The Dragon's Lover

by Emilia Hartley

  “Not all of the kids survived. They were just children, shifter or not, and that made them easy to kill. I don’t know what the scientists wanted to happen, but with the kids that survived, things started to happen. The kids weren’t the same as they were when the experiments started. Dragon kids that should have had air affinities were leaving trails of smoke everywhere they went, as if they never stopped burning even in human form.

  “Worse, I think Mother Nature caught on to what was happening. I think she realized that the dragons being created through the experiments were unnatural. There weren’t storms, but there were other natural accidents. Scientists would return to claim a tree fell on one of the kids or another had drowned. I don’t know how they managed to get into those circumstances. I didn’t think they’d let the kids out of their sight long enough for that to happen.

  “Then, I saw it happen with my own eyes. I caught a glance at the file. The dragon child was half witchborn and half Chinese fire dragon. Whatever they’d done to the boy had left cracks that burned like magma across his skin. When I was being dragged to the surgery theater, I watched a vat of water, probably meant for one of those isolation tanks, reach out and pull the boy in. The room filled with steam and no one knew what was going on until the dragon kid was dead.”

  Quinn’s stomach tightened. Why hadn’t Isaac mentioned that he was like them? Why didn’t he say that he’d been a captive, too? Then, Quinn thought back. He had been furious when Kenji spoke about his family’s suffering. Of course, Isaac had suffered, too.

  “Why did they treat the kids differently? I mean, why make a child into something new when you want to see the whole species wiped out as it is?”

  Ken rubbed his face with his hands. When he pulled them away, there were dark circles under his eyes that hadn’t been there before. Quinn reached out and rested her hand over his. She was still there for him. She wouldn’t let him walk through these dark memories on his own. It was her fault that he even had to go there.

  “Of course, no one told me anything. It wasn’t like they would divulge all their secrets like a villain while they cut me open to see how my lungs work, but I had eyes. I watched everything happening around me. The adult dragons were things to be taken apart to them. The scientists wanted to see how we worked on every level. The kids…. I think the kids were the beginning of GOE creating their own army. They treated the kids like family, earned their trust and forced respect.”

  Quinn’s stomach churned. “Do you think Isaac still works for GOE, then?”

  She didn’t want to imagine the floppy haired dragon as a double agent. It made her chest ache and a feeling of betrayal surge through her. She couldn’t tell who the betrayal was acting for. Was she afraid he’d betray them? Or, was she afraid that she was betraying Isaac with her thoughts?

  She shook her head to dislodge the cacophony of thoughts and emotions to focus on Ken’s story.

  “No. The Avila twins and the storm dragon were the beginning of Dane’s family. If he was a double agent, he’s been in it for the long run. That could be a possibility, but the way he acts, the loyalty he shows Dane and the Avila twins is too real. He loves them.”

  Quinn’s inner storm quieted. Hearing Ken’s opinion made her happy. She couldn’t have said why, but she was content to leave the thought alone for the time being.

  “I need to find Ruby and Casper,” Quinn whispered into the room. There was little furniture in the big space to catch the sounds so they bounced back at her like accusations.

  Ken stiffened in his seat. His fingers tightened on the arms of the chair. Quinn pulled her hand away and met Ken’s eyes with a challenging gaze.

  “I promised Ruby she would be safe here,” Quinn spoke through clenched teeth. “I promised her I would protect her and Casper and now they’re gone. Casper just escaped the facilities.”

  “You’re only human. What do you plan on doing? Waltzing in and opening their cell doors?”

  His words rang true, but that didn’t mean she would cower beneath its truth. Instead, she sat up straighter. There was nothing that she would let stand in her way. She’d made a promise to Ruby and Casper and that had to mean something.

  Unable to contain the energy now coursing through her limbs, Quinn stood. She needed to do something. Ken’s words of challenge had ignited something inside of her. Kenji stood, his hand extended as if to stop her, but she didn’t give him the time. Quinn was out the door before he could touch her.

  Kenji was only one small part of the council. The rest of them were still in the bigger house. Taking the steps two at a time, she stormed into the finished house. The council members mingled in the dining room. The two Territory dragons were still there. Quinn could feel Isaac’s presence like the sun shining on her skin, leaving behind warm tingles as she fought not to look directly at him. Her words were for the council, not him.

  Here she stood, all eyes moving toward her, the lonely human in the room. Not even the human mates were here. She found that her words caught in her throat for a moment. Pulling and dragging, she brought them back up to the surface, bringing with them all the emotions she’d felt before she stormed into a room full of dragons. All of the drive she’d felt hit her like a truck.

  “Why aren’t we looking for Ruby and Casper?”

  Hector Avila’s jaw tightened. Beside him, an older, female dragon studied Quinn. The woman’s hair had turned gray long before Quinn met her. This dragon looked as if she’d always been old, but her eyes were clear and sharp. They sent daggers through Quinn that made her shift uncomfortably from foot to foot.

  “Do we look like we have the man power to take on GOE agents willing to slip into our home and steal us?”

  Quinn’s lips pressed together to keep the scorching words inside of her from coming to light. She wanted nothing more than to tear this woman down. “We have some able bodies who could at least try.”

  The old dragon shook her head again. “We’ve gone through too much. We’ve exposed ourselves and reaped the price. It is safer for the family as a whole to move again.”

  Quinn wanted to scream with frustration. How could they betray their own like that? This was just as much her family as it was theirs and all she wanted was to help.

  “Fine,” Quin bit out. “I’ll go help them on my own.”

  She spun on her heel with every intention of leaving, but found herself met with a solid force. Looking up, Ken gave her an apologetic smile before his hands rose to clamp around her arms.

  “We need to protect who is left and that means you, too,” Hector’s voice said, softly. “If you are going to act with recklessness, then we will have to take measure to ensure your safety.”

  “No,” her voice was weaker than she wanted it to be. The wind had been taken from her sails in mere moments. All she could think of was Ruby. She could see the small dragon woman’s sweet face when she closed her eyes.

  Behind her, Hector must have relayed a silent message because Ken moved to wrap his arm around Quinn’s shoulders and began to lead her away. Quinn threw one last look back at the council, but her eyes met someone else’s.

  Isaac looked pained. He looked as though he was straining to stay where he stood. She gave him a small smile before she was led from the room.

  ***

  Watching Kenji lead Quinn out of the room after she was dismissed for caring about her family was destroying Isaac. He wanted to leap across the room and tear Kenji’s hands away from her. He wanted to take her wherever she wished, on whatever mission she had in mind.

  Reining in his impulses, Isaac managed to stay where he stood. She was not his mate. She was Kenji’s mate and that meant he could not touch her. Still, her words had rung true, but the council of dragons that led this family seemed willing to ignore her pleas. All she wanted was to help their dragons.

  It occurred to Isaac that this family was afraid. They were afraid to take on GOE after that display of power. This family had thought themselves safe and hidden, b
ut it turned out GOE knew where they’d been all along. The storm had only been a convenient moment to strike. Isaac had created the perfect moment to strike. Guilt swelled in his stomach and took his breath away for a moment.

  Isaac did not blame them for being reluctant to return to the places they’d been. He wouldn’t wish that on anyone, but that also meant helping their family stay out of the facilities as well. Beside him, Dane looked about to combust. The leader had the familiar tendrils of violet smoke drifting from his nostrils that gave away his anger.

  What would Dane have done in this situation? Dane’s mate, Liana would have stormed the facility and taken their dragons back with fire and force. Dane could have used his breath weapon to put an entire facility of agents to sleep and crept inside to get his dragons back.

  Here, they sat back and let their own be taken from their very home. That wasn’t right. Something needed to be done. If they weren’t willing to risk their necks for their own… well, then someone else had to.

  Isaac slipped out the door and followed the scent trail that led to a bobbing head of blonde hair, the green and blue streaks glimmering in the sun. All around them, the world had been torn apart. Trees had been uprooted and fell to the ground like dead soldiers. Houses, at least the shells, were charred black from the strikes of lightning that hammered the settlement. It seemed as though nothing had been spared.

  It was like this with every storm, Isaac thought. Often, if he found a strong one coming close to the Territory, he would fly and lure it away. He hadn’t been thinking when he came here. If he’d been smarter about this, he would have led the storm in another direction before the meeting. If he’d been smarter, none of this would have happened.

  “Quinn, wait up.”

  She paused, her hair flying over her shoulders as she looked back at him. Her eyes were burning with fury and defiance. All Isaac wanted to do was take her into his arms and kiss the fire away. But, she was mated to another dragon. He couldn’t touch her.

  What he could do was offer help.

  Her eyebrows shot skyward when he told her. Her mouth formed a small O of surprise right before her gaze swept over the world around them. It was like she wasn’t seeing the landscape. Instead, Isaac thought there might be some calculation going on behind those eyes.

  “I can get in touch with some of my contacts. Maybe one of them might know where the closest active facility is. I don’t know what I’ll do when I get there, but I do know that something needs to be done.”

  “Whatever you need from me, I can do. What’s happening isn’t right.”

  Quinn looked up at him, her eyes inspecting his face while she spared a moment to think. It drove him wild, that gaze. It prickled across his skin like she was seeing through it. He wondered what she saw when she looked at him. Did she see the awkward nerd that everyone assumed him to be? Or, did she see a dragon trying to create himself from everything that was taken away from him?

  “How about this? You help me get Ruby and Casper away from GOE and I’ll work on getting information about your past. Sound like a deal?”

  His heart stopped. The world tilted and turned upside down. All Isaac could do was hold his hands up. She didn’t have to do that. He was only offering to help with computer issues and tech. He didn’t need that in return.

  But, he wanted it. He didn’t realize this before, but the need for it gripped his stomach like a fist closed around it. He was steps away from the knowledge of his past. He was only inches away from finding blood of his own. It was a tantalizing thought.

  “Quinn!” A male voice shouted into the air. Isaac glanced back to find Kenji quickly approaching them. The male dragon was racing toward them as fast as he could manage. “Don’t you dare do anything reckless!”

  Quinn peered around Isaac’s large body. She pressed her lips together before looking up and meeting Isaac’s eyes. “Trust me?”

  He hesitated. Could he? Should he? These questions didn’t matter because he already knew the answer. He did. She saw him answer his own questions and wasted no time in grabbing him by the arm. She tugged him away with a strength that Isaac hadn’t been expecting.

  They rounded a corner, Isaac stumbling behind her, and a driveway with a motorcycle came into view. There were leaves and branches sticking out of every crack and crevice of the vehicle. Isaac ran his fingers over the scratches in the black paint, Quinn cringing when she saw him. Before he could say anything, she tossed a helmet at him.

  “Put that over that mass of hair on the top of your head if it will fit. We need to get out of here before someone grabs me.”

  “Grabs you?” Isaac felt a fury rise in him when he thought about someone dragging her away.

  She shrugged before clipping her helmet into place and throwing her leg over the bike. “Let’s say I’m known for doing stupid things without thinking. If we stay much longer, Hector will have Kenji lock me in a room to keep me from hurting myself.”

  Isaac clenched the helmet between his hands. “I won’t let you get hurt.”

  She flipped her visor up and looked back over her shoulder. Isaac knew she could see the truth of his words in his eyes. He wished he knew why this woman turned him inside out so easily. More importantly, he wanted to know why she ran from her mate so quickly. The two of them seemed to feel quite differently.

  “You going to get on?”

  Without another word, Isaac threw the helmet onto his head, not sparing the time to buckle it, and sat himself behind her on the bike. The engine roared to life and growled beneath him like a dragon. It rumbled as Quinn backed them out of the drive. Isaac looked back to find Kenji frowning while he ran for them.

  Quinn hit the gas and they lurched forward. Together, they slid into a breakneck speed and zoomed around the wet corners with an ease Isaac hadn’t expected. Behind them, Kenji could have easily changed shape and caught up to them. Her mate could have used his form to pluck her small bike off the road and take them back.

  The world was still sideways, literally and figuratively, for Isaac. There didn’t seem to be time to process anything while he watched the world become a blur around him. The wind caught his helmet and it flew up and away.

  He’d offered to help and he would do whatever he had to in order to get the dragons back. The storm had been his fault. He needed to fix this. If not for the family, then for the woman sitting between his legs.

  Chapter Four

  Quinn often acted quickly, but each action was always carefully calculated before she made the leap. The only thing she hadn’t taken the time to figure out was the man behind her on the motorcycle. This dragon man with no memories of his past could be one of the experimental children from the GOE facilities. He could easily be a double agent, the reason they lost Ruby and Casper in the first place.

  Instinct told Quinn that he was an honest man. She was leaning toward trusting her instinct. It hadn’t led her astray yet.

  After a couple hours of driving, Quinn needed to stop and refuel. They found a small group of buildings off the highway, a trucker’s paradise with a gas station, a motel, and a bar all in the same strip mall. If no one followed them from the settlement, then they could bunker down here for the night while she sought out her contacts.

  Isaac stumbled off the bike when she parked it in front of the gas station. It made a giggle rise through her. Apparently, he wasn’t used to riding a motorcycle. It made sense. Why ride a bike when you could form wings that would carry you through the skies?

  “Want to grab a room?” Quinn nodded toward the motel next door to the gas station while she reached for the gas nozzle.

  He looked between her and the building with reluctance. Something about it struck her as familiar. It wasn’t until he finally walked away that she recognized the look. It was strikingly similar to the one that her aunt’s mate gave her aunt. It was the look that said he would never stray too far from her.

  “Shit,” she breathed.

  It looked like she’d given up a
false mate only to find her real mate. This time, she thought back, it seemed that perhaps her heart was in it for the long run. Quinn found herself watching Isaac leave, her eyes sinking to watch the muscles of his butt flex and admired the view. This man had pulled her in from the beginning.

  Now, he was willing to run away from both of their families to do the right thing. This was a man she thought she might be able to love. Doubt snuck in, a stabbing feeling in her mind. What if love was only a fleeting feeling? What if she fell out of love with him, too?

  ***

  Isaac’s phone vibrated in his pocket. When he pulled it out, he found ten missed calls and easily quadruple that number in missed messages. Dane was clearly not happy with the decision Isaac had made. It’d been a last-minute decision to do the right thing. That was all he could tell his leader.

  When he held it to his ear, the words that Dane greeted him with were not what he was expecting. “Let me know when you get the missing dragons back. If they want, I’m willing to open the Territory to them.”

  “Wait, you’re giving me permission?” Isaac’s stomach flipped in excitement.

  “The council here is driving me mad. Dragons don’t function with councils because no one can agree on the same thing. Nothing is getting done here. Hector is mad that Kenji didn’t stop the human woman. The old woman is mad that they haven’t started packing up yet. Another council leader is freaking out over the human woman’s disappearance.”

  “Tell them all she’s fine,” Isaac told his leader. “This one is more than capable of taking care of herself.”

  Dane laughed on the other end. “I don’t think the world gives any women enough credit. They could destroy us all if they really wanted to.”