In the clearing, circled around a small fire were over a dozen vampires along with seven cloaked figures. Humans by their scent, their hearts beat seven different staccato rhythms. The glow from the fire was an unnatural orange, indicating it was fueled by magic and not flint and tinder. The low-toned words of a foreign dialect rose from the cloaked figures, and the vampires created a protective circle around them.
Drago didn’t want to wait. His need to destroy rode high. It took the last of my energy to keep him contained while we watched and waited. Patience was something I learned years ago during my years as a mercenary.
Silence rang around me once the chanting stopped. I crouched lower, waiting for their next move. Black hoods fell in unison, revealing seven men. By their looks, the age range of these men spanned a good thirty years. The oldest, most distinguished looking spoke first.
“We may speak freely now; the spell has been cast.”
“Not much of a warlock, can’t even cloak their meeting from a dragon.” Drago scoffed
“Shh.”
The speaker’s hair was peppered with gray. The wrinkles around his eyes indicated he smiled often, but the glint in them said he was a shrewd man who missed nothing. His irises were black as night and constantly scanned their surroundings. His face was the only one I could see well, but each man’s scent wafted to me, and I filed them away. I may not have recognized their faces, but their scents would be burned into my memory.
“Have you found him yet?” another in the circle asked, his voice full of impatience. The scent of cigars, brandy, and ash marked him for me.
“No, he is well hidden, but it’s only a matter of time before he reveals himself. The draw to his mate will bring him to town.”
“Will our combined power be enough to eliminate him?” a squeaky voice asked, coming from one of the younger men whose back was to me. His scent had a tang of overactive glands to it, as if he hadn’t fully graduated from puberty to manhood yet. He also had a love for garlic and pizza.
“We have seven straight descendants here, each from the seven strongest lines of warlocks. That you would even ask that offends me. Of course we have enough power, and with the agreement made with the local vampire nest for protection, he will never get past our security. We will have taken him out before he even reaches the edge of town.”
“Valmyre, are you sure the warning spells are still holding? I noticed the wolf in town yesterday. Why were we not notified?”
“Question me again, and you won’t need to worry about anything other than how your wife will survive without you,” the salt-and-pepper-haired man shot back. Now I knew his name. Valmyre. “I was notified and found no threat from the omega. It’s best to leave him be for now. His connections with the council overseas as well as his pack are not to be trifled with. If he stays out of our way, he may visit our town in peace.”
Another voice piped up. “He’s helping her though.” This one’s scent was of old books, old magic, and something else that eluded me. A masked scent. This one I needed to keep an eye on.
“That doesn’t matter as she will never see him. They will never meet. With this final stand, the dragons will be defeated for good this time. I will not let my family’s legacy waver in the balance anymore. We pledged an oath century ago to wipe the vermin off the earth, and I will make it so.”
Drago and I had heard enough and began to silently move away. I made it three steps before one sentence stopped me cold in my tracks.
“The Resistance will win this battle.”
Applause followed the declaration, and I took the opportunity to move quickly, the sounds of hands clapping together hiding the rustling I made in my haste. It was time to venture to town and make a call to Leo. If The Resistance was involved, I would need backup.
The trip back to camp was quick, Drago helping with a bit of a speed boost. He was just as impatient as I was, only for different reasons. I needed to squash the newest uprising of The Resistance, and he was singularly focused on protecting the one he had claimed as our mate. I didn’t have time to fight with him in this moment, so I let his motivation slide.
I dug in the saddlebag on my bike and pulled out the satellite phone I always kept on me. Cell signal in the mountains was spotty at best, and I knew the satellite phone would be my only way of contacting anyone outside the area. I booted it up and dialed Leo’s private number. The only sound I got when I raised the phone to my ear was an insistent buzzing—the sound of a busy line. I disconnected and tried again on another channel only to get the same sound.
“What the fuck?”
I tried again and again, getting the same results every time. My blood rushed as anxiety creeped up on me. I paced while Drago continued to push me toward the village, his desire to find her intense. My focus was splitting between keeping him from taking us there and trying to logically plan our next move. My skin rippled with magic, scales beginning to show beneath my skin as Drago pushed harder against my mental block.
“Stop.” I stood still, breathing deeply. “We can’t run off half-cocked.”
“Must protect.”
I clenched and unclenched my hands in time with my breathing as I used all my focus to help calm him.
“We need a plan. She is safe for now. They are after us, not her.” Trying to rationalize with my dragon was hard on a calm day. It was nearly impossible when he was agitated. My body heated as he let his fire flow through me, trying to force the change. I stood my ground, mentally fighting against him. “Give me till tomorrow. Let me scout things, and tomorrow we will go to town and make sure she is okay.”
The last thing I wanted to do was go to town and find this girl. The very thought of her being out there scared the shit out of me. Now with a faction of The Resistance so close, I couldn’t put a potential mate through that danger. A target would be on her back for the rest of her life if she tied her existence to mine. I knew Drago wouldn’t let me avoid finding her for much longer. His patience with me was wearing thin, and the next time he decided to come out, I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold him back.
I took a deep breath as he relaxed back into his corner in my mind. He was still alert but gave full control back. The mountain air had turned cold and had a tang of wood smoke filtered into it. The magic that had weighed the atmosphere down dissipated. I assumed it meant the meeting had wrapped up and spells had been broken.
The sun dipped behind the trees, taking the warmth with it. My body relaxed, and I opened my clenched fist to find something else broken too.
“Son of a bitch.” I glared at the black pieces, which used to make up my sat phone, cradled in my palm. “See what you made me do.”
Drago chuckled in the back of my mind.
“You are such an asshole sometimes.”
He snorted at me.
“Looks like it’s just you and me now.” I dumped the shattered pieces of the phone in the rusted metal trash can on the side of the rundown cabin. I slumped onto the rickety steps and cradled my head in my hands. The past few days had been a whirlwind, and I felt like things were quickly spiraling out of my control. That’s when mistakes were made. I had spent the last few decades honing my skills and keeping myself distanced from emotional involvement of any kind. Seeing a problem with an analytical view made for safer missions. Drago and I worked well together in this aspect. He let my human side decide a course of action, and he only emerged on the rare occasion his strength or dragon fire was needed.
He wasn’t going to do that this time. I had to figure out how to keep him calm while still coming up with a plan on how to take down The Resistance without my normal team—or any backup at all. For the first time in my life, I doubted our ability to come out unscathed.
“You know we can’t claim her,” I whispered, testing the waters with my dragon. When he didn’t respond, I continued. I raised my head and gazed at the mountainside, wishing I could appreciate the scenery before us. “She will always be in danger if we do.”
&nbs
p; “We will protect her.”
“We can’t go dragon every time a threat is thrown her way.” I scoffed. “We’ll be hunted down every time The Resistance realizes we are still alive.”
According to what Valmyre said, they already knew I was nearby. So even though we had cleaned up the mess in Texas when we helped Sterling and his crew, someone must’ve gotten a message out. The pack and coven had agreed to keep our secret, but we had revealed ourselves, and that alone comes with a price.
The leaves behind me rustled as the small woodland creatures went about finding their supper. Squirrels chattered, birds chirped, and bugs buzzed happily. All unconcerned with the danger sitting on the dilapidated porch of the cabin on the edge of the clearing.
I ran scenarios through my mind as I let the sounds calm me and used them as a sort of first warning. Their silence conveyed oceans of information. For now, though, all was happy, and their orchestra was the background as I gave in to Drago.
“Tomorrow we go to town.” I ran my hand through my short-cropped hair and rubbed the base of my neck to ease the tension rising. I needed more information on this Valmyre and his cronies. I could only hope we didn’t run into her while we were there.
As the crescent moon reached its apex, I stood and went inside to bed down for the night.
14
Natalie
My body tossed in bed as my mind raced through the same dream that had been plaguing me since childhood. My feet twitched beneath the sheets as my dream autopiloted through the woods on the mountainside.
A thick fog rose around me, obscuring the moonlight shining from the sliver of the crescent moon. I wasn’t scared. I knew these woods like the back of my hand. I had played in them as a child, and as I grew, they became my sanctuary when I needed to escape small-town life. But here in my dreams, I had one goal in mind: to make it to the clearing before he was gone. I needed to see him. Even though I never fully saw his face, my heart knew him. It pulled toward him.
I could smell his scent, smoke, ash, and pine with a hint of copper. The scents mixed and surrounded me, invading my senses and settling on the back of my tongue, urging my feet to move faster. To my right, a deep ember-colored wolf emerged to run with me. I gazed down and saw his lopsided grin and sparkling eyes. He was a new addition to my dream, but I felt no fear. He loped circles around me as I continued, jumping and yipping. I laughed at his antics, my heart light with the happiness of the freedom the woods brought me.
As I got closer, my happiness turned to excitement. The fog faded, allowing the moon to shine into the clearing like a spotlight lighting the ground around his feet. My breath hitched, waiting for him to turn.
He never did, but every time I waited, he waited. I knew his back by heart. From the short cropping of dark hair on his head to his wide shoulders, defined triceps, and muscular forearms. He always wore a dark T-shirt that hugged every muscle and was tucked into a pair of tactical pants held up with a belt full of gear.
Just the sight of him shot electricity along my nerves. My knees weakened, my mouth watered, and my girlie bits warmed with desire. He is the man I had held all my boyfriends to, the example they had been compared to. All of them came up short, of course.
“Please turn,” I whispered.
His head shot up and turned to the left as if listening, giving me a profile of his face for the first time in my life. Did he hear me?
“What’s your name?” I whispered a little louder.
The ember wolf stopped and sat by my side, rubbing his head under my hand for attention. He whined, and I looked down to hush him. When I looked back at my dream man, he was gone, replaced with a shadow of an amazing dragon lying in the moonlight. His body took up the entirety of the small clearing, his tail wrapped around his body. His scales were a smoky silver blue which reflected moonlight, giving him a glow. He lay so still, I thought him a statue at first. His tail looked like steel with spikes lining the last third of it, looking like a medieval weapon. The very end of his tail lay beneath his chin, and as I raised my eyes, I found him looking straight at me. Golden irises rimmed with a dark amber glowed as he held my gaze. His lip slowly pulled back in what I assumed was a smile. His smile revealed long fangs that hung over his bottom jaw and a row of sharp teeth meant to rip, tear, and crush his opponent. My eyes scanned back up his long snout. Small puffs of smoke escaped his nostrils as his eyes continued to bore into me. His eyebrows were a deeper blue, almost black, but they moved with every expression he made. Spines began at the top of his head with small horns on either side just above his ears. The spines continued down his back, getting smaller the farther they went until there were no more right before his tail. His scales rippled as my eyes scanned him again, and when I brought my eyes back to his, he unfurled a wing.
“You can come closer,” I heard whispered inside my head.
My hand grasped the fur of the wolf next to me as I spoke. “Did you just talk inside my head?”
“Yes.”
“How?” I cocked my head.
“Because you are mine. Now come closer.” His wing shuddered as he still held it aloft.
The wolf next to me began to walk forward, urging me on. I still had my hand wrapped in his fur. The dragon before us began to growl low in his throat, a sound that should have frozen me in fear but simply agitated me.
“If you aren’t going to be nice, I’ll go home.” I let go of the wolf’s fur and crossed my arms beneath my chest. My body began to tingle, and the world around me began to fade. “Why do you want me to come closer?” I asked. Again, I wasn’t scared. In fact, my inner self was pushing hard to get me moving again. The sooner we got close to him, the happier she would be.
“Because you are mine.”
* * *
Beep. Beep. Beep. My alarm clock’s high squeal shook me out of slumber. I threw my hand out and smacked randomly until I connected with the small black plastic contraption from hell. I rolled over, threw my covers over my head, and desperately tried to fall back into the dream.
“Natalie. Get up, bitch, we have things to do.” Sandy pulled my covers completely off my body. “Your mom let me in, said something about you needing a day out with friends.”
I opened my eyes, squinting at the sun coming through the window. “What time is it?” My voice croaked. My throat was dry, so I coughed to clear it.
Sandy rolled her eyes. “Time to get up, Nat. Now hurry up.” She sashayed out of my room in her skin-tight jeans, crop top, and four-inch heels looking like a model straight out of a magazine.
I groaned and contemplated ignoring her and going back to sleep. That lasted for all of thirty seconds because I knew if I didn’t show up downstairs in fifteen minutes or less, she would be back and dragging me out of bed physically. I threw my legs over the side of the bed as I sat up. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and stood, stretching my arms up to the ceiling. I shuffled to my dresser and grabbed the first pair of jeans and a T-shirt I could find. A pair of underwear and bra were added to the pile, and I made my way into my attached bathroom. Fifteen minutes later on the dot, I emerged freshly showered, dressed, hair braided, and even a touch of makeup to cover the shadows under my eyes.
Mom put a fresh cup of coffee in my hands and kissed my cheek in greeting. Her smile lit up her face, and she gave me a wink. Sandy wasn’t her favorite person, but she put up with her because she was my friend. I noticed Stephen was sitting at the bar that separated the kitchen from the dining room. The look on his face as he watched Sandy made me chuckle. His eyes swerved to mine.
He huffed. “What are you laughing at?”
“Your face. You look like you just ate a lemon, all scrunched up and unhappy.” I took a sip as he smiled at me.
“Probably because I just turned down his proposition.” Sandy waved her perfectly manicured hand his way. “I don’t have time for a boy with a bad case of puppy love.”
I gasped in shock and heard Stephen growl low in his throat. “Sandy, that’s not nice.
”
“Don’t worry, this puppy would never find himself in love with the likes of you. Plastic leaves a bad taste on the tongue.”
I covered my mouth to keep from spitting out the gulp of coffee I had just taken.
Sandy glared down her nose at him. “There’s nothing plastic on this body.” She flicked her hair over her shoulder and addressed me. “I’ll be in the car, hurry up.” Her heels clicked a staccato rhythm as she left the house. They echoed even as she stomped down the concrete sidewalk toward the street where her little convertible was parked.
“Nice friend you got there.” Stephen shook his head.
“She has a good heart,” I said, lamely defending my friend.
He quirked an eyebrow. “Are you sure about that?”
“Yes.” I scoffed. “Why are you here?” It dawned on me that he was sitting in my mom’s kitchen, and I had no idea why.
“I came to speak to you, but I see you are otherwise occupied.” He paused, looking over my shoulder. I assumed my mother stood behind me but chose not to look. I didn’t want to get into a spat with her today over her constant meddling in my life. “I have some things I need to discuss with you if you have time later.”
“Why don’t you come back for dinner, Stephen?” My mother’s voice was chipper, grating on my barely awakened nerves. “I’ll make a pie for dessert.”
I rolled my eyes and quirked a smile at Stephen. There really was no way to get around an invitation to dinner from my mother. “Fine, I’ll be home by then.”
“Sounds great, Mrs. Seraphim. What time should I arrive?” Stephen’s wide grin was filled with satisfaction and a bit of mischievousness.
“Six o’clock will be fine, dear.” I heard the smile in mom’s voice and knew I wouldn’t hear the end of it if I tried to skip out. “Natalie, make sure you get home on time. Don’t let Sandy convince you to stay out.” Her unspoken threat hung in the air long after her words.
Shadows and Sorcery: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels Page 284