Luminous_A Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy

by Katie French

  Ki didn’t confirm or deny it. He simply continued to smirk at me.

  Greetings, Dragon Warden. His voice sounded in my head the way Santiago’s had at the beach. He inclined his head respectfully, never taking his eyes off me.

  “Where are they?” I demanded. “Where are you keeping them?”

  “You’ve jumped to two different conclusions, and they’re both incorrect. I am not one of them, and I do not know where they are. Though,” he paused and rubbed his chin, “if by ‘you are one of them’ you mean that I’m a dragon, then you’re only fifty percent wrong.”

  As he said this, one side of his face and neck rippled, switching from bronze skin to a layer of shimmering black scales that quickly turned back to normal.

  My eyes bugged.

  “We are not all in agreement with Tara Palmer,” Ki added, forcing my gaze away from his neck and back to his face.

  Maybe it was a good thing I couldn’t get my sword out, or Ki might’ve been piecing himself back together. Or at least it was what I told myself about my total lack of skill with my sword.

  “You aren’t all some sort of evil dragon army bent on destroying my town?” I pulled away from the tree, feeling my heart ease its pace a little.

  He shook his head.

  “So can you help me then? I… I don’t know what to do.”

  “You could have fooled me.” He grinned, his dark gaze traveling from the sword to the ring.

  I swallowed hard, forcing my pride down. “I don’t know what being a Dragon Warden means.”

  “The previous warden,” Ki said, “was your mother, correct?”

  I nodded, swallowing hard. It was what Tom had said.

  “And she…” He let the question hang.

  “She died when I was ten, and never told me anything about these.” I gestured toward the ring and the sword.

  Ki’s features filled with something like pity.

  “It can’t be easy,” he said, taking a step forward and offering me a hand so I could move away from the tree’s roots where I’d ended up in my retreat from the Ent.

  I hesitated. Ki looked nice enough, but I knew nothing about him. Could I trust him? Before I could figure out an answer to my question, however, another dark shape fell from the trees behind Ki.

  What the hell? Was it raining men?

  “Step away from her, Ki,” a voice that had become familiar said from the shadows.

  This time it was Santiago.

  “Let me guess,” I said in a tired tone. “You’re also a dragon.”

  Santiago didn’t answer. Instead, he stalked in Ki’s direction. Ki stepped away from me, readying for a fight.

  “What are you doing here?” Ki asked. “You’re trespassing.”

  “The warden requires my protection,” Santiago replied. “Den boundaries mean nothing compared to that.”

  “And who appointed you as her protector?” Ki asked, circling around Santiago. His nose flared, and his eyes turned an inscrutable black.

  “I did.”

  Ki frowned. “Mighty worthy of you, but I wasn’t going to hurt her.”

  “That’s not what you said the other day,” Santiago said in an insinuating tone that made my cheeks flush.

  “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  Really? This was fresh. “I’m standing right here, you idiots!” I snapped. “How about you quit with all the macho posturing and tell me what’s going on?”

  Santiago’s gaze flicked to me, then back to Ki. “Is she for real?” he asked.

  Ki shrugged and nodded.

  “Truce, then?” Santiago asked.

  “I guess,” Ki agreed. They turned to face me, looking like they were still a bit wary of each other.

  Just what I needed, a dragon pissing contest.

  “Explain yourselves,” I demanded, gathering confidence from who knew where. Even if they were acting like idiots, they could shift into creatures with razor-sharp teeth.

  “We have nothing to explain,” Ki said. “We didn’t do anything.”

  “Yeah,” Santiago nodded. “For once, I agree with him.”

  Ki sighed and rolled his eyes. “Don’t try to stand there looking so innocent. Your den has been playing a dangerous game with Deeploch. You can’t act as if you had nothing to do with it. We warned you.”

  “Deeploch?” I asked.

  “Tara Palmer’s den,” Ki said without breaking eye contact with Santiago.

  Santiago thrust his chin forward. “We are concerned for our kind and will consider any possibility for survival. But we never agreed to this. Deeploch acted on its own.”

  “Can someone start from the beginning, please?” I said between clenched teeth. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Santiago lifted his hands and backed away. “I’m not explaining anything.”

  “What are you doing here, then?” I asked, exasperated.

  “Protecting you, of course,” he said as if I were dense.

  I threw my hands up in the air. “You’re just like Tom. If you’re not going to help, then stay out of my way.” Anger built in my chest, buzzing like a beehive. “You two are wasting my time. For all I know, you and your den of savage beasts are in it together.”

  “Hey, careful with that!” Ki said, jumping away from my outstretched hand.

  I blinked and stared at my hand. Somehow, I had pulled out the sword from the scabbard. I was now holding it as if ready to shred whatever and whoever crossed my path. Where was that ability ten minutes ago?

  “That. Is. Not. A. Toy,” Santiago said very slowly. “Please, put it away.”

  Was that fear in their eyes?

  To test the theory, I took one short step forward, stomping my foot and tilting the sword into a different angle.

  Ki and Santiago jumped back, keeping a safe distance from the blade.

  Interesting. A grin spread across my face.

  “Ki,” I said, pronouncing the name like a punch to the gut.

  He startled and straightened to attention. From what I’d gathered, he and his den didn’t approve of what Tara Palmer had done, so they might be willing to help.

  “I need answers,” I said.

  Ki winced, clearly unsure of whether he could give me what I demanded.

  “Where’s my father?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” Ki answered, holding my gaze.

  I narrowed my eyes, challenging his answer, but he didn’t waver. “Okay. Then tell me… why did Tara Palmer take my classmates?”

  Ki looked away. “I don’t know.”

  “You’re lying,” I said.

  He didn’t argue, probably aware he was a terrible liar.

  “I guess you and your den are in cahoots with Deeploch, after all,” I said.

  “No, we are not,” he said, practically shouting the last word.

  “Then why are you protecting them?”

  “It’s… complicated.” His eyes darted away in apparent shame.

  Distractedly, I sheathed the sword. It went into the scabbard with one fluid motion of my arm. At some level, I recognized that was so beyond my abilities, but I was too busy interrogating Ki to give it further thought.

  “Explain it to me, then,” I said in an entreating tone. “I’m the warden, and even if I don’t know what it means, I get the sense I have to save them.” I straightened, changing tactics. “Please, I’m begging you. For my friends and my father, help me understand it.”

  Ki and Santiago exchanged a knowing glance.

  “You’re already playing your part,” Santiago said in a hushed voice.

  I clenched my fists, tired of all the cryptic answers. “You guys are useless,” I spat, turning to leave.

  “Wait!” Ki said.

  I stopped, but didn’t look back.

  “My father would be able to explain things better,” he said. “I can take you to him.”

  “No way!” Santiago protested. “You�
�re not corrupting this warden with all your nonsense.”

  I whirled and fixed an intense gaze on Santiago. “Then come along and make sure they don’t, but give me answers and give them now or I swear I will hold you responsible for whatever happens to my people.”

  Ki and Santiago swallowed thickly, making me feel more badass than I’d ever felt in my entire life, even that time I rescued a lizard from the side of the lighthouse while hanging upside down from the catwalk’s railing.

  Coming to a silent agreement, Ki and Santiago formally bowed their heads in my direction.

  “We will meet you at Dragon’s Beacon in an hour,” Santiago said.

  “Dragon’s Beacon?” I asked.

  “The lighthouse, you dummy,” Santiago said.

  Did he just call me a dummy? My mouth opened and closed, unable to throw back a proper insult to the cocky Spaniard.

  He sighed. “I don’t understand why beautiful girls are so dense sometimes,” he said, turning away and leaping to a tall branch like some sort of super monkey.

  Aggravated, I gave Ki a “what the hell?” expression, but he just shrugged and exited in Santiago’s fashion.

  I ran to the spot where he’d been standing and looked up through the heavy foliage. I couldn’t see much, but I heard the rhythmic whop, whop, whop of huge wings.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I paced beside the lighthouse, creating a rut in the sand as I waited for Ki and Santiago. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting—two giant dragons dropping out of the sky? I didn’t have neighbors, but the lighthouse and the lakefront were visible from the road and people always drove by, so maybe that wouldn’t be wise. In the past, visitors had randomly dropped in from time to time requesting a tour. When Dad was healthy and Mom was alive, they used to oblige, walking wide-eyed tourist up the staircase and letting them gaze out onto the lake. But now, that was a distant memory, as were most happy memories associated with my home. The cold, dark house behind me was one more reminder of how much I stood to lose.

  The sun had completely disappeared, and I kept fighting the urge to run up the lighthouse steps to light the wick. I knew I should do it, but what if the guys came while I was up there? No. I had to wait and do it before we left to see Ki’s dad.

  I wished those two would hurry the hell up. It left too much time to worry about what was coming. What would I be walking into? And would I be prepared? The sword still hung on my back and the ring never left my finger, but I still felt ill-equipped.

  Why hadn’t I gotten their phone numbers? Not that I could call them from out here. I’d left my cell in the house since Mercedes kept texting, and I didn’t have the head to deal with her.

  I couldn’t expend my nervous energy by taking it out on the sand, so I pulled the sword from my back and unsheathed it. I hadn’t really given it a good look since snagging it, so I took a moment now. The scabbard was old, dusty, and plain, but the sword was miraculous. Thin and sharp, the blade was engraved with markings that looked similar to elvish from Lord of the Rings. I tilted from side to side, admiring the shapes and swirls in the light. If I got the hang of this, I could handle a horde of dragons.

  Did they go by horde? Or flock? If a group of crows was a murder, was a group of dragons a holocaust?

  Wait! I think Santiago used the word den. I needed the boys to show up fast, so my brain would stop running on uselessly.

  The crunch of footsteps on the rocky shore made me whirl around. Ki and Santiago approached, wearing the same clothes as earlier, but their expressions had changed. Both looked like they’d just come from the principal’s office after getting caught setting the teacher’s lounge on fire.

  “Hey,” I said, jogging toward them. “Are we good to go?”

  Santiago ran his fingers through dark curls in an irritated way. “If by good to go you mean trying to start an international dragon war, then yes, we are good to go.”

  Ki flashed him a look before plastering on a smile for me. “Hey, Lila. How’s it going?”

  “How’s it going? Why do you two look like you’re about to drop a bomb on me?”

  Ki blew out a nervous breath and Santiago averted his eyes, which seemed to confirm my suspicions.

  “Don’t tell me you aren’t taking me to talk to your father, Ki, because I’m going.”

  “I admire your tenacity, Lila, but we are in some hot water, and we’d really appreciate it if you’d just dial it back a little,” Santiago said, taking off his glasses, rubbing them on his shirt, and placing them back on his handsome and infuriating face.

  I gave him a glower I hoped he interpreted like a middle finger and turned to Ki. “You told me you’d take me. What changed?”

  Ki shrugged. “I asked my dad if I could.”

  “Your first mistake,” Santiago mumbled. “Ask for forgiveness, not permission.”

  “Where was that advice an hour ago?” Ki said, then he turned back to me. “My father doesn’t want you to set foot on the training grounds or any dragon-created area for that matter. It could start World War III or whatever.” Ki held his hands up in a what-can-you-do gesture.

  “No. No, no, no. You promised.”

  “Actually, I don’t think anyone promised,” Santiago started.

  “I will ring you. I swear it,” I said, holding up my ringed hand.

  He shook his head like he didn’t believe me, but it still shut him up so I considered it a win.

  “Ki,” I said, turning to him. “Please. It’s my dad.”

  His face scrunched up like he was fighting an internal war. The lake breeze ruffled his dark hair, and I was struck by how handsome he was. Maybe being a dragon shifter made the person a human hottie. Maybe they were all randomly blessed with good genes. Maybe it didn’t matter because I had bigger problems.

  Ki cut his gaze to Santiago, who shrugged. “You know your dad. What will he do if we show up with her?”

  “Kill me,” Ki said resignedly.

  “Literally?” I asked.

  “Dragons stopped eating their young around the eighth century,” Santiago said. “Ki will be fine. Let’s go. Maybe Lila can make her case.”

  Santiago started trudging down the shore. Ki gave a growl and jogged to catch up. I ran after, my nervous energy renewed, the sword thumping against my back like a second heartbeat.

  When we came upon a grubby fishing boat with a rusty outboard motor, I thought it was a coincidence, but Santiago began untying it from its moorings.

  “A boat? I thought you were big, bad dragons,” I said.

  “You can’t shift, and we can’t have you riding on our backs in broad daylight.” Ki rolled his eyes.

  “I thought other humans couldn’t see dragons,” I said.

  “You could, right? When you were little?” Santiago asked, looking up from the knot he was loosening with his thin elegant fingers.

  “Well, yeah, wasn’t it because I was a future warden?”

  Ki gripped the sides of the metal boat, ready to help push it toward the lake. “Probably, but there are others who can see us. Maybe not as clearly as you, but shimmers. We need to be careful.”

  “The first rule of Dragon Club,” Santiago said, smirking, “is you don’t talk about Dragon Club.”

  Ki gave him a smile and a point for the movie reference. “We get in huge trouble if humans detect us and it gets plastered across the internet. Of course, no one believes it, but imagine if they got real proof. What our lives would be like if people knew we exist. Chains. Cages.” Ki shivered.

  “Which is where you come in,” Santiago said, gazing at her across the little boat.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “We’ll tell you on our way there.” Santiago began pushing the boat toward the shoreline. “It would go faster if you’d help.”

  Together, we launched the boat into the surf. The waves were calm as the evening began to cool. The boys insisted in me getting in once the boat was in the water. It sloshed up to their hips before Ki climbed i
n and pull-started the motor, which grumbled and let out a plume of smoke. Santiago clambered in as the engine sputtered and rattled to life.

  I sat on the front bench, Santiago in the middle, and Ki at the back, manning the rudder.

  “Where are we going?” I yelled over the noise of the engine.

  Santiago put a hand to his ear like he couldn’t hear me, then stared off toward the horizon in a way that made me want to shake him until his teeth rattled. He just didn’t want any more of my questions like everyone else.

  We rode out, the waves chopping against the hull. I’d been out on friend’s boats before, but never in one this small. There was something intimate about being this close to the water, about the spray on my cheeks as we cut into the waves. The smell of seaweed and lake water flooded my senses. And watching the lighthouse grow small gave me the feeling I was crossing another threshold.

  “Oh, shit!” I smacked my forehead with the heel of my palm.

  “What?” Ki mouthed.

  “Nothing.” I shook my head, feeling like a total idiot. I’d forgotten to ask them to give me time to light the wick. All I could hope for was that the city council didn’t notice.

  A stiff wind cut across the bow, making me shiver. I glanced back. Santiago now stood in the center of the boat, hands clasped together in a prayer-like fashion as he muttered under his breath. As he did so, a ripple of scales ran down his exposed skin. His eyes blazed a golden color.

  There was a sudden change in air pressure. The boat pitched to one side. I gripped the edges, worried Santiago would plunge into the lake, but he was as stable as an Olympic gymnast. I wanted to keep watching his incantation, but a light behind me drew my attention.

  A fog rolled out, obscuring the view on either side. In the center of the foggy distance, a blue-green light swarmed like a million fireflies clustered together.

  “We’re crossing the membrane. Prepare yourself,” Santiago shouted.

  I glanced back, realizing he had sat back down and was gripping the boat tight. Ki was also hanging on for dear life. Why were they—

  The boat lurched forward. My hands scrambled for the sides as my body tipped precariously. I gripped the hull just as the boat tilted back and began to rise.