by Terry Spear
Kayla laughed. “Like you would have disobeyed your parents and gone with me.”
“You could have asked. I didn’t say I would have gone. But I might have. Now you will never know.”
“I’ve been thinking about that. What if they do exist?”
“The wolf shifters?”
“Yeah. Just because I didn’t see them doesn’t mean they weren’t there. Only that they didn’t want me to see them.”
“Just because the mountain is called Wolf Mountain, doesn’t mean any wolves live there. I think you didn’t see them because they don’t exist.” Tanya glanced back in the direction of their cottages. “Well, what colors were they?”
“What colors were what?”
“The dragons you saw practicing for the games. That would give you a clue as to which one it was.”
“One was brown and the other blue. The blue one blended with the sky and was nearly invisible. I thought how hard it would be to shoot him with a bolt if he was soaring against the blue sky. And then, the oddest thing occurred. The blue dragon, who had followed me, was not the one I saw leaving the area. His scales were violet.”
“I didn’t think they could change colors.”
“Neither did I.”
“I didn’t think there was such a thing as a purple dragon either.”
Neither did Kayla.
Once they reached the white-capped river rushing over the smooth-faced boulders, Kayla and Tanya hid in the understory of the trees, ferns reaching six feet in height. It was perfect for hiding most men intent on spying on the enemy, for the enemy was the dragon fae shifter kind. That was the trouble when two kinds of fae wanted the same thing—gold, and tons of it.
Their kinds were very much different from each other. Not only did the dragon shifter fae turn into dragons at whim, but they hoarded their gold and kept it hidden away; whereas, the golden fae were exactly who they appeared to be. Fae who loved their gold and showed it off at all times.
Except for now. Kayla had learned her lesson and was completely unadorned, wearing no gold in any shape or form so that the sun’s rays couldn’t reflect off the shiny metal and give her away. Kayla felt naked without her gold, uncomfortable, maybe reminiscent of discarding her jewelry the last time and losing the locket.
Not wearing the gold didn’t mean another fae couldn’t recognize them if they saw her or Tanya. Her golden aura couldn’t be disguised unless she bribed a fae who had the ability to cloak someone’s aura or her own. But a falcon fae they knew could do such a thing. Sigrid loved knowing secrets and holding them against those who wanted her services. So unless Kayla was desperate, which she would be if she couldn’t manage this on her own, she refused to use the falcon fae’s services.
Tanya had only come along to ensure that Kayla would not cross the river and get herself into more dangerous waters. Kayla knew her friend was irritated with her for not telling her everything from the beginning.
“I don’t see any dragon fae. You can’t cross the river. I said I’d go with you this far, but that’s it, Kayla. Do I need to remind you that your uncle met his end doing just what you’re thinking of doing? Playing with fire will get you worse than burned. You’ll be dead. Incinerated. Ashes. The dragon fae don’t play around when it comes to protecting their gold. You’re just lucky they didn’t torch you right then and there, and instead, stopped to get your gold.”
“It’s my locket and if I don’t get it back, I’m dead anyway.”
Tanya let out her breath. “There is that.” She stared at Kayla for a moment, then shook her head. “You look so…plain.”
“So do you.” Kayla’s kind were always covered in gold—headdresses, earrings, necklaces, even flakes of gold on their face and hands—more, if they were at a party. Even when they went to the world of humans. Why not? Some of them wore blue or pink or purple hair. So what was a little gold ornamentation for the fae? The humans thought the golden fae were cool. Or weird. Sometimes the golden fae started a new trend. Not that the humans knew what they were.
Tanya frowned at her. “I always look like this.”
“I know, I just mean…oh, forget it.” Kayla had offered gold to her friend to dress her up a bit, but Tanya had always declined, preferring the more natural, unadorned look. Except for her hair, and she loved fresh flowers in her hair.
“Someone is coming.” Tanya crouched lower.
Kayla moved closer to the edge of the river on their side, though they needn’t have hidden. They were perfectly within their rights to be here.
Tanya grabbed her arm, nearly giving Kayla a seizure. “What?” she whispered harshly. “We are on our side of the river!”
“And if they see you, then they will begin patrolling over there if they believe one of our kind is even thinking of crossing the river. Or maybe even because of knowing that one of our kind did get caught over there.”
“I didn’t get caught.”
“Well, nearly. And you left all kinds of evidence behind that said you’d been over there. They might even be patrolling the area right now.”
“What if I pretend to be drowning in the river and one rescues me? Then I’ll be on their side of the river, and—“
“And if they don’t rescue you? Besides, you won’t be able to tell if they’re dragon shifters or just plain dragon fae. Unless they shift, and if they do, they could just drop you right back over here. They’re not going to keep you on their side. If they don’t just get rid of you.”
Tanya had a point. Kayla stiffened as a girl and boy came into view, both about her and Kayla’s age—the boy wearing human clothes—jeans, a T-shirt, sneakers as if he was planning to go to the human world and wanted to fit in. He stopped at the water’s edge and looked in Tanya and Kayla’s direction. Her skin chilled. But she reminded herself she could be here. She was on the golden fae land and well-hidden anyway.
Dark eyes as brown as the dragon she’d seen flying in the sky with the blue one the other day, appeared to look straight at her. Yet, she knew he couldn’t see her. She didn’t think.
The wind swept his curly, dark brown hair about his face, and she had to admit he was cute in a roguish-looking way.
The girl had short black hair when most of the fae women wore their hair long. She was dressed in a black leather corset, leggings, and a sword was sheathed at her waist.
Kayla’s heart practically stopped when she realized who she was. “Ena,” she said under her breath.
Tanya nodded. “Dragon shifter fae. A fae tracker, deadly assassin, your worst nightmare.”
“Alton,” Ena said, arms folded across her waist, looking annoyed, “Brett and I always had a connection. I can’t explain why I fell for him, but I did. So get over it.”
“He was human. Your prisoner.”
“And he turned out to be one of us. Kind of.”
Alton snorted.
“What about Aideen? She’s fun to be with, cute, and looking for a mate.”
Kayla raised her brows. Ena, the darkest dragon shifter, was giving dating advice to another dragon shifter? She smiled. She just bet he’d love to know golden fae were listening in on their conversation that looked to be private otherwise. Not.
Alton rolled his eyes.
Ena laughed. “Now you are copying that annoying mannerism that Brett uses.”
“I ought to have killed him when I’d had the chance.”
“Ah, you can’t tell me you don’t like him now.”
“The annoying phantom dragon has a way of growing on you.”
“Really, I’ve got to go. You’ll find another woman you will truly love. Several are interested in you.”
“Shifters? Dragon fae, yes. But who wants a mate who can’t fly with you? Can’t compete in shifter games? Doesn’t have a hoard of gold to call her own?”
“Maybe you should return to the colony where you’re from. Where Brett was from. Maybe you’ll meet someone new there.”
“Whatever. I don’t need your sympathy. I jus
t wanted to say I think you made a mistake.”
“No you don’t. As much as you’d like to believe I should have married you, you don’t really believe it. Besides, I hear the shifter games have opened up to dragons from all over. Polish your scales and be ready. What color are they today?”
“Silver, like they have been for a couple of days.” Alton smiled. “Silver scales beat gold any day.”
“I don’t know. I swear I blink and they’ve changed color again. Are you sure they’re not tied with your mood?”
Kayla’s mouth dropped open. Had Alton been the one then who had been blue and then violet?
“If you call me a mood dragon again—“
The sound of flapping caught everyone’s attention and in the fading sunlight, Kayla looked up to see a golden-scaled dragon flying overhead, then dive down, land next to the dragon fae, and shift into a brown-haired boy, his eyes blue like the sea.
So that was who Alton was comparing himself to. The golden dragon mated to Ena.
“Brett,” Alton acknowledged, folding his arms.
“Alton.” Brett turned his attention to Ena. “We’re late. Your brother fixed his first dinner for us in celebration of our union, and he’s going to be torqued off.”
“I’m coming. Are you going to be all right, Alton?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Then Alton smiled darkly. “Next week, I’ll be beating the tail off your mate.”
Brett laughed. “As much as I’m still trying to learn how to control my wings and tail, I wouldn’t doubt it. Come on, Ena. I don’t want your brother thinking your marrying me was a bad idea. I believe I’m finally getting on his good side. A little, anyway.”
Then they said goodbye and Ena shifted into an olive green-scaled dragon, Brett into his golden scales, and they both flew off.
Kayla couldn’t help but want to see if Alton would shift. She’d never seen a silver-scaled dragon before. Tanya was barely breathing too as she watched to see what would happen next. What Kayla didn’t expect was for Alton to shift and his scales were a shimmery violet. He stared at the water for a moment, looking at the color of his scales, then shook his head.
She suspected he hadn’t expected to see them that color. Just like she hadn’t. They were beautiful though. All shades of purple were her favorite colors.
She thought Alton would fly off then like the others had done. Instead, he shifted back and said under his breath, “By the goddess, what has happened to me?” He ran his hands through his hair, then turned and stalked off down the rocky bank alongside the river.
Kayla almost felt sorry for him. Curious as to what he would do next, she hurried to follow him, remaining hidden in the ferns, though she was disturbing them as she brushed against them. So was the breeze, and she hoped if he saw the movement, he would only think it was because of the light wind.
Tanya followed right after her, and Kayla wished she wouldn’t. With two of them moving in the ferns, they had double the chance to catch the dragon fae’s notice. She turned and motioned for her friend to stay back, wishing she’d just go home.
Her friend shook her head at her, stubbornly resisting the idea when she hadn’t even wanted to be here in the first place. Normally, Tanya just had no sense of adventure.
Then a shadow loomed above them, and they looked up to see the violet dragon hovering overhead, his wings flapping to spread the fern fronds wider so he could see who or what was making all the movement in the bracken.
Not to be intimidated, though he was totally intimidating as big as he was, and with the knowledge that his fire could be the end of her, not to mention his wicked claws and teeth could tear a fae to pieces, she rose to her feet and placed her hands on her hips. “You are on our side of the river.”
He merely smiled, showing off a mouth full of dangerously, menacing teeth as if amused, or maybe to show that he didn’t care if he was in the golden fae air space or not.
She only smiled back, her teeth very small and not in the least bit dangerous. Tanya stood by her, but she wasn’t smiling at all. In a word, she looked: terrified.
“By the way, I love your colorful scales. I wouldn’t worry about what anyone else might think of them. Be yourself.”
He roared, shooting a flame across the sky in a display of anger.
Tanya sliced a glower at Kayla, her expression saying Kayla shouldn’t say anything to antagonize the dragon, who had shown an obvious dislike of his scales shifting colors. Without a word, Tanya blurred and disappeared, using her fae transport and leaving Kayla behind.
At the same time, Kayla ducked a bit from the fiery dragon display, not wanting to show she was afraid of him, but she did have a healthy respect for fire. If he scorched her hair, she was reporting him. No playing nice with the irritated dragon, who was in their air space.
She was sure his annoyance about his changing scale color was because he seemed to have no control over it. Maybe not so much that he didn’t like this particular version. She could imagine if her hair just suddenly decided to switch to a different pigment at whim. She wouldn’t like it either. No choice, no say when, just all of a sudden it changed.
His fire dried and heated the air and made her want to fan herself, which she resisted. She didn’t want him to know that what he was doing affected her in any way.
But she didn’t expect his next move. He grabbed her shoulders with his talons and flew off with her! She swallowed the scream on the tip of her tongue and thought to fae transport right out of there and leave him holding empty air. But when she tried, nothing happened! As if she hadn’t tried at all!
She tried again, closed her eyes, and concentrated this time, though she’d never had to do so before to fae transport, telling herself she wanted to be sitting in her lavender fields, weeding them like she was supposed to do before the blooms began to arrive. The weeds always shot up way beforehand. But no, she had to run off and antagonize a dragon. Not that she had thought that’s how her trip to the river would have ended up. She’d had the notion in mind that she would cross the river and return to the place where she’d lost her necklace, see if the dragon had dropped it when he was carrying so many other gold pieces of jewelry she had left behind. Not that they mattered like the locket did.
“Let me go!” she screamed. He let her go just as she had commanded, and instantly, she realized her folly as soon as she spoke the words.
She was falling to the ocean below, the scream caught in her throat as she again told herself to fae transport. When she couldn’t, the ocean spray soaked her clothes. Her heart beating spastically, she braced for impact.
To her shock, dragon talons grasped her by the arms and carried her upward, away from the water. She should have felt some elation, but she didn’t. She was still thinking about how she had nearly plunged into the ocean, until she focused on what he was doing with her now. She wouldn’t make the mistake of telling him to let her go again, no matter how much she wanted to.
Infuriating dragon. He had no right trying to terrorize her like this.
Then he flew her over to the beach and deposited her on the warm sand. She fell to her knees, unable to quit shaking and her legs had just plain given out. No matter how much she hadn’t wanted to look like she was shaken from the whole experience, she couldn’t force herself to pretend otherwise. He settled beside her, studying her, his dark brown eyes curious.
She rose shakily to her feet, felt a large seashell beside her foot, grabbed it up, and threw it at him. The conch shell hit him squarely on his scaly chest, and his eyes widened in surprise. She liked when she could unsettle him as much as he had her.
“You had no right taking me from my realm!”
He shifted into his fae form, looking as cocky as the devil, folded his arms, and lifted a brow. “You had no right eavesdropping on us.”
“We had every right if you’re going to talk about anything just across the river from where my friend and I were getting ready to fish.” She didn’t know why she said that.
She didn’t owe him any explanation.
“Really? I saw no fishing poles. Unless you catch them with your claws.”
“You are the one with claws.” She was surprised he could grasp her with them like he did and not hurt her. She should have tried transporting herself home again right then and there, if she even could. She thought maybe his holding her had somehow stopped her from transporting.
But she’d never gotten this close to a dragon before, and she was curious about him. “So the Goth dragon stood you up for the golden dragon?” She wasn’t sure why practically every word she said to him was meant to rub him the wrong way.
“What were you really doing at the river’s edge? Not contemplating crossing the river to my side, were you? And causing some kind of mischief? You know how my kingdom feels about your kind entering our realm.”
“Like you came over on our side?”
“The air space can’t be controlled by anyone.”
“Says you. Why do you wear human’s clothes? Are you going to their world?”
“Why didn’t you try to transport when I first carried you off?”
She truly had thought it had something to do with his claws holding tight to her. She didn’t know why it would be otherwise. She hadn’t been able to transport since she’d lost the locket. Ohmigoddess. She had thought that if she couldn’t find the locket in time, she would just transport somewhere else and go into hiding, well, except she’d keep searching for the locket. Did that mean she couldn’t now?
Her heart beating wildly and the palms of her hands sweating, she tried to leave the fae way again. Nothing. Happened.
Attempting to appear nonplussed by it in front of the dragon when she felt anything but, she shrugged. She wasn’t about to tell him she couldn’t transport.
“You like to live dangerously then?” he asked.
Sometimes, but flying through the air on a collision course with the ocean was not exactly her idea of living dangerously. Trying some new ice cream, or hair color, yes. Tracking down her locket was going to be dangerous enough.
He suddenly frowned. “You are a golden fae. I can see your aura. But you aren’t wearing any gold at all. I have never heard of one of your kind being out and about who was not adorned from the top of her head to the tip of her toes in gold. Were you afraid your gold would catch the rays of the sun and tip us off that you were hiding in the bracken and spying on us? That’s it, isn’t it?” He smiled, then furrowed his brow at her again. “Tell me why you were there or I will leave you here to perish.”
