Dragon's Breath (Fablestone Clan Book 2)

by Sophie Stern

  “I heard about the guy you were lookin’ for,” he says.

  “Yeah?” I mutter. “Heard you couldn’t find him, so what’s it matter?”

  “Well, I…”

  I stop.

  There’s no fucking way.

  “Ted?” I turn around. “Did you find where Donald lives?”

  “I, um…” He digs his toe in the dirt and rocks, as if he’s embarrassed about what he’s going to tell me. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I do hold my breath. Is there a chance he knows more than he’s let on?

  “I just told my gran that, you know, because she…well, she doesn’t like strangers and she certainly doesn’t like…” he gulps. “Dragons.”

  “Ted,” I step forward slowly. I don’t want to spook him. “It’s very important to me that I find this man. Donald. His family is in trouble.” I take a deep breath. “My family is in trouble, too. He’s the only one who can help us. He’s the very best at what he does.”

  He was fresh out of medical school when my brother died, but what most people don’t know about Donald is that he went to medical school in a country where illnesses like this were prevalent. He worked with people who cured some of the most infectious diseases in the world. His entire time at school was spent with the most brilliant minds in the fucking world. If anyone can stop this, it’s Donald.

  He just needs someone to believe in him.

  He just needs someone to bring him back.

  “He…he made me promise,” Ted says.

  “Made you promise what?”

  “I did find him,” Ted says. “Followed him. Saw him change. I saw who he is for real, but then he saw me. He snatched me up and carried me to the top of the mountain.”

  I roll my eyes. “Let me guess. He made you promise never to tell anyone about the things you saw.”

  Dragons have a flair for the dramatic.

  “Yes,” he says, his eyes wide, and I wonder how long Ted has been keeping this secret. “I think you believe me,” he seems shocked. “I didn’t think anyone would ever believe me.”

  “Can you point me in the direction of his secret lair?” I ask, rubbing my forehead. Suddenly, I have a terrible headache coming on.

  “I shouldn’t,” Ted says slowly.

  “Listen up, Ted.”

  I don’t look at him.

  I can’t.

  I’m too pissed off and tired and angry.

  My dad might die and this is taking forever.

  Longer than it should have.

  “I’m going to count to three, and then you’re going to tell me where to fucking go to find this asshole. He fucking owes me. I don’t know if you’ve ever dealt with a woman on a mission. You’re young, and you seem sweet, so I’m guessing you haven’t and today is going to be a learning experience for you. You’re going to tell me, though. That’s not up for discussion.”

  “I-“

  “One.”

  “Look, I really wish I could help you, but…”

  “Two.”

  I look up at him.

  “Three.”

  Ted points, and I look at the little path that leads away from the main mountain pass. The path is almost completely overtaken by shrubbery and brush. I never would have seen it without him.

  “How far down the path?”

  “Half an hour,” Ted says. “Then take a right at the broken tree.”

  “And then?”

  “And then just go up,” Ted says. “He lives somewhere around there. I…it’s up there.”

  “Thank you, Ted.”

  He stares at me.

  “You can go now.”

  He takes off running, and I sigh. I really didn’t mean to be a huge bitch to the kid. I shouldn’t have been so harsh with him, but I’m tired and I’m sad and I’m desperate, and I’m getting nervous about these clouds. It’s just early afternoon and already, the sky is getting dark. The last thing I want is to be caught in the rain or – even worse – the snow.

  I take a deep breath and start walking. Carefully, I step over rocks and push past tree branches. I move as quickly as I possibly can. The fact that Ted could be sending me on a wild goose chase doesn’t even matter. I don’t think he is. I think he’s being honest, and I think this is my last chance.

  My last hurrah.

  Donald has to know what this illness is. He has to know how to cure it. Maybe there’s a plant or a pill or something none of us has thought about. He worked in a country where you can’t just walk to the store and pick up a prescription, which means he’s going to be resourceful. He has to be.

  That’s Donald.

  There’s another part of me, a selfish part, that wonders if he’s ever thought about me or missed me since he left. I was just a kid when Donald went away. I’m older now. We both are.

  After what feels like forever, I think I spot the broken tree Ted was talking about, but I have to hurry because it’s definitely not a rain storm. It’s a snow storm. I’m not dressed for snow by any stretch of the imagination and I certainly don’t have enough supplies to keep me warm for a night spent in the snow.

  Fuck.

  I hurry, walking faster. I get to the tree and stare at it for a second. It’s huge with multiple big, long branches that spread out over the path, which curves both to the right and the left. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is the “broken tree,” but not for the reasons I originally thought. I figured the tree stump would be busted in half or that the branches would be hanging.

  No, this tree seems almost emotionally broken, and it’s quite a strange sight. There are still come dead leaves clinging to the branches, but for the most part, the tree is empty. There’s something carved into the base of the tree, and when I approach, I reach out and touch it.

  It looks like dragon’s wings.

  Did Donald carve this?

  Did someone else?

  I shiver as the snow starts to fall faster. I need to get going. Soon this whole path is going to be icy. I already realize I’m probably not going to be making it out of here tonight. I glance back to where I came from, but the snowfall makes it difficult to see. I blow some of the snowflakes out of my face as they fall. They’re thick, and several of them land on my nose.

  “Come on, Natalie,” I say aloud as I turn right and continue down the path. One of the bad things about living near the mountains is that when it snows, it fucking snows. Storms roll in really quickly, almost instantly, and fighting them can be impossible. The path curves upwards, and I begin the hike, slipping occasionally, but constantly moving.

  I won’t stop.

  Not now.

  Not when I’m so close.

  One foot goes in front of the other. I don’t know what I’m looking for. My eyes scan the areas around me as much as possible, but there are so many trees and stones and rocks that it’s hard to see anything except the narrow path ahead of me. The mountain curves up with large boulders all around me. I move slowly, but steadily, and then I slip.

  My left foot catches and I fall, landing on my hands and knees. I cry out loudly as the pain washes over me. I shouldn’t be loud. Not when I’m dragon hunting. I can’t help it, though, and I bite my tongue as the tears start to form in my eyes. I’ve always considered myself to be kind of tough and kind of strong, but right now I don’t feel either of those things.

  Somehow, I manage to get to my feet and look down at my hands. They’re bleeding. A quick glance at my knees shows that both knees on my jeans are ripped. Like my hands, my knees are bleeding, and I realize I’m not going to be able to go much further until the storm clears. Fuck.

  I need to find a fucking cave, or even a couple of rocks to hide behind or under. It’s just a freak snowstorm. How long could it actually last? I refuse to let this be the reason I can’t get back to Dad. This won’t be the thing that keeps me from him.

  “Everything is going to be fine,” I tell myself. “I’ll just find a place to stay and hide, and then when the weather clears, I’ll find
Donald, and then I’ll convince him to come back to the clan with me. Yep. Everything’s going to be fine.”

  It has to be fine.

  I don’t have any other options.

  I move slowly, carefully, for another ten or fifteen minutes, and then I see it: the opening to a narrow cave. It’s behind some brush, but the snow has pushed the branches of a bush down, and I can see the opening. It’s not very big, but I don’t need big. I just need somewhere I can sit down and warm up for a little while.

  I move over to the cave opening and squat down. Pulling out my flashlight, I shine it inside the cave. It appears to be empty and unused. That’s good. It means I’m not going to have to deal with trying to fight off a non-shifter bear or mountain lion. Wiggling behind the bush that’s blocking the entrance, I duck inside the cave. I have to crawl in, and I do this awkwardly because I’m trying not to let my knees rub against the ground. Eventually, I realize that’s not going to work, and I sit on my ass and sort of wiggle deeper into the cave. About five feet from the entrance, the room opens up, and I see that this is definitely a larger, deeper cave than I first imagined. It goes back, deep into the mountains, and curves, but I have no interest in exploring.

  Nope.

  All I want right now is to warm up, rest up, and as soon as the snow stops falling, to find the dragon who’s been hiding away for all of these years. I open my backpack and pull out my thin emergency blanket. Spreading it out on myself, I lean back against the side of the cave wall. I should wash the dirt from my wounds, and I will, but first I’m going to rest.

  Just for a little while.

  Chapter Five

  Donald

  There’s a human in my fucking cave.

  What the actual fuck?

  No.

  Just no.

  This is not acceptable.

  Humans live in human places and dragons?

  We fucking live in the dark.

  As far as monsters go, I’m the grumpiest fucker I know, and for good reason. The bitchier I am, the more people leave me alone, and me? I like to be left alone. Now I’m not being left alone, though. For the first time ever, there’s a human in my cave, and I’m not quite sure what to do about it.

  I could bark at her and tell her to leave. I could kill her. I could simply shift and then nudge her out of the cave and she’d leave. She’d be too scared to fight me and to try to stay. Nope. Saving a human isn’t on the menu for today, even if she does smell delicious.

  Even if she does smell like fucking perfection.

  I approach her quietly, cautiously, in my human form. This part of the cave is lower than the rest of it, and while I can fit in this area in my dragon form, there’s no way I can get through the exit without shifting. It’s one reason I like this place. It’s kind of off the beaten path and away from prying eyes. No one is going to see the entrance and go, “Oh, my. A dragon definitely lives there!”

  Nope, unless someone is looking for this place, there’s no way they’re going to find it. Not this cave. Not with me in it. Still, my defenses weren’t as strong as I might have liked, apparently. Someone got through, anyway, and now it’s time for her to leave.

  As I approach the woman sleeping in my cave, I look at her. She smells…familiar, somehow. Comfortable. She reminds me of a time long ago when everything seemed all right in the world.

  She reminds me of who I used to be, and somehow, that makes my stomach feel tight.

  I left Fablestone a long time ago.

  This woman isn’t a dragon.

  So why does she smell good to me?

  I near her, looking at her long dark hair. She’s sitting with her back to the cave wall and her arms are curled around her knees protectively. There’s a blanket on the floor next to her. I think she tried to wrap it around herself, but it must have fallen at some point after she fell asleep.

  Who is this woman?

  I need to get her out of my cave. I know this. I don’t exactly have a reputation of protecting humans who wander too close to my treasure trove, but something about her just…calls to me.

  Then something else tickles my senses, and I move more quickly. My medical training kicks in as I realize I smell blood, and no little bit. I peer at the human’s hands. Sure enough, they’re caked in dried blood. Then I see her pants, and I let out a growl at the sight of her injuries.

  I don’t know this woman is or where she’s come from, but she’s hurt. As much as I don’t want her here with me, I have to take care of her. I swore an oath long ago and right now, keeping that oath means keeping her safe. I will do whatever it takes.

  Realizing I’ll have to risk waking her, I squat beside the woman and reach for her. Carefully, gingerly, I pick her up and rise to my feet. She feels weightless, just about. Has she been eating enough lately? Has she recently lost weight? The thought of her not getting enough food bothers me for some reason, and I shake my head. I move toward the back of the cave, leaving her backpack and blanket behind. I’ll return for those things later. Right now, the most important thing is getting her wounds clean.

  “Who are you, little human?” I ask, and my voice is almost a whisper. To my surprise, she whispers back.

  “Fucking dragons,” she says, but her words are so clear that I almost drop her. “Always causing trouble for me,” she grumbles. “Dragons indeed.”

  Then she falls quiet, and I realize I’m not quite sure what I’ve gotten myself into.

  *

  As a doctor, working on a patient who is injured doesn't turn me on. It doesn't affect me on a sexual or personal level. When I'm taking care of someone, I instantly go into "doctor mode" and my only goal is to assess the damage and take care of the patient. With the woman in front of me, I'm dealing with a couple of problems.

  First of all, there's the bleeding. It doesn't seem overly extreme, and I'll deal with that in a moment. First, I need to work on getting her fluids and medication to calm and relax her while I do any stitching she might need. This woman is completely dehydrated. What the hell? When was the last time she drank a fucking glass of water? I shake my head as I work on getting an IV set up. Her veins are weak. She's been dehydrated for awhile and actually getting things set up proves to be challenging. On my third stick, I get a good vein.

  Yeah, I might be living like a damn fox in a tiny little hole, but I haven't neglected my medical training or my supplies.

  Despite basically running away from my hometown and my problems, I've kept up with medical work. I've volunteered all around the world in different shifter communities, but I haven't stayed in any one place for too long. Although most people from Fablestone don't travel often, the truth is that you never know when you're going to run into someone you know. I don't like the idea of seeing Loretta or Cameron or Ellie and having to explain that yes, I did leave Fablestone, and no, I am not returning.

  I hook the little human up to an IV and begin to assess the rest of the damage. She seems weak and pale. I bet she's dealing with something difficult because her body seems stressed and tense. Whatever she's been facing, the issue has been going on for awhile. Is she sick? Did she come from an area with sickness? Maybe the stress is mental and not physical. I'm not sure.

  I grab a pair of scissors and begin to cut, easily removing her clothes. I don't like doing this to someone unconscious, especially to a stranger, but the bleeding needs to be taken care of. It's not pressing enough that I had to focus on that before setting up her IV, but it is something that can’t be ignored.

  Once her clothes are off, I get to work on cleaning each of her cuts and scrapes. Most of her wounds are superficial, but both of her knees are going to need stitches. Unfortunately for the little human, she doesn’t heal as fast as shifters do.

  The medication I gave her in the IV will help minimize any pain she feels as I start to carefully suture her cuts. I work methodically and quickly, careful to make each stitch neat. She only needs a few, and her scars will be quite small. They’ll fade quickly, too. Soon
she won’t even notice them.

  I finish treating her and wash my hands, then return to the young woman and cover her with a blanket. She stirs slightly, but not too much, and I pull up a seat beside her so I can watch over her.

  It’s been awhile since I had a patient and even longer since I had one here, at my cave. I’ve taken in the occasional shifter who has needed medical attention, but I’ve never treated a human here. I haven’t treated a human in a very, very long time. Not since before I left.

  Now, as the snow swirls around us outside, I sit beside this random woman and wonder who she is, where she’s come from, and why she hates dragons so much.

  Chapter Six

  Natalie

  My eyes flutter open and I sit up hastily, rubbing my head.

  I fell asleep.

  I didn’t mean to, but I did, and now I have to hurry to try to find the dragon I’ve been searching for. Before I can do anything, though, I realize I’m naked, covered only with a blanket, and it’s not the blanket I brought with me.

  Screaming isn’t something I should be doing, yet it’s exactly what happens when I open my mouth. I scream, alerting anything in the cave with me that I am here.

  And then I realize I’m not in the cave anymore.

  At least, this place doesn’t look like a cave.

  “Calm the fuck down,” a steely voice says, and I instantly fall silent and close my eyes.

  Have I been captured?

  Surely I’ve been captured.

  That’s it.

  Something – someone – found me when I fell asleep in the cave in the mountain pass. That person must have captured me, taken all of my clothes off, and given me a different blanket. Yes, that’s it. That’s definitely it. Now they want to…what? What do they want to do to me? I realize, suddenly, that there’s something attached to me, and I carefully, silently, open one eye and peek at myself.

  “An IV?” I say aloud. What kind of kidnapper is this?

  “You were severely dehydrated,” the deep voice sounds again, and this time, I open my other eye and turn my head.