Dragon Hunted

by Haley Ryan

  Suddenly, I didn’t feel so great about being confined in a sealed metal tube.

  “Kira, we’re fine, I swear. If anyone attempts an attack on the plane, the radar will give us enough warning to shift.”

  I hoped so, but my nerves didn’t seem to believe Ryker’s reassurances. Maybe I would feel better after I’d had coffee. Unless…

  “I don’t suppose you have any tea?” I asked hopefully.

  My youngest brother grinned at me. “What are you offering in return?”

  I gaped at him. “You mean, you do?”

  He got up, disappeared for a moment into the galley at the back of the plane, and returned, with a cup of hot water and—oh, the fates must love me after all—two bags of English Breakfast tea.

  I stretched out both hands. “Gimme.”

  He held the teabags close to his chest, eyes twinkling. “What’s your offer?”

  “You’ll be my favorite brother forever and ever,” I promised solemnly. “Or at least until one of my other brothers buys me decent barbecue. I have literally zero problem accepting bribes.”

  He chuckled and handed it over. “Favorite brother status. I’m going to hold you to that.”

  I felt something tentative but warm unfurl in my chest at the sound of his laugh.

  And I was pretty sure that feeling was affection. I liked Declan, and I could honestly say that I liked Ryker, too. For the first time since meeting them, I could almost imagine that I belonged here, as a part of their family. Almost imagine that I had a right to call them my brothers and joke about which one was my favorite.

  Almost. But for now, maybe that was good enough.

  “How long do we have before we arrive?” I asked, as I dunked one of the teabags into the hot water and blissfully inhaled the steam.

  “Another hour and a half, give or take a few minutes.”

  “In that case, I have some questions.”

  Ryker leaned forward, set his elbows on the table, met my eyes, and nodded.

  “We’ll answer what we can,” he said seriously, “but you aren’t the only one with questions.”

  I gulped and tried not to feel nervous.

  Time for the interrogation.

  Five

  While my tea was brewing, I stepped into the tiny bathroom and changed into the clothes I’d stuffed into my backpack on the way out my bedroom window. Thankfully they were mostly clean—only-slightly-ripped jeans, my favorite sweater, and a pair of lace-up boots. Athletic shoes might have been a better choice, but none of them had been lying on the floor as I dashed through. Guess that would teach me to actually clean my room and put stuff away.

  It felt nice to be back in clothes that actually fit, though I was definitely mourning the fact that I hadn’t had a chance to grab any toiletries besides a hairbrush. The dragons would just have to deal with my stench until I had a chance to hit up a store.

  I did wash up a bit, and pulled my hair into a somewhat neat ponytail before rejoining my brothers around the table and taking a long, happy swallow of tea. It would be nice to have cream and sugar, but I would accept pretty much anything I could get in the way of caffeine.

  For the next hour, I did my best to explain how I’d ended up in Oklahoma City, completely ignorant of my heritage, without even the ability to shift until about four months ago. The truth was, I really didn’t remember most of my early years. We’d moved around a lot before we finally settled in Oklahoma when I was about eight years old. Up until then, I’d been homeschooled, but once we’d found a more permanent home, I’d ended up in a regular public school. After that, for the most part, I’d pretended to be human.

  Other Idrians knew I was a shapeshifter, but not what kind, and Aunt Morgan had generally discouraged me from spending time with them. We’d kept to ourselves except for my aunt’s friendship with Misty, the pixie who lived on the street behind us.

  I’d thought I had a fairly idyllic life—all the books I could read, all the tea I could drink, fabulous barbecue just down the street, and a goblin baker who made almost magical cupcakes at a coffee shop on the next block.

  But then my aunt disappeared, and I learned all kinds of uncomfortable things about myself—most important of which was that I’d been kept ignorant of pretty much everything I needed to know to survive in the world alone. I had no friends, no money, no safety net, no way to fight or provide for myself.

  Oh, and the bracelet Aunt Morgan had given me to “protect” me actually prevented me from shifting.

  All that had changed when Draven saved my life and pulled me into the real world kicking and screaming. I’d made friends, fallen through a gateway into Idria, shifted for the first time, defeated an army of shadow beasts, destroyed a castle, and contributed to the downfall of a traitorous fae prince.

  It wasn’t exactly the life my aunt had dreamed of for me.

  But neither was sitting next to my tall, gorgeous dragon brothers on a private plane on our way to the dragon enclave in Oregon. And so far, that wasn’t as bad as she’d led me to believe.

  “And that’s pretty much been my life,” I finished.

  “So have you always been able to shift only partway?” Ryker asked, referring to my ability to sprout scales and claws without relinquishing my human shape.

  “That’s happened off and on over the years,” I said with a sigh. “I didn’t even know it was weird until Dra… Until someone told me a few months ago. And before you ask, I have no idea why I can do it. Or why my dragon form is so tiny, or why I can still speak when I’m shifted. We thought it might be a side effect of the bracelet I wore—that by preventing me from shifting, it directed all of my magical energy inward with unpredictable results.”

  Declan nodded slowly. “That seems reasonable. But Kira…” He paused for a moment, his hands folded, as though trying to decide how to deliver unpleasant news. “We don’t want to mislead you. Finding you—bringing you home like this—is the best thing that’s ever happened to any of us. I think we’re all still just a little bit in disbelief that you’re alive.”

  His intense amber gaze told me this was no less than the truth, and, I won’t lie, it made me want to cry just a little.

  “It’s going to make a huge difference in our lives,” he continued, “and all of us will help you learn what you need to know to take the place that has always been yours.”

  He paused.

  “But?” I prompted.

  It was Ryker who answered—who probably had an easier time delivering the difficult truths.

  “But not everyone is going to be happy about it, especially when they figure out you aren’t exactly what they would have expected.”

  I recalled what they’d said about shapeshifters valuing size and strength, and realized there was probably a bit of a disconnect between my brothers’ understanding of why I was here, and mine.

  They thought I was here to be their dragon princess. In reality, I’d come here to keep my friends safe and figure out who I really was. But after what Declan said about being happy to have found me, I couldn’t bring myself to tell them I wasn’t all that excited about the whole princess gig.

  Don’t get me wrong, I like dressing up as much as the next girl, but I was pretty sure being a dragon princess wasn’t mostly about frilly dresses, balls, and tiaras.

  So I just shrugged and pretended I wasn’t worried. “I’m sure I’ll figure things out. Unless you’re trying to say that they’ll be unhappy enough to try to hurt me, in which case I will cheerfully hitchhike my way back home.”

  “They won’t hurt you,” Declan assured me. “But they may not be very welcoming once they realize who you are.”

  It wasn’t like my life to this point had been overrun with people who were glad to see me. Mostly the opposite. And no matter how unpleasant the dragons turned out to be, I was about to get a chance to ask questions that had plagued me for years. It would take a lot to drive me off before I got some answers.

  The most important of my questions ju
st sort of fell out of my mouth.

  “What can either of you tell me about Morghaine?”

  They exchanged unreadable glances.

  “She’s been a seneschal ever since the fall of Idria,” Ryker told me. “One of Mom’s closest friends and confidants, and one of our strongest warriors. When you were targeted shortly after you were born, I think it was second nature for Mom to entrust you to her.”

  “But…” This is where the facts got hazy for me. “What was supposed to happen? What was the plan? Aunt…” I had to stop calling her that, at least in front of other dragons. “Morghaine told me that she faked my death and took me into hiding because all of you…”

  It was a lot harder to say it out loud now that I’d met them. Now that we’d survived an attack together and I genuinely believed they cared about me.

  “…because you wanted me dead. But Lady Tairen seems to think that’s impossible. Can either of you think of a reason for Morghaine to lie to me? Why would she want me to be terrified of you?”

  Ryker appeared even more disturbed by that idea than I was. “I wish I knew. Something happened, probably about the time you were eight. Before then, she would check in occasionally, through anonymous channels, to let us know you were ok. We never knew where you were, just that you were alive, and everything was fine. But then one day, the messages just stopped. No matter how hard we looked, we couldn’t find any sign of you. Mom tried everything. Offered a reward that could have bought most of a small city. But it was like you’d vanished.”

  I thought about that, and while my memories of those years were pretty hazy, there had been a few other changes around the time I turned eight. It was the year we’d moved to Oklahoma. Aunt Morgan had stopped wearing her ring on her hand that year, and I’d assumed maybe it just stopped fitting. She’d lost a little weight, so she started wearing it around her neck.

  It was also the year she got me the bracelet—the one she claimed would protect me from magical attacks. But I’d figured that was because I’d started public school, and she’d wanted something that would keep me safe when she couldn’t be there.

  I’d discovered since then that the bracelet either never did what she claimed, or had burned out at some point—that it actually prevented me from shifting. But I never thought she’d tried to hurt me on purpose. I trusted that she had a good reason.

  “Maybe she got spooked?” I suggested. “Someone gave her bad information? Maybe another dragon came after us, and she didn’t know who to trust?”

  I was reaching, I knew. Even Faris had begun to suspect that Morghaine had betrayed us—that she’d been working with Llyr. But without being able to ask her, how was I supposed to believe that she could have done any of it out of malice?

  “Until we manage to find her, we just don’t know,” Declan said regretfully. “But I promise we won’t stop looking.”

  I had so many more questions, but sadly, that was the moment our pilot’s voice came over the sound system demanding that we buckle up because we were approaching our destination.

  I grumbled under my breath, but tried to convince myself there would be plenty of time. For now, I might as well enjoy the experience of flying in an airplane, because it wasn’t an opportunity I was likely to have again any time soon.

  I watched out the window as we dropped through the clouds into a landscape that was very different from what I was accustomed to.

  Pine trees were everywhere, surrounding wide clearings where cattle dotted the grass. Mountains—almost completely covered in snow—were visible directly below and to the left of us, while a broad, lazy river curved through the meadows, and woodsmoke curled up from houses half-hidden beneath the trees.

  Even in the gray light of morning under a mostly overcast sky, it was breath-taking.

  “You live here?” I burst out. “All the time?”

  Ryker chuckled. “We do. At least, some of us do. This was originally an Army facility before some local developers decided to turn it into a vacation and retirement community called Sunriver. But when the dragons first arrived from Idria, looking for a place to build their enclave, this area appealed to them. It’s somewhat isolated, has plenty of sun in the summer, and most importantly, there’s an active volcano nearby.”

  “An active volcano?” I probably sounded less than thrilled.

  “It hasn’t erupted in over a thousand years, and we have a solid warning system in place,” Declan told me, obviously trying not to betray his amusement. “But dragons can feel the geothermal activity, and it feeds our natural magic reserves.”

  “So what, you just bought the whole place?” I asked, intending it to be a little sarcastic, but both my brothers nodded.

  “There are about a thousand year-round residents, most of them dragons, but not all. We have everything we need here, so many of us never even need to leave the property unless we choose to. Those who do choose to live elsewhere keep a house on dragon lands so they’ll have a place to stay if war ever develops, or when Mom calls a convocation.”

  “Plus,” Ryker added, “we have an agreement with the local governments that permits us free use of certain parts of the airspace over these mountains, so there’s no need to worry about conflicts with commercial aircraft.”

  “So you can fly whenever you want to?” I couldn’t help sounding a little breathless.

  “As long as you know the boundaries, yes,” Declan said, grinning a little in response to my enthusiasm.

  The plane landed with only a tiny jolt, and after we taxied to the hangar, I followed Declan down the stairs into a chilly March morning.

  Callum was waiting for us on the ground. He looked me over a bit sharply before turning to Ryker. “Uneventful?”

  “Once we were in the air. Any new leads?”

  Callum grimaced. “If only.”

  “Mom?”

  “Mostly just some persistent dizziness and soreness from a dislocated shoulder.”

  Ouch.

  “But she wanted me to bring Kira as soon as you arrived. Says we need to discuss how and when to announce her to everyone.”

  I raised my hand.

  Callum raised an eyebrow, so I batted my lashes at my way-too-serious oldest brother. “Shower first? Maybe a toothbrush? These neanderthals made me jump out a window without giving me a chance to pack.”

  Ryker actually elbowed me in the ribs. It shocked me for a moment before I caught the twinkle in his eye and realized what he was doing.

  He was teasing me.

  So I elbowed him back, harder.

  “I’m going to get you for that,” he muttered out of the side of his mouth.

  “Just remember that now I know where you live,” I muttered back, fighting to keep from grinning.

  “Are you threatening me?” The corner of his mouth was twitching.

  “Just consider it a friendly warning. When I’m outweighed, outnumbered, and outgunned, I don’t see any reason to fight fair.”

  “Sisters never do.”

  “This is all very touching,” Callum said dryly, “but we really do have to get moving. I apologize, Kira, for my brothers’ insufficiencies, but the shower will have to wait.”

  Ahah. He did have a sense of humor.

  “In addition to discussing your immediate future here, the queen is currently in a meeting with an emissary from the Fae Court. She said their business concerns you.”

  And just that fast, I lost all desire to laugh.

  The summons. Had King Dathair already gotten impatient enough to complain to Lady Tairen? Or had my rudeness to his messenger caused a political incident?

  “Did she say what it was about?” I asked, trying not to betray my sudden attack of nerves.

  Callum regarded me with what I would have sworn was a close relative of compassion. “I believe the emissary mentioned he was here regarding news about Morghaine,” he said.

  My heart began to thud painfully. “Has he seen her? Is she all right?”

  “I believe that�
��s something we should discuss more privately,” Callum warned me, and all of my sudden hopes deflated.

  When someone wanted to discuss things privately, it was never good news.

  The four of us piled into a nearly new SUV and drove around the meadow where the airstrip was located to a large stone-and-timber structure on the edge of the trees.

  “The Great Hall,” Callum said, as we parked and made our way to the front doors. “Used to be an Army officers’ club, but we’ve expanded and updated it to suit our needs.”

  The building was huge and rough-hewn, but solid, and seemed oddly well-suited to the purpose of a dragon’s royal court. I followed my brothers through the doors into an elegant and comfortable foyer, where a fountain splashed cheerfully, and a half dozen or so shapeshifters lingered as though waiting for something.

  All of them eyed me sharply as we passed, but merely nodded at Callum, as though none had the right to challenge him.

  We walked down a wide hallway to a set of double doors adorned with a golden seal, half on each door. It featured, predictably, a dragon, with three mountains behind it, a pair of towers, and a bunch of other elements I didn’t have time to identify because the doors opened, and I was too busy staring at what lay beyond them.

  I don’t know why, but I’d sort of expected Lady Tairen to rule over her court from a medieval-style throne room, complete with a giant chair made out of the bones of her enemies.

  What I got was a modern-looking conference room, with a long table in the center and a circle of elegant leather couches in the far corner.

  Lady Tairen was seated on the couch on one side of the circle, wearing a cowl-neck sweater and a forbidding expression. She faced a single man whose back was to us, but from his posture, he didn’t seem the least bit intimidated.

  Then he stood and turned to face us, and everything I’d been thinking sputtered to a halt as I was overwhelmed by a choking surge of shock and betrayal.

  The fae emissary was Draven.

  And he didn’t look even remotely happy to see me.

  Six