Earthbound (Dragons and Druids Book 2)

by Leia Stone

  She smiled and patted my hand. “Yes of course! I’m so sorry.” She opened the photo album and pulled out a photo. It was of my mother and I right before she got sick. I was thirteen and had weird boobs and acne. Logan tried to hide a smile and failed.

  “Your mother kept in touch with us—with all of us—to make sure we were still doing okay. Still concealed. She sent us pictures and letters,” she told me.

  Okay.

  “My mom was a druid. Why would she want to help conceal skyborn?” There, I said it. Both words. Druid and skyborn.

  She didn’t look alarmed, just smiled. “Lily was nothing like those monsters. She helped the queen create us. Took an oath to protect us until death. Don’t you know that?”

  Confirmation. Right there, in that one sentence everything became clear. My mother did help create them; I’d seen that through the Eye. Or at least the beginning of that journey. My mother had spent her life protecting Logan’s kind. My kind. My throat tightened, as I tried to keep the emotion from spilling over.

  Eva took this inopportune time to blink into room without warning.

  Everyone shrieked, including me, and the husband brought his hand to his waistband, where a weapon must have been hiding.

  Eva threw her hands up defensively. “Oops. Sorry about that. I’m with them. I’m a sorcerer that helps the skyborn as well.”

  The mother eyed me skeptically and I nodded. “Sorry, she’s with us. We weren’t sure if this was a trap, and we would need backup.”

  The woman relaxed. “Of course. Have a seat.” She gestured to Eva.

  Once Eva was sitting and I was sure the husband wasn’t going to shoot her, I thought back to what the wife had said about my mom. “So … my mom helped hide you?”

  The woman nodded and produced a small red ruby amulet from her shirt. The husband and son did the same. Tears filled my eyes when I recognized them. My mom went through a jewelry-making phase. I thought nothing of it, but I remembered her making these. Tons of them.

  “Her magic, it’s in these. It’s what keeps us seeming human, unable to shift,” the woman said.

  Holy moly. My mother had magic? It was all too much.

  Eva inhaled sharply and reached out. “May I?”

  The woman looked at me as if I was in charge of her decision making. I nodded for good measure and she obliged Eva.

  The sorceress drew closer and took the medallion in her hand. “Ohhh,” she cooed. “Ancient transformation magic. But it’s so weak now. Seems to be wearing off.”

  The woman nodded and then tears lined her eyes. “The day Lily died they flared to life and pulsed and then … they’re almost completely gone. I can feel my dragon getting restless, wanting to come out if I’m in a dangerous situation or … in the heat.” She blushed.

  I hear ya, sister. Solidarity with the heat thing. But what she said dawned on me. My mother made them the necklaces to help conceal them, and when she died they started wearing off. I stood abruptly, grabbing my staff. “I’m sorry. I need some air.” I started for the front door, but thought better of it. The whole pack was out there. So, I turned and went to the back, through the sliding glass door.

  “Sloane?” Logan started after me but I put my hand out.

  ‘I need a moment.’

  The second the door shut behind me and the crisp air hit me, the tears came. Everything had made sense with that one statement—the day my mother died, the necklaces started to die too. That meant my mother used her living magic to keep the skyborn safe. The magic she could have used to heal herself, to stay alive. My mother sacrificed herself to keep a couple dozen people alive. It was so selfless, but it killed me to think about it.

  The door slid open and Eva stepped out, closing it behind her. When she opened her arms, I fell into them, sobbing. “She left me! She chose these people over me!” I said selfishly, even though I didn’t mean it. Not really.

  Eva stroked my hair and made shushing noises. “She had incredible integrity, and chose to save dozens of lives over her own. It’s admirable and heartbreaking.”

  Anger, respect, and a thousand other emotions crashed through me like a hurricane. “Why can’t these Skyborn just have gone to a sorcerer like you? Gotten the spell like I did?”

  Eva sighed. “Not all sorcerers are powerful enough to do that spell, and my spell certainly has its limits. It keeps your scent from being smelled as dragon, but it seems your mother’s keeps them from shifting at all. They appear human. And most importantly … not all sorcerers can be trusted. Danny and I are a couple of the few that do not believe in the pure-blooded race plan of the druids. What if these people had walked into Jeanine’s club and asked her?”

  I shivered. They would all be dead, including the sweet young kid, Geoff.

  “I miss her. Why didn’t she tell me?” I pulled away from Eva’s chest, and she brushed the tears from my eyes.

  “I’m guessing she thought she had more time, and that you weren’t emotionally ready for this heavy responsibility…”

  It was true. My mom had been responding well to the treatment, and was on the mend when one night she took a nosedive. Hospice was called in, and it all happened so fast, within twelve hours. But I could have handled it. I might have only been sixteen, but I deserved to be told what I was. And not in some hallucinogenic dying state that she was in. Sure, she had rambled a bunch of crazy stuff on her deathbed, but I’d taken it as a sign she wasn’t all there, not as the truth. She should have told me when I was young. Raised me to know what I was.

  But even as I thought that, I knew that couldn’t have been. I was curious by nature. If she’d told me, I would have wanted more. To see dragons, to shift my own dragon, to see magic—the list went on.

  Eva grabbed me by the shoulders. “Listen, we can’t change the past. We just have to keep moving forward. That woman is pregnant with a little skyborn baby. When the baby comes out, it’s going to start shifting and alert the druids. Let’s focus on finding a solution for that, and training with your staff.”

  She was right. Focusing on the past, and why my mother chose to give all of her power away and not save any for herself wasn’t going to change anything. All I could do was try to pick up her work, and keep these people alive long enough for me to train with Isaac and kill Ardan. If that maniac wasn’t out killing skyborn for sport, then my mother never would have had to use her power to protect them. I blamed him completely, and he would pay dearly.

  Chapter 12

  When Eva and I went back into the room, I saw that the father had four packed suitcases by the door. I looked at Logan.

  “They’re going to come stay with us for a while until she has the baby,” he explained.

  The wife came over to me and gave me a shy frown. “I’m sorry if I overwhelmed you, sweetie. I just … we’ve been so nervous about what to do when the baby came, and your mom told us one day you would come … and here you are.”

  I sighed. I’m sure my mom had plans to tell me on my eighteenth birthday or something. That seemed like something she would do. Happy birthday, you’re half dragon, half druid—here’s an address book for you to protect for the rest of your life.

  “It’s okay,” I told her honestly. “I’d like to know more about what my mom did over the years when we have time to talk about it.”

  She smiled. “I’d like that too.”

  “Lynn, can you think of anything else we need?” the husband asked. They seemed in a hurry to leave. I couldn’t imagine how stressed Logan would be if I were pregnant and we were worried about the baby shifting and calling the druids.

  The wife, Lynn, shrugged, looking suddenly tired. “We have enough for now.”

  Logan stepped forward. “I do want to make you aware that outside we have a team of shifters that are loyal to the skyborn, and also an earth druid, who would give his own life to protect our kind.”

  At the mention of “druid,” Lynn flinched. The kid, Geoff, even stepped back a pace. These people were wary, and
they should be. Other than my mother and I, they didn’t trust druids.

  “He’s good, like my mother was. He wants to protect us,” I interjected. “He’s also training me.” Isaac wouldn’t hurt them, and I needed them to know that and not treat him differently.

  She nodded. “Okay, then. If you trust them, I trust them. We’re just so used to being alone. Being wary.”

  Logan nodded at that. “And you should be, but not of these people. Come on, let’s meet them.”

  ‘I used my connection to tell the pack that they are in fact all skyborn,’ Logan told me. I’ll bet Sophie was freaking out.

  And with that, we led the family of three, soon to be four, out to meet the pack.

  I forgot about the awed reverence the pack had in the presence of skyborn. They’d had it with me in the beginning, and now with Lynn and her family. Sophie just stood there, mouth slightly open, staring at the baby bump, and the way Lynn cradled it.

  Roxy and Ruben, wearing giddy grins and their eyes half lidded, looked like they were either super elated or very stoned. I noticed Gear circling the skies, and Dominic crouched on the roof of the bus, looking up and down the street for threats.

  “Is that your bus?” Lynn asked and I nodded, adjusting the grip on my staff. No need to go into semantics now. Technically, it was Isaac’s.

  Lynn leaned in, sniffed Sophie and then smiled. “I haven’t been around a shifter in ages.” She looked excited to be around other supernaturals again.

  Sophie looked puzzled. “Why didn’t you try to get some protection detail?”

  Lynn and her husband shared a look, then Lynn looked at her son Geoff and smiled. “Tell you later,” she told Sophie, and Sophie nodded.

  There was a story there for sure, one not meant for children’s ears.

  “I’m Tony.” The father reached out and shook Keegan’s hand. He must have instinctively known he was the alpha, although he kept risking glances up at Dominic, with his wild rooftop perch and gunned-out glory.

  We can’t take you anywhere, I thought silently to Dominic, even though he couldn’t hear me.

  “Lynn, why don’t you and Geoff get on the bus and I’ll follow you in the car?” Tony kissed his pregnant wife’s cheek.

  “No sir,” Keegan interjected. “I’ll take your car and follow behind. I need you all to stick together. It’s safer.”

  Tony looked at the alpha for a moment and then nodded, handing him the keys to an old Toyota Camry in the driveway. “Not used to having protection,” he added.

  “Well, get used to it. We’re going to make sure you guys are safe from now on. All of you,” Logan said and his words hit me then. All of you. We needed to track down all of the skyborn and let them know we could help them. Especially if their magic necklaces were wearing off.

  Lynn waddled onto the bus with her husband’s help, as Isaac crossed the front lawn with Keegan to stand on either side of Logan and I.

  “We need to track down all of the skyborn. My mother made them all necklaces with her power in it that kept them appearing human, but it’s wearing off now. They’re all at risk.”

  Keegan nodded and then looked at Logan. “We’re going to need more shifters. A lot more.”

  Sophie must have been listening in, because she peeked her head over Keegan’s shoulder. “I’ll call Daddy. He has the updated list.”

  Daddy. Of course Sophie called her father daddy. I suppressed the eye roll that was twitching at the edge of my eyelids.

  Isaac looked over his shoulder at the other skyborn retreating onto the bus and then lowered his voice. “If Ardan is building an army, then why shouldn’t we?”

  Sometimes I thought Isaac was all tree-hugging and rainbows, and then he said stuff like that.

  Keegan grinned, as if building a shifter army would bring him great joy. “I’m on it. I’ll meet you back at Isaac’s land in California.”

  Sophie made a whining noise and Keegan groaned. “Fine, you can come.”

  “Eeeep!” she squealed, jumping up and down.

  He pointed a finger at her. “But no choosing warriors just because they’re hot.”

  She shot him a dejected look but agreed.

  As they walked off to get into the other car, Isaac turned at me. “You need to train, Sloane.”

  I know, I know. I knew nothing about being an earth druid. Especially not a fire druid. “But the others…”

  Isaac nodded. “We’ll call them. Tell them about the necklaces and invite them out to the land. That’s the best we can do.”

  Okay, so the idea floating around my head of going on a worldwide skyborn tour wasn’t going to happen.

  Logan nodded. “I agree. Right now, you need to learn to control your power. I don’t want you getting hurt like that ever again.”

  “You’re right. Okay. Let’s get Lynn and her family back to the land and I’ll start training with Isaac.” I agreed with my mate. The last thing I wanted was to shoot off massive amounts of purple magic and fall into a coma.

  Both Logan and my mentor sighed in relief.

  It was time to learn to tame the purple magic. Without hurting anyone’s balls.

  I learned a lot on our bus ride back, like the fact that every summer when my mom went on her “educators’ retreat” and I was at summer camp, she was really visiting all the skyborn in the U.S., Canada, and even one in Mexico. Yeah, no retreat. She was seeing what they needed, finding new ones and marking them in her book, making them necklaces and keeping them safe. Learning that my mom had some wicked rare and ancient magic, and that she had helped the queen create the skyborn race, was a whoa heavy moment. I mean, I knew she went with the queen to try to help from what I saw with the Eye, but to be the one that actually held the magic possible to make an entire race was … overwhelming. I knew I was only half her, but part of me wondered if I held this magic too, and it terrified me. Of course the first thing I asked was if my mother’s magic helped bind the dragons to the humans, and if that could be reversed. Lynn assured me it was the queen who did that particular piece of magic and it wasn’t reversible. My mother had tried.

  Lynn and her family were lovely. They were just normal people who happened to be skyborn. Tony was a graphic designer who worked from home, and Lynn was a custom cake designer and also worked out of her home, making wedding and birthday cakes with intricate designs. They said they purposefully picked careers that allowed them to work from home over the years, so that every seven to ten years they could pick up and move without needing to worry about income. For one, they didn’t age normally and it would make their neighbors and friends suspicious, and for two … druids. They’d had a few run-ins, they admitted, but only recently, when the necklaces started to wear off, and only when Lynn went into heat and couldn’t control her dragon. Bonus of her being pregnant: no heat for nine months. They were just about to pack up and head west, try to find some help, when we arrived. Lynn was due in two weeks, and Danny and Eva were going over a dozen magical scenarios on how to keep the baby from doing her first shift.

  Back in California at Isaac’s land, we had to rearrange our living situations to make room, and in the end, Logan and I had officially moved in together at the waterfall house. Keegan bunked with Nadine. That left Lynn and her family to take a cob house for themselves. Isaac assured us there were other sustainable homes on the property, but we all agreed Lynn should be close by to the shifters in case of emergency.

  We’d only been back a few hours and Isaac was already pressing me to train.

  I gave Logan a soft kiss, standing on my tiptoes to reach him. “I’ll be back after training,” I told him and he just nodded. His face had a concerned look all the time now. It increased when he looked at me.

  “Everything’s going to be fine,” I assured him.

  He sighed and raised his hands behind his head for a stretch, giving me a peek of his abs. Yum.

  “I just wish it was me that could fight Ardan, not you.”

  I placed one hand o
n my hip, the other held my staff. “How very sexist of you. I got this.” I winked.

  Joking, acting overconfident, it was the only thing keeping me together. Truth was, I was scared. I hadn’t been too scared until I’d learned about this fire druid stuff about my mom. Now I wasn’t sure I was dealing with something I could handle. Feeling like you couldn’t control yourself was terrifying.

  Logan stepped forward and took my face in his hands; his scent wrapped around me and my dragon tightened within. “It’s not because you’re a woman, it’s because you’re mine and I want to protect you.”

  You’re mine. Any other person saying that would get smacked, but when he did, it was like he was claiming his love for me.

  I reached out with my teeth and nipped his bottom lip. “I want a life with you where we don’t have to run anymore. Where, if I got pregnant like Lynn, we wouldn’t have to be terrified to have a baby.”

  A slow smile crept across my mate’s face. “You want a baby with me?”

  Pshhh. Was that all he heard? “Maybe in five years.” I winked and then turned to leave.

  “Sloane!” he called out over the sound of the rushing waterfall.

  I turned.

  “Be careful.” He tried to make it sound light, but the mild terror in his eyes showed me the truth.

  Logan was just as scared of my powers as I was. Great.

  I made the small ten-minute hike down the side of the waterfall, and met Isaac at the base. My staff was badass because it harnessed my power, but doubly badass because it was also a cool walking stick.

  “Hey, boss,” I called out as I neared him.

  His eyes fell to my feet, which were bare, and he smiled. “You’ve been listening.”

  I shrugged. “Just a little.” Truthfully, I noticed when I hadn’t been connecting with the Earth enough. I got mild headaches and stiff muscles, so now it was mandatory that I did.

  “Waaaaa!” The bleat of the resident goat made me jump and clutch my chest. She sounded like a screaming child. It was unsettling.