by Keri Arthur
I snapped my tail and dove deep, gathering speed. When the ocean was little more than a dark blur roaring past, I flipped around and headed back up, swimming straight at the underbelly of the boat. At the last possible moment, I twisted, hitting the hull with my back, sending it flipping up and over. As those aboard fell into the sea, I located the man with the tracker and swam toward him. He spun and saw me, and frantically began to swim away. As if he could ever beat me in the water. I caught him in an instant, and snapped with my teeth, grabbing the receiver out of his hand and tasting blood in the process. Nausea rose, but I ignored it, crunching down on the device before spitting out the remains.
Then I turned and swam away. I couldn’t kill them. I might regret it later, but right now, I had enough blood on my hands. Besides, Marsten’s men weren’t the real problem—they were just paid employees, doing what they were told. Even the dragons in his employ wouldn’t present such a problem once Marsten and the scientists at Drumnadrochit were taken care of.
That had to be my first priority. Leaving a trail of bodies behind me held no appeal, especially when Marsten and his investors had more than enough funds to easily replace those bodies.
I headed for the shore. The sea bottom eventually began to rise and sunlight played through the water, filling my world with pretty shades of blue and green.
As I rose back through the twilight layers and reached the surface levels, I shifted shape once again. In human form, I swam the last few hundred yards, then strode out of the water.
It was just beginning to rain, and there was hardly anyone on the beach. Certainly no one seemed to have noticed that a shot had been fired or a man had gone missing. My plastic bag and clothes were still sitting where I’d left them and, from this distance, didn’t appear to have been disturbed. Of course, that didn’t mean nothing had been taken. I stripped off my T-shirt and slung it over my shoulder to hide the bullet wound the sea had only half healed, then in my panties and bra, walked up the beach toward my clothes.
Once I’d grabbed my bag, I did a quick check for the phone, credit card, and cash. They were all still there, and relief slithered through me. Some days, luck was just on your side.
I quickly dressed, using a dry shirt as a towel, then finger-combed my hair and headed off the beach. I dug the phone out of the bag, checked that Trae hadn’t called, then shoved it in my pocket. The cash and credit card quickly followed.
So what did I do next?
Go find a restaurant and wait for Trae’s call?
Fact was, I no longer needed to break into the old lady’s house, and I no longer needed the security codes.
I could go find my dad, and give him the message from my mom. Give him the hope that she would find him, and that there was no need to haunt the twilight zone between this world and the next.
I bit my lip, letting my gaze roam across the street and the cars parked nearby, searching for a familiar car. But neither the scientists’ red car nor Trae’s gray one was anywhere nearby.
Part of me wanted to see Trae’s car. Wanted to see Trae. Not just because I missed him already, but because being alone brought back all the old doubts. Doubts about my strength. Doubts about my ability to do the task I’d set myself.
Truth was, the only time I’d ever really been alone was those first few weeks before my capture. After that, there’d always been scientists, and later other dragons, about. Still, it wasn’t until Egan joined me that I’d ceased to feel so alone. It was stupid, I know, but Egan’s presence had always given me some hope that I could beat them. That together we could do this and win. I’d spent most of my adult life being poked and prodded, having my blood and flesh extracted and examined, and it was only with Egan that I’d found the strength to fight. It was a strength that had eventually freed us.
I didn’t know if I could do this alone.
Didn’t know if I wanted to do it alone.
But even as that thought crossed my mind, a vision rose. Egan running. Stumbling. The blood, splattered across the crystal walls of his home. Its warm stickiness as it slid down my skin. Him dropping to the ground as his life flooded across the gray stones of the home he’d thought so safe.
And then Egan’s face became Trae’s, Egan’s blood Trae’s . . .
A sob caught in my throat and suddenly tears were filling my eyes, blurring my vision. I stumbled, and flung out a hand, using the wall of a nearby shop to steady myself.
No, I thought. No.
Egan’s death was enough. I couldn’t handle Trae dying as well. Which meant I had to let him go—at least until being around me no longer spelled death.
And while I very much suspected it wasn’t going to be easy to lose my thief, I had to at least try.
Because I had a bad feeling that if Trae got hurt or killed, it would hurt me in ways I couldn’t even begin to understand.
Chapter Ten
I’d barely made my decision to leave when the cell phone rang. My heart leapt somewhere to the vicinity of my throat, and for several seconds I thought about ignoring it. It was stupid to answer it, stupid to give him advance warning of my intentions. I knew all that.
And yet part of me ached to hear his voice. To hear the timbre of it resonate through my body one more time, warming me as much as his clever hands.
I blew out a breath, then dragged the phone out of my pocket.
“Hello?”
“Destiny? Where are you?”
My gaze went to the sea. I could hear it calling me, telling me not to be long. I closed my eyes, and lied. “I don’t exactly know.”
He paused. Somewhere close behind him, a woman ordered a coffee. Cups clinked. Voices murmured, a general hum that spoke of a smallish crowd. He had to be in a café somewhere. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means I don’t need to visit that house anymore.”
“Why not?” His voice was sharp, filled with the threat of anger.
“I had a nice chat with one of the men in the red car. Apparently, they no longer use key codes, but rather handprint scans.”
“He could have been lying—”
“He wasn’t.”
Again he paused. “And the man?”
“Still swimming deep, as far as I know.”
“Destiny—”
“No,” I cut in, ignoring the deepening anger in his voice. Ignoring the shiver that was part fear, part desire. “Sorry, Trae, but I’m not willing to let you pay the price that Egan did. They still have the means to find me, and enough is enough.”
“I won’t let—”
“I’m going to get my mother,” I cut in again. “I’m sorry, Trae. Sorry I can’t help you.”
“Damn it, Destiny, we had a deal—”
I hit the end button, cutting him off mid-sentence. For several seconds, I just stared at the phone, waiting for it to ring, for him to call back. When he didn’t, an odd mix of relief and disappointment ran through me.
Not wanting to examine that particular mix of emotions any more than necessary, I shoved the phone into the bag, then tied it up tight. Of course, the plastic wasn’t watertight, and the phone would more than likely be destroyed by the deeper ocean waters, but I’d rather that than leaving it here for him to find. I didn’t want to give him an easy reference point for my leaving.
It was time to go see my dad.
Before it really was too late.
I tied the plastic bag to my wrist and strode back into the sea. And tried not to think about how angry my dad was going to be when he saw me again. He might be crippled, and he might be dying, but I had no doubt his fury would be fearsome. I’d gone against his orders to go after my mom, and had disappeared for years. And yet I knew a lot of the anger would be aimed at himself as much as me. Aimed at the disease that was slowly killing him, and his inability to do anything to help either me or my mother.
Sadness rose like a tide, and suddenly I was blinking back tears. “What goes around comes around” had been a favorite saying of
his when I was younger. Well, where the hell was the payback for the scientists who were destroying my family? When was fate going to step in and say enough is enough?
Or was that now my lot? To mete out the justice they had coming?
I bit my bottom lip and dove under the waves. The problem was, I didn’t actually want justice. I just wanted my mother free. Just wanted us to live as a family again.
Of course, the scientists knew we were out here in the oceans now, just like they knew the air dragons were here. No matter what I did, that knowledge would remain. Surely it would only be a matter of time before the news spread through the scientific ranks and the hunt for us all became even more intense.
But there wasn’t a lot I could do about that, and gnawing over it like a dog with a bone would get me nowhere fast.
One step at a time, I thought.
I shifted shape when I was deep enough, and began the long trek down the North American coast, heading for the tip of South America.
It was a tedious trip. I kept myself amused by skimming the waves and chasing the sea life that darted like quicksilver flashes in front of me, but the day rolled into the night and back into the day until the hours just seemed to blur together.
For the first time in my life, I wished I’d taken after Dad more than Mom. Right now, wings would have been bonus. At least I could have flown directly across the continent rather than having to swim around South America before heading back home. It was time wasted—time that could be better spent with my dad.
But the only way I could have flown was to ask Trae. And not only would that have selfishly put him into danger yet again, there was also the worry as to whether he could actually do it.
Air dragons could carry people. There were enough myths and tales about fiery beasts dragging off human sacrifices to have at least some basis in fact—but could they manage it for long periods? Somehow, I doubted it. Even birds of prey didn’t carry their kills for great distances.
I wondered what it would be like to soar through the clouds. How different would flying be to cutting through the cold, wild seas? Would there be more of a sense of freedom? I’d always imagined that cutting through sunshine and wind would be far more pleasant than skimming through the ever-cold waters of the deeper oceans, but Egan would never really talk about it much.
I closed my eyes and imagined him soaring through the blue skies, his scales gleaming with fire, gossamer wings outstretched as he soared high and long. He’d been beautiful, truly beautiful, in his dragon form.
Just like Trae.
And it hurt to think I might never see him or his dragon form again. Because even if he did come after me, he might not want anything more to do with me after the way I’d broken our deal.
The seas got a lot rougher as I rounded the tip of South America and began the long trek up toward the North Atlantic. It was still boring, though, and while I tried desperately not to think about Trae any more than I already had, my thoughts inevitably drifted back to him.
And part of me began to worry. Trae wasn’t the type to give up easily, and he wanted the ring as fiercely as I wanted to see my dad and free my mom. Just because I’d left him behind didn’t mean he’d actually stay there. And certainly the sheer length of this swim would give him more than enough time to catch up—even if he didn’t use his dragon form to fly from Oregon to Maine.
The one good thing was the fact that he didn’t know where I was going. I might have told him Maine, but Maine was a big place, and our home wasn’t near any major cities anyway. And Trae wouldn’t find us in the phone book—our number was unlisted.
Not that that would stop a determined man.
Of course, the main problem for me was the fact I had to come in at night—it was difficult enough to swim through the bays without being spotted, let alone get under the bridge at Lubec. That would take timing, and high tide. But night also gave Trae an advantage—he could fly high and keep watch. Air dragon sight was sharp—he’d see my shadow, even at night and under the water.
Still, there was little I could do about it, and no point in working myself up any more than I already was.
When I finally rounded the national park and swam into Johnson Bay, excitement began to pulse through my bloodstream. I was home—or close to it. Maybe it wasn’t the home where I was supposed to be raised, but it was the home of my heart regardless, and suddenly I was eager to see the old log house my dad had built on the South Bay shore in the years before the disease had really begun to take hold.
The tidal currents were moving fast, and I rode them past the bridge, thankful I’d come in close to high tide. The sea in this section could get low enough to walk through—although the mud could make that difficult.
I swam into the deeper waters of the bay, my excitement growing as I made my way through Cobscook Bay and into the waters that had been my home for many years.
It was then a large dark shadow swooped low over the water. Claws bigger than the length of my hands briefly skimmed the tops of the waves, the deadly tips gleaming inches from my nose before the shadow lifted and moved on.
I swore softly and rose to the surface, allowing my snout and eyes to break the water but leaving the rest of my body hidden. Not that any watchers were likely to notice me when there was a goddamn winged dragon skimming the waves.
And oh, he was so beautiful.
His sleek, powerful body looked silvery in the moonlight, but each movement had a ripple of deep gold shimmering across his scales. His wings were gossamer, glittering with every powerful stroke, reminding me of the gleaming beauty of a spider’s web after a sun shower.
One wing dipped, the fragile-looking tip momentarily digging into the sea and sending up a huge spray of water as he lazily turned around. His gaze met mine, the blue depths full of fury and warning. Then he was turning back around and heading for the shore.
I followed him. I had little other choice—that brief look had said that well enough.
He didn’t change until he had landed on the rocky shoreline. Luckily, it was hours after midnight, and the few houses that were within spotting distance were dark and silent. It was doubtful anyone had seen the dragon take on human shape.
I shifted the shape once the sea bottom began to rise, and strode somewhat reluctantly toward the beach. This was not going to be pleasant.
I stopped with my feet still in the sea. There were still several yards between us, but I could see him and hear him, and that was close enough. Not that I thought he’d hurt me, even if his anger was hot enough to burn.
His face might as well have been a brick, for all the emotion he was showing. But I could see the flick of it in his bright eyes. Feel the thunder of it rolling through the air.
“How did you find me?”
“I’ve been patrolling all night.” His rich voice was as clipped as mine. “Air dragons may be creatures of air and sun, but we have damn good night vision. A sea dragon is hard to miss, even at night and under the water.”
“Bit risky flying around like that, wasn’t it?”
He gave me a cold sort of smile. “If I fly high up, people just think I’m a large bird.”
Extremely large, I would think. And if those people happened to be near a pair of binoculars, well, there went any resemblance to a large bird. Still, an air dragon flew extremely fast. It was doubtful that even those who had a camera at hand would catch anything more than air swirls.
“What about the laptop and the equipment you had in the car?”
He gave me a dark sort of look. “I went back to my house and stored them there.”
“Look, Trae—”
“Not here,” he snapped, closing the distance between us, wrapping me in heat and anger. “The night is freezing, and you’re shivering. My car is just up on the road. Let’s get somewhere warm before we do this.”
He gripped my arm and propelled me forward several steps. Caught by surprise, I almost fell, and it was only his grip that kept me upright. Once I
’d managed to catch my balance, I ripped my elbow out of his grasp and stopped.
“The last thing I need”—I stabbed him in the chest with a finger and tried to ignore the warmth that flared up toward my arm with each tiny touch—“is some fool acting like a damned he-man. You can’t just haul me around as you please. Be civil, or that ring is going to remain sea-bound for eternity.”
He crossed his arms, his eyes flat and dangerous. “That’s not a threat you should be making, sweetheart. Trust me on that.”
I growled low down in my throat and pushed past him. “Why couldn’t you have just accepted the situation and left me alone?”
He followed, a presence I could feel through every pore, in every fiber. In some ways, he felt like sunshine through rain—an inner warmth surrounded by threatening darkness.
“Because we had a deal.” His voice was even, not hinting at the fury vibrating the air. “And you’re going to live up to your side of it.”
I swung around and faced him. “All you need the ring for is to get some information out of your bastard of a father. I’m trying to get to mine before he dies. What makes you think I really give a damn about any stupid deal you might have made right now?”
“What makes you think that the information I need is any less urgent than you getting to your dad?”
“Because if it was, you would have told me.”
“Not when the fucking ring was already out of my reach and couldn’t be immediately retrieved.” He eyed me for a minute, the heat of his fury washing over me again despite the tight control he obviously had over his emotions. “Agreeing to the deal gave me the ring in a couple of days. And that was okay, because it helped me, and it helped you, as Egan had wished.”
I studied him for a moment, then said, “So what sort of information does your father hold that is so important?”
He sighed, and thrust a hand through his hair. “My sister has gone missing, and my mom feels sure that she’s in some sort of trouble.”
“Is this a kin intuition thing?”
“She’s human, remember, so the kin intuition doesn’t apply. She just occasionally gets these feelings about things, and they mostly come true.”