by Riley Storm
“This isn’t how I wanted it to happen,” he said as they reached the kitchen. “I wanted to tell you. To break it to you as gently as possible, once I felt we had reached a point where you trusted me and didn’t hate me.”
Liz sighed. “I don’t hate you, Valla. I never hated you. Not really. It’s just that…”
He looked down as she hesitated. Without thinking, he reached out and took her hand in his, engulfing the small dainty thing in his giant paw. Then he gave it a squeeze. It wasn’t much, just a little bit of reassurance that he was there.
But it seemed to help.
“I’m scared, Valla,” she said, the truth coming out at last.
“I know,” he said. “Me too.”
“You are?” she asked, surprised.
He nodded. “Of course. I’ve never been a father before. I want to give my child the best possible life, to raise him or her properly, and do a good job. I’m terrified of screwing that up,” he said, looking away, unable to stare at her as he confessed his feelings. “How could I not be? I don’t want to let them down, and I don’t want to let you down.”
“Then just be there, Valla. Just be there. For me. For the child. That’s the best thing you can do.”
“I will,” he said. “I pr—”
Liz shook her head. “Don’t,” she said quickly, cutting him off. “Don’t make a promise you can’t keep.”
He frowned. “I promise,” he continued, overriding her protest. “I promise that I will do whatever it takes to make this world a better place for our child. That I will always be there when they need me.”
Liz bit her lip, but she was stopped from saying more by a soft cough from behind them.
Valla turned to see Francis standing at a respectful distance down the hallway.
“Go inside,” he said to Liz, ushering her into the kitchen. “Eat whatever you want. I’ll be there in a moment.”
He watched her go for a second, then walked over to the Keep steward.
“You have something for me?” he rumbled.
Francis shook his head. “No, I just wanted to eavesdrop on your conversation. Very nice words.”
Valla growled and swiped at the smaller man, but Francis was ready for it and already dodging backward. For a human, he was very quick on his feet.
Probably needs to be, with a mouth like that.
“Spit it out, Francis,” he said, shaking his head, half laughing, half wanting to throttle the insouciant little man.
“They’ve been spotted.”
Valla stiffened, looking over his shoulder at the entrance to the kitchen. His hearing picked up the sound of dishes clinking together as Liz busied herself with getting food.
He was going to have to leave her.
Again.
Chapter 25
“Thanks so much for driving me,” she said, climbing into the back seat as Cheryl slipped into the passenger seat, joining Olivia who was already buckling up behind the steering wheel.
“Not a problem!” the cheerful little blonde replied. “Cheryl and I do this all the time. It’ll be so nice to have a third person to come with us sometimes now.”
Liz frowned. “I’m not planning on doing this on the regular,” she explained as the SUV backed out of the parking spot and headed toward the surface ramp at a leisurely pace.
The two women looked at one another, then back at Liz, and then they laughed.
When neither of them gave her an explanation, Liz frowned, first at Olivia, whom she’d just met, and then at Cheryl, who she considered one of her very close friends. “What’s so funny?”
“That’s always the way it goes, isn’t it?” Cheryl said, still lightly laughing to herself. “Was I any different, Liv?”
The driver shook her head. “Nope. Although I barely saw you at first. I was super busy getting everything up and going with all the new things Aaric wanted me to run for the family. I feel like we barely had a chance to get to know one another until after you moved in.”
“Yeah, but these past few months have been nice.”
Liz was staring at the two of them, feeling completely and utterly lost and left out. “What the hell are you two talking about?”
They exited the underground parking and began heading up the long, meandering driveway to the front gates of Drakon Keep, on their way back to Plymouth Falls.
Valla had come up to her while she was in the middle of a bowl of cereal she’d found in a cupboard and had explained that he needed to leave.
Right now? she’d asked him, receiving a curt nod of affirmation. Then he’d swiftly called Cheryl, asked if she could drive Liz back to town when she went later that morning, and then he’d bolted, without any explanation other than ‘dragon stuff’.
More secrets was what he’d meant. Things he wasn’t willing to tell her. She hated it.
Even now that she knew the biggest of them all, Liz couldn’t help the burgeoning resentment in her. All this time, she’d been carrying a shifter child within her. Nobody had told her. Not Valla. Not Liz. Both of whom knew!
“Do you think Valla knows yet?” Olivia asked, smiling as she glanced over at Cheryl.
“Yeah right. Men are oblivious—and the shifters, I swear, are actually worse than humans. It’s like they enjoy denying it, because they always expect it to be different.”
“Sounds like an expert opinion,” Cheryl laughed.
Liz sat back into her seat, not interested in playing the game of riddles. Either they could talk to her plainly, or she would just watch the scenery go by out the window. They weren’t in high school anymore, so she didn’t need to indulge them.
“Oh Liz,” Cheryl said, noticing the change in body language. “I’m sorry. We’re just enjoying the moment. It’s nice to welcome you.”
“Welcome me?” Liz said, shaking her head. “I don’t know what you mean. Welcome me to what?”
“Valla hasn’t told you much, has he?”
“No,” she replied, giving her friend and boss a glare. “Though more than either of you two have told me at least.”
“Touché,” Cheryl said but the smile didn’t fade. “What do you know about my relationship with Victor?”
“Not much,” she admitted after a moment. “You guys got really close, really fast. You seem like the perfect match. I…yeah. He seems like he treats you well.”
Cheryl was silent, thoughtful. “All of that is true. What did Valla tell you about dragons and love?”
“Um. Nothing?” she said. “Why would we talk about that? We’re not in love.”
The two women in the front seat again exchanged looks that said far more than Liz could interpret. What were they trying to say?
“Dragons are…unique. All shifters are, though I don’t know any of the others,” Olivia said, taking over. “I’ve seen it firsthand now from the inside and outside, so I can kind of speak a little better to it than Cheryl.”
Liz found herself leaning forward, wanting to hear every word Olivia had to say. She didn’t know the woman, but the impression she’d gotten so far was that the feisty real-estate agent was wicked smart. Any advice she could get from her would be helpful.
“Although Aaric—and Victor and Valla I suppose—look human, and mostly act human, they are part dragon shifter as well. There’s a…not an entity as it’s not really self-aware, according to Aaric at least, that lives inside them… but a part of them that is more animal, more dragon. It speaks to them in emotions and concepts and helps guide them.”
Liz snorted. “Is that what makes them want to fight all the time?”
“Yes,” Cheryl said, not laughing. “It’s how shifters solve their problems. Their animal side, their way of life, practically dictates the necessity of it. They have some different concepts of honor, more similar to ones we humans would consider outdated.”
“Yeah, I’ve gathered that,” Liz said, thinking back to Valla’s reason for missing the ultrasound appointment. “Rather barbaric, if you think about it, no?
”
She’d expected both women to side with her, but neither of them did, both remaining silent.
“You approve of it?” she asked, astonished that either of the two educated, intelligent women would find it acceptable.
“I’ll never tell Aaric that,” Olivia said. “But there’s something…manly, about his willingness to fight to exert dominance. It’s raw, primal.”
“Primitive,” Liz added, feeling an uncomfortable stirring inside her at the way Olivia was talking.
She recalled her first encounter with Valla. He’d been very…dominant. More so than she’d ever had before, and truthfully…it had been fun. Was it all related, then?
“Their world is a dangerous one,” Cheryl added, looking out the front window. “Far different than the one we thought we inhabited. So, you need to be aware that some of those instincts are what help them survive. When they face creatures that aren’t human, that don’t have human thought patterns, and that view violence as the best solution to get what they want, then you’ll be glad that your man knows how to fight and is good at it.”
It took Liz a moment to process all the information in that statement.
“My man?” was the first question she was able to get out. “Valla is not my man, as you put it. We barely know each other.”
“And?” Cheryl challenged.
“And I don’t trust him! I can’t trust him. He hid what he truly is from me, and he made a promise to me, and broke it,” she added, recalling the pain of that first appointment, and how she’d let hope slide into her, despite all the efforts not to. “I can’t put my child through that. I won’t.”
The words came out in the order she wanted, but there was something lacking in them. Something that she’d come to expect from herself yet couldn’t seem to find that morning.
Conviction.
Liz was wavering, she realized. Wavering in her continued desire not to let Valla in. To keep him on the outside.
“It’s difficult to accept,” Olivia said softly. “And scary. Very scary, to realize that you fit so well with someone, that they mesh so well with you, that it will never change. Never get worse, and that you get to be this happy for a very, very long time.”
“Happy?” Liz said, laughing. “What the hell are you two talking about? I’m not happy. I’m not miserable, I’m very excited to become a mother, something I wasn’t sure would ever happen. But happy? Not in the way you put it. Certainly not with Valla, if that’s what you mean.”
“He doesn’t recognize it yet,” Cheryl said. “And you’re still in shock about the pregnancy, dragons, etc., for you to recognize it as well. But a time will come where it clicks, and you’ll think back to this conversation, and then you’ll understand.”
“Understand what?” Liz cried, wanting to tear her hair out in frustration. “You’re doing nothing but talking in riddles.”
“Dragon shifters are part animal, in a way. As we told you,” Cheryl explained. “Some of their being is wrapped up in that. Including their love.”
“Love?”
“When a dragon finds the right partner, they mate with them,” Olivia said. “With that person, and only that person, for the rest of their life.”
“So, they marry them?” she supplied.
“No,” Olivia corrected. “It’s deeper than that. You feel it in your soul. There’s never any doubt. Never any fear that either of you will want out. It’s a perfect meshing, like a fairy tale romance come to life. It hits you, right here,” she said, tapping her chest. “You know. You just know that it’s meant to be.”
“Uh huh,” she said, beyond skeptical.
“It sounds crazy, I know,” Cheryl said, her lips curling up in a distant smile that only she could truly understand. Liz watched, seeing the happiness and certainty on her friend’s face.
Unlike Liz’ words, both Cheryl and Olivia were speaking with plenty of conviction. They believed what they were saying.
“You think Valla and I are…mated?” she asked, stumbling over the unfamiliar usage of the word, especially in relation to herself.
Cheryl laughed. “No. Not yet. But I do believe you’re mates. You just keep fighting one another. As soon as you start to accept it, then you’ll begin to see it, and to feel it, and then you’ll know.”
“Right. Well, I don’t want to be mated to Valla,” she said hotly. “Despite what you two may think. I’m not going to be joining your little car-ride group, I’m sorry. This was a one-time thing, me staying here. It won’t be happening again.”
She tried to project confidence into her tone but whether she succeeded or not, Liz didn’t know. Her mind was already leagues away, mulling over the words the two of them had said of what they had told her that day.
Everything was beyond confusing now, and she really just did not know where else to go. What to do.
Or who she could trust.
Everyone seemed to believe in the dragons, that they could do no wrong, that they were good people.
But Liz couldn’t. She couldn’t let herself do that, not with Valla. Her child was going to be raised with a loving and present family. One that didn’t just disappear on a whim to do ‘dragon stuff’.
Or without a reason at all, she thought, fighting back other memories. Painful ones.
Chapter 26
Valla crouched low on the top of the building as he spied his contact heading in his direction.
As a hunter, he’d done his best to learn from the masters of the trade in his first several decades. There was more to just being a hunter than following the tracks and scents of one’s enemy, however, and relying on those around him had been one of the first lessons Valla had ingrained upon him.
So now he pulled the hood of his jacket down low across his face and waited for the less-than-savory character to shuffle all the way to the end behind the dumpster. The homeless weren’t always reliable about getting in contact with him, but one thing Valla had learned, was that they saw more than anyone the goings on of the underworld, human or nonhuman.
People paid them no mind, ignored them. They were ‘less than’, in the minds of many, and as such could go unnoticed where many others couldn’t. When one of them did contact Valla, he could usually trust most of the information they provided.
Most.
Once his contact was good and near the end of the alley, the designated meeting spot, Valla stepped off the edge of the three-story roof and dropped to the ground, jacket flapping wildly about him. He landed in a crouch and stood, once more pulling the hood down low.
There was nothing he could do to hide his body size, but he could keep his face hidden, prevent people from identifying him specifically. The more anonymous he could remain, the better for Liz.
The homeless man spun with surprising quickness, revealing that his shuffle had been but an act. Valla wasn’t surprised. Some things had changed in the past century, but the ability of street beggars to play up a fake injury for pity wasn’t one of them.
“You have information,” he said, pulling his hood down low yet again as a gust of wind swept down the alley, stirring up debris and threatening to unmask him.
“I do. Do you have my payment?”
Valla sighed, reaching into a pocket and bringing out a roll of paper money. “Of course. I told you I would be generous, which included the advance I gave you that night.”
The beggar came closer, reaching for it, but Valla snatched it back at the last second. “I have already proven my willingness to pay. Now you give me the information,” he growled. “Fair trade.”
The scruffy, dirty man scowled at him, but the temptation proved too much. Valla could see the beady eyes watching the roll of bills as he twirled them between fingers casually. It was rather distasteful to so tease the man, but lives were at stake here. Valla would do what was necessary to get the information he needed.
“Two of my friends disappeared the past two nights,” he said. “Both were staying down near the docks. The old secti
on. Neither of them’s been seen since.”
Once more, the man went for the money. Valla didn’t pull it away this time, but instead kept his fingers pinched tight. While the beggar was busy trying to pull it away, he came close, looming over the tiny human.
“You had better be right on this,” he threatened ominously. “If what you say isn’t true…”
“It is! It is!” the man shouted. “I ain’t got no reason to lie to you.”
Valla could think of about three hundred reasons off the top of his head, but he sensed the man was telling him the truth. If he wasn’t…well then, Valla would take care of that later with a proper demonstration to scare him into line.
He let the money go and it disappeared into the filthy clothing with a speed that made even the dragon shifter blink.
The docks. That was his next target, the next place to search. It wasn’t close, but his long strides covered ground quickly through town, and before long, the sound of water moving reached his ears. Slow and sedate at this time of year, the river was nearing its freezing point, though it would be weeks yet before it became impassable to traffic.
He passed along through a warehouse section, ignoring the scent of the wolves as he passed by a building labeled Granted Holdings Company. Of course, House Canis would have a presence down here. He figured that Ursa did too, though he never picked up their scent as he moved toward the older, more run-down buildings.
Most of these were shuttered, remnants of the days a century or more ago, when Plymouth Falls was at the height of its growth, spurred by the combined efforts of all five shifter Houses. Now many of them lay abandoned, unused and boarded up. Others had collapsed into ruin, simply left where they stood while a newer section grew off to the east, farther upstream toward the coast by half a mile or so.
It didn’t take long for his delicate nose to pick up a scent on the breeze. Valla turned grim as memories of the times he’d smelled similar came flashing back.
None ever forgot the stink of a dead body.
To the best that any of the dragons had been able to figure out, the myth about vampires feeding on blood was just that. A myth. So, it wasn’t automatic that the corpse he was looking for would be one of their victims, but it seemed like a good bet. If humans were going missing, they were either being recruited to the ranks of the vampires or had paid the price for being somewhere they shouldn’t.