by Jana Leigh
Trinity coming today added another piece top the puzzle. She smiled to herself when she thought of the shy woman downstairs. She was going to fit right in when she gathered her confidence. She could not wait to help her do that. A makeover and a day with the girls was in order. Once Casey had the babies and a few days to recover, they would plan for a spa day. Quin and the rest of the men had agreed the woman deserved a place of their own for special relaxing days. So they had a large spa built. No one had used it yet because the staff had just finished training. This was the perfect way to celebrate a new Chosen one coming into the fold. Cami made a note to herself to call the manager of the spa and ask them to be ready next week.
She wondered where her mates were. They said they would be up in a few minutes. It had been a lot longer. Maybe she should go and find them. They wanted to be here when new members of the Pack were born. It was important to them to welcome the babies formally, and they loved their friends as if they were family too.
“Hey guys.” She called to tell them she was leaving when she fell to the floor. A loud noise came from below them and the house shook so violently it caused her to lose balance.
She watched as the look of horror crossed each of her friend"s faces as they realized there had been an explosion. They heard the wood cracking and the floor shifting and there was nothing they could do. The last thought Cami had was of her children. She hoped the nannies and babies were far enough away to miss the impact.
***
Braden laughed when he looked at his computer. He had been listening the whole time as Quin and the rest of those assholes figured out what he had been up too. It was too bad really. That guy Thomas was too smart for his own good. Oh well, it happened.
Nothing could last forever; he still had a backup plan. Braden would not be stupid enough to think that he would not be found out sometime. He knew that his time of being a trusted member of the Old Council would come to an end. That is why he had made sure that he had a few wolves in place to take over the spying for him.
Quin and Jaden thought they were so smart, moving to Milliken, like that would really stop him. Hell, one of his men had been in place when Quin and Devon came to America. He knew every step they took. It had just been a matter of finding the wolf that needed the most. Bribery and blackmail went along way.
Looking back at the computer, he saw the first stroke the stupid wolf made to wipe out his program. And BOOM! He thought and then shut the lid on the computer and laughed loudly.
He did not care that people driving next to him on the road thought he looked like a crazy man. He was. Crazy and dangerous. Soon he would be back to Milliken, but this time it would be to take over.
Chapter 6
The chaos was instantaneous. Everyone who had been within ten miles of the Pack building felt the explosion. Members from the Pack began to arrive within minutes to help them battle the blaze and rescue the members of the New Council.
Ryan and his mate Ariel, the leaders of the Northern Cats, rushed out of the Bed and Breakfast where they had been staying. They knew that Blaze was inside. He had rushed in earlier and said that he found his mate and was going to find her. Ryan and Ariel had congratulated him and said that they would begin preparations for a celebration. Ariel had called the caterers in town and had everything organized in an hour. They speculated on who his mate was. Apparently, she was the one who arrived a short time ago in the black SUV that had driven by their front porch. Ryan and Ariel had been outside drinking coffee and felt that wave of power as they passed.
Ryan took control, began ordering people to get the hoses, and organized people to secure the compound while they were dealing with the disaster. He could not think about his best friend since childhood being in the rubble right now. If he did, Ryan knew he would run into the building no matter if was unstable.
When they rounded the side of the Pack house, he stopped and took in the scene. The entire center of the house had been leveled. Only the two wings had survived, and since he was unfamiliar with the layout, he had no idea where everyone could be.
Ryan grabbed a wolf as he ran by and ordered him to explain the exact lay out of the house. Thank goodness it was Sid"s younger brother, one of the ones who built it. He explained the basics and then called his brothers who were helping with the hoses. Soon there was at least a steady stream of water flowing to the blaze.
Ariel grabbed the women and began setting up a small triage center in the front driveway. They sent a few of the women for all the supplies they could find and then asked men to help them set up cots. Ariel kept one eye on her mate. She knew how deeply he felt for Blaze, she was a little afraid he was going to go into the building to find his friend. She was feeling the same way, but she like him, pushed the feeling away. Her cat was clawing to get out. Demanding that she find her Beta.
She looked around at the destruction and wanted to cry, but she had to hold herself together right now. Ryan and she were technically the highest ranking shifters in the area that had not been in the house. Shifters would look to them for leadership right now.
Ryan jogged over to her and said, “Okay, I think we have this figured out. On the back side there is room for us to start moving things out and trying to get to people.” Ariel nodded and looked at the still burning building. “Be safe, or I will kill you.”
“Always.” Ryan said and kissed her firmly and stepped back. “Get ready for the wounded.”
Ariel just nodded and turned back to get the people moving. If they were going to get survivors out, they were going to be needed.
***
Casey woke in excruciating pain. She screamed loudly, but she could not hear her own voice because of the loud sounds around her. She opened her eyes and was terrified.
Flames were all around them and she could see a long board across her legs. Where were her mates? Casey looked around and saw Sid"s hair first, she started calling for him but he did not move. Looking around some more she saw Darien. He was laying just a few feet from where Sid was.
“Darien, Darien please wake up!” She cried as another pain swept through her body.
She felt the need to push, but knew now was not the time to have the babies. She closed her eyes and silently prayed to the Gods to help her.
Suddenly she felt someone lift the board from her legs. Her eyes popped opened and she looked at her rescuer open mouthed. She knew she had to be dreaming, one, there was no such things as dragons, and two, THERE WAS NO SUCH THINGS AS
DRAGONS!
Standing before her stood evidence to the contrary. A huge, red scaled dragon had pulled the board from her legs and was bending down to lift her up. She grimaced in pain when he wedged his arms under her. Gods, she hurt all over, and she was hallucinating. Casey giggled a little and smiled up into the face of her rescuer. “Wow, when I dream, I have a great imagination.” She said and reached out to touch the thing"s face. It had a long snout, with horns lining to the top, right in between its eyes.
Wow, it had purple eyes. How pretty, she thought. Large eyes that looked at her with amusement. It had bushy black eyebrows and scales all over its face. On the top of his head, held a long red mane, that was braided down the back, between two very cute small ears. She wanted to laugh again but another pain hit her and she moaned.
The large beast carried her through the ruble and laid her on the ground behind the house. She looked up and the creature that stood at least a story high and smiled. It nodded and turned to go back inside.
“Wait!” She called. “My mates, friends, and children are inside.” She gasped out loud when the beast shifted quickly into a naked and gorgeous man, who had the same red hair and purple eyes as the beast. Wow, some girl was mighty lucky; she thought and looked at his body. It was all muscle and sculpted perfection, and he was very tall.
What the hell was she thinking? Casey wondered and looked as the man walked toward her and knelt next to her. She was in labor, having twins, she had no clue where her mates wer
e, no clue if her friends were alive. And she was looking at a naked man? Yep, definitely dreaming.
“How many? The children are safe. That is my job and why I got you out first. I am the keeper of the Chosen"s offspring. Where are the rest of the Chosen?” He said quickly.
Too much to process, Casey frowned. “Wow, you talk too? Uh, there are at least 30
people inside and 8 more Chosen.” She said and started coughing. The nice naked man nodded, stood, and walked away.
She heard people running toward her as the man shifted again and went back into the building. The cat leader knelt next to her and said, “Casey, is it? Are you okay, where is everyone else?” He said urgently.
“Oh, the dragon right there saved me. He is going to get everyone else. Don"t worry, he is strong and big. See?” Casey said and pointed to the dragon"s back.
Ryan turned, looked, and saw nothing. He looked at Sid"s brother and said, “Get her to my wife. She will know what to do.”
The young man nodded and picked her up. She giggled when she looked at her brother-in-law. “Did you know there were dragons?”
He looked down at her and frowned. “Don"t worry, Casey, we will take care of you, you must have a huge bump on your head from falling.”
Casey laughed again and then passed out when a wave of pain flowed over her.
***
Lagon laughed and shook his head. Boy, the chick was out if it. He smiled and went back into the building. He had already gotten the children to safety. They had been easy. When the Gods told him it was time for him to come and protect the Chosen"s offspring, he had not argued. For years, he had been waiting in his cave for word that his time had come. They created him for one reason only, or so he thought. He was the Keeper of the Chosen"s children. Only the Chosen and the children could see him in his dragon form. Humans and other sifters would never believe it if they saw him. The Gods said that it would take someone of his size to protect so many, and the human mind could only stretch so far. When they found out about shifters, it would be hard enough. Throw a dragon into the mix and there would be pandemonium.
He did not care. He had a mission to do. When he arrived just moments before the explosion, his nose had smelled the explosives, made the nannies go to sleep with a simple spell, and taken them and the babies back to his cave for safety. They would all sleep until he went back for them. And no one would dare go into his cave. It was at the top of Pikes Peak, a mountain not far from here. The Gods had given him this place a long time ago, telling him the Chosen would come here. And he should wait for the call.
It came this morning, and he had flown right off.
Over the years, Lagon had become aware of his abilities through visits from the Gods.
They explained things to him, to prepare him. He often shifted and went into Colorado Springs as a human, so when the time came, he would be ready. He also had the sexual prowess of any normal male. The Gods assured him he would have a mate, so he sought for her. Surly they would lead her to him.
Being the only dragon was a solitary life and he took solace in the arms of many beautiful women. Although none of them had been his mate, he had not refused what they readily offered. He knew that in human form he was quite appealing. All the women told him. The men too. Lagon found over the years that he was attracted to both men and women. Though there were times he liked the softness of a woman"s body, just as equally he liked being able to not worry about his strength hurting his partner.
He was not sure who the Gods had picked out for him. A man, a woman, he did not care. All he wanted was to find his mate. He had been alone for too long. Lagon found he had a romantic nature. He loved to take care of the people he had short relationships with. He would give them small gifts and pamper them, male or woman, all of them seemed to enjoy it. He looked forward to the day he would be able to pamper his mate.
He would make sure they wanted for nothing.
Pushing through the rubble, he found the man who lay closest to the woman he pulled out just moments ago. He was pinned also; hell, anyone in here would be pinned by something. He looked around and saw that some men were attempting to come in and help find people. He would have to be careful, although they could not see him, a floating board or two would raise some eyes. So he bent down, pulled the man from under the pile, and laid him in the direct path of one of the men who were getting close.
He heard him call to the others that he had found someone, good, that would bring more men here; Lagon could see a few more people lying in the debris.
He did the same thing for them as he did for the other man. He pulled them to a place that they would be in the path of the men coming to rescue them. Lagon was used to not taking credit for the things he did. When the Gods explained to him that he would be invisible, he wanted to see how it would work. Of course, over the years he found out that if humans could not explain something, they put it off to their mind playing tricks on them in high stress situation. The funniest had been when a car full of teenagers thought it would be a good idea to race down the curvy mountain road across from his cave.
He watched while they tried to make the hairpin turns with their inexperience, until one of the cars had begun to lose control. There were no barriers on the mountain road so if they had gone off the side they would have died. Lagon had flown quickly over and caught the out of control car as the front end had left the gravel. The kids inside had been terrified as well as the other car that pulled over to the side when they realized what had happened. Unfortunately, Lagon had not been able to push the car fast enough backward for no one to notice. The kids had been screaming and freaking out until they felt him lift the car backward. When they were safely on the side of the road, once again the teens had been shaken. But not enough to actually dismiss what they felt. The next day Lagon had gone and got a local paper whose headlines talked about the miracle on the mountain. He had laughed for days about the teen"s account of what had happened.
Of course, the Gods had chastised him. Then warned once again not to make his presence known until the time was right. Lagon lived in the cave for decades, with nothing to do but collect things and watch the humans. He had quite a collection of gold and jewels that he found over the years in the caves. Every once in a while, he would take a nugget in and get some cash, update his wardrobe and buy a few more of his trinkets that he loved. Yes, he was strange; he liked to collect pewter dragons. There was a man in Colorado who made beautiful pewter statues. His favorite had become the dragons. One of them resembled him in his dragon form. That was probably what drew him to them in the first place. He hoped the Chosen would give him enough space to bring his possessions. If they didn"t, he could always scare the shit out of them until they agreed. He knew once he revealed himself to them, they would be frightened at first.
Lagon walked through the fire and began to see more seriously injured shifters. He frowned, pulling them out and leaving them for the others to find may not be possible.
They looked like they could actually die if he did not get them out of here. He stood there for a moment and then finally decided he had no choice, their lives were in danger, and one of them could be one of Chosen.
Quickly Lagon pulled two men who were closest to him out. They had burns and broken bones. Obviously, they were in need of immediate care. Shifters could heal quickly but serious injuries took a lot longer to bounce back from. Lagon spread his wings and flew straight up. Hoping no one was watching. He landed on the far side of the house and looked around. No one was there so he laid the men down and went back. Once he had the people out, he would shift and call for help.
***
Ariel blew the hair out of her eyes as she looked around the triage center they had made.
The injuries varied from serious to critical. She was not sure what they were going to do since the town doctor laid a few feet away unconscious with broken legs. Until she shifted she was useless, and even then, it would take days for her to heal properly.
> Blaine and Lacy"s mothers had training and were helping although they were understandably upset when Lacy was pulled out of the rubble and Blaine remained missing.
Casey was delirious. She kept talking about a beautiful dragon that saved her, and giggled when she said he was well hung too. Sid and Devon had been rescued and were lying on cots on either side of her. At least they were conscious. Casey had fallen on the bed she had been laying on which had protected her somewhat. The beam that landed on her legs though had broken her thigh bone. She was given an epidural to help. That had been interesting when Lacy"s mother had claimed to know how to do it somewhat.
Casey had freaked out and refused to let the woman near her. That is until she moved her leg during a contraction. Thank the Gods Adele had been teasing her; she explained she learned how to give an epidural during her acupuncture training. No one had found that funny.
Sid and Devon both had various broken bones and head injuries so they were unable to actually help her. But they were awake and able to talk and encourage her. Hell, she was having a baby in the middle of a fucking parking lot on a cot. Ariel did not know how much the encouragement helped.
Jordan had been critically injured. Since she was the only human that was in the room at the time, she had been the one who had received the most care. She was currently at the clinic that Cloe had with the nurses and PA"s on staff. She was undergoing a litany of tests. Ariel knew a little about her rift with her parents, but she still called them. The wolves had been beside themselves with grief and had taken the first plane out to get here. She hoped they arrived soon.