Col rolled his shoulders and huffed out a hot breath that made Tor take a step away from the dragon. Angry didn’t begin to describe Col. These humans had dared to threaten him on his own property. They might’ve directly threatened Kann and Penny’s home, but it was equal to knocking on the dragon’s own door.
There would be nothing left but ash.
He followed Col, several steps behind and to the right. They walked silently through the forest without lights, their beasts allowing them to see almost as clearly as they would’ve during the day.
“They’re turning away from the community center.” Col crouched and scanned through the dark shadows and trees. “Kann and Saul are there,” he said, pointing off to the left. “Owen is that way, I can see him on the ridge.” He pointed to the right. “The men are walking carefully. Almost as if they too can see in the dark. Naomi would say her scales were standing on end.”
“Can we get closer to them?”
“I can taste chemicals in the air. Something is…off.” A half a second later Col was a dragon and his huge body and wings were wrapped around Tor.
The sound was deafening and the heat unimaginable. Col screamed in pain. The anguishing sound of his chief’s beast made Tor’s tiger tremble. The rush of adrenaline was the only thing that kept him conscious. His blood pounded in his head like a thousand hammers on a metal roof. The ringing in his ears made him want to rip out his hair. Something had hit hard and hot.
The big black wings around Tor trembled and then faded away, revealing Col back in his clothes, but covered in blood from head to foot. The dragon prince lay on the ground.
“Vraka!” Tor put a hand on Col’s shoulder where the blood was seeping from a huge wound.
Col gasped for breath. Air gurgling in his lungs as he struggled to get enough oxygen. His chest rumbled with the sounds of his beast. He’d saved Tor’s life. Both their lives. If that thing, that rocket had hit them without the cover of Col’s enormous dragon body, it’s would’ve blown them to bits.
“How did you know? How did you see it in time?”
Col snarled, his fangs descended and his eyes flashed with fire. “Tell Owen to kill them, now,” Col growled out, spitting blood from his mouth. “You run for the community center as fast as you can.” He coughed and spit again. “It was a trick. There are more than three of them in town now.”
“I can’t just leave you here,” Tor said, fumbling with his phone. He messaged Owen and looked toward the lights of town down the hill. They’d gone farther into the woods than he’d originally thought.
Col grabbed Tor’s shirt and yanked him almost nose to nose. “You get there and you make sure the females are safe. Now. Shift,” Col roared the last command and Tor’s tiger snarled, pushing free under the alpha magick Col had used.
Tor roared into the night sky and then bounded into the darkness. His paws barely touched the ground as he ran back to the community center. Back to Dawn and the others.
Roaring and screaming echoed behind him. Another explosion rocked the ground, but he didn’t stop. He couldn’t stop.
The humans had tricked them. He could only hope they hadn’t moved against the community center yet.
That he wasn’t too late.
17
Dawn
“There’s people outside both doors,” Harrison said, running into the kitchen where everyone was sitting around eating animal crackers.
Dawn put her bowl of snacks down.
“Dalmeck!” Ava and Ryder shouted at the same time.
Knox growled and muttered the same unfamiliar curse word.
Penny pulled a handgun from beneath her jean jacket and laid it on the stainless-steel counter next to her bowl of goldfish. “That means either the guys are in big trouble, or more of Hollister’s thugs arrived in Mystery and we missed them.” She yanked up her skirt and pulled another handgun from a holster she had on her thigh. Penny put that one next to the first and let out an irritating huff. “I should’ve brought extra. Katherine, do you have any guns here in the building?”
“There’s a rifle in the office,” Katherine said.
The door behind them rattled and everyone froze. “You ready to sell yet, pretty girl, or should I just take this building down with all of you and your friends inside it?”
Dawn couldn’t breathe. Air wouldn’t move into her lungs. Her hands shook. Her mouth was dry. Her heart beat so hard in her chest she thought it would punch a hole in her ribs.
“Dawn.”
“Dawn.”
Hands touched her and she bit back a scream.
“Hey, sweetie. It’s okay. I promise.” Naomi was standing in front of her, smiling. How could the little woman be so positive with people literally pounding down the door threatening to burn them alive.
“Katherine, is the bomb shelter still functional?” Harrison’s voice was low. They’re gonna be through those doors in a matter of seconds.
“Yes, this way,” she said, waving people to follow her.
Naomi grabbed Dawn’s wrist and pulled her along, amazingly spry for being so pregnant. “How are you moving so fast?”
“I’m very deceivingly muscular,” Naomi said, her tone still positive and happy.
“Do you think the guys are okay?”
The question made the small woman pause. She looked up at Dawn. “He’s hurt, but he’s alive.”
“Who? Col or Tor?”
“I can feel Col’s pain. But I can’t give up. He’ll be pissed if I die. Tor would feel the same way. It would be like ripping their heart from their chest with your bare hands. Do you want to do that to Tor?”
“What! Of course not. But—”
“Dawn. He’s your mate. He already loves you. It would kill him to lose you, even if you haven’t bonded yet. His tiger could easily go insane over the loss.”
“His tiger?”
Naomi’s eyes widened. “Fuck. He hasn’t had time to tell you yet, has he?”
“Naomi!” Penny shouted, “Get your pregnant ass in this hole!”
“Your pregnant ass isn’t in there yet!” Naomi shouted back, but she pulled Dawn along behind her, never once releasing the death grip she had on her wrist. They ran through the office door, passing Harrison where he was kneeling behind the door with his rifle.
A huge explosion rocked the building. Bits of sheetrock and dust rained down from the ceiling.
“Fuck!” Katherine shouted. “Knox, no!”
Dawn watched in curious horror as Knox’s body changed from a man into a huge white wolf. Then Ryder did the same, except he was black. He snarled at his mate and shoved her down through the metal hatch in the floor with is nose.
“Come on,” Naomi said, pulling Dawn toward what looked like a submarine hatch.
“Ya’ll get inside. Now,” Harrison shouted over the roar of another explosion. “All of you, wolves included! You won’t survive a hit by that damn rocket launcher they have.
Ava climbed down next and shouted for Ryder. The black wolf refused to move, staring straight at Dawn and Naomi.
“I’m not going in without you Dawn,” Naomi said.
“But, Col. You said he was hurt. Tor is with him.” Dawn looked at the giant wolves again. “You said his tiger would go crazy. They’re wolves. Does that mean that the tiger that saved my life that night…was it—”
“Yes, that boy is a tiger. Huge. Orange. Black stripes. Likes to lick things.”
Dawn sucked in a huge gulp of air. “You guys aren’t a cult, you’re not human…”
Harrison stood up from the door and stalked toward Dawn. “You are correct, and this is a shit ton to process while we’re getting blown up. I’m gonna need you to get in that bunker right this instant.
Shots rang out and Harrison jerked.
Naomi screamed, an angry scream that kickstarted everything inside Dawn again. She sucked in a breath. She and Naomi each grabbed one of Harrison’s arms and carried him to the hatch. Though Dawn felt as though the tiny pre
gnant Latin woman mostly took his weight without any effort. “Take him,” Naomi ordered, handing him down the hatch.
The wolves crowded around Dawn and Naomi, using their bodies to block against any bullets.
Another explosion blew a hole through a wall from the kitchen into the main gym. Dawn could see men pouring in from the kitchen. Men in black with machine guns in their hands.
Ava’s long arms appeared up the ladder and took Harrison all by herself.
It should have been impossible. But at this point, Dawn didn’t know what was or wasn’t impossible. Her whole reality had just been shifted.
Naomi went down the ladder first. “Down now,” she shouted back up the hatch at Dawn.
The white wolf shifted back into a man. “Catch!” He grabbed Dawn around the waist and dropped her down the hole.
“Shit,” Dawn shouted, grabbing for a handhold so she didn’t crush Naomi. But Ava was at the bottom of the ladder and caught her like she was a toddler instead of a full-grown woman.
The black wolf leapt down the hole and Knox crawled down, swinging the hatch closed over his head with a singular thunk. He twisted the wheel to lock it and then pulled a locking bar down over the wheel.
“You’re hurt,” Ava said, rushing to the black wolf’s side. The huge wolf nuzzled the woman and huffed a little. He sat down and stretched out on the ground with a loud umpfh.
“Katherine, are there any supplies down here?” Naomi asked, “Harrison’s took one in the shoulder.”
“Yes, hang on.” Katherine stole a quick kiss from the guy who had been a white wolf and then disappeared around the corner. She came back a few seconds later with a huge red bag. She ran to her dad’s side and knelt next to the cot where Naomi and Ava had placed Harrison.
Dawn just stood with her back against a cold metal wall and watched all these people take care of each other like it wasn’t any big deal at all that they were able to turn into giant wolves.
But were they all wolves? Naomi had said Tor was a tiger. And she’d seen a tiger that night in the parking lot. And a black wolf. She wasn’t crazy.
She took a step closer to the black wolf laying on the ground. His fur looked so soft. He was the size of a small horse. His shoulder fur was darker wet from where a bullet had hit him. Every so often his body shuddered.
This was the man she knew as Ryder. He’d taken a bullet to protect them.
“Thank you for saving me that night. And again, now,” Dawn said, kneeling next to his massive head. The wolf tipped his head and met her gaze with his golden eyes. He lifted his snout and put it in her hands. She stroked and scratched under his chin like she would’ve for a dog. He closed his eyes and the shuddering lessoned.
“What can I do?” Dawn said, the words jumping from her lips with urgency.
The other women looked up from where they were working around Harrison.
“Why isn’t anyone helping Ryder?”
“Harrison took two bullets. One to the shoulder and one to the gut. If we don’t get him patched up, he’ll die. He’s human.”
“Reyleans heal fast. Ryder’s in pain, but not in any danger. That’s why he stayed in his beast’s form. He’s stronger that way,” Ava said. “Just stay with him, please,” she added making eye contact with Dawn.
“Oh, okay.” Dawn nodded and looked back down at the black wolf. “Tor really is a tiger, isn’t he?” Dawn said, her voice soft and directed at the wolf even though she knew he couldn’t answer. “You said something that night about him licking me.” Dawn smiled remembering how freaked out she’d been when that tiger had its face in hers and then it’d licked her cheek. “He licked me like a freaking oversized-house-cat looking for a scratch behind the ears. It was you two who saved me.”
The wolf chuffed out a breath, almost like a laugh. His eyes stared straight at Dawn. The golden flecks swirled in his eyes making them look like pools of molten metal.
“This is all really crazy. You know that righ—” A loud explosion right above them made Dawn hunker down over Ryder’s head. Her whole body shook. Please let Tor be okay.
Instead of staying on the ground, Ryder climbed to his feet and nudged Dawn over next to where everyone was hurriedly working to remove the bullets from Harrison.
“They can’t get through, can they?” Ava asked, looking at Katherine. “How strong is that door?”
Katherine skillfully used forceps and pulled a bullet from her father’s side. “Got it. Pour in the wound-seal. Hang in there, dad. We’re almost done. And the door, I don’t know. This place was built to withstand bombs, so I would assume that their fucking rocket launchers won’t be able to get through.” She glanced toward the hatch and took a deep breath. “I’m not going to guarantee that they haven’t damaged the door so much that we won’t be able to get it open again.”
Naomi chuckled and shook her head. “When the time comes, don’t worry about that.”
“Right, forgot about dragon horsepower,” Katherine said. “Can you feel Col?”
Naomi nodded. “He’s in bad shape, but I can still feel him.”
A tear ran down Dawn’s cheek. “This is all my fault.”
Penny wrapped an arm around Dawn’s waist and pulled her close. “No, it’s not. These bastards want Mystery, not just you. You were just an easier target because you were new to town. Even if you’d never come to claim your grandfather’s place, they would’ve still done all this.”
The other women loudly agreed with Penny.
“Knox go into that back room and see if you can find my dad a blanket. He’s a little pale from the blood loss,” Katherine pointed to a door at the back of the bunker, Dawn hadn’t noticed before.
Knox left immediately.
“How big is this place?”
“Almost as big as the community center. They built it to house several hundred people.”
“Prepper town,” Dawn said, impressed.
“Oh, you have no idea.”
Another explosion above them shook the ground and they all paused for a moment, waiting.
“You’d think by now they would realize we are in a bomb shelter,” Tara said, speaking up for the first time.
Naomi sighed. “They’re pissed.”
“Did Col know this place was here,” Dawn asked.
“Nope,” Katherine answered. “I actually just showed it to Knox last week.”
“Wait, did you just make a crack about dragon horsepower? You’re not being serious, are you?”
“Actually,” Katherine said, “Naomi and Col are—”
“Ahhhh,” Naomi stood from her chair and leaned over. A heatwave rushed through the bunker like someone had just opened a four-hundred degree oven. “Umm, I’m just going to walk around a second.”
“Naomi?” Penny hurried to the shorter woman’s side.
“It was just a cramp. The doctor said I’d probably start getting Braxton hicks contractions.”
“Well, you need to breathe more cause that heat you generated a second ago felt pretty damn real,” Katherine said, taking the blanket from Knox and covering her dad.
“You know what, you try carrying three baby dragons in you and see how controlled your breathing is,” Naomi snarled, and another oven-worthy blast rolled through the bunker. “I’m sorry guys, it hurts a lot. I’m not trying to cook you.”
She rubbed her stomach and bent over at the waist breathing deeply and groaning. “I want Col,” she said, a slight sob in her voice.
Penny rubbed Naomi’s back and cooed to her that it would be okay.
Dawn made eye contact with Tara and then Katherine and then Knox. All of them nodded to her and then turned to watch Penny and Naomi. The clanging and explosions above had been completely forgotten.
Dragons? How was that a thing? Were they big dragons like movies showed? Or were they more alligator-sized lizards that just liked to be called dragons?
“I don’t want to have my babies in a fucking bunker without my mate!” Naomi screamed. “Col!
” Her voice went from high-pitched and angry to huge and otherworldly-sounding.
“Okay, you guys,” Penny said, her commanding voice snapping everyone’s spine straight. “Her water just broke, and we need to keep her as comfortable as possible, so we don’t get microwaved while she’s having these babies. Katherine, I need supplies and a bed to put her on.”
“Yep, yep, come on,” Katherine ran toward the doorway in the back where she’d sent Knox before.
Ryder shifted and groaned, rising slowly to his feet. His shoulder was bloody, but not bleeding. “Tell me what I can do,” he said.
Dawn stood frozen with her mouth hanging open. He just changed. Like woosh and he was a person again. The giant-monstrous-black-wolf was just gone.
“Hey, newbie, it’s magick, keep your ass moving we have a pregnant dragon-lady over here that needs our attention,” Penny shouted.
“Right! Sorry!” Dawn shouted, mentally snapping herself out of the shock. She followed the rest into the second room. Tara handed Dawn a stack of blankets and a pillow. Knox was carrying a cot. Katherine had another bag full of medical supplies. Ryder was carrying two 5-gallon jugs of water.
“Is she really a dragon?” Dawn asked, her voice barely a whisper to Ryder who was walking right next to her.
“Yes. A very large one. As is her mate, Col.” He set the water jugs down next to the cot Knox had placed on the opposite side of the room from where Harrison was resting.
Penny was helping Naomi lay down between panting and crying and cursing. “It’s too early! They aren’t done cooking yet,” Naomi said, her voice a high-pitched whine. She sucked in a loud breath of air and finally laid back against the stack of pillows Tara was holding in place for her.
“Hey, it’s going to be fine. You’re strong. The babies are strong. I can hear their heartbeats. Just listen to them, Naomi. You can do this,” Katherine said, keeping her voice steady and soft through Naomi’s bursts.
Dawn handed Tara the blankets next, but Katherine shook her head. She pulled a pair of scissors from the medical bag, pulled up Naomi’s skirt, flipping it to her waist, and made a quick cut through the woman’s panties and removed them.
All's Were That Ends Were: Soulmate Shifters World (Soulmate Shifters in Mystery, Alaska Book 6) Page 14