He took another swig of beer as someone pounded on his front door. “Bren!”
“It’s open,” he shouted.
The door flew open, he heard it slam shut and then the hurried thud of footsteps down the hallway. Elora ran into the kitchen, her light brown hair soaking wet, her face free of makeup, and her t-shirt on inside out. A large crow, it’s midnight black feathers also dripping wet, was clinging to her shoulder.
“Don’t eat the muffins!” she shouted.
Bren grinned at her and took another drink of beer. “I didn’t. They’re already in the garbage.”
“Oh, thank God.” Elora grimaced before opening the fridge and grabbing a beer. She twisted off the cap, tossed it into the garbage to join the muffins, and drank some beer before collapsing in one of the kitchen chairs. The crow flapped its wings, spraying a fine mist into Bren’s face before settling on Elora’s shoulder again.
“What’s in them this time?” Bren asked.
Elora made a face. “Another love potion.”
Bren sighed. A year ago, Helen and Elora had moved into the apartment across from his. Bren had helped Helen carry some groceries into her apartment about a week after they moved in, and from that moment on, she’d been trying to make a romance happen between him and Elora.
“She really wants us to fall in love,” Bren said.
“Tell me about it. I keep telling her it isn’t gonna happen, but my grandmother is persistent. She can’t accept that I’m not into you at all.” Elora made a face that suggested she’d rather eat dirt than date him.
“Hey, I’m not that bad,” Bren said.
“You’re a total babe and smart and employed and I have absolutely zero sexual attraction to you.”
“Ouch.”
“Oh please, is there any part of this,” Elora pointed to her face and then her body, “that makes you go, ‘oh baby, break me off a piece of that’?”
There should have been. Elora was an attractive woman and there was no reason why he shouldn’t find her hot. Only he didn’t. Was she funny as hell and unbelievably smart? Yes. Did he want to bang her? No.
“Exactly.” Elora could read his face disgustingly well for having only known him for a year. “Other than that one night, you have never once been attracted to me.”
Bren groaned. “We agreed never to talk about that again, remember?”
“Hey,” Elora took another sip of beer before reaching up and stroking the crow’s sleek chest, “it’s not your fault you ate a love-potion laced brownie from Helen and thought I was your soul mate.”
Bren finished his beer and grabbed another from the fridge. “Thank God you handcuffed me to the bed before I could declare my undying love for you to the entire apartment complex.”
Elora burst into laughter, making the crow caw in a decidedly disgruntled manner. “I figured it was bad enough that you changed your Facebook status to in a relationship with me and wrote that really bad poem on your wall. How did it start again?”
“Don’t,” Bren warned.
Elora straightened in the chair and held her hand over her heart. “Her love is a quilt that covers me from head to toe, her beauty is -”
“We had an agreement, Elora,” Bren said. “We never speak of that night again. Remember? Keep bringing it up, and I’ll arrest you for the dozen unpaid parking tickets I saw in your glovebox.”
Elora giggled before slumping against the chair. “I still can’t believe you didn’t arrest my grandmother for drugging you like that.”
“She meant well. She wants you to be happy,” Bren said.
“Yeah, well if she keeps drugging unsuspecting humans, the WWC is gonna label her a dark witch and have her imprisoned.” Elora’s tone turned somber.
Bren sat down and reached across the table to squeeze her hand. “Do you want me to talk to her?”
“It won’t make a difference. She does what she wants and always has. She was a little better when Sarina was around but now…”
Bren squeezed her hand again. Sarina was Elora’s half-sister, he’d never met the shapeshifter, but he’d heard many stories about her from both Helen and Elora. “Have you heard anything from her lately?”
Elora shook her head. “No. She hasn’t responded to any of my texts in over a week. Normally she responds right away. Helen says not to worry about it, that Sarina can take care of herself but… I do worry. You know?”
“Yeah, I get it.”
He watched as the crow hopped from Elora’s shoulder to the table. It pecked at the wood and Bren poked at the shiny damp feathers on its back, pulling his finger back when the crow whipped around and pecked viciously at him. “If she shits on my table, I’m tossing her out the window.”
“It was one time,” Elora said. She reached out and stroked the crow’s head. The crow rubbed her beak along Elora’s fingers before turning her black-eyed gaze to Bren.
A shiver went down his back. “You know a group of crows is called a murder, right?”
Elora laughed. “You think Lilianna is going to find some crow friends, break into your apartment, and murder you while you sleep?”
“I am now,” he said.
She laughed again and they both watched Lilianna groom her wet chest feathers.
“I can’t believe you shower with her,” Bren said.
“How else is she going to get clean?” Elora said. “She doesn’t like to be dirty.”
“Yeah, but she’s a human trapped in a crow’s body.”
“So?” Elora said.
“So, you don’t feel weird showering with her?”
“No.” Elora reached out and stroked Lilianna’s head. “I thought I found the spell to break Lilianna’s curse.”
“Really?” He leaned forward and stared at the crow. “What went wrong?”
“I don’t know. It just… didn’t work. It should have worked. I don’t know if it failed because I’m not a powerful enough witch or if I was wrong about the spell,” Elora said.
“Did you show the spell to Helen?”
Elora sighed. “You know how she is about Lilianna. She refused to even look at the spell. She keeps saying that there must have been a reason that Lilianna was trapped in the crow’s body and releasing her could be a terrible mistake.”
“To be fair, she could be right,” Bren said.
“Maybe,” Elora replied. “But if she isn’t and Lilianna is an innocent witch trapped… I can’t live with myself if I don’t try to help.”
“Elora, are you even sure that -”
“Don’t, Bren,” Elora said. “Lilianna is a witch, okay? She’s not an ordinary crow. I know you think it’s stupid of me to believe the word of a stranger, but it isn’t just that. Lilianna is special. I knew it from the moment I saw her.”
“All right,” Bren said. “But I think it’s a bit suspicious that you stumble onto a witch trapped as a crow in a cage in a potions store of all places. I mean, why did the store owner even have her?”
“I don’t know, but I couldn’t leave her locked in the cage once the store owner told me what she really was,” Elora said. “Even if, and this is a big if, you’re right and she’s only a crow, Lilianna was dying in that cage. I couldn’t walk away from her.”
The crow cawed softly before flying back to Elora’s shoulder. She stroked Elora’s cheek with her beak before running her beak over a lock of Elora’s wet hair.
They drank in silence for a few moments, the only sound in the room the light rasp of Lilianna’s beak as she groomed Elora’s hair repeatedly.
“I thought Tyler was spending the weekend with you,” Elora said. “He texted me on Wednesday to see if I was gonna join you guys for your Alien movie marathon.”
“He’s coming by tomorrow. He had plans with Corey tonight.”
“Had?” Elora said.
“He and Corey ran into some trouble with some shitheads from school this afternoon.”
“What happened?” she said in alarm.
“How much tim
e do you have?” he asked.
She stood and grabbed a second beer from the fridge. “Plenty. Tell me what’s going on.”
* * *
“I could do a protection spell for Ty and for Corey.” Elora picked at the label on her beer bottle.
Bren shook his head. “The use of magic at Ty’s school is strictly forbidden. If they find out he has a protection spell cast on him, they’ll expel him, and Dad will lose his shit. But thank you for offering.”
Elora pulled thoughtfully at a few strands of her hair and Lilianna immediately set to smoothing them down again. “You said the female bear shifter – Karen -”
“Kaida,” Bren said. “Her name is Kaida.”
“Right, Kaida. You said she offered to teach them how to fight. That seems weird.”
“Tyler can be persuasive when he wants to be.”
“Don’t I know it,” Elora sighed. “He’s the reason I have a four-leaf clover tattooed on my calf.”
Bren laughed. “At least you don’t have a skull tattoo on your shoulder. Talk about a cliché. Why we keep letting a seventeen-year-old boy pick out tattoos for us, is beyond me.”
Elora grinned at him. “You’d think a detective and a witch would know better. Anyway, so this Kaida is going to teach them how to fight, and you’re gonna hire Bishop to keep an eye on them as well.”
“Yeah.”
“Think he’ll do it? He still believes you have a thing for his girlfriend, right?”
Bren rubbed at the scruff on his jaw. About six months ago, he’d gone for drinks with Elora, had a little too much whiskey and told her about his short-lived crush on Ava and about Bishop and the rest of the shifters at the BKF Securities company. “Yeah, but I don’t. That ship has sailed. They have a kid and they’re living together. Hell, I knew I didn’t have a chance the day I asked Ava out at the coffee shop and she turned me down. She wasn’t even technically dating Bishop yet and she still had no interest in me.”
“Man, it’s so weird to even hear about a grizzly mating and having babies with anyone, let alone a human,” Elora said. “They’re usually loners.”
“Bishop’s different, I guess. Anyway, if he says no, I’ll talk to Mal or Kat about it. Bishop isn’t the sole owner of the company.”
“It’s gonna be expensive, yeah? I mean, I don’t know a lot about personal security, but it can’t be cheap.”
“I don’t have much choice. The kid who attacked him, Jeff, is a football player and twice the size of Ty. He could seriously hurt him and if the beating Kaida gave Jeff was as bad as Tyler said it was, I’m sure he’ll be looking for revenge against Tyler and Corey,” Bren said.
“Are you going to speak to Jeff’s parents?”
“Tyler doesn’t want me to.”
“Yeah, but Tyler is seventeen, Bren,” Elora said gently.
“I know, but I think he might be right in that it’ll make things worse. Kids like Jeff – they don’t give a shit about any type of authority.” Bren set his bottle down on the table. “Fuck, I hate that Tyler is going through this. He shouldn’t be bullied for who he loves.”
“Life isn’t fair,” Elora said. “Honestly, I’m more worried that this Jeff kid will tell your father that Tyler is gay and dating a shifter.”
Bren ran his hand through his hair. “I didn’t say anything to Tyler, but I’m concerned about it too. Tyler’s worried enough about Corey, I didn’t want to freak him out even more by mentioning Dad.”
“What did he say when you took Tyler home?”
“He wasn’t home. He was at some charity event.”
“If he does find out about Tyler…”
“Dad will kick him out,” Bren said bluntly. “And then Tyler will have no choice but to live with me.”
“It bothers you that he won’t live with you now, doesn’t it?” Elora said.
“Yeah. I understand why – he wants to believe that Dad is a good guy, he really does, but I worry about him living there. Dad doesn’t give a shit about him. It’s all about public image for our father and having a gay son who’s dating a shifter? Dad will disown Tyler.”
“I’m sorry,” Elora said.
“Me too,” Bren replied.
They sat in comfortable silence for a minute or two before Elora stood, Lilianna clinging tightly to her shoulder. “I should go. It’s getting late.” She leaned down and pressed a kiss against Bren’s forehead. “I’m sorry you’ve had such a bitch of a day, buddy.”
“Thanks, Elora. And thanks for listening.”
“Anytime. If you or Tyler need me, text me. And remember,” she ruffled his hair affectionately, “don’t eat anything my grandmother gives you.”
Chapter Four
They hadn’t walked five feet toward the community cabin before Drago turned to her. “What the hell were you thinking, Kaida?”
“They were being beaten. I couldn’t leave them to their fate.”
“You could have and should have done so.” Smoke was starting to drift from his nostrils.
“Calm yourself, Drago,” she said.
“Do not tell me what to do. You brought a fox shifter and two humans into our clan. Have you gone mad? You’ll be lucky if the council does not banish you for what you have done.”
“If they choose banishment, I will accept the punishment.” Her voice was calm, but she felt far from relaxed. Her pulse was racing, and panic was singing through her veins. She might often feel smothered by the clan rules, but banishment meant madness and death.
Drago grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop. “If you would only stop your foolishness and accept my mating proposal, you would not have to worry about being banished. They won’t dare banish you if you’re my mate.”
“Why? Because you believe you are next in line to be an elder?” She arched her eyebrows at him. “Believing you should be an elder doesn’t make it true.”
He snorted. “I am the best candidate for the position, Kaida. You know as well as I do that Cadmus will appoint me to the council. It would be wise not to anger me.”
“Are you threatening me?” She pulled her arm free of his tight grip. “That’s not a good idea.”
“For God’s sake, I’m not threatening you. But you need to see that your foolish ways will lead you into trouble. It’s like you want to be banished, Kaida.”
“Just because I don’t believe the old ways are still appropriate for us doesn’t mean I want to be banished.”
Drago threw his hands up in annoyance. “The old ways have protected us for years. If the humans were to find out of our existence, what do you think they would do? We’d be hunted and left with no choice but to destroy them. Is that what you want? For humanity to fall beneath our flame?”
“Of course not,” she said. “But who are you to say what the humans will think or do if they learn of us?”
“They have proven time and time again that they do not trust the paranormals. Are you really that foolish, Kaida?”
Sick of his questions, she stomped toward the community cabin.
“If you were my mate,” he was hurrying after her, “the first thing I would do is curb you of your ridiculous ideas about humans and dragons living in harmony.”
“Thinking you can tell her what to do is exactly why she’ll never bang you, dude,” a voice drawled from the darkened porch of the community cabin.
The dragon shifter stepped out into the moonlight as Drago made a low hiss. “Mind your own business, asshole.”
“Hello, Kaida.” The shifter ignored Drago.
“Hi, Bones.” She studied the large shifter in the dim light. At almost seven feet tall with a body thick with muscle, he was one of the larger shifters in their clan and the head of security for the clan. Rather ironic considering he’d earned the nickname Bones for being abnormally skinny as a yearling and even into adulthood. But now, his large size, shaved head and numerous tattoos intimidated many in their clan and even dragons from other clans.
What Kaida had always found fa
scinating was that Cadmus had appointed Bones to be the security head before he’d started to fill out. The other elders had objected strenuously but Cadmus would not be swayed. She shouldn’t have been surprised by it, Kaida supposed. Cadmus often made decisions that seemed strange but ultimately were perfect.
She joined him on the porch. “Why are you here?”
He tugged at his chest length goatee. The thick black hair was threaded with silver. Before he could reply, Drago said, “Why do you think? There’s been a security breach, one that you caused when you brought a human amongst our midst. You’re lucky he did not slaughter the humans immediately.”
Kaida glanced at Bones who rolled his eyes and said, “Do me a favour and tone down the fucking dramatics, would you, Drago? The human was just a kid.”
“One of them was just a kid,” Drago sneered. “The other was a cop.”
Kaida twitched in surprise. “How do you know that? Were you hiding in the damn bushes next to my cabin while I spoke with the human?”
“Of course not,” Drago said.
“Javee took his license plate number and did some,” Bones hesitated, “research on him.”
Kaida sighed. Why she thought for even a moment that she could keep the humans a secret from the rest of her clan was beyond her. They would have smelled Tyler and Corey as soon as she brought them close, and the council would have immediately began assessing the risk and investigating the humans.
“You’re lucky that we didn’t call for his death the moment we discovered he was a cop,” Drago said.
“We?” Bones turned toward him. “Your desire to be on the council is well-known, Drago, but until Cadmus actually appoints you to the council, don’t act as though you have any say in their decisions.
Drago’s upper chest glowed, and more smoke drifted from his nostrils and mouth. “You’ll want to watch that smart mouth of yours, Bones. When I am on the council, you may find yourself working in the kitchen rather than security.”
“Perhaps,” Bones replied. “But until that happens, you’ll watch your tone with me. It will be difficult for you to have your say on the council if you’re missing your tongue.”
The Dragon's Mate (Shifters Series Book 7) Page 4
