by Leia Stone
He shifted his weight and I tried not to notice how his muscles bulged. “The skyborn were bound in service to the human race. Simply by being alive and on Earth, we help the humans live full and long lives. Well, longer than the thirty years they used to get.”
That wasn’t the history lesson I learned growing up. “So what happened?”
Logan’s jaw clenched. “The earthbound. In 1918, the druids came to Earth en masse. They had learned that if they killed a dragon and absorbed its magic, it made them stronger, all-powerful—able to regenerate after a mortal wound, able to have the strength of ten men, and much more.”
My brows climbed. “Nineteen-eighteen was the Spanish influenza.”
He nodded. “We lost millions of kin that year. It was a genocide of our people. That’s when we went into hiding. What few of us were left.”
Jesus. How awful. “And the humans got sick?”
He nodded. “All that dragon energy leaving the humans so quickly. Humans that we were bound to keep healthy … it caused a pandemic.”
“That’s awful,” I muttered.
Logan nodded solemnly. “When the queen of Faery bound us to the humans, she never even conceived of a day when we would not exist. She couldn’t have known that if we were all killed, her spell would backfire, taking all of the humans with us—taking the humanity of every shifter and half magical being with us as well.”
Oh God. It really sank in then, the enormity of what Logan and I had to do. “No pressure.” I laughed nervously before a thought struck me: “Couldn’t she undo the spell? The queen? Science can keep people alive longer now, and that way, if we die, we don’t take humanity down with us.”
Logan ran his fingers through his hair. “When the Fae royalty first learned that the druids had started killing skyborn, a war erupted in Faery. Sorcerers, shifters, and druids started trickling out of the Faelands and into Earth, fleeing the war that ravaged the land. In the end, the queen was destroyed, and so were all of the other royal families. The entirety of Faery died and was closed off forever.”
My eyes widened as shock ran through me. “How?”
Logan just gave me a look, a look that said take a guess.
I swallowed hard. “The druids?”
He nodded. “The earthbound are powerful. They can command trees, water, wind, and sky. They turned the land of Faery into a weapon that destroyed itself.”
And I might be half of one of them. The thought made me involuntarily shiver.
“So … the druids? Are they half human?” I tried to segue this into what I desperately needed to know.
Logan sighed, looking tired. How long had he been fighting them? “The druids are one hundred percent highborn Fae. Pureblooded born of magic. They only ever breed within their own race. It’s a part of their creed.”
Interesting. Now for the question I had wanted to ask all along…
“But … hypothetically, the druids could mate with … like, another pure magical being. Like a full-blooded sorcerer … like Eva?”
Or a full-blooded dragon, I thought.
Logan laughed. “Hypothetically yes, but they wouldn’t touch another supernatural in that way. They’re all purists. It’s ingrained in their training. ‘One race. One blood.’”
I shivered. “Sounds pretty racist.” It also sounded possible that I could be half druid…
Logan nodded. “You have no idea.”
I sighed. “I could really use some cartoons after this dark conversation.” I was completely freaking out.
Logan laughed, a deep and honest belly laugh that was contagious and had the corner of my lips curling.
“You’re funny, you know that, Sloane?” He cocked his head to the side.
I shrugged. “I’ve been told that a few times, yeah.”
He pursed his lips, looking more serious. “It’s been a long time since I had something to laugh about. I’m … glad you’re here.” I could tell he wasn’t the kind of guy to dole out compliments. It looked like that one was really hard for him.
You won’t be when you find out what I am, I wanted to say.
“Me too,” I said in a rush, and then started walking inside. “Come on, it’s cold.”
Number one thing on my list of to do’s: keep this house from learning that I was part monster. And two: pray that Eva never told a soul.
9
“WAKE UP. It’s time to train,” a deep voice said from beside my bed. I opened one eye, saw the sexy dragon shifter standing over me, and then looked at the alarm clock. 6 AM. I groaned.
“Go away.” I turned over and gave Logan my back. When I turned, my living hat moved with me. Mittens had become my own personal sleeping beanie. She was obsessed with my red hair or something, and literally slept atop my head every night.
“You stole my cat,” Logan growled, making kissy noises, trying to coax Mittens away from me.
“Hah!” I said, half garbled and into the pillow. “She’s stalking me. I didn’t ask for her to become my living hair scrunchie.”
Logan’s foot dug into the soft spot behind my knee. “Up! Come on. Gotta teach you to keep yourself alive.”
I sighed. Damn, I had really started to like this guy and I didn’t really want to be the last dragon alive … but if he didn’t stop poking me at 6 AM I was going to kill him.
Sophie’s voice came from the doorway. “Come on, princess. You said you would help me with the cooking.”
Oh. Hell. No. I wasn’t going to let her lord this shit over me—call me princess or lazy or God knows what else.
I rolled over so quickly Mittens leapt off of my head and flew under the bed. Sophie was gone from the doorway and Logan had a black cellphone in his hands. Now that I was awake, he tossed it on the bed. “This phone is yours now. I programmed the pack and Eva’s numbers into it.”
That was sweet of him … but not sweet enough to make up for waking me so early.
“Thanks,” I mumbled grumpily. Logan just smiled and turned to walk away.
“Logan,” I called after him.
He turned and looked back at me.
“One of these days you’re going to wake me too early and I can’t be liable for what happens to you,” I told him, one hand on my hip. My hair was in a top knot and I was wearing tight sleep pants and a thin thermal shirt with no bra. Not exactly a Victoria Secret model, but when I made that threat, heat flared in Logan’s eyes, and he looked my body up and down.
“I’ll take my chances.” He winked and left the room.
I exhaled loudly, trying to ignore the pulse of passion that started up every time I was in the room with that man. I needed a cold shower.
I made it downstairs in record time. Seven minutes and I was brushed, showered, and shaved. I had never been one of those high-maintenance girls. Just some mascara and lip gloss and I was good to go.
Sophie was making the coffee and I jumped right in to help. Opening the fridge and freezer at the same time, I took stock of the ingredients. Eggs, bacon, hash browns. Boring. I didn’t watch six thousand hours of Chopped and Iron Chef to serve basic breakfast on my first day as the pack’s new chef.
“You got breakfast?” Sophie asked. She was all done up with full make up and a push up bra under her sports bra, making the girls extra perky.
I nodded. “I got this.”
She looked unsure but then shrugged. “Alright, I’ll go for my run, then.”
Logan and Keegan were sitting on barstools drinking coffee and discussing the new hires, while Gear, Cooper and Nadine made their way into the living room.
“You need help?” Nadine offered, looking sleepy.
I smiled. “Sure. You can be my sous-chef.”
“Huh?” She looked confused.
I just chuckled and handled her the bacon. “Start cutting these in half. I want small strips.”
She shrugged. “I can do that. But fair warning, don’t let me near the stove.”
“Got it.” I winked.
I pulled t
he hash browns out and started them browning while I heated two other pans for my eggs and bacon. Then I went to the spice cabinet and was relieved to see a pretty good stock. I pulled the cayenne pepper and salt, then got a small pan going for my sauce. After separating the yolks and squeezing some lemon juice into the pot, I added the salt and cayenne pepper and I had the makings of some fine hollandaise sauce.
Nadine looked at me. “Okay, they’re small.”
I quickly made a woven hatch pattern with the small bacon strips while the sauce simmered, then put the woven bacon squares into the hot frying pan. The moment it hit the griddle, Logan and Keegan started moaning.
“That smells amazing,” Keegan said, standing.
“Is that hollandaise?” Logan asked in shock, peering over the counter and into my pot.
I nodded. I didn’t like talking much when I was in the kitchen. It messed with my Zen. Cooking was therapy for me. My mom and I would cook everything from scratch sometimes, making an entire two-hour meal without saying more than a few words. We just worked intuitively around each other like old friends.
My heart pinched at the memory as I dropped my eggs onto the frying pan and began using a glass to cut perfect circles of the hash browns. They were going to have to be in place of my English muffin since we didn’t have any.
I instructed Nadine to line up the plates and then started an assembly line, laying two circles of hash browns on each plate, a sunny-side up egg on each hash brown, a woven bacon square, and then a drizzle of hollandaise over everything. By the time I was done, I looked up to find the entire pack staring at the food, drooling. Even Sophie, who was back from her run, looked impressed.
“Bon appétit,” I told everyone, and then they all pushed forward to grab a plate.
The second the moans started, I couldn’t help but smile. I had cooked for my mom, a few friends from college, and an ex-boyfriend, but never a big group like this.
“You’re so fired,” Keegan told Sophie with a mouthful of food.
Sophie gave him the middle finger, but her half smile made it lighthearted.
Dom had come in from his watch station outside and grabbed a plate, mumbling his thanks to me. I saw at least six guns peeking out of his jeans and boots and strapped behind his shoulders. This man was seriously packing.
Logan was finishing his last bite when he lifted his head to me. “Where did you learn to cook like this?”
I swallowed and then shrugged. “My mom was an avid cook and had a full garden. We grew fifty percent of what we ate. After she got sick, I learned most of my tricks from cable TV.”
He nodded. “So … what’s for dinner?”
Everyone laughed, myself included. But the feminist in me rose up then. “I’ll tell you what: I’ll cook every meal for the next two weeks, but only if the boys watch and learn. We can split the cooking. I’m nobody’s maid or chef.”
“Oh snap!” Sophie said from the couch. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Logan grinned at me. “You’re on.”
Sophie raised a hand. “But seriously, trust me, Nadine should be exempt from this little learning experience. Poor thing is kitchen challenged.”
Nadine laughed. “Screw you.”
Sophie just shrugged. “True story, girlfriend.”
I could see now what Logan meant about Sophie being a good friend once she had your back. I didn’t think we were anywhere near “friends,” but it felt good to have normal banter. No druids, no magic weird purple fire, just a friendly game of “teach the boys to cook.”
Logan stood, stretching, giving me a peek of the tan torso underneath his shirt and the muscles he hid there. Once you had seen someone naked you couldn’t really un-see it. The crunch of gravel, and then a car door slamming, brought me back to the present.
“Alright, it’s time to train,” he told me, and I groaned. So much for friendly banter.
There was a knock at the door. Keegan wiped his mouth quickly and smoothed his hair.
I furrowed my brow in confusion, until Keegan answered the door and I saw what the fuss was about.
Danny, Keegan’s ex-boyfriend, the same guy I saw at Eva’s club, stood on the other side. He was holding a to-go coffee cup and wearing a cute cable knit sweater.
“Keegan,” Danny said in a monotone voice.
Keegan nodded. “Thanks for coming.”
Danny’s eyes narrowed as if he wanted to say more, but he looked beyond Keegan to the rest of us and decided against it.
He waved. “Hey, everyone.”
The pack welcomed him from the doorway as Logan sidestepped Keegan and put one hand on Danny’s shoulder. He walked him out onto the porch, and nodded that I should follow.
“Cooper and Gear, you’re on dishes,” Keegan ordered, watching Danny and Logan walk out onto the gravel driveway and towards the barn.
Gear groaned.
I went to pass Keegan and follow them, when curiosity got the best of me.
“What’s he doing here?” I whispered.
Keegan sighed and his cheeks puffed out. “I made a call that was best for the pack. You need to train, and Danny is a strong sorcerer.”
My heart ached for him then, to have a relationship and then break up because you didn’t want to reveal your friend’s secret—only to have it revealed later. My heart also ached for myself. Because the entire pack thought I was half sorcerer and I wasn’t.
“Thanks,” I told him, giving his bicep a squeeze. It spoke big of his character that he would do that for me, for the pack.
He nodded to me and then looked again at the door. “He wore my favorite sweater. Fucker.”
I chuckled. Hell hath no fury like a lover scorned.
I made my way across the gravel lot and into the large dusty barn, where the guys were talking in low voices. “I can’t believe he didn’t trust me enough with this. I mean, I would have taken the oath before. I didn’t need to be paid like an employee just to keep your pack’s secrets.” Danny was giving Logan an earful.
Logan rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I know. I’m sorry, but I’m glad you’re here now. We need you.”
Danny spun then, as if sensing my presence. He looked me up and down from behind his black hipster-frame glasses. Now that I was close enough, I checked him out. He had a quaff of black shiny hair that made me jealous, and a rockabilly style that made him and Nadine look like twins. He grinned. “Girl, you are fierce. Last female dragon alive. I’m not gonna lie, I totally freaked out when I heard.” All trace of anger was gone, as it seemed he only reserved that for Logan and Keegan.
I laughed.
“You didn’t freak out when you learned I was the last male dragon alive?” Logan asked with his arms crossed.
Danny shot him a glare. “Eh, not so much.”
I smiled, stepping forward and extending my hand. “I’m Sloane.”
Danny took my hand and his eyes flashed copper for the slightest second. “You’re a hybrid,” he stated to himself.
Logan nodded. “That’s why you’re here. She’s half sorcerer, so I need someone who can control her powers if things go awry. Also so that you can cloak us if she sends out some kind of druid beacon.”
Danny still had my hand in his grasp; he looked me up and down under a pinched gaze that gave me anxiety. “Half sorcerer you say?” he asked Logan.
Logan walked to the far wall and opened a cabinet. “Well, yeah—there isn’t much else.”
Danny must have seen the terror on my face, because he dropped my hand and nodded. “Right. Makes sense.” I could tell from his tone of voice, and the way he looked at me with a tinge of fear mixed with curiosity, that he was lying.
Shit. Everything within me wanted to run, but Danny simply turned his back to me and started doing some kind of chanting as he looked at the wall of the barn. Maybe he was going to wait until later and bring this up to Keegan.
Logan walked over to me with two daggers, bringing my attention back to the present. They b
oth glowed green in his hands, but when he dropped one at my feet it ceased glowing.
Danny began to walk around the barn chanting and throwing some kind of white powder at the walls, which now had some transparent shimmer going on. It must have been some type of spelled protection. So cool.
“First of all,” Logan began. “You need to start convincing your dragon she is safe. She will shift less often in dangerous or scary situations. How we convince her is by training to become a badass.”
I smiled. “Sounds easier than it will be, I’m sure.”
Logan indicated the two glowing blades in his hands.
“These are dragon tools,” Logan informed me. “Stick one deep enough and long enough in a druid and they are dead. It will also release any dragon power they have stolen and give it back to us. This is the only weapon you will need to master.”
Sweet! I could do that. One weapon was a good idea.
“Let’s start small. Pick it up,” Logan said.
I reached down to pick up the blade, and as my fingers wrapped around the metallic base it shocked my skin and singed me, sending a bolt of pain from my wrist to my elbow.
“Ow!” I chucked it on the ground, and then brought my hand up to my mouth to blow on it. An intricate red burn swirled on my palm as I tried to cool it off. The carvings on the dagger had been burned into my palm!
Danny looked over his shoulder at me but didn’t say a word. Logan, however, stood there with his mouth open, gaping at me like I was an alien. Then he started talking to himself, mumbling low: “That doesn’t make sense. Well, only a dragon shifter can touch them, and if she’s half sorcerer I guess it does. But … she’s part dragon so…” I cleared my throat and Logan ceased his chattering.
“Alright. That’s okay. I’ll think on that.” He picked up the knife and put it back in the closet. Then he came to stand in front of me, rubbing the scruff along his jaw for what seemed like forever. Not speaking. Not moving. After standing there staring at me for a lifetime, Danny spoke up.
“May I make a suggestion?” Danny asked from his place in the corner of the room.
Logan snapped out of his transfixion. “Yes … please.”