Dragon Protecting (Torch Lake Shifters Book 4)

by Sloane Meyers

  Clint stared at her for a few more moments. He had a feeling that something big was bothering her, but if she didn’t want to talk about it, then what could he do? He was surprised by how much he cared, though. Without thinking about it, he reached out to squeeze her upper arm. “Things will settle down soon enough.”

  Her eyes shot up to meet his, and he quickly pulled his hand away. His fingertips tingled and burned where they had made contact with Sunny’s body, and from the surprised look in her eyes, he had a feeling that she had felt the strong chemistry between them as well. He had to stop letting himself feel so attracted to her, or he was going to get himself in an awful lot of trouble. He didn’t have time for women. He had ancient magic to find, and dragons to recruit.

  “Anyway,” he said briskly, taking a step backward. “Here’s your dog. Try to keep her out of my flowerbeds.” Then he turned on his heel and went back to his porch.

  He couldn’t relax anymore, though. All he could think about was the way his body had reacted to Sunny’s. They had chemistry, there was no denying that. But that didn’t mean anything serious, did it? She was a beautiful woman, and he was a man with eyes. Of course there would be some attraction, but that didn’t mean he was going to fall in love with her. Or start liking her. Or think that perhaps it might not be so bad having a neighbor after all.

  Clint let out a groan. He was in so much trouble. He had to get Sunny out of his head. In desperation, he stood and picked up his scotch glass. Despite his plan to relax tonight, he might try to do a little work. Anything to get his mind off Sunny. And it couldn’t hurt to have a head start on researching ancient magic, although Clint was worried that they were going to have to find and raid the Dark Warriors to get any information. The only other promising option he could think of was to send a team to go through the ruins of Eagle Thicket. Perhaps something there had not burned completely, and could give them information on ancient counter spells.

  Clint was just about to open his front door when he heard the snorting and scraping sound again.

  “You have got to be kidding me!”

  Clint went to the edge of the porch to scold Mocha, but was surprised to find that this time the dog was actually filling in the hole instead of digging it deeper. Then he saw a flash of blue, and realized that Mocha was burying something. Curious, he forgot to be angry and hopped down the porch steps.

  “What do you have there, girl?” he asked, peering into the hole. Mocha, as usual, yipped and twirled in circles in response. Clint peered into the hole, squinting in the darkness, and then reached in to pull out Mocha’s nearly-buried treasure. He found himself holding a blue t-shirt that looked like it was just about Sunny’s size.

  Clint laughed and started shaking the clumps of mud off of the shirt. “Does your momma know you’re burying her clothes out here?”

  Mocha tilted her head and yipped. Clint smiled and looked down at the shirt, but his smile froze when he saw the logo on the front. In bright white script, the words Academy of Ancient Magic curled around the seal of the supposedly extinct Eagle Thicket Clan. Clint stared at it in disbelief for several seconds, blinking his eyes a few times to make sure he was seeing things correctly.

  “Come on, Mocha,” he finally said, turning to walk toward Sunny’s house. “We’re going to have another talk with your momma.”

  Chapter Ten

  The pounding at her front door nearly caused Sunny to drop the glasses she was holding.

  “Oh, great,” she said aloud as she looked around and realized Mocha was nowhere to be seen, yet again. That dog was going to cause her so much trouble with the neighbor. Clint already didn’t seem to like her very much, and he definitely wasn’t going to warm up to her if Mocha kept digging giant holes in his yard. But Sunny had no idea how to get Mocha to stop, unless she literally crated the dog up when she couldn’t watch her closely. Sunny hated the thought of sticking Mocha in a crate for most of the day.

  A quick peek through the peephole in her front door showed her that it was indeed Clint on her front doorstep. With a long sigh, she opened the door. Behind Clint’s legs, Mocha hid and sheepishly peeked around at her.

  “I’m so sorry,” Sunny said. “I was unpacking and didn’t realize she’d slipped off again. I promise I’ll—”

  “What clan did you say you were from?” Clint interrupted her.

  “Huh? Oh, uh, I don’t think I actually said.” Sunny felt her heart starting to pound in her chest, and a nervous, swirling feeling started in the pit of her stomach.

  “That’s what I thought,” Clint said, narrowing his eyes at her. “So, tell me, Sunny. What clan are you from?”

  Sunny felt like the floor had been ripped from underneath her. “Oh, you know, just one of those East Coast clans.”

  “Which. One.”

  Sunny forced herself to look up at Clint. His eyes were intense. He didn’t look angry exactly. Just determined. “Um…”

  “The Eagle Thicket Clan?”

  Sunny’s eyes widened instantly. “Wait, what? How did you…I mean who told you…I mean…what?” Sunny was so taken off guard that she couldn’t manage to get a coherent sentence out. Then, Clint lifted his fist up, a fist that she hadn’t realized until now was clenched around a muddy blue t-shirt that looked suspiciously like her Academy of Ancient Magic t-shirt.

  “How did you get that?” Sunny asked. Her stomach was twisted into so many knots now that she felt like she couldn’t breathe. She glanced back into her living room, where her box of things from Eagle Thicket sat opened but unpacked.

  “Your lovely dog decided my flowerbed would be a good place to bury it.”

  “Mocha!” Sunny moaned, putting her head in her hands.

  “So, I’m going to ask you one more time. Which clan did you come from?”

  Sunny looked around nervously, as though someone might be hiding just around the corner to eavesdrop on their conversation. “You better come in,” she said to Clint.

  He looked mildly annoyed that she hadn’t answered his question yet, but he followed her inside without another word. She gestured toward the couch. “Have a seat.”

  He sat on the couch, and Sunny sat on one of the many boxes piled across from the couch. Mocha watched them warily from the entryway, sensing the tension in the air. Normally, Sunny would have rubbed all the mud off Mocha as soon as possible with the towel she kept by the door for that purpose. But Sunny didn’t have energy to care about mud right now. Not when her neighbor had just discovered her biggest secret. And of all the people she could have ended up living next to in Torch Lake, she just had to end up by one of the guys in charge of dragon recruitment, didn’t she? There was no way he was going to let her continue hiding her special magical abilities when he needed them to stop the dragon disappearances. But there was no way to hide things from Clint, so Sunny took a deep breath and began telling him everything.

  “I’m from the Eagle Thicket Clan, yes. I was born and raised in Eagle Thicket, and was trained at the Academy of Ancient Magic. I got a master’s degree in Ancient Magic, and was teaching some classes there to the undergraduates when the Dark War broke out. The Eagle Thicket High Council decided to send me away, because they wanted to make sure that if the city was attacked that someone on the outside would still have knowledge of ancient magic.”

  Clint blinked at her, and Sunny could tell he was trying to process everything she’d just told him. “So, did they send others away besides you? That might explain why there is someone out there doing these disappearing spells.”

  Sunny frowned. “As far as I know, I was the only one. I suppose the High Council might not have told me if they sent someone else, but according to them I was it. I’ve been trying to figure out how someone is doing the spells, too. My best guess is that someone escaped the fire and joined the dark wizards. It’s hard to imagine anyone at the Academy joining the dark wizards, though. They were all such wonderful people. They were fierce about fighting for what was good and right. It just d
oesn’t make sense to me that someone would leave all that behind and work for evil.”

  “A lot of things happened during the War that didn’t make sense,” Clint said, his frown growing deeper with every passing second.

  “Right. Well, there you have it. I know ancient magic, and I’m apparently one of only two wizards in the world who does.”

  “We need you to stop the other wizard, Sunny.”

  Sunny chewed her bottom lip so hard that she was surprised it wasn’t bleeding. “I knew you were going to say that.”

  Clint’s anger finally flashed. “Did you, now? I’m guessing you saw the press conference with the High Council today?”

  Sunny nodded miserably.

  “Then you should know that we have a desperate need for a wizard who can do ancient magic. Why didn’t you come forward immediately? I know you’re new to Torch Lake, but you’re a citizen here now. You should be doing everything you can to help the town through this crisis. How could you sit back and be quiet for even one second?”

  Sunny felt herself shrinking back under Clint’s rage. “You don’t understand. It isn’t that simple. Once everyone knows that I know ancient magic, I become a target. No one can get close to me without being in danger. I can’t walk down the street without being in danger. That’s no way to live. I don’t want to always be afraid that someone I love is going to get killed because of me.”

  To Sunny’s surprise, Clint’s face softened somewhat. “I get that, Sunny. I do. I’ve always been targeted by evil people because I’m a dragon. But I can’t hide who I am. Not when my clan needs me. And you shouldn’t hide who you are. There are risks to standing up and being brave, sure. But there are also risks to being silent. Good, innocent people in this town will be put at risk if we don’t get more dragon shifters here. We can’t hope to protect a town of this size against evil without more strong shifters. And you can help us with that. My god, Sunny, you can help us! Do you know how huge this is? I’ve gone from thinking it was going to take us at least a year, possibly more, to even track down ancient magic spells, then another year to teach them to a wizard…”

  Clint got up and crossed the space between them, crouching down in front of Sunny’s box seat and grabbing her upper arms with his hands. “Sunny, you can be a hero.”

  “I don’t want to be a hero. I just want to be Sunny.”

  “Oh come on. Everyone wants to be a hero. Maybe you don’t want to be famous, but there must be a part of you that wants to help people. To save the world? Why else would you have gotten a master’s degree in ancient magic?”

  Sunny frowned. He was right. She did have dreams of helping people. At least, she used to have dreams like that. The Great Dark War had crushed her spirit. “I’m serious, Clint. I just want to live in peace and quiet and be normal.”

  Clint laughed. “That’s all I wanted, too, and then you moved in next door. Nothing personal, but I liked living up here in solitude. I have to admit I wasn’t happy when you came along, with your rambunctious dog and bubbly personality.”

  “I’m not bubbly.”

  “Ha. Compared to me you are. Anyway, I thought you’d ruined my chance at peace, but it turns out you might be the key to fixing everything for me. And that would mean a heck of a lot of peace and quiet. The High Council has been breathing down my neck for a long time, asking me to fix things I have no way of fixing. But more importantly than my own peace of mind is the safety of Torch Lake. There are a lot of shifters and wizards here. A lot of lives that need protecting. You can help make sure we have the dragons we need to protect them.”

  “I guess I don’t really have a choice, now that you know who I am. It’s not like I’ll be able to hide out here and pretend I don’t know what’s going on.”

  Sunny saw a strange look pass over Clint’s face, then he stood and crossed his arms. Sunny looked up at him, surprised by how high he towered above her little box seat when he stood to his full height. Her arms tingled where he had been touching them a few seconds ago. For a brief moment, she let herself admire how handsome he was. He had an air of nobility around him, even though the dragon shifters hadn’t actually crowned kings for hundreds of years now. She wondered if he’d descended from one of the royal lines. He stared down at her with those intense eyes of his, and she could imagine him staring down from a throne.

  But when he spoke, he didn’t give her orders like a king. His voice had softened somewhat, but he did speak with great conviction.

  “Listen, Sunny. I won’t tell your secret. I’m a firm believer that no one should be forced into doing what’s right. I saw too many wizards and shifters during the war get pushed to their breaking point, and decide that maybe they were better off with the side of darkness. I swore to myself that if I was ever in a position of authority, I wouldn’t force anyone to fight. And I know that forcing you to tell who you really are would be like forcing you to fight.”

  Sunny swallowed hard. Was Clint actually going to let her keep her secret?

  “I haven’t known you that long,” Clint continued. “But you seem like a good person with a good heart. I’ll leave it up to you whether you join us in beating back the Dark Warriors or not. Think about it, and let me know what you decide. You know where to find me.”

  With that, Clint squeezed her shoulder and turned to leave. He stopped right before the front door though, and called over his shoulder. “Oh, and one other thing. Keep Mocha out of my flowerbeds.”

  Sunny didn’t move for a long time after he left. Her shoulder burned where he had squeezed it, and her heart was doing constant flip flops. Half of the flip-flops were because she couldn’t stop thinking about how handsome Clint was, and how good it felt when he touched her. And the other half were because she was nervous thinking about the decision she had to make.

  She knew in her heart what the right choice would be, but she felt sad at the thought of giving up her secret life. Sure, it was tough to get by on a barista salary, but she was managing. And she didn’t have to worry about anything except bills. She knew if she went back to the world of ancient magic, she’d be called upon to worry about a lot of things that were much scarier than an overdue credit card payment.

  Sunny eventually tried to go to sleep, but she could only toss and turn. In her mind’s eye, she kept seeing Barnabas, her old mentor from the Academy, handing over the book of ancient magic and charging her to keep it safe. She knew that Barnabas wouldn’t have backed down from helping the city of Torch Lake. He was always brave. Always ready for whatever life threw at him. And Sunny knew that if Barnabas were here now, he’d be disappointed that Sunny was even debating this decision.

  That was it, Sunny thought. She would not dishonor the memory of Barnabas. She had to stand up and be courageous. Torch Lake had taken her in when she had no family, and no clan. Now, it was time for her to do her part to defend the city.

  Before she could be tempted to change her mind, Sunny hopped out of bed and threw a hoodie over her pajamas. Ignoring the fact that it was one in the morning—a completely indecent time to go knocking on your neighbor’s door—Sunny marched across her yard and into Clint’s and right up to his front door. She banged loudly, bouncing nervously on her toes as she waited.

  Clint must have still been awake, because less than a minute passed before he opened the door. He didn’t say anything, just gave her a quizzical look and waited for her to speak first.

  “I’m in,” Sunny said. “I know this is going to make my life really crazy, but you’re right. I can’t just sit around when Torch Lake is in danger and there’s something I could do to help. So I’m in. I’ll perform the counter spell. At least, I’ll do my best to perform it. It’s not an easy one to do.”

  A smile broke out across Clint’s face. “I knew you’d come through for me, Sunny,” he said. And then, to Sunny’s complete shock and delight, he bent his head low and kissed her on the lips.

  Chapter Eleven

  Clint had to admit that seeing the jaws of th
e High Council members dropping in shock made for a pretty gratifying sight. It wasn’t every day that you managed to shock the most advanced wizards and shifters in Torch Lake, but it also wasn’t every day that you found a wizard skilled in ancient magic.

  Sunny had just finished explaining to the High Council who she was, and their reactions had been even better than Clint could have hoped for. Perhaps it was childish of him, but he had an almost overwhelming urge to stand up and say “Booyah! Looks like I wasn’t such a lazy, terrible government employee after all.”

  He resisted the urge, of course, and sat silently with a stoic expression on his face as he waited for the High Councilors to speak. As for Sunny, she looked about as nervous as Clint had ever seen anyone look. Her face was pale and her eyes flitted anxiously back and forth between the High Council members. She stood tall, though, and Clint was damn proud of her. He knew it hadn’t been easy for her to get up and talk about her old clan, and about everything that she’d lost. But she had prepared well for her speech and made it through without leaving out anything important.

  She looked lovely, too. Absolutely lovely. She’d traded in her barista apron for a pair of black dress pants and a simple white blouse. Her hair was pulled back into a neat bun, and she was wearing just a hint of makeup. Clint could have kissed her, again. If the entire High Council hadn’t been in the room right now, he might have tried it.

  He still couldn’t believe that he had actually kissed her the first time. He’d been so overwhelmed with gratitude when Sunny had knocked on his door to tell him that she would help, that he hadn’t been able to hold back. They hadn’t discussed the kiss, which made things slightly awkward between them. After the kiss, Sunny had blushed, then turned around and ran back to her house. Clint worried that he’d made her upset, but the next morning she’d come over at the crack of dawn to ask if she could talk to the High Council today. She wanted to get things moving before she lost her nerve, she’d said.