Surprisingly, she did. She supposed it had something to do with her dragon believing that Bren was her mate. Dragons who were with their mate could stay away from a clan longer than a single dragon could. “I’m fine.”
“Good. Jarvis and Sika are feeling okay as well, but it would be better if they returned to the clan today. I spoke with Sika and she says she can travel.”
“Are you sure?” Bren said. “Maybe they should stay another day.” He glanced at Kaida. “You should stay as well, to help with the baby.”
Bones studied her and then Bren, and Kaida licked her suddenly dry lips. After a moment, Bones said, “It would be better if you returned today. All of you.”
“You’re right,” she said.
She could smell Bren’s disappointment, but it was better for him – safer for him – if they left. The sooner she spoke to Cadmus and the rest of the council, the better chance she had at convincing them that going to Bren and revealing their secret had been a necessity. She would make them understand that Bren wasn’t a danger to them, despite who his father was.
If they touch my mate, I will destroy them, her dragon growled.
“We should return to our clan,” she said to Bren. “Thank you for your help. I’ll, uh, text you later about Tyler and Corey’s training.”
“Sure,” he said.
They all turned when they heard Jarvis’ voice. “Walk slowly, Sika. There is no need to rush.”
“Jarvis, I’m fine,” Sika said with a soft laugh. Jarvis was holding her arm and she smiled up at him. “My healing is starting to kick in and I’m not nearly as sore.”
“You should still be careful,” he said.
Drago was walking behind them, the hatchling cradled in his arms. He stared at the baby in reverent awe as Sika stopped in front of Bren.
“Thank you, human,” she said with a sincere smile. “I am so grateful for your help.”
“You’re welcome, Sika,” Bren said. “Congratulations on your son. He’s beautiful.”
Sika glanced at the baby, her smile widening. “He is, isn’t he? You will have to come for his naming ceremony.”
“Sika,” Drago said with a frown, “do not speak such nonsense.”
“Hush, Drago.” Sika said and then hugged Bren.
He returned her hug, smiling at her when she kissed his cheek. “Thank you again, Bren.”
Jarvis held out his hand. Bren shook it and Jarvis clapped him on the back. “I will not forget my debt to you, human.”
He reached for the hatchling and Drago said, “Perhaps I should carry him to the car so that you may assist Sika.”
Jarvis grinned. “That’s very kind of you, Drago.”
Sika covered the baby’s head and face with the light blanket. “Did you remember the car seat, Drago?”
“Yes. It’s in the car.” Drago followed Jarvis and Sika out of the apartment, still gazing down at the baby even though he was completely covered.
“Are you ready, Bones?” Kaida didn’t want to leave Bren, but she wanted to leave before Bones said what she feared he might say.
“Yes.” He turned to Bren. “The council wishes to speak with you, human.”
Kaida’s stomach dropped to her feet and her dragon growled protectively. She calmed it as Bren said, “All right. When?”
“Tonight,” Bones said. “Seven o’clock.”
“Didn’t you say you had plans?” Kaida said to Bren.
“It must be tonight, Kaida,” Bones said.
“It doesn’t have to be,” she replied. “The council can wait a day or two.”
“They won’t,” Bones said.
Her mouth bone dry, her fear making it hard to think straight, she said, “I’ll talk to them, I’ll -”
“It’s fine,” Bren said. “I can speak with them tonight.”
Kaida’s dread grew as Bones said, “Tonight then. Goodbye, human.”
“Bye.” Bren was still staring at her and she tried to smile at him, but her fear was overwhelming her.
“Perhaps I should stay with Bren for the day,” she said. “Tell the council I’ll return with the human tonight and -”
“No,” Bones said. “You need to return, Kaida.”
Her dragon growled at him and smoke drifted from her nostrils.
Enough! she said to her dragon. You can’t challenge him.
I can and I will, her dragon growled.
Holy fuck. Her dragon really had gone mad. She’d never defeat Bones in a challenge. His dragon was too large and too powerful.
Bones was staring at her, waiting patiently to see if she would dare to challenge him. She pushed down her dragon and cleared her throat, tasting smoke in her mouth.
“Ready?” Bones asked.
She made herself smile at Bren. “I’ll see you later, all right?”
“All right.”
Ignoring her urge to kiss Bren, she followed Bones out of the apartment, shutting the door behind her.
“Bones,” she said, “the council -”
“They will vote to kill the human,” Bones said. “You know they will.”
“He helped us,” she said as they walked down the stairs. “Surely they will show him mercy.”
Bones shook his head. “He is the son of a powerful man who hates shifters.”
“Bren is nothing like his father.”
“The council will not see it that way.”
“Cadmus will overrule it if they vote to burn him,” she said.
Bones grabbed her arm before she could open the lobby door. “Kaida, listen to me. Do not believe that Cadmus’s affection for you will save the human. This is bad, do you hear me? Really bad. They will kill him, and they will do it tonight.”
Her dragon pushed forward and growled, “I will destroy them if they try.”
Bones grunted in surprise, his own dragon making a low growl. “You can’t stop them.”
“I will.” Her dragon was so angry that her voice was barely understandable to her own ears, but Bones made another surprised grunt.
“Are you in love with the human?”
“No, of course not,” she said. “But I won’t stand by and watch a good man lose his life. Not after he helped us. Sika and her hatchling would have been discovered by a lot more humans if it had not been for Bren.”
“I know, but the council will not see it that way.”
“I won’t let them kill him,” she repeated.
“You can’t stop them, I don’t care how pissed your dragon is,” Bones said. “But there may be another way.”
“What do you mean?”
He opened the door to the lobby and ushered her out into the cool air. “We will speak with Javee when we return to the clan.”
* * *
“Hey, Matthews!”
Bren looked up from his computer. Jeremy was leaning against the cubicle wall, a pita wrap in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.
“What’s up?”
“There’s a hot chick at the front desk looking for you.”
“Thanks. I’ll be right there.” He turned back to his computer screen.
“She’s seriously hot,” Jeremy said. “Tits like you wouldn’t believe and these,” he waved the pita in the air, “crazy looking eyes. They’re like gold coloured with blue flecks.”
Bren stood up so abruptly that he nearly knocked Jeremy’s waving pita out of his hand. What was Kaida doing here? Even though he’d just seen her this morning, part of him was thrilled to see her again. The other part was deeply uneasy. Kaida avoided humans and shifters as much as possible. To have her show up at the precinct couldn’t be good news.
As Jeremy walked away, Bren hurried past the maze of cubicles and out to the front desk. The reception area of the precinct was full of people. Rodrigues the admitting clerk looked both deeply annoyed and exhausted as he dealt with a man who was shouting indignantly about a parking ticket.
Kaida was standing near the door. He had an idea she was trying to blend in but
with her height, the blue streaks in her hair and her – his palms went a little sweaty – incredibly striking looks, blending in was a pipe dream. Bren scooted past a woman in a wheelchair and a man holding a wailing toddler.
“Kaida, hey. How are you?”
“Good.”
She didn’t look good. She looked pale and sick to her stomach.
“Are you feeling all right?” he asked.
“Fine. I’m sorry to come by without texting first.”
“It’s not a problem,” he said.
She crossed her arms over her torso before studying the wailing toddler. “Is there somewhere private we can talk?”
“Sure. Follow me.” He led her out of the reception area and past the maze of cubicles to one of the interview rooms. “Have a seat.”
She sat down, her foot tapping the floor and her fingers pulling compulsively at the bottom of her leather jacket. He sat next to her and took her hand, stopping the frantic motion.
“Tell me what’s wrong,” he said.
She met his gaze and for the first time he could see how truly upset she was. His stomach tightened and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. Not just upset – she looked afraid.
“Kaida? What is it?”
“You have to leave,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
She pulled her hand out of his and reached into the inside pocket of her jacket. He stared mutely at the passport and envelope she held out to him. “What is this?”
She pressed them into his hands, and he flipped open the passport, shock making his body go still as he stared at his picture. He studied the name and the information next to it before looking up at her. “Richard Simpson? Why are you giving me a passport with my picture and the name Richard Simpson? Where did you even get my picture?”
“There’s a birth certificate, a social security number and a driver’s license for Richard Simpson, as well as fifty thousand dollars in that envelope. It’s enough to get you away from here and start a new life. There’s also a piece of paper with a phone number on it. Buy a burner phone, okay? When you have a bank account set up, use the burner phone to text that number with the bank account number. Another fifty grand will be deposited into the account. Once you’ve done that, burn the piece of paper, destroy the phone, and -”
“Kaida, whoa, stop.” He set the passport and the envelope on the table and took her hands. “Take a deep breath and tell me what the hell is going on.”
“You have to leave the country, Bren. I’m sorry, but you need to leave and start a new life.”
His mouth dropped open and he sucked in a gulp of air. “Are you kidding me right now?”
She shook her head, her hands tightening around his. They were almost uncomfortably warm, but he didn’t let go. A thin tendril of smoke drifted from her left nostril as she stared at him. “I’m not. You have to leave.”
“A new life. With these?” He stared at the passport and envelope. “How the hell did you get these?”
She hesitated and he squeezed her hand. “How?”
“There’s a female in our clan - Javee. She is Bones’s mate. She has a particular skill with computers that makes her valuable to certain people. The kind of people who can get these types of documents with very little notice.”
He looked at the passport again. “Is that the picture from my driver’s license?”
“Yes, Javee got it.”
“How did she… you know what? Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
“You need to leave, Bren,” Kaida repeated.
“Why?”
“It’s for your own safety, please trust me.”
He barked out harsh laughter. “I’m gonna need a little more than that, Kaida.”
She swallowed hard. “The council wants to see you tonight to decide your fate, Bren. Humans cannot know about the dragons.”
“I’m aware of that, and I’ll tell them that I’ll keep your secret,” Bren said.
“It won’t be enough. They’re going to vote, and they’ll vote against you.” More smoke drifted from her nostrils and this time her hands grew so hot, he had no choice but to release them.
She stared at his hands and then hers before saying, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“It’s fine. So, when they vote against me, that means what? Death?” His voice sounded remarkably calm considering his guts were churning so hard they were moving up into his esophagus.
“Yes.”
He sat back in his chair, the blood pounding dully in his ears.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m so sorry. I should never have brought Sika to you, but I was panicking and I… I’m sorry.”
“You brought Tyler to your clan,” he said. Anger was starting to replace the shock. “You brought Tyler and Corey to your clan and if they had discovered you were dragons, Tyler would have been killed. Is that what you’re saying? What the fuck were you thinking, Kaida?”
She didn’t cringe at the fury in his voice, and a small part of him admired her for it.
“I was confident Tyler wouldn’t realize what we were. He is in no danger from my clan if he continues to believe we are bear shifters.”
“Did Corey figure it out?”
She hesitated and he frowned at her. “Did he?”
“Yes.”
“Fuck.” He ran his hand through his hair. “If he tells Tyler -”
“He won’t. Trust me on this, Bren. The fox yearling will keep our secret.”
Unable to sit still any longer, Bren stood and paced the interview room. “Did Corey meet with the council?”
“He did,” Kaida said slowly. “The council voted to let him live.”
The tension eased a little from his shoulders. “All right, that’s good news. If they let him live, then -”
“They let him live because he is a shifter,” Kaida said. “They have no trust in humans. Especially a human whose father is…”
“A senator hell-bent on destroying shifters,” Bren said.
She nodded and he paced the room again. She picked up the passport and the envelope. “Bren, please, you must go. I know it’s difficult but -”
“Difficult?” He snorted in anger. “Don’t, Kaida. If you think I’m going to leave Tyler, you’re insane. I am not packing a bag and leaving my job and my brother and my goddamn life. I’ll take my chances with your clan.”
“If you die, Tyler will be alone anyway,” she said.
“That’s your argument?” Bitter laughter shot from his mouth. “Look, say what you want, but I am not running away like a scared little kid.”
“Please, Bren.” She stood and took his hands again, her face drawn, and sorrow written across it. “It’s the only way to save you. I can’t watch you be burned to death by my clan. Do you understand? I can’t. This is all my fault and I’m so sorry, but I need you to do this. It’s the only way.”
“It isn’t,” he said. “I’ll convince the council to let me live.”
“And if you don’t?”
“Maybe Cadmus will overrule their decision.”
“We can’t count on that.” He could see her fear beginning to turn to anger. “I could make you leave.”
“Oh yeah? You gonna knock me out and then carry me away in the night in your dragon form?”
She scowled at him. “This is not a joke.”
“Considering I’m the one who might be turned into a human torch by tonight, you can bet your ass I get that it isn’t a joke,” he said. “But I’m still not leaving Tyler. I will convince the council to let me live. Trust me, Kaida.”
“Bren…”
“Trust me,” he said. Even though she was the reason he might be burned alive in less than six hours, he still weirdly wanted to pull her into his arms and assure her everything would be fine.
“I can’t watch you die,” she whispered.
“You won’t,” he said. “Everything will be fine.”
* * *
The
confidence he’d had earlier at the precinct was long gone. In fact, Bren didn’t think he’d ever been this fucking scared in his life. He’d dealt with people who were high on PCP and crazy strong, he’d been involved in shoot outs, hell, he had a fucking gun pointed at his head by a guy who could vanish into thin air, but it still didn’t compare to the fear that was rolling through his guts right now.
He parked the SUV next to Kaida’s cabin and shut off the vehicle. His hands were shaking, and he took a few deep breaths before grabbing his phone and studying the text from Tyler.
Dude, thanks again for dinner. It was nice. Later, loser.
He stared blankly out the windshield. He’d left work early and arrived at Tyler’s school as Tyler was done for the day. He’d taken him for dinner, doing his best to make things seem natural and normal. He must have done an okay job. Tyler hadn’t seemed to notice anything was wrong.
Instead of dropping Ty off like he normally did, Bren went up to his father’s apartment with him. He had no respect for his father and hadn’t for a very long time, but he still loved him. If he was going to die tonight, he at least wanted to say goodbye to his father.
But, like so often, his father was in his office and on the phone. He’d waved distractedly at Bren but wouldn’t finish the phone call so they could talk. Bren waited around for about half an hour before finally leaving.
He should have said goodbye to Elora, but, in the end, couldn’t do it. He might have fooled Tyler into thinking everything was fine, but he wouldn’t have fooled Elora. He’d been afraid she’d pull the truth from him and that fear had kept him away from her. Still, she would be pissed he just up and died without notifying her first.
He stared at his phone again before quickly texting Tyler. You’re welcome. I love you, kid.
The three little dots appeared immediately, and he waited even when Kaida’s cabin door opened and she stepped out on the porch. She was wearing a long blue cloak and the paleness of her face was illuminated by the glow of the moon.
The Dragon's Mate (Shifters Series Book 7) Page 18
