Chapter Nine
Finn sat on the hard ground a short distance from the fire with his knees drawn up in front of him. He had his arms wrapped around his legs and he held a cold beer in one hand, which was quite a treat out here in the wilderness. Knox had brought a stash of beer with him, which had made the dragons and wizards even happier to see him. Knox was a good leader, always taking care of his crew in any way he could, even if that just meant bringing some cold beers out to the woods.
And the beers were cold, thanks to the chilly weather. The calendar might say that it was spring, but some sort of weather system was moving through the area and causing the temperatures to drop rapidly. Finn decided he had one reason to be thankful that he wasn’t in Montana right now. The weather there was likely even worse.
Still, Finn thought as he watched the crackling flames, he did wish he was in Devil’s Melt, despite the weather. He wished he was searching for the dragon amethyst. He wished he was doing something.
He was tired of sitting around fires. Even with Knox here, talking and joking, Finn felt restless. It was good to see his clan leader, but he would have enjoyed a meal around the fire pit back home much better. Finn wanted this war to be over, and to be home in his own cabin again. No one else in the circle seemed to share his restlessness tonight, though. Peter and Kirk were laughing as Raven told them a story about falling off her broomstick during an official military flying presentation. Owen was, of course, sitting a little too close to Raven. Izzy was in some sort of earnest conversation with Knox, and Anya was listening in, nodding and smiling. Everyone seemed happy and at ease, but Finn could not find it in himself to relax right now.
There was a goddamn war going on, and the enemy was growing stronger with every passing day. Finn could not keep himself from constantly glancing at the sky, wondering whether they were being followed and whether their invisibility shields would hold. He hoped they were safe for the moment, since they were so far from Devil’s Melt in the wrong direction. But if the last twenty-four hours had taught him anything, it was that he could never be sure of safety.
His eyes fell on Peter again, and he scowled despite himself. The old wizard was known as wise, kind, and generous, and yet he had wanted to wipe Anya’s memory. There were some things about the wizarding world Finn would never understand, and he worried that the alliance between the wizards and shifters was growing weak. Knox seemed to think everything was fine, but Finn wondered how two groups with so many differences could truly align themselves as one against a threat as powerful as Saul.
Finn supposed that they had no choice in the matter, and that was why they were making things work. After all, neither of the groups were likely to win on their own. They needed each other. Finn saw Raven throw back her head and laugh, and watched as Owen reached over to squeeze her shoulder.
“I guess some of us need them more than others,” he said under his breath.
Several of his clan members had now found their lifemates among the wizards of Falcon Cross. Knox had been the first, when he had stumbled across a wizard named Bree in the middle of the Redwoods. Now, Vance, Zeke, and Myles had also found wizard lifemates. From the way Raven and Owen were acting, Finn had a feeling that Owen might not be far behind.
Finn smiled. He did like Raven, and he thought her spunky personality fit Owen quite well. In fact, all of the wizards whom his clan members had chosen as lifemates were wonderful people. But even though he approved of some of the individual wizards, he didn’t have to approve of the wizards’ barbaric, outdated laws.
Finn let his eyes move over to Anya again. She was still listening to Izzy and Knox’s conversation, although she had a slightly confused look on her face right now. Finn almost wanted to laugh. The poor girl had been thrown suddenly into quite a different world, and her mind must be spinning as she tried to take it all in. She was a smart girl, though. She’d catch up quickly.
Finn felt his heart twist up in his chest in a funny way as he watched Anya. The warm firelight enhanced her beauty, and he found himself admiring the radiant appearance of her skin under the reddish-orange glow. He still couldn’t say exactly why it had mattered so much to him that her memory be saved. He wanted to think that he had spoken up for her based solely on his belief that memory wiping was a horrid practice, but he knew his reasons went deeper than that. He felt something for her, but he was having a hard time admitting it to himself.
He had never been the “falling in love” type. He’d never had a serious girlfriend, even when he’d been on long missions that kept him in the same location for months on end. He’d always found it easier to keep his heart closed off and not feel anything for anyone. And who could blame him? Being a Redwood Dragon wasn’t an easy life. He and his clan members lived in the middle of nowhere, isolated out in the heart of the California Redwoods. They had no families, except each other. They spent their days doing dangerous work, chasing down powerful ancient artifacts. What kind of woman would want a part in that?
Finn had always thought that no woman would. But now, in the span of less than a year, four of the ten Redwood Dragons had managed to find lifemates. Perhaps Finn was feeling a bit jealous that they had someone to love and protect, and that’s why he had chosen to stick up for Anya. Yes, that was it. It wasn’t that he wanted Anya in particular. It was just that he wondered what it would be like to love someone. Or, heck, maybe he was just jealous that they got to get laid whenever they wanted. He loved his solo life, but could anyone blame him for sometimes wishing that he had someone warm next to him in bed?
Especially someone as gorgeous as Anya.
Finn frowned and tried to push away the thought. He hadn’t saved Anya so he could get laid. He wasn’t that shallow. He lifted his beer can to his lips to take another long drag and distract himself, then realized that the can was empty. Frustrated, he threw the can aside and stood to his feet. No one paid any attention to him as he paced back and forth in front of the fire for a few moments. They were all busy with their own conversations, and that was just fine with him. He wasn’t in the mood to talk right now.
In fact, he wouldn’t mind some time to himself, and he decided that now was as good a time as any to steal off into the woods for a solo walk. Maybe filling his lungs with some fresh, woodsy air would help calm him down. He took one last glance over his shoulder at the group around the fire. Knox looked up, seeming to sense that something was wrong. Finn’s eyes met with his clan leader’s eyes, and Knox raised an eyebrow at him, questioning.
Finn shrugged, and motioned to the woods. Knox gave a small nod, understanding even though no words were spoken. Everything was fine. Finn just wanted some space.
Finn slipped into the dark forest, every step taking him further from the light and noise of the fire. He breathed in deeply, savoring the scents and silence of the forest at night. The only sound now was the low hum of nocturnal insects, but that blended into the background so well that it could hardly be counted as noise.
After about a minute of walking, Finn felt a slight pressure on his body, and his ears filled with a noise like rushing water. He had reached the boundary of the invisibility and protective shield that surrounded the camp, but he did not hesitate to walk through it to the other side. After a few seconds, he was past the boundary and everything was quiet once again. He wasn’t worried about straying from the shield tonight. Despite his constant worry about enemy soldiers following them, Finn knew that it was unlikely that they were here tonight. And if they were, then so be it. He wouldn’t mind shifting into dragon form and burning up a few evil wizards right about now. Finn was in no mood to be messed with.
After about fifteen minutes of walking, Finn came to a small stream. He smiled as he sat down on the grassy bank and listened to the soothing babbling of the water as it gurgled around rocks and made its way onward. There was a break in the tree cover here, and the moon shone down brightly, leaving traces of silver in the swirling water. The simple beauty of it calmed Finn’s nerves, and after a short
while he even found himself humming the melody of one of his favorite country songs. This moment would have been absolutely perfect, if only the threat of war wasn’t hanging over his head.
And if only Anya were here, too.
The thought popped into his head unbidden, and he pushed it away as quickly as he could. What was his problem tonight? He’d saved her because it was the right thing to do. It didn’t mean that he was going to start some sort of romantic affair with her. Heck, she probably wasn’t even interested in a romantic affair with a dragon. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and he was pretty sure she could get any guy she wanted. Why would she choose a dragon shifter, with all the baggage that entailed?
Finn laid back on the ground so that his face was toward the sky, and began counting stars. He tried to focus on the little twinkling lights instead of on the unfamiliar feelings swirling in his core. If he thought about Anya too long, he began to stiffen between his legs. He could not allow himself to indulge thoughts of sleeping with her. The very idea was crazy. He had to work with her, now. He couldn’t have his dick standing at attention every time she was nearby.
“Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two,” he said, counting and desperately trying to think of anything but Anya. “Twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five.”
“Counting stars?” a voice asked. Moments later, Anya’s face was right above his, blocking his view of the stars and sending a fresh rush of hot blood to the stiffening member between his legs.
“Jesus Christ,” he said, sitting up so quickly that Anya barely had time to move her head and avoid being rammed in the face by his forehead. “I didn’t hear you coming at all.”
Anya fell back onto the ground beside him, laughing. “Now you know how it feels,” she said. “Serves you right.”
Finn looked over at her, his heart pounding from a mixture of nerves, anger, and passion. He wasn’t angry at her. He was angry at himself for being so wrapped up in his thoughts that he had completely stopped paying attention to the forest around him. He had dragon senses, after all. There was no way Anya could have snuck up on him like that if he’d been alert to his surroundings instead of counting stars. Thank god it had only been Anya, and not enemy soldiers. After a few seconds, though, the initial shock wore off and he began to see the humor in the situation. He even managed a small chuckle.
“I guess I sort of deserved that,” he said. “Although, I did stick up for you earlier today. I would have thought that would have been enough for you to not get back at me for sneaking up on you.”
Anya giggled. “Fair enough. But, truth be told, I wasn’t actually trying to sneak up on you. I was walking at a completely normal pace through the forest, stepping on twigs and everything. You were just so lost in thought that you didn’t hear me stomping around.”
Finn ran his fingers through his hair, somewhat troubled. “I was that out of it, huh? Good thing it was just you and not one of Saul’s soldiers stomping around out here.”
The smile froze on Anya’s face when Finn said this. “Do you think there might be enemy soldiers around?” she asked. Finn could tell she was trying to look brave, but her eyes looked fearful. He supposed that after the ordeal she’d been through last night, she was hoping for at least one night of peace and quiet.
“I don’t think Saul’s army is out here,” he said. “They wouldn’t know to follow us this far south, and, honestly, they might not care to bother us as long as we’re so far from Devil’s Melt. Their main concern is making sure we don’t get the dragon amethyst. There isn’t much danger of us finding it out here.”
Anya nodded, her face relaxing a bit as Finn reassured her. “I suppose it’s going to get pretty gnarly once we head back toward Devil’s Melt,” she said.
Finn laughed. “Yes, gnarly is a nice word for it. I’m not sure when we’ll be heading back, though. We need to find a way to make ourselves invisible despite their dark magic defenses. Either that or we’ll need to take a whole freaking army in there. It’s not an ideal situation. We would have been much better off if we’d been able to maintain some element of surprise, but we weren’t able to do that. We’ll just have to work with what we’ve got. Peter and Knox have been discussing the situation all day, but I’m not sure they’ve come to any conclusions.”
“Knox seems like a good leader,” Anya said, looking over at Finn uncertainly, as though worried he might contradict her.
Finn felt his chest swelling with pride. “Yes, he is. A very good leader. We’re lucky to have him at the head of our clan.”
“He’s not at all like Peter, is he?” Anya asked, her voice wary.
Finn exhaled deeply before answering. “Peter is not a bad guy. In fact, some think that he’s one of the wisest, kindest men that ever lived. The problem is that he’s stubborn, and that the wizards still have some very strict, very outdated laws in effect. Instead of changing these laws, the Falcon Cross wizards seem intent on following them to the letter. It drives me crazy, but there’s not a lot I can do about it. We need the wizards as allies, so we have to be respectful of their ways to a certain degree. Today, though…they wanted to go too far. I wasn’t about to let them harm you like that. That’s why I stood up for you. I hope you don’t throw me under the bus now.”
Finn gave Anya a lopsided grin. He wasn’t worried about her betraying the side of good in this war. He might not know her well, but it wasn’t hard to see that there wasn’t a single evil bone in her body. He wasn’t sure that she would be as helpful as she claimed she could be to their cause, but at least she would not betray them. He still thought she’d be safer if she went back home and stayed out of the way of the war, but she seemed determined to tag along on this journey. He worried for her well-being, but he had to admit that the thought of seeing her every day excited him.
He was growing excited between his legs again, too. He looked quickly away from Anya’s face, trying to distract himself by watching the water of the stream again. He was thankful that it was nighttime, and he hoped that Anya would not be able to notice his erection by the light of the moon.
Anya wasn’t paying attention to the space between Finn’s legs, however. She was looking at the water herself, a frown etched across her face.
“I won’t let you down,” she said. “I meant it when I said I wanted to help fight Saul’s army in any way I can. But I have to admit that, as much as I like Izzy and Raven, the wizards’ ways of doing things trouble me. I mean, they seem nice enough, but they can’t really be that nice, can they? Not when they were just standing there while Peter discussed harming me. It sounded like he wanted to kill me just for being human.”
Finn swung his head around to look at Anya in surprise. “Kill you? They weren’t going to kill you!” he said. “They were going to wipe your memory, which is still pretty awful in my opinion. But they weren’t talking about actually murdering you. Even wizards aren’t that backwards.”
“Oh,” Anya said in a flat tone that told Finn she was still very confused. “I heard them talking about memory wiping but I wasn’t sure what that meant. And everything they said at the beginning made it sound to me like they were just going to kill me to get rid of the problem.”
“Oh, Anya,” Finn said, his heart going out to her as she looked back at him with uncertain, questioning eyes. He was realizing now just how terrified she must have been, standing there being judged by wizards and shifters whom she thought were plotting to take her life. He reached for her hand tentatively, and to his relief, she did not pull away. She looked at him with wide eyes, and he had to resist the urge to pull her into his arms. As it was, the warmth flowing between their hands felt intoxicating. He took a deep, steadying breath, and then began explaining.
“They were not planning to kill you, but they were planning to use a magic spell that wipes your memory clean. It’s one of their stupid, backwards procedures. Whenever a human has seen magic or discovered that wizards exist, their standard procedure is to wipe the human’s memory cl
ean back to the point where the human encountered the wizards.”
“That’s awful!” Anya said. “That’s a violation of human dignity. They can’t just wipe someone’s memory because they screwed up and let someone see magic. Besides, why are they automatically assuming that all humans are horrible people who are going to persecute them just because they’re wizards? Not everyone is so unaccepting!”
The more Anya spoke, the more fired up she became. Anger flashed in her eyes, and she squeezed Finn’s hand so tightly that he was sure she must be leaving red marks. He didn’t care, though. She was beautiful when she was angry. In fact, she was beautiful when she was happy, and when she was sad. She was so goddamned beautiful, no matter what. He had given up trying to keep hold back his arousal. Everything about her right now was turning him on, although, she still seemed not to notice. She was too consumed with rage at the wizards, and rightly so, he thought. Even though they had not intended to kill her, they had intended to violate her.
“I agree. It is awful,” Finn said. “And it’s why I chose to stand up for you today. Not only do I think wiping someone’s memory is an unacceptable practice in itself, but the memory-wiping spell is very difficult to perform. It’s easy to mess up and wipe too much, or to cause the person to go crazy, or a host of other problems. I wasn’t about to let them do that to you.”
Anya was silent for a moment, staring at the stream with a brooding expression on her face. She still held Finn’s hand, and he tried to memorize the way her palm felt in his. He wasn’t sure whether he would ever have a chance to hold her hand again, and he did not want to forget this moment. He wasn’t willing to admit to himself yet that he had any deep feelings for Anya, but he could not deny that his whole body wanted her. If she hadn’t been so distraught at the moment, he might have attempted to make a move on her then and there. If he thought she would have him, he would have rammed the space between her legs so forcefully that she would have trouble walking the next day. He wondered as he watched her, whether there was anything wrong with indulging in pure, carnal passion. Did she feel the electricity between them, too? Was she as desperate to find relief in someone’s warm arms as he was right now?
Destiny and the Dragon (Redwood Dragons Book 5) Page 9