by Meg Ripley
He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. Damn it. If he’d already bought a ranch, or even just a cabin with some acreage, he’d have been able to satisfy that deep urge to let go. But he was stuck there for the moment, and he was going to have to deal with it just like any other human in the city would’ve had to. Ash grabbed his coat and headed back downstairs, determined to walk until he managed to clear his head and stifle his inner bear.
“Where are you running off to in such an almighty hurry?” Old Jim questioned before Ash’s foot hit the bottom step. “You sound like a wild animal galloping down those stairs!
If he’d only known how right he was. “Just got some thinking to do. Might go get some coffee.” He had a perfectly good coffee pot upstairs; one that brewed up a drink far better than the watered-down mud he was used to drinking overseas, but it sounded like a good excuse.
“I’ll go with you.” The old man barely moved most of the day, but he seemed spry enough as he launched himself out of his chair and grabbed a grubby jacket from the back of it. “I know I could use some coffee.”
Ash’s mouth clenched against argumentative words. “All right.”
The cool spring air was inviting and fresh, and it instantly forced Ash to let go of a little of the tension that had been building inside his body. He inhaled it deeply and let it go, falling into step beside Jim.
“Tell me about it,” the old man demanded.
“About what?”
Jim gave a hoot of laughter. “You young’uns think you can keep something a secret just by not saying it out loud, but I’m here to tell you that’s not true! Something’s weighing heavily on your mind. Go on and spit it out. Might make you feel better.”
Ash squinted into the wind as they headed down the sidewalk. What could it hurt? “I told you I was going to buy the ranch.”
“Right. So what’s the matter with that? Money? Can’t help you much there. I never had more money to put in my pocket than what everyone else wanted to take out of it.”
“It’s not that.” Ash hadn’t been like many of the other soldiers he’d known, who took the chance on every leave to blow their paychecks down to the last cent. It was tempting, since he never knew if he’d live to see the next day, but he’d always had dreams of doing something big with his funds in the future. “See, I was planning to buy the ranch as my retirement project. I may have retired from the Delta Force, but I know I can’t just sit around and watch TV all day. I like to be busy. I need something to do. A cattle ranch sounded like the perfect thing.” He realized after saying it that Old Jim might take offense to the part about sitting around all day.
But the man simply nodded as he ran his hands through his scruffy beard. “Sure. It’s nice to have a plan.”
Ash sighed. It was nice to have a plan, but a single phone call had thrown the entire thing up in the air. He just couldn’t decide if he should catch it or not. “But then I got a call about a job offer. It’s down south.”
“As in Juneau?”
“As in Dallas.”
“Oh.” Jim tucked his hands in his pockets. “That’s quite a commute.”
Ash snickered, despite the serious nature of his decision. “Yeah, a bit more of one than I’m willing to make. So now I have to decide if I should take the job or buy the ranch.”
“I see. That is quite a crossroads. You think you’ll like this job?”
“I don’t know,” Ash admitted. “It’ll be a lot like the life I just retired from, I think. It’s kind of a dream job, if I were still looking for work.”
“You’re buying a ranch. That’s work,” Jim pointed out.
“But it’s different work,” Ash countered.
“It’s more committed work, I reckon. You buy a ranch and have a herd of cattle, and you can’t ever leave. You don’t get vacations and you don’t get to sleep in. You get out there every day and you do what needs to be done. A job? Well, now. That’s a bit different.”
Ash looked at the old man, who kept his gaze stoically forward. He’d struck Ash as just a simple guy with little to offer to society. Maybe he just hadn’t had the chance to offer what he had to anyone while he was sitting in the same spot all day. “That’s a good way of looking at it.”
A grin split Old Jim’s gray beard. “I think so.”
By chance, since Ash had left the apartment building and turned in a random direction, they happened on a small café. “Come on, Jim. Let’s get some coffee. My treat.” He held the door open for the old man, knowing he was going to miss him.
2
Lane shook the water from her scales as she licked her lips. It’d been a good day for hunting, and even if the penguins and seals were a bit fatty, at least she had plenty to eat despite the chilly climate. She moved across the rocks near the sea, her long body easily accommodating the rough terrain. If someone happened by and saw a dragon moving along the shore of Antarctica, there was no telling what they’d think.
But that’s exactly why we’re here, Lane reflected. She and her flight had relocated from the burning hot Arizona desert to the frozen expanse of Antarctica decades ago, when it was clear they could no longer avoid the rapidly expanding urban sprawl that threatened their territory. Lane had resisted the move, at first. She’d enjoyed the heat, and she couldn’t imagine what it would be like to live in a place so cold and barren that even humans didn’t want to be there.
But it’d quickly become clear to her that this new place was just a snowy version of a desert. It looked empty, but not if you were paying attention. The sea around them was particularly full of life, offering a wide array of animals to snack on, and for the days when she didn’t feel like a swim, she could always snag a petrel or two out of the air.
Lane slipped behind an icy boulder and squeezed her body through the small entrance to the cavern that was now their home, the rocks brushing the last of the water from her scales. The entrance was a long and twisted tunnel with a low ceiling, and she shifted to make her passage easier. Her brilliant red scales rippled and disappeared, replaced by smooth porcelain skin. Her clawed feet, which she relied on so much when hunting, became hands and feet as normal as anyone else’s, her fingers slender. She whisked her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder as she made her way into the main area of their home, where the others were waiting for her.
“How was the hunting today?” asked Edi. “I thought about going out myself, but these old bones don’t like getting out in the cold these days.” She rubbed her shoulder under her dark hair, which was streaked thoroughly with gray now.
“I would’ve brought something back for you if I’d known you weren’t getting out. You should’ve said something,” Lane admonished. She worried for the older dragons in their flight. Survival wasn’t always easy there, even if it was possible, and age could only make things more difficult. “I’ll go back out and grab something.”
“I’ve got it,” offered Liam, running a hand through his shaggy hair as he got up and headed toward the tunnel.
Lane settled down next to Edi and they leaned their shoulders together as they stared at the fire the older woman had built in the center of the cave floor. Their shelter was underground and close to a natural geothermal vent, keeping it much warmer than the surface. In the back, a waterfall dripped into a clear pool that made their own little shoreline. It was pleasant and cozy there, even when the worst storms raged overhead.
“Is he gone?” Edi asked after a moment.
Lane glanced over her shoulder, seeing that Liam was no longer visible. “I think so, why?”
“And the others?”
“I think they’re still out hunting,” Lane confirmed. Their clan was small compared to the legends of what it had once been when old Edi was still a young dragon, but their numbers were large enough that even in the winding maze of the caverns, they weren’t usually alone. “Why?”
“I want to ask you something, but I know it’s going to embarrass you.”
Lane’s cheeks colo
red before she even knew the question. She’d always blushed easily, and she blamed it on the red tendencies of her hair. “I don’t think there’s much that everyone else doesn’t already know,” she reminded her elder. “And if you’re going to ask me if I cleaned under my claws and between my teeth after I ate, then the answer is yes.”
But Edi shook her head. “Not that, dear. But something just as important. More important.”
“Go on.” It wasn’t like Edi to be cryptic. With the license of her age, she was often bold to the point of being brazen.
Her dark eyes were intense as she stared into Lane’s. “How do you feel about Liam?”
“Liam?” Lane glanced over her shoulder again as if the man might suddenly appear. “What do you mean?”
Edi sighed. “I mean, dear, that I hate to see you without a mate. Much of the move here from Arizona was my idea, and I thought at the time that the most important thing was to keep us all safe. But now we’re just existing, not really living. I’d like to see you have a little excitement in your life, more than just hunting. Maybe even children.”
Lane blinked. “Are you talking about finding a mate?”
“Of course, dear.”
Turning to stare into the flames once again, Lane concentrated on the way the heat of them felt against her skin. “It’s a nice sentiment, Edi, but that’s not going to happen. I’ve spent plenty of time with every member of this clan, and I would’ve felt it by now if one of them were my fated.”
“Are you sure? You and Liam do get along well,” the older woman urged.
“We do, but that doesn’t mean we’re meant for each other. Edi, I paid attention when you told me all those stories about falling in love and what it felt like. The idea of feeling so passionately for someone that you can’t even control yourself is immensely appealing, but it’s just a fantasy story at this point. Unless I go flying off to find some other clan, there’s no chance of it happening.” Lane spoke firmly. She loved Edi, but she wouldn’t be goaded into this.
“But aren’t you lonely?” Edi pressed.
“Yes,” Lane replied, exasperated. “In that way, I suppose I am. It’d be nice to have someone to share a bed with at night; someone to have at my side, no matter what. But I’ve also got you and the rest of the flight. Why should I bother worrying about it when I already have so much?”
Edi raised a thin eyebrow. “It sounds to me like you’re protesting too much.”
“Oh, stop,” Lane scoffed gently. The old woman could be irritating, but Lane loved her beyond measure. “Look, I know you’re trying to help me, but I really don’t need any help, Edi. I’m fine just the way I am, and I don’t intend to change my position on this. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a few things to do.” She rose from her place by the fire, skirting the clear pool and the waterfall.
She didn’t really have anything to do at all, but it seemed easier to pretend like everything was all right than to address the real issue. She was lonely. Most of the day, it was easy to forget about. Lane was busy hunting or spending time with the rest of her people, and that made it all right. But in the long, dark hours of the night, she wondered what it’d be like to have someone wrap his arms around her and hold her tight, to whisper of his love in her ear, and for each of their inner forms to crave the other, even when they were only a room’s width apart. It was a fantasy, but it was a nice one.
A crash from the tunnel turned her around before she reached her chamber. It was Liam, still in dragon form, despite the narrow entry. He panted and roared as he came shooting into the cavern, bright blood dripping down his pale blue scales. “Get out! Get out now!”
“What’s wrong?” Lane demanded, running toward him, her heart thundering in her chest. “How did you get hurt?”
“They’ve found us. They’re coming in the air. We’ve got to go!” His eyes rolled with panic.
Edi was on her feet now as well. “Who, Liam? Who’s found us?”
“I don’t know. The military, I guess. Helicopters and boats, guns. They’ve already taken down Amy and Brandy! Shot them right out of the air.”
Bile rose in Lane’s throat as she envisioned the incident and she pressed her hand to her lips. “I don’t understand… how…”
“It doesn’t really matter how,” Edi said wisely. “Or who. They’re here, and they’re clearly not our friends. Liam, did they see you come in here?”
“I’m not sure, but they’re everywhere.”
The older woman nodded. “All right, then. Let’s take the back exit and hope for the best. Liam, you’d better shift. You’re lucky you didn’t get your ass stuck in the tunnel already, and it’s even narrower at the back.”
Any other time, he’d have given her hell right back, but there wasn’t time. He shifted on the fly, his wings folding down into his back, the spines at the back of his head disappearing into his tousled hair. He moved on four legs and then on two as the trio wound around behind the waterfall.
Lane felt a pang of longing as they passed the split-off areas of the cavern that had served essentially as bedrooms for them all these years. They were primitive dwellings, to be sure, but this was their home. She’d felt this pain once already when they’d left the States, and now, she had to feel it again. It wasn’t fair.
“Do you think we can take them?” she asked as they squeezed into a small tunnel. There were numerous passages through there, but they knew all the most important ones by heart. “I mean, we can’t just let them chase us away.”
“There are too many of them,” Liam asserted.
But Lane felt the heat of her fire in her chest, and it raged as she thought about the enemy taking down her loved ones. “They’d burn just like anything else.”
“They’ve got firepower, too, but the kind that reaches a lot further,” he reminded her. “Let’s just go.”
The ground lifted as the tunnel rose to the surface, and Lane’s heart lifted with it until it was up in her throat, practically choking her. The sunlight was too much when they burst through the surface, and it brought tears to her eyes. Maybe they could’ve gotten away if they were in human form. Maybe the soldiers who were invading their home would’ve believed they were just innocent scientists and not dragons. Maybe they could have even gone back for those who’d been captured.
But she felt the thump of the helicopter blades even before she saw them, and she heard the roar of engines and gunfire surrounding her. The sounds fueled her feet as she ran through the snow and slipped on the ice. Her instinct was to shift and take wing, to get the hell out of there as fast as possible, and shiver at the back of her neck wasn’t due to the cold.
“Oh!”
Lane turned at the sound. Edi had gone down. The old woman waved her on. “Go! Just go!”
“Not without you!” Lane admonished. She put one hand under Edi’s arm and tugged. “Just a little further. Then we can duck down into one of the other caves, and—”
Something slammed into Lane’s back. She hit the snow with a thump, the frozen crystals smacking against her skin. She’d somehow lost Edi’s arm, but when she commanded her fingers to reach out for the old woman, they refused to cooperate. Lane’s tongue was thick and it refused to make any words, even though she was screaming inside. Light disappeared from the edges of her vision, as though the sun was swiftly retreating from the sky and out into space. Her entire world went black.
* * *
A warm hand held hers. Lane funneled all her attention to that sensation, taking comfort in the knowledge that someone was with her. Every muscle in her body ached; even her face hurt when she tried to speak.
“Hush, now,” Edi said in smooth tones. “You’ll be all right.”
“What happened?” Lane risked opening her eyes, feeling immediate relief when she saw she was in her chamber. She was home. Everything was all right.
“Well, I’m still trying to figure that out. It’s best right now to just lie still and wake up slowly. You’ll be right as rain soon en
ough.” Edi’s face hovered over hers, a fake smile plastered on it.
“Don’t bullshit me. Ow.” Lane tried to lift her head, but it felt like it was full of rocks. “Were we attacked?”
“Yes, essentially. They got you with some sort of tranquilizer. I’m guessing it’s the same stuff they got Amy and Brandy with, too.”
“What about you?” Lane’s heart raced. She was at home, but the enemy must still be nearby. She could hear odd, metallic noises that weren’t the normal moans and groans of their cavern.
“I’m too old for them to worry about.”
It hurt like hell and her muscles fought her every step of the way, but Lane forced herself to sit up. Sure enough, she was in her chamber. Edi was there next to her, looking healthy except for a scratch on her arm. On the other side of the room, Amy and Brandy lay inert on the floor in their human forms.
Her stomach roiled as she turned her head to find the source of that awful racket. Men in uniforms of snow camouflage were busy building something over the entrance to the room, where the cavern was slightly narrower. “Good god, they’re closing us in!”
“Turning it into some sort of prison, I’d say,” Edi whispered. “The best thing we can do right now is to sit still, gather our strength, and try to figure out what’s happening.”
“But we can’t…” Lane wanted to argue; to rally Edi, Brandy, and Amy and convince them all to fight back right now. Whatever those men had shot her with, though, was taking its toll. She couldn’t even argue or stand up, much less do something as foolish as running past men with guns strapped to their sides. “Fine, but just for now. Are they all right?” She glanced at the women on the floor.
“My guess is that they were shot with the same stuff you were.”
