In a flash, he shifted back into human form. It would be easier for him to fit into the store that way. His dragon wouldn’t be able to make it through the door without breaking the windows as well, and then once he was inside it would be difficult for him to squeeze through all the shelves of books. As he felt his human legs underneath him once again, he saw a black streak whiz by him. Levi had arrived, and hadn’t even slowed down as he ran toward the door. In a flash of shattering glass, the doorframe swung open violently and the door’s window cascaded to the floor in thousands of glittering pieces.
“Bless that panther,” Drake said. Levi was a true friend, always there when you needed him, and willing to face any danger for his crew.
Drake was already running in after Levi when he heard the flapping of wings behind him. He glanced backward mid-run, startled to see Theo and Zane in dragon form, landing in front of the bookstore as well. Drake didn’t have time to ask them how they had known to come, or to explain the situation. He would have to catch them up later. Right now, Kaiya needed him.
Drake sprinted through the dark store and leapt over the front counter in one giant movement. He made his way to the back storage room, where he could hear Kaiya’s screaming louder and louder. These weren’t screams reverberating in his head because of the lifemate bond. She was definitely here in this building, and she was terrified.
“And no wonder she’s terrified,” Drake thought as he made it into the back room and saw the tense scene in front of him. Kaiya was in there alright, with a giant black snake coiled all around her. Her arms and legs were completely pinned down, and the only part of her that was free was her head. Her eyes were wide and frightened, darting back and forth across the room with desperation. The snake was hissing and baring its fangs. It kept snapping menacingly in the direction of Levi, who was still in panther form and was crouched low, snarling in the angriest cat hiss Drake had ever heard before. Seconds later, Theo and Zane burst into the room in human form. But the three Wilson brothers didn’t stay in human form for long. They locked eyes and nodded at each other in agreement, and then, in unison, they shifted.
The snake momentarily stopped hissing. He seemed taken aback by the number of shifters in the room, looking angrily back at him. Kaiya’s eyes widened even more as well. The tension in the air was so thick it could have been cut with a knife. Then, the snake seemed to recover, and he hissed again before moving his fangs toward Kaiya’s neck. The next instant was a blur. Drake jumped forward at the same time as Levi. Drake’s sharp dragon claw sliced through the snake’s neck, while Levi’s panther teeth grabbed a huge chunk of snake flesh and pulled loose the coils that were holding Kaiya down.
The snake continued to writhe and wriggle even as its life and blood drained away. Theo’s dragon stepped forward and motioned for the others to move aside. As soon as they did, he breathed a steady stream of fire directly at the snake’s head.
There was a large rush of energy as Theo shifted back into human form.
“I wanted to put him out of his misery,” Theo said. “Even a snake deserves dignity in death.”
More rushes of energy filled the room as Drake, Levi, and Zane all shifted back to human form. Drake went running to Kaiya immediately, lifting her sobbing form off the floor and cradling her close in his arms.
“I’ll go find us some clothes,” Levis said. The four men were all completely naked, having lost their clothes when they shifted suddenly.
“My truck’s down the road in the back alley behind Persimmon Springs Café,” Zane said. “There’ll be plenty of extra clothes in there.”
Levi nodded and took off at a brisk pace. Theo looked around in dismay. They had a lot of cleaning up to do, and it needed to get done quickly. The last thing any of them wanted was someone else in town showing up and wondering why the bookstore’s door was smashed in—let alone why there were several naked men and a giant, dead snake in here.
“Drake, you take care of Kaiya. I’ll take care of this snake body. Zane, you start cleaning up the mess in the store. Sweep up the broken glass and then sweep up the ashes from where I burned the snake. As soon as Levi gets back with some clothes we’ll head down to the local warehouse superstore and buy a replacement door. They won’t have anything fancy, but it will do until Kaiya can get a new one that she likes. We can’t just leave a charred, smashed door up there. People will talk. They’re probably already talking.”
The group all sprang to action. Drake carried Kaiya into her office and shut the door behind them so that she could have some peace and quiet. Her sobs had quieted now, but she was still shaking slightly. Drake noticed that she had an electric kettle in her office, along with a box of teabags, and he went to get some water to heat up for tea. A few minutes later, he was handing her a steaming hot cup of Earl Grey tea. She sipped it slowly, refusing to look in his eyes as she did.
She was angry. And she had reason to be. He’d tried to exclude her from the shifter world, but the shifter world had found her. And she’d been ill-prepared to meet it. She didn’t know how to accurately spot a shifter among humans, or to distinguish the bad shifters from the good. If Drake had taught her this, she would have known right away that the snake man was dangerous. Drake was lucky he had been so close by when the man showed up at the store. He shuddered to think what could have happened if not, then closed his eyes and tried to will away the thought. He couldn’t bear to think about it. Levi showed up with clothes, and tossed a pair into the office for Drake while saying something about heading out to get the door. Drake nodded, then quickly dressed. Kaiya still wasn’t looking at him, and he wasn’t sure the best way to handle the situation.
“Kaiya, I’m really sorry,” he said. His words sounded hollow and cliché in light of everything that had just happened, but he had to say something. He had to at least attempt to make this right.
She lifted her eyes to look at him, and they were flashing with anger.
“Was that your idea of protecting me from your world?” she asked. “Leaving me alone here with angry snake men on the loose?”
“I had no idea anyone else was going to come visit you at the store,” Drake said. “Believe me, if I had any suspicions at all I wouldn’t have let you out of my sight. I didn’t realize how serious this whole situation was. I knew the journals were important, but I’m still realizing just how important. I don’t even have a clue yet what the journals say, but I can already tell it’s information that a lot of shifters want to get their hands on. I’m really sorry I dragged you into this mess.”
Kaiya was quiet for a moment, sipping her tea slowly and staring thoughtfully down at her hands. “How did you know to come?” she asked when she finally looked up.
Drake took a deep breath. “The lifemate bond,” he said. “In the shifter world, we believe that each of us has a destined lifemate. When you find that special person, and mate with them, it forms an unbreakable bond. It ties your souls together, and you know immediately when your lifemate is in mortal danger. I had suspected we might be lifemates, but now I know for sure. I heard you screaming tonight, Kaiya. Even from miles away, I could hear in my heart your cries for help. That’s how I knew to come. You’re my destiny.”
Kaiya remained silent, and Drake forced himself to wait for her to speak before saying anything else. Her face looked troubled and tired, and he had the feeling that she was torn between wanting to forgive him and wanting to kick him out of her store right then and there. When her eyes finally met his, there were tears glistening in them. But when she spoke, her voice was strong.
“Drake, I care very deeply for you. It’s obvious you care for me, too. But I won’t play these games anymore where you try to keep me on the outside of things. I know you probably think that I’m just a confused full human, and that I can’t understand the shifter world. But you haven’t even given me a chance to try to understand. You know I’m a smart girl. Let me into your world. Trust me with every part of your life. If you want to be with me, those
are my terms. I’m either all in, or all out. I appreciate your trying to protect me. But I don’t want to spend my life as a damsel in distress, waiting for my prince to come save me. I want to live life to the fullest right in the middle of the action—right by my prince’s side.”
Drake let out the breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding. “I know you’re right,” he said. “I don’t want to exclude you anymore. I know I was wrong to try to keep you in the dark. It came from a good place, I swear. I was just trying to protect you, but I realize now that it wasn’t fair of me to make that decision for you. I promise you, from now on I’m an open book. Every part of my world is yours. I’ll explain it all to you as best I can. And, hell, if you want to take a crack at decoding the dragon journals, feel free. Goodness knows I’ve been useless at it.”
Kaiya cracked a small smile. “I’m pretty curious about those journals. But I do think you were right about the fact that I won’t be much help with them. I think both of us are in over our heads with that.”
Drake sighed wearily. “Yeah, well, luckily Levi thinks he knows of someone who can help. I just hope he’s right because if that guy can’t help then I really have no idea who to turn to. And, obviously, whatever is in those journals is something we need to figure out.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Kaiya said. “Together.”
She said the last word meaningfully, with a stern look in his direction.
“Yes, together,” he agreed. Then he crossed the space between them and gently took her mug of tea out of her hand, setting it aside on her desk. He pulled her up off her chair and into his arms, holding her tight and burying her nose in the silky softness of her hair.
“I’m so glad you’re alright,” he said. “And I’m so sorry that I left you open to attack like that.”
He bent to kiss her, and, to his relief, she didn’t pull away from his lips. She let him kiss her softly, and then, with a soft sigh, buried her face against his chest. They stood there like that, safe in each other’s arms, for what felt like an eternity. Drake didn’t know what he’d done to deserve a woman so forgiving, or so brave. But he sure as hell knew that he wasn’t going to let her go. Whatever it took to make her see how deep his love for her ran, he would do that. And really, all she was asking for was the chance to fully be part of his world. How could he be upset about that?
Their intimate moment was only broken up by a rough knock on the office door. Drake and Kaiya stepped apart, and Kaiya called out for the knocker to come in. It was Theo who opened the door, but Levi and Zane were standing close behind him.
“Everything’s cleaned up and repaired out here,” Theo said, his voice sounding stern. “And now, Drake, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”
Chapter Ten
Drake swallowed hard as he looked at his brothers’ faces. Theo and Zane had come to his aid, as any true brother would do. But now they wanted answers. There was no more denying that something big was happening, and Drake knew his brothers would not be happy until he explained everything.
Drake glanced at Kaiya, hoping for some sort of moral support. She couldn’t possibly understand all the reasons why telling his brothers about the journals would be so difficult. But she must at least sense the tension in the room. He hoped she would be there for him, although he didn’t truly deserve it. He had let a lot of people in this room down over the last couple of days. His intentions had been good, but Theo was right—he did have a lot of explaining to do.
“I’m not sure where to begin,” Drake said, looking back to meet his brother’s eyes. “But I’ll do the best I can. A lot has happened in the last few days. It all started when I asked Kaiya out on a date. We really hit it off, and things moved pretty quickly between us.”
“Uh, yeah, thanks for letting us find out through the grapevine that you had a new girlfriend,” Zane said. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell us before someone else did.”
Drake shrugged. “Sorry. It all happened so quickly that I didn’t even have time to tell you guys before word spread around town. You know how nosy people around here can be. And, well, it appears that the town gossips weren’t the only ones spying on me. Right after Kaiya and I started dating, she had a strange visitor come to the bookstore. I’m pretty sure it was one of the unicorns.”
Drake paused, knowing that this revelation would take a few moments for Theo and Zane to process. His brothers looked back at him with shocked faces.
“A unicorn?” Theo finally asked, looking from Drake to Kaiya in confusion. “Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure,” Drake said. “Kaiya said he had iridescent skin and glittering eyes. Sounds like a unicorn to me.”
“But…but why?” Zane asked.
Drake took another deep breath. “He gave Kaiya a box of old journals that belonged to dad. He told her she would know who to give them to. She told me about them, and I realized right away that they had been Dad’s. The only problem is that—”
“They’re written in dragon code,” Theo said, interrupting Drake and finishing his sentence for him. “I remember those journals. We got in trouble for playing with them. And after dad died, Ma couldn’t get rid of them fast enough. She passed them all on to the unicorns for safekeeping.”
“Right,” Zane said. “I remember that. I begged her to keep them, because I wanted something of dad’s handwriting to remember him by. But Ma said it was too dangerous.”
“So, why are they back now?” Theo asked thoughtfully.
“I don’t know,” Drake said. “I was trying to figure that out, but the language they are written in is extremely ancient. Even Levi here can’t crack it. He’s suggesting we go to Griffin.”
Drake felt his heart sink as Theo turned to look at him again with angry eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell us, Drake? I can’t believe you’ve been keeping this a secret from us!”
“I didn’t want to bother you. I know you get really angry whenever anything related to dad’s death comes up. I thought it would be better if I figured out what was going on beforehand.”
“It’s not your job to manage our anger,” Theo said. “There were circumstances surrounding Dad’s death that you were too young to understand. Hell, I was too young to understand them. All I know is that he died to protect the shifter community at large. He was one of the protectors. He didn’t talk about it a lot, because it was safer to keep a low profile. But he and Griffin’s dad were both protectors. They died to save the good shifters. I get angry because he called for reinforcements and they never came. He didn’t have to die. The unicorns should have responded sooner.”
Theo slammed his fist onto the desk as he spoke, and everyone in the room jumped at the sound of it. There were several minutes of silence while all of the men in the room sat brooding. It was Kaiya who spoke next.
“I am so confused right now,” she said in an exasperated tone. “Does anyone want to fill me in?”
“I’m not sure how much Drake has told you,” Levi said. “But—”
“Not much,” Kaiya interrupted, giving Drake a meaningful glare. Drake threw his hands up in exasperation of his own. He was confused himself about some of what was going on here.
“Right, well, it’s hard to explain everything fully,” Levi said. “Because until we know what the journals say, it’s a little unclear why the unicorns returned them now. But odds are good that there’s trouble brewing. As you’ve probably already noticed, there are good and bad shifters. Most of the time, the bad ones are kept in check. Several of the good shifters sign up to patrol the shifter world and report any evil shifter activity, fighting off the bad shifters when necessary. The patrolling shifters are known as protectors. They are the first line of defense in any shifter war. The unicorns are the ultimate protectors, and are responsible for guarding the most important shifter documents and treasures. But there aren’t many unicorns. There certainly aren’t enough to patrol the whole shifter world. So they regularly recruit other protectors. I
t’s considered a great honor to be a protector.”
“My dad was so proud of being a protector,” Drake said softly. “So was Griffin’s dad. But it’s hard for us, their kids, to feel proud and happy when we lost them because they were protectors.”
Kaiya reached over and squeezed his hand, and he felt warmth and peace for perhaps the first time that night. Even though she was mad at him, she still loved him. And wasn’t that what relationships were all about? The ability to be angry and yet move forward? The knowledge that despite someone’s flaws, you loved them fiercely?
“We’re all angry about losing our father,” Zane said. “But Griffin…he really lost it. He became so consumed with anger that he didn’t want contact with anyone anymore. He lives alone, as a recluse deep in hill country. No one really dares to talk to him or go to his house. But if anyone knows the ancient languages, it’s him. He became obsessed with uncovering the old secrets of the shifter world, and he’s spent almost all of his time for the last couple decades studying the ancient languages.”
Kaiya nodded slowly. Drake could tell she was working hard to process all of this, but it was a lot to take in.
“So, whatever secrets are hidden in your dad’s journals, they must be really valuable. That’s why the snake came to ask me about them,” she said.
Drake nodded. “Yeah. It’s hard to say, too, whether that was a lone incident, or whether there are more evil shifters that are aware we have the journals. Usually, the unicorns are really good at not getting caught. The fact that the snake found them means the evil shifters are willing to work very hard to get access to what’s in the journals.”
Kaiya’s eyes had taken on a somewhat excited expression. “So, we should go talk to Griffin and find out what the secrets are,” she said, speaking quickly and with enthusiasm now. “Maybe it’s something that will help keep the evil shifters at bay, and that’s why they don’t want anyone else to have it.”
Lone Star Secret (Shifters in the Heart of Texas Book 4) Page 7
