by Lacy LeRoch
She runs past, unable to see me as I’m hidden in the smoke of the vision. I inhale out of reflex and get a smell of freshly cut roses.
This makes Dragon sit up and pay attention. “Mine,” he growls.
He turns my head, so I’m staring down the hall watching the woman run out of sight. His concentration completely focused and paying attention only to her.
The vision shifts, this time showing me the same woman, standing at the end of a bed. There’s something familiar about the place we’re now in. The room is small and painted pale pink. The walls have paintings of mountains and rivers hanging on them. Next to the bed is a machine that beeps slowly. I take a step closer, and try to see who it is that’s making this beautiful woman’s face crinkle with worry.
“We will hurt whoever has given her that look,” Dragon growls.
Dragon’s overprotectiveness is almost comical. He never gets protective about anything. Not even his own wings. So to hear him being like this toward a woman that he’s only ever seen in a vision, makes my own senses stand up and pay attention. I need to focus on finding out as much I can about this vision before it fades into the nothingness.
“Hush you,” I growl and lean down to look at the face in the bed. “No way,” I whisper aloud.
The tiny woman turns in my direction. Shit, I know not to speak during a vision. My own mind lost where I was and what I was here for. I’m blown away, and can’t believe what I’m seeing. Lying in the bed is Lucy, she looks completely exhausted and rundown. As I take a step closer, I can see that her stomach is very swollen, and she must be close to having the babe.
“You need to stay off your feet and rest. Please trust me in this matter, as hard as it will be for you to stay still, I need you to listen. It is best for both you and the baby.” With that, the small woman walks out of the room, only to be stopped by Rafe, who rests a hand on her shoulder.
My instincts get the better of me, and I start to burn up from the inside out. I don’t like him touching her. My eyes start to slant with the need to shift, and Dragon starts to push forward.
“Ours,” he growls with lethal intent.
As if hearing the threatening growl, Rafe turns to face where I’m standing and lowers his hand off her shoulder. He shakes his head slightly and turns back to the woman.
“I know you didn’t ask for this, but I need you to understand that I will do anything to save the life of my baby.”
The vision begins to fade, clouding starts to form in the corner of my eyes, making it hard to distinguish anything else. As I regain my sight, I notice that I’m lying face down on the table.
“Holy fuck,” I mutter shaken.
Romie laughs. “Now, you understand why I showed you. I couldn’t make heads nor tails of it for a long time.”
I get up from the table and start to pace around the room. I’m not sure what to make of what I’ve just witnessed. My mind is still in the vision, and I start to play it over and over in my head. I know there are clues there, but I just can’t find any at the moment.
“Philli?”
At the sound of Romie’s voice, I raise my eyes from the ground. As my focus comes back, I find Romie staring at me. “What do you make of all of this, Romie?” I ask while trying to remain still.
“I think we need to find this woman. I think that we need to work out when the attack is going to come, and we need to keep an eye on Lucy. The question we should be asking, is do we tell Rafe about any of this?”
I had not thought about that bit of information. My hand skims over my once perfect styled hair as I try to think of a solution, only to draw up a blank.
“The thing is, if we tell him and it turns out to be nothing, then he will have our heads on a spike. He’s already suffered a great deal at the start of the Lyian mating call, and then with everything that’s happened to Lucy, I don’t think he could handle finding out anymore just yet.” I start to pace the room. “But then again if we don’t tell him and he comes to find out we knew… oh, fuck me,” I cry out grabbing hold of my hair and pulling it hard.
Romie seems to be thinking along the same lines as I am. He glances over and opens his mouth in shock. “I understand all of that, Philli. As I’ve said, I’ve been having these visions for the last month or two. But it wasn’t until the last couple of days, that I’ve been able to see things more clearly. Before… it was just shapes and sounds. Now… I can tell every detail. But what worries me the most is that I never see the attack happen. I only ever see the aftermath. It’s like…”
Mon Dieu, this can’t be happening. The pit of heaviness in my stomach grows excessively.
“It’s like, they have a way to block the powers of a Seer,” I say aloud with a sigh.
I can’t believe what I’ve just said, but it’s the only thing that makes any sense. I groan and shake my head, and tell him, “I don’t like where this is going, Romie. What I need from you is to call the other Dragon Seers in. Only, the Dragons that are loyal to me. I need you all to get together and try and work this out. In the meantime, I’ll attempt to try and find a way to hint at Rafe that we need to find that woman and have her on standby in case anything happens.”
Mon Dieu, everything just got a hell of a lot more complicated. I grind my molars, turning on my heels and making my way to the door.
“Philli?”
I turn around and look over to Romie, answering, “Yeah.”
He rocks on the balls of his feet uncomfortably, before he answers, “I’m sorry I had to call you down here, I know this must have been hard for you. But please trust me when I say things are going to change soon.” The side of his mouth tilts up slightly as he continues, “It will only benefit you my Prince, and damn… I can’t wait to see it take place.”
With that, Romie walks past me, strides out the front door and up the path to the Dragon Training Center.
“What the fuck did that little pipsqueak mean? Benefit us?” Dragon mumbles.
“I have no idea, Dragon. But knowing Romie as well as I do, I don’t think I like it.”
Romie’s words are stuck on repeat in my mind, as I begin to make my way back up to the great hall to finish getting things ready for Lucy’s ceremony.
What could it all mean? There are a lot of unanswered questions, and there are only a few people I can talk to about this—Rafe or McKinley. I don’t want to have to involve the Rafe at the minute so that only leaves McKinley, who is the Grand High Lord on the Judadic Council. I need to find him quickly and get some answers about having humans in to help us. Not to mention, I need to find out if the rumors about the girls increasing our power is true. Nothing is adding up. I usually know what’s going on, or at least, have a clue as to what to expect. But I have no idea what the hell is going on, right now.
Could I really be losing my touch?
Maybe, I should step down and move on, allow a younger more capable Dragon to lead my people.
“Do you hear yourself, right now?” Dragon growls.
I can’t be bothered listening to him at the moment, so I shut Dragon out and keep walking.
“You know you can’t ignore me, Philli, I am you and you are me. We are one. These are our people, and we will rule them. We are Royal. We are strong. Get ahold of yourself and grow a set.”
Damn Dragons. He makes me that mad, that I growl aloud in complete frustration while I storm up the path. These are things I should know, I am older than most of the creatures here on this godforsaken Island.
Chapter Three
I walk into the great hall huffing and frustrated. My mood doesn’t improve when I’m greeted by the distinct sound of flesh hitting against flesh. Are you goddamn kidding me? The deep moans of pleasure and need echo off the walls.
Mon Dieu, this day just gets better.
I stare down at my body in disgust as it starts to react to the high pitched female moans. The smell of sex lingers heavy in the air as if teasing me with its scent. My feet are on autopilot as they move toward the
sound before my mind gets the chance to catch up. I reach out to open the door and stop in surprise when Jordi stalks up behind me and wraps his hand around the base of my throat leaning over my shoulder.
“It’s the young ones,” he whispers low in my ear.
“What young ones?” I ask tilting my head to the side and examining him closely. His face breaks out in a shit eating grin as he starts to tell me, “The ones who you sent in here earlier. And before you get your dragon tail up your ass, I only know this because I was sent to medical for this…” he holds his damaged hand in the air, flesh and muscle hanging down in strands, “…and I’m glad you’re here to fix it. You owe me for the stunt you pulled with this morning’s flyover.”
How can he be so calm? His hand is almost torn from the wrist. If he wasn’t a shifter, I might have doubts about it being usable again. Even with him being one, I worry that he might have some permanent damage.
“God, how in the world did you do that?”
Both of our heads swing in the direction of the door, as we hear the loud bang of something being knocked down to the ground, followed by the distinct mating growl of a male dragon.
“Why the hell do the young ones get some and I have to wait?” Dragon growls in my head.
“Shut up, Dragon, you’re starting to make me mad.”
Jordi squints his eyes, then starts laughing his head off. “Your dragon giving you a hard time over there?”
Oh great, I must have said it out loud. Fan-fucking-tastic. Way to make yourself sound totally in control there, boss man.
“Shut up dog, and tell me what happened to your hand,” I huff out in frustration.
I don’t mean to call him a dog, but he’s gotten on my nerves. If it were anyone else who insulted him this way, it wouldn’t be acceptable. To my surprise, this only makes him start laughing even harder. He reaches for the door handle that leads into one of the medical rooms. Before I can think twice about my actions, I pull on his elbow stopping him.
“Don’t Jordi, this is the start of the mating season. Leave the young one to experience the warmth and pleasure only a female can bring.”
The growling that echoes in my head tells me Dragon does not agree with my thoughts.
“Warmth of the female, hey? What happened to the warmth for us? I swear that dick of yours has shriveled up to the size of a pea. Would you even remember what it feels like to have it surrounded by the wet, warm depths of a female?” he rants sullenly. I send a command inward trying to gain control of the Dragon before he can take me over and push to the surface.
“You okay over there? This must be a hard time for you. I didn’t know it was season time.”
I don’t want to start talking about how hard this actually is for me, so I nod my head toward Jordi and pull him with me to the second medical room.
“Let’s not talk about my lack of sex.” I glance quickly around the room and lower my voice when I know it’s safe. “Just for now, can I talk to you about something?”
He stares at my face intently before he nods and walks into the room. He takes a seat on the examination table. His gaze flickers around the room quickly and I notice his shoulders relax. He’s always on guard, it’s what makes him our best hunter. Even around the council, he will still watch his own back and take in his surroundings.
“We talk, and you fix my hand. Deal?”
As if I would do anything else, he must think that I’m going to let him sit there and bleed all over the place. I start laughing and turn around to the cabinets which line the wall and start to pull out the medical instruments I will need, to hold his ripped flesh in place until his body can start its natural healing process.
“You going to tell me what happened?”
His chuckle makes me wonder if I really want to know.
“Come on, please tell me—” I start before he cuts me off.
“It’s not what you think, Dragon. Two bitches came into heat, and as Pack Leader…” he sighs heavily, “…I needed to do what was asked of me.”
“Oh, and I bet you totally hated doing that job, hey?”
I comment while laughing and taking the gauze out of the drawers in front of me. I automatically hate my words, when I glance over my shoulder and see his face flash with pain before he plasters a fake smile on his face.
“Damn Philli, but they got out of control. I’ve never had to go so alpha before. Which might be why I’ve damaged my hand. I dropped the ball and allowed them to fight.”
I turn around to face Jordi and lean forward to take a closer look at his hand. The hand itself is ripped into shreds of skin and flesh, there’s muscle hanging out from the wrist. If I move it on a forty-five-degree angle, I can see the bone sticking out.
“Wait, a bitch did this? God, you’re lucky you even have a hand left. You do know it’s going to take longer to heal due to the fact that she used her teeth?”
Jordi shrugs his shoulders and glances down at his hand, “All in a day’s work. Being an alpha is hard, I tell you.”
“He would like us to think that you know that, right?” Dragon mumbles.
I huff inwardly to Dragon and turn back around to finish preparing the bandages and the ointment needed to wrap Jordi’s hand.
“But we aren’t here to talk about my hand. What is going on?”
I pile up all the items on the counter and pick them up in one go. Turning around, I place them on the table that’s next to Jordi. I don’t stop my stride, as I walk over and pull the door closed making sure to lock it behind me.
“Dude, you know I like you and all, but come on, I’m not going to suck on your dragon pipe,” Jordi jokes from behind me.
“Shut up you, I don’t want anyone to walk in on this conversation.”
“Holy fuck man, are you gay. That’s it isn’t it?” His voice drops low as he continues, “You know I won’t care, right? I mean, I always thought maybe—”
“Jordi,” I warn cutting him off.
“See what did I tell you all along? We need to be seen with a woman. Actually scratch that, we need to be seen with many, many, women. The wolf thinks we’re gay.” Dragon chuckles.
Jordi turns his head to the side staring at me. “Sorry Philli, I meant no disrespect. This must be serious. I just thought…” he shakes his head, “…okay, let’s do this. But can we fix my hand at the same time? This shit hurts,” he tells me while flapping his injured hand in front of my face, as if to remind me.
I take Jordi’s hand in mine and begin to clean the blood away using a washcloth and some warm water. There’s so much grass and dirt tangled inside the mangled hand. He must have let it go for a bit hoping it would heal on its own before coming to medical. I need to remember to give him an ear full about this later.
“I was called to see the Seer’s today,” I tell him, pulling a large piece of bark out of the side of his wrist. I stop and look up at him.
“What the fuck, man? Keep going don’t stop.”
I reach over to the side table and pick up some antiseptic liquid, then study his hand wondering where to start. His flesh has already started to mend together, but it isn’t healing the right way.
“This is going to hurt,” I murmur.
I squirt the liquid over as gently as I am able. My large hands and fat fingers make getting into the delicate areas more difficult. Jordi hisses in a breath and pulls his arm backward, while cursing under his breath. I take hold of his elbow with my spare hand and shake my head vehemently.
“Don’t move, you’ll make it worse,” he curses and tries to relax under my touch. “Anyway, as I was saying, I was called down to the Seers.”
“Why you?” he grits, as he tries to keep from pulling his arm away from me.
“Okay, so I need to tell someone and I know I can trust you. This is hard, so just listen. I was called to see them because the vision somehow is connected to me.”
He squints his eyes in confusion, that’s when I get an idea.
“If you will all
ow me, I can show you.”
Jordi slowly nods his head and opens his uninjured hand palm up, allowing me to use the battle bond with him. I allow the power and the vision to flow from me to him. The battle bond is strong and replays the memory fast without any hold ups.
“Holy fucking shit, you’ve got to be kidding me? Please tell me I didn’t see what I thought I just saw,” Jordi’s voice rises with panic.
“I have no idea what it is that you’re thinking. Half the time, I don’t even think you know what you have going on in your mind. But I do know one thing for sure, I might need your help with something.”
Jordi narrows his eyes and stares me down. “I have a strong feeling I’m not going to like this very much, Dragon,” he growls.
“Oh, you have no idea.” Dragon laughs triumphantly.
“Quiet Dragon, we need his help and you know it,” I send the thought to Dragon.
Turning my attention back to Jordi, I finish strapping his hand up the best that I’m able. I know I can always count on Jordi to help me. But the last thing I want is to get him into trouble for doing what I need to be done. I’m being selfish right now, I can’t deny the fact that Romie’s words keep playing over and over in my mind when he said it would all benefit me.
Am I greedy to want to make that happen? It can only be a good thing, right?
“Have I ever given you a reason to doubt that my intentions are anything but legit?” I chuckle at Jordi.
I can’t help but tease as I stand there staring at him. Taking a step back from Jordi and looking at him carefully, I try to gauge his reaction. He takes a minute to think about what I’ve said, his lips tilting up to the side then he smirks.
“Are you seriously asking me if you’ve ever made me do stupid shit? If we want to get into it, we could sit down and talk about all those things you asked me to do that ended up getting us into some serious trouble.”
I start to look back and remember all the things I got the wolf to do when he was still a young pup. I start laughing uncontrollably and have to hold my stomach in an attempt to calm myself down.
