Cade (Alexander Shifter Brothers Book 2)

by Selina Coffey

  “You’ll laugh, you really will. That or send me away.” Hannah said with a laugh but growing serious, thinking about how to word what was happening. “I’ve been dreaming about Mum a lot. She’s the one that told me to go to Germany. I’d never even heard of Furth im Wald until I started dreaming about her. So I looked it up, it’s famous for dragons apparently. I dismissed it but I keep having the dream over and over, every night so I finally gave in.”

  “Ah, right, I see why you’re rushing off then. A bit creepy but it seems that either your dear old Mum or your brain is telling you to go. Just make sure you call me every day!” Annie looked at Hannah sternly, but her face brightened as she cracked a smile. “How are you getting there? Do you want me to drive you down?”

  “That would be great actually. I was just going to take the train but that takes ages doesn’t it? Thank you so much and thank you for supporting me! I really do appreciate it!” Hannah smiled at her friend. For the first time she was starting to feel nervous about her decision. Some friends of Annie’s came in and Hannah drifted into her own quiet world, imagining scenarios of what might happen when she got to Germany, wondering if there’d be pitchforks and burning torches in her future. Dismissing the thought, Hannah reminded herself Germany no longer lived in the Dark Ages. They didn’t burn witches anymore.

  Hannah’s flight went well and she checked into her room without any problems. She loved the town, combining old world and new to create a unique culture that Hannah adored. She took a quick nap before heading out to explore, only to wake up panting because, yet again, her mum had been in the dream. This time, she’d been telling Hannah to go to the Dragon’s Inn.

  “Great,” she said to herself, “at least Mum’s saying something different now I suppose.”

  Hannah had spent most of the flight asking herself just exactly what she was doing. Losing her mind she suspected, but she’d resolved to pay attention to what was going on in her dreams since they’d brought her here. Going down to the front desk she asked if anybody knew how to get to the Dragon’s Inn. One of the girl’s there looked a bit confused that Hannah had asked for directions, but gave her what she asked for.

  Dismissing the odd looks, Hannah left the hotel and went out in search of the place that she at least knew existed. Taking her time, she wandered the streets she’d been directed to go down and finally reached her destination. She understood the looks now; it was the German equivalent of a biker bar in America. Shiny chrome and black motorcycles lined the front, loud music seemed to roll out of the inside and loud voices seemed to be roaring over each other.

  Hannah looked down at the white linen dress she had on, the sandals that were serviceable for walking but still pretty and wondered, once again, if she’d lost her mind. She wasn’t really going to go in there? Hannah pulled her shoulders back, took a deep breath and thought that this is where her mother wanted her to go; she must have a reason for it. Taking one more breath Hannah tucked her handbag against her side and walked in. Everybody in the place went quiet, staring at her. Lovely, one of those places.

  Chapter Two

  Staring back, Hannah saw denim and black leather everywhere her gaze fell. Even the chairs were covered in denim and black leather. The tables were all painted black with the yellow head of a dragon stylized in the middle. Biting her lip, looking momentarily terrified and a second away from fleeing, Hannah heard a voice calling her name and looked over at the bar.

  Two blonde gods stood there, beckoning her to them with a smile. At this point Hannah had fled to Germany in an attempt to appease either her brain or her dead mother; she still wasn’t sure which she believed. She as in a biker bar in a strange country and now two of the most gorgeous men she’d ever seen in her life were calling her name, wanting her attention. Either the whole thing was completely implausible or she was dreaming. She didn’t feel as though she was dreaming, she was starting to believe her mother really was haunting her. To hell with it, maybe there was a perfectly reasonable explanation as to how these two men knew who she was! Perfectly reasonable, she assured herself.

  Plastering a smile on her face, steeling herself once more, Hannah walked over to the two men that were apparently the barmen. She sat down on a black leather covered stool, feeling almost guilty for sitting on the yellow dragon head and smiled at the men. Looking at them expectantly, waiting on the explanation, Hannah was shocked when they spoke.

  “You’ve made it then, great. We can get started.” A man with jade green eyes spoke in a tone that implied she’d understand what he was on about.

  “She looks a bit confused Nathan, perhaps she doesn’t know what’s going on?” this man had eyes that were such a light shade of brown they were almost yellow. Those eyes were smiling at Hannah, asking for her trust without speaking the words. For some reason, she wanted to give him whatever he asked for.

  The men spoke in barely accented English, conversing easily with Hannah. If she could make her tongue work, that was. She kept staring at them: they were tall, sexy, muscular gods. Both appeared to be in their early 30s, more than likely, with killer smiles stretching their faces. The only similarities were their style of clothing and the tattoos their arms were covered with. Intricate patterns that made no real sense unless you followed the lines, an image beginning to form, but their black t-shirts covered most of the shape. Hannah wanted to find out what was beneath those shirts and not just to see the tattoos. Nathan apparently hid nipple rings under his t-shirt from what she could see of the outlines there. He also had a darker shade of blonde hair than the other one did.

  Slowly, after some staring, Hannah realized the yellow eyed man had called the green eyed man Nathan and reality exploded in her brain. Now, why did she suspect the other’s name was going to be Luther? A sense of doom had Hannah tensing in her seat: her life was so far out of control right now. She thought it might be best to go check herself into hospital. Panic evident in her eyes, on her face and in the rapid pace of her breathing, Hannah was on the verge of bolting out of the door again when the other one placed his hand over hers and made soothing sounds to her. Instantly she calmed, a sense of peace encircling her the way his large hand encircled her tiny one.

  “You have a pianist’s hands, Hannah, do you play?” he asked, kindness in his eyes.

  “Yes, yes I do. How do you know my name? How do you two know me?” she asked; bewilderment evident in her voice. She was calm but she still felt lost, confused, and totally out of place.

  “We have a story to tell you. I suspect you already know my name but I will introduce myself to you anyway, because I don’t believe you’ve been told anything about us except that you needed to find us. I am Luther Harman; my over-eager friend here is Nathan Carles.” Luther paused to gesture to his friend, who was staring at Hannah with a severe case of “I want to eat you whole” coming loud and clear from his body language. Instead of being repulsed however, Hannah felt a stirring response within her own body, a “bring it on” wanting to escape from her lips. Clamping down on that feeling she turned her attention back to Luther. That didn’t really help when she could see the same attraction there, only his version had been clamped down on and was being throttled into submission.

  The longer she was with these two, the stranger her thoughts were. She seemed to be noticing things she’d have never noticed before. She could almost, she thought, hear what they were thinking. Almost. An image of herself, bent over the bar, naked and writhing with an image of Luther’s hands on her hips, flashed into her brain and Hannah gasped, covering her face. She knew it was Luther by the swirling tattoo that snaked up the outside portion of his left hand.

  “Sorry about that it slipped through, I guess.” Luther looked guilty but then made his face blank, closing his eyes as he visibly took back control of his brain.

  “Okay, somebody has to explain this to me and they have to start explaining now!” Hannah exclaimed, starting to become angry rather than panicked. Something strange was happening, she wa
sn’t actually going crazy and these two had the answers. She wanted those answers and she wanted them now. Apparently her glare wasn’t as intimidating as she thought because Luther just smiled at her and Nathan somehow looked hungrier. Raising her left eyebrow she stared at Nathan. He backed down.

  “Oh, wow”, she thought, “That worked!”

  She squinted at him and she could have giggled when his head went down, looking up at her with pitiful puppy dog eyes. Thrilled with what had just occurred, she looked over at Luther and remembered what she was here for. Answers, not obedience training. Right. Back to it then.

  “So what do you know?” she asked Luther.

  “Let me get someone in here to take over the bar and we can talk in our office, alright? Won’t be a second.” Turning back to Nathan, she looked him over again. She wondered what those nipple rings did for him? Picturing him thrusting beneath her as she tugged on them brought a dreamy smile to her face. Moving her eyes to meet his, she noticed he looked to be in a lot of pain.

  “You have to stop thinking like that if you want me to control myself, Hannah.” He rasped out. It sent shivers down her spine, but at the same time his words made her eyes widen.

  “How did you know what I was thinking?” she said as she leaned over the bar towards him, wanting to pull him to her for privacy’s sake.

  He stepped away, dodging her question for the moment as well. Luther came back just then, saving him from giving an answer. Before she could glare at Nathan again he practically ran back to the office Luther had indicated, as a woman with long purple hair came over to take their place. Looking the woman over, Hannah thought the woman was rather fit, but Luther pulled her along with him to the back of the office.

  “Down girl! Talk first, play later. Maybe,” he told her, his hand wrapped over hers. It sent shivers up her arm, straight to somewhere she’d rather not think about at the moment. Giggling, she followed him.

  “Alright, what’s happening to me? Somebody has got to explain this. I’m far too serious most days to be sat around giggling like a teenager. What’s going on?” she asked the men seated on a couch across from her. Luther had led her to a chair so she could face them but not be between them. She’d thought it was so she would feel more comfortable but looking at them she wondered. They looked nervous, tense even.

  “Do you know anything about dragonkin? Did your parents ever tell you anything or leave anything behind, in the case of your father?” Nathan asked her, looking calmer now there was some distance between them.

  “No, my father died when he was 28, almost the same age as me now. He died on his birthday, in fact. I’ve never known much about his family, mum simply wouldn’t talk about him. What are dragonkin?” she asked them, looking from one to the other questioningly.

  “Oh, this is going to be much more difficult then. Tell me, how did you arrive here?” Luther queried.

  “Honestly, insanity would have to be the word for it. My mother passed away not long ago and from that first day she’s been haunting me. Well, my dreams at least. At first all she would say to me in the dream was ‘Furth im Wald’, then, just before I came she told me I had to find Nathan Luther. Night after night I was having these dreams. I thought it was just my brain but here you are, Nathan and Luther, not Nathan Luther. You’re in Furth im Wald, just as she told me. And there is some really strange shit taking place here, we’re reading each other’s minds aren’t we?”

  Luther looked at her with some sympathy, knowing what he was going to tell her next wasn’t going to be easy for her to take.

  “Right, so you don’t know anything. Nathan and I are dragonkin. We can turn into dragons, at will. We share a bond with you, as we have with all of your father’s line. We’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. We’ve been watching your grow up since the day he died. You are the last of your family line. We either break the curse with you or it goes on to any children you may produce.”

  Hannah’s response was far from eloquent. “Huh?”

  Pulling their shirts over their heads the men revealed that the tattoos that snaked around their arms. Nathan’s left and Luther’s right, were parts of the tail of a very large, elaborate dragon tattoo. The body ran across their backs, down below their belts, but the head was on their chest. Everything on the dragons looked like normal ink and skin but the detail was fine, the scales of each creature picked out with extraordinary skill. The eyes of each dragon were what really caught her attention. They glowed. They were the same colour as their wearer’s eyes, almost like real eyes, but not quite. The dragons seemed to slither and move beneath each man’s skin, only an impression but somehow she knew those tattoos were really the dragons within each man. Hannah almost knocked her chair over in her attempt to flee the room but Nathan caught her.

  “We aren’t here to hurt you, Hannah; we’re here to protect you. I swear we will not hurt you!” Nathan attempted to calm her but his touch only made her senses swim, the panic increasing inside of her. She slumped; Nathan caught her before she hit the floor.

  “Well, that’s just great Luther, you made her faint. I hope you’re happy with yourself!” Nathan placed Hannah gently on the couch, pushing her hair out of her face. “I think we’re going to have to do this a little differently than we’d planned on. It seems her mother hid a lot of truths from her daughter. Shall we begin?”

  “This may be the only way. I just hope she doesn’t wake up freaking out even more than she already is! That’s a lot of knowledge to just wake up knowing. It hasn’t always worked out well for us in the past.” Luther looked worried but sat beside Hannah, placing her head in his lap as he folded her hands around her head.

  Nathan went to her feet, placing them in his own lap, placing his hands over them gently. Both men had an instantaneous reaction to the woman touching them, a product of their bond. Deep attraction was always a possibility with meeting one of the cursed for dragonkin. It didn’t always happen and neither had felt it as strongly as they did with Hannah. She was special, this cursed one, and they both wanted to be gentle.

  Both men started to chant words that did not sound like words, merely syllables and whispers that may have been sounds. A green glow began to surround all three of the bodies on the couch, swirling as though it were animated fog: a living being itself. The fog came from Nathan and Luther but as it swirled it drifted to Hannah’s lips, drifting between them slowly.

  Hannah’s eyes popped open, taking in a deep breath as the fog started to pour into her chest, as though it were her very life’s blood and not memories and time. The stream slowed, disappearing as it entered Hannah’s body. Her eyes closed and she seemed to peacefully go back to sleep. Nathan and Luther knew what was really happening however. She was assimilating their memories and thoughts for the last 500 years. Leaving her, Nathan and Luther went out to check on the bar. Nathan agreed to go back and stay with her. Luther would stay at the front, helping Nadia, the purple haired vixen at the bar.

  Nathan watched over her, knowing the things she was learning because they came from his own memories. The people of his past, the things he’d done, the things he’d seen and experienced. The reason her family was cursed. Nathan drifted with her, though for different reasons, reliving 500 years in less than an hour.

  Going back to his youth, when he’d been a young dragonkin. He remembered enticing the youngest princely son of the king of Bavaria to cross over to Bohemia with him, Luther coming along only to keep an eye on the pair and to hopefully keep them out of trouble. They’d spent three days carousing, burning fields and flying all over the two kingdoms, causing mayhem. Assumptions were made on both sides; the Bavarians accused the Bohemians of setting the dragons on them and kidnapping the son. The Bohemians blamed the Bavarians for the dragons’ destructive rampage and the three culprits hid, hoping it would all just blow over. That didn’t happen and there was a battle between the two kingdoms.

  The young prince, Gunther, had tried to go back home but was killed in the
battle, his body returned to his father. His Bohemian wife returned to her father, taking their young child with her. The Bavarian king cursed the family, the line that would follow with the child, for the betrayal of the Bohemians and through the generations the descendants of young Gunther met their deaths before or on their 28th birthday. Every single one died and Luther and Nathan had been attempting ever since to break the curse. They had one last chance with Hannah. If they broke the curse, they would no longer be dragons, she would not die, and they would all live a normal life. Their efforts had to work this time. Time. Time travel was a drastic step but she was the last one, their last chance. They had to succeed this time.

  Hannah broke his reverie by screaming as she sat straight up on the sofa.

  “HOLY FUCKING HELL! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” She screamed while holding her head between her hands.

  Nathan could hear Luther running to the office as he held Hannah, reassuring her that the pain would pass, that she was going to be ok. She was crying hysterically. Nathan thought that might partially be from the last few months of grief, confusion and pain, not simply a side effect of what they’d done.

  Luther slid behind her, running his hand up her dress, trying to soothe her by rubbing her back. She could hear the music coming from the bar, a thumping driving beat that soothed her instead of making her feel fractious. She let her head fall back against Luther’s shoulder, let the memories flow through her brain, feeling him breathe behind her, seeing Nathan breathing before her, slowly, in and out.

  “Let it all go, let it fall into place,” she thought. Slowly all of the information from two men came together into her brain, forming a solid idea, her neck muscles relaxed and the urge to run screaming, calmed.

  “We have to go back in time then?” She asked the men quietly.

  “Yes, the sooner the better. Your birthday’s in two weeks, isn’t it?” Luther asked behind her, his lips brushing her ear. His hands had moved to her front now, rubbing down her ribs, over her hips and back up again. Distracting, implausibly erotic, the feel of his skin against her silken skin was overly stimulating, exciting. Nathan at her feet, rubbing them, somehow sending shivers up to her spine, giving her ideas she shouldn’t be having now.