by Reus, Katie
“We head home tomorrow. Come home with us,” his brother said, sadness in his voice.
“Not yet, but soon.” He heard the lie, but it didn’t matter. Rhys had a feeling he wasn’t walking out of this alive. That when he killed Catta, he would die too. And that was okay.
Cody let out a long sigh. “You can let it go. You can have a life. You’re putting yourself through this purgatory or whatever torture you’re determined to suffer through, but you don’t have to!”
He clenched his fist into a tight ball, forcing himself to breathe in and out. “I respect your life choices. Respect mine.”
“So respect your need for revenge? Respect the fact that this is going to kill you?”
“It’s my life. Hibernation did nothing to quell this driving need. I will find her and I will kill her.” End of story. He couldn’t function until she was gone from this plane.
“Where are you?”
“I’m on the East Coast. I actually am heading to New Orleans soon but I won’t make it before you guys leave.” A lie, since he could make it there in less than two hours. Sooner if he simply flew in dragon form.
“Do you need a place to stay? Lachlan’s mate has family here. They would be more than happy to give you shelter. In fact, I think you’ll actually like it here with them.”
His first instinct was to say no, but he actually could use a place to stay. And since he wanted to get the Alpha of the territory to okay letting him live there temporarily, it wouldn’t hurt if he already had a home lined up. And allies who could vouch for him. “Thank you, I appreciate it.”
“I’ll discuss it with them and make sure it’s okay, but I know it will be. You’ll need to talk to King first, but we can wait to leave if—”
“No. Lachlan’s been away from the clan for too long. He needs to go home.” His brother was linked to their homeland in a way Rhys wasn’t. For Lachlan, the land was part of his soul. Unfortunately Rhys was pretty sure he’d lost his soul long ago.
Cody shoved out a breath. “You’re right. I wish you could meet Star.”
“I never thought he would mate, not after what happened before.” Lachlan had been just as broken as Rhys had been, maybe even more so because he’d lost a female he loved in addition to their sister.
His brother was silent for a long moment.
Rhys glanced at his phone to make sure they were still connected. “What?”
Cody cleared his throat. “Nothing. I just miss you, that’s all. Once we make it back to Scotland, I’m telling Lachlan you’re awake. I can’t keep this from him any longer. Especially if I ask his mate’s family to take you in.”
He nodded even though his brother couldn’t see him, and scrubbed a hand over his face again. An old habit. “Thank you for keeping my secret for so long. I’m close to finding her. I can feel it in my bones. In my blood.” It was true. The farther he’d flown west, the more he’d felt a thrumming beat in his blood. Like something calling him, drawing him to it. He was so damn close to finding that evil monster. So close to ending this.
“I hope you find what you’re looking for. I hope you get some peace.”
It was an echo of what the half-demon had just said to him. But he shook off his brother’s words. Peace was an illusion for now. A far distant hope. “I’ll have peace when she’s gone.” Then he hung up, unable to say another word to his brother as his throat closed up with emotion. He’d avoided seeing his family since he’d woken from Hibernation because deep down he knew they were the only people who might be able to convince him to stop this descent into madness.
Chapter 2
“I can’t believe you’ve trained her to water your fields,” Hazel said as she approached Dallas.
Glancing over her shoulder at her neighbor and friend, Dallas smiled before turning back to watch her pet dragon Willow—who was roughly the size of a rhinoceros. Her big gray wings were just a little too big for her growing body so she swooped and wobbled when she flew. She was so dang cute, it made Dallas’s heart happy to watch her randomly spray water from her mouth all over one side of the garden. “I didn’t teach her to do this. She watched the sprinkler for days and then decided she could do a better job.”
Hazel’s pretty blue eyes widened. She was a shifter of some kind, though Dallas wasn’t sure what exactly. “Are you kidding me?”
“Nope. Willow has a mind of her own.” Which was why the big baby slept with her head through Dallas’s bedroom window most nights because she couldn’t stand to be separated.
Willow flew off again and then gathered water from the nearby pond before she wobbled back and sprayed it all over Dallas’s rows of tomatoes, cabbage, and peppers. Next her dragon would water the growing flowers and herbs.
“For the record, this is a weird conversation to be having,” Hazel said through laughter, her dark curls bouncing.
“Trust me, I know.” Roughly two months ago the world had basically imploded and now shifters were out to the world. Well, shifters and other supernatural creatures.
Dallas was a witch, and her kind had always been pariahs in the supernatural world, so she kept her distance from most supernaturals. Not all, however, because people like Hazel, who were part of their farmers co-op for all shifters, had not only been accepting of Dallas, they’d simply made her feel welcome. Like family. And they hadn’t made her feel like they were doing her a favor by being friends with her. More than all of that, they’d kept her not-so-little secret about Willow. When the world had been literally set on fire, dragon shifters had used real dragons—like Willow—to help destroy everything. Most people thought they were mindless, violent beasts. Maybe they were, but Willow wasn’t. And Dallas wasn’t letting anyone take her pet.
“So what’s going on? Everything okay on your farm?” Because it wasn’t like Hazel to stop by unannounced.
Hazel grew corn, beans and broccoli, among other things. She also had a bunch of chickens. In the area—which was about thirty minutes outside New Orleans proper—there were six farms with their lands all connected, and over four years they’d created their own co-op. They provided vegetables and other things like eggs, cheese, oils and soaps for local farmers markets. After The Fall, they’d gotten even more organized and were working with the Alpha of New Orleans on providing much needed locally grown food to the community.
“I heard from Naomi that a group of shifters stopped by her farm.”
Dallas straightened slightly. “And?”
“They’re from King’s pack. They’re just making the rounds and checking in with everyone. But I figure your farm is going to be last on their list and I know you’d want to hide Willow. So I hurried over here since you didn’t answer your phone. I called you like six times.”
She winced, even as her heart rate kicked up. “Sorry, I’m so bad about that.” She knew she needed to be better about keeping her phone on her because she lived out here alone. And she liked it that way. No one from her former coven to deal with. But she did have a lot of human friends, and to her surprise she found that they’d been more accepting of who she was than supernaturals for as long as she could remember.
Nothing else mattered right now, however. Because she needed to get Willow out of here. There was no telling what would happen if King or his people discovered that she had a pet dragon. Because Willow was not a shifter, she was just an adorable baby dragonling that Dallas had found two months ago and taken in. She’d found an egg that Willow had to have hatched from, but there had been no sign of her parents. It was as if she’d just appeared.
She was growing so quickly and had stolen her way into Dallas’s heart. She even tried to herd Dallas’s goats. It was ridiculous and adorable at the same time the way she mothered them. But dragons had helped destroy the world and Dallas knew more than most how cruel supernaturals could be to creatures they deemed to be a threat. How they could judge and act without thinking first. They would kill Willow without even giving her a chance. “I’ll get her out of here now.”
“Good. Grab your phone and call me once you’ve gotten her to safety. I suggest heading to Naomi’s, since they’ve already been there. It’s not like they’ll go back tonight.”
“I will.” Turning, she whistled and Willow angled toward her, hovering over her stretch of roses.
Sneezing, the little dragon expelled all the water she was carrying in a gigantic, wild arc, sending it spraying everywhere.
Next to her Hazel covered her mouth. “I kind of want to kidnap her. She’s too precious for words.”
Laughing, Dallas waved Willow over and her dragon immediately flew toward her, all happy and eager.
“Oh no. I think it’s too late,” Hazel murmured, glancing over her shoulder.
“What?” Dallas turned around and saw her house in the distance, and the rolling green fields of her land stretching out in all directions.
“They’re almost here,” Hazel whispered, fear lacing her words.
Iciness slid through her veins, freezing her in place for a moment. She couldn’t smell or see anything out of the ordinary. Dallas didn’t have the same supernatural senses that shifters did, but she trusted Hazel’s.
“Get out of here now,” Hazel snapped suddenly.
She nodded and turned toward Willow. But a huge dragon appeared out of nowhere, as if he’d dropped an invisible camouflage. He swooped down and headed directly for them. His indigo and violet wings glittered underneath the setting sun, creating a sparkling display that could be considered art.
Behind her, now on the ground, Willow made nervous snuffling sounds as she inched closer to Dallas.
Dallas reached back and petted her snout. “Stay calm,” she murmured. Whether the command was for Willow or herself, she wasn’t sure.
“If you have to, just fly her out of here,” Hazel said so quietly that Dallas almost didn’t hear her.
“I’m not leaving you.”
“These are King’s people. They won’t hurt me. But they might hurt sweet Willow. Get her out of here. I’m not worried about myself.”
Yeah, well, Dallas was worried. Heart racing, she stood nervously as the dragon landed about twenty-five yards away, shaking his wings out. Then three male wolves emerged from the woods, racing across one of her fields on nimble paws. She wasn’t even sure how she knew they were males but some intrinsic thing told her they were.
The dragon shifted to human, sparks of magic bursting into the air before the most beautiful male she had ever seen stood twenty yards in front of her. Dark hair, broad shoulders, bronzed skin, bright blue eyes she could see even from a distance.
Moments later the three wolves had shifted to human form and she’d been right. They were all males.
It was far too late to fly away now. She needed to be calm, to keep a level head and act like having a pet dragon was no big deal. If only she could get her heart to stop racing.
“Step away from the dragonling,” the big dragon called out, stalking toward them even as the wolves quickly pulled on clothes. Apparently he wasn’t going to bother with clothing.
“Who are you, and what are you doing on my land?” she snapped back, tension stretching inside her bowstring tight. King’s people might have a right to check in, but they should have called first. So much for staying calm. She could barely keep a lid on her fear as it bubbled out and over, spilling over her in waves. But the thought of losing Willow was too much. Because Hazel was right—they wouldn’t hurt her or Hazel, but Willow was a different story.
Before the male could answer, one of the wolves ran forward, his palms out in a placating gesture. “My name is Darius. I’m with King’s pack. We just came out here to talk to you about something. What’s going on with the dragon?”
She sniffed slightly. “Willow is my pet.”
They all stopped and stared at her, looking between each other in confusion before looking back at her.
“You can’t have a pet dragon,” the dragon shifter finally snarled. “They’re dangerous.”
She snorted. “Dragon shifters are dangerous, in case you haven’t been around the last couple months. And it’s a good thing I didn’t ask for your opinion—jackass.”
Behind her she heard Willow whining softly, clearly not liking the tension buzzing in the air. Dallas reached back again and patted her gently.
“Look, Ms. Kinley, I’m going to have to ask you to step away from the dragonling,” the wolf named Darius said quietly and calmly, as if he was completely reasonable.
“And I’m going to have to ask you to get the hell off my land. I have no problem providing food for the city, but that doesn’t give you the right to show up and steal my pet.”
“Ms. Kinley, that dragonling isn’t—”
“The dragonling has a name. It’s Willow.”
The wolf’s eyebrows raised slightly, and she was vaguely aware of the other two wolves slowly moving outward from their partners—as if they wanted to surround her, Hazel and Willow.
Oh, hell no. She wasn’t going to give them the chance.
Without waiting another second to let them dare try to hurt or take Willow, Dallas crouched down, shoving her fingers straight into the rich soil of her land. Then she softly chanted a spell before raising her hands above her head and tossing a ball of wild magic at the wolves and dragon.
She moved so quickly they didn’t have time to react.
Except for the dragon. He started forward, smoke coming out of his nose. “What the hell—”
Hundreds of lavender plants rained down from the sky onto their heads. Take that!
“Holy shit,” Hazel murmured as Dallas grabbed her hand and tugged her toward a softly whining Willow.
“Hold on tight,” she ordered as they both jumped on Willow’s back. Leaning forward, she held on to her dragonling and ordered, “Fly!”
Hazel let out a yelp as she grabbed onto Dallas’s waist from behind.
They rose into the sky in jerky, quick movements as Willow frantically flapped away. It was like riding on a broken tilt-a-whirl, but she was able to keep a solid grip on Willow’s neck, keeping her footing.
She glanced over her shoulder, knowing they wouldn’t be able to outrun the others forever. The big dragon hadn’t shifted yet because he was still fighting through all that lavender. She knew the male could follow them, but if he tried, she’d toss another spell at him.
For now, she was going to hide her dragon away and then come back and talk to them. She wasn’t exactly sure what King’s wolves would do to her but at this point she didn’t care. If they wanted to arrest her or whatever it was they did, then fine.
She wasn’t going to let them kill her pet.
She’d lost so much. She wasn’t losing Willow too.
Chapter 3
Rhys watched as the little dragonling flew awkwardly into the sky, the two females hanging on tight. As he batted away the ridiculous amount of lavender covering his face, he looked over at King’s wolves, who were doing the same.
“Damn it,” Darius said as he managed to swim out of the mountain of flowers.
“Could’ve been worse,” one of the other wolves said. “Could’ve been a swarm of bees. Now we just smell good.”
Darius’s jaw tightened. “She obviously wasn’t trying to hurt us. She’s just really protective of the dragon. How the hell does she actually have a dragon as a pet?” Even though it came out as a question, it was pretty clear the male wasn’t looking for an answer. Grumbling, Darius rubbed a hand over his face and grabbed his phone out of his pocket before calling King.
Rhys was quiet as he watched the little gray dragon fly over the treetops and disappear. He wanted to race after them, but unfortunately he followed King’s orders right now, and would as long as he lived in the Alpha’s territory.
Not that he was actually living here in the permanent sense. He’d been here almost two weeks and all he wanted to do was hunt down and destroy Catta. King didn’t actually know his purpose for being here, however. He just knew that Rhys
was here while he worked on “something.” And as payment for him being allowed to live here, he got to help out in any way King saw fit. Unfortunately that cut into his hunting time, but he knew he was supposed to be in New Orleans. Could feel it in his blood.
“King says to bring them in,” Darius finally said as he slid his cell phone away.
Rhys nodded because he’d figured as much. He’d just been waiting for the go-ahead.
Darius gave him a hard look. “You can track them?”
He made a scoffing sound. Of course he could.
“Good. Find them, get them to sit still and wait for us. Do not harm any of them.” A soft, deadly order.
Rhys narrowed his gaze. He didn’t need to be told that. Somehow he bit back a sharp response. “I don’t think they’re going to go far. It’s clear all the farmers here are pretty tight.”
“I thought of that too,” Darius said, pulling his cell phone out again. “I’m gonna call all the locals in the area and tell them to contact me if she stops by.”
“They might not listen to you.” The people who lived out here might be part of King’s territory, but almost all of them lived away from the city, away from hordes of people. Because they liked the solitude, and if he had to guess, they liked making their own rules.
Another long sigh. “I know.”
Rhys stalked away and let the change come over him, magic and pain bursting together in a bright display of light as he shifted to his animal form. That was why he hadn’t bothered with clothing before—it would have shredded when the change happened. Without pause, he took to the skies, his wings flapping hard as he flew after the little dragon and two females.
The one that had smelled like heaven and called him a jackass was a witch. He’d known that before they’d arrived and was ashamed that he’d been ready to dislike her upon arrival. Which made him feel…petty and small and worse than the jackass she’d called him.