Were they still fertile? Eggs had been hatched centuries after they had been laid, though that had been generations ago. I yanked my arm away from Nariti and slid down into the hole, my thousand-dollar shoes threatening my life. A third egg had been found, this the emerald green of my lost sister's scales. Fascinated, enraptured, I reached for it.
And felt human hands slap mine away.
Rage. Incalculable rage poured through me, crimson fire exploding within my chest. I spun on the human and found the tiny, useless creature with the sandwiches from before. She stared into my eyes and I saw myself in hers, little more than a man angry and ready to slap her down.
There she stood, defiant and scowling, refusing to be frightened away by my posturing. My nostrils flared and I readied to turn her soft, supple flesh into a pile of ash. The flames came at my command, rippling up from my stomach and-
"You'll have to excuse my client," Nariti said, stepping between us. "His father owned an opal mine on this land quite some time ago and to see those stones reappear and, in such quality, I'm certain you understand his reaction."
I coughed a plume of smoke into his hair as I swallowed down the blaze and tried to regain control. What had I been thinking? Roasting a human on the spot because she dared touch me?
Nariti looked back at me, glared, and turned his attention back to the woman. "We must be going. If you would be so kind as to direct me to your overseer, we will set up an account in which you may deposit these opals. We maintain mineral rights to the property as such."
Sweet relief. This was why I bothered to keep Nariti in my employment. He was never at a loss in the middle of any situation and I had...
I had a temper.
"We'll be investigating those rights," Hudson said from behind me.
My gaze turned from the little human, from Nariti's shoulder, to stare back at the local werewolf alpha. I managed to gather my words without the pyrotechnics. "Excuse me?"
"We'll be investigating those rights and following them to the greatest extent of the law," Hudson said. "Those opals appear to be worth a fortune and I have no intention of allowing you to step in and claim them without an investigation. Gabriel?"
The second alpha shrugged. "Doubtless that they have some sort of arrangement, but I'll look into it. There's no reason we can't come to an agreement that pleases everyone."
"If we may speak in private," I gritted.
An agreement that would please everyone? How dare they. If we'd been in the proper setting, I would have had no misgivings about eating both of them. Whole.
As it was, I was certain that they were giving me trouble due to last year's problems with their omega. Hudson's son had bitten a human girl, turning her. It was against every law of the Supernatural Secrecy Pact and it had fallen to me to judge the pup, the omega, and the rest of Hudson's pack.
I had spent a time enjoying watching them squirm. Who couldn't? Hudson was painfully cocksure; as much as his parents had been. The whole pack needed to writhe. Yet I wasn't going to cast a child into the flames or destroy their family. Indeed, the pup's aunt had been the true villain and had given me perfect cause to allow the werewolf pack to run free and to accept the new omega into our world.
Though I had expected some retribution for worrying them, I hadn't thought the wolves would stoop so low. They knew the humans held dragon eggs in their hands. They knew what those eggs meant to my flight. Omega dragons, male or female, were incredibly rare. Those who could carry eggs long enough to lay them? Even rarer. We held them esteemed above all others, making them the kings or queens of our flights.
What if an omega lay sleeping inside one of those shells? We could forge an alliance with another flight once they found love, perhaps find an omega of our own. We may even be lucky enough to have our own eggs one day.
The chance set my heart on fire. We had sold the nesting ground on the assumption that we would never have an omega of our own; at least not in the lifespan of the wolves. Those eggs were a promise; a chance at a way to better ourselves.
And Hudson was holding it over my head like a steak dangling before a dog.
He winked at me.
If not for the humans in our vicinity, I would have gladly killed him where he stood. As it was, I watched him, fuming, as someone approached us. A scent of brimstone, sage, and curling mint reached me. I breathed it, deeply, and my eyes fluttered shut.
A mage, a human mage, or a witch; some sort of spell slinger, was nearing me. Like unicorns with virgins, they spoke to us on a deeper level. They were our opposites, those whom the planet had chosen to work with Her base powers and invocations. Nariti stiffened beside me and took me in hand once more.
I opened my eyes to look down at the little human from before and realized the scent of magic was coming from her.
Beneath one arm she held an egg as blue as the ocean depths. She reached for me and I drew back, my stomach clenching. Panic swamped me. We had to get that egg away from her immediately. I shot a look at Nariti, who only tightened his grip. Behind his sunglasses, his eyes were wide and slitted as they were in our true form. Sweat broke out on his forehead.
Above us, I heard Hudson or Gabriel take a step back from the rim of the hole.
"I apologize, gentlemen, but I've been told to tell you that any claim to these opals will need to be made to the museum directly. It's in our contract. We keep what significant specimens we find and," the woman paused, hefted the egg, and tossed it in the air lightly between her hands. "These may not be opals at all. When we shook one, it sounded as if there was liquid inside. We don't know what they are, but we'll be cracking them open to try to figure it out. If they're of value and you have a significant claim-"
I didn't hear the rest of it. Cracking them open. Discovering what was within. I tore away from Nariti and walked back up the ladder, grabbing Hudson by the sleeve and whispering, "A private place to speak. Immediately."
He didn't argue. Instead, he guided us to the silence of his bloody Hummer. I sat there, my hands in my lap, trying to steady them. They trembled as if I were attempting to ace some sort of examination.
"Eggs?" Hudson asked.
I nodded.
"That's one hell of a you problem," he said.
I stared over at him. "It is our problem. You own this property and I would be well within my rights to demand satisfaction, wergild, and your expulsion over this."
"You sold me the damn place!"
"After I had been over it with a fine-toothed comb," I said, trying to keep the image of those precious eggs cracked over a hot skillet from my mind. It did not work. "Had I known there were eggs buried, I'd have never considered it."
"Why didn't you? Wasn't your own mother the last omega dragon in the tri-state area? Aren't you alphas supposed to have some kind of nest sensory stuff?"
He had a point, though I was loath to admit it. My heart plummeted. "We are sensitive to living eggs."
"Oh," he said, face falling as he realized what I meant. "Oh, dark moon, I'm sorry. Is there any chance...?"
"There is always a chance," I said. "But each day above ground the odds grow further against them. Did you notice the woman?"
His head cocked to the side, a mongrel through and through. "The one with the blue egg?"
"Yes."
"She seemed awfully comfortable with it," Hudson shrugged. "What's that got to do with anything?"
He hadn't scented it. How? It was so strong, so potent that it had nearly knocked me over. I eyed him. "Are you toying with me?"
"Not over something as serious as this."
"She is a witch. A practitioner. And if she were to come into contact with Nariti or I while holding that egg, it may well hatch."
His head cocked the other way. "You use magic to hatch eggs?"
"It is a ritual, but the power coursing through her may be enough if she were to come in contact with one of our blood," I said. "It is beside the point for the moment. I require her services. And I require those eg
gs."
"You're shit out of luck. It's not like we can just kidnap some lady and make her twitch her nose over a nest for you."
I stared at him, uncomprehending. What had her nose to do with the hatch?
When I didn't respond, he continued. "I'll see what Gabe can come up with. Maybe Sadie will have some ideas to try to wrangle the eggs out of the museum."
"The omega should be left out of it. She has little enough use as it is," I said, scowling out the window.
"Right. Fuck you and your bullshit," Hudson said, reaching across me and opening the car door. "Get out. You insult my mate; you don't need my pack's help."
Had he picked up such crass language from his bottom-feeder of an omega? I snorted at him and ran a finger over the upholstery, which immediately recoiled from the heat. "I will burn your sex wagon to the ground."
"I'll eat your eggs for breakfast."
We met the other's gaze and locked there, stubborn and unwilling to sacrifice an inch on either side. He barred his teeth and I met him a moment later. I grabbed the collar of his shirt, my fist drawn back, when Gabe cleared his throat on the outside of the vehicle. "Must I remind you two idiots that there are still humans here, watching this happen? And that they have cell phones that connect directly to every single social media outlet in the world?"
My fist dropped. I glared as I smoothed Hudson's collar back into place. "A sensible reminder, Gabriel. Thank you."
"When you apologize about our mate, I'll give you what help we have. Get out," Hudson demanded.
I roasted a line across his door on my way out, but I left as requested. Several heads had turned our way. Gabriel had a point. The humans were endlessly curious about those with money and the drama within. It was the issue of many of their ridiculous reality television shows. I looked for Nariti and saw no sign of him.
Gabe caught me. "He's back at the site negotiating the storage of those opals."
So many, many reasons why I kept Nariti around. I went back to the site, watching as they placed the golden egg upon a thick bed of cotton batting, wrapped it, and affixed a lid to the crate. With the combined weight of the box, it took two humans to lift it into the back of a pickup truck.
"And if we could simply get an additional bit of information from you, Doctor Nicole?" Nariti asked. "We require the location of the storage facility for our insurance purposes, please."
The woman, not a drop of magic coming from her, rolled her eyes at him. "The objects aren't in your possession and you have no reason to be concerned about-"
"We have every reason to be concerned about the long-term prospects of those opals, doctor," I said, coming to stand beside Nariti. "If you would be so kind. I assure you, the more information you allow to be available to us in this moment, the easier this process will be for you and yours. You will be graciously rewarded for your-"
She cut me off, her voice like a lash. The audacity. "I don't care about a reward or about your money. If we were in it for the cash, we'd auction the damn things and be done with it. Our contract outlines the situation clearly. You'll be lucky if you get paid for them and you should be happy that we're willing to play ball about this whole thing."
"The contract you mention states you have another week entitlement to this land. It would be a simple thing to find another willing entity if you are no longer interested in maintaining a rational, polite state of affairs with those who hired you," I hissed.
Opals were worth thousands, though I doubted that the museum would be so intensely pleased once they realized what they had were not stones. Indeed, when the government descended upon their discovery, there would be nothing left for them at all. Perhaps Nicole realized that we were the ones signing her check, for all it was indirectly. Though I doubted it.
"I'll speak with the project director and I'm certain he'll be in touch," she said, her voice frosty.
And then she left, climbing back out of the hole and into the truck. She smacked the dash and off it drove, the bed full of my flight's future.
A last crate was being prepared. The final egg, the first they'd found, lay abandoned in the soil. It was far enough away from the humans. If I snuck down, it was possible that I could hide it away and run from them. My vehicle lacked significant trunk space, but I would be willing to hide it in the back seat if so needed.
I started my descent but paused when the blonde lifted her head. Another man working with her called out to her. Olivia. That was right; her name was Olivia. She didn't move. Instead, she stood there staring at me. After a moment, one fist went toward her hip and planted itself there. I found myself amused, a rare emotion for me. What did she think she meant to a dragon? There were other magical humans in the world, many with connections to our old psychic services hotline.
It would be simple enough. I could contact one of them, many of whom believed me to be something other than human as it was, and make all their supernatural wishes come true. They would assist me in hatching the egg. And then I would kill them, ridding myself of the security risk and bearing a single whelp into our flight for the first time in well over a century.
When she turned to address the issue with her co-worker, I crept closer. Step by step, I drew nearer to the egg. I reached out for it, crouching beneath the ridge they had placed it under.
Again, she slapped my hands away and grabbed the egg to stuff beneath her arm. Then she rounded on me, a finger in my face and scolding. "I don't know what planet you're from, but here? We follow laws. These are ours and some big money jerk like you doesn't need to worry about his bank anyhow. Do you know how little the museum brings in every year? Do you? A project like this is worth everything to us and a discovery? A real, authentic discovery of a rock like this? It's huge. Leave us alone. You don't need this thing."
Her hands slipped and the world stopped. I flung myself forward, landing in the dirt to save an egg that never quite hit the ground. She caught it just above my hands, shot me a flat look, and carried it over to lay it upon a cotton bed. I flinched as someone hammered the nails into the top woodwork of the crate and dragged myself to my feet just in time to watch that crate be loaded into the bed of another pickup truck.
Olivia climbed into the cab, checked her paperwork, and drove off with the egg that looked so much like the one I had hatched from.
Damn her.
Chapter 4
Olivia
The rich get richer and the poor, like me? Well, we just get poorer.
Wasn't that the way of the world?
When I'd been younger, I'd been convinced that I was going to change it. You get out of high school and you're just ready to go, ready to run out into the world and roar how brave and strong you are. Then it runs you over, smashes the hope out you, and ruins everything that you ever dreamed of.
As a kid, I'd dreamed of dragons. When Game of Thrones came out, I was hooked. Like Tyrion, I'd always wanted a dragon of my own and my mother had only assured me that they were real. That they were hiding among us, just out of sight. Yet, after she'd died of heart failure a few years ago, the only evidence of dragons that I'd found was that of dinosaurs.
The world shrank as you got older. Fact, reason, and cold, hard logic bit into you everywhere they could. You didn't just get a miracle because you hoped or prayed or did spell work for one. You got a miracle because the doctor who studied cardiology for a decade and a half managed to think of something that saved your mom.
Or he didn't.
I went home after our discovery, irritated by the irrational thoughts swimming in my head. Opals didn't come in sizes like that; the mineralization of the gemstones wouldn't permit it. Ultimately, it was too soft. And I'd seen something like those before.
But you don't tell your co-workers that you keep your mom's dragon egg decoration on your nightstand. I told anyone who asked that it was a dinosaur egg. I ran my hand over the smooth, red surface. From what I could tell, it was a thick as a duck's egg and relatively smash resistant. At least, it'd never gott
en hurt in all my travels or my mother's.
We'd rarely spent very long in one place, often jumping from city to city after Dad left and the egg I touched had been the one constant Mom had insisted on bringing with us.
I put it down, tried to relax, and ignored egg beside me. Though I could find no place for it to have been blown, I was pretty certain it was just a well-painted ostrich shell. Thousands of farms around the world did artwork like that and sold it to make ends meet.
Besides that, dragons didn't exist. I flipped through the channels on the television, most of them late-night talk shows that threatened to bore me to tears. I wasn't the type who enjoyed listening to celebrities spill their guts about past projects. There was already too much drama at the site I was at. Heck, that was part of the reason I was living away from the rest of them.
On Wings: A Reverse Harem Dragon Shifter Romance (Her Secret Menagerie Book 2) Page 3