“Someone dropped this outside.” She set it down on a nearby counter.
Heath got up again. The cabin trembled from his steps. He took the radio and disappeared. In the distance, Link heard the crunch of the thing being destroyed.
Jude sighed through her nose. “It seems your appearance has everyone on edge. There weren’t as many shifters here when Buffy showed up. Our clan has grown in numbers, and they all have their own feelings about what happened ten years ago.”
“What did happen? I don’t know exactly why everyone hates me,” Link beseeched her.
She shrugged. “Don’t ask us. We weren’t here. The ones who lived through it were Cole, Asher, Heath, and Alec.”
Buffy’s brow furrowed. She jerked her thumb over her shoulder, toward the lake. Jude shook her head. An entire conversation had passed between them, and Link couldn’t understand a bit of it. He thought of the monster that appeared and the power it brought with it.
He’d heard of old and powerful dragons burrowing in the earth when they had nothing else to live for. He wondered if his father had done the same with the lake, claiming it as his own and descending for a long slumber. That could be why everyone was on edge. If they hated his father and thought that he’d left the lake, then he could understand why they would attack him.
But if Alistair was in the lake, they should have known when Link stepped out of the car that he wasn’t his father. A disgruntled growl rattled his throat. It was like the beast was trying to claw its way out his esophagus. He stared at the plate of French toast and breakfast sausage and scowled.
“Tell us why you’re here, Link. We don’t know what to think of you just yet.” Jude spoke with an even tone, unbiased, unlike half of her clan.
He grunted. “I know what some of the others think of me already. They think I’m going to turn into their worst nightmare.”
And, Link sometimes worried that they weren’t wrong. He wrestled the thing inside him. It craved power and recognition. It wanted to fight Jude and see if it could best one of the mythical gold dragons. His beast was confident it would win, even though there was a reason the gold dragons were so revered among dragon shifters.
His beast was cocky. It was hungry.
He opened his mouth, unsure of what he would tell these women, when he saw the top of a head through the window across the room. Little fingers curled over the edge of the window frame and a pair of honey-gold eyes watched him. When Kiera realized he saw her, her brows shot up and she dropped down.
A laugh bubbled out of him. Both Buffy and Jude turned to see what was so funny.
He waved them off, saying, “I’m just remembering how your mate threw the radio out the window.”
Jude cracked a small grin. “Your presence has a lot of feathers ruffled. Or would that be scales?”
Buffy snickered. With just the two of them in the room, Link felt like maybe he could eventually belong here. There was still a great distance between him and Jude. He knew it had to do with his beast’s battle tendency, but her body language also separated them. She leaned back in her chair, hands in her pocket, while Buffy was as close as she could get without actually touching him.
Link needed to prove to this clan leader that he was worth her time if he wanted to stay. The brown eyes that peered over the window again made him want to stay. The soft creature outside was too fragile for him, though. He shouldn’t even think about her. She filled his mind, though. Every thought turned to her and the way her fingers felt on his palm.
“Tell us, Link. Are you here to get vengeance for your father?”
His attention snapped back to the conversation at the table. “What? No! Why would you even think that?”
Buffy glowered at her friend. Jude was perfectly neutral. There wasn’t a flicker of emotion on her face as she watched Link. She would give nothing away.
“I don’t like you making assumptions about him,” Buffy said. “No one said anything like this to me. When I discovered who my father was, all it took was a little time for everyone to accept me.”
“You didn’t know your father, though. You weren’t raised by him.” Jude never broke eye contact with him.
He realized she had been listening to his conversation with Kiera the night before. That was the only way she could have known a fact like that. His lip curled. Jude just shrugged. She did what needed to be done for her clan. Her concern wasn’t for him. It was for the people she had to protect.
Link was on the outside of it all. Just like always.
He pushed back and left his food untouched. “I didn’t come here for revenge or any other dramatic bullshit.”
Buffy might have wanted to get to know him better, but Jude had ruined it. Link couldn’t stand being inside with them any longer. Not when his beast wanted to throttle Jude so badly. A fight with her wouldn’t end well. Link wanted to earn the clan’s trust, not smash it to bits by attacking their leader.
Jude needed to keep to herself, though. He didn’t need her finding out that he was a monster. If she did, he would never be welcome here. All he wanted was a semblance of a family. It didn’t even have to be real. Even if they could just wave and smile at him like he was a normal person, then maybe his life would be a little easier.
He would feel like a whole person, not just a prison for the thing living inside him. From the way everyone despised his father, Link was starting to understand why he’d been the successful child. There wasn’t an ounce of aggression in Buffy. Not even a little. Link, on the other hand, was a bumbling mess of rage and violence.
And this clan would probably put him down if they ever found out.
Or, try to.
Kiera ducked under the window. She clamped her hands over her mouth, full well knowing that what she was doing was bad. It was a bad habit she’d picked up from her time in her old clan. It was smart to know what was going on among the clan. Eavesdropping on Norman and his enforcers meant that Kiera always knew when there was trouble.
Trouble meant that Norman would be mad and mad meant that Kiera would have to brace herself. He always came for one of the women when he was mad. There’d been a number of them. Right before Charlie left, Kiera had seen the way he was eyeing the pink-haired dragon shifter. Charlie would have been next.
Kiera didn’t want to tell her friend that she’d been relieved. It felt dirty, a bit of shame that sat in her heart like a needle. When Norman found a new woman to take, he didn’t look at the old ones for a long while. Kiera would have had a break. Her first since Norman took her.
“What are you doing out here?”
Kiera yelped.
Link just laughed. He shook his head and sat beside her. His presence was warm and reassuring, nothing like the other male shifters she’d been around. There was so much heat spilling out of Link that she suspected his beast must be massive, and yet he was quiet around her. He must not have wanted to scare her away.
She was the only one who didn’t know who his father was, after all. That must have granted him a small reprieve when he was around her. So long as he didn’t turn that fire toward her, she was okay with it.
Kiera didn’t know how to admit to herself that she enjoyed Link’s presence. She’d been wondering where he was all morning. It wasn’t until a radio came flying out a window that she suspected where he might be hiding. Or trapped.
When he sat with her, he exhaled and deflated as if he was finding a moment of relief. She knew that feeling well. So, she leaned back and let the silence wash over them. He didn’t have to say anything. They could both hide here for a little while.
“Is your friend going to be mad if she finds you here again?”
“Probably, but I don’t really care,” Kiera said, surprising herself. She shouldn’t have said something so disrespectful. Charlie was stronger than her and had a clan behind her.
Kiera was alone and weak and beneath everyone else. She needed to watch her mouth while she was here.
“I wish I could say that
,” Link said. “Everyone here hates me, and I just…I feel like they can see through me. You know what I mean?”
If these dragons could see through her, they would hate her, too. She was grateful that she kept to her place. No one would be able to see her shame so long as she kept her head down and stuck to the edges of everything. Link didn’t have that option. The clan crowded around him and pelted him with questions and accusations.
The thing was, she couldn’t see through him. Whatever he was afraid the others would find, she couldn’t see. Was she blind to it from all the time she spent with Norman? Or was there simply nothing to see?
Kiera couldn’t be trusted to decide.
She didn’t want to have to. If she ignored the possibility that Link was the monster everyone else seemed to see, then she could pretend for a while longer that he was a good man. She didn’t have to be scared in the presence of a good man. Kiera could pretend that his promise the night before meant something. He wouldn’t hurt her.
The way he sought her out again made her want to believe that with all her heart. She knew, though, that he only came outside because he saw her through the window.
“I should be trying to win them over, but I can’t right now. It’s all too much. Would you…” Link paused. “Would you like to get away from here for a little while?”
Her heart leapt. It didn’t thunder like it did when Norman asked her to leave with him. This was an excited flutter, something she’d never felt before in her life. Happily, Kiera leapt to her feet. She smacked her head off a window shutter and hissed in pain.
Link hushed her, one finger over his lips and the other hand over her head to protect it. They snuck around the side of the cabin and peered around the corner to make sure the coast was clear. Kiera leaned in close to his back and inhaled his scent. It made her core tingle. She set a cautious hand on his back, expecting him to turn and snarl at her.
But he didn’t. Link reached back, claimed her hand, and led her toward his car. It was an old muscle car that had been taken care of. The black paint gleamed in the light of the rising sun. The interior was just as dark, so when they slipped inside, they both disappeared from sight. At least, that was what Kiera imagined.
There was no ignoring the great bellow of his engine, though. Jude and Buffy appeared in the cabin doorway as the car drove over the grass. Link hit the gas and they sped down the gravel drive. Little stones dinged the sides of the car, but Link didn’t seem to notice. There was an infectious grin on his face, and Kiera caught it.
She didn’t bother asking where they were going. If he was going to kill her, then she deserved it for being a fool and leaving with him. Her beast wasn’t going to save her. It never had in the past. The creature inside her was small and had no voice. She wished she’d been a cat shifter, because maybe then she would have felt right in her skin.
Being a dragon was so at odds with who she’d become. Kiera couldn’t remember the girl she’d been before Norman. She’d been a part of his clan for so long that that girl no longer existed. All that was left was her little goblin soul. She groveled before stronger beasts and happily threw her friends into their hungry maws if it meant saving herself.
They were quiet. The longer they sat in silence, the more Kiera slipped inside herself. Her thoughts grabbed her and dragged her along like a rushing current. She couldn’t escape the churning cycle. Just when she thought she could reach for air, they pulled her down again.
Link took her hand in his, and all thoughts vanished. Her attention focused to the way his skin pressed against hers and nothing else.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Link eyed her but said nothing. They careened down the back roads. Nothing dared cross their path because all the animals could hear his engine from miles away.
“I’m not really sure where I’m going,” he admitted.
“I’m not from here. I can’t help you.”
Together they laughed. Trees blurred past and the needle on the speed gauge lifted higher and higher, but Kiera wasn’t afraid. For once in her life, she wasn’t worried about what would happen next. Link held her hand and that was all that mattered.
“Tell me about yourself. I told you most of my life story last night. It’s your turn.”
She bit her lip. “It’s not a good story. Every part of it is awful.”
Link scowled. She caught the flicker of his beast in his eyes, but he did his best to keep them trained on the road. Kiera leaned her head against the cold window. She hadn’t entirely shaken off her past yet. It wrapped around her like a cloak, an oppressive one that smothered her.
Ahead, the first glimpses of town appeared through the thinning trees.
“How about this?” Link said. “We keep today all about today. There’s nothing beyond right here and now.”
Kiera sat up straighter. She could get behind that.
5
Link made a plan. He didn’t tell Kiera what it was, but Kiera was okay with that. If this day was all about the moment, she wouldn’t worry about what came next. She would let Link help her out of the car and follow him anywhere.
The crisp air kissed the back of her neck and foretold the dropping temps of fall. The breeze pushed through her sweatshirt and grazed her skin, but she liked it. It made Link’s hand in hers that much warmer. He didn’t let go when they walked into the coffee shop, either. Link held her hand while they waited in line, while they ordered, and while they waited.
Kiera didn’t pull away. Not because she didn’t want to anger Link, but because she honestly enjoyed the small touch. She had worried that she would never want to be touched by anyone ever again. After all the times Norman had hurt her, the ways he forced her to submit, Kiera had wanted to avoid dominant males for the rest of her life.
Yet, here she was, in Link’s shadow. She wasn’t afraid or cowering. He didn’t make her feel like she needed to grovel. This was different. Being around Link was almost refreshing. She never thought men could be like this. So far, he seemed like the utter opposite of every man she’d ever known.
Then his hand slipped from hers and her heart sank. Not knowing what to do with her hands, she wrapped her arms around herself and stepped back. Link wasn’t paying attention. His gaze was focused on something else, his back to her.
Without him by her side, she was reminded of just how many unfamiliar people surrounded her. The café was brimming with early risers, all talking amongst themselves and creating a din that made her panic rise. She swallowed mouthfuls of air, but it barely helped. Her heart was stuttering. She begged it not to freak out.
Everything had been fine up until now. There was no reason for Kiera to freak out. It wasn’t like she was truly alone. And, even if she was, no one here could hurt her the way that Norman and his enforcers had. Here were humans, weak and small compared to the dragon inside her. It didn’t matter if Link wasn’t beside her.
“Hey,” he whispered in her ear.
She let out a panicked sound. He reared back, brows lifted in surprise.
“You’re a jumpy one. Is everything alright?”
Kiera forced herself to nod. She was fine, and everything was in her head. That was the truth of it, even if her body was trying to decide between fight or flight. The worst part was that during the whole thing, she hadn’t felt her beast. The creature trapped inside her was so quiet that Kiera sometimes wondered if it existed at all.
She knew other shifters had beasts with loud voices, a whole side of themselves with needs and instincts. Kiera didn’t hear that voice. She could barely feel the creature. There was no flick of its tail or shake of its head. Not in the way the others told her they could feel their beasts. Kiera wasn’t right. She wondered, sometimes, if she was broken.
If so, had she always been broken or was it something that happened while she lived with Norman?
Link nudged her shoulder and brought her back to the present. He held a travel pamphlet in front of her. “It says there’s a waterfall
on a hiking trail around here. We should take our breakfast out and eat there.”
Kiera nodded. It was the best she could do while she tried to sweep the demons from her mind. Coming to Michigan was supposed to help her clear them, but she couldn’t escape what she brought with her.
Link grabbed their coffees and their food and still managed to have a free hand for her as they left. She took it, but her grip was loose. The confidence she’d had upon entering the café had been shaken. Kiera was unsure of everything she did. She didn’t belong beside Link. She didn’t deserve to be happy with him.
The demons still crowding her thoughts made the car ride to the park quiet. Kiera couldn’t break past her own mind, and Link was focused on following the map on the back of the pamphlet. It wasn’t until they parked that he stopped and studied her. She tried ducking her head, but that didn’t work.
There were a few other cars in the parking lot. Families had their kids out for walks. Dads had small children on their shoulders while moms led the older ones along by the hand.
“My dad hated humans,” Link blurted out.
Kiera’s head snapped toward him. “Today is about right now. Not about your old man.”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “I could say the same thing to you. I can tell you’re not here.”
She opened her mouth to say sorry, but Link shook his head. He reached for her hand and gripped it firmly so there was no escape. She expected him to drag her along, but he was patient and walked at her pace. Once she realized he was purposefully being slow for her, she lengthened her stride for him.
In no time, they had left the congregation of human families behind. The crowds were gone. All that was left were the stray hikers here and there, always passing by and never lingering.
Little by little, her clenched shoulders dropped back where they belonged. The trees parted, and they stepped out of the dark shade and into the sunlight. The soft sound of running water was like music to Kiera’s ears. The waterfall wasn’t very tall, but the way the sunlight glittered over the wet rocks and rushing water made her smile.
Link (Keepers Of The Lake Book 5) Page 4
