.”
After Treasure picked up a worn teddy bear, Jilly put the bag over her shoulder and left the bedroom with her.
“Wait, Auntie had trimmings for you,” Treasure said. “And we should take her books. She’d want us both to have them.”
Jilly nodded and found another bag in a hall closet, which she opened and set on the floor next to the bookshelf where Georgette kept her books. Treasure found the bag of trimmings that Georgette had made and labeled, and then she pulled the healing books off the shelf. She lifted a large leather-bound book and hugged it. “This is my family’s recipe book.”
“You should definitely keep that. I have an aunt who is a really wonderful cook. I’m positive she’d love to help you make things. I’ll tell you all about Ashland and my mountain lion pride on the way there.”
“Your mates aren’t what you are, though?” she asked.
“No, they’re black panthers, and so is Hanai. How did you know?”
She shrugged. “They smell different than you. You smell like the woods, but they smell more like the deep forest. It’s kind of the same but also not.”
“I understand.”
Hanai carried Georgette’s body into the kitchen and laid her on the table. Treasure started to cry again, and then she disappeared out into the garden. She returned with two bouquets of flowers and plants, which she laid around Georgette. She tucked a stem of lavender into her hands that were settled on her chest. “This was her favorite flower and herb. Purple was her favorite color.”
“Would you like to take her locket?”
“Yes, please. It was my mother’s.”
Hanai undid the locket, and Jilly tucked it into the bag. She and Hanai stood off to the side and waited while Treasure said her tearful goodbye.
“I’m going to use my dragon fire to burn the house so no one will come looking for me. Thank you for protecting me. I miss you.” Turning, Treasure said, “I’m ready.”
Jilly and Hanai walked outside with her, stepping past the soldiers’ bodies that lay in the front room. Jilly inhaled a deep breath of fresh air and walked to her mates. Wyked took the bag from her and hugged her. Fate joined them, sandwiching her between them.
“I’m so glad you’re both here,” she said.
“We wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” Fate murmured.
They moved away toward the trees and Hanai joined them. Treasure faced the house, dropped the quilt, and changed. Jilly couldn’t believe how fast and effortless the change had happened. Jilly had always thought dragons would have scales that mimicked the colors of nature, like green or brown. But Treasure had scales like a peacock, made of bright blues and pinks, just like the wings she’d seen.
Treasure rose into the air and opened her mouth, her sharp teeth gleaming in the sunlight. A clicking sound echoed for a heartbeat before fire streamed from her mouth. The house erupted in flames so quickly that Jilly took a step back as the air heated. Treasure moved around the house, blowing her flames at the foundation on every side, and then at the roof. She hovered over the roof, incinerating the shingles. Jilly saw through the windows as Treasure burned her aunt’s body separately. The flames stopped, and Treasure hovered over the burning house. Then lifted her head and let loose a mournful cry.
Returning to them, Treasure shifted back to her fae form, her wings lowering her to the ground, and then they disappeared into her back. She fell to her hands and knees with a sob.
Jilly rushed to her side and grabbed the quilt, covering her. “It’s okay, sweetie. We’ll stay here until you’re ready to go.”
“Thank you.”
Hanai, Fate, and Wyked stood nearby, giving the girls privacy. As the house burned, Jilly sweltered in the heat. To her surprise, no smoke rose into the sky, and the fire didn’t spread.
She asked Treasure about it.
“Dragon fire goes where the dragon tells it to,” she said. Releasing a deep sigh, she said, “I’m ready to go.”
Jilly helped her put on the locket, which contained a picture of her aunt and mother embracing. Then she dressed in the leggings, tunic, and shoes Jilly had packed for her. Treasure climbed into the third row of the SUV, covered up with the quilt, and promptly fell asleep. As Hanai drove away from the house, Jilly looked back at the girl.
She felt a familiarity with her that she couldn’t explain. She was certain that their paths were meant to cross, but she didn’t believe Treasure was meant to join the clan and travel with them. A curious idea passed through her mind. An image of her favorite childless aunt and uncle surfaced in her thoughts.
“I want to talk to Rhett and Lisa when we get home.”
“What are you thinking about, kitten?” Wyked asked.
“I think the reason I was meant to find Treasure is because she’s family. Or she’s going to be.”
Fate kissed her cheek with a chuckle. “You’re the sweetest female on the planet.”
She turned around and leaned her head on Wyked’s shoulder and drew Fate’s hand into her lap. “I don’t want to dwell on how sad things turned out, because if we hadn’t been here, Treasure might have died or been captured, or who knows what those soldiers wanted. We were in the right place at the right time to help someone who needed it.”
“Timing is everything,” Hanai said.
Jilly agreed. If it weren’t for good ti
ming, she might never have met her mates or returned to her family. And Treasure might have died at the hands of fae soldiers. Good things could come from bad, like a phoenix rising out of the ashes. Jilly would make sure that Treasure knew she always had a friend in her, no matter the distance that separated them.
But she felt sure the young dragon would find a new home for herself in Ashland.
Chapter 10
When they reached the clan’s campground, Fate breathed out a sigh of relief. Calling the day stressful wasn’t quite an accurate description. In between moments of terror and confusion, they’d lost someone who meant a great deal to Hanai and Jilly, and they brought home an orphaned dragonfae. Treasure had woken up shortly before they arrived in Ashland, and although they’d all attempted to talk to her, she hadn’t been interested in conversation.
Not that he blamed her.
Even though Jilly had been sure to explain that Treasure wasn’t going to be alone, it was clear the girl was worried about her future.
He’d texted his parents about the sad events so the clan would be prepared to welcome Treasure and not question her about her story. When he’d realized that Treasure was all that was left of her family, Fate had expected Jilly to want to bring her home with them and join the clan. She’d mentioned her childless Aunt Lisa and Uncle Rhett, and it had been clear to him that she hoped the couple would want to take in Treasure.
He would be surprised if they didn’t. But success would hinge on whether Treasure wanted to be with them or not. If she didn’t, then she’d stay with the clan. Whatever the outcome, he was glad they were home and safe.
He pushed the button to slide the second-row seat forward and offered Treasure his hand. She looked at him blankly for a moment and then put her hand in his so he could help her from the vehicle. A door creaked, and he heard his parents come out.
