Fated Attraction_Shifter Nation_Werebears Of The Everglades

by Meg Ripley

  It was Sabrina.

  In the corner of his eye, he saw Max fling the door open. Sabrina was there, tears streaking her face and her eyes bright with fear. “What’s happening?” she demanded. “Uncle Wade, what are you doing here?”

  Somehow, Lance hadn’t put together their last names amidst the fight. These weren’t just any dragon hunters that Max had found on the internet: it was Sabrina’s uncle who had come to do him in. Had she given him away? Had she finally decided that her uncle deserved to have a dragon’s skull hanging like a trophy above his mantle? His mind churned as his body fought instinctively, using claws, teeth, and tail to fight off the assailants.

  Uncle Bill, in human form, sat at the worn kitchen table and shook his head. “There’s no point in trusting any humans, son. No matter how nice they may seem.”

  “But some of them are really into dragons,” Lance countered. He was seventeen, and he had read some of the fantasy books in the library. There were some that treated dragons as enemies, as humans had done for centuries, but there were others that treated them as heroes or creatures to be revered. “I think there must be some good ones out there.”

  “They like the idea of dragons,” Bill corrected. “Facing a live one would make them shit their pants right before they called the police. That’s why you and I have to stick together. We’re all we’ve got.” A cough racked his ribcage. He spat something into a tissue and tucked it away in his pocket.

  Lance knew the truth. Bill had been coughing up blood for weeks. “All the more reason you should go to the hospital and get checked out.”

  “Ha!” The exclamation caused another violent cough. “And what do you think will happen to me when they start poking and prodding and injecting me with medication? I’ll shift, at least partly, and the next thing you know you’ll have to visit your old Uncle Bill in the science museum. No, Lance. Don’t trust a single one of them. They’re all scared, and they’ll do anything to keep their own hides.

  “Give in, dragon!” The other hunters, as tough as they looked, had been dispatched, lying in various awkward positions in the apartment, their faces bleeding and their broken limbs twisted. But Wade had not yet given up. Despite the cut on the side of his head that shed blood like a waterfall over his ear, he had taken advantage of Lance’s distraction. He stood immediately before the dragon, the tip of his blade slipping between Lance’s scales. “Tell me now where the rest of your kind are, and I’ll let you live.”

  “A man like you would never set me free.” Lance knew that he wouldn’t be free no matter what he did; he never had been. The idea of the hunters had been haunting him his entire life. Leaving Illinois and his past behind had not changed a thing. He would always be hunted, always be different, always be an outsider.

  “I might.” Wade’s hand shook slightly, but he kept the point of the blade on its target. “If I have a good reason.”

  “There’s no reason to keep a creature like him alive!” Max roared. “Just do him in now, before he does the same to you!”

  But Lance knew that would never happen. He flicked his clawed fingers, which would slice the thin skin of the old man’s throat in an instant. But this man was Sabrina’s uncle, a relative and someone she loved, just as he had loved his Uncle Bill. He couldn’t kill the old man, no matter what happened.

  “Just tell me how to defeat the other dragons,” Wade said quietly. “I know there are more.”

  Lance shook his scaly head. “There are no other dragons.”

  “Of course, there are! I haven’t spent my entire life chasing down just one dragon. There are plenty of you, and you’re all over the world!” Wade’s jaw was set firmly, though the skin over it was loose. He pushed the point of the dagger upwards a little.

  As a dragon, it would take a lot more than that to hurt Lance. But if he made it out of this alive, he would have some interesting scars. It was just as well that he didn’t think he would ever get a chance to take human form again. “Plenty? There might have been plenty of us at one time. But it was people like you who have hunted us nearly to extinction. You think you’re doing the world a favor by ridding it of monsters, but you’ll see the real monster when you look in the mirror. Humans are the blight of the world, Mr. Holland, not dragons.”

  “Stop this, please!” Sabrina stepped forward, her hand out, but Max grabbed her by the waist and pulled her backwards. His arms covered hers, keeping her pinned.

  “Stay out of it, sweetheart. You’re only going to get hurt, and this is something your uncle has to do.”

  “You should listen to him, Sabrina.” Wade kept his eyes on Lance as he spoke to his niece. “He’s a good man, and he wants what’s best for the world, just like I do. Killing this dragon might seem cruel to you right now, but I promise it’s the right thing to do.”

  “Go on, then. Kill me.” Lance spread his forearms wide and tipped his chin back, giving the hunter clear access to his chest scales.

  “I would much rather know your secrets,” Wade whispered. His seafoam eyes lifted to Lance’s, begging.

  “There are no secrets to tell.” The Club, the Darkblood Society, the memories of his uncle and parents, even Max’s true identity, would all die with Lance. It was the fate he had always hoped he would avoid, but there was no denying it now.

  “Stop! There’s no need for this! He’s not going to hurt anyone, Uncle Wade. Just let him go!” Sabrina broke free of Max’s grasp and charged forward.

  “If you keep interfering, you’re just going get hurt,” Max said through clenched teeth as he hurried after her and tackled Sabrina to the ground. He grabbed her arms and pulled them behind her back, making her cry out in pain.

  Lance roared, a violent noise that shook the walls, as he stormed forward. Max was on his feet quickly, leaving Sabrina on the ground, and where one moment there had been an angry man, there was a coal-black dragon.

  Wade shot forward to lift Sabrina from the floor and then staggered backwards with her, the sword hanging limply from his free hand.

  “You’ve hurt her for the last time,” Lance promised as he sized up his enemy, deciding where his weakest point was. “I won’t let you do it again.”

  “Doesn’t seem like you’re the person to stop me,” Max teased. He stood calmly waiting for the attack, refusing to be on the offense first. “You couldn’t do it last time.”

  “I didn’t want to.” There was a difference. Until recently, Lance had spent his entire life wondering if there were truly any other beings like him on Earth. He knew then, but it didn’t make them any less special. He didn’t want to be the dragon who killed a fellow shifter, not if he didn’t have to. But it was clear that Max wasn’t the kind to give up a fight.

  “Tell yourself that if it makes you sleep better at night.” Max laughed and flicked his yellow eyes at Sabrina and her uncle. “I promise I won’t have any qualms killing you, and then I can do whatever I want with them. There won’t be anyone else to stop me.”

  Lance opened his mouth to ask about the rest of the Darkblood Society and what they would think of this, but he snapped his jaws shut again. If there was any way the two humans survived this, Lance couldn’t risk them going after The Club. With no further words, he barreled across the room and into Max’s chest, sending him sprawling backwards into the living room wall.

  The drywall crumbled under the impact, and several pieces of wooden framework fell as Max leapt to his feet and dusted himself off. “You’re going to lose your deposit if you keep this up.” It was his turn to attack, and he came forth with his claws swiping the air.

  Several of his dagger-like nails slashed Lance’s shoulder and one sliced through the thin skin of his wing. Lance howled in anger and sank his teeth into Max’s neck, but he didn’t have the right angle; his teeth slid down the scales uselessly.

  Like two armored tanks, the dragons clawed and thrashed and bit to little avail. Lance’s body was beginning to grow tired—after all, he had already battled several other hunters
and was running on very little sleep. His muscles grew heavy and sluggish, and he knew the end was near. At least he would die in battle, a more honorable death than slowly slipping away in a hospital bed while the nurses wondered why his skin was so dry.

  Max had him by the shoulders, and a swift swipe of his tail sent Lance to the ground. The air shot out of his lungs in a rush, and his spines crunched against the hard floor. Max was much larger, and he had him pinned down. “Are there any last words you’d like to say before I finish you once and for all?”

  But Lance couldn’t speak, both because his body wouldn’t let him and there were no words that could truly capture it all. He had let his uncle down; he had let himself down. The Darkblood Society had turned out to not be the amazing life-changer he had hoped for. He had learned his lesson about humans, even though it was too late now.

  Most of all, he had let Sabrina down. Human though she was, his heart sang out for her in his last moment. She had shown him that there was more to life than just existing, even without his family to share it with. Sabrina knew his secret, but she was the type of person that was worth sharing it with.

  “I have something to say!”

  Max pushed himself up on his forearms to look at the old man, who had come forward as their private battle ensued. The blade was still in his hands, and he shoved it directly into Max’s chest. The metal screeched against his scales, and Max let out a mournful wail.

  Hot blood washed down over Lance, a red so dark, it was nearly black. It steamed as it gushed down onto the floor and drained Max’s body. The black dragon stiffened for a moment in shock before clutching uselessly at the hilt of the dagger. He keeled over backwards, thrashing, with the knife sticking straight up out of his chest.

  Lance sprang to his feet, his energy renewed. There was still an enemy to fight, but Wade was far less of a challenge than Max had been. Fighting humans instead of other dragons almost seemed unfair, but the circumstances certainly warranted it. He readied himself, his tail thrashing against several pieces of pottery on the side table and sending them crashing to the floor as he advanced on Wade. He hadn’t wanted to kill him, but believing he was about to die himself was changing his mind.

  The old man held up his hands. “I surrender! I give up! I don’t wish to harm you!” His voice quivered.

  “That’s not the message that knife has been delivering,” Lance countered with a slight bob of his head toward Max. “I can thank you all day for killing that bastard, but it won’t stop you from killing me.”

  “Actually, you already did. Stopped me from killing you, that is.” He continued to shuffle backwards until he was next to Sabrina.

  Lance narrowed his eyes. “How’s that?”

  Wade put his arm around his niece’s shoulders. “I know you were trying to protect her. I saw what he was doing and how you reacted. Dragon or not, I can see that I made a mistake about you.” He glanced at the large, dark form that took up most of the living room floor. “And about Max.”

  Looking from Sabrina to her uncle and back again, Lance melted back into human form. He had worn himself out in his dragon body, too tired to feel threatened any longer. Sabrina ran to him, wrapping her arms around him and kissing his face repeatedly. Lance held her, but he watched Wade carefully. “What happens now?”

  The dragon hunter slowly sank into the leather recliner behind him. He had never looked particularly young or vibrant, but he suddenly seemed far older as he ran a bloody hand through his gray curls. His skin had paled so that he looked like a sheet of vellum. “I don’t know.” He put his head in his hands. “I truly don’t know. I’ve done so much work. I’ve dedicated my entire life to a single purpose, and now I discover that I was wrong about everything.”

  Lance guided Sabrina to the couch, where he gently pushed her down onto the cushions and allowed himself to sit down next to her. She kept her hands on him, unwilling to let him go, and he didn’t mind. “You weren’t wrong about everything. You did find a dragon, after all. Two, actually.” He smiled a little.

  Wade gave him a feeble smile in return. “I suppose that’s true. But now that I know, I can’t tell anybody. They would come after you, and probably in a more ferocious manner than I ever could.”

  “You’re not going to tell anybody?” Lance raised an eyebrow.

  The old man threw his hands in the air. “How could I? You’re a dragon, but you’re a good and honorable man. I haven’t worked out all the details yet, but it’s clear that you’ve been protecting Sabrina from…him.” He flung a finger across the room at Max’s corpse. “And I have a pretty good feeling you lied to me about there being other dragons, but I know why you did. I won’t ask you again. It’s your business, not mine.”

  Despite all they had been through, Lance wanted to trust him. Sabrina’s uncle could have made himself Lance’s number one enemy, but he was refusing to do so. At least for now. It was the most Lance could hope for. “I appreciate that.”

  “I suppose it’s time for me to go. I think I’ll head off to Alaska and take a cruise. That seems like a normal thing for an old man to do, and I definitely need normal.” He rose to his feet but stared regretfully at the dead dragon.

  Sabrina pushed herself off the couch, headed for Max’s still form. She wrapped her delicate hands around the bloody dagger and yanked it from his flesh. His blood clung to it in congealing lumps, and she wiped it off gently on the already-ruined rug. “I believe this belongs to you.”

  Wade took the weapon sadly, but he nodded his thanks. “Maybe there’s one other thing I’ve achieved out of all this.” He looked at Lance and then back at his niece. “I’m pretty sure you’re a believer now.”

  10

  “You look amazing,” Lance whispered as he ran his hand down the silver dress Sabrina had picked out for the party.

  “You don’t look too shabby, yourself,” she replied. “But I’m not so sure everyone else is happy to see me.” She looked around the large ballroom at The Club, studying each of the people, wondering which of them were shifters. Lance had explained that most of them would be, but it was hard to imagine there were so many dragons in one room. Still, she knew she had the most handsome one on her arm.

  She hadn’t let herself be away from him for more than a few minutes at a time since the battle that had taken place in his apartment. She’d come too close to losing him, and she found herself needing to feel the heat of his body now more than ever. They had taken refuge in her apartment while his ‘connections’ cleaned up the mess at his place. There was no time or energy for anything more than eating and catching up on their sleep.

  But getting dressed up for the ball had brought back her energy, and she couldn’t stop looking at her date. “They throw one heck of a party, don’t they?”

  “Nobody knows how to live it up like dragons,” he said with a shrug as he grabbed a drink off a passing tray.

  A heavyset man threaded his way toward them through the crowd, his dark eyes shifting constantly between the two of them. “Rockland, aren’t you going to introduce me?”

  “Mr. Cross, Sabrina Holland. Sabrina, Mr. Cross is the President of the Darkblood Society and the owner of The Club.”

  She put her hand out to shake his. Though she knew it would feel completely normal and human—just as Lance’s did most of the time—part of her still expected to find a few scales. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

  “Lance has told me all about you. I assure you, the introduction is only a formality,” Mr. Cross said with a grim smile. “I usually make it a point to not have anything to do with humans, but it’s my understanding that you already know quite a bit about us anyway. You could have told everyone about Max and Lance, but I appreciate your discretion.”

  “Of course,” Sabrina assured him with a smile.

  “You two enjoy the party,” Mr. Cross said gruffly. He stormed away, with Bruno following closely behind him.

  “He’s friendly.”

  A new song began to play,
and Lance took her in his arms, gently swaying back and forth to the music as he looked into her eyes. “He’s got a lot on his shoulders. The Society has many dragons to protect, and he takes the responsibility very seriously.”

  “There’s something I still don’t understand.” Sabrina’s hand trailed up Lance’s arm and rested on his shoulder. She could feel his strong muscles through his tuxedo jacket, and she had to pull herself back to the subject matter at hand. “You killed another dragon. Why are the Darkbloods giving you an official membership and throwing this big party in your name?”

  Lance looked around uncomfortably at the crowd. He hadn’t wanted to go that evening, claiming they could have just as much fun staying in together, but they both knew it was an obligation they couldn’t miss. “I don’t think they would approve of one shifter killing another if the circumstances were different, but Max was a bit of a troublemaker. He’d had a few close run-ins with other dragons, and Mr. Cross knew he was getting out of control. It was only a matter of time before something happened.”

  “So, that was it?” Not that eliminating Max wasn’t a big deal. Sabrina was more than happy to know that he could never again corner her by the copy machine or demand that she go out to dinner with him. He had been an awful man, and she felt much safer knowing he was no longer in the world.

  “Not exactly.” Lance pulled her tighter against his body as another couple slipped through the crowd, but he didn’t loosen his grip once they had passed. “I refused to tell your uncle about the other dragons, even though he was going to kill me. I didn’t even give Max away. They’ve decided they can trust me, which is what being a part of the Society is all about.”