Celtic Dragons

by Dee Bridgnorth

  She was ready this time, and she used one powerful wing to sweep through the air and knock the bird out of her way. It tumbled, losing its balance, and she once again breathed fire, watching in satisfaction as it crackled along the animal’s wings, causing it to writhe in pain.

  Whipping around in the open air, she batted at the second beast with her tail, thinking of legends like Babe Ruth as she swung, made contact, and watched her target go flying into the open sky. She was in her element now. They might have been able to take her on if she didn’t have the space she needed, but in the open air, she was invincible. Her throat might be bloodied and her body sore, but there was no one who could beat her and that knowledge only made her fight harder.

  Moira turned her attention to the pterodactyl she’d burned, and she found it limping through the air, its wings barely functional. She would have grinned if she could, knowing that now Darren or Vaughn—whichever it was—would be limited to creatures that could fly, severely limiting their repertoire. Almost taunting the creature, she flew closer, her wings brushing by it as she passed, then brushing by it again as she circled back. Her eyes danced when she got close, urging him. Come on. Put up a fight.

  The pterodactyl’s eyes flashed with anger, and she knew in that instant that she was fighting against Darren. Only his eyes could hold that much malice. That ended the game for Moira, because it reminded her of all of the terrible things the man had done in his life—all that he had done to Grady. Her own eyes narrowed, and she ended him then and there with one puff of fire and a blow from her wing that sent him crashing to the ground as the flames engulfed him.

  She followed his descent, landing beside him as he struggled to take a shallow breath. Even as he lay there, he tried to lash out against her, and Moira simply put her foot on his neck and pressed downward, snapping through his neck with a resounding crunch. She’d had to kill before, in the heat of a battle, and there was always guilt associated with a death, no matter how just. But as she watched the life go out of Darren, there was no guilt associated with it. He was a cruel man with no soul that she could see, and taking his life was taking evil out of the world.

  It was no different than crushing a cockroach.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Grady

  Moira was incredible to watch. Even as much as he hurt, he couldn’t help but stare at her as she flew above him in the heat of battle, awed at her every move. There was so much power and grace in the way that she moved, and for some reason, she was all his. She loved him, and he loved her more than he could ever imagine.

  When she sent the first prehistoric-looking creature to the ground in flames, he felt the same satisfaction as if he’d done it himself, and when the other prehistoric-looking creature returned, flying slowly and cautiously, he knew instinctively that he was no threat to Moira. The large bird landed on the edge of the building, his head bowed low, and Moira soon flew upward, her head reappearing. As soon as she did, the beast shifted back into Vaughn, and he held up both hands.

  “I don’t want a fight with you,” he told the dragon, standing there looking vulnerable and not just because he was naked. “I have no fight with you.”

  Moira stared at him for a moment, and then, with the compassionate heart that Grady knew she had, she nodded, lifted higher, and landed back on the roof before transitioning into her human form. “Then we have no fight,” she told Vaughn.

  “Moira …” Grady could barely move, but he reached out to her, and the moment she turned and looked at him, he was whole again. She ran toward him, and he wrapped his arms around her, their battered, aching bodies pressing together desperately. She was naked, and he tried to shield her from both the eyes of Vaughn and Felicia and the cool night air. “I love you,” he told her again and again. “I love you. You’re incredible. God, I’m so glad you’re safe.”

  “I couldn’t have done it without you,” she whispered back, kissing him between each word. “How badly are you hurt?” She looked over him instead of waiting for his answer, her pale skin growing paler. “Oh God, Grady. Look at you.”

  There were tears in her eye as she looked back at him, and he cupped her face, kissing her softly. “It’ll all heal. You’re okay. That’s all I care about.”

  From behind him, Felicia cleared her throat, holding out the long cardigan that she had been wearing when she was taken to the warehouse. Grady took it from her with a grateful look and wrapped it around Moira’s body, offering her some modesty.

  “There you go,” he whispered, kissing her softly to keep her from continuing to fret over his injuries. “Shhh. I’m fine. Everything is okay now.”

  Vaughn approached them, and Grady’s arms tightened instinctively around Moira, his narrowed gaze warning Vaughn not to take a step out of line. Under almost any circumstances, he didn’t want a naked man around Moira—other than him—but given the current conditions, he was even less happy about it.

  “You need to know that it was Darren behind all of this,” Vaughn said gruffly. “I didn’t agree with him, you know. I just needed to stay in his good graces.”

  “You compromised yourself pretty heavily to do that,” Grady pointed out, not about to forgive the man so readily. “You would have killed her.”

  “I don’t know,” Vaughn said, shaking his head. “I might have. But only for Darren. Without him, I have no fight with any of you. I …can carry her down to the ground. All of you. Then I’ll leave. You’ll never hear from me again.”

  Grady laughed. “Like I would trust you with her even between here and the ground.”

  “Fine,” Vaughn said, holding up his hands and taking a step back. “I’ll just go then. Felicia …?”

  Felicia shook her head. “No. I’m not going with you. I can’t, after everything—and the others. Where are they?”

  “They were in another room inside,” Vaughn told her. “I’m sorry, Felicia. You’re a nice kid.”

  The small blonde turned toward Grady and bit her lip. “I think you can trust him to carry you both down. He was only ever with Darren because …well, it was better than being alone.”

  “Not good enough,” Grady said, not about to budge an inch. But then he looked down at Moira, realizing that he was assuming she could get them down when maybe she was tapped out. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m fine,” she assured him, turning away to look at Vaughn. “Go on then. We’re letting you leave, so go.”

  Vaughn lifted his hands again, then jumped into the air, shifting into a robin that flew away into the night and into a nearby line of trees.

  “He didn’t deserve to get off scot-free,” Grady told Moira as she eased back from his grasp, steadying herself on her own two feet. “Anybody that easily persuaded to things like murder …”

  “Maybe not,” Moira agreed. “But I’m not going to kill someone unless I know they’re evil, and besides, what else am I going to do? Turn him into the police?” She looked out on the night sky after Vaughn. “Trust me. If he ever shows his face here again, I won’t stand for it.”

  Grady grudgingly admired her stance, appreciating that Moira had a moral code that she followed when exercising her powers. She could do what she pleased, but she checked herself based on what she knew was right. It was just one more reason to love her—one more amongst thousands.

  “I’m getting you to a hospital,” Moira said, turning to Grady. “Felicia, do you want to go as well?”

  “No,” Felicia said. “I just want to find Nina and Alex. They’re the only ones left.”

  “I’ll take you down to the ground and let you be then,” Moira said, giving the girl a slight smile as she slipped off her cardigan and gave it back to her. “Thank you for all your help.”

  Then, before Grady’s eyes—he would never get used to this, would he?—Moira transformed, her dragon form appearing once again. She scooped him up gently, and Felicia held onto one of her legs, and together, they flew off the roof and lowered gently to the ground.

  H
e was battered, bruised, and more than a little broken, but they had taken down the bad guy together and his girl was okay. That was all he needed to be perfectly content.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Moira

  “I’m glad that we got to do this,” Moira said, smiling across the café table at Abby Princeton. “I know it meant a lot to Grady that we got together, and I really enjoyed getting to know you.” She reached for the returned check, wrote in a tip, and signed her name. “You know, getting to know you when we weren’t in a sick room, taking care of Grady.”

  “I’m glad too,” Abby said, toying with her keychain as she sat in her chair, biting down on her bottom lip. “Moira—?”

  “Ah, here comes the question.” Moira put down the pen and leaned her forearms against the table, looking at Abby sympathetically. “The one you’ve been waiting this whole time to ask.”

  Abby nodded. “Yeah. He says that he can’t tell me what happened to him. That whatever you tell me is what I need to know.” She twirled a blonde piece of hair around her finger, tugging slightly before she released. “I know that your line of work…investigation—I get that it’s intense, and I admire what you do. I don’t want to be invasive. But this is my brother. My twin brother. And seeing that car blow up, then not knowing what was going on, then showing up to visit Grady in the hospital with broken ribs, a seriously messed-up leg, and a head injury …I have to know. I’ve been patient for six weeks. Is that long enough?”

  Moira felt badly for the girl, because she knew how much Abby loved her brother. They were both crazy about each other. But she and Grady had talked extensively, and Grady didn’t want to force Moira to bring more people into her secret world than she had to, and he didn’t want Abby to know too much and potentially get sucked into a dangerous situation. Their plan was that if—when—Abby asked, Moira was to avoid lying but would just tell her as little as possible, and now was the moment of truth.

  “I know you need to know,” Moira said, sitting back in her chair and watching Abby’s face. “The thing is, it’s a very dangerous and complicated situation. And I can’t reveal most of what happened. But I can tell you that a cult, of sorts, targeted your brother for his money. When he tried to hunt them down and expose them, it became personal and they basically took a hit out on him. I was trying to solve the case and keep him safe, and I became a target too. There was a …showdown of sorts. It got violent. We eliminated the leader, but there are other people still out there, and the less you know the better.”

  “Wow.”

  Moira nodded. “Yeah. And that’s the edited version. It was a bad situation. But now …though still healing …Grady is going to be just fine.”

  “I’m glad he had you,” Abby said, fiddling with a ring on her finger. “If anything happened to him, I don’t know what I would do.”

  “I won’t ever let anything happen to him.”

  “You guys are pretty serious, huh?”

  Moira smiled. She couldn’t help having that reaction whenever someone reminded her of just how good things were with her and Grady. “I love your brother very much. And he says he loves me too.”

  “I never thought he’d find that,” Abby told her, laughing a little. “He can be a lot to take sometimes. And he was married to his work. That’s why he’s so successful. You know, he never took a dime from our parents.”

  “I do know that.”

  “He’s a good man.”

  “I know that too.” Moira smiled at the woman and reached over to touch her hand lightly. Then she stood up, picking up her bag and putting it over her shoulder. “I have to get back to the office for a meeting, but I can’t wait to see your art show later this week.”

  Abby stood too, smiling back. “I’m really excited for it.” She reached out and hugged Moira. “Thanks for everything.”

  ***

  Half an hour later, Moira walked into Ronan’s office and sat down, waiting for him to end his phone call and gesturing for him not to hurry. He had been in and out of the office for the weeks that followed the shifters case, and though he had been back in town regularly for two weeks, they hadn’t gotten the chance to sit down and hash it all out yet. Moira would be lying if she said she didn’t hope that he was also going to give her some insight into what had been keeping him so busy and so often out of town, but Ronan wasn’t as forthcoming these days as he once had been. She knew there was a lot of responsibility sitting at his feet, and while she wished she could help him, the role that he had stepped into brought a certain amount of isolation along with it.

  Ronan hung up the phone, and the smile he gave her was tired around the edges. “Hi. Sorry. Just had to finish that up. I’m behind all the time these days, it seems.” He waved a hand, dismissing everything he’d just said. “How are you?”

  “I’m good,” she told him. “I’m really good, actually. And Grady is doing much better. Still sore, but we’ve got him a whole office setup at his place, and he’s loving that. I’ll be lucky if he ever goes back to the office.”

  Chuckling, Ronan leaned back in his brown leather chair, steepling his fingers together. “Good. Good. You two are still…?”

  “More than ever.”

  “Good,” he repeated. “What about the shifters? Do we have an update on them?”

  Moira crossed her legs, getting more comfortable in the hardback chair she was sitting in. Ronan’s office was so formal. She loved it because it was so him, but it wasn’t the most comfortable place she’d ever been in. “Between Eamon and Siobhan’s research and what we learned from Felicia, we have a pretty good handle on who they were. They’re humans who are born as shifters when one or both parents is carrying a very latent gene. They’re rare, but there are a growing number of them in the world. Unfortunately, what often happens is that they’re born to parents who have no idea they’re carrying this incredible rare gene, and the parents have no idea what to do with a child like that. A lot of them die very young, either from shifting-related accidents or …”

  “Or because of their parents.”

  “It’s more common in countries other than the U.S., but yes.”

  Ronan nodded. “So this group of shifters found each other, and Darren was their leader. But you said they weren’t loyal to him.”

  “It was more out of fear than anything else,” Moira said. “I’ve talked to Felicia, our informant, a few times since, and she found her friends, Nina and Alex. They were the only ones alive at the end. The three of them left Boston a few weeks ago, and they’re sticking together.”

  “Do you think they pose a threat?”

  “Not at all,” Moira said firmly. “They were bullied into things because of Darren.” She shook her head, almost shuddering at the memory of that man. “He was pure evil, Ronan. When you looked into his eyes, there was no soul there.”

  “Then the world is better off without him,” Ronan said, leaning forward, resting his arms against the desk. “What about the other one? The one who left at the end—who was helping Darren.”

  Moira sighed, uncrossing and re-crossing her legs as she shifted again in her seat. “Vaughn. I don’t know. He was Darren’s ally—willingly. But I don’t think he would have been that way without Darren. I have to hope he wouldn’t, because he’s out there somewhere. Doing something. I don’t know anything about him, so I couldn’t even begin to track him down.”

  “We’ll keep him on the books as someone that we keep an eye and ear out for,” Ronan said, standing up and pushing his chair up against his desk. He walked around the large, dark piece of furniture and sat down in the armchair next to her. “I’m proud of how you handled the case, Moira. This was a really dangerous situation, and you ended up not having any backup. The other guys didn’t know where to find you, and you knew that. You were on your own, and you were awesome.”

  Moira smiled, reaching out and patting his arm. “Thanks,” she said seriously. Then she smirked. “I know.”

  Ronan chuckled, but then he grew
serious. “Listen, I know that everyone has a lot of questions about where I’ve been lately, and I don’t blame you. I can’t tell you much yet. I can only say that I’ve been working to figure out how to keep the Dragon Clan alive by researching breeding. I’m convinced that you finding Grady and Kean finding Dhara isn’t a coincidence. Fate has prolonged the Dragon Clan long past its intended lifespan, and I think it’s happening again. We’re going to figure out a way to breed outside of ourselves, but it’s not going to be an easy path.”

  “It doesn’t have to be easy,” she told him. “Just possible. I know I couldn’t be with anyone other than Grady, Ronan. I know it more than I know anything. That feeling alone tells me that you’re going to accomplish what you’re doing.”

  He smiled, squeezing her hand where it rested on his arm. “How’s your dad taking all of this?”

  Moira winced. “He’s still angry. He didn’t speak to me for weeks, but we’re trying to work through things. It’s a process.”

  “And your mom?”

  “She’s more open to it,” Moira said. “But she’s not happy either. It’s hard, I guess, for the older generation to understand why we think the rules don’t apply to us.”

  “If the rules worked, we would follow them,” Ronan said firmly. “But there comes a time for innovation, and nobody knows that better than our ancestors. They were the ones who innovated a way to turn a curse into a destiny, and we’re all here because of it.”

  Moira smiled. “Preaching to the choir.”

  “So I am,” Ronan agreed, patting her hand and standing up. “All right. Go home. Get out of my hair. Go see your wounded boyfriend. This is supposed to be your day off after all.”