Tamhas

by Ava Benton

  There was nothing as painful as killing time. Ordinarily, I might have shifted and taken to the sky. There was hardly chance of that in an airport—granted, humans wouldn’t be able to see me as I flew, but that wouldn’t stop a plane from hitting me. Or me hitting a plane.

  Unlikely, but not worth chancing.

  I caught sight of my reflection in the window as I sat at the foot of the bed, scrolling through channels. She’d seen me before, Keira had, and I’d seen her. She’d seemed to find me attractive. I supposed most women would—we were all physically attractive in the clan, men and women both, as though whatever made us different from humans also set us apart as physical specimens.

  As for her? Gorgeous. Those blue eyes… Eyes a man could drown in. Perhaps even a dragon. A firm, strong body. Thick, blonde hair I could bury my hands in and…

  And perhaps there was something I could do to relax before going to sleep, after all.

  Which, naturally, was when the phone rang.

  I growled in frustration, just knowing it would be Alan—who else would unwittingly destroy my arousal?

  “Yes?” I asked on answering. No more attempts at keeping things light.

  He clearly agreed with me. “You need to get back here. Now.”

  “Whatever happened to allowing me to—”

  “That was before the woman used your name.”

  My throat threatened to close. “What?” I choked.

  “She said she was there looking for you, Tamhas. She said your name,” he hissed. “Would you like to explain how a tattooed blonde happened to be looking for you? In front of the cave? Or do you expect me to believe it’s all a coincidence?”

  I’d seen those tattoos—at least, what little was visible on her shoulders when she’d worn a tank top during our video chats. And that long, golden hair.

  “What is her name?” I dared ask.

  “Keira, not that it matters.”

  I clenched my fists. Oh, damn, Keira. What did you think you were doing?

  Alan was unaware of the shock he’d thrown me into, still raving. “Do you know what I care about? The half-moon birthmark on the back of her neck and the fact that she told me she was looking for a friend named Tamhas. Get your ass back here, now.”

  If he’d been using one of those old phones with a receiver, I could imagine he would’ve slammed it down to punctuate his demand.

  My hands were shaking as I lowered the phone to the table, until it sat just beside the plane ticket I no longer needed.

  It was only a matter of hours until I pulled my suitcase from the back of the SUV and walked through the dark, damp night to the cave mouth.

  Four dragons circled in the air overhead, three more than we normally used to keep watch at one time. I spotted Isla up there, likely flying as a way to vent her resentment at having been beaten up by a human woman.

  I’d have done the same thing.

  Did they know what brought Keira to us? Did they know it was me? I made it a point to avoid looking up. I dreaded what I’d find inside. What had they done to her?

  What had she done to them?

  She’d kicked Dallas’s ass. I couldn’t help but admire her for it, even if the very fact that she was capable of it was a bit unsettling. More than a bit. It meant she was special, for certain.

  Special like a Blood Moon Priestess?

  It’s all a coincidence. I’d repeated this to myself roughly once every minute since my phone call with Alan ended. What if the mark on her neck was merely another tattoo? What if it was a mere birthmark?

  What if she just happened to be a tremendously skilled fighter and, evidently, an excellent tracker whose neck bore the mark of an ancient order of witches?

  I knew how ridiculous that was.

  It didn’t stop me from hoping as I walked down the long tunnel which led to our compound. All I had was hope.

  “Where have you been?” Ainsley demanded as she ran toward me down the tunnel from where she’d likely been waiting. Her brother might have told her to do so.

  “You look like you took the fight well,” I observed, resenting the motherly tone of her voice.

  Her eyes narrowed as she cringed—slightly, but noticeable to my skilled gaze. We’d known each other far too long.

  “You’ve heard about that, then.” She fell into step beside me—silly to think she’d back off after a vague insult.

  “An impressive fighter, then?”

  “Born to it,” she muttered. “I’m still a little sore, but the gash she delivered to my jaw was the real surprise.”

  “That would certainly make it appear as though she’s different,” I admitted as we drew closer to the hub of activity. More like a hive, with members buzzing this way and that. All of them wondering who she was and what her coming foretold.

  “Wait.” She put a hand on my arm, holding me back for a moment. “You can tell me. You know you can. Who is she? Why does she know you?”

  I slid my arm from her grip. “I don’t know who she is, any more than you do.”

  “You’re lying. She knew your name.”

  I shook my head, resuming my journey. “That doesn’t mean I know who she is.”

  Ainsley followed but didn’t ask further questions. Did this mean she understood the futility of pressing me? Would that the rest of them would recognize it so easily.

  Her twin brother, for one, who waited for me outside the control room with murder in his eyes. To his credit, he remained still, but he fairly vibrated with tense, dark energy. The flare of his nostrils betrayed his otherwise calm façade.

  All conversation ceased as the two of us looked at each other. The staring was enough to make me want to crawl out of my skin. We’d been together for so long, all of us. At times, I’d felt certain we could read each other’s thoughts—that we were thinking the same thoughts as one, even.

  They were thinking the same thoughts then. That I was a traitor. That I had put them all in danger. That we might be under attack again, so soon after coming home.

  At least the threat had come from outside the clan before. This one, I had brought on their heads.

  And they wanted answers.

  None more than Alan, of course. “What is this all about?”

  “Have you spoken to her again?” I asked, pointedly ignoring the resentful stares coming at me from all sides.

  It seemed everyone but the four dragons patrolling the skies was out there in the corridor, watching and listening.

  “Nay, we got nowhere with her. I wanted to wait until you returned.”

  “Good. I want to see her.” I wanted many things. I wanted to be left alone with her. I wanted to escape the resentment and accusations of my clansmen.

  My dragon wanted things, too. He could smell the strong, sharp distrust of the other dragons. He sensed the danger around us. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as he warned me to be cautious in this very tenuous time.

  “Who is she?” Alan asked.

  “You know as much as I do now.”

  If my dragon told me to be cautious of him, I knew his was telling him the same of me—even more so, perhaps.

  “How did she come to find out about us?” he asked, eyeing me up and down.

  “I can’t tell you that. I honestly don’t know. I would like to go back there and see her, find out for myself. She might be more forthcoming with me.”

  “But how do you know her at all?” Leslie asked.

  Other than Alan, who was our leader, she was the first to speak up, which opened the floodgates and gave the rest of them permission to voice their questions. Who was she, how did I meet her, how did she know me, how long had this been going on, did I know she was a Blood Moon Priestess when we met?

  “All of you, silence!” Alan raised his hands above his head, above all of our heads, and his voice towered over the echoing, ear-splitting roar. “We’ll learn nothing this way. Tamhas is right, he should go back to the woman and speak to her on his own. We’ll find out more ab
out how she came to find us, what her business is, and the rest.”

  “And if she doesn’t speak to him?” Ainsley challenged, asking Alan but staring at me. So, she didn’t take well to a human beating her down, either. I happened to glance at Dallas and found that he was just as resentful. His dragon screamed and raged, which my dragon picked up easily.

  “Well, we’ll find a way,” Alan decided with a careless shrug. “If she doesn’t wish to speak while we’re being polite, we’ll stop being polite. She’ll see that we mean business soon enough.”

  They would torture her until she gave them the information they wanted. I saw it in all their eyes, felt it in my bones. My dragon coiled, silently snarling, ready to spring should the need arise.

  I hated the feeling that it was me against them. It had always been us, always a clan acting as one. You were the one who broke rank first, my dragon reminded me, sounding for all the world like Alan. You wanted something for yourself. This was always going to be the result.

  There were too many questions competing for my attention all at once, enough to make me want to raise my hands to my ears and tell them to stop. That wouldn’t help. I’d still hear my dragon telling me to go to her, warning me to protect us both.

  “Has she eaten?” I asked, looking around. “She’ll want food. Drink. We must at least work with her.”

  Ainsley snorted, but retreated to the kitchen, returning moments later with a canvas backpack. “She was carrying this.”

  “I assume you’ve already been through it.” It wasn’t an accusation, but she recoiled as though it were.

  “Aye, naturally. Wouldn’t you?”

  “What did you find inside, then?” I asked as I took the bag. It was light. Keira hadn’t packed for more than a short hike.

  Her mouth twisted into a cross between a smirk and a pout. “Nothing of value to us. A flashlight, food, water bottles.”

  “And that tells you nothing?” My gaze swept over the faces of my family. “Do you believe a hiker carrying food and water is a true threat?”

  “You weren’t out there with her,” Dallas muttered, his brows knitting together in a frown. “She needed little more than her fists to be a threat, believe me.”

  “It matters little,” Alan cut in, shooting looks at the two of us before focusing on me. “Take it to her. Do what you can to convince her we want nothing more than the truth, that there’s no threat here.”

  I blinked, stunned. “Convince her there’s no threat? You realize you’re implying that there is, indeed, a threat?”

  He scowled. “What do you think? That we’re going to invite her to live with us? Bring her into the clan? You’ve gone soft in the head if you don’t see this for what it is.”

  My dragon reared up, threatening to strike or at least to lash out verbally. My hands tightened into fists, the canvas crumpling.

  The last thing we need at this time is to start a war, I warned the dragon.

  We’d be horribly outnumbered, for one.

  8

  Keira

  At least they left the lights on. I don’t have to sit in the dark.

  That was about the only positive thing I had to focus on as I sat on a cot in the far corner of the cell with my knees drawn as close to my chest as they could get.

  What were they planning to do with me?

  I imagined Emelie, waiting for me to call her. She knew I was going to look for Tamhas that day. What would happen when I never called her again? She’d probably find a way to come looking for me—after all, she found the location the email came from.

  All I could do was pray she never got such a crazy idea in her head. They would do the same thing to her as they had to me, and she couldn’t fight the way I could.

  I’d fight a lot harder if they didn’t have me so hopelessly outnumbered.

  No matter how I looked at it, the truth was right in front of my face: I couldn’t escape. Not one of them was on my side. I might be able to get one of them to feel sorry for me and maybe be a little lax with the level of security around me, but that would take a little time.

  I didn’t think I had that much time to spare.

  Dragons. Fucking dragons. What alternate universe did I fall into? Dragons didn’t exist outside storybooks.

  Right?

  I couldn’t believe I was actually questioning the existence of a mythical creature—but this was a mythical creature I’d seen with my own eyes, and I had never doubted anything I’d seen with my eyes before then. Mainly because I was the only person I’d ever completely trusted, besides Emelie.

  Other people had only ever let me down.

  I had seen three dragons flying through the air. I had seen them land. I had seen them turn into actual, honest-to-God humans with gold rings around their irises. I had spoken with those people, I had kicked the crap out of them—as much as I could, given the time I had before they got smart and attacked all at once.

  I knew what I saw. I was sure of it. And they hadn’t told me I was wrong when I accused them of being dragons, either—if anything, they had seemed surprised that I knew. That was all.

  I wasn’t supposed to know.

  No wonder they had attacked me as soon as they laid eyes on me. I wasn’t supposed to be there. No one was. I wondered in the back of my mind if that was part of the reason why it was so easy for me to get lost. Like… I was supposed to get lost and give up before I reached them.

  But that was insane.

  Then again, what part of what I had seen and done that day wasn’t insane?

  Footsteps echoed down the tunnel again. Only one set, this time. I guessed I was about to see the leader again, that he would have more questions for me.

  I didn’t get up to greet him. I didn’t owe him a damned thing. I only buried my head in my arms, turned slightly to the side so I could see him when he reached my cell.

  He came to a stop. I could only see him from the waist down.

  “Keira.”

  I knew the voice. It wasn’t his voice, the leader’s voice. It was…

  “Tamhas?” I raised my head, staring at him. “Oh, my God. It’s you.”

  “It’s me,” he muttered. “I wish I could say it was good to see you.”

  Something ached in my chest. Something sharp, cold, clean. Like a knife. “Oh. I’m glad I came all this way, then.”

  His face fell. “No, no. I don’t mean it that way. I only… wish it was different. I’m glad to see you. Just not here.”

  “I would’ve been happy to meet up elsewhere. Believe me.” I swung my legs over the side of the cot, sitting with my feet on the floor and my hands gripping the thin mattress as tight as I could.

  He was right there. In front of me. After so much time.

  “You’re safe,” I whispered with a lot more emotion than I wanted to show just then. He was holding all the cards, after all. He was the on the other side of the bars.

  “You doubted it?”

  “Of course. You disappeared on me.”

  “Ah, naturally. I didn’t get the chance to explain it to you. Forgive me.”

  I waited for more. There was no more. “Forgive you? After letting me think you…” I trailed off, looking away. I didn’t know to feel or what to think. Maybe if I wasn’t already so mixed up over what I saw, what I did, I’d be able to handle a simple conversation.

  “I’m sorry. Truly, I am. I couldn’t control what happened, and I couldn’t get in touch with you—in fact, once we returned here, the first thing I tried was to contact you. But I didn’t hear back.”

  “When?” My head snapped around at this.

  “A few days ago. We weren’t… operational until then,” he explained.

  Which wasn’t much of an explanation, it left me with more questions than I’d already had.

  “A few days ago? I had already left to come here, I guess.”

  He chuckled. “And I’m not too proud to admit that the reason for my not being here until now was that I was about to get on
a plane to find you.”

  I frowned at the idea. “You were going to get on a plane to New York?”

  “Yes.”

  “You thought you could find me in one of the most populated cities in the world?” I knew it wasn’t good form, but I couldn’t help laughing at the very idea. Looking for me in New York. Who would even think to try it? “Have you ever been there?”

  “No. I must admit I haven’t.” He didn’t see the humor, obviously. I managed to shut up.

  “I shouldn’t have laughed. And I appreciate that you cared enough to go to the trouble. Really.” I was right. I wasn’t imagining there being something between us. It was real. He wouldn’t have left to find me if it wasn’t real.

  He smiled. The number of times I had thought about that smile…

  “I appreciate that you did. You’ll have to tell me sometime how you managed it.”

  “Now’s not the time, I guess.”

  “No. It isn’t.” He glanced down the tunnel as if looking for someone or waiting for someone. Or expecting someone to be watching or listening.

  “Tamhas.” I leaned forward, breathless now. Desperate for him to understand. “Tamhas, do you know who these people are? What they are? I saw them.”

  “I know you did.”

  “They told you.” It was like a punch to the gut, though I should’ve expected it. They would’ve already told him everything.

  “Yes. They did.” His face was grim, and his voice. “There’s more to it than you understand, lass.”

  “So you know they’re dragons?” I could barely even whisper it. I could barely stand to form the word in my mouth. It meant admitting they were real.

  He nodded. “I do.”

  “And you’re… you’re here?” It was the most senseless thing I could imagine.

  He didn’t answer. There was no need to. Instead, he slid the straps of my backpack from his shoulder—I hadn’t even noticed he was carrying it until then. “Here you are. Your water, food, everything that’s yours. Except for the phone, of course.”