by Katya Moore
Schulte grunted softly.
Meriwether turned in her chair to face Aric. "You may begin."
Aric cleared his throat. I watched him, offering silent support from my seat. He nodded at me, then began to relate what he'd told us about the Witch Queen.
The Elders took it in. Long nodded knowingly. "It is as we suspected, and worse. From our studies of their arts, we knew that the essences of animals created half-forms with the same patterns as the creatures they came from. A leopard's spots would be the same, a tiger's stripes... perfect replicas, but in a half-human form." She slipped her fingers under her glasses and rubbed her eyes. "We thought that would be the case with dragons. Half-forms that duplicated the victim's. We never dreamed that they'd be able to copy the human form as well." She looked nauseous. "It is... unsettling."
Schulte snorted softly. "Unsettling? This is a security disaster. Any of us could be taken, ground to dust, and replaced without anyone knowing until it was too late." She pondered for a moment, then looked to Aric. "Did they say anything about using draconic powers? Can they duplicate those?"
"They didn't say," Aric said. He nodded across the table at Quinn. "He met one."
"Yes," Quinn said with haunted eyes. "The missing ethereal. Jackie Storm. She..." He swallowed hard. "When our base was raided, one of the sorcerers took her form. She didn't use any powers. But the likeness..." His fists clenched, knuckles white. "She even talked about the Academy. She mentioned a book we'd shared, once."
Schulte's hand struck the table. "That wasn't in the report!"
Quinn looked up. I could see the whites of his eyes. We were losing him again.
"Knock it off!" I shouted at Schulte. "Jesus. You're a general. Don't you know PTSD when you see it? I'm a bartender, and I can see that he's traumatized."
"I..." Quinn started to say, then trailed off. He stared at his hands. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," I assured him, still glaring at Schulte. "It must have been horrifying, seeing someone you cared about used like that."
"Y...yes." His voice trembled.
I looked over at Jared and nodded to him. His eyebrow went up, then realization dawned and he leaned forward to take over. "You're safe here, with us. Her spirit is at rest now."
A tear ran down Quinn's cheek. "That's nice of you to say," he whispered.
"We need to help others, though. We need to protect dragonkind from the Chosen, right?"
Quinn nodded silently.
"Was there anything else you didn't tell us? Anything that could help us?" Jared's voice was calm, soothing. He placed a gentle hand on Quinn's shoulder.
Quinn looked at Long nervously.
Long favored him with her most grandmotherly smile. "I won't hold anything you say against you, son. You can speak freely."
"I... Jackie and I..." His eyes flickered to Long, then me. Guilt warred with fear. "We were close," he finished. I could feel the pain all the way from my seat.
"You had feelings for her?" I said softly.
He nodded, then looked at Long in terror. "But we never did anything! I promise!"
Long made soft shushing noises, patting the air in a calming gesture. "Easy, son. Easy. No one said you did." The corner of her mouth turned up. "It's not a crime to care about people, Quinn."
"But...the Shadow Queen..." He looked at me again.
Long sighed and turned her attention to me for a moment. There was guilt in her eyes, too. "Quinn... we wanted a strong candidate for your court. His training and education focused primarily on grooming him for that. He took it to heart. Maybe a little too much to heart."
"You groomed a kid to be my mate. How was he not supposed to take it to heart?" My chest burned with righteous anger. "You didn't even know me. How exactly was that supposed to work out?"
Long frowned. "We knew your kind. We knew your mother. We extrapolated..."
"You made a blind guess and raised a kid to follow that guess." I shook my head in disgust. "But we're getting off-topic. Quinn, you said that she knew things about you?"
He nodded, squirming in the spotlight as all eyes turned back to him.
"So the essence carries memories as well. Or they had really good intelligence." Schulte's fingers drummed the table. "This just gets better and better."
"You see why I wanted to tell you in person?" I asked.
Schulte nodded slowly. "You were right." A look of distaste crossed her face. "I apologize."
I smiled at her, then glanced down the table. "There was one other thing I wanted to address. Chase?"
Chase stood up and pulled a small bag from his pocket. He walked to the head of the table and emptied it in front of me.
"What is that?" Schulte huffed. "A GPS tracker? We have those. Thank you."
"It's the GPS tracker I pulled off the undercarriage of Dario's SUV," Chase said, repressing a smile. "That's how the Chosen were tracking them."
Mrs. Beauvais blanched. Mr. Beauvais' mouth hung open slightly.
"What?" Dario half-stood, hands planted firmly on the table. "Bull... That's impossible. We swept for bugs every day."
"With what?" Chase asked innocently.
"With. Our. Equipment," Dario snarled. "We were issued the top-of-the-line sweeping equipment that all of the squads received. And we used it."
Chase shrugged. "It was top-of-the-line when it was issued three years ago. You need to update these things."
Dario opened his mouth to say something, then whirled on Kane. "We updated our equipment."
Kane looked a little squirmy in his seat.
Dario stared at him. I could see small beads of sweat on his forehead. Mrs. Beauvais looked ready to faint. Mr. Beauvais looked like someone had hit him very hard on the head.
Aric spoke up. "When I was held captive, the High Priest kept gloating about one of the Alpha Squad 'leading them to their doom.'" He smirked. "Eldest, this is sweet. You had the wrong Beauvais."
The Elders stared at Dario in shock and horror.
"You led the Chosen to this mansion, leading to Aric's capture. You gave away our position during the rescue. You led them to your base." I folded my hands in front of me, giving him my best disappointed schoolmarm. "You blamed your brother for all of it."
Schulte turned an icy gaze on Dario. "Perhaps we need another trial," she intoned gravely.
I raised a hand. "No. No more trials. It was careless, but not treasonous."
"He endangered your life. He endangered all of your lives." Schulte was livid. "We can't let this go unpunished."
I shrugged. "Maybe we should rethink who the real Alpha Squad is," I said dryly.
Dario went from snow white to vein-bursting red in a flash, but he didn't speak.
I continued. "And maybe we should rethink your choices in my personal life." I rose from my seat. "Your choices tell a lot about you, about how you operate. Dario couldn't give a half a shit about humanity if he tried. Thinks they have nothing to offer." I gestured at the GPS. "The device that detected that bug? Human designed. Bought online. Probably saved us from another pile of Chosen today." I looked at Quinn and felt a little guilty for unloading, but continued. "That poor guy, trained to be a multitool for a Shadow Queen who didn't exist. All study, no grasp of who I really am or where I came from. No grasp of the world outside his library." I looked at Jared. "Jared. A brilliant mind. No doubt a very talented doctor. But when it came to being out in the field, he choked." Jared looked away, ashamed. "Dude, I can't fault you for being out of your element, but we've got a war on our hands and we were in a combat situation. We need people prepared for that, and you were let down." I saw Chang start to open her mouth, then think better of it. "And Kane." I paused. "You came through for us, no doubt. You're a great tactician, and you know your shit. But you're an asshole. I'm sorry." Kane sputtered for a moment. "You're a bully, and I'm not here for that."
"You need..." Schulte began.
I cut her off. "You need to listen. Each of these guys told me how I need to put aside my
emotions and just suck it up and spread my legs for them. Maybe not in those words, but it was definitely implied." I looked to Chang. "You told me that I had good instincts. Those instincts come from my emotions. From who I am, deep inside. Your choices would have me cut that off, for 'the greater good.' I'm sorry, but fuck that. My instincts are screaming at me. I know who I need in my life, and it's the people I trust the most. The people I care about the most. The people who make me feel safe and loved."
"But really, Arysia. If you rely on that, those men will be your greatest vulnerability. You've already shown diminished judgment when your humans are in peril. You've already shown diminished judgment when Omega Squad is in peril..." Meriwether had her soothing voice out again.
I wasn't there for that, either. "I showed excellent judgment, thank you. I selected the people best suited to scout..."
"You scouted. That was insanely poor judgment," Schulte snarled.
I snorted. "I'm a shadow dragon. Shadow is in the name. I was the best person for the job. I got it done. I'm not going to lead from the rear. If I can help, I'm going to be helping. You're going to have to learn to live with that." I sighed and continued. "I selected the best person to lead. We rescued a member of our team who was not just in danger of breaking under torture, but in danger of having his essence ripped out to make some sorcerer the best inside man they could hope to have. A Beauvais. One of my mates. How perfect would that have been for them?" I glared at the Elders, then at Aric's parents, who at least had the decency to look queasy at the thought. Probably more worried about how it would have damaged their precious name... "Aric's rescue was necessary. Not just because I care about him, but because his loss would have cost us all dearly."
Aric fixed me with a bemused look, like he wasn't sure how to take what I had said. I winked at him. He closed his eyes and shook his head.
"I am choosing my own mates," I added with an air of finality. "Nothing you say is going to change that."
"It's not entirely up to you," Meriwether began.
"Bullshit, it isn't." I looked at Long in surprise. She continued. "It is entirely her call and you know it, Aubrey." She looked at me. "They were talking about breaking your bond with Cassidy, and, fool that I was, I was getting the casting circle ready to go. But, I've been down that road, and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."
I looked at her, aghast.
"Cassidy's mentor was my mate. Long time ago." A faraway smile drifted across her face. "We were young, high on academia, thinking we could change the world and take out the Great Serpent all on our own. And we were in love."
"What happened?" I asked.
"Things changed. We changed." Long's smile vanished. "He followed one path, I followed another. So, we parted ways, as thoroughly as we could. We broke our mate bond. We knew the rites, and we did it on our own." Her dark skin grew ashen. "We've talked about taking someone's essence and grinding it to powder. That's how the Chosen do it. Breaking a mate bond... it's like taking your essence and tearing it in half." Her voice grew soft. "And it never heals. Not really." She swallowed hard and looked me in the eye. "There's no way in hell I'm doing that to you. Not when it's a bond you want as badly as you want this one."
I smiled faintly. "These two, actually." I glanced at Aric out of the corner of my eye.
Long's sorrow softened with a wry grin. "Good for you. At any rate, I will respect your chosen bonds."
I looked at the other Elders. Chang shifted in her seat and spoke up. "My mate, rest his spirit, was not exactly who my parents had chosen for me." She smiled at me. "He was a bit of a rebel. Wanted to take me to see the world, join Doctors Without Borders, help humans and dragons alike. My parents were furious." She met my gaze. "We had twenty wonderful years. I wouldn't have missed them for the world." She looked down the table at my boys and smiled at them. "You've topped me, I'm afraid. Four feisty young men, all at odds with what we'd like to see. But, there's no denying that they have your best interests and the best interests of the dragons at heart." She bowed her head to me. "You have my support."
I turned to face Meriwether and Schulte. "Three to two," I said with a victorious smile. "Butt out." Meriwether looked a little stunned. Schulte looked like she'd eaten an entire lemon, rind and all.
"Which brings me to my last point of business," I continued. The four Elders looked at me curiously. "It's time for me to move out on my own. With my mates, of course," I added, gesturing to them. The boys looked as stunned as the Elders. Mrs. Beauvais looked like she was going to birth a cactus. Mr. Beauvais still had that clonked-head look. I wondered briefly if that was his default.
"I... we... If there has been anything wanting, I'm sure we can provide..." Mrs. Beauvais sputtered.
I looked over at her coolly. "Privacy," I replied.
Her mouth snapped shut, a thin red line on a very pale face. "O...of course. If there is anything we can offer in the way of transition..."
Should I do it? I'm gonna do it. "I would love it if Sanders could join us. He's been invaluable." Okay, I'll admit, poaching was low, but he deserved better.
Mrs. Beauvais swallowed. "Of course. He's all yours."
"If he'd like to join us, of course," I added.
"Of course."
I looked to the Elders. "So, is it in the budget? How do I requisition this sort of thing?"
Schulte snorted. "Yes, I think we can manage to provide the Shadow Queen with lodgings. I'll put Ameera on it immediately. There is a property I think you will find suitable, warded and as-yet undiscovered by the Chosen."
I goggled at her a little. "How many mansions do you have in Boston?"
Schulte chuckled softly. "Dragons have been in this city for a very long time."
"And the human legends about dragons have a certain amount of factual basis," Long added. "We're known for sitting on heaps of… resources."
"Great!" I chirped. "We'll get packing."
Chapter Twenty-Six
"If I look at another cardboard box, I'm gonna puke," I sighed, leaning back into Cass' arms. It was another busy Saturday night at McKinnett's, and I was absolutely ass-kicked. "How many books did you bring with you, you fool boy?" Cass had the grace to look embarrassed.
"Hey, no hoard-shaming," Galen chided. "Dragon faux pas." He sipped his beer and chuckled.
"Sorry." I turned my head and kissed Cass on the cheek. "Forgive me?"
He kissed me on the nose. "Forgiven. And sorry. I got a little carried away when we started out on the road, and I picked up more books as we traveled. We've been embedded at the Beauvais place for over a year now, so they just...piled up."
"Nerd's gonna nerd," Aric added with a sneer. I glared at him. He turned his attention back to the sparkling wine Kitty had compromised on carrying for him.
"I seem to recall seeing a few boxes of books coming out of your room, too," I teased him.
Aric looked a little flustered. "Those were technical manuals for the security systems that are currently keeping your humans safe and sound, yer majesty."
"The Maiden and the Dragon Lords?" I grinned. "What type of camera is that, exactly?"
Aric downed his wine in a huff.
I chuckled and leaned back into Cass. "Packing your stuff is the easy part." I felt a lump forming in my throat as I glanced over at the storeroom.
Cass followed my gaze and hugged me from behind. "Have you talked to Kitty about it yet?"
"Talked to Kitty about what now?" Kitty sidled down the bar, rag in hand, and buffed a perfectly clean spot on the surface. "You know I've got ears like a rabbit, little miss. What's on your mind?"
I looked at the guys. Chase gave me an encouraging look, then ambled off in search of Missi. I turned my attention back to Kitty. "Can we have a moment? In my room?"
Missi trotted up to the bar. "You have the best messengers, Sia. Nothing quite like having a handsome man come up behind you and say, 'I need you now.'"
"Back off, bitch...he's mine," I laughed.
She pouted. "You are so damned greedy. I can't just borrow him for like," she looked Chase over with a judicious eye. "A week or so?"
I gave her shoulder a gentle shove and pried myself off of Cass. "Stop scammin' on my men and tend the bar. I've gotta talk to Kitty."
"Fine, fine. I'll just look. A lot." She winked at Chase. I swear I saw his cheeks pink up a little as he buried his nose in his whiskey.
"My little girl, all grown up," Kitty sniffed. "You're sure? You're going to be safe?"
I wiped away a tear of my own. "Very safe. I'm the last shadow dragon. They want to keep me alive and happy."
"I should be thrilled for you. Your very own mansion with your very own bevy of handsome young lads at your beck and call." She smiled. "And a real live butler and everything."
"You could come too," I offered. "There's plenty of room."
Kitty snorted. "Me, in a mansion. That's rich. I wouldn't know what to do with myself."
I laughed. "Like I do. We'll figure it out together. Come on. Sanders makes wicked good coffee."
She pondered for a moment, then waved a hand dismissively. "Nah, kiddo. My home is here. Southie for life. Besides, who's going to defend my bar from the depredations of crazed cultists and mobster bastards?"
I frowned at her. "You're not getting rid of the dragon security force just because I'm moving out. They're here for you. I'm not abandoning you."
She reached out and squeezed my hand. "I didn't say that you were, love."
"But it feels like I am," I choked. The tears were coming back in force. "You've always been here for me, and now I'm leaving, and it's... it's..."
She tugged on my hand and pulled me into a hug. "There, there now. Don't you cry. This will always be your home, even if you aren't livin' in it." She chuckled, then sniffled. "Missi doesn't live here, remember? Neither does Billy. And they're family. You're family. You always will be. No matter where you go, no matter how much champagne you're drinking out of your man-harem's slippers..."
I snorted wetly into her shoulder. "Ugh. Sorry. And... thank you."
