Stealth and the Dragon (Redwood Dragons Book 7)

by Sloane Meyers

  “Get away from me! No one is supposed to see me like this!” he yelled.

  Holden continued to kneel calmly beside him. “Like what?” Holden asked. “Like this?”

  Holden held up his right hand, and allowed it to shift into dragon form. His own hand’s transformation was much smoother than Nick’s had been. Holden kept his eyes on Nick’s face, watching the boy’s eyes widen as he stared in shock at the fierce, clawed dragon hand that now appeared where a human hand had been only moments before. The change had shocked Nick into silence, and the boy sat, panting and sweating, with his own hand limply hanging by his side, half human and half dragon.

  “What…how…who are you?” Nick choked out, looking suspiciously at Holden.

  “I’m Holden. I’m a friend, and a dragon shifter just like you. I can help you.”

  “I’m not a dragon shifter!” Nick yelled, scooting backward away from Holden until a few feet separated them. “I don’t even know what that is.”

  “You cannot change who you are, Nick,” Holden said. His use of the boy’s name seemed to get his attention. “But I can help you control it.”

  There was a pause in the conversation as Nick screamed in pain again, falling to the ground and writhing. Violet stepped forward, uncertain but worried.

  “What’s wrong with him?” she asked, fear in her voice. “He sounds like he’s dying. We have to get him to a doctor!”

  “He’s not dying,” Holden said calmly, motioning for Violet to back up. “He’s just got an inner dragon who has never been let out. Until he shifts, the pain will continue to get worse, and the attempts of his body to shift will get harder and harder to resist.”

  Violet still looked uncertain, but she backed away. Holden’s respect for her went up a lot in that moment. He already respected her, as his partner on this mission, but he knew it wasn’t easy for her to trust him right now. Not with a boy writhing on the ground in mortal pain. He felt a pang of guilt that he hadn’t trusted her more and told her about Nick from the first moment he realized the boy’s secret. But he’d had his reasons, and he didn’t have time for feeling guilty right now. Nick needed his help.

  Nick had stopped screaming for a moment, his inner dragon taking a short reprieve from trying to get out. But Holden knew it would not be long before the dragon tried again. He’d never seen a shifter child this old who hadn’t shifted before, but he’d heard awful tales of how situations like this caused extreme pain, and often uncontrolled violence on the part of the shifter child. No wonder Nick had been wreaking so much havoc in Blackstone. He was a boy on the edge.

  “Can you really help me?” Nick was asking now, his voice a desperate plea. “Can you help me control it?”

  “Yes,” Holden said, his voice firm and confident. “But you have to trust me. Can you do that, Nick? Can you trust me, and do exactly as I say? I promise I am a friend. I’m here to help you.”

  Nick didn’t answer, but Holden thought he saw a slight nod, and that was enough of an answer for Holden. He walked over to Nick, slowly and deliberately, and took the boy’s hands. Nick trembled but did not pull away.

  “Stand up,” Holden said, pulling the boy up as he spoke. “Stand up and hold onto both of my hands tightly. Then close your eyes and just breathe, in and out, in and out.”

  Nick did as he was told, whimpering and trembling. Holden waited until he felt Nick’s palms beginning to tighten about his own, indicating that Nick’s dragon was once again trying to fight its way out of him.

  “Alright, Nick, I know this hurts a bit and feels strange, but I promise you I’m going to take care of you. Keep your eyes closed, and breathe in and out as steadily as you can. Focus all your energy on your breathing. Don’t think about anything else, and don’t open your eyes. You’re going to feel almost as though a rush of electricity is shooting through you. Ignore it, and the pain, as best you can. Just breathe, Nick. Just breathe.”

  Nick’s grip on Holden’s hands tightened even more, until Holden felt as though the boy’s small hands were going to crush his much larger palms. But still, Holden held on. The boy kept his eyes closed as he’d been told, but after a few moments he began to scream again.

  “Breathe, Nick! Just breathe! Don’t think about anything else. Keep breathing, and keep your eyes closed.”

  Nick continued screaming, but he did seem to be making an attempt to steady his breathing, despite his screams. After another few moments, his grip on Holden’s hands loosened, and the boy’s hands and forearms started shifting into dragon claws once again. Nick screamed, and started to try to fight the transformation. His hands began to turn human once again, and Holden knew he needed to step in.

  “Nick, don’t resist it. Just breathe. Focus on the energy you feel in your core, and just breathe.”

  Nick’s hands turned back to dragon claws. A popping sound echoed across the nearby rock walls as Nick’s shoes flew off his feet in shreds, giving way to the giant dragon feet that were breaking free from Nick’s human form. As soon as those shoes came off, Holden knew that Nick was going to see this transformation through. For the first time, the boy would see himself as the dragon that he was.

  The rest of the dragon came forth in a rush of power and energy. Nick’s t-shirt and shorts tore away, and desperate human screams became the loud, primal roars of a dragon.

  “Get back, Violet,” Holden yelled over his shoulder. “And keep that protective shield up. He’s going to be disoriented and a bit wild when he’s all done shifting.”

  Violet did as she was told, flattening herself against one of the rock walls as Nick finally became fully dragon. He was enormous, with the deepest green dragon hide and scales that Holden had ever seen. His head had two sharp horns, and his long tail was magnificently spiked. Two wings had sprouted from his back, and Nick seemed unsure of what to do with them. He flapped them a few times, stumbling about as he stretched out his dragon body. Holden knew Nick must be feeling disoriented. The dragon ran straight into one of the rock walls, which seemed to freak him out. He roared, and took off running in the other direction, flapping his wings and swishing his tail, until he ran into another of the large rocky walls. The dragon coughed a few times, and then breathed out a stream of fire. This seemed to surprise him, and he ran in fright until he bumped into another rock wall. Holden held back, letting Nick’s dragon thrash about in confusion for a few minutes. Violet watched with wide eyes, and was surely glad for her protective shield in the next moment, when Holden’s large, spiky tail swished directly at her. It stopped when it came into contact with the protective shield, and swished in the other direction.

  When Nick’s dragon finally started to calm, Holden walked up to him, speaking slowly and firmly.

  “Alright, Nick. You did really well for a first shift. Now it’s time to get you back to human form. Nod your head if you can hear me and understand me.”

  Nick’s giant dragon head bobbed unsteadily up and down, and Holden gave him an encouraging smile.

  “Good,” Holden said. “Now, I want you to hold very still, close your eyes, and breathe in and out steadily once again. As you do, concentrate on your dragon claws, and imagine them becoming human hands once again.”

  Nick’s dragon eyes blinked shut, and his dragon chest shuddered a bit as he attempted to steady his breathing. Holden was silent, waiting and hoping that Nick was doing as he’d been asked, and was concentrating on his human form. It took a few minutes, but Nick seemed determined to master this, and Holden waited patiently. Then, his patience was rewarded. A sudden pop of powerful energy rushed across the space between them, and Nick began shrinking in size. His thick dragon hide once again turned to human flesh, and his tail and wings disappeared. In less than a minute, Nick was in human form again, lying on the ground shaking and sobbing. But his sobs no longer sounded tortured or filled with pain. They sounded tired, and relieved.

  Holden went to the boy and scooped him up in his arms.

  “Shhh. Shhh,” he said. “It
’s all over now. That’s the worst it will ever be. You’re going to be fine.”

  Holden looked over at Violet, who was still standing against the rock wall, uncertain of what she should do.

  “Can you cast some sort of sleeping spell on him?” Holden asked. “He needs to rest.”

  Violet nodded and rushed over. Holden figured she was glad that there was some way she could help out. She raised her magic ring above his head tenderly.

  “Magicae dormeo,” she said in a soft voice. Almost instantly, Nick’s sobbing ceased. His eyes closed, and he went limp in Holden’s arms. The boy’s breathing changed to the steady rhythm of sleep.

  “I’ll clean up this mess, too,” Violet said, pointing her ring at the shreds of clothes that had torn off of Nick’s body when he shifted. “Magicae eradico, magicae eradico.”

  As Violet spoke, the spell she was using caused the torn clothes to disintegrate to dust. When she was done, she looked up at Holden with a suspicious expression.

  “You didn’t seem all that surprised to find a shifter here,” she said, her tone somewhat accusing. “I get the feeling that there’s something you’re not telling me.”

  Holden sighed. “Yeah. There’s a lot I’m not telling you, and I owe you a big apology for that. We need to get this boy to his mother, though. Can you cast an invisibility spell so that we can head into town without being seen? We can take him to our apartment and find him some clothes, and then we can try to track down where his home is located.”

  Magicae invisibilia,” Violet said in response. The energy of the invisibility spell buzzed around them. The spell might not hold up well against dark wizards, but it would keep Violet, Holden, and Nick completely concealed as they walked into town. And it was a good thing, too. Holden didn’t want to imagine what the people of Blackstone would say if they saw him walking in with Nick in his arms, asleep and completely naked.

  “Thanks,” Holden said. “Let’s go, and I’ll explain everything.”

  And he did. As they walked back toward town, Holden told her everything. He started with the moment he had realized Nick might be a shifter—the moment he’d seen those green, churning eyes. Then he told her about his conversations with Weston about ghosters, and with Elise about Nick’s long-lost father. When he finally stopped talking, Violet was silent for quite some time, her brows knitted in thought. Holden worried that she was angry, but her face gave nothing away. When she finally spoke, thought, her voice sounded more sad than angry.

  “You should have told me,” she said. “You know I wouldn’t have laughed at you. I would have tried to help you from the beginning.”

  “I know,” Holden said. How could he explain to her that one of the biggest reasons he’d kept silent was that his feelings for Elise confused him? He was determined not to let his heart get tangled up with Elise’s, and yet he feared that it already was. Besides, he had a feeling he was going to be seeing a lot more of Elise. Nick needed his help, and Holden wasn’t going to leave the boy hanging. That likely meant spending a lot more time around Elise. Holden looked down at the boy sleeping in his arms, and then sighed. The boy was likely going to be in a state of shock when he woke up. Holden could only hope that he could calm the boy in time to keep him from lashing out at someone in town or destroying someone’s property. Holden felt as though each day here seemed to bring something new to worry about. Elise. Nick. Ghosters. Violet’s anger. It had been much easier when all he’d had to think about was whether Saul had any men here.

  But Violet spoke again, then, and her words made it clear that she didn’t hold any sort of grudge against him. “You’re a good man, Holden, taking care of the boy like this. He’s really lucky you’re here.”

  Holden smiled gratefully at her as they arrived back at their apartment complex and started walking toward their building. “Thanks, V. I only hope his mom agrees with your opinion on that.”

  Holden feared Elise was not going to react well to the news that her son was a dragon. One thing was certain: the next few hours were going to be full of difficult situations.

  “I didn’t sign up for this,” Holden muttered to himself as Violet fumbled in her pockets, looking for the keys to their apartment. “I’m supposed to be chasing down dark wizards, not babysitting young shifters.”

  And yet, Holden already felt himself excited by the idea of training Nick in the ways of shifting. The kid had had a rough start at life, but he had a ton of potential, too. He was plucky and determined, and Holden thought they were going to get along just swell—provided that Elise allowed him to help. The thought of Elise tied Holden’s stomach in knots again, and he pushed away those thoughts as he walked into the apartment and deposited Nick on the couch while he went to look for some clothes.

  There was only one way to find out what she thought about shifters, and that was to go talk to her about this whole situation. It was time to get this show on the road.

  Chapter Five

  Elise tensed up when she heard the doorbell ring. She hadn’t seen Nick for hours, but she had a feeling that whoever was at her door right now was here to complain about him. She let her hairbrush drop on her bathroom counter with a frustrated sigh, and made her way to the front door. She was almost ready for her shift at the diner, and she could not be late again. Her boss was already angry enough with her over the fight yesterday, and he was looking for any excuse to chew her out. Elise didn’t think he’d fire her. She was his best waitress, and this was a small town. He’d have a hard time replacing her with someone who could keep up the pace she did. Still, she didn’t want to see how far he would go when he was angry. If she lost this job, she’d be screwed. She had no savings, and was barely getting by as it was.

  Elise took a deep, steadying breath. She couldn’t let her worries get away with her like that. She was a survivor. She’d made it through tough times before, and this would be no different. She had to stay strong for Nick. He had a good heart deep down, Elise knew that. She just had to help him through whatever was tormenting him right now. She wished he would open up to her and tell her what was bothering him, but he refused to talk about it. He refused to talk about much of anything, actually, and that hurt Elise more than anything. They used to be close, and he used to freely tell her all his worries and fears, but he’d clammed up lately, hiding in his secret world of pain. Elise had been hopeful for a few brief minutes last night that the new guy in town, Holden, might actually know how to help Nick. But then Holden had disappeared, and Elise hadn’t seen or heard from him today. Elise wasn’t holding out much hope that she was ever going to see him again.

  The doorbell rang again, and Elise quickened her step, biting her lower lip to try to calm her nerves. She stood on tiptoe to peer through the peephole, bracing herself for what she would see. But what she saw was not at all what she expected, and she gasped. She’d assumed she’d find one of the angry men who was always yelling at her about Nick’s bad behavior, but the only man she saw was Holden. And in Holden’s arms, Nick lay limp.

  Elise’s heart dropped all the way to her feet and she flung the door open. “Nicky!” she gasped, her voice catching in a sob. She started toward him, but Holden stepped quickly away so she couldn’t touch him.

  “He’s fine, Elise. Just sleeping. He needs to rest, and I need to talk to you,” Holden said.

  Elise ignored him and stepped toward Nick, putting one hand on his wrist to feel for a pulse, and placing the other hand lovingly on his forehead. Holden started to pull away again, but he stopped when another voice spoke up.

  “It’s alright, Holden. He won’t wake easily while he’s under the sleeping spell.”

  Elise whipped her head to the left, looking for the source of the voice. A slender woman with deep purple eyes and silky, chestnut hair stood there, twisting absentmindedly at a large purple ring on her finger that matched the color of her eyes. Elise had been so distraught by the sight of Holden that she hadn’t even noticed the woman standing off to the side.

&n
bsp; “Who is this?” Elise asked, a note of accusation in her voice. Her stomach was twisting up uncomfortably. The woman seemed pleasant enough, but she was dazzlingly beautiful, and Elise had a feeling that no man on earth would be able to resist the woman. Jealousy burned in Elise’s core, not because she begrudged the woman her beauty but because she had a sinking feeling that this woman was with Holden. Elise had not admitted it to herself until then, but she’d been nursing a tiny crush on Holden. She should have known better than to think a man like him wasn’t taken already. He was too handsome, too kind. Too much of a catch.

  “This is my partner, Violet,” Holden said. “She helped me get Nick here without being seen. But we’re going to be seen if we stand out here any longer. Can we come in?”

  Elise resisted the feeling of despair that tried to sweep over her when Holden said Violet was his partner. She took a deep breath and stood as tall as she could, reminding herself that the most important thing right now was taking care of Nick, not worrying about losing a man she’d never had a claim to in the first place. Still, jealousy is a hard beast to keep down, and Elise felt it roaring up within her when Violet placed a hand on Holden’s arm and leaned over to whisper something in his ear. Holden nodded, and Elise was sure she saw tenderness in his eyes when he looked up at Violet.

  Swallowing hard, Elise forced herself to stand as tall as she could, and pointed toward the door to Holden’s left.

  “This is Nick’s room,” she said. “You can put him down on his bed in there.”

  Holden nodded, and moved toward the room. Violet followed, opening the bedroom door for him so he could walk in easily. Elise wanted to scream at her to go away, and that her help wasn’t needed. But Elise had no real reason to dislike Violet, so she bit her tongue. The woman seemed nice enough, and did seem to be genuinely concerned for Nick, which was what mattered right now. Elise had been relieved to feel a pulse when she’d checked Nick’s wrist a minute before, but the limpness of his body and the way he slept so deeply worried her. She didn’t see any bruises or scratches on his body, which hopefully meant he had not been in a fight. But she did notice that the clothes he was wearing were not his clothes. The t-shirt and gym shorts he had on looked about five sizes too big. It was a wonder they didn’t fall off.