by Eva Chase
My mother’s jaw tightened. I felt her starting to shift before her body had even twitched with the beginnings of the transformation. But the fae felt it too. At the same time, several of them, all around her, hurled glinting blasts of magic at her.
The blasts hit Mom with a burst of sparks. She staggered, faltering in her attempt to shift. With her arms raised defensively, she whirled around, but the fae were already whipping more of their glittering magic toward her. It smacked into her body, driving her to her knees.
A cry caught in my throat. My legs burned to run to her, as if I could help. I tried to shift them, and my feet stuck to the floor. There was nothing I could do but stand here and watch this piece of history play out.
Mom wasn’t beaten yet. She pushed herself to her feet and lunged at one of the fae. Her face started to transform, scales dappling her skin, a flicker of dragon fire darting from her mouth.
The fae woman winced, but there were too many others. Before Mom could shift any farther, they caught her in another crashing wave of magic.
She fell again, this time onto her side. Her chest shuddered as she tried to breathe. Her lips moved with more words I couldn’t hear. Then the fae man who’d blocked her way to the pedestal stepped closer. He clapped his hands and threw a spike of shimmering energy straight at Mom’s head.
She crumpled, her body slumping against the floor. I choked on a sob. The fae looked at each other, a resolved expression crossing all their faces. One by one, they raised their hands over Mom’s form. One stream of light, and then another, and then another, poured down at her.
The edges of her body shimmered, and then slowly started to disintegrate. My stomach turned. I couldn’t stand still any longer. It didn’t matter that this horrible moment was already done and over, seven years past. I had to stop this.
The muscles in my legs bunched to wrench my feet from the floor with every shred of strength in me, to run to her—but my joints locked. A vise seemed to clamp around my lungs.
You must watch, a faint voice echoed in the back of my head. Watch and witness.
So I did. I watched, my eyes getting hotter and hotter, as the fae’s magic ate away at my mother’s body. I longed to look away, to not have to see this slow destruction, but at the same time it did feel as if it was my duty to witness it. To acknowledge what had become of my mother—and who had done it to her.
When her body had completely faded away, the fae stepped back. The man who seemed to lead them had his mouth set in a grim line, but he brushed his hands together as if this had been nothing more than a brief bit of work. They wisped away into the walls again.
The vision fell away from me. The room came back into focus. My legs wobbled, and I clutched at the pedestal to keep my balance.
Marco and Aaron, still close by, each clasped one of my shoulders. Their presence steadied me, but my eyes were already full of tears. I inhaled with a hitch.
“What happened?” Nate said, moving from the doorway. “For a few minutes there, you looked like you were in another world.”
“I saw what happened here seven years ago,” I said. My voice came out hoarse. I cleared my throat and forced out the rest of the words. “They killed her. The fae killed my mother.”
Chapter 11
Ren
Aaron’s eyes widened at my declaration. Marco squeezed my shoulder tighter, but I didn’t want comfort right now. I wanted answers.
I pulled away from him, striding to the wall. One of the walls the fae had emerged from in my vision. I swiped my arm across my teary eyes and raised my voice in a ragged shout. “You! Fae! Where are you? Stop lurking around and come out of there. Own up to what you did, you fucking assholes. Don’t you dare hide away and pretend you don’t know—”
My voice cut off with a growl of frustration. I lashed out at the rock, my dragon’s talons already protruding from my fingers. They gouged the wall, but I didn’t get any satisfaction from that act of destruction. The fae hadn’t emerged. Fucking cowards. More than a dozen of them ganging up on one woman, battering her until she couldn’t even stand...
My jaw clenched. “Serenity,” Aaron started, but I felt anything but serene. I whipped around, tossing off my jacket. If the fae wouldn’t come to me, I’d just have to track them down and make them pay.
My muscles twanged as my body shifted fully into dragon form. I filled nearly half of the room. The pedestal suddenly looked tiny. I stalked around it, my nostrils flaring.
There. A faint scent remained under the cold rock smell. Like cut grass mixed with sleet. I’d never noticed that odor before, but every instinct in me told me it was the fae. I inhaled deeply, trying to follow the trail, and paused.
I could tell it was fae—and I could also tell it was old. Stale. My dragon senses suggested the scent had been left days ago. Maybe the fae woman who’d told us about the weasel and her companions had passed through here.
I let myself shrink back to near human size to dash through the narrow entryway. Then I prowled down the length of the cave back in dragon form. I tasted the air on my tongue, dragged more into my massive lungs.
Not a hint of fresh fae scent reached me. They were nowhere around. The bastards really had just left.
With a growl of frustration, I collapsed back into my human self. The stone floor chilled my bare skin, but I didn’t care. I pulled my knees up to my chest and pressed my face to them, holding in a sob. Tears drew frigid streaks down my legs.
Mom was gone. She’d been gone for seven years, and I’d known all that time she might be dead, but now it was completely real. There was no hoping for any other outcome.
I didn’t want to accept it. She’d come here for me. Because she’d wanted to give me all the power she could, so I could take this role as leader of all shifter-kind. Because she hadn’t wanted to put me in danger by bringing me with her. Maybe if we’d been together, if I’d known what I was then...
Footsteps scraped over the floor. One of the guys draped my jacket over my shoulders. They all gathered in a semi-circle around me.
“I knew we couldn’t trust the fae,” West muttered. “They helped the rogues, set us up every way they could.”
“Quite the strategy,” Marco said. “Make it look like we were taken down by our own kind so they couldn’t get in trouble over breaking the treaty. Very sneaky. I’d almost admire their wiles if they hadn’t been using them against me.”
“I don’t think this is the time for jokes,” Nate said, with a frown I could hear.
Aaron knelt down in front of me. When I raised my head to meet my mate’s eyes, he rested his hand over mine. His expression was solemn. “We won’t let this stand,” he said. “The fae committed a crime, and they’ll answer for it.”
“How?” I asked in a croak. My throat felt thick with unshed tears.
“When we come down from the mountain, the first thing we’d have done anyway is visit the centers of the shifter community to spread the word that you’ve been found and taken on your role as dragon shifter. We can start with the avian estate, since it’s the closest to here and our mate-bond is already consummated—and because the monarch of the fae has her domain only a short distance away. We’ll bring the matter straight to her.”
“Isn’t there something else we need to talk about first?” Marco said. “What happened with that crystal? Your mom came all the way up here for a reason, princess—what’s this power she wanted you to have?”
I reached my awareness through the ache of grief inside me and the soreness of my overworked muscles. Nothing inside me felt all that different. The flame of truth, that strange figure had called it when I’d smashed the crystal. Burn to destroy or burn away lies.
My lungs tickled at the thought of breathing fire. Could I produce a different kind of flame now? I didn’t think I could even manage to shift back into my dragon form after two transformations in such close succession. My endurance still had a ways to go.
“I’m not totally sure,” I said. “It
has something to do with my dragon fire and with finding the truth. The flame inside the crystal is what showed me what happened to my mother. Somehow I’m supposed to be able to use it to get at what is real? But it didn’t come with an instruction manual or anything.”
Wouldn’t it have been nice if it had. I guessed, like everything else since my life had taken this crazy turn, I’d just have to figure it out as I went along.
“That sounds useful, given how things have been going,” Nate said. “You’ll be able to tell who to trust.”
“Once I figure out how to use it.” I gave my eyes another swipe and pushed myself onto my feet. My loss still weighed heavy on me, but I had my four alphas to protect now, even as they protected me. I had a whole community of shifters to look after.
And the fae who’d killed my mother were still out there, committing who knew what other crimes against us.
“All right,” I said. “Let’s get off this mountain, and then I want a meeting with the fae monarch.”
I lifted my head at the smell of salt seeping into the SUV. We were coming up on the coast. Which meant coming up on the estate by the Pacific Ocean where Aaron oversaw the avian kin-group.
Today I was going to meet that kin-group as his mate and one of their leaders. My skin itched at the thought. I curled tighter into the back seat and looked at my phone again. Kylie had just replied to my last text.
I wish I could be there with you, Ren. You shouldn’t have to deal with news like that without your bestie. I know how much your mom meant to you.
I wish you were here too, I wrote back. The one comfort of getting off the mountain had been getting my cell phone service back. Although there was still a lot I wasn’t sure how to tell Kylie. It was easier to go back to joking around. You’re just sad you’re missing out on all the eye candy.
Hey, they’re your mates! I don’t mess around with taken guys. But you can’t blame a girl for enjoying the view. She added a winking emoji. Are you handling it okay? Is there anything you want me to send from here?
I considered, but we’d only just moved into our apartment. I hadn’t exactly accumulated a lot of possessions during my years living on the streets. Part of me longed to snuggle up under the crocheted blanket we’d spread on the back of the used couch we’d scored and feel that familiarity of home again. But I had other things to take care of first.
It wasn’t just the avian estate up ahead. The fae monarch’s domain lay nearby too.
I hadn’t told Kylie about that part of this trip. Hadn’t even told her what I’d seen of my mom’s death, only that I’d seen it. If she knew I was about to go confront a bunch of murdering magical beings, she’d really freak out.
What was the point in worrying her when she was too far away to help?
“Are we there yet?” Marco called from the seat ahead of me with a mock-childish voice. I gently kicked the seatback, and he shot an amused smile my way.
Aaron chuckled where he was sitting at the front in his usual spot as navigator. “Almost. Why are cats always so restless?”
“Because we know we have so much to contribute to the world, and can’t stand to be held back,” Marco declared. He propped his feet against the driver’s seat in front of him.
Nate, who was sitting in that seat, made a gruff sound of dismissal. “I don’t remember you contributing a whole lot to this trip, other than picking out the most expensive dishes at the restaurant last night.”
Marco waved him off. “I just spent a week on a mountain eating non-perishables. Including food that was outright poisoned. We all deserved a good meal after that.”
No one looked at me as he said that, but I felt the shift in attention all the same. All of the guys except West had offered to keep me company in the back seat, but I’d told them I wanted a little time to myself to think and chat with Kylie. I knew they were still worried about my reaction to finding out about Mom’s death. I hadn’t wanted to eat a whole lot in the restaurant, true. I just wanted to get out here and see some justice done.
As if he’d picked up on that thought, Aaron directed his voice toward me. “As soon as we arrive, I’ll send one of my people to arrange an audience with the fae monarch. It shouldn’t take long for her to respond.”
“And I’m sure they’ll be so happy to entertain us,” West grumbled where he was sitting beside Marco.
I ignored him. “Thank you,” I said to Aaron.
The salt smell in the air thickened. The SUV pulled up to a wrought-iron gate set in a high stone wall. My pulse kicked up a notch. Instinctively, I slipped my hand into my pocket to squeeze Mom’s locket. The solid metal made me feel slightly more grounded.
I think I’d better say my good-byes for the moment, I texted to Kylie. It looks like I’m just about there.
Go be the best dragon shifter queen they’ve ever seen! she replied.
I smiled, but as I put away my phone, I didn’t feel at all queenly. I was wearing a tee and jeans and no make-up, my body was still sore from all that hiking up and down the mountain. I had no idea what to even expect from a shifter estate.
Aaron had explained that the kin-groups each had a sort of center of operations, the avians in the northwest, the canines in the northeast, the felines in the southeast, and the assorted group Nate ruled over in the southwest. The alphas traveled throughout the country as they needed to, but they met with their advisors and kept their records on the estate. Any shifter who needed help could always show up there and know they’d be taken care of.
The dragon shifters had an estate too—one that had been left vacant for sixteen years. Right smack in the middle of the country, so it didn’t favor any of the kin groups over the others. That was where my entire family had been when the rogues had launched their first attack.
My gut twisted at the thought of going back to that place. I had happy childhood memories from my first five years, growing up there... but my last memories of the house and the grounds around it were full of violence and panic.
Trills of music filtered through the sides of the van. I peered out the window. A huge mansion had just come into view up ahead. All its windows shone with inner light amid the deepening evening. White marble columns framed the double doors, and sculptures of bird-like figures clustered along the eaves of the angled roof.
The trees lining the drive leading up to the mansion were strung with sparkling lanterns. A massive courtyard lay between the forested grounds and the mansion’s broad front steps. In that courtyard, a swarm of figures had gathered. They were whirling in time with the music, swinging lights of their own.
Then someone must have caught sight of the SUV. A cheer rose up. The dancers stilled to watch our arrival.
Aaron glanced back at me. “My kin are all looking forward to meeting you,” he said. “They wanted to make your first visit here special.”
I hugged myself, trying to contain my nerves. These shifters wanted to like me. I was their alpha’s mate. But stepping out into this excited crowd was a far cry from being questioned and pawed over by a small group of villagers in the shifter town we’d stopped at on our way to the mountain. There had to be hundreds of people gathered together before us.
“I don’t know what to say to them,” I said. “Or what to do. Or—”
“Just be yourself. Be our Princess of Flames.” Marco aimed his sly grin at me. “No one could ask for anything more than that.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. But as Nate drew the SUV to a stop at the edge of the courtyard, I pulled my back up straight.
This was it. This was the start of the whole rest of my life, as the dragon shifter who held the four shifter kin groups together. I’d fought to be here. And now I was going to damn well make as much of it as I could.
Chapter 12
West
A woman who smelled like a sparrow bumped into me from behind. A second later, a sparrow shifter jostled me to the side with his elbow. Gritting my teeth, I wove toward the edge of the courtyard. Music see
med to be clanging from every direction, only slightly louder than the cacophony of voices. And there were a lot of voices. Avians always had an awful lot to say.
Wolves were pack animals, sure, but a proper pack was ten, maybe fifteen strong. We didn’t enjoy crowds. No room to run, no room to maneuver. How anyone enjoyed them, I didn’t have a clue. And no one here gave any deference to my status as alpha. All their attention was focused on their returning leader—and, of course, the mate at his side.
I glanced back over the bobbing heads. Aaron’s kin had set up a platform in the middle of the courtyard so that he could stand there and show off Ren. The dragon shifter was smiling and shaking hands and accepting hugs, but her stance was just as uncertain as it’d been in that canine village when she’d been swarmed.
A twinge I didn’t like ran through my chest. The impulse to go to her, to lend my presence as support. Was she really ready for this?
I set my jaw. If she wanted this role, she was going to have to be ready. This time I couldn’t step in and usher her away to give her some breathing room. This was the eagle shifter’s show. Anyway, she’d asked for this by consummating the mate-bond with Aaron. Let her have it.
I wrenched my eyes away and spotted Marco at the edge of the courtyard. I’d have expected the jaguar shifter to be right there in the middle of the festivities, given the way he usually chased after fun as if it were a particularly tasty mouse. But maybe he was having a private party of his own here. He’d gathered a group of shifters around him who didn’t look at all avian. As I came up to them, I got a good whiff. Felines, all of them.
“What’s with the cat convention over here?” I asked.
Marco’s gaze slid to me. He flicked his fingers dismissively. “A kin delegation caught up with me here. The vampires back in New York are throwing a bit of a tantrum. Nothing we can’t sort out by ourselves.”