Morgan couldn’t figure out why she stayed. There were no walls boxing her in. She could start walking at any time. Sure, it would be slow progress, but at least then she would not be surrounded by dragons from every side. If people at home thought she was a dragon sympathetic for a few simple words, if they saw where she was, they’d lose their minds.
Heck, they’d lose their minds if they knew how many dragons lived nearby.
Still, Morgan paused and took a moment to consider their great number. Even if there were a ton of dragons and they had the physical upper hand, she’d never seen them raise a hand against humanity. At least, not these dragons.
No, she shook her head and told herself she was being silly. These dragons did not hold back out of any kind of respect for humanity. Perhaps, GOE had learned how to fight against them and they stayed hidden here out of fear. That made more sense to Morgan’s tired mind.
She needed to get away from them, she told herself. This was a dangerous place to be. Would the crowd around her start to see her as the enemy? It would be all too easy for them to turn and and trample her simply for being human.
Morgan turned to leave, finally pulling away from the crowd before her. The conviction she’d felt while staring at the mass, the certainty that they were afraid of retaliation started to fade. Her mind was a jumbled mess of confusion. There was nothing certain in her life, not as she stood on dragon territory and listened to their leader spout assurances over their safety.
Perhaps her foul thinking was a product of her equally foul mood. These were people.
She wrapped her arms around herself and retreated to the tiny place the dragons had given her to stay in. Hand hesitating over the door knob, her eyes swept over the woods and the road beyond before glancing back at the crowd. They wouldn’t stop her if she ran for it, but she also knew there would be no place safe for her in town, either.
With a resigned sigh, she opened the door.
***
The elders stood before Kenji. None of them looked very pleased. They threw grumpy glances in his direction and he couldn’t fathom why they’d summoned him. The world was frustrating, but what could he do to help them?
Besides, they were a part of the Territory family, now. Decisions were no longer up to them. There was no council.
Hector sighed as he let his body collapse into a seat. The man was aging more and more each day. His wife was healing, but her soul needed more healing than the mystic could offer. Hector worked with Lucia every day to bring her back from the place she’d been.
The look Hector tossed Kenji said he knew about as much as Kenji did about what was going on. This made Kenji turn back toward the other elders, once his fellow council members.
“We need to leave,” the older woman hissed. “This family serves no purpose for us anymore.”
Kenji felt the floor fly out from beneath him at her words. He shot to his feet. “What are you saying?”
She turned to him, standing tall in the face of a man twice as wide as she was. Her glare was something dragons had cowered beneath. “We stayed, we tried to integrate, because we thought they would win this war for us. The Territory family has failed and now is the time to cut our losses.”
Hector appeared beside Kenji. “You can’t be serious.”
The Territory family had given Hector everything he’d ever wanted. Not only did he have his boys back in his life, he knew his wife was safe in their care. They were a family again, more than he ever thought he’d have. Now, his extended family told him it was time to leave all of that behind. He was right to feel outrage.
“You,” the old woman aimed her attention, a laser beam of contempt, back at Kenji. “I’m disappointed in you. You aren’t a champion for this other family. They don’t need you like we do. Why would you turn your back on us?”
“Turn my back on you?” He struggled to keep his voice from rising. Anger crashed inside of him, it eroded the façade he’d been trying to show. “I took the position to keep both families safe, because aren’t we supposed to be one family now? Didn’t we come here to join them and their safety?”
The woman waved him off. “They aren’t protecting us. This family will fail us again and again and I will not stay to watch it happen.”
“Like we failed our family? Like how we lost two dragons during a freaking storm?
“That storm was caused by one of their dragons and you know it,” she snapped, pointing her finger at him. “Don’t blame us for something their irresponsible dragon caused. If they cannot even control their gifts, then what did we ever expect from them?”
Kenji’s fists clenched by his sides. Never before had he felt more betrayed. He thought of Morgan, the woman who nearly hated him and his people, and knew not even she was as mean as this. He turned back toward the elder he’d once followed.
“You failed our family when you refused to rescue the dragons our carelessness had lost us.” His voice was oddly even for the rage he felt. “If you want to leave, you’re welcome to go. Just know I will not be leaving with you.”
Hector moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with him in solidarity. There was no ripping the man away from his family. The best they’ve ever gotten has been on the grounds of the Territory.
Kenji turned to leave, but he paused. His body still angled between the door and Winnifred, he looked up at her. “Are you sure you aren’t just a little hurt that you are no longer in charge?”
After a display such as Dane’s, where he managed to calm and reassure over two hundred and fifty dragons, it was easy to see how she could be jealous. Dane was young compared to her, and yet he’d commanded the love and attention of his family with ease. He was respected.
“Nothing matters,” she growled from between her clenched teeth. Perhaps he had struck a chord. “I will leave and I will take with me those who fear staying with this family.”
It was Hector who spoke up. “What will you do with your lives? Will you run forever? Will you hide from the world, from the Guardians who seek to scoop up their lost toys? Because, be warned you will undoubtedly lose crucial members of our family. Kenji has found meaning here. Quinn has found a mate among this family. Do you think her aunt and uncle will leave her side if she chooses to stay with her mate?”
Even so, Kenji couldn’t help but wonder if he, too, would choose to leave. Not only would it put space between him and the woman he would never have, but if the families separated again, Kenji would be able to lead again. He would have a voice of power and it was a tempting option.
Hector seemed to notice his hesitation. He shook his head, eyes lined with worry. All Kenji could do was lay a hand on the man’s shoulder. He had not yet decided what he would do with his life, if he would stay or if he would go.
“Don’t follow this bag of hot air,” Hector pleaded. Kenji laughed at the apt description of the female elder. “She only wants power to be back in her rusty claws. I will speak to the dragons who came with us and ask them what choice they would make. Perhaps I can convince most of them to stay with us.”
Kenji sucked in a breath. There was temptation before him and he wanted to lean toward it. Reason be damned, he wanted his life to make sense again. He wanted meaning, more meaning than the small role Liana offered him in this family.
It made his heart clench. He no longer wanted to stand here and play power games. Instead, Kenji’s mind wandered in a direction he hadn’t thought of. Morgan was alone in a new place, perhaps even scared.
After the day she’d had, the least he could do with himself was make it a bit brighter.
Chapter Five
Kenji had seen her flinch when she got out of his truck, the reality of her circumstances setting in like a slap to the face. He’d moved to help her, but found her already limping off toward the tiny home Noelle used to live in. It was something, a place she could sleep until they could find out what to do with her.
Kenji couldn’t help but wonder if the woman would ever be welcomed back in
her hometown again. The way the boys had threatened her made the beast inside of him growl. It raged and demanded retribution, an overwhelming wave of emotion coming from the usually quiet creature inside of him.
Being locked in the truck cab with her had driven him crazy. His nostrils had been filled with the scent of her. It wrapped around him and held him tight, making him want to reach out and touch her once more, as if to prove she was real. Why would he act this way around someone he knew nothing about?
With the meeting over, Kenji told himself to do something else, get his mind off the impending split from his family. He would go back to his shared home and figure out what to do with his wandering mind. For once, it was not wandering back to Quinn. As he pulled away from the tiny home, he glanced in the rearview mirror and decided he did not want to go back to the house he shared.
It would be filled with cranky dragons anyway. The elders were screaming about the lost trial, they were fighting to leave the Territory, fighting amongst themselves. He didn’t have the patience for it tonight, not when thoughts of Morgan’s safety pricked the edges of his mind. The woman should be fine in the heart of the Territory, but he’d seen that people were willing to go to strange measures for what they believed in.
Instead, the wheels of the truck found another rocky road, one a bit more well-travelled. He knew what lay just outside of the Territory, a small shack that didn’t care if you were a dragon or a human or a purple sludge monster, not that those existed.
Kenji ordered more food than he should have, but the urge to make sure she was fed had been overwhelming. The man behind the counter, a pot-bellied human with a gleaming, bald head, had looked at him with mild interest, his eyes alighting on the scars around Kenji’s arms.
Most days, he proudly bore them. The scars were proof he’d survived. They were all the proof he needed to remind him he was strong. Still, cold crept up his arms. He remembered the ice, how it sent tiny needles of pain through his body.
Kenji hadn’t been prepared to deal with an enhanced ice dragon. The creature’s powers had been overwhelming and Kenji found himself encased in ice before he would blink. It weighed him down, pressed in on him from every direction while the needle like pain drove into his mind. He thought he would die that day.
It’d been worth it, he reminded himself. It had been to protect Quinn and her new future. Losing her had almost hurt as much as the ice had, but it was a fact he needed to live with.
An hour later, Kenji showed up on the doorstep of the tiny home with two, heavy Styrofoam containers in hand. With no free hands to knock, he gently kicked the door. It swung open at his touch and he cursed. It hadn’t been shut all the way and when it opened, he could see Morgan’s form sprawled out on the bed.
He turned to leave until she shot upward. Body tense, her eyes searched around her.
“I didn’t mean to…” Kenji fought for the right words. “I’m sorry, I’ll leave.”
Her eyes landed on the Styrofoam containers and then on his awkward posture. He was ready to turn and run away from her, give the woman space to breathe. He hadn’t meant to scare her. It was the last thing he wanted.
Finally, her shoulders relaxed. “No, you don’t have to go.”
Her words pulled Kenji back. The smell of roasted chicken tickled his nose. It wafted into the tiny home and pulled her from where she sat on the bed. He nodded, crossing the threshold. Inside, he wondered how the Chinese dragon woman had ever managed to live in here. He remembered the woman was barely over five feet tall, unlike him and Morgan. The woman nearly brushed the ceiling at her full height, while Kenji had to duck his head as he made his way to the table.
He set a tray before her, gesturing for her to sit and eat. “I thought you might be hungry.”
His own tray in his hands, he lingered, not sure what to do with himself. Would she want company? Should he leave?
Morgan collapsed into a chair, seemingly relieved to have more space between her head and the ceiling. Her eyes met his before turning toward the chair across from her, a non-verbal request for him to sit. Relief flooded him.
“I can’t believe I’m eating dinner with a dragon,” she said into her Styrofoam container. She looked up, eyes taking him in from head to toe. “What kind of dragon are you, even? Shit. Is that rude? Should I have asked that?”
He felt a smile crawling across his lips. Her awkward attempts at conversation were nothing like Quinn’s intimidating presence. Kenji found it… endearing. He found himself easing into her presence as she made a face at herself for her presumptuous behavior. He couldn’t blame her.
The woman had probably grown up away from everything supernatural and magical, people whispering in her ear that the dragons were dangerous. Now that she found herself surrounded by them on all sides, she was fumbling to reach for a sense of normal, even if it was only stilted conversation.
“I’ve never heard of it being an offensive question, although I haven’t spent much time among others. Not until recently, that is.”
Morgan cocked her head to the side, studying him and putting together the pieces he’d presented. She swallowed and nodded before turning back to the meal laid out before her. Kenji fumbled for anything else to say as he watched her begin to distance herself once more. He didn’t want to give up the time they would spend together, even if she was a stranger. Something inside of him whispered to savor it, to grab at this time with greedy fingers.
“I’ve heard there were dragons among your mother’s people. Dragons are found all over the world, so it should be surprising, but it kind of is.”
Her head rose, a boiled potato dripping with butter pausing half way to her mouth. She rose a brow, as if to silently say his claim was incredulous. On the surface, it seemed so.
“Hear me out. Haven’t you ever wondered what’s in Lake Champlain? Or about Ogopogo in Okanagan Lake? I’d bet they’re just water dragons living on the down-low.”
Morgan snorted and the sound oddly pleased Kenji. He wanted to hear her make it again. His eyes wandered over her face as she continued to eat in silence. She was well aware of his gaze, raising her hand to cover her mouth when she bit into potatoes or chicken. But, Kenji wanted nothing more than to memorize the curve of her cheek or the way her hair traveled in straight tendrils down her temples. It was dark and shining and he ached to run his fingers through the silken length.
“Do you think they have the right idea?” Morgan finally asked. “You know, living under the radar and everything. It seems like the whole world is looking at you right now.”
Kenji thought about it. The trial, their word against GOE, had been rough. He hadn’t liked everyone’s stares, the sheer number of people weighing his word and his scars against the word of a human man, as if one weighed more than the other simply because the man was human. It’d been a challenge each day to face them and know they didn’t believe him for a moment.
Sucking in a breath through his nose, Kenji shrugged. “It’s done and over now. No going back.”
“It wasn’t… It wasn’t some plot to take over the American government, was it?”
This time, Kenji laughed. It was a bark that filled the whole room. He couldn’t help it; the idea was simply ridiculous. He’d seen enough dragons trying to make a group decision in his lifetime that he knew putting them in a position much like the Senate would be disastrous.
“What’s so funny?” Morgan snapped. She shot upright, her spin straight and her fingers tight around the plastic fork in her hand.
Kenji fought for a breath, pushing back his laughter like closing the door on a too full closet. Finally, he wrangled it enough to speak again. “Is that what people truly think? Do they assume we’re after power?”
Morgan didn’t speak, didn’t nod or shake her head. She only watched him, like an animal ready to bolt if Kenji so much as moved. His heart started sinking. It wasn’t an expression he wanted to see on her face again. What had he done to frighten her? Perhaps frighten was the wro
ng word, he thought, trying to read her blank expression. It was in the corners of her eyes, the slightest crinkle, that he found the truth.
She was angry. She was angry he treated her question with such humor, treating her serious inquisition unfairly. He sat forward, trying to summon a solemn tone to use.
“I promise you, we have no aim for seats of power within government. If we were to aim toward the government, it would only to acquire the privileges any other citizen might have.”
Morgan’s brows furrowed. “You have all this land, a home to call yours. What more do you need.”
Kenji’s jaw tightened. As much as he was drawn to the woman, he couldn’t believe some of the things she’d said. It was another reminder of how people didn’t look too closely at situations that didn’t affect them. Their world was limited to their own struggles, the obstacles put in the paths of others weren’t their concern.
“You see that truck outside?” Kenji tipped his head toward the black truck parked in front of the tiny home. “I shouldn’t even be driving it. Dragons don’t have access to any kind of identification in the U.S. let alone access to road tests. It’s nifty to be able to fly wherever I need to go, but people aren’t always happy to see a dragon in the air above their heads.”
Morgan’s eyes travelled out the window while she digested her food and his words. Eventually, she swallowed, taking it all down. “I’m sorry.”
Kenji wanted to sigh, to say it was alright. But, it wasn’t. It rubbed his scales the wrong way that people were all too willing to look in the other direction. The jury at the trial must have believed the same of the dragons on the stand. The jury thought they were all gunning for the government when all they wanted was freedom for their kind.
***
Morgan knew she was a fool. Guilt sat like a heavy stone in her stomach. She’d accused this man of things when she clearly didn’t understand their situation. It was, in some ways, reminiscent of the situation her mother’s ancestors had lived through. How could she not see that? Morgan was all too caught up in her own misfortune to see what was even going on around her.
The Dragon's Charm (Elemental Dragons Book 4) Page 4
