by Kayla Wolf
But those thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a deep sigh—and he looked down at Jessica to see her already fast asleep, her head cushioned on his shoulder, one of her arms curled around his chest. He smiled, reminded of the first time he’d seen her, her dark hair covering her beautiful face, and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. The exhaustion and exertion of the day suddenly crashed into him like a tidal wave, and it wasn’t long before oblivion claimed him too.
Chapter 13 – Jessica
She woke slowly, the soft light of sunlight prickling at her closed eyes. As she blurrily opened them, she was momentarily met by a wave of confusion, which was assuaged only a little bit by how absolutely warm and comfortable she felt. The view she was looking at was completely and utterly unfamiliar. Smooth stone walls, shelves full of unfamiliar books—and beyond them, a window that looked out onto an unfamiliar—though admittedly very beautiful—view of sky and tree line. She stirred a little, then felt her movements arrested by something warm and heavy that was curled around her shoulders.
The memory came back to her in a rush. Samuel. He’d come for her—broken her free out of her room, staged a rescue as daring as anything she and Angela had ever watched on their little television at home and flown her through the night sky. It had been unbelievable—terrifying, on some level, but she knew who she was with and was able, eventually, to even enjoy the flight a little. Exhilarating, to be up so high and moving so fast, the wind whipping past her. It felt a little like the way she felt when she ran her fastest. Completely free, and full of an overwhelming feeling of joy that was hard to describe.
Seeing a dragon in the flesh… that had been confronting. But Samuel was somehow less terrifying than the memory of the dragon in the battle that her father had shared with her. He had sharp teeth and talons, true—a frightening assortment of weapons for a creature that was already imposing by its sheer size. But what her father’s memory hadn’t shared with her was the dragon’s eyes. The creature that her ancestors had been fighting was all tooth and claw, rage and blood. Even thinking of the memory now, she couldn’t see the enemy’s eyes clearly. But Samuel’s eyes were—beautiful. That golden color of sunlight, sparkling and iridescent—and so full of intelligence, and feeling.
He truly cared about her. Everything she’d ever learned from her family screamed at her to doubt that—that he was a dragon and they could never be trusted. But her family was wrong. Her pack was wrong. Every Elder, every Alpha, even her own father—they were wrong, deeply wrong. She looked across at the little wooden wolf, admiring the artistry and intricacy of its creation again. Someone had carved that creature with love, with care, with dedication. Someone who cared about wolves—someone who admired them, someone who loved them. How many wolves and dragons had tried to forge friendships, but had those hopes destroyed by war? How much bloodshed and terror could have been avoided if people just… talked to one another?
Jessica sat up in bed, felt Samuel stirring beside her even as he groaned in protest. She was full of conviction. They had to go back to her village—get Angela free of that poisonous place as soon as they could. And they had to talk to the dragon leadership. She didn’t know how she was going to do it, but she’d convince them not to go to war with the wolves. They could still talk this out—they could find a solution where nobody got hurt. But they had to move fast.
She was dressed and ready by the time Samuel had dragged himself out of bed. He’d pulled his shirt off the night before, and though Jessica was impatient to get going, she couldn’t help admiring the view. God, he looked like he was chiseled out of stone, or something—his olive skin seemed to glow bronze even in the weak dawn light, and the way his mane of curly black hair fell in disarray across his face… he was exquisite. She shook herself a little. First things first—save her sister, prevent a war. Then and only then could she allow herself to think more inappropriate thoughts about the gorgeous man she’d spent the night with.
A pang of regret, though, that she’d fallen asleep so quickly the night before—she wished they could have spent a little bit more… well, active time together…
“Did you sleep okay?” he asked as he dressed, his golden eyes flicking over to her.
“I slept better than I’ve slept in years,” she said honestly, and the smile that spread across his face filled her with joy.
“Good. Today will be hard. Are you ready for it?”
“Yeah. Well, Angela’s more than likely at my house,” Jessica said, thinking through the likely course of action taken by the wolves. “Depending on whether they believe I was actually abducted by a dragon or not, there might be some guards there. We might—” She hesitated. “I don’t want us to have to fight, but—”
“It might be inevitable,” Samuel said, and there was suddenly steel in his eyes. “It’s okay. I can handle myself. It’s been a long time, but … some things you don’t forget.”
She hesitated, curious despite herself. Dragons had extremely long lives, she knew that much. How old was Samuel? Had he fought in the war, the war her pack had remembered and resented through the generations? Did he know the dragon in her memory, the dragon whose horn had been torn off and kept as a trophy? He seemed so gentle, so quiet—but there was a lot of power hidden just under the surface.
“We’ll go to your house,” Samuel continued said, firmly pulling Jessica out of her reflections. “We’ll grab Angela. If there are guards, we’ll deal with them.”
“Can you fly with two people in your claws?” Jessica asked.
“Yes. Not very fast, but I’ll make it.”
“Wolves can’t fly. Once we’re airborne, we’re safe.” She paused. “But once we’re back here… Samuel, have you spoken to your brother yet?”
“No,” he admitted. “And I don’t want to. Not before we go back for Angela. He’ll be angry that I didn’t talk to him, but I’d rather have him angry with me for not asking permission than angry with me for disobeying a direct order not to go—which is absolutely what he’ll say if I talk to him now. He’s barely been King for a year. There’s no way he’d give us his blessing for this. He’d be cast out.”
“But—if you do this, isn’t there a chance you’ll be cast out instead? This is basically an act of war, Samuel. If you know for a fact he wouldn’t allow it, how do you know he’ll forgive you?”
“I don’t know. And I don’t care.”
“Samuel—you can’t risk your whole life here for me.”
“Jessica—” He took her hand, looked hard into her eyes. “Listen. I’ve been alive for a long time. So I want you to know what it means when I say meeting you is the most important thing that’s ever happened to me. I know this is dangerous—I know what’s at stake. But you’re what I care about. Not my home, not my King, not any of this. And I know that’s a lot to put on you. If after this you want to take your sister and start a new life somewhere else—”
She took a deep breath, her heart pounding. “I do. I do feel the same way.”
His eyes almost glowed as he took her into his arms and kissed her. She felt herself respond, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her, feeling her heartbeat accelerate—and then he was breaking away, clearing his throat, giving her a slightly sheepish look.
“We—uh—we better not get distracted. First things first.”
They moved quickly through the corridors, hand in hand, and this time Jessica was able to watch Samuel’s transformation first hand. It was oddly beautiful, watching the iridescent scales spread across his body as his limbs swelled and his neck extended into the sinuous, draconic shape she remembered from the night before. The shift was complete, and he lowered his head, his golden eyes gleaming.
My brother and his wife discovered this trick.
She looked at the place his serpentine neck joined his body—and saw that there, above the base of his wings but below the spikes on his neck, there was a roughly human-shaped place.
“Are you sure? I don’t want t
o—ride you like a horse or something.”
He snorted, his eyes gleaming with what she recognized as mirth. They were strangely expressive, these draconic faces—or was that the telepathic touch, so similar to her pack’s way of communication and yet oddly more subtle, more distinct?
Let me be your steed, my liege.
“Don’t make it weird,” she laughed, but she climbed gingerly onto his neck, worried about hurting him. She had to admit, though, it was a comfortable enough place to sit—there were even ridges to grip onto as he readied himself and sprang into the air. The ground fell away below them as he winged his way into the sky, and she fixed her eyes on the horizon, ready for the inevitable confrontation that awaited them. It wasn’t long before Fallhurst came into view below them. There was no talk of stealth this time—the village would be on high alert, and any sign of a stranger would be a cause for all-out war. So the plan was simple—fly straight to Jessica’s house (her old house, she supposed—it didn’t feel like somewhere she lived any more), grab Angela and go.
Sure enough, there were still guards stationed around the house. They stared up into the sky as Samuel descended, their faces almost comically shocked. Jessica vaulted from Samuel’s neck just before he landed, hitting the ground hard and launching herself at one of the men before he could recover from the shock of seeing a dragon in the flesh for the first time. Her assault knocked him into the brick wall of the house, and he slid down it, out for the count. Samuel whipped his great head around and knocked the other one against a tree—Jessica watched to ensure he’d been knocked out, spotting the tell-tale creep of fur across his face. He’d been trying to shift. Good thing they’d moved so quickly—a wolf was a lot easier to take out in its human form.
Hurry, Samuel said in her mind, his eyes on the garden gate. We’ll have been spotted—more will be on their way.
She tore into the house as fast as she could. There seemed to be nobody home, and she felt a stab of fear that Angela wasn’t there either. Perhaps her father and mother had taken her somewhere to keep her safe from marauding dragons… she took the stairs two at a time, headed for the little room she’d used to share with her sisters and finding, to her shock, that it, too, had been fitted with a new set of locks. She pounded her fists on the door, unable to open it—then gasped when she heard her sister’s voice.
“Go away!”
“Angela! Angela, it’s me, it’s Jess—”
“Jess!” She sounded shocked. “What are you doing here! They told me you got eaten by a dragon—”
“No! Ange—it’s so much more complicated than you think—listen, they were wrong. Dragons aren’t evil—they’re just people, like us.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Angela sounded offended. “Did you seriously believe all that crap from the Elders? It’s propaganda, Jess. God, read a book.”
Jessica laughed, dizzy with relief to hear her sister’s voice, to know she was okay. “I’ve come to get you out of here.”
“About time! I can’t believe you didn’t take me with you when you left the first time.”
“Can you get out of the room?”
“Nope. Window’s barred, too. They’ve had me locked in here since you ran away. Thought I’d go after you. They thought right, too. Mom let slip she keeps the key in their bedside table. Hurry!”
Jessica dashed through the house to their parents’ bedroom. She’d never been allowed into this room, and she felt a pang of strange guilt as she burst through the door and hurried to rummage through the drawers in the matching set of bedside tables. Sure enough, there was a metal key, the same color as the locks on her sister’s door. And a little scrap of paper underneath it, as though by accident, with her mother’s careful, looping script on it.
My dear girls. Be happy. Give Rhys my love if you find him. Love always, your mother.
She hesitated, a strange feeling in her chest. She’d resented her mother for so long—to know that she’d risked everything to help them escape like this was so strange. But there was no time to waste. She stuffed the note into her pocket, seized the key, and returned to her sister.
Angela’s eyes were red from crying, but she was dressed and ready—she even had a backpack slung over her shoulder.
“What? I knew you’d come back for me.”
Jessica hugged her hard, laughing at the way Angela groaned—then grabbed her by the hand and tugged her towards the staircase.
“What’s the plan? Shift and run?”
“Better. I’ve got a lift.”
Angela stopped dead on the doorstep. There was Samuel in all his glory, hunkered low in the yard with his tail curled around his legs and his eyes glowing golden in the mid-morning sun. He looked at Angela, who was frozen solid—then winked one luminescent eye.
Jessica’s sister let out a shaky laugh.
“Cool. Wow. Cool.”
“This is Samuel,” Jessica explained, tugging her sister towards the dragon. “Proper introductions later? We have to go…”
“I don’t think so.”
Jessica froze solid at the sound of that horribly familiar voice. There stood Thomas, in his human form, on the street outside the house. Behind him stood a dozen wolves—pack Elders, Jessica recognized them, all on high alert. None of them seemed surprised to see the dragon, though some of them looked a little nervous. Samuel’s head swiveled to look at the Alpha, his golden eyes narrowing.
“You’ve violated a half-century of peace by being here,” Thomas said to the dragon, and Jessica could see the hatred in his cold eyes. “Was she worth it?”
Samuel roared—a frightening sound—and Thomas flinched back, clenching his fists.
“These women are part of my pack. They belong to me. You won’t take them.”
“Just let us go, Thomas,” Angela said, stepping forward bravely though Jessica could see the way her whole body was shaking. Thomas turned to her, his eyes narrowed.
“I see your sister’s treason is contagious. Stay where you are,” he added, his voice layered with the powerful force of suggestion all Alphas were capable of—and to Jessica’s horror, she felt it extend to her as well, her muscles freezing up and her mind going sluggish. No—she had to fight it, had to help Samuel—because now Thomas was changing shape, his body growing and changing, fur spreading across him as he took his true form.
“No,” Angela whispered, and Jessica could see her straining to overcome the Alpha’s orders. The wolves were moving towards Samuel, who had stepped out into the street to meet them, a low rumbling growl vibrating his enormous body. It was just like her memory—the memory that had been passed down to her, the dragon surrounded by wolves in the streets of Fallhurst. She groaned, fighting her own muscles, trying to break through the Alpha’s spell—
As one, as they’d been trained, the wolf pack attacked Samuel. Angela screamed as one wolf leapt for Samuel’s head—but he was faster than seemed possible, his foreleg whipping around to knock the wolf away. It yelped as it hit the ground and climbed back to its feet with difficulty—but there were more coming, leaping at Samuel’s head and neck, circling around behind him to confuse him. That had been a weakness they’d been drilled in—dragons could only see in one direction at once, and could easily be flanked. Jessica felt fur begin to spread across her body—she might not have been able to move, but she could shift. Angela saw what she was doing and followed suit, her own white fur gleaming in the morning sun.
She heard Samuel bellow as a wolf’s strike hit home—and to her horror, when she looked up, fresh blood was running down his side. He snarled, beating his wings, lifting off the ground a little—but the wolves were still leaping, biting at his exposed belly now. It seemed like every wolf he knocked away was replaced by two more, leaping and darting at him, and Jessica saw how her people had held their own in the war against these creatures. She narrowed her eyes, fully shifted now but still held helpless on the steps of her family home. Useless. Powerless.
Samuel—she reached
out helplessly, and felt the touch of his mind, angry and in pain. And then, just like in training with her packmates, she felt his mind merge with hers and felt him look through her eyes. The jolt of surprise was palpable.
What—I can see what you see!
You can’t do this with other dragons?
No!
As she watched, he lashed out with his tail, striking away a wolf that had been creeping up on his blind side. Exultation filled her as he began to turn the table on the wolves, using her view of the scene to fight better and keep his guard up against their attacks. Before too long, the pack was reduced to a handful, stalking warily outside of his range and snarling. The others had retreated to lick their wounds. The Alpha stood, the fury almost visible in his body language, staring up at Samuel—and to Jessica’s delight, she felt the control he had over her beginning to slip as he lost his composure.
Fully shifted now, she crept closer, Angela at her side, not wanting to alert him to her presence too soon. But he was consumed with his anger at Samuel—she heard him snarl, his mental presence fraying with the strength of his fury. The other wolves kept diving and snapping at Samuel despite their injuries—Thomas was driving them on, forcing them to keep fighting through the pain. He wouldn’t stop until Samuel was dead, she knew that in her bones. And she knew the only way to stop him. The other wolves had somehow managed to pin Samuel down—she felt panic flare in here chest as she looked at him, his wings pinned to the pavement by two wolves, one other holding his head flat to the ground. His throat was exposed, and Thomas was advancing on him, his teeth bared. She knew, in the instinctive, ancient way she had, that he was inches from tearing the dragon’s throat out—and she knew that she wasn’t going to get another chance like this. Gathering herself, she summoned every fragment of her fury, her resentment and her hatred for Thomas and what he had done to her and her sister. Distracted by the slaughter he was about to commit, Thomas’s control over Jessica’s mind and body slipped just enough to let her move—and she launched herself through the air, striking her Alpha in the side and clamping her jaws around his throat.