by Anna Lowe
“He knew something,” Jenna said with a deep frown. “He said he could feel its power, but then again, so could I. I just don’t know exactly how it works.”
Cynthia wore a wistful smile. “Maybe it’s like love. The kind of power that’s hard to define.”
Connor blinked at her rare hint of emotion, then cleared his throat. “Anton said something about looking for pearls that night out by Molokai.”
Jenna sighed and picked up the pearl. She studied it, then the book. “Do you have any more books about pearls — or mermaids? I have the feeling I need a crash course on all this.”
Connor took her hand. He might not be the most well versed in shifter lore, but he’d be with her every step of the way.
Kai motioned over toward Koa Point. “We have thousands of books, so I’d say we have our research cut out for us. But the library’s open to you anytime.”
“Yours must be a Tahitian pearl,” Cynthia said, fingering her own string of white pearls. “Very rare, if it’s natural, and I’m sure it is. A symbol of wealth and prosperity.”
Connor stared. Now where did Cynthia learn that?
But Jenna just shrugged and squeezed his hand. “The only wealth that really counts is love, and I’ve got all I need.”
It was one of those I want to hug you and never let go moments, and Connor very nearly did. But Dell waved frantically, dragging his attention away.
“No, no. None of that, kids.” Dell laughed. “Can you try to get through one dinner without falling into each other’s arms? The goo-goo eyes are bad enough.”
Connor slid a hand across Jenna’s shoulders, compromising a little. If he wanted to show his mate how lucky he felt, he would, damn it. But there was a tiny note of jealousy in Dell’s voice, just a minuscule hint the lion shifter probably wasn’t even aware of. There was no need to rub in what he had and the others didn’t — especially when it came to Cynthia, who’d lost her mate. Just the thought of such a blow made him tug Jenna closer to his side.
Tim squinted at the text. “What’s this part about every kind of desire?”
Tessa tapped her lips. “I don’t know. Lust?”
Connor scowled, thinking of Draig. “Greed.”
“True love,” Cynthia said in a faraway voice. “Passion.”
“Yearning,” Chase whispered, looking out over the shadowy landscape.
“Carnal desire,” Dell said in his lustiest voice.
Cynthia made a face and clapped her hands over Joey’s ears. The boy had clearly stopped listening by then, though.
Dell grinned. “Okay, seriously. You want to know about desire? Buddhists say there are three types: kama tanha, bhava tanha, and vibhava tanha. Wanting something that feels good, wanting to become something, and wanting to get rid of something.” Everyone stared at him, but he just sighed. “I told you, everyone underestimates my brilliance.”
“Did you study Buddhism?” Jenna asked with wide eyes.
He gave an apologetic shrug. “No, but I had this girlfriend once…”
Tim rolled his eyes. “Dell has had a lot of girlfriends — once.”
Dell just gave a smug smile, and Connor shook his head. The poor guy had no idea what he was missing. Hell, before meeting Jenna, he’d had no idea what he was missing.
Kai rubbed his chin. “It’s possible the pearl — or pearls, because it sounds like there are more — can embody all types of desire. Like the Spirit Stones — it could depend on the bearer. A pearl that heightens the greed in one person could empower the passion in another.”
Jenna nodded slowly. “Maybe like this pearl. Gold and black. Opposites, but all wrapped together.”
Connor smiled faintly. He and Jenna were opposites in some ways but, yeah. They made a good pair.
“What was that last one again?” Jenna asked Dell.
“Vibhava tanha. The desire to get rid of something, like a sickness.”
“Well, I did want to get rid of Draig,” Jenna said, rolling the pearl in her hands. Then her gaze wandered to Connor, and her eyes sparkled. “And I wanted…some other things.”
He grinned. Yeah, he wanted some other things too. They’d have to move along to someplace private very soon.
“But I swear the pearl was calling to me for days before,” Jenna added, growing pensive again. “Like it wanted to be found.”
Kai nodded gravely. “That’s what concerns me. And if there are more…”
“What’s wrong with spreading the love?” Dell joked.
Connor followed Kai’s gaze as he looked across the long plantation lawn toward the ocean. Moonlight sparkled silver and white over the waves, and a frigate bird swooped over the surface, holding out its forked tail.
“Nothing wrong with some forms of desire, like love. But if the remaining pearls call to other shifters for the wrong reasons…” Kai trailed off.
Connor waited for more. What did he mean?
Kai fingered a crease in the tablecloth. “Where there’s power, there’s greed. And where there’s greed, there’s…”
He trailed off, but Tessa filled the rest in. “Moira.”
Connor took a deep breath and held Jenna’s hand tighter. He didn’t know much about Moira, but he knew she meant trouble. Apparently, Cynthia knew too, because her face fell at the mention of the name.
“You mean the same Moira who…” Jenna started, then stopped when she spotted Cynthia’s expression.
Connor tried not to stare at Cynthia. He’d seen her look strict, serious, and unamused. But he’d never seen her like this. Her fingers scratched — no, clawed — the edge of the tablecloth, and her lips drew tight. Her eyes took on a ferocious glow as she gave Kai a curt shake of the head that ended with a tilt toward Joey.
No one spoke for a moment, and Jenna looked around, confused. A feeling Connor knew all too well — that everyone is in on a secret except me sensation that made his dragon want to snort flames.
He stood quickly. Obviously, the subject was touchy enough that Cynthia didn’t want Joey to hear, and he respected that. But Jenna was an adult, and she had to be warned about Moira, the vengeful she-dragon who had targeted the shifters of Koa Point again and again.
“Hey, Joey,” he said, standing quickly. “I almost forgot. I have a present for you.”
“For me?” The boy’s eyes went wide.
“Yep. Hang on a second.” Connor walked to the far end of the porch where he’d stashed it earlier. Throughout the time Jenna was in the hospital, she’d forced him to go for short walks — to relax and clear his mind, as if he had any chance of that with Jenna in such rough shape. But she’d insisted, so he’d gone. And one day, he’d passed a store, looked in the window, and—
“A kite? Wow, a kite!” Joey exclaimed, taking the package.
“Not just any kite. A dragon kite. Look.” Connor pointed at the diagram.
Joey scrunched up his eyes and examined it carefully. “Like a Lusitanian dragon, right?” He looked to Cynthia. “We learned about it in our dragon book.”
Connor had no idea what that was, but Cynthia nodded. Well, whatever. A kite was a kite.
“So come on. Let’s try it out.”
“Now?” Joey jumped up. “At night?”
“Best time to fly,” Connor winked, waving him down the stairs.
“Fly?” Cynthia yelped.
“The kite,” Connor said quickly. “Just the kite.” The second he and Joey got to the bottom of the stairs, he leaned in toward Joey and whispered, “Can you keep a secret?”
Joey gave him a solemn nod.
“Kite flying teaches you all about wind patterns. Gliding. Finding thermals. So when you’re old enough to shift into dragon form…”
Joey’s eyes shone. “Then I’ll really be ready.”
“Exactly. You’ll be a pro. Now let’s get this thing set up.”
He moved just far enough from the porch for the others to be able to huddle and talk — and close enough for Cynthia to be able to keep an eye on Joey. K
ai, he figured, would take the lead in telling Jenna about Moira. She was betrothed to my cousin Silas a long time ago, he’d probably start with, and Connor could imagine how the rest would go. Moira had broken Silas’s heart by leaving him for the powerful dragon lord, Drax, and the ruthless couple had wreaked havoc on Silas’s shifter clan several times in recent years. Silas had finally vanquished Drax in a recent showdown among the volcanoes of the Big Island, but Moira had escaped.
What Connor didn’t know was how Cynthia had tangled with Moira. He would love to listen in, but right now, he’d give Jenna a chance to learn.
He looked up and got lost for a second in the universe above. So many stars, winking their greetings to him — even Draco, the constellation he’d never counted on for much guidance. It curled around the Little Dipper, glaring at Hercules, and beyond that, to the lurking Serpent.
Connor looked around. So much beauty in the world, but so much danger too. He put a hand on Joey’s shoulder, vowing to protect the child no matter what it took. But tonight, thank goodness, was a kinder, more peaceful night than most.
“Okay,” he said. “Tell me which way the wind is coming from.”
Joey looked around and pointed north. “There?”
Connor gave him a big thumbs-up. “Perfect. So to launch, we have to start…”
“That way!” Joey exclaimed, hopping up and down.
It was kind of cute, watching Joey run across the lawn, pulling the kite. The kind of simple fun Connor hadn’t experienced in a long time. Soon, the kite was up and flying, its long tail fluttering in the breeze. Joey bounced from foot to foot in glee. Connor stood behind him, helping control the strings.
“The wind gets funneled up the hill, with a little more coming from the right. You feel that?”
Joey nodded earnestly.
“So keep a little more tension on that side. And to turn…”
Connor had never flown a kite in the dark. He’d never flown a kite with a kid either. But it was nice. Really nice. And Joey was beside himself, laughing and beaming like he did with Dell.
“Look, Mommy! My dragon is flying!”
“That’s great, sweetheart.”
Connor watched the kite dip and sway. The tail streamed out, and though the rainbow colors of the design were hard to make out in the dark, the yellow eyes showed.
“Fly, dragon. Fly!” Joey sang out.
Connor pictured two dragons up there instead of one, and his heart sang too. Someday, he’d be able to take to the air with Jenna. And between the two of them and the others, they’d keep their home safe. For themselves, for Joey. Maybe even for their own kids someday.
He looked out over the plantation grounds, all the way out to the glittering ocean. What a view. And he was actually enjoying it for a change. He smiled and looked back at the kite, whispering into the wind.
“Fly, dragon. Fly.”
He lost sense of time and place for a while, and his mind wandered. To his father, who’d never taught him anything useful, unless it was what not to do. He thought of all the times he’d yearned for acceptance. Years of wishing to find his place on this earth.
And, wow. Now he had all that. A home. A mate. A clan.
Jenna came up behind him and slipped her arms around his waist. Apparently, the talk about Moira was over. Jenna tipped her head back and looked up at the kite against the background of that incredibly starry night.
Her chest rose and fell with a sigh. “So beautiful.”
Connor closed his eyes and covered her arms with his.
“Beautiful,” he whispered.
Epilogue
Six weeks later…
Jenna took a deep breath and looked down at the swirling surf from the edge of the cliff. The prospect of jumping off it was pretty terrifying, and all of Maui seemed to hold its breath — either in anticipation of the sunrise or for the feat Jenna was contemplating.
I can do this. I can do this… she mumbled to herself.
“You ready?” Connor murmured from her side.
She gulped and nodded in a jerky way. Was she really ready? Maybe today wasn’t the day. And it was still dark. Really dark. Plus, the wind wasn’t right, and the distance seemed twice as high as usual. Then there were all those rocks to crash into if she messed up…
Of course I’m ready, a deep voice rumbled inside her.
According to Connor, every human had an animal side, and turning into a shifter simply woke it from its slumber. But, wow. Her dragon had come charging out of nowhere a few days after Connor had given her the mating bite. A dragon just as adventurous and unconcerned as she had always been with things like surfing — but, damn. This was flying, not riding a wave.
“No need to rush if you don’t want to,” Connor whispered after a few more agonizing seconds ticked by.
“I want to,” she said quickly, though she didn’t budge.
Definitely want to, her dragon growled.
She pushed the beast a little bit further back in her mind. Connor had taught her the importance of controlling her second side lest it begin to control her, but it still took an effort sometimes. Like now.
Way back when, she’d made a flippant remark about diving off the open ledge of her new home — a feat Connor had actually pulled off the day he’d saved her from Draig. But now that she faced it herself…
Not diving. Just launching into the air, her dragon said. Easy.
Right. Launching. At night. From this cliff. She gulped.
Her dragon snorted. The sun is about to rise, and the wind is just right.
Really, she had no reason to be nervous because she’d already been out flying a few times. Connor had helped her learn after her first shift, starting with little hop-glides down at the beach. Those were pretty short at first, but like the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, she quickly progressed to longer and longer flights. Then she’d tackled taking off from modest heights, and that had gone well too. But somehow, this looming cliff seemed harder.
Pink light tinged the Pacific as another slow minute ticked by.
It’s easier from up here, her dragon said. More space and time for our wings to catch the wind. Nothing to it.
Jenna twirled the end of her hair with a finger, buying time. Nothing to it?
Come on, already, her dragon insisted. We’re running out of time.
“Listen, we can—” Connor started, ready to give her an easy way out.
“I’m ready,” she cut in, trying to act and not think. “Totally ready.”
Well, that was an exaggeration, but she did have to get herself into gear. She and Connor couldn’t risk flying in broad daylight, especially with her not yet completely in control, so it was now or never.
“Totally ready,” she muttered as she turned back to the bedroom area where she slipped off her clothes and removed the bangles from her wrists. She laid them beside the pearl on the bedside table, wondering what her mother would say about all this.
Then she smiled. Her mother would probably say, Go for it!
So she strode back out to the edge and raised her arms, releasing her inner dragon.
Shifting, she’d learned, was a lot like pulling on a wetsuit, what with the contortions and stretchy feeling that reminded her of the way the neoprene clung to her body while she tugged. Her skin stretched, growing dry and leathery, and her shoulder blades pulled back. But the changes in her senses always stole the focus from the strain in her limbs. Her vision narrowed slightly due to the protruding brows that protected her dragon eyes. At the same time, her eyesight was keener and the colors more intense, which meant the lush palette of Maui became even richer, like a magical wonderland. Her ears differentiated between many more sounds, just like her nose analyzed many more scents. The calls of a half-dozen birds, all greeting dawn with their own distinctive songs. The first whiff of ginger, and the waning scent of the night-blooming flower.
“You want me to go first?” Connor asked.
She nodded through the last of her sh
ift then opened and closed her wings a few times. The first time she’d shifted, she’d nearly knocked a table over, but she’d learned to judge things better since then. She flicked her tail left and right, trying to form a mental picture of a graceful turn in the air. But mainly, all she imagined was the massive splash that would mark an epic fail.
Connor shifted smoothly and stood on her right side. Even in her bigger, mightier dragon form, he still seemed massive. Not so much from his greater stature, as from the alpha power that throbbed off him in waves. He kept that power semiveiled when in human form, but in dragon form, it was impossible to miss.
She grinned. Her man was one badass dragon. Of course, she’d known that all along, but it was nice to get a reminder of just how powerful he was.
And, damn. They made a pretty imposing couple — Connor with his gorgeous greenish-brown hide, her a creamy color, much like her hair. Him big and towering, her a little more petite — a perfect match, at least in her eyes.
Plus, we have matching mating scars, her dragon added with a sultry undertone.
That was true, too. Connor had explained that she could give him her own mating bite whenever she was ready, but the notion of biting him was so scary, she’d shelved it all the way at the back of her mind. But one night, in the throes of passion, she found herself leaning over in her cowgirl straddle of her man and baring her teeth.
Jenna, Connor had rasped, begging for her bite.
Instinct told her just how to do it, and wow. She’d never experienced a sexual high that long or that intense. Connor had thrown his head back and cried out too, assuring her it was just as good for him.
See? her dragon said. Just trust me.
She snapped her eyes open again, going from steamy memories to wobbling at the edge of the cliff.
Connor’s low, smoky dragon voice sounded in her head, repeating the coaching points they’d gone over dozens of times. So, here we go. Open your wings, get a feel for the wind, and hop.
Jenna shuffled forward, raking her claws over bare rock. Opening her wings and getting a feel for the wind were easy. But hop was the understatement of the year. She stared over the lip of the cliff into the crashing surf.