“You’ve had other concerns lately.”
“That’s just it. I haven’t been thinking of my sister. I’ve been so caught up with this life I thought I had that I forgot about what I should have been doing. I should have been looking for her still.”
He knew what she was getting at. He knew the guilt. Marc hadn’t been the one to find anything about their parents. It had all been Luc’s doing, and a fluke at that. The guilt that he hadn’t looked hard enough, that their parents had been around this whole time and Marc hadn’t looked hard enough ate him from the inside out. It might have been what disrupted the calm he’d built. It shook the foundation until he could no longer hold on.
“We do what we can with what we’re given,” Marc said as he watched his mate stare into the sky. “We might stumble one day, just to get up and run the next. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. Just remember to keep moving in the right direction.”
Noelle’s shoulders dropped. Her eyes remained glued on the stars above. Marc dared a glance back. There were no lights on in the house he shared with his brother and Isaac. Both had recently met their mates and drifted away from the once bachelor pad. It now stood, empty and begging for companionship.
Marc turned his mouth open to ask Noelle to join him, but he found the space she’d occupied was empty. His heart sank. Would she ever give him a chance? The kiss he’d stolen inside the car had been heart pounding. It was the first taste he’d ever gotten of his mate and it made his head spin with intoxication.
The idea of going into the great big and empty house on his own left him with a feeling of dread, so Marc let his beast surge forward. The Quetzalcoatl shimmered in the moonlight, giving one last look back at the tiny house his mate hid inside of before launching himself into the air. He would circle the territory a few times, making sure all their dragons were safe from GOE’s newfound sneaky ways, before setting into a small grove to sleep off his lust and desire.
The beast knew, without a doubt, Noelle would be theirs. The beast knew she would be theirs soon. It could smell her own desire, lingering beneath the scent Marc left on her after the kiss. That was enough to satiate the beast until he could rightfully claim her. Then, the beast would make her scream his name into the skies.
***
Noelle dug through the records stacked beneath her record player. There wasn’t enough room in this home for her music, but she kept the place because it felt portable. It felt like she could still leave if she found any hint of her sister out there in the world. Her delicate fingers plucked free a Led Zeppelin album and slid it free of its cardboard sheath.
The guitar thrummed through the walls of the small house. She’d been pleasantly surprised to find this one sitting on her porch one morning. She could pretend all she wanted that she didn’t know where it came from, but she’d smelled his scent on it, faint but undeniable. It made her set the vinyl disc onto the player with reverence.
He’d known exactly what she would have liked. He’d stayed up late and listened to the music with her as it shook her thin walls. She didn’t think she deserved a mate like him, to tell the truth. Marc was a patient and honest man who’d dealt with the brunt of her shit through the years, even though he’d known of their bond the entire time.
All she could do was try to live up to the strength and persistence that he showed. Noelle had to find her own source of serenity so that she could face the coming days. The idea that the new dragons might have known her sister shook Noelle. Of course, rescuing Lucia Avila was their first priority. They knew she was still alive. They knew there was still a chance for her.
Noelle had no idea if her sister was still even alive. Yet, her eyes turned towards the skies outside the window above her narrow bed.
Sometimes, I think he would have been good for you, Mary. I think this man the universe has given me would have benefited from the joy you pulled out of everything in the world. He doesn’t need my caustic attitude making things worse.
Noelle didn’t say the words aloud. She couldn’t find the voice to speak them, but it almost felt as though Mary could still hear her. She knew exactly what her sister would have said.
Just don’t burn the world down together and you’ll be fine. Mary would have said it with a wide smile and a gleam in her dark eyes.
What was it that was keeping Noelle from truly accepting Marc into her life? Did she feel inadequate? Did she fear the effect of her anger on him? Did she worry she might fail him? It was all of the above, but her sister would have reminded her she knew nothing until she tried.
Noelle would not know how their relationship would work until she actually gave it a chance. As much as she hated to admit it, she ached for more of the kiss they’d shared in the darkness of the car. His lips had connected with her and she’d felt the jolt of surprise slam into her core and she found herself wanting more.
Thankfully, there’d been more pressing matters. They needed to get the IDs from Norman started. He promised them a believable product, one that even GOE wouldn’t look twice at. On top of that, there hadn’t been enough room in the front of the Jeep for what Noelle found herself wanting.
The guitar solo ripped through her tiny home and Noelle found herself glancing toward the monstrosity the Avila twins called home. There were no lights on and Noelle sat up straighter. Had Marc gone straight to bed? Their night had not been that exhausting she thought. Then, her eyes drifted upward.
She caught the glimmer of iridescent scales in the moonlight drifting overhead and felt her stomach flip. Part of her wanted to go outside, give in to her own beast, and fly beside him. Both of their dragons had long, lithe bodies and it would have been thrilling to experience their bodies cording around one another through the air.
Yet, Noelle sat rooted. Fear gripped her. She didn’t want to admit it, but all the reservations she’d had earlier still lingered like rocks in her stomach. Noelle didn’t want to fail anyone else.
Chapter Five
The sound of a scream jolted Noelle from her sleep. She jerked out of bed and launched into a run toward the source of the sound. She’d known who that was and it set her heart racing. Bare feet slapped the ground outside. The door of Dane’s cabin burst open and Liana stormed out.
Noelle felt her sense of urgency stutter at the sight of Liana. The leader’s mate turned burning eyes up to Noelle. The heat in them stuttered for a second, but when a voice sounded from inside the cabin they lit up again. Noelle stepped closer, straining to hear the voice.
It was coming from a laptop set on the dining room table. Dane pushed past Noelle, barely noticing her as he hugged Miri to his chest, hands partially covering her ears. Noelle felt her stomach flip, the rocks from the night before slamming into her all over again. On the small screen was the overlay of a local news station. Sitting across from the regular news caster was a man dressed in business casual, a GOE badge clipped to the pocket of his shirt as if he couldn’t bear to hide it at his hip. He had to show the world who he worked for.
Footage of the nomadic dragons’ reveal played on a small corner of the screen. Lucia Avila wrecked the GOE building on a loop, fed directly to the local citizens. Liana appeared beside Noelle, her arms crossed over her chest. The Welsh fire dragon leaked smoke through her nostrils. Noelle couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen Liana made enough to make smoke.
Before Noelle could ask what was happening, the GOE official on the screen spoke.
“We have managed to detain the dragon responsible for the attack on one of our buildings. She engaged in an unprovoked assault on a building filled with innocent lives so the Guardians of Existence took measures to ensure the people in the surrounding areas were safe from this creature.”
The newscaster beside him didn’t miss a beat. “The dragons there with the creature in question claimed a long history of violence on the part of GOE. What do you have to say about that?”
The GOE official shrugged. “It is our belief that the dragons used these acc
usations to garner the public’s sympathy while they partook in the destruction of public property with a metaphysical being. We have caught and prosecuted the individuals responsible for their claims, although we have found them not to be as severe as the dragons claimed.”
Bullshit, Noelle thought. The word repeated itself on an endless cycle as the man kept speaking. He was so full of bullshit and the people around him were eating it up. How could they not tell it tasted like shit? Now, Noelle understood Liana’s smoke.
“This is only a video on the internet, but the actual footage has been playing every forty minutes on a local station,” Liana informed her.
Noelle felt her own fire surge. It was red, hot, and hungry for a target. She wanted to destroy this man’s life. Noelle was smarter than that; she understood this man was not responsible for every bad thing that happened because of GOE, but he was the face of their lies in that moment. When would it end?
“How close are you to compiling all of the testimonies?”
Liana’s head cocked to the side as she took a mental tally of her work. She sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. “Not nearly close enough to having all of them, but without hard evidence these people are willing to go back to believing the best of these arses.”
Noelle nodded. She understood. No one was going to happily accept these accusations from the mouth of a dragon. The people here were too afraid of the dragons. Fear, here in America, often led to backlash. The people were more likely to push aside their claims in favor of calling the dragons lazy and needy.
“What do we need?”
“The set of files Luc and Anya were given by GOE are nice, but they’re old and half of the information in them is redacted. Sure, the photos make great evidence, but nothing in there states that any of that was against their will. What we need is modern evidence. We need voice recordings. I hate to say this, but we need current photos of the injustice happening.”
Noelle nodded. She could do this. If it meant helping future dragons in the States, then she would do whatever it took. Liana shot her a sidelong glance, trying to surmise what was going on in Noelle’s head, but Noelle turned away. Liana already knew what they were planning; she’d probably guessed what Noelle was now thinking, too.
Liana could do nothing other than let out a heavy sigh. It was laden with the burdens the world had thrust upon her. If Noelle could do even the smallest task to help, then she would. It was high time she started helping those other than herself.
Mary would have been proud.
Noelle turned away from the reporter on the computer when Liana grabbed her arm and turned her back.
“You need to see this, too.”
Noelle’s eyes drifted back toward the screen and felt the world turn sideways. Lucia Avila was on the screen. Her lips were twisted in a near feral snarl. She was strapped down with silver lined grips, struggling uselessly against them. By all means, Lucia looked like an animal.
“What did they do to her?” Noelle whispered. She prayed Marc was nowhere near them. She prayed he never saw this.
“They broke the woman. I heard from Hector that this started early on and he assumed it was something he couldn’t fix.” Noelle could hear the anger in Liana’s voice. “Coming back from trauma like that is hard. You feel like you need to attack the world before it can attack you. I know what Lucia is feeling right now and I wish to the very depths of my monstrous soul that I could help her. She might have been able to come back from this, but now I’m not so sure.”
Noelle hated Hector for hiding this from them. What had been his motives? Sure, Noelle could understand wanting to hide this from her children, but it had accomplished nothing in the end. The boy knew what’d become of their mother. The other family was so intent on believing no one in this family had suffered. They were intent on believing no one here could ever understand what they’d gone through.
Everyone hurts in different ways, Noelle thought. Her beast wriggled inside of her. Its only thoughts were of Marc, wanting to run to him and comfort him with their body. She shook her head to rid herself of the images her beast had inserted.
Noelle spun on her heel and made her way back to her home. She’d throw on some clothes and run out to Norman to see if he could speed up the process any more, but her feet were frozen when she heard the GOE official speak again.
“We are taking extra measures to make sure the creatures are off your streets. They are dangerous and threaten your very way of life and we do not want that. To ensure your safety, we’re cleaning up your streets.”
The words haunted Noelle as she dressed, grabbing a pair of black, ripped jeans and throwing on an equally ripped concert tee with it. She didn’t know what the official’s words meant, but they held an ominous sound that clung to her and whispered in her ears over and over. It told her she’d never be safe. It told her there was no chance of this working.
Marc was still nowhere to be found. It irked her, for some reason that he couldn’t be bothered to show up at a decent time. It was still early by most definitions, so she couldn’t be all that angry with him. Perhaps, she was most angry that she suddenly felt lost and he was not there for her.
Noelle jammed the key into the ignition of her Jeep and turned, scolding herself for wanting Marc to be there when she gave clear indications she didn’t want him to be. She was kicking herself for her indecisiveness all the way into town.
Sliding out of the Jeep made her look around. Everywhere were possible GOE agents looking to grab her. The woman on the bench with her screaming child could be an agent for all she knew. The lady was most likely waiting for the bus, but Noelle knew she could trust nothing. She also knew she was starting to sound like Norman.
Now that the American GOE agencies had practically declared war on the dragons, she had every right to be afraid. Noelle took the stairs up to Norman’s apartment two at a time. The door framed had been fixed with duct tape and some crooked nails, but the door swung open beneath her touch. Her stomach gave a nervous flip.
Pushing the door further, she found the apartment empty. The shitty curb couch and bucket were still there, but the gray sheet hanging on the wall was gone. Things looked helter-skelter, like Norman had grabbed what he could in a rush and hadn’t bothered fixing what he’d knocked over.
“Norm?” she called out.
There was no response. All that greeted her was the harsh buzz of silence. Her heart stuttered. If Norman had skipped town, that meant he probably hadn’t finished their fake IDs. They needed those if they were ever going to get inside the facility to get Lucia out. Noelle couldn’t bear to go back to the territory and tell Marc their shot had up and disappeared.
Her feet led her deeper into the apartment. The desk sat crooked in the corner, like he’d slammed the drawers shut. She found a small, white envelope sitting on top with an angry, horned face scribbled on it. Air rushed from her lungs.
She knew the angry, horned face had to be her. Snatching up the envelope, she found two finely crafted ID’s waiting for her. They heavy thumping of her heart subsided and she found herself able to breathe deep again. Tucked alongside the IDs was a letter. Noelle’s brows furrowed as she pulled it out.
Quickly, she scanned the handwritten letter. Norm was sorry he’d had to leave, but he’d seen the news segment this morning, too. He knew what it meant for him and that even Mexico was a better place for him than here. He wished her the best of luck on her mission, crazy as he thought it was he thought she was brave.
Norman was smart, she thought. He was getting out of dodge before the sky fell on all of them. He would have been safe in the Territory, but Noelle couldn’t help but wonder how long that safety would last. Would the government allow GOE to erect walls around them? Would they eventually cap the territory with a dome so that they could no longer fly?
Noelle’s stomach flipped and her hand tightened around the envelope. She was being dramatic, that was for sure, but she couldn’t stop imagining the ways that GOE
could still hurt them. She knew what she needed to do, Noelle only hoped Norman had left some of his stuff behind.
Feeling like she was going through someone’s personal items even though Norman had clearly up and left, Noelle started to rummage through the drawers of the desk. There were a few scraps of paper tumbling around the wooden drawers and some broken pencils, but not much else. Noelle straightened and surveyed the space around her. Her eyes narrowed as she thought.
Where would he keep that kind of stuff, she asked herself? Considering this was Norman, he would hide anything just about anywhere. He was paranoid to his very bones, even if he had a good reason. Noelle kept her head up and started moving from room to room. She started with the kitchen, just in case he was truly mad, but only found handfuls of mismatched silverware that might have been stolen from restaurants.
It wasn’t until she got to what had been his bedroom, a small room with only a mattress on the floor, and began digging through the closet, that Noelle found what she was looking for. There, in the corner, was a box of electronics and cords Norman had left behind. She chewed her lip. There was a chance it was only a box of old CD players and audio cables. She pulled it closer and began separating the mad tangle of cords.
Nearing the end of the mess, Noelle found exactly what she’d been searching for. She knew Norman would have a wire-tap. He seemed like the kind of guy, but when she found the apartment empty, she’d worried she might not get what she needed. Turns out, the universe was still on her side.
She’d have to wait and see how long that lasted, but for now she was satisfied. The recording device in one hand and the fake ID cards in the other, Noelle ran back down to her jeep.
Stepping outside, Noelle was aware of the car turning onto the street. She didn’t think twice about the slow-moving car as it drifted down the street in her direction. It wasn’t until her hand was on the door handle of her Jeep and the car had passed her that she noticed the crest on the door of the vehicle.
The Dragon's Woman Page 5
