by Leela Ash
“Yeah, that one really did bother me,” Dakota admitted, to Maya’s visible relief. “I panicked. Bounced off the car door several times. Good thing it was locked, or I might have jumped out and killed myself.”
Somber nods met her confession, but Ariel looked puzzled. “What kinda Shifter Shifts in a car?”
“A Hare.”
Five sets of eyes fixed upon her. Five sets of lips quivered.
“What?”
Hannah peered at her closely. “You were scared by… a Hare?”
“Um, yeah?”
The blonde woman hiccupped and clamped a hand over her mouth. Around the table, people began to snicker.
“What?”
“Cough! (Wimp!) Cough!” Tess snorted.
Everyone chuckled. “Hey, it was scary!” she said, joining their laughter.
“Dah-KOH-tah!” Bree wailed. “We’re the cutest Shifters in the world! How could you be scared of a Hare?”
“I thought I was going mad! One minute, there was a woman sitting across from me and then, bam! There was this… this…”
“Bunny.” Bree shook her head in disappointment.
“Were-bunny!” Tears of delight spilled down her cheeks as her friends howled. “A terrifying were-bunny.”
Ah, screw it! Dignity was overrated. Dakota joined their laughter. She loved them. Tess, their bad girl and Ariel, always in control. Elegant Bree, gentle Hannah. And Maya, with her shyness and brilliant mind.
Her gaze circled the table, embracing each one of those smiling faces.
Only to halt, abruptly, at the sight of an interloper.
A man stood at the entrance to their patio. Whippet-thin, dressed in a sleek silk shirt, he had the handsome features of a runway model. Yet, he glared at their table with open loathing.
“I thought I recognized your laugh,” he snarled.
Chapter 5
“Divot!” Bree croaked.
“It’s ‘Daven’,” he snapped, “but I’m not surprised you’ve forgotten already.”
Who was this guy? Dakota glanced around the table, but all of the other Mates seemed as puzzled as she. Except for Bree. The Hare had gone dead white, and stared in horror. “What are you doing here?” she whispered.
“Trying to enjoy a business dinner. Instead, I had to listen to a bunch of drunken harpies screeching all evening.”
They hadn’t been that bad, had they? The urge to apologize welled up within her. Surely, the waiters would have shushed them? Dakota glanced around the table – and found outrage, not embarrassment.
“Daven…” Tess pursed her lips. “Isn’t he your ex? The douchebag my dad possessed?”
“Shh!” Maya waved her quiet. Shifter business shouldn’t be aired in front of normal people.
Regaining her composure, Bree planted her hands on her hips. “If we were too loud, you should have said something to the staff. They could have passed the message on.”
And still, he refused to budge. Full of silent venom and hatred, vibrating with anger, he glared at their little group.
“You need to leave,” Bree told him.
“Screw you, bitch,” he hissed back.
Ariel rose slowly to her feet, eyes flashing. “Mister, you need to go. Now.”
“Or what?” Daven sneered.
Tess jumped up as well. “Get outta here or I’ll kiss your ass!” she hollered.
Everyone blinked. “You’ll what?” Daven asked.
“Kiss… kish… Kick! I will kick your ass!” The Adanai raised one foot – and promptly fell back into her chair.
Dakota winced. The Zombies had claimed their first victim.
“Oh, I’m going. Trust me, I have no desire to association with a gaggle of skanks.” Tess muttered dangerously at the insult, but he ignored her. “Just one question before I go, Bree. Who’s your baby’s father?”
Shock washed over the table. The Hare gasped as if he’d punched her in the stomach.
The sound brought a triumphant gloat to her ex’s face. “I can do basic math, so I understand why you left me. If you’d had a baby six months after I proposed, I would have called you out for the whore that you are. Smart move, dumping me for some idiot who apparently can’t count to nine.”
“The baby came early,” Bree muttered.
It was the only thing she could say. No way to explain that Shifter babies grew faster in the womb and six months was a normal pregnancy. As Dakota, and her swelling belly, could attest.
“Sure it did.” Hatred filled his face. “Is Donnelly actually stupid enough to believe that?”
That was too much. “Enough!” Dakota snapped. She, too, bounded to her feet. And being one of only two sober people at the table, she stayed on her feet. “I am not letting you ruin my bachelorette party. Leave, now!” Drawn by her raised voice, a waiter glanced her way. Dakota waved him over.
“Bachelorette party? Ha! I call bullshit.” An ugly sneer twisted Daven’s handsome face into a hideous mask. “Nobody marries their whore.”
Now it was her turn to get the wind knocked out. “What did you call me?”
“A whore.” His eyes raked across her body, glittering with disgust. “White trash is still trash, even if you pour it into a ten thousand dollar dress.”
Horrified, Hannah gaped at him. “Oh, you are mean!” she whispered. As if she’d just noticed.
Blood rang in Dakota’s ears, sending the world spinning. Old fears, insecurities, bubbled up. She was trash. Her parents knew it. She knew it. Why on earth would a millionaire like Michael, a Dragon, choose her out of all the women on this planet?
“You bastard!” Bree screamed at the top of her lungs. Around the roof, diners froze. Every staff person spun at the sound and a half dozen jogged toward them, as silence fell. “Say what you want about me, but don’t you dare insult my friend!”
Something whispered across Dakota’s hand, soft and cool as a serpent. With a gasp, she saw that the hair on her arm stood on end. A sharp, electric tang filled the air, as if some great thunderstorm loomed. And Bree…
Light from the patio lamp seemed to catch in her hair, setting her long red locks blazing. Her blue eyes glittered as fiercely as an irate Dragon’s. One suddenly flashed, and when the light faded, that eye was no longer blue.
It was emerald green. The mismatched cousin of her other eye.
“Oh, no,” Ariel muttered. “Bree? Calm down, girl, calm…”
Bree balled her hands into fists and screamed at the top of her lungs.
Chaos swept across the roof.
Every lightbulb blazed to supernova brilliance – then exploded with a loud pop. Screams and shouts rang out. Diners bolted to their feet, fled… sprawling over tablecloths, chairs… everything. Drinks flew through the air as tables flipped. Women in thousand dollar dresses crawled through spilled food. The gallant men who tried to help them up lost their balance and face-planted as well.
Only their table stayed calm, a tiny mote of sanity in the madness.
Until Tess staggered to her feet. “Nobuddy calls my friends horse!” she yowled at Daven.
The Adanai cocked her arm back, turning halfway around. Then she spun, lashing out at the man in a great, full-body haymaker.
A punch that would have hurt like hell…
…if it had landed.
Daven saw it coming a mile away, however, and took one step back. Tess’ blow sailed past an inch in front of his nose. The momentum swung her around and, flailing madly, she tumbled onto Hannah. The farm girl’s chair tipped over and both women went flying backward.
They slammed into the potted fig tree that shadowed the table. It flipped too, tearing through the curtain wall of their ‘room.’ But not before Hannah’s head bounced off its pot with a loud ‘crack.’
“Oh my God, are you all right?” Dakota knelt by her as Maya yanked Tess away.
“Ow,” Hannah wailed, her eyes closed in pain. “Ow, ow, ow.” A thin stream of blood trickled down her temple, staining her white-blonde
hair.
Maya froze in horror. “Oh no.”
“I think she’s okay. Just a little bump, right, Hannah?”
“Ow…”
“No, no, no, no, no…” Maya whimpered. “We’re so screwed.”
“We’re fine!” What the hell was wrong with her? Dakota shot her friend a sharp glare.
Maya didn’t notice. She wasn’t looking at her, or Hannah. Instead, she stared out across Central Park.
Where a deep roar suddenly split the night.
And then her party really got crazy.
Chapter 6
“Bree, stop!” Ariel howled, shaking the slender Hare.
“Stop what?” Bree snapped back. As her blazing eyes lit on the Bear Kin, Ariel’s high heel snapped and nearly dumped her on the floor.
“Cursing people! Your gift’s come on you! You’ve got to calm down!”
“Calm down? Did you hear what he…”
Without warning, a great black Dragon swooped down from the night sky. Slipping and sliding, the screaming guests fled for the door.
But Bree’s instinctive curse wasn’t through with them yet. The first beat of the Dragon’s wings tore all the curtain walls loose. Great swaths of cloth flew into the air, twirled, then plummeted down on the fleeing masses.
And Daven? He took one look at the predator hovering over him. Then, with an ear-splitting shriek, he spun and sprinted away…
Only to slam directly into the restaurant wall. For one second, he stuck there, like a bug on a windshield. Then he slithered down to the floor, landing in the remains of Tess’ spaghetti. Dakota wasn’t sure if he’d knocked himself out… or fainted.
The Dragon’s form Shifted, dropped… and Brandon Lorde stood in the middle of the carnage. “Hannah!” he howled. “Where is my Mate?”
“Hey-oh.” From her seat on the floor, Hannah gave an apologetic wave. “I fell down. I’m sorry.”
He rushed to her side. “Are you al…”
Both feet shot out from under him and he landed on his butt.
Hannah giggled.
“You’re drunk,” her husband grumbled.
“Awfully drunk,” she agreed, as relief warred with annoyance in his face.
Another Dragon descended, lithe and green. His wings, too, sent chairs, plates, and curtains flying in all directions. Then Owen Jackson dropped from mid-air, landed on a plate of Brussel sprouts and flipped onto his back.
One by one, the rest of the Flight arrived – and smacked into Bree’s curse. Finn clipped the roof’s railing and barely managed to Shift human before he went somersaulting into the fleeing guests, bowling a half dozen over. Jamie landed neatly… and put a clawed foot through the roof. Darian and Michael tried to land at the same time and crashed into each other. Darian ended up in the central fountain. Michael landed, on his back, in the middle of the Mates’ table.
Dakota gaped at the madness around them… then down at her Dragon. He stared up at her, his mouth an “O” of surprise, his hair sopping up the remains of Ariel’s last Zombie.
“Dakota?” he gasped.
“Hi, Michael.” She sighed and gave him a rueful smile. “Welcome to my party!”
Chapter 7
The next morning – cleaned, showered, and safe inside Brandon Lorde’s mansion – the First Flight and their Mates took stock.
“Well,” Owen sighed, “that wasn’t how I wanted to explain to the kids that Dragons exist.”
“I’m sorry,” Bree moaned. “I don’t know what came over me.”
Her husband chuckled. “Rage? Fury? A murderous blood-lust greater than any a Hare has ever known?”
“You’re not helping!” She elbowed him, hard.
“Not to worry miss!” Blithe and happy, Amarie trotted about dispensing orange juice. Pure orange juice. No mimosas for anyone this morning! “Gifts can be unsettling when they come on so fast!”
Bree glanced up at the old woman, whose odd eyes now matched her own. “Did your gift cause you problems?”
“No.”
“But it causes problems for a lot of Hares, right?
“Mmm… no.”
“Oh.”
Smiles spread around the room at her crestfallen look.
“Forget it, babe,” Finn urged. “The papers are already blaming the excitement on a microburst or small tornado. A few bumps and bruises. Some structural damage that the insurance will cover. Nothing permanent.”
“Yeah, but poor Ariel and Owen! What a thing to have to explain to your kids!”
Ariel slipped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “It wasn’t half as bad as I feared. Ethan was a great help.”
Darian straightened at that. “My son? What’d he do?”
“He sneered,” Owen replied. “Trey and Brody were horribly impressed to hear an older boy sniff, ‘Well, duh. Doesn’t everyone know Dragons are real?’ He almost had them pretending they knew it all along.”
“And Sydnee wasn’t going to lose her cool in front of a boy four years younger than her,” Ariel added.
“So, Ethan added derision, peer-pressure, and mockery. That’s my kid!”
His wife stirred on the couch beside him and glowered feebly at Ariel. “How the hell are you so chipper this morning?” Tess groaned.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
The Adanai’s eyes narrowed. “Didn’t you drink as many Zombies as me?”
“I did. And I’ll let you in on a little secret.” Leaning forward, Ariel whispered loudly, “I may be ‘only’ Kin, but I’m still a Bear. And you should never, ever, try to drink a Bear under the table.”
Curled up against Michael, Dakota sipped her OJ and let the laughter and kindness wash over her. She’d dreamed of family gatherings like this. A house full of kids and smiles. People who loved you, even when you screwed up.
This was her family. Her true family. In one week, a ritual would officially tie her to them. But they were already hers. She could tell, by their smiles, their jokes. The way they defended each other.
She couldn’t be happier.
Darian ruffled his wife’s hair. “I think we should head upstairs. I’ll pour Tess into a hot bath. See if that helps her headache.”
“Hair of the dog that bit me, babe,” the Adanai croaked. “That’s what I need.”
“Oh no,” he snorted. “You’re shut off.”
“Dork.”
As he helped her to her feet, Brandon Lorde cleared his throat. “Before you go, there’s one item I want to mention.”
Attentive, his Flight paused.
“Bree, after the wedding, I’m sending you and Finn to southern Colorado. The Bears down there are having a lot of problems.”
“With what?” Finn asked.
“Mostly themselves,” Brandon admitted.
Owen snickered. “Figures. Can’t they just solve their problems by wrestling or something?”
“No. And that’s why I’m not sending you,” Lorde added, as Ariel growled at her husband.
“You’re sending Finn because he’s… what? More Bear-like?”
“Because he’s Bree’s husband.” That caught the Flight by surprise. “I have not forgotten that this lady is a superb negotiator, someone with years of practice getting unhappy people to cooperate.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Finn seemed more puzzled than upset to be upstaged. “Watch over her?”
“Yes. There are also some odd rumors coming out of the area. Hints of rituals, thefts, that sort of thing. I don’t think it’s the Fangs of Apophis, but I could be wrong.”
“Eh, good. I shouldn’t be bored then!”
Most of his brothers nodded. Only, Owen wouldn’t drop the point. “I still think that Ariel and I could do a great job. She is a Bear, after all.”
“Bear Kin,” his wife corrected him. “Which won’t count for a lot. Bears tend to protect their Kin, not listen to them.”
“Plus, Finn is more approachable than you are, Owen,” Brandon added.
&nbs
p; “Approachable?” The small Dragon’s nose wrinkled. “What does that mean?”
“It means, he’ll eat at McDonald’s – rather than taking a helicopter to Denver three times a day for a ‘proper’ meal.”
Owen shot his Alpha a wounded look. “I totally do not do that.”
Eyebrows rose around the room.
“Usually.”
With the matter settled, the couples drifted off for baths, child-wrangling, or just to find a few minutes alone.
Michael lingered in the sitting room. Comfortable beside him, Dakota watched the others go. As his Alpha turned to leave, he cleared his throat.
“Lorde? A question.”
“Yes?”
“Why not send Dakota and me?”
“I’d rather you stayed here in New York. With me.”
Michael leaned forward, pulling himself away from Dakota’s embrace. “Why? Haven’t I proven that I’m a good leader?”
“You have.”
“Then why send Finn?”
Dakota winced, wondering if this reflected on her. Maybe the Alpha still worried that she was compromised?
His words quickly dispelled that silly fear. “I’m not sending Finn. I wasn’t joking when I said I was sending Bree.”
“A Hare? To negotiate with Bears?”
“A negotiator to negotiate with Bears. That’s how I see it. You’re insulted,” Brandon added, as Michael’s toe began to tap. “You feel I’ve passed you over. That you’re my second, a natural leader, and that’s why you should go.”
“Yes.” Eyes flashing, Michael raised his head and stared as his Alpha, stewing with rebellion.
Lorde didn’t rise to his challenge. “I agree with all those things – and that’s why I want you here.”
“What?” That ready agreement took the wind out of her Dragon’s sails.
“Now that the Fangs know where we are, I want my best warrior, my smartest warrior, here by my side. If I get taken out, I need to know that someone is ready to step up and lead the Flight.”
To lead… the Flight? Dakota’s eyes widened in shock. Brandon Lorde chose her Mate to be his Second?
