Ancient Protector

by Katie Reus

  The song was about freedom, about rising from the ashes and starting over, and she felt every single word in her soul. She’d promised her fans something new tonight, and even though her main—pretty much only—concern was saving Aurora, she still hoped the audience loved the music.

  The tempo changed and her hips swayed in tune with the new, wild beat that had a mix of eighties and modern feel to it as she sang her heart out, word after word.

  All for her sister.

  Aurora was the only reason Star was able to keep her fear under lockdown right now.

  As she shimmied across the stage she felt eyes on her—and she knew they were dark indigo eyes, a color so shockingly beautiful. She wanted to write songs about that dragon, about his arresting face and scent. Even his damn voice gave her the shivers. The good kind.

  But she ignored the strange feelings growing inside her. She absolutely ignored the knowledge that the dragon shifter was sexually attracted to her—and the fact that she might be interested in him as well.

  Because sexual attraction was nothing right now. Nothing at all.

  She raced to the other side of the stage as Marley started a short drum solo. The crowd had already picked up on the chorus and started singing along as Star belted out the chorus again.

  The words and music hummed through her and she had to fight back the fire inside her, the fire that wanted to be free, to show off to the whole world exactly how bright Star could shine. It was always a struggle to contain her fire, but especially now when her emotions were riding a razor wire.

  As the song came to an end, she stood in the middle of the stage, her purple feathers flaring out as she took an exaggerated bow. As she stood again, a kaleidoscope of fireworks exploded behind and over them, making the crowd go wild. They screamed for more, chanting her name over and over.

  She smiled at their demands even though now panic had set in as she wondered if the others had gotten out of the compound with Aurora. If they hadn’t… Things were about to get ugly.

  As if Brielle read her mind, her voice came through the comm line. “We’re officially home free and past the gate heading to the airport.” Brielle’s voice was clipped. “Axel is waiting for you guys in the getaway vehicle. I give it three minutes before they notice the bodies or the fact that someone hasn’t checked in. Get out of the compound before then.”

  “Cameras are back online now,” Lola added over the line. “With the exception of the route you’ll be taking. Don’t deviate from it.”

  Star glanced at the others as they strode off the stage, their movements purposeful. They’d gone over this plan a hundred times and knew exactly how to get from here to the garage unseen by cameras. If no one on security saw Star and her band leaving during the middle of the show—it was the only thing that might give them enough time to get past the gates.

  Star waved at her fans one more time before hurrying off the stage as the next band strode forward.

  Marcus, the lead singer for one of the other bands, gave her a high-five and congratulated her on the new song as he hurried past her.

  “Thanks!” she said as she strode after her bandmates, her heels clicking away.

  Bella waited at the edge of the stage, her expression pinched even as she tried to keep a smile in place. “This way.”

  “Hey, where are you guys going?” one of the production crew asked as Star and the others left the backstage area.

  “Wardrobe change.” Star said it dismissively, as if surprised he’d even asked her.

  “Then do it here,” the human male snapped.

  Star snorted. “And risk some pervert getting me on camera? No way. I’ll change in the house and be back with plenty of time for our next piece.” Without waiting for a response, she flounced away with her entourage as if she was every ounce the diva. The waving feathers helped sell it.

  By the time they’d made it back to the mansion, she could practically feel the figurative fire of their enemies breathing down her neck. She knew she was just letting her imagination get away from her, but they had to get out of here now.

  Once security realized Aurora was missing, a silent alarm would be set off and Oscar would lock his estate down. And if Star was questioned, Oscar’s security team would scent a lie from her or one of her crew. It was only a matter of time.

  She figured he’d lie to the humans and tell them some sort of terrorist threat was going on to keep them locked down.

  It was eerie how quiet the mansion was as they hurried through the service corridors toward the six-car garage where Axel was waiting. As they rounded one corridor, they nearly ran into two female waitresses, both human.

  Star smiled politely and ignored the surprised looks as they continued on their way. No one questioned them but they might say something to their boss which was why they needed to hurry. Star picked up her pace, her heels clicking loudly on the tile. She was desperate to see her sister.

  As they burst into the garage, an SUV roared to life as the headlights flashed once, then twice. That was the signal.

  The six of them raced for the vehicle and piled in, finding seats as Axel tore out of the garage.

  “All the valet parking went into an overflow lot next door,” Axel said, his words clipped. “We’ve got a straight shot out of here.”

  Even though she wanted to tell him to get on with it, they drove the standard fifteen miles an hour along the long, winding driveway so as not to draw attention to themselves.

  She felt like dozens of eyes were on them. Maybe they were.

  By the time they’d made it to the exit gates, Star had changed out of her purple costume and into black pants and a black sweater. She’d also managed to tame her wild hair and tuck it up into a dark cap. Not exactly a great disguise, but she wasn’t standing out now. And she didn’t imagine that security was going to search cars as they left.

  The gates automatically opened as they approached but as they pulled halfway through, the guard from the gate shouted, “Hey, hold on,” as he jogged toward them.

  Axel gripped the steering wheel, the leather crackling under his fingers.

  “See what he wants,” she said quietly. They were through the gate already. Halfway, anyway. That was something.

  He rolled down his window. “Everything okay?” Axel asked, his voice casual as could be.

  The man approached, paused, then held up a finger as he shone the flashlight into the front seat then in the back seat. It was clear he was listening to an earpiece because he nodded once.

  “I’m going to need to get a good look at everyone. Everyone out of the vehicle.”

  Damn it, but at least Aurora was gone.

  “What the hell is this?” Axel snapped in the most indignant tone she’d ever heard from the laid-back lion shifter. “Is this how you treat your guests?”

  The man’s expression didn’t change and his dragon flashed in his eyes once, briefly. “Someone stole something very priceless.” His tone was flat, uncompromising. “It’s just standard procedure. Now everyone out— Wait a minute, aren’t you Star? And you’re…Taya.” Frowning, he looked at the rest of the bandmates who’d all changed into plain clothes. “What the hell are you guys doing? Your show is still—”

  Axel floored it, nearly running over the guard as he tore away from the gate.

  The man cursed behind them, but his voice quickly faded as they raced away into the night.

  * * *

  “I don’t like this,” Star said into the quiet of the SUV as she turned in her seat to look behind them. They’d been driving for seven minutes exactly and there weren’t any vehicles following them. No gunshots pinging off the vehicle. No firebombs.

  Nothing. It felt totally wrong.

  “I don’t either.” Kartini broke her silence as well as she looked out the window, her gaze tilting upward. “They have to be in the sky.”

  That was what Star’s gut instinct was telling her too. She pulled out her phone and dialed Brielle.

 
“We’re in the plane ready to go. Engine is running,” Brielle said upon greeting.

  “Leave without us. They know something’s up and I’m pretty sure they’re tailing us from the air. They’ve got to be. Get out of here now. We’ll meet up in the States. Tell Aurora I’m coming but I need her to be safe.”

  There was a rustling sound and then her sister’s tired voice came over the phone. Fire licked over her whole body for a brief moment when she heard Aurora’s voice before she got her emotions under control.

  “I’m not leaving without you,” Aurora said quietly. “He wants me alive. He won’t attack the plane. Get here now.”

  The line went dead, and when Star tried calling back neither Brielle nor Harlow answered their phones. She cursed. Damn it, she needed Aurora gone, safe! It was hard to think knowing that her sister could be flying off to safety but instead was waiting for them.

  Axel continued winding through random little neighborhoods as they made their way to the private airport.

  “We’re not going to lose the dragons.” She knew that in her gut. “We’ll fight them off at the airport if we have to, but Aurora is right. They don’t want her dead.” And Star’s power was at full capacity right now. After that show, her adrenaline was wild and out of control. If she had to battle a dragon… Or more than one. Bring it on.

  She looked around at the rest of her band, her friends, her family. “No matter what happens, get Aurora out of here. That’s an order.” She rarely gave them true orders, but she needed them to understand that she was serious. That she was in Alpha mode.

  “We get out together,” Axel said.

  “Always have to have the last word,” she murmured as he pulled onto a two-lane highway.

  “I can’t help it. It’s my lion nature.”

  As they reached the back gate to the private airport, Axel slowed, pulling through the open gates cautiously.

  “It’s just like Brielle said.” She’d told them that they would be open.

  Considering how much they’d bribed nearly everyone on the night shift at this airport, they’d better not have a problem getting out of here. Their next stop from here was France. Then they would be hopping all across the globe until they finally ended up in New Orleans. But they would only go there once they were certain they’d lost their tail.

  Oh shit! A dragon appeared out of nowhere, letting its camouflage fall as it blasted fire at the front of the SUV.

  Her heart jumped in her throat even as Axel swerved to the left, his expert driving the only reason they didn’t roll.

  “Taya, Kartini, shift when we open the doors!” Star gripped the handle of her door. “Now!”

  As one, they all threw open the doors and rolled out with Taya and Kartini taking to their avian forms. The Eurasian eagle-owl shifters banked to the left away from the dragon flames as Star called on all her power and sent a burst of brilliant purple flames skyward.

  The dragons attacking them were camouflaged but she could see where their fire was coming from. They couldn’t avoid her fire. Her power.

  “Get to the plane!” she screamed.

  Bella shouted at the others, mirroring Star’s order.

  She understood their need to stay and fight but right now this was up to her. She was a goddamn warrior. They were all fighters but she was more powerful—it was why she was Alpha.

  As her packmates ran toward the waiting plane, she raised her hands high in the air and sent out another pulse of flames, sparking high and wide.

  There!

  The camouflage fell as her fire made contact with a brilliant violet and gold dragon.

  The beast screeched, his underbelly raw and bleeding from the blast of her fire. That’s right. She was one of the few beings who could take on a dragon’s fire and survive.

  A pure golden dragon came out of nowhere, swooping toward her in a bomb dive as she started running toward the plane.

  Raising her hands above her head, she blasted this one too, the fire rolling from her fingertips and slamming into his snout.

  The dragon veered off course, stunned midflight. As it began to free-fall, she picked up speed, her leg muscles straining as she raced after her packmates.

  They were all racing up the stairs to the plane now. They were so damn close. Yes!

  The gold and violet dragon swooped down in front of her suddenly and blasted fire at her, completely engulfing her body.

  She felt the heat as it licked around her, burning her clothes to ash, but she pushed back with her own fire, securing a bubble to protect herself as she continued running. It required a whole lot of power, but with enough concentration she could withstand another attack if necessary. Knowing Aurora was so close gave her added strength.

  When the dragon finally stopped his onslaught, she swore the giant beast looked surprised, his head tilted to the side, his giant wings flapping as he stared down at her.

  She gave him double middle fingers before calling on her internal fire once again. But before she could blast him, a dragon bigger than she’d ever seen swooped out of nowhere, and slammed its jaws around the gold dragon’s throat in a vicious, powerful display.

  Hooooolllly shitballs.

  She stared for only a moment before she turned and ran the last fifty yards to the plane.

  She wasn’t sure who the dragon was or why he was helping her, but she wasn’t sticking around to find out. Aurora and her packmates were her priority.

  Bella was waiting at the top of the stairs, her expression tense as Star dove through the plane’s door.

  Before she’d even pushed to her feet, Bella and Axel had the door shut and closed.

  “Go!” she shouted, though it wasn’t necessary.

  The pilot, an avian shifter they’d paid a lot of money, had already started forward.

  The plane rumbled under them, but Star kept her balance as she hurried through the plane, not caring that she was naked.

  Aurora was slumped over in one of the plush seats, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, but her beautiful violet eyes lit up when she saw Star.

  A sob rose in Star’s throat.

  “I knew you would come for me,” Aurora whispered, her words raspy.

  Star was vaguely aware of someone draping a blanket around her shoulders before she sat down next to her sister and pulled her into her arms.

  Aurora hugged her back, her grip weak.

  “I will always come for you.” As she hugged Aurora, through the little window of the plane she stared as four full-grown dragon shifters battled each other on the tarmac, their fire and carnage wild and out of control. One had the most beautiful indigo scales, glinting under the moonlight.

  In that moment, she knew that if any humans caught this on video, supernaturals had just been outed to the world.

  And she couldn’t find it in her to care.

  She had her sister back. And all her family was safe. That was all that mattered.

  Part II

  After The Fall

  Chapter 6

  Star jogged up the driveway of the three-story mansion in the lower Garden District where she and her crew were now living. Since they’d ping-ponged across the world in an effort to lose any potential tails from Oscar, it had taken them weeks to make it to New Orleans. And during that time the entire world had gone mad.

  Absolutely, bat-shit-eating, banana crackers mad.

  A bunch of villainous dragons had outed themselves to humans, and though the dragon fight and fire show she’d taken part in at the small Wales airport six weeks ago probably hadn’t helped, it hadn’t been the precursor to the current insanity. Or maybe it had, she had no idea.

  All she knew was that a sect of dragons had tried to take over the world—yep, take over the world like dumbass super villains—and instead had decimated a good portion of it, killing billions of people, human and supernaturals alike.

  Asshole was too soft a word for them. Maybe they hadn’t cared about the fallout, maybe they’d wanted so many peopl
e to die—there was a lot she was still learning. She’d gotten tidbits from the now supernatural-run news, but things were coming out in bits and pieces.

  New Orleans was one of the cities in the US still doing well enough. They were currently rebuilding, and Star knew that King, the designated Alpha of the city, would be working together with witches and other supernaturals as they helped to rebuild here and in surrounding areas.

  A lot of supernaturals wouldn’t like the idea of working with witches, but she’d always thought witches got a bad rap. People were so negative about them but she didn’t understand why. Yeah, witches had done some messed-up stuff, but guess what? Dragons had almost destroyed the freaking world. No one better be throwing stones right now, as far as she was concerned.

  Shelving those thoughts for now, she waved once at Axel, who was doing perimeter patrol along the wall. Until the threat from Oscar and his clan was eliminated, they would always be a danger to Aurora. And now Star, if they’d figured out what she was. After that fire show she’d put on at the airport it was possible, but she wasn’t sure what the dragons knew at this point.

  As far as she knew, that sexy Lachlan and his clanmates had been the victors. Somehow she ordered her mind off Lachlan. No good would come of thinking—aka obsessing—about him.

  Axel waved back and gave the signal that everything was okay.

  As she stepped into the foyer of the mansion, she found Harlow coming down the front set of stairs, a half-eaten apple in one hand. “She’s still in bed,” Harlow said neutrally. “I tried getting her to come downstairs. So did Lola. She tried to bribe her with chocolate, but no go.”

  Aurora. Her sister had been cooped up in her room as if she was still a prisoner. She’d recovered from having her blood drained over and over, had regained her strength. She was no doubt very emotionally stressed, but Aurora couldn’t hide away forever. It wasn’t healthy and she needed to talk to someone.

  “Clear out the house,” she said quietly as she headed upstairs. Star had tried to cajole her into coming downstairs every single day, tried to appeal to her sense of family. She’d listened every day to anything and everything Aurora wanted to talk about. But mainly Aurora had just been quiet, wanting to sleep.