by Leia Stone
“Sorry, love,” Logan whispered, and then came rip number two.
Mother—!
“Two’s enough,” Logan told Keegan, but I chuffed.
‘One more. We need it,’ I told him.
He looked at me and sighed. ‘One more. That’s it.’
When he ripped the third one out, I stumbled away from him involuntarily. My dragon probably thought I was crazy for letting him cause us pain. Mate or not, we needed some space. Logan dropped the red pearlescent scales into a small jar.
“Alright, shift back and let’s get the hell out of here!” Logan called out to me. Didn’t need to tell me twice. The place on my neck where he had ripped the scales was burning like a mofo, and knowing druids now knew of our location, I was more than motivated to leave.
As I started my shift back, Logan transformed his arm and Keegan took four scales from it, mixing them in the jar with mine. Seven scales. Combined, that jar held five hundred grand. We were set for a good while. I didn’t even want to know how much it was going to cost to feed over forty hungry shifters three meals a day, but we had enough now.
“No noise outside. I think we’re good,” Dom said, just as I pulled my shirt over my head and slipped into my shoes. Grabbing my staff, I was ready to get out of here. The druids would be signaled now. We were on borrowed time.
Keegan pocketed the jar and nodded to Dom. “Lead the way.”
Dominic opened the barn doors, guns drawn. “Eva? Danny? We good?” He walked out a few steps and we followed.
Except Eva and Danny were gone…
“What do I smell?” a deep Russian-accented voice said from behind me.
We all spun, and without a thought Dominic just started shooting. There was a man in a black trench coat standing inside of a yellow bubble, Danny and Eva wrapped in magical yellow chains at his feet.
The bullets bounced off of his shield and he just laughed. I could see something glinting in his palm. The Eye.
I knew who this was. I stepped forward. “She paid you for that fair and square.”
The man’s eyes glowed yellow when they landed on me. “She sold me a burned-down bar,” he spat.
“The druids burned it. That’s not her fault,” I told him, clenching my staff and wishing I’d already mastered lighting people on fire with my mind. He’d done something to their voices so Eva and Danny couldn’t speak.
The man inhaled again, looking at the open barn. “And why would the druids hate her so much?”
We all stood silent. Finally, I lowered my wand and pointed it at him. “Let them go or I’ll pop your little yellow bubble and burn you alive,” I growled. We didn’t have time for this shit. Druids were coming and this asshat was mad over some business deal gone sour.
He looked amused at my threat. “Oh, I think I’ll make a little deal instead. I know that smell. That’s the smell of a newly-shifted skyborn. I’m assuming one of you is carrying dragon scales, because I smell those too.”
Oh Shit. Plan B.
Maybe Danny’s smell-blocker didn’t work if I’d just shifted. I decided talking was useless; I wasn’t giving up any of these scales. I still wasn’t sure what my magic could do other than burn some tree trunks and make mild earthquakes, but I was about to find out in a real-life trial. With one quick move, I kicked off my slip-on shoes and connected to Mother Earth. With her grounding energy buzzing through me, my power traveled up the staff and out the tip, creating a purple arc of electricity that connected with the sorcerer’s dome, shattering it to pieces.
Yes!
His eyes widened in surprise, then he snapped his fingers and was gone, poofed out of thin air just like Steven did. Oh shit. Was he a druid too? Or was that just had some freaky sorcerer magic?
Eva and Danny’s binds left when he did, and she stood, quickly looking behind her. “He’s still here. It’s just a concealment spell.”
Great. Power of invisibility. Not this again. I spun around, fully ready to have him grab me or something.
Eva clasped Danny’s hand and together they built a large yellow ball of smoky magic between them. “Reveal!” she shouted as the smoke burst into the air, falling like tiny pieces of glitter on everything.
Suddenly the Russian appeared right behind Logan. I shrieked and Logan spun, swinging his fist out and connecting with the sorcerer’s jaw. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t for the Russian to crumple onto the ground unconscious.
“Damn, babe. Nice hit,” I told him.
“Let’s go!” he shouted, ignoring my praise. If there had been any druids in the area when I shifted, we were screwed.
Eva ran up to the unconscious sorcerer and wove some other spell over him. “To make him sleep longer.” She winked and then felt in his coat pocket for the Eye. “Damn it! He’s hidden it.”
“Eva! Do you have a death wish?” Logan roared. “Give it up. We’re out of here.”
She looked longingly at the unconscious sorcerer’s form, but finally stood, taking the glass jar of scales from Keegan and pocketing them. It was now up to her and Danny to sell them.
“One last thing,” she said, and then walked a few steps towards me. “Sloane dear, do you have to pee? Female dragon urine makes for powerful love spells and can fetch twenty grand a jar.”
My mouth popped open. But Logan just grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into the car.
Eva shrugged. “Just trying to help the cause!”
The second I was in the car, Keegan gunned it. We had no idea if the druids were close or what. I wouldn’t feel better until we were back on the land with everyone else. I was just about to lay back and relax when all of our phones simultaneously vibrated. It was a group text from Sophie.
- Get your asses to the rental. Lynn in labor! -
Oh shit. When it rains, it pours.
We called Danny and Eva, who were in the car right behind us, and all agreed that selling the scales could wait. The birth plan didn’t work without Eva and Danny to keep the baby from shifting and alerting the druids. Problem was, we were only about thirty minutes from the rental house we’d rented for her home labor—thirty miles from where I’d just shifted, signaling the druids to come to this area.
“She wasn’t supposed to go into labor for a week!” Logan cursed, gripping the edge of his seat as Keegan drove like a madman.
I sighed. “Can’t tell a woman’s body when to do its thing. We’re just going to have to make the best of it.”
Logan nodded, rubbing his hands on his jeans again. I’d never seen him this out of sorts. Suddenly he looked back at me and grinned excitedly.
“What?” I laughed. This man was a rollercoaster of emotions lately.
He shook his head, grin still in place. “A dragon youngling! I haven’t seen one since my parents were alive.”
Keegan was smiling too. We all were. This wasn’t just the birth of a baby. It was the birth of a baby dragon. A new generation. A thought struck me then. “Is she going to lay an egg or…?”
Logan laughed as Keegan turned down the road to the rental. “She’s in her human form. She will give birth to a human baby like a woman would.”
“Oh.” How was I supposed to know that?
He reached back and squeezed my thigh. ‘You’ll see in five years, right?’
I chuckled. ‘Maybe ten. Depends how painful this looks.’
My mate just stared ahead, grinning like a fool. Could this guy get any better? He loved babies, and kittens, and me. I’d hit the jackpot.
“It’s up here,” Keegan called out, looking from his phone to the gated house on the hill up ahead.
I gawked. Whoa. Hello, mansion.
“You rented a mansion for Lynn’s birthing house?”
Logan nodded. “It’s the safest. The high walls will hide any strange activity.”
Strange activity. Hah.
I could see our school bus in the driveway. At the beginning of the property, standing in the open iron gates, was Sophie.
Keegan pulled up with the window down and she ushered us through with a wave of her arm. “Come on, this labor is progressing fast. Nadine said she’s ready to push!”
Shit.
Nadine and Keegan were the only ones among us with medical knowledge. Keegan gunned it through the gate, with Eva and Danny right behind us.
He parked the car behind the bus and we all jumped out. Eva was a streak of black as her long hair trailed behind her. She burst through the pack of at least twenty shifters, mostly our old pack with some new, and into the front door.
She needed to get that baby into the spell bath to hopefully keep it from shifting into its tiny dragon form and alerting the druids. Danny was right behind her and I stared at Logan, frozen.
“What do we do?” I gripped my staff nervously. I would be of no medical help here, and I didn’t have baby-dragon-hiding magic either.
He looked lost. “All we can do is just be there in case they need help. But if the youngling shifts, I want you to get out of here. Go to Isaac’s land and keep Casey safe.”
I frowned. “Logan! We’re not splitting up.”
Keegan had jumped out of the car now and he and Logan shared a look. “Actually, that’s the plan from now on. You and Logan cannot be killed unless you are killed together. When there’s trouble, you both need to split up.”
His orders hurt my heart. The word “split” and “Logan” should never be used in the same sentence, but at the same time I knew his reasoning was logical.
“Just until the threat passes, then we’re together again,” I demanded, hoping I wouldn’t regret my choice of going along with this plan.
Logan ate up the distance between us. “Of course. You think I could stay away from you for more than a day?”
I grinned as his lips crashed onto mine and I eagerly drank in his scent. Logan Sharp was my kryptonite.
“Get a room!” Sophie called out as she passed.
I smiled. It wouldn’t be a normal day if Sophie wasn’t bitching about something.
Logan broke away from our kiss, but kept my hand firmly interlocked within his. “Let’s see if there’s anything we can do,” he said, to Keegan and I.
We both nodded and made our way past the outer guard, which basically looked like a bunch of Dominics, big meaty shifters strapped to the high heavens with guns and even grenades. How much did a grenade even cost? We were definitely going to need to sell those scales. As Logan and I stepped into the foyer, I saw that a few shifters were stationed at each window in the living room. They nodded as we passed, the new ones giving a deep head nod to their new alpha Keegan. That meant Dee was back at home base with her pack, protecting Casey and Geoff. Minus Nadine who was needed here for her medical skills. Isaac must be back at the land too, because I didn’t see my mentor either.
A loud scream came from the bedroom—Lynn—a painful cry mixed with a deep guttural moan. Chills ran up my arms as my dragon slithered against my skin. I’d always thought women who had children without drugs were goddesses. To be able to give life without any sort of numbing agent … it was a superpower in my opinion. That, however, was not my birth plan. When that day came, I would make sure we had some shifter anesthesiologist ready to make all the pain go bye-bye.
“LOGAN!” Nadine shouted from the room, and all the color drained from my mate’s face. He dropped my hand and tore down the hall, following the noise. I ran after him, staff in hand, ready to fight whatever it was that was making Nadine sound so scared.
When we burst into the room, I expected to see a druid hovering over Lynn’s body, but instead I just saw Tony holding her hand and looking terrified at the orange scales that ran along her arms. There was a white drape over her lower half, keeping her modesty.
“She’s shifting!” Nadine screeched. Eva was right there, cloth in hand, ready to take the baby from Nadine once she came out. I saw the blue baby pool just behind Eva, Danny tending to the spell. The water flickered between yellow and pink, smoke rising up above it.
“Should I put her in a dragon’s sleep?” Logan asked frantically, intuiting why Nadine had called him.
Tony looked amazed. “You can do that?”
“Yes!” Lynn begged between grunts. Her forehead glistened with sweat and she looked to be in some massive amounts of pain. I was wincing just watching her.
“No! Not yet. She’s needs to push the baby out first,” Nadine countered.
Lynn growled. “It hurts too much. My dragon is going to take over.” Scales dotted the edges of her face and I knew it must be taking immense concentration to keep from fully shifting.
Someone get this woman some drugs!
“One more push. You can do this!” Nadine told her.
Lynn looked at Logan. “If I start to full shift, put me in the sleep and cut the baby out.”
Logan blanched but nodded. I knew we weren’t prepared for a c-section; but that was a last resort. My mate stepped up and took her other hand. “If you shift, the druids will come for you and your baby. Tell your dragon that. Tell her you’re safer without her here right now.”
Logan had spoken to me like this before. Dragon whisperer. He was always trying to tuck my dragon away when she wanted to come out. I just hoped Lynn had more restraint than I did.
Lynn nodded, taking a deep breath, and a few of the scales retreated.
Tony stroked his wife’s arm. “You’ve done this before with Geoff. You can do it again.”
Lynn just glared at her husband. “No more children,” she told him, and he chuckled.
“Here we go,” Nadine said as Lynn’s belly flinched, rock hard. “Push…”
With a roar akin to a warrior running into battle, Lynn screamed. The hair on my arms was standing up as I flattened myself against the wall, preparing to witness the miracle of life.
“Yes! Here she is, don’t stop,” Nadine coaxed her.
My nerves were fried. I stood there rigidly, waiting to see what would happen. When an honest to God baby popped into Nadine’s outstretched arms, I was shocked a little. I don’t know why. I knew there was a baby in there, but to actually see it … whoa. Nadine quickly suctioned the little girl’s mouth and cut the cord as the room was accosted with a high-pitched baby’s wail.
Lynn and Tony broke down crying, and dammit I was crying too. That sweet sound, it meant she was healthy and alive—and it also reminded me of Isaac’s goat. Nadine quickly handed the baby to Eva. This was going to work! The second Eva’s hands wrapped around the baby, orange and cream scales began to form on her skin.
“No!” Eva shouted, nearly tripping backward to get the baby into the bath.
By the time Eva had lowered the baby into the water fully, only leaving her head out to breathe, she was a full-blown, adorable, orange and cream dragon.
“Babies shift extremely fast. I’d forgotten that,” Logan said in a hollow voice.
No one said a word. We just stared at this tiny winged creature and tried not to think of it as the harbinger of death.
“It didn’t work in time,” Eva finally said.
“Plan B,” Keegan declared, and all of a sudden I was being dragged by the underarm out into the hall and then into the living room.
“Plan B!” Keegan shouted, and activity erupted around the house.
Logan slipped in beside me and gave me a firm but chaste kiss. “I love you. I’ll see you soon,” he promised.
“Wait. We split up? Right now?” I mean, I’d just learned of this new rule. It felt too soon.
He nodded and then Ruben was there with a set of car keys. “Come on.”
“Maybe I should be the one to stay,” I argued. I mean, I was the one with the badass staff.
Keegan shook his head. “I’m sorry, Sloane, but you’re too important.” With that, Ruben gently but firmly, grabbed my wrist and started dragging me out the front door.
‘What are you going to do?’ I asked my mate. This felt all wrong. If the druids were coming, I should be here to help defend everyone.<
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‘We’ll get Lynn stable and move her and the baby to a second location. I’ll see you in a few hours. I promise.’
I knew that was a promise he couldn’t keep, but I took it anyway. What else could I do? He was right. If we stayed apart, the druids couldn’t kill us simultaneously.
Within three minutes, we were speeding down the road in a rental car, Ruben at the wheel. Everything was happening so fast I wasn’t able to process it all.
“Are we going to—?” I wasn’t able to finish my sentence. A tall druid appeared before our car and hurtled a red fireball at it. Ruben swerved, but the red ball crashed into the hood and everything in the car went black. The engine cut and we were coasting.
Steven.
Did he just throw a freaking EMP ball at our car? I really wanted that asshole dead. I gripped my staff and braced for impact.
Ruben careened the car up into the curb, grinding it to a stop and pulling the e-brake without a major collision.
“Stay in the car. If I die, run back to the house, where the others can protect you,” Ruben said, pulling out his gun and leaping out of the open door.
Like hell! I wasn’t a “stay in the car” kind of girl.
I gripped my staff and leaped from the car barefoot. Asphalt wasn’t as good of a connection to Mother Earth but it would do. Without a word, I commanded a stream of purple fire to lash out at Steven. It arced though the air and he jumped backward, barely moving out of harm’s way. I was pleased to see a small surge of my magic licked his right arm, causing red crimson blood to flow from it before he was in the clear.
Yes! Next were his balls.
Ruben shot at the tall druid, and I was about to throw another rush of magic at him when a warm presence moved close into my back. I only had time to inhale sharply when my staff was wrenched out of my hand. I spun just in time to see Ardan snap it over his knee. The tall, scary lord of the druids had snapped my beautiful earth wand in half like a twig.
“No!” I lunged at him, but with a red ball of fire he reduced my power weapon to ashes like it was nothing. Like we hadn’t tracked down the last elf alive to make it. Like it wasn’t the only thing keeping me from a coma if I used my magic alone.