20 Shades of Shifters: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Demelza Carlton

  “I dream. I dreamed of you. I dreamed of her. I dreamed of him. I dream and time stops. I dreamed and Geb and the other dragons stopped, leaving me alone again.”

  “Tell me about your dreams.” Zaman snuggled his head against Isis, which was hard to do considering it was larger than her body. “It’s alright. We’re here now. You never have to be alone again. We’ll take care of you.”

  “Life, death, rebirth. Dreams are always about life, death, and rebirth. I tried to change the future by going back to the past. Dragons needed to return, so I tried. I saw you bleed and die. I saw him bleed and die. I saw her cry and search for death. Life, death, rebirth. I dreamed and tried to go back. To the beginning of time.”

  “Are you saying, in your dreams, you tried to go back to when the Gateway of the Two Ladies stood, so Geb could prevent my and Osiris’s deaths?”

  Isis didn’t dare look at her friends and mate. Except for Nephthys, she hadn’t told anyone else she’d flatlined on the helicopter ride to the hospital. Tonight, which was now almost morning, was full of truths and revelations.

  “Not my dreams. His dreams. He saw it all. The future.”

  Zaman thought of himself as three different dragons? Was that normal for time dragons, or did Zaman suffer from dissociative identity disorder?

  “I dreamed of your birth. Life, fire, and magic. He dreamed of today. Death, fire, and moonlight. You came, the way he dreamed. Now time can stop and start again. Please, make it stop. Make. It. Stop.”

  “You’re safe, Zaman. I’ll make it stop.”

  Isis hugged the white head of the black dragon, then pulled away. He didn’t move when she flew to Osiris and the others.

  “Listening to him gave me a headache,” was the first thing Nephthys said. “He speaks in circles, and I’m unsure whether we can believe anything he said. Even the part about Geb and his warriors. Although, I’d be the first one to admit, as crazy as he sounded, it makes a strange kind of sense.”

  “The problem,” Merit began, “is that we’re too young to know anything about time dragons. He talked like he has three minds one minute and then one mind the next. I can’t tell if he’s time dragon crazy or normal for a time dragon, which could still be plain ole crazy because of his powers.”

  Osiris remained quiet, which meant he was still thinking about what Zaman said about her dying. Which also meant confession time for Isis.

  “I think he’s telling the truth. Not simply the truth from his mentally troubled perspective but the truth of the past, present, and future. I believe his dreams are what’s real. Not just to him, but to all those he touches with his dream mind. The living, not the dead. He isn’t death, like Nep and Osiris. He has no power over that side of existence, which is why he keeps trying to bring back his mate and children. He tries and fails. When Zaman is awake, I think that’s when confusion sets in. His reality doesn’t match his desires and dreams, which makes him vulnerable to manipulation. He was right about Osiris’s death, as well as my own. We can trust his dreams.”

  “You died?” Aset asked.

  “For a little while, yes. Seconds. Just seconds.”

  “You should’ve told us.” This from Hathor. “You can tell us anything. I thought you knew that.”

  “I do. I didn’t want to talk or think it. Didn’t want to see more pity in everyone’s eyes.”

  “Not pity.” Serqet blew water droplets from her nose and onto Isis’s naked body, washing off some of the blood from her fight with Sansabonsom. “Love and empathy. The same you showed us when you blessed our parents with the blood of their queen.”

  They were right. She looked to Osiris, waiting for him to say something about another lie of omission. He did because the male couldn’t stay quiet for long.

  “I wished you would’ve told me, but I get why you didn’t. We’ll talk about this later. Are you planning on killing Zaman?”

  “I don’t want to, but I think that’s the only way to stop what he’s done.”

  “You mean the difference between northern and southern Nebty?” Nephthys asked. “You think the time dragon did something to the island when he dreamed?”

  “It’s a working theory, based on what the white dragon head said. I think he brought his dream true. Not exactly the way he dreamed it. He wanted the dragons to return, which meant the gateway. Somehow his dream magic compensated for the lack of godly material needed to rebuild the gateway and tunnel between the realms.”

  Nephthys nodded. “I get where you’re going. Geb was not only the first sky dragon but, along with Nut, the first dragon. He was created and sanctified by Wadjet and Nekhbet, the same way the Gateway of the Two Ladies were. Which made our father the perfect replacement. If that’s the case, we can fix this.”

  “Not all of it.”

  “I know, sis, not all.”

  “Do you have any idea what the twins are talking about?” Merit asked Osiris.

  “I think I do. It’s an audacious plan that could, if they’re wrong, leave us stranded here like Geb and your parents.”

  Chapter 21

  Nephthys had said Set and Asir were on her side. That had been the moon dragon’s sensitive way of telling him his father and brother were dead. He’d already grieved Asir’s death. The rock dragon he’d fought hadn’t been his father. There was no recognition in his eyes when Osiris had called out to him. He’d acted and responded with no true independent thought. He was tempted to question Zaman, on the flight back to Nebty. Even now, as everyone landed in the meadow down the hill from Geb’s horrific body, he wanted to pull the time dragon aside so he could find out what had happened to his father and the other traitorous border guards.

  Was it selfish of him to want to question Zaman, knowing how fragile the old dragon was mentally? Probably, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to do it anyway. Had he foreseen Set’s fate as well, when he dreamed? He hadn’t mentioned his brother, which didn’t mean he hadn’t been part of his dreams.

  “We can’t have all the answers we seek.”

  Isis had flown beside Zaman the entire flight from the Demon Kingdom, her hand on his shoulder, which seemed to keep him calm and quiet. Osiris hadn’t liked it. He sympathized with the time dragon. He really did, but that didn’t change the facts. Zaman had killed his family, which made the dragon dangerous.

  “We also need to finish this before he falls asleep. I don’t know what impact our presence here will have on his mind when he dreams.”

  “Is he even in the present?”

  Osiris laid his head on the grass and between his feet so he wouldn’t tower so much over Isis. There was nothing but miles of grassland, waist-high to Isis, who was still in her hybrid form. She’d retrieved her green dress from where she’d left it by a tree in the forest, and put it on.

  Nephthys had done the same.

  “I think he’s perpetually in the past, present, and future. If you really want to know about your father, I’ll ask.”

  “You didn’t ask about Geb. You have to be curious.”

  “I am, but I’m also not. It’s enough for me to know he didn’t die the same day Nephthys was born and that he lived much longer than I thought. Nut was lonely without him, and she had Nep and me. His situation was worse, which hurts to think about. I can’t change his fate. Geb is dead, but the others aren’t. I want to give my friends their family back.”

  “You, Nut, and Nephthys are their family. Just as you all are mine. You also can’t change Set’s and Asir’s fate, and neither can I. Knowing won’t bring them back or change their mistakes when they were alive. I guess I’m like Zaman, afraid to live in the present and look to the future for fear of being controlled by the past.”

  “That’s true for many, including me.” Isis slumped against his side. “I’m afraid.”

  “Of what?”

  “Failing my friends. Stranding us here. Losing Nut. I don’t want to kill Zaman. The thought turns my stomach.” She raised her hands, still stained with her blood, and st
ared at them. “When I touched him, I could feel his wrongness.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Magic like his shouldn’t exist, not even within a strong dragon. He wants to die because he should’ve never been made by the goddesses.”

  “You’re saying Wadjet and Nekhbet made a mistake when they created Zaman’s dragon type?”

  “I’m saying being the creator is easier than living as the created. We exist because of the goddesses’ will, if not their whim. They granted us powers but also left us with no guides or directions.”

  “They left your parents in charge.”

  “Which wasn’t fair and far too much to expect of them.”

  “Yeah, and now that responsibility is yours.”

  “I don’t know what I’m about to do with Zaman, Geb, and the warriors.”

  “You’ll know when it begins.”

  Isis buried her face against Osiris’s neck and breathed in his earthy scent. “You said I played you. That I winged it.”

  “You did, but that didn’t make you less right. You told me what I needed to hear in a way that I would listen. But that’s not all you did, Isis. Are you listening to me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good, because I really want you to take this in. As smart as you may be, intellect alone won’t save the warriors or bring Zaman and Geb peace. Your heart and instincts will. Intelligence didn’t resurrect me. Magic and love did.”

  “What if I fail?”

  “What if you don’t?”

  She pushed from him and stood tall. His mate, tender and tough. Osiris adored her, Isis’s vulnerability and sweetness but also her sass and confidence. Like everyone, now and then, Isis needed support and a shove. Once she got going, there was no stopping the sun dragon.

  “You’re right, what if I don’t? Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. Now go do your thing. I’ll watch over all of you while you work.”

  “How did you know I need the Tyets?”

  “Because you planned this, even before you knew the time dragon existed. Zaman just adds an unexpected layer to a scheme you devised the minute you realized your friends’ parents weren’t dead.”

  “Honestly, I didn’t have a plan. Something inside me knew it was the right thing to do, so I did it. The same with my father. Nep and I left the snakes and vultures with Geb because we had nothing else of us to give him.”

  “Heart, magic, instinct, and love. It’s what I said. You and Nephthys may be the Scepters of Nebty, but they are also you. The two of you define the scepters in real life. The scepters would be nothing without the sun and moon dragons.”

  “But we wouldn’t be alive without the powers of the scepters.”

  “That’s not true. You said Nut and Geb had to give up their power and pride to have hatchlings. Giving up the scepters could’ve been destroying or hiding them. It could’ve also meant giving them away. It didn’t mean Nut had to consume the scepters. Nut became pregnant because she gave up her power and pride. That’s not the same thing as the scepters giving you and Nephthys life. Your parents did that. Don’t you see?”

  Isis leaned her head back, eyes on the bright-blue morning sky and the waiting dragons. As if sensing her sister’s gaze, Nephthys swung around from her conversation with the Tyets and looked at Isis. She smiled, waved, then blew her twin a kiss before returning to her conversation.

  “I don’t know if I can conceive again, but I’d very much like for us to try to have another baby. Do you think another hatchling is in our future?” Isis lowered her head and turned back to him. “You’re smiling.”

  “Dragons can’t smile.”

  “Then what are you doing with your lips?”

  “I’m trying not to snarl at the naked dragon behind you.”

  Isis didn’t bother looking behind her and at Zaman.

  “He’ll be easier to manage and communicate with while in human form. I told him, after we took the Yumboes home, that he would have to shift. He never has before, which is why it took him so long. I guess it’s time to begin. No more stalling or self-doubt. Wish me luck?”

  “You don’t need luck. Tap into that part of you that you’ve always known existed but was too afraid to explore and to release.”

  Isis laughed. “Now I know how Mother feels when Nep and I throw her words back at her. No wonder she gets upset with us. It’s annoying as hell. Okay, I’ll put on my big girl panties and get it done.”

  “You have itsy, bitsy thongs on, Isis. I wish you had on real underwear if you’re going to be dealing with a naked Zaman.”

  “You do realize, the time dragon has already seen me naked.”

  “Not as a human male. There’s a difference.”

  “There isn’t.” She laughed again. “Human or dragon, you’re my rock, Osiris. My pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I needed that.”

  “I wasn’t trying to be funny. You need to have more clothes on.” She walked away from him and toward Zaman’s tall, muscular form. “I’m serious. More clothes.”

  Zaman, a light-skinned contrast to his dark dragon’s body, rushed to Isis and engulfed her in his big arms. Appearing more like a forty-something human and not the hundreds-years-old dragon he was, the male began to cry. Isis soothed him, stroking his beard and wooly hair.

  When he settled down, Isis leaned back from Zaman and asked, “Are you ready to die?”

  “When Nebty went silent again, I was alone.”

  Zaman’s human eyes were the same mix of gray, white, and black as they’d been in his dragon form. They swirled with a lucidity Isis hadn’t expected. Even the cadence of his speech had changed, faster and self-assured. His beard covered most of his face, dark-brown with slithers of gray in his mustache and at his chin. Tongue licked unfamiliar lips, as he communicated through a foreign mouth.

  “For weeks, I came to this meadow, but nothing changed. They stayed like you see them now. I didn’t have anywhere to go, so I went back to the Demon Kingdom and King Sansabonsom. I told him what had happened. He said if I wanted his friendship, I had to help him find the last of the dragons. Instead of killing what was left of the dragon traitors, Geb banished them from Nebty.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I saw it in their minds, when I trapped them in the past. They punished themselves more than Geb’s banishment ever could. They wanted relief from their guilt.”

  “You made them your puppets?”

  “I didn’t mean to, but I did. I trapped them in an endless cycle of betrayal and war. Everyone, except for demons, became their enemy. I made them slaves, as much as I allowed myself to become enslaved to King Sansabonsom. I see it all so clearly now while in this form. I couldn’t before. It shames me, to see what I’ve done.”

  Her eyes slid over Zaman’s broad shoulder and up the hill to Geb. At some point, Sansabonsom must’ve come to Nebty to see for himself and found Geb’s big earth body blocking the route to the human realm. She hated her next question, but she asked anyway.

  “How long did it take the demons to eat their way through King Geb to get to the tunnel of warriors and the human realm?”

  Zaman stepped back, grasped her hand, and began walking up the small hill and toward Geb.

  She didn’t hear them, but Isis knew the others took to the sky and followed.

  “Many of them lived here until Nebty turned against the demons, withering in on itself until it was nearly uninhabitable. For eight years, the Demon King tried everything he could to move King Geb, which was impossible. I don’t know where the idea came from, probably more out of frustration than a plan. Once the demons began, they realized that adult dragons aren’t as easy to feed on as baby dragons. Our exterior is thick and resilient and none more than King Geb’s.”

  “Two years, then?”

  “About, yes.”

  They paused at the top of the hill, Geb’s long tail a morbid path made of unmarred dragon scales. The demons hadn’t needed to eat that part of him. The earth dragon had
to have weighed over a hundred thousand pounds, which explained why it had taken the demons so long to eat through him. After they’d broken through, it wasn’t difficult for Isis to put the rest of the pieces together. As she’d suspected, the demons hadn’t had access to the human realm very long. Probably not much longer than the six months she’d estimated, based on Set’s unusual work travel logs.

  “Are you sure you want to do this? You don’t have to die.”

  He embraced Isis again, his touch as affectionate and knowing as a grandfather. “You know that’s not true, my queen, but thank you for asking. Dragonkind will flourish under your leadership, as will this realm.”

  “Have you seen this future?”

  “I have. Tears and joy, Queen Isis. Tears and joy, for you all. It is the cycle of time.”

  With Zaman wrapped around her, Isis lifted into the air.

  “I’m tired, so very tired.”

  “I know. You’ll sleep soon. Stay with me a few minutes more. Can you do that for your queen?”

  “Yes. A few minutes more. I see. Past, present, future. I see, and I want to sleep.”

  “His mind is beginning to slip away again.” Nephthys took hold of one of the time dragon’s arms and helped Isis hold him. “We can’t let him fall asleep, which means we need to move fast.”

  They did. Zaman’s body had already gone lax, and Isis had no idea if he would shift soon. Making an already difficult task damn near impossible to achieve with a one-hundred-foot dragon to kill.

  “I need everyone in the tunnel, including you, Osiris. If this doesn’t go the way I hope, at least we’ll all be on this side together.”

  The twins flew through Geb’s body but didn’t go deep inside the tunnel.

  “What do you need us to do?” Merit asked, her yellow energy magic already lighting up the dark and gloomy tunnel of dragon warriors.

  “For this to work, it will take all of us.”

  She considered Osiris, unsure how to best use him but also knowing he had a role to play in this. Life, death, and rebirth Zaman had repeated. Isis was life, Nephthys was death, and Osiris rebirth.