It was a small jewel in the middle of nowhere.
“Let’s climb to the top,” Link suggested.
A passing hiker stopped when she heard Link’s suggestion. “Oh. No one climbs to the top of Black Dragon Falls. I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Link and Kiera shared a look. Black Dragon Falls. It almost made them burst out laughing. They both knew it meant that one of the local clan members had been spotted here. That was the only logical reason the town would name a small waterfall something so pretentious. It wasn’t like the falls were tall enough to kill anyone.
Link thanked the passing hiker for her advice and quickly found a narrow trail that wound up the side of the falls. Kiera glanced over her shoulder like she was doing something she wasn’t supposed to, adrenaline dancing in her chest. It brought a bubbling laugh out of her, and she realized why teenagers like to sneak out all the time.
They found a spot of dry rock and made a little picnic. From where they sat, they could see all the hikers walking by, lost in conversation with one another or bobbing their heads to music in the headphones.
Link pushed a massive scone into her hands and told her to eat. The moment she took a bite, she realized she was ravenous. Sweet flavor filled her mouth and her stomach growled for more.
“I figured you were hungry from the way your mood shifted. Do you feel better?”
She gingerly brushed the crumbs from around the corners of her mouth. “Mhm.”
Kiera hadn’t realized that she’d been acting any different. An apology rose to her lips, but Link had already left the conversation behind. He placed her iced coffee in front of her and took a long drag from his own before letting himself fall back on the stone. He didn’t seem bothered in the least by her change in behavior.
So, she let it go, too. She sipped her coffee, grabbed another scone from the bag, and lay beside him. This close, she could feel his heat trying to chase away the morning chill. She wanted to curl into him but didn’t think he would take kindly to that. They had only known each other for a short while, after all.
Link wasn’t her lover, brother, or even a friend. He was a guy she had only recently met. Maybe if he stuck around, they would become something more. Kiera would be okay with friends. She wanted to be friends with a guy who would promise to keep her safe on the night he first met her. She needed more like that in her life.
“Tell me what you want to do with your life, Kiera. I want to know more about you.”
She nearly choked on her scone. Coughing it back up, she managed to squeak out, “I thought today was about the right now.”
He rolled onto his side to face her. “You can’t tell me what you want to do tomorrow or in five years? You have dreams. Right?”
Her cheeks heated. Sure, she had dreams. In many ways, they had been fulfilled. The moment she watched Jasper descend upon her clan and defeat Norman. Everything beyond that moment was just extra. She’d never thought too hard about it because she hadn’t believed she would ever escape. Getting away from Norman and his clan was as far as she got.
Slowly, Link’s face crumpled. “Was your past really that bad?”
She could have spilled it all out at once, but she feared he would run away. No one wanted a broken little goblin like her. So submissive she couldn’t feel her beast, so willing to survive that she would push others into the same hurt she experienced.
He mused as he chewed the straw of his drink. It was cute to watch, his eyes on the sky above while his lips worked the orange straw. Kiera could have sat there all day, complete silence just like this, but Link hadn’t given up.
“How about we come up with some dreams for you? Nothing is off the table. You want to go to the moon? We’ll fly our asses up there and make camp.”
“We can’t fly to the moon,” she gently reminded him.
He shrugged. “Like that matters. It isn’t about what we can and can’t do. It’s about what we want. Haven’t you ever just wanted?”
Her brows slowly slid together. She didn’t understand what he was talking about. Kiera didn’t have much experience with wanting. She’d given it up a long time ago, once she realized no amount of wishing and wanting would keep Norman from hurting her. It didn’t work, so she’d thrown it away.
Silence, obedience, and careful attention had kept Kiera going every day.
“You aren’t wherever you were,” Link told her. He sat up, his weight on one elbow while he faced her with the most genuine eyes she’d ever peered into. He took her hand in his and rubbed his rough thumb over her skin, anchoring her. “The clan back there might be dicks, but I don’t think they’re the same dicks that hurt you. You said you weren’t from here. That means you are no longer around people who can hurt you.”
She yanked her hand back. “Anyone can hurt me. I’m not very strong if you haven’t noticed.”
He snorted, incredulous. “I saw your strength right there. You totally overpowered me. Besides, if you don’t want to face off against someone, I’ve got your back.”
She recalled his promise the night before. He meant it. The sincerity in his voice had been staggering. She’d never heard anything quite like it before. Not directed at her.
“Back to dreams. I expect you to come up with one soon. It doesn’t have to be today, but tomorrow works. Next week, too.” Link winked at her.
“Will you be here next week?”
He’d only just arrived, but his welcome had not been kind. Kiera could already see a divide in the clan. Charlie made it very clear that she didn’t trust Link. It seemed that Jude and Buffy’s mates didn’t either. All people who had lived here back when Link’s father had been alive.
But if Buffy was Link’s sister then that meant the clan had forgiven her. Why couldn’t they forgive Link, too?
Link seemed torn. He didn’t respond right away. Seconds ago, he’d promised to protect her. That meant sticking around, but his silence told her he wasn’t sure if he would stay. Kiera was here to visit Charlie. She couldn’t leave because of some man she’d met a day ago. Not even if her soul begged to be with him.
“We’ll see,” was all he said.
Kiera had to change the course of the conversation. If she let it go, the joy would creep out of their date.
“What’s it like to know you have a sister now?” Kiera asked, pushing the subject in another direction like she’d practiced a hundred times before. Normally, she was avoiding angering Norman. Now, all she wanted was to see Link smile again.
“Buffy isn’t anything like me or our father. It’s like she was born from her mother alone. We might share blood, but I’m struggling to relate to this purple-haired firecracker on every level. It doesn’t help that her mate looks at me like he wants me dead.”
Kiera scowled. That wasn’t where she wanted this to go. Taking a moment to muse about her next step, she wondered if she could save this date at all.
Not that it was a date. Because it was just a little escape. Link never mentioned anything about a date. This felt intimate, though. Kiera wondered if she was imagining things, if there was even chemistry between them at all.
The way her fingertips tingled when she touched his hand couldn’t be nothing. It was so unfamiliar and yet so enchanting. Kiera studied her fingers. Could they betray her? Were they leading her in the wrong direction?
That couldn’t be it. Kiera knew which dragons posed the greatest threat. Link wasn’t like any of them. Around him, she could be comfortable. It was more than she’d found with Charlie, who had been cross the moment they got to the cabins.
They both leapt at the sound of rustling brush. A growl followed. Link threw his arm out in front of Kiera and pushed her behind him. She fumbled back a little. Guilt slapped him in the face, but it was nothing compared to what he would feel if she got hurt.
The shifter that pushed through the trees had a brilliant darkness flaring in his eyes. Cole, the same dragon who had attacked Link the moment he stepped out of the car.
“You ran away with one of ours,” Cole snarled and took a threatening step forward.
Link backed up, aware that both Kiera and the edge of the falls were at his back. His heart slapped his sternum, but the beast in him was ready to pounce. It responded with a rumbling growl. The taste of blood washed over Link’s tongue.
He couldn’t let his beast out here. Not where people could see. Not when the clan leader’s mate was the one challenging him. There was too much at risk. If only he could get Cole to back down. Then it wouldn’t come to a fight. There would be no reason for Link’s beast to rip its way out of him.
Kiera touched his back. Her small hand on him helped calm the beast a little. The creature’s attention moved to her, focus switching from attack to safety. So long as she was there, the beast would put her safety first.
The change stole Link’s breath. He’d never had the beast turn down a fight before. It made him want to keep Kiera around all the time. So long as she was at his back, maybe then he would have a chance at living a normal life. Link wouldn’t have to choose between hurting others or himself. He wouldn’t have to let the beast destroy him from the inside out just to keep it away from the world.
“Send Kiera back with me and we won’t have to fight,” Cole declared. “She isn’t yours to steal.”
Link gestured to the remnants of their breakfast. “I didn’t steal anyone. We were eating.”
Cole’s stance didn’t change. It was clear that no matter what Link said, Cole wouldn’t believe a word. Kiera’s silence wasn’t helping. Link wasn’t going to force her to talk, though. She’d been distant and quiet, struggling with something he couldn’t see all morning. All he needed was her presence. That was it.
“You can’t come into our lives and ruin us again. I won’t allow it. Your father was a monster, and I’d bet good money that you are, too.”
Link couldn’t fight back his beast’s response and snarled at Cole. The urge to sink claws and teeth into flesh made his fingers curl in anticipation. The creature was getting closer and closer to the surface. Any more provocation, and Link might lose all control.
Cole couldn’t see the danger he was in. The man closed the distance between them. Link was taller, staring down his nose at the dark-haired man. Anger rolled off Cole, so hot that it seared Link’s skin.
Link hadn’t done anything to deserve such hatred. He was innocent, even if the beast inside him was a monster. His whole life, he’d fought to make sure that he was nothing like the creature lurking inside him. There would be no mistaking man for monster, but it seemed this clan was determined to see the worst.
It almost made Link want to be the worst. If they thought he couldn’t be trusted, he would give them reason.
“Link didn’t steal me,” Kiera announced, sounding so small that Link thought he would find her curled into a ball behind him.
But her hands were still on his back. She peered out from around him and met Cole’s blackened glare. She trembled. Link could feel the shake from where their bodies touched. His beast’s concern for her brought Link back to his senses. He realized exactly what he’d been thinking, and shame roiled in his gut.
Link wouldn’t be his father. Not if they thought his father was a murderer and a traitor. Link didn’t want that. Face to face with so much hatred, it was easy for Link to let his beast’s thoughts consume him.
6
Kiera couldn’t let Cole attack Link on her account. Fear held her tight. It nearly kept her lips sealed. She wouldn’t be someone who rolled over. Not when it was Link’s safety on the line.
So, she peered out from behind him and told Cole exactly how it was. She didn’t say much, but what she did say stopped him. His black eyes turned to her. She realized just who the black dragon of Black Dragon Falls was. He made her feel small and inconsequential, even if it was her he had come to retrieve.
“Everyone is out looking for you.” His voice was gruff, the beast still in it. He coughed, swallowed, and spoke again. “Next time, don’t run off without telling anyone.”
“She’s an adult,” Link spat.
Cole gnashed his teeth at Link. She dug her fingers into the back of Link’s shirt. Fear was a cold knife in her heart that stole her breath. She wasn’t going to leave with Cole. She knew that much, at least.
Everyone needed to calm down. She didn’t understand why everyone was so mad at Link even though he’d only just arrived. Sure, there was a history between this clan and his father, but a man was not his sire. Link made her feel safe. If she could tell them that, then maybe they would listen. Kiera didn’t feel safe anywhere. Not after living among Norman’s clan where everyone used and hurt her because she was nothing more than a mouse among dragons.
Link didn’t treat her like a mouse. He was delicate with her. That wasn’t the way of a man bent on violence. Kiera wouldn’t be able to speak in front of the whole clan, though. She knew she would shake and run away before getting the words out. She was useless in that way.
But she could be of some use here. So long as it kept Link and Cole from fighting, she could do this one thing. Even if she hated it, dreaded it, told herself she wouldn’t. Kiera could leave with Cole.
She stepped out from behind Link. Her fingers grazed the line of his ribs. She didn’t want to get too far from him, but to do this she would have to leave him completely.
“I had fun,” she whispered back to him. “I’d like to do it again.”
Kiera dropped her gaze to the ground and went to stand beside Cole. She didn’t turn back or look at Link for fear that she wouldn’t want to leave. So long as she focused on what she had to do, then she could get it over with. Her past had taught her how to do this, time and time again. It was easy.
Link called out her name, but she didn’t look back. Her throat tightened with each step as Cole led the way. She followed the man’s shadow and let it consume her. The shade was cold, just like her soul. It was too easy to turn her back to Link. It was too easy to just walk away.
She hated herself. Link probably hated her, too. He’d stood up for her, yet she walked away like their whole morning meant nothing. It wasn’t like that to her. She would keep this breakfast date wrapped up and held close to her heart forever. Even if it was the only one she ever got after this.
Not much longer later, they stepped out into the lake-side territory. Kiera hadn’t expected to be so close to the water, let alone the clan’s cabins. That was when Cole stopped. He turned with his hands on his hips like a disgruntled father. She didn’t dare look him in the eye. Not after everything that happened.
Surprisingly, his voice was gentle. “You can’t run around with that guy. He isn’t who he’s trying to be. His father lied to us for years. I wouldn’t put it past him to lie to us, too. We have too much to protect to let someone like that ruin it.”
Kiera didn’t say anything. She was a guest here, only visiting from her own broken clan. Here was one filled with happy and strong shifters. An interloper like her could bring it all down if she let the wrong person in. She was a liability to them and nothing more.
“That goes for you, too. You came here to put space between yourself and what happened on the West Coast. I don’t want to see this guy hurt you after everything you’ve already been through.”
So, he did care? Kiera was shaken by the concern in his voice. She brought her chin up and met his gaze for a brief moment.
“I learned very quickly to sniff out a monster. Link isn’t what you want to think he is.”
She walked away, pace faster and faster the further she got from Cole. When she dared a glance back, she found that he wasn’t angry. If anything, he looked stunned, like he hadn’t expected such courage from her words.
To be fair, neither did Kiera.
It was the truth, though. When new men came through the Pacific Northwest clan, she had to figure out very quickly if they would be a threat or not. Most of them were. She always made sure to behave around every shifter just in case her insti
ncts were wrong. Like with Charlie, Kiera would keep her eyes on the floor and her voice low. It was safer that way.
Yet, there was a difference between a dominant beast and a monster. Link had power oozing out of every pore of his body. What he didn’t have was malice. Malice was what turned that power against the weak like her. Anger and pride became a twisted monster that wanted to see others hurt, a short-term high that appeased it for a short while.
Kiera would stand by what she knew. Link didn’t have that in him.
Before Kiera could disappear into the tiny cabin she’d been assigned, Charlie stumbled out of the nearby cabin. She ran up to Kiera and began checking her for bruises and wounds. Kiera had to grab her friend’s wrists and push her back. It was dominant and, immediately, Kiera regretted it. Charlie’s concern melted into contempt.
“I just wanted to make sure you were alright,” Charlie grumbled. “We don’t know anything about that guy. Did he kidnap you? Did he make you leave with him?”
Kiera was moments away from throwing her hands in the air and roaring in frustration. Her beast would never do such a thing, though. The creature inside her was still as quiet as a mouse. It left her thoroughly annoyed and her own inability to speak out. Everything she wanted to say was trapped in her chest, growing larger and larger by the moment. She would eventually burst.
Behind her, Buffy appeared. The lavender-haired shifter peered around.
“Where is my brother? I thought…I mean, all I wanted was to get to know him…” Buffy’s eyes fell on Kiera and they hardened.
Kiera could feel the accusation from where she stood. Buffy must have known that Link and Kiera had left together, that Kiera was the reason Link wanted to leave.
Trapped between both sides, Kiera didn’t know which direction to run. She could feel the burn of Buffy’s glare on the back of her neck. Before her was Charlie’s reproachful scowl. Kiera was trapped. Only then did the beast inside her begin to squirm. She could feel it wriggling against her skin, frantic and scared.
Link (Keepers Of The Lake Book 5) Page 5
