20 Shades of Shifters: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Demelza Carlton

  Osiris shook his head, a poor attempt to reconcile Merit’s description of Isis with the woman he remembered. “All of you are saying the same thing, that I don’t know my wife.”

  That admission bothered him. He wanted to know everything about Isis. He’d admired her for many years. Osiris hadn’t thought it possible, for a dragon, not a teenager, to court a crush. Yet he had, Isis the object of his long-distance interest. All that time, he thought he knew the real Isis Philae. The fact that he hadn’t tightened his stomach, which, Osiris supposed, was better than a raging headache.

  Nut touched his face again. Empathy rimmed her eyes. “Your instinct to help Isis with the fairies and to check after her health was the absolute right impulse. You may not feel your heart pulse, but it knows its mate even if the mind doesn’t remember. I won’t pretend to understand what you must be feeling, but I have faith that you and my daughter will find your way back to each other.” She hugged him, and Osiris returned the reassuring embrace. Like his feelings for Isis, he may not recall growing to love Nut, as a mother and friend, but he knew he had because her embrace felt too soothing for that not to have been the case. “Be her rock dragon. Through him, you will both rediscover Osiris.”

  Their advice didn’t sit well with him. He needed to be proactive in regaining his life and wife. He wanted to remember all the details, major and minor, of his and Isis’s love story. Where did they go on their first date? When was the first time they’d kissed? Do they hold hands or have public displays of affection? Did they have a dragon mate ceremony, a human wedding, or both? How does she feel tucked against him when she sleeps?

  Osiris had dozens of questions and not a single answer. Except one, Isis was right. Marriage was about memories and shared experiences, and Osiris couldn’t conjure even one. For a man without a beating heart, his sure managed to hurt.

  When he retook his spot on the loveseat, Osiris hadn’t promised to do things the women’s way. He had a feeling that, without a bit of prodding on his part, Isis would make no move toward him. She may have initiated their first date when she’d asked him out, but she’d also, by giving him her cellphone number, left the proverbial ball in his court. If he hadn’t called her to make date arrangements, Osiris suspected Isis wouldn’t have pursued him further.

  The sun dragon may be an apex predator, as Merit noted, but Isis, the woman, wanted to be wanted, just like any other female. Even without his memories of the last fourteen years, Osiris did desire Isis, in all the ways a male would want someone as amazing as the woman who’d just strolled into the living room with an air of purpose and exhaustion.

  In unison, the Tyets snapped to their feet and attention. What the hell?

  Isis hadn’t been gone long enough to change her ruined clothing and shower, but she must’ve stopped past her bedroom because she wore an ankle-length black robe over her dress. Blood had already stained the garment.

  Nut’s worried eyes lowered to the circle of blood blossoming where tied belt met stomach. “You need to have those wounds looked at.”

  “I’m not going back to the hospital. Once we’re done here, Serqet can patch me up.”

  Serqet, five-nine with a pear shape, dressed as if she’d either been out all night or about to begin her evening early. Her fade mohawk hairstyle and septum ring should’ve clashed with her classy black dress but didn’t.

  “She’s not a medical professional.”

  “Serqet knows enough to tend to me, Mother. I don’t want to argue over this, not when we have more important issues to discuss.”

  Instead of interjecting and asking clarifying questions, Osiris reclined against the loveseat cushions and feigned relaxation. Even going so far as propping his ankle against his knee. Two things he realized. One, everyone in the room was comfortable with him, which spoke of friendship and trust. Two, because of their level of comfort and trust, when he remained silent, they often forgot to monitor what they said around him. This was true, even for Isis. So, he kept his mouth shut and ears open.

  “Everyone, sit down, please.”

  Following her own advice, Isis sat on the same sofa where she’d been earlier. Nephthys plopped onto the cushion next to her sister and Nut reclined in a steel metal gray velvet chair that matched the sofa where the twins sat. The Tyets claimed the remaining sofa and chairs in the wide living room, leaving the single loveseat to Osiris.

  “We’re dealing with demons. I should’ve told you when I came back to the manor, after being away for so long. But I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to deal with it then. I am now.”

  Vague sentences but with enough detail that everyone, except him, would know what she was talking about. Osiris smirked to himself. The sun dragon hadn’t forgotten he was in the room or the secrets she wanted to keep from him.

  “Are you sure you’re ready to take this on?” Nut questioned, her voice a mix of challenge and concern.

  “No, not entirely. If time were ours, I would wait to be my best possible self before acting. What Nep and I saw and dealt with today tells me I’ve already waited too long. We’ve spoken and have arrived at a plan.”

  “Are you asking for my approval?”

  Without so much as a breath of hesitation, Isis answered. “No. You turned over rule to Nebty to me and, by extension, to Nephthys. Until a few weeks ago, I only viewed the change in leadership as DIG only. Nebty never factored into my thoughts, for obvious reasons. It does now. Everything has changed.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Isis leaned forward and past her sister to look at Osiris. A knowing grin played across her lips. “I thought you decided to play a fly on the wall.”

  “I did, now I’m not.” The fact that Isis knew him so well, even when he was trying to be unobtrusive, thrilled and annoyed him. “Tell me what you mean.”

  “Patience, I’m getting there.” Pulling her legs onto the sofa, Isis picked up where she’d left off. “The demon from that night wanted the scepters.”

  Everyone looked at Nut, whose fingernails dug into the armrests of her chair.

  “We’ve been away from home too long. We dragons have an obligation to the preternatural realm. I have an obligation to every resident of that realm and this one. Those children were terrified.” Nephthys nodded. “They would’ve been eaten if we didn’t happen to be there, which makes me wonder about the state of the preternatural realm while the dragons have been away.”

  “I made an executive decision, and I stand by it.”

  “As you should, Mother. I’m not judging you. Your decision saved everyone in this room and dozens more. We fled for our lives. But it’s time for us to return home and save the lives of those we left behind. We can do that now.”

  “You have no idea what Nebty is like now,” Osiris interjected. “It’s clearly not safe if children are forced to leave the realm to get away from demons.”

  “My point exactly. We need to figure out how preternaturals, after so many years, have access to the human realm again. It’s a safe assumption that the demons have claimed all or part of Nebty and that Father and his warriors fell to King Sansabonsom. Otherwise, I can’t see any circumstance under which King Geb, not based on what I know of him from Mother, would permit demons to hunt fairy children, no less rebuild the Gateway of the Two Ladies for the demons.”

  “He would never,” Nut agreed with vehemence.

  So much death due to betrayal. What would Osiris’s life have been like if not for dragons like his treacherous father? If he and Isis had grown up on Nebty, the way they should’ve, would they have still become mates or would he have been too awed by her status to even consider a union with the First Princess of Nebty?

  “Nebty belongs to dragons. Now that we can access it again, it’s time we reclaim our homeland.”

  “By we,” Nephthys began, “Isis means the two of us and the Tyets.”

  “And me.”

  “Not you, Osiris,” Isis said, her voice a low hum of warning.

  �
��Why not me? Because, if you’ve forgotten, I’m already dead.”

  If looks could scorch a dragon where he sat, the seven set of dragon eyes that settled on him would’ve burned Osiris to dust. Okay, maybe this was what Nut meant about rubbing against Isis’s open wounds. He hadn’t meant for it to come out that way as if his murder wasn’t still a raw sore for her.

  Isis’s arctic glare and silent disapproval had Osiris mumbling an apology which the sun dragon neither accepted nor acknowledged. What Isis did do was lean back against the cushions, as if he hadn’t spoken, and continued outlining her and Nephthys’s plan.

  That was fine. For now. They would talk when the others weren’t around, whether Isis wanted to or not.

  “I echo Osiris’s concern.” Nut shot him a withering look before returning her attention to Isis. “No matter how insensitively he put it. The six of you will benefit from the aid of his rock dragon.”

  “Actually, it wasn’t my intention to deny Osiris an opportunity to contribute. You two must think the blood loss from my wounds has affected my brain. Besides me, Nep, and the Tyets, you and Osiris are our most trusted and formidable allies. While we’re on the other side, I need dragons on this side to make sure no one enters or leaves either realm. Who better than a sky and rock dragon?”

  “Oh, daughter, you’re so very diplomatic and strategic.”

  Nut released the death grip she had on the armrests and pushed to her feet. Dressed in a classy red V-neck blouse and a knee- length black skirt, the twins’ resemblance to the calculating sky dragon was never more pronounced than when she let her gaze fall from one daughter and then to the other. Coiled hair piled atop her head in an elegant bun, Nut radiated sophistication and shrewdness.

  “I don’t appreciate the box, Isis.”

  “You were the one who taught us how to build this kind of box and when to use it.”

  “Yes, well, that’s why I’m torn between being proud of you girls and cursing you both for your arrogance and foolhardiness.”

  Nephthys eyed her mother with a wide grin. “Remember when you used to say that I never listen to you?” She crossed arms over her chest. “Well, now you know I listen quite well when it’s something I want to hear.”

  “You’re not helping, Nep.” “Don’t be a smart ass,” Isis and Nut said at the same time.

  “My only point is that she can’t be mad at us for taking her teachings to heart. Our plan is sound. Not perfect or foolproof but solid. We cannot permit the demons to rule the preternatural realm, which is what they’ve probably been doing for a century. We also cannot allow dragons to go home without first securing Nebty. Two fronts, Mother. We are not sidelining our strongest dragon. We need you here to rally the forces who still think of you as queen and will follow your directives without question.”

  “Ego stroking to lower resistance.” Nut approached the sofa where the twins sat and hovered over them, hands on her hips. “What you’re asking of me is unfair but also wise. If you fall, the Philae line will not die with you because I’ll be here to act as queen and protect what is left of dragonkind. With a resurrected Osiris by my side, his fighting skills and loyalty will give a potential traitor pause and will scare the hell out of the superstitious among us. On the other hand, if you don’t succeed, I’ll not only lose two daughters but six.”

  One by one, Nut kissed the forehead of her daughters, beginning with the twins. When she returned to her chair and sat, she appeared centuries older for her silent acceptance. She’d already lived a hundred years without her mate, what would Nut do in a huge manor without the six dragon females she loved?

  What would he do without Isis, if she didn’t return to him? Yeah, they would have to talk because there was no way in hell Osiris would stay there while his mate was off fighting demons.

  When Osiris glanced at Nut, she was looking at him. With a subtle wink, she gave him hope. The tricky dragon had an idea, which he couldn’t wait to hear.

  Aset, as tall as Osiris, propped elbows on her legs and leaned forward when she asked Isis, “I assume you have missions for us before we leave for Nebty?”

  “Yes.” To his astonishment, Isis included him in the discussion. “Osiris, your rock dragon is large and mighty. Nephthys found your body in dragon form, which means you were killed as a dragon. None of us knows what happened to you that awful night. But I know this, your rock dragon wouldn’t have gone down without one hell of a fight.”

  More than she would know, Osiris appreciated Isis’s words and the value she placed in his dragon. This plan of hers wasn’t all about strategy. It was also very personal and painful for everyone involved, especially for the two of them.

  “Like the last betrayal, I don’t think the demons acted against us without help from dragons.” When no one disputed her hypothesis, Isis pushed on. “Can you think of any dragon or dragons who would think they could, either individually, although likely as a group, defeat you in battle?”

  All eyes shifted to him, bringing with them the return of his migraine.

  Closing his eyes and taking slow breaths, Osiris tried to fight through the pain. When the stabbing receded enough to open his eyes, he found a kneeling and worried Isis in front of him, her hands on his knees.

  “I know my question wasn’t pleasant, and I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t think it was necessary to catch who harmed you. I also know you want your killer as much as everyone in this room does. My plan is as much about finding your killer and keeping you safe, heartbeat or not, as it is about reclaiming Nebty for dragons.”

  Isis sat on the loveseat beside him, her voice and eyes soft. Her words sincere.

  “You don’t have to answer now, but give my question thought, please. And, Osiris, I do mean any dragon, regardless of clan.”

  “You mean I shouldn’t rule out the Ombos clan because they’re my family.”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s cold.”

  “Yes, but necessary. I won’t have you or anyone in this room hurt because I allowed sentimentality to prevent me from entertaining all possibilities.”

  “Because we believe you either wounded or killed some of your attackers, I’ll search for dead bodies. If I find them, we may be able to confirm Isis’s assumption about dragon and demon collusion.”

  “How will you be able to find dead bodies? Where would you even begin to look?” he asked Nephthys, but she waved his question away.

  “Aset, I need you to travel to Egypt, specifically Cairo, although you may have to broaden your investigation if you turn nothing up in that city.” Isis winced when she shifted from her side, where she’d been looking at Osiris, to the shadow dragon whose purple streaked hair covered one of her eyes. “Talk to the locals. Check out their recent news for anything unusual. Unexplained events. Missing or dead people, especially children.”

  “You think,” Aset started, “because Cairo is right below the access point to the preternatural realm that demons have been feeding on their children?”

  “It’s a theory, especially after today. I want to know if it’s a fact. Merit, I need you to research the same but globally and on the net. Go back several months, maybe even a year. Patterns of missing children are where you can begin. Sightings of any odd creatures, not just demons. We need to know if more than demons and fairies have crossed over.”

  “Got it.”

  “Hathor and Serqet, travel to the access point and see what you can find. Fly through the cloud cover. Nep and I didn’t get that far. We need to know where the opening is and what it is. Osiris, will you go with them?”

  Interesting, with the Tyets, despite their friendship and how kindly she’d spoken, Isis had given each of them an order. Yet him, she’d asked for his assistance.

  “Sure. When should we leave?”

  “Not until Mother’s had an opportunity to speak with ice dragons Bek and Lateef. That’s who she has in mind to replace you at the border of the realms. They’re fine choices. Loyal and fierce.”

&n
bsp; “So, you caught Nut’s wink earlier?”

  “No, but Mother is, despite what she thinks, predictably obstinate and a shameful matchmaker. You’ll travel with Dragon Team One to Nebty. Mother will lead Dragon Team Two here.”

  Nut said nothing, and Nephthys laughed, which garnered her a warning glower from her mother.

  “Have you finished?”

  “Yes, for now.”

  “Good.” Osiris got to his feet, prepared to face Isis’s wrath over what he was about to do. “You didn’t sleep a minute last night, you picked a fight with a dangerous demon instead of burning her to a crisp, and I bet if I opened your robe the bloody sight would make me want to rush you to an emergency room.”

  “I’m not going to the hospital.”

  “Yeah, I heard you the first time, you damn stubborn sun dragon.”

  Osiris scooped Isis into his arms and marched out of the living room and down the hall. He thought she would rage at him, maybe even fight to get out his arms at the way he’d manhandled her again. Instead, Isis laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

  “I’m sorry, if I’ve been cold and distant. I want you to be him. The Osiris who knows me… loves me.”

  “I want that too. I wish I could remember.”

  Long strides had him scaling the steps and walking down the hall to their bedroom. Thankfully, she’d left the door opened when she retrieved her robe, which made getting Isis into the room easier.

  Careful of her wounds, Osiris placed her on the bed, then helped Isis out of her robe. Sure enough, her dress was soaked through with blood that stuck to her skin. From the rips to her dress, he could see gashes on her right and left side, which likely needed stitches. But she’d been adamant about not going to the hospital. Not the smartest decision for a woman who should know the importance of taking care of herself.