Zane’s form grew larger, inching closer and closer to the unsuspecting beast. Charlie didn’t react to either. She kicked the dragon in the face over and over. The creature reeled from her blows, more annoyed than anything.
It snarled, bubbles rising from its lips. Charlie grinned. Alec saw what she was doing. Even if her kicks were inconsequential, the more she irritated the beast, the more reckless it became. The dragon holding her wasn’t thinking about saving its air. It snapped at her, narrowly missing her hand.
More bubbles drifted away from the creature’s maw. Fury burned inside Alec. Blood wafted away from Charlie’s hand in thin tendrils. The bite hadn’t missed. She left a trail of red as she moved.
Zane must have noticed too, because the lake shook. The roar that surrounded them was there, but not. It was a force that made the water dense. Alec could barely move. But neither could the dragon holding Charlie. Confusion rippled over the creature’s face. Panic slowly followed.
The creature let go of Charlie and began thrashing, not that it could move much. The water around Alec released. He could move freely now. He used that freedom to race toward Charlie. She spun in his direction just as he reached her.
With Charlie in his arms, he shot toward the surface. The light above grew larger and larger until they finally broke the surface. Charlie gulped down mouthfuls of air. Alec had a million questions but couldn’t ask them in this form. All he could do was use his wings to push them toward the shore.
He set Charlie ashore and crawled out. Still in dragon form, he watched the surface of the lake. More bubbles erupted, but no dragon surfaced. A pit in his stomach grew hard and aching. He didn’t want to think that he’d given a shifter’s life to Zane. If their friend killed the dragon, then could Zane really be redeemed?
The others stepped up beside him. The air was thick with tension, like they were all thinking the same thing. Hope made their breaths catch, but their creeping despair was starting to set in.
Then, just when Alec thought all was lost, a human body surfaced. Charlie leapt to her feet and ran around the lake shore. Alec followed. When Charlie couldn’t reach the human body while on her hands and knees, Alec waded into the lake and grabbed the unconscious shifter.
Alec dropped the body onto the ground. Charlie thumped him in the chest, which immediately spurred coughing. The shifter expelled the water that had filled his lungs. Alec could only imagine that it burned like hell. It was fair payment.
When the shifter moved to sit up, Charlie kept her hand on his chest. She pressed him into the ground. He looked up at her, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He looked from her hand to her and back again. His lips curled and he moved to push her away.
Alec snarled. The shifter’s eyes darted to Alec and fear took over his face. The shifter became aware of the other dragons standing over him. Cole looked ferocious with his scars and the horns that curled back from his head. Heath kept his head low, like a predator waiting to pounce.
“You’re going to go back to Norman and tell him that I will come home only when I’m ready,” Charlie informed the shifter.
“You don’t have a say…”
She put all her weight on his chest. He groaned and coughed again. Her eyes were narrowed and hardened. Whatever was happening in her clan, she was tired of it. And she’d finally found a way to push back. Alec knew from the way she’d been when she arrived, only an echo of her former self, that she had changed in her short time here.
If he’d had his voice, he might have said that she would never go back. He wanted so badly to hold onto her forever, but she was still weak. Her body was still too thin. Zane might rise to protect her, but that would not last forever if it came to a battle between the clan and Zane. If they needed to put Zane down, Charlie would stand between them.
She couldn’t stay for that fight.
He didn’t want to think about it. He wanted to believe that he could keep her forever. She would stay, if he asked. He saw it in the way she looked at him. He could tell she was waiting to hear those words. As much as he wanted to say them, already fighting their way out of his chest, he held himself back.
“I am my own dragon. I do not belong to Norman. No one does, and you would do well to learn that. If you don’t start treating the others better, I’ll come over and teach the women how to revolt. Before long, they’ll own all of your balls.”
Jude cackled. Even Buffy laughed. Their mates eyed them, a mixture of both distaste and amusement on their beastly faces.
“Get up,” Charlie commanded.
The shifter regarded the lake. “What the hell was that?”
“That is what I’m going to send after you and Norman if you don’t wise up.”
12
Charlie couldn’t believe herself. The words she used, the defiance that steeled her shaking soul. It was like it all came from nowhere. This was the person she was supposed to be. This far from Norman and his underhanded words, she could remember what it was like to trust in herself. She knew that if she had to go back, she would start to fall apart again.
When she looked to Alec, he was unreadable. His dragon sat back, regarding her silently. She scowled. The lake had left kelp hanging like hair over his horned head, making her laugh. She stepped forward and peeled it off him. He bent to help her.
The kelp laying on the ground, Charlie stole a moment to run her hands over Alec’s scales. The green was like that of a sapling in places, raw and bright. In others, it was the dark green of old forests. She traced the lines where the two colors met. Alec purred in her hands.
“You should go shower,” Jude told Charlie. “You smell like rank lake water and I think there are some minnows in your hair.”
Charlie gasped and reached for her hair. She didn’t find any small fish, but there was certainly a mess. Well, now she didn’t reek of sex like Asher had claimed. She made her way toward the cabin Jude had set her up in when she remembered that Alec had brought all her clothes to his cabin.
Also, there was still the problem of the broken wall in the back. She would make Zane apologize for that someday. He’d helped her today. He was still the boy she remembered, the friend she’d had. None of that had changed. She hoped, that if she could stay, she could help him remember what it was like to be that person.
The others carried guilt on their shoulders, shadowed by the idea that they would have to later kill him. They didn’t have to say it. Charlie could see the darkness in their eyes when they thought of Zane. She didn’t want to let it come to that. He could be saved. Charlie knew evil. She knew what the heart of an evil man looked like.
He never would have helped her if he was beyond saving. Evil men sent dragons to kidnap women. They trapped them in their bedrooms and forced them to do their bidding. Maybe the women here had interactions with Zane at some point, but they were in one piece. Zane left them to their mates.
Charlie became aware of footsteps behind her. Inside Alec’s cabin she paused as she bent to pick up her bag of clothes. Without turning to face him, she spoke.
“There’s a chance I won’t be around when you release Zane from the spell. Promise me you won’t kill him without giving him a chance to change.”
Alec made a sound low in his throat. She couldn’t tell which part of her proposition he was rejecting. Did Alec finally want her to stay? Or was he done with Zane and ready to put the man out of his misery? She didn’t turn, afraid to find out what would be on his face. Instead, she ducked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
She couldn’t believe that she’d stood up to one of Norman’s dragons. Vincent was a brawny man, all muscle and no brain. He acted before he could think, usually at Norman’s commands. She hadn’t exactly been afraid of him, but she knew what he was capable of. If Norman sent him after her, then he would do everything in his power to take her.
And, yet, she was still here. Her beast purred happily. It reminded her that Jude had given her an option. She could stay. Despite
Alec and his inability to admit that he knew her, Charlie could still stay. It was clear that there was something between her and Alec that was undeniable. She could stay, could let it slowly work itself out.
And, if all failed and they weren’t mates like she desperately hoped, then that meant there was still someone out there that was meant for her. The thought that it could be anyone other than Alec made her beast growl. It refused to acknowledge the idea, but it did give Charlie a small bit of hope.
Her life didn’t have to be miserable forever. She was her own person. So long as she had the right people on her side, then she could keep fighting to find happiness.
She peeled the sopping wet pajama set off her body. It fell to the floor with a wet slapping sound. It would leave a mess, but the linoleum didn’t care. She could mop it up with a towel later. For the time being, she let herself fall to sit on the edge of the bathtub.
Her thighs were thicker, stronger. She remembered wrapping them around Alec. It’d felt so right, like two puzzle pieces finally coming together. She spent a moment tracing the tattoo that covered her thigh. It was a bunch of roses and skulls from her rebel phase. Parts had already faded. They weren’t as bad as some other shifter tattoos.
The constant changing of forms could warp super intricate designs. Charlie hadn’t shifted all that often back home. She did it once in a while, but Norman warned her against it most of the time. That was just another of his methods of controlling her, she realized. He kept her weak by keeping her from reaching for her beast.
She curled her lip, nails digging into her skin. How much of his leadership was only meant to keep her under his control? She’d told herself that he wanted to protect them, that he wasn’t all bad. But he was. And she never wanted to go back.
This cabin, this lake, this was her home. She never wanted to leave.
The door burst open. Alec strolled in. He reached past her and cranked the shower knob. When she looked at him, aghast, he simply shrugged.
“You weren’t getting it started so I’m doing it for you.” He dropped a stack of fluffy towels on the nearby counter. “I stole them from Buffy and Heath. Their detergent smelled better than Jude and Cole’s.”
“You just walked into your friends’ house and stole their towels?”
“Well, I had to. I only have one towel. I don’t think we can make one towel work between the two of us. Do you?”
Rather belatedly, Charlie remembered that she was naked. She didn’t feel the need to cover up, not in front of Alec. He’d already been inside her. She might have not been naked at the time, but the moment had been so intimate. Her nakedness was nothing in comparison.
Alec paused, hunched over the side of the tub, hands around the rim. He watched the water drain away.
“Your clan…” The words had a low, rumbling growl to them. “Are they…good to you?”
She snorted. “Fuck no. Would I be here if my clan treated me right?”
That was the first time she acknowledged it out loud. She’d never mentioned it to anyone. Her parents knew nothing about how Norman was trying to break her. All they knew was that their daughter was quieter than she had been. She didn’t have any friends to talk to. The only people she knew were the other women, going through the same exact thing she was. And they barely talked to one another.
Norman didn’t like it when they did. She saw now that he didn’t want them to band together. If he kept them separate, then he kept them weak. It stung that she only realized this now, when she was far away from them. She couldn’t scream it to the rooftops, to the stars. Couldn’t tell the others what Norman was doing.
Not that it would change anything. She didn’t think the other women had what it took to defy Norman. Not yet. Maybe someday they would find the inspiration to fight back. Charlie needed the support of old friends to find her strength again.
She ducked her head. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Alec’s face was inches from hers. She could feel the heat radiating from his skin. She basked in it, like a cat in the sun.
“I didn’t promise anything,” Alec muttered, like she was talking about Zane again.
“That wasn’t what I meant, but—oh, hell. You’re insufferable.” She laughed and pushed at him. He would do as she asked. She knew he would. “Get out if you aren’t going to be any help.”
There was a slight smile on his face, like he was trying to hide it. The sight of it warmed her heart. She didn’t tear her gaze from it until she stepped into the tub and Alec pulled the curtain closed. She waited for footsteps, but he never walked away. The floor creaked where Alec sat down.
She let the hot water run over her face and pulled back. “Are you afraid Vincent will come back?”
“Was that his name?” Alec was quiet for a moment, then he made a shout like he’d discovered something. “That was why you needed to find Asher. Wasn’t it? You asked him to do something about the dragon.”
“Yeah, but I asked too soon. I didn’t take into account how long the flight would be. I sent Asher on a wild goose chase.”
“It kept him out of trouble,” Alec told her.
Silence settled over them. It was comfortable. She could feel his presence on the other side of the shower curtain. It wasn’t awkward. Nothing about him was. It’d never been uncomfortable or bumbling. Their friendship had been easy from the beginning. Something about them spoke to one another. Their souls meshed well, energy constantly flowing between them.
She hadn’t been surprised when he changed her. If anything, young Charlie had been elated. She saw it as an opportunity to spend the rest of her life with him, like a blood pact. She knew right then and there that he would become her husband. The word mate hadn’t been in her vocabulary yet. She saw wedding rings and not the invisible bond that tugged low in her core.
Could Alec feel it? Did it tug at him the same way it tugged at her in that moment?
“You should leave,” he announced.
She nearly slipped and fell. Slapping a hand to the wall to steady herself, she gawked at the opaque shower curtain. After all that he was still trying to make her leave? She couldn’t believe it. He had to have felt the bond forming. How could he not?
Dread trickled down the back of her throat. It settled like lead in her gut. Her beast thrashed. It refused his words. He couldn’t send her away. No one would take her from her destiny ever again.
Yet, she couldn’t claim her destiny if it didn’t want her.
She bent and grabbed the shampoo bottle, wanting nothing more than to throw it at Alec’s dumb head. Why was he being like this? Why couldn’t he just let her stay here? She knew he wanted her. He’d proven that the night before when they could barely stop touching one another in bed.
The only words he could say were ones to push her away, though.
“You’re a fool if you think you can make me do anything,” she said, surprising herself.
Alec didn’t respond, but she thought she could hear pleased laughter. Once more, she considered throwing the shampoo at his head. Instead, she poured some out into her hand. She hissed when the soap met the open cuts on her hand.
Damn, she’d forgotten that Vincent had bitten her. She’d been so distracted by the fight and then by Alec that the pain had disappeared. This was the first time she’d gotten a good look at the bite. If she hadn’t already been changed, this would have done it. She turned her hand to get a better look at the holes piercing her skin.
“Oh,” was all she managed to say. The floor swayed beneath her feet. Her head spun.
Alec made a bunch of noise getting to his feet on the other side of the shower. It was good timing because the room tilted. No, that was her. She was tilting. Charlie crashed through the shower curtain. It snapped and wrapped around her as she landed in Alec’s arms.
The edges of her vision turned dark. Then, everything went black.
When Charlie woke, her hair was dry. It was also clean. She no longer smelled like the depths of the
lake. And the shower curtain wasn’t wrapped around her anymore. Her gut churned, but she needed to look.
Her hand was bandaged, but the wound was unmistakable. Vincent had bitten off half of her pinky. Where there had been a short finger with chipped black nail polish, there was now nothing more than a bandaged nub.
Charlie couldn’t believe she’d passed out because of it. She scowled at herself and sat up. She was back in her own cabin. There was a soft thumping sound on the other side of the wall beside her. Alec muttered something and began thumping again. He must have gone out to get supplies to fix the wall.
He really didn’t want her in his cabin.
“You know Zane is just going to break it down again. Right?” she called out through the new wall.
Alec grumbled.
She was convinced Zane was breaking the back wall of the cabin to screw with them now. It didn’t hurt anyone. All it meant was that they either abandoned the cabin or kept fixing it. Alec, who needed to be handy at all times, would just keep replacing the wall until his dying breath. She though Zane must have been having a laugh to himself in that lake.
She stood. The room tried to sway, but she managed to steady herself. Alec had dressed her in a loose-fitting t-shirt that most certainly wasn’t hers. It smelled of him, of whisky, and desire. She held it close and breathed it in. She thought her beast would purr, but it made only one demand.
Food.
After the exciting fight in the lake, she was famished. She glanced at her hand and wondered if her pinky would ever come back. Sometimes, if a shifter was strong enough, they could grow back entire limbs. It took someone like a gold dragon. She might be able to grow back her pinky, but only if she could get stronger.
With a sigh, Charlie let herself fall back onto the bed. There was a stuffed animal beside her head. She twisted to grab it and lifted it over her face. A small card floated down from it.
Alec (Keepers Of The Lake Book 3) Page 11
