by Eliza Gayle
She’d spaced out after that. She did not need to hear them boasting about their abilities to seduce women or any other stupid nonsense. But in her mind, the matter of her new home had been settled and she’d already begun the remodel on their lair. In fact, her private quarters were almost finished. Complete with no windows so as to not allow in a drop of sunshine. Speaking of.
This day flying had irritated her skin. She’d have to ask Simon if he had any thoughts on how to make that more bearable. Especially if he preferred to meet during the day. She might have to accommodate future requests.
Was that wishful thinking? Maybe so.
She found Simon’s office door closed so she knocked softly to announce her arrival without jarring him from his work. And she waited. And then waited some more. What the hell was going on around here? She tried the handle and found it unlocked so she let herself in.
“Simon. I don’t think you heard me knock. I thought we were supposed to meet at…” She stopped short when she found his office empty. Okay, this was getting freaking weird. Where in the hell was everyone?
As she was about to turn to go and search the rest of the clinic, she heard a thump from behind one of the other closed doors across the room. In particular the one with the extensive security system that now looked like the door had a slight gap in it.
As she moved toward it, her training and heightened senses kicked in. The scent of shifters hit her hard. Female. More than one. A full spectrum of species. But it was the sharp scent of magic that caught her attention most.
There was a witch on the premises.
Good Goddess. How long had it been since she’d actually confronted one of those? The population of witches in Scotland had dwindled down to almost nothing as they were driven from their homes by the ever increasing population of dragons. Despite the need for magic, dragons and witches did not get along.
Anger flashed. If Simon had gotten involved with a witch…
She crossed the room and shoved open the door. “What the hell is going on in—”
Her progression into the room came to an abrupt halt as she came face to face with three women standing in front of a weird wall safe type thing that also looked a lot like a refrigerator.
“Oh shit,” said the one closest to the refrigerator with some sort of bottle clutched in her hand.
“Relax, I got this,” said the remarkable blonde. “Can I help you?”
Kenzie narrowed her eyes at the false ring of her voice. Now there was a shifter not to be trusted. “Where is Simon?”
“He’s not here and isn’t expected back anytime soon. Shall I give him a message?”
Kenzie exploded. “Bullshit. I got a message from him to meet him here.”
All three women looked back and forth at each other. “I thought you had them handled,” the one smelling like the witch said to the one clutching that bottle tight.
“I thought so too, but it sounds like the wires got crossed somehow. Which means Simon is probably on his way back…”
“Fuck.” Again the blonde.
“What’s that in your hand?” Kenzie directed her question to the pretty one with the harsh looking scar running down her face. She had a feeling there would be quite a story behind the scar.
“Nothing,” she said as she whipped the bottle behind her back.
Kenzie narrowed her eyes, smelling both fear and panic. Or maybe guilt. Guilt and fear smelled pretty much the same. “You might as well tell me. No one is leaving here without a complete explanation.”
“Is that a threat?” The sharp tongued pretty one glared at her.
Kenzie shrugged. “Just a fact. Especially considering none of you look like you are here at Simon’s request. Which means you’re trespassing. So you might as well get to the explaining part.”
“I don’t take threats very—”
“It’s okay, Niki. She’s just looking out for her man.” The female with the scar pulled the bottle from behind her back and held it up. “We came for this.”
“What is it?” She couldn’t imagine what the hell Simon could have in his clinic that would be so important to these three women. This was a clinic and it wasn’t like shifters were drug addicts or anything crazy like that. Drugs didn’t exactly work on shifters like they did humans and it would take a whole lot more than that tiny vial of liquid to impact any of these women. Except maybe the witch.
She turned to the third one, who’d mostly remained quiet, and took a deep breath. She wasn’t just a witch either. There was also cougar in her blood.
“It’s a cure Simon has been working on. For the females of our clans.”
Kenzie whipped her head back around at that nugget of information. “A cure for what?” Her stomach quivered as her brain began processing the possibilities.
“Our fertility. But you already know that considering it’s your magic that helped develop this. Only now that it’s ready for testing, our males are being assholes and trying to hide it from us.”
She tried to process the barrage of information that the woman had flung at her and failed. There was too much going on at once. “Say that again,” she requested even though she was pretty sure she’d heard every word. “Did you say my magic?”
The woman holding the jar held it up. “Yeah. Simon said the key came from a dragon female. Since you’re the only one I’ve heard of around here so far, I assumed he meant you. Are there more females on your mountain?” As if she wanted to prove her point, the female uncapped the bottle and the scent of it filled the room.
Kenzie’s stomach cramped as the realization of what Simon had done flooded through her. As the sharp pain of betrayal tore at her heart, the woman continued.
“I know that it could be dangerous for one of us to test it. But what else can we do? We need to know if it works and someone is going to have to volunteer. Pretending it doesn’t exist is no answer.”
She didn’t know what to say. Pain like she’d never felt before threatened to suffocate her. Simon had gone behind her back and used her without permission. It had to have been during the surgery. That was the only time she wasn’t fully aware of what happened to her.
“He had no right,” she started, still struggling to catch her breath.
“What do you mean?” Finally the silent witch spoke up.
“I mean,” she started slowly, “I adamantly refused Simon’s request to use any part of me for his testing. Although I had decided to take it under consideration and my brother and I have been contemplating it.”
“Oh shit. But I thought you and him were, you know, dating or doing some kind of dance around mating. That’s what Rafe, my mate, told me anyway.”
“No. We are not. Mating with Simon is one hundred percent not a possibility.”
“Why not?” the super pretty blonde sneered. “Is a super intelligent, good-looking, kind hearted wolf not good enough for a dragon?” She slapped her arm against the wall and the bookshelf attached to it shook. “I swear to the Goddess if you dragons are as prejudiced and fatalistic as our fucking councils I am going to go on a murderous rampage.”
Under any other circumstance Kenzie would have laughed at the woman’s outrage. But not today. Not with the knowledge of Simon’s betrayal utmost in her mind. Instead she got angry.
“Do not make assumptions or false accusations about my family. Otherwise I will show you the true definition of a rampage and I guarantee no one will like it.”
The blonde’s eyes widened two seconds before she shifted on a snarl. Tattered clothing flew and Kenzie found herself face to face with the fangs of a rather vicious looking white cougar.
The witch jumped between them before the cougar could launch.
“Whoa, Niki. Stop before you do something you’ll regret. You cannot attack a dragon and expect to come out on top. Are you insane?”
Damn right.
Kenzie’s skin was shimmering with the red-black color of her scales as she fought not to shift. As angry as she was at Simo
n at the moment, she didn’t relish tearing down this territory’s only clinic. They didn’t deserve it even if he did.
“What the hell is going on in here?”
Kenzie whirled, as did the rest of the women because Simon had just entered the fray.
Perfect. Him she could kill.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Simon wasn’t sure what the hell he was looking at, but based on the murderous look in his woman’s eyes he knew it wasn’t good.
“You bastard,” she breathed at him, heat hitting him full force. “How dare you?”
He was about to ask her what the hell she was talking about when he spied Kitty with the small vial of fertility serum clutched in her hand. And it was open.
A new kind of fear struck through his chest as he tried to take a step in her direction. “Kitty, what are you doing? You need to put that back right now.”
She looked at him with confusion until she realized he was looking at her hand. She followed his gaze for a moment before looking back at him. “I’m taking this with me, Simon. The females have the right to know it exists.”
He held up his hands as if motioning for her to stop would make her listen. “I don’t disagree with you. I do want to test it. But we first have to find the right volunteer subject.”
She shook her head. “No, Rafe and Bhric are going to hide it. Kane too. I heard them.”
Fuck. This was not good.
“It shouldn’t even exist,” Kenzie said through clenched teeth.
He wanted to agree with her and explain everything, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of Kitty. Fear of what she might do had him transfixed.
“Kitty, please. Put it back in the fridge for safe keeping and let’s talk about it. I’ll talk to Rafe again. I’m sure we can convince him to approve the tests.”
She scoffed at him. “You know him better than that, Simon. He’s too protective of the females. He’ll never agree to sacrifice one.”
The sad part was she was probably right and they both knew it. But he still had to convince her otherwise.
“It’s not ready yet, Kitty. I need more time with it. It’s possible with more research I can make the testing less risky.” Another lie and unfortunately every one of them in the room could smell it.
“Don’t lie, Simon. It’s ugly and smells bad.”
“Got that right,” Kenzie agreed.
At least her dragon scales had receded even if her anger didn’t. For now, he’d call that a minor win and move on to the next battle. “We still have to do this the right way and let Rafe decide what’s best.”
“There’s only one thing to do.” Before he could blink or react in any other way, she brought the vial to her lips and swallowed the liquid it contained.
All five of them rushed forward but they were too late. The bottle crashed to the floor as Niki tackled Kitty and glass shattered everywhere. He ignored it all and landed at Kitty’s side a mere second after Niki.
“Goddammit, Kitty.” He calculated how long it would take for him to get the ipecac syrup and prepare a large enough dose to make her expel the contents in her stomach. He doubted he had enough time, but he had to do something.
“It’s too late,” Lara said from behind him. “Magic takes hold immediately, especially when it’s that strong. There is nothing you can do to stop it.”
“Fuck fuck fuck.” He continued to cuss as he lifted Kitty from the ground and carried her out of his lab in the direction of the nearest examination room.
“Someone needs to call Rafe.”
“The hell they do,” Kitty snarled.
He looked down at her sharply. “Rafe is getting a call whether you like it or not. If you have some kind of adverse reaction to that serum it’s not going to be without him at your side.”
They all filed into one of the rooms and he placed Kitty on the exam table. “I need someone to call Marci too. This is going to be an all hands on deck effort.”
“Oh for cripes sake,” Kitty groaned. “I’m not that fragile.”
He turned on her, his anger over this entire situation coming out full force. “Don’t fucking say another word. You are going to do as I say and follow every single one of my instructions to the letter. If anything bad happens to you, Rafe is going to go insane. And I don’t mean in a he’s going to be super pissed even though he is, kind of way. He’s going to go full out bat shit crazy if he loses his mate. People will die. Many more will suffer. Least of all him. Are you ready for the responsibility of that?”
Kitty clamped her mouth shut as her eyes filled with fear. He wanted to feel smug over the fact she’d listened to him for once, but he couldn’t. He had not been exaggerating about the situation. The effects of the drug were unknown, but for all their sakes he hoped to the Goddess it wasn’t fatal.
He would be the first to die at his best friend’s hand, and rightfully so.
“What can I do?” Kenzie stepped forward, anger still shimmering from her in waves.
“I don’t know yet. I’ve got to get her hooked up to this equipment so I can monitor everything and then I need to draw some blood. The first twenty-four hours are going to be critical.”
When he lifted his head to meet Kenzie’s eyes, it nearly broke him to see the pain etched into her face. When he’d started his experiments he’d truly believed he would be able to explain all of this to her in a way that she would understand. Now he realized that simply wasn’t true.
He’d betrayed his mate.
He needed to get out of this room and pull his shit together. “Can you watch over her while I step out and grab what I need? And for Goddess sake, do not let her leave. Tie her down if you have to.”
Kenzie nodded and all of the women closed ranks around Kitty.
As he stepped from the room he heard Kitty ask a question that made him freeze.
“If it’s not prejudice that fuels your refusal of Simon, what is it? Why would you not accept his mate claim?”
“You mean besides his betrayal?”
He winced at the bitterness of her tone. How in the hell he was going to come back from this he didn’t know.
“You’d already refused him before all of this, right?”
He didn’t hear a response from Kenzie so he assumed she’d probably gestured when Kitty asked her again.
“So what is it then? Simon is one of the best men I know. I know it might not seem like it now, but he would make an excellent mate. Honestly, there’s no one better.”
He slumped against the wall outside the door at Kitty’s assessment. She wasn’t right, but he certainly appreciated that she thought that. Her and Rafe. They were so perfect together it was almost painful. It had been worth the journey it took them to get there. As the time passed and Kenzie didn’t answer he believed she wouldn’t. But he imagined the freshly opened wounds were tearing her apart all over again. Would he ever stop causing her pain?
When he was about to walk away and get back to work Kenzie finally responded.
“Because I have no choice. Dragons can’t physically mate with other shifters. It’s impossible.”
“I know she is not talking about sex.” Niki’s sarcastic but astute response rang through the hallway. “That ship sailed weeks ago.”
“Niki,” Lara crooned. “Maybe we should mind our own business. If she doesn’t want to mate with him she doesn’t want to mate with him.”
“It’s not about want.”
“I knew it!” Kitty declared and he could imagine her rubbing her hands together with glee. Crazy woman. “Now please explain so we can come up with a plan to fix it.”
“You can’t. It’s impossible.” The desolation in Kenzie’s voice threatened to cut him down at the knees. “Now that I’ve become fertile I have to avoid all contact and you know how impossible that would be during mating heat. And I certainly can’t keep asking him to remove my egg every single time. What a nightmare. But a child would be much worse. It would be a monster.”
“What? Tha
t’s ridiculous. Interspecies shifters have had kids. Every one of us proves that.”
“Trust me, it’s different with dragons. Our DNA is volatile and dangerous.”
The women were throwing out ideas left and right and he was barely listening. All he could hear was the pain inside Kenzie and how much this was hurting her. It was extreme and it was all his fault. He’d taken things too far up on that mountain and she was paying the price.
Didn’t matter that he hurt too. It was his fucking job to protect her.
“Why not just use magic to fix it then?”
Wait. What?
Simon stood up and leaned closer to the open doorway as Lara continued her thought.
“If having children is the only issue why not use magic to bind you from having any? Unless having a child is more important. I mean, I don’t know what your life goals are. But you and Simon seem pretty deeply connected. And that’s not something to take lightly. Walking away from a mate could have lifelong repercussions.”
The room fell so silent after Lara’s revelation you could have heard a pin drop. The idea of using magic to fix their problems never occurred to him. Although it should have. He might have his brain rooted in science. But the science of shifters didn’t fall quite in the same realm as human science. Things simply work differently when you can introduce some of the more hard to find supernatural elements.
Idea after idea ricocheted through his mind.
“It never occurred to me that I could use magic to fix the problem.” Kenzie spoke so quietly, even with his sensitive hearing he had to strain to catch her words.
“Magic is always a possibility. It should at least be considered.”
“But how? Is it a spell? A curse?”
He loved that Kenzie and he were on the same wavelength as she peppered Lara with questions.
“A spell. Not the easiest to accomplish, but not the hardest either. I might be able to do it though. Otherwise we need to find a stronger witch.”
