by Skye Jones
Oh crap. Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck. Eyes wide, she looked around the room, suddenly wanting to escape this surreal and terrifying inquisition. She had no one here with her. No one on her side. Her mother would have known what to do, but now Mia only had herself to rely on.
“Don’t panic. Don’t try to run. We aren’t here to hurt you.” The man slowly reached out his arm and touched her wrist, light as a feather.
Once more, the strange feeling of faintness and overwhelming, incendiary lust built within her. Surely to God he used some sort of magic. This wasn’t normal.
He pulled his hand away once more. “Feel that? You can’t fake a connection like it. It’s only happening because you’re one of us.”
“Who are you? You keep saying one of us. Are you a cult?”
The blond, Aiden, laughed and shook his head. “No, although not far off in some ways.”
“Aiden,” Rhiannon snapped. “Stop it.”
“We’re your people, that’s who we are.” Rhiannon took her hand and held it gently. “We’re your kin. Your family. Your clan.”
Clan? What an odd word.
“This might come as rather a shock, but you are adopted.”
She simply nodded. “I already know. Found some papers amongst Mum’s belongings. Are you…witches?” She waited for the laughter, the pitying looks. But Rhiannon gave a slight tilt of her head.
“You can call us witches, as we are in some ways, yes. We’re much, much more, though. And so are you. I sense your magic is strong.”
Suddenly, something burst within her. Some dam of pent-up, crazy panic and a big dose of loss. Because right now, in this truly surreal and fucked-up moment, she missed her mum so much it emotionally gutted her. She shot out of her chair and ran from the room. Her footsteps pounded down the hallway, and she burst through the front door, taking in huge lungfuls of fresh air as she hit the bright outdoors.
Not considering where she ran to, only needing to get away, to get some space to breathe, she raced down the path from her small cottage toward the tiny, one-car country lane at the top of the hill.
She heard voices behind her but didn’t pause.
“Stop, Mia!” Steffan’s gruff, deep voice washed over her, but despite it making her legs weaken for a moment, she paid him no heed and carried on moving. The fact that he affected her so only added to her terror. It made no damn sense whatsoever.
The wind whipped her hair violently, and she became dimly aware of light rain hitting her face. Her feet left the ground. One moment, she’d been pounding along, the next, she flew through the air and landed with a thump over something hard. The air left her lungs, and everything spun as she found herself staring at the ground.
It took her a moment, but when she oriented herself, she realized she’d been slung over Steffan’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
She beat her fists uselessly against his back and kicked her legs. “Put me down. Seriously, put me the fuck down right now.”
“No.”
“Fuck you!” She screamed the words. But the guy kept right on strolling back toward her cottage with her. Were they going to hurt her? To kill her? They must be insane. Talking of witches and all that shit? Yes, something truly bizarre happened to her once, but there would be a scientific explanation. Maybe a form of spontaneous human combustion due to her heightened fear? Only one that didn’t progress and burn her…but how to explain how she walked through the flames without a blister on her? Still, it had to have a reasonable explanation. It did.
If they got her back into the house, she’d never escape them. Something told her as much. She needed to get away. Acting on instinct, she lifted her head and screamed.
“Fucking hell.” Steffan jogged the last few steps and pushed through the door. He strode down the hallway and dumped her unceremoniously on the sofa.
She winced as her foot hit the soft covering, and she glanced at it. Oh, shit. Was that blood?
“Be careful. Aiden, can you fetch a cloth?” Steffan lifted her foot with gentle hands and looked at it. “You were running on gravel in bare feet. You’ve torn your soles to shreds.”
And even with the panic and the fear and the damn pain in her foot, his touch still made her want him. A padded cell waited for her, with her name on it and everything. She was damn sure of it.
He turned her other foot over and shook his head. Aiden strolled back into the room with the cloth and passed it to Steffan.
“I need to use the bathroom. I’ll have a look and see if there’s any antibiotic cream in there.” He glanced at her feet and winced, before turning and stalking out of the room.
Rhiannon moved to stand by her. “Child, you’re going to have to calm down. I know all of this is scary and new, but trust me. Once you learn who and what you are, a whole new world will be opened to you. An amazing one.”
She took deep breaths and tried to calm herself. She didn’t usually react to things in such a way. Normally, she kept pretty level-headed. She didn’t freak out and wasn’t flighty.
“What’s this?” Aiden walked back into the room, holding the picture of two dragons in flight she’d been painting.
She jutted her chin. “That was in my bedroom. My private space. You’d no right.”
“I went to the bathroom and saw it through the open door.”
Shit. She had left her bedroom door open, and she remembered thinking she ought to go and shut it. Those paintings were private. Not shared with her buyers and followers. They came to her in vivid, strange dreams, and she found herself compelled to draw them. The style clashed with her bright, cheerful landscapes. The pictures of dragons were darker and more complex. They held none of the childlike innocence of her other work.
Kate regarded the painting, her brow furrowed. “This is amazing. Did you draw it?”
She nodded, beyond the ability to summon a lie.
“The style’s so different from your other work, but I love it.”
“Why do you paint dragons?” Aiden demanded. “There are at least five pictures in your bedroom showing nothing but various dragons. Why?”
She sighed and faced up to him. Might as well spill her guts. If they were going to take her away to some sort of lab and experiment on her, her dreams wouldn’t make any difference one way or another.
“I dream about dragons. A lot. God knows why. I have since I was a kid. So I draw my dreams. It helps me process them.”
“Truly one of us. Maybe a powerful latent. Ice has strong magic, but she didn’t dream of dragons. I sense your magic is maybe even stronger than hers.” Steffan dabbed at her feet with the cloth, then turned to Aiden. “Did you find any cream?”
Who was Ice? She started to ask, but Aiden spoke.
“Oh, yeah. Here.” Aiden dug around in his pocket and pulled out the small tube of antibiotic cream she kept in her bathroom cabinet.
Her mind snapped back to his snooping. “I hope you enjoyed having a good look around all my personal shit.” Oh, crap. She ought to be extra nice to these people. Instead, she kept throwing them attitude, but she’d never been one to bite her tongue or back down from a fight.
“I did, thanks.” Aiden flashed her a smile, but it didn’t warm his face. She got the distinct impression he didn’t like her. No problem, as the feeling was beginning to be mutual. Arrogant bastard.
“We need to explain to you where you come from.” Steffan dabbed cream carefully on her cuts and grazes, and she tried not to gasp at the sting. “But you’re going to need an open mind…and to try to keep calm. Do you have any comfy shoes you can slip on?”
For a moment, she only stared at him, thrown by the question. Then she pointed to the pull-on running shoes by her door. He went to fetch them and carefully, oh so carefully, put them on her scratched-up feet. She winced as they went on, but she knew they’d keep her cuts clean until she dressed them properly later.
“I’m sick of waiting, wondering what you’re going to tell me. Just lay it on me.” She shook her head as
a sort of dulled acceptance replaced her earlier terror. “And pass me some more wine, will you? I’ve a feeling I’ll need it.”
Steffan raised one sharp eyebrow but did as she asked and grabbed the wineglass for her.
She took a fortifying sip as he began to speak.
“The dreams you have and these paintings you do in private…they are strongly linked to what I want to tell you. It all also ties in with the experience you had when trapped in the shed. You’re not fully human.”
She’d been taking another sip of wine, and now she coughed and spluttered as it went down the wrong way.
Steffan patted her back, and slowly, her coughing fit faded. Her eyes watered, but she at least breathed right again. Steffan watched her, and he reached out to swipe his thumb across one cheek. Her heart fluttered in her throat at the sensation of his callused digit touching her face. It struck her as so intimate.
“You okay?” He finished wiping her tears away and looked directly into her eyes.
Stomach flipping with a mix of nerves and excitement, she had to look away from his molten gaze. “I’m okay. But…what you said. Seriously? You’ll have to do better than that.”
“Words can be so weak when trying to explain something huge, something life altering. I often find showing a person something works better.” Rhiannon gave her an impish smile. “Why don’t we go outside for a moment?”
Should she? What if they bundled her into a car or something and drove off with her? She hesitated, and Steffan laid his hand over hers.
“We won’t hurt you. I give you my word.”
Call her an idiot, but she trusted him somehow. Despite his scary countenance and his huge build, something about him soothed her, and she had no idea why. She’d always had superhoned instincts, but now that she’d calmed down enough to focus, she found her gut saying this man, these people, weren’t a direct threat to her. Plus, what harm could it do? They only wanted her to step outside; they could have already done anything they wanted to her, inside or out.
“Okay.” She stood and her legs wobbled.
“Whoa, you’re okay.” Steffan held her elbow until she steadied herself.
They filed out of the house and into the cool air of yet another showery and blustery summer day. Rhiannon gave her a smile and proceeded to strip her clothes off. What the heck? Were they nudists or something?
She looked from Steffan to Aiden, and both men cast their eyes to the ground.
“We don’t usually do this in public. It’s a private affair, but you won’t believe it if you don’t see it with your own eyes.” Rhiannon winked at her and, finally stripped of her clothes, held her arms out. The wind picked up, and leaves and dirt lifted from the ground. They spun around Rhiannon in a mini tornado.
Holy fuck, they were witches! She watched with wide eyes as the woman in front of her became almost invisible. A flash of lightning made her close her eyes for a split second. She blinked them open…and screamed.
Where a moment before Rhiannon had stood in front of her, now a huge beast occupied the same place. An elephant? She looked again as the wind calmed down and the leaves and debris fell to the ground…and started to tremble. It wasn’t an elephant or a rhino or anything as prosaic. In front of her stood a dragon. A fucking dragon!
She must be seeing things. Maybe they’d spiked her drink? The dragon took a lumbering step toward them, and she squeaked and stepped back. A warm, solid hand landed on her lower back.
“She won’t do anything to you. That’s still Rhiannon, only in a different form.” Steffan stopped her from moving any farther back.
“This can’t be happening,” she muttered.
“I feel exactly the same way,” Aiden said.
“You’ve not seen this before?” She turned to him, confused.
“I didn’t mean the dragon,” he growled.
“Aiden, shut the fuck up. You had the opportunity to leave and decided to stay, so quit moaning about it.” Steffan’s tone brooked no argument.
Their words went right over her head. She couldn’t focus on their spat while a fucking dragon stomped about in front of her.
“Want to see something cool?” Kate asked her with a smile.
Did she? What they termed cool, she might find terrifying.
“Why don’t you fly for her, Rhi?” Kate spoke again.
The dragon did a weird blowing thing, almost like a subdued trumpet of sound, and turned around and lumbered over the garden. With a few flaps of her huge wings, she soared into the air, not going too high so she’d probably be shielded by the high conifers on the right of the garden. And there lay nothing but empty wild flower fields to the left before reaching the sea. The dragon flew in a lazy circle around the large patch of mottled grass Mia called a lawn, then swooped in to land near them. She blew steam out of her nostrils and nodded her head.
Okay, so it had kind of been cool.
A thought struck her. “How many people know you exist?”
“Not many. It’s a highly guarded secret, and one you must now also promise to keep safe.” Kate fixed her with a serious frown.
“Why are you showing me this?” Her mind whirred. Dragons breathed fire, right? She’d set a shed alight. She dreamed of dragons… No. Fucking. Way. She turned wide eyes to Kate. “Are you about to tell me that I can change into a dragon?”
“Change, no. We think you are a latent, which means you can’t shift physical form. But you can still be powerful. Your magic can be strong. You can bring forth fire and put it out. Read people and animals easily. Maybe see certain things in your dreams. Perhaps, if you are strong, you can be a powerful healer. We won’t know until we put you to the test.”
Test? Oh, no. Her fear returned.
“Hey. Don’t worry, we don’t mean tests as such.” Steffan placed his hand on her lower back again, once more settling her. “We’ll help you and teach you your magic. It’s dangerous to leave you here in the human world without you knowing how to control the ability you possess. If you come back with us to the clan, you’ll be able to explore it in a safe place.”
Did they expect her to abandon her life and go live with them? No way. She loved her little cottage and her painting work. True, there wasn’t much else she’d miss, but she’d definitely miss those things. And she loved living by the sea.
“We don’t mean forever,” he added. “For a little while, until you learn about your heritage and your people. It might be that you decide to stay, but that will be up to you. Or you may wish to return to your human life, and that will be fine once you know how to control your power.”
A breeze whipped up, and once more, a mini tornado coalesced around Rhiannon’s dragon until the lightning flashed again, and there stood the woman again. Rhiannon pulled her clothes on quickly and efficiently and turned to Mia. “You look peaky, love. Let’s go inside and make you a nice cup of tea.”
Mia burst out laughing. How British! She’d had her mind well and truly blown, and now came the much-needed cup of tea.
They headed back into the house, and Rhiannon rattled around in the kitchen, putting the kettle on and getting mugs out.
Mia sank down back onto the sofa, happy to lift her feet once more.
“The cuts will heal quickly, but you might need bandages for a day or two. I’ll purchase some in town.” Kate jerked her chin toward Mia’s feet resting on the sofa. “We’d like you to come back with us tonight and stay at the guesthouse. Then tomorrow we can head to the clan territory.”
Her heart thumped in a rapid-fire dance as she considered the request. Should she?
“There’s something else you need to know.” Steffan moved to sit by her.
Oh, not more bloody revelations! As if they hadn’t dropped enough on her. She looked at him and waited for it.
“You have a sister.”
Nothing he said could have surprised her more. His words socked her right in her gut. A sister. Family. Oh, God.
“Like me?” Her voice caught. W
as her sister this strange latent creature too? Wow. Someone like her, with the same genes. A blood relative.
“Yep. Like you.” Steffan smiled, and it softened his hard features and made him look younger. “She looks like you and possesses some powerful magic. She’s cool, too. I think you’ll like her.”
“You know her?”
“Yep. She’s ma…married to a couple of friends of mine.”
“A couple?” She frowned. His words didn’t make sense.
“Erm, yeah. It’s a dragon thing, and you don’t need to worry about it now. But she has two…erm…husbands.”
Wow. Kinky. Mia had always had a bit of a fantasy about being with two guys. She immediately suffered pangs of guilt for perving over her sister’s relationship. They undoubtedly loved each other deeply, and that was the main thing.
“You’ll meet her if you come back with us. She and her two males asked us to find you. She wants to meet you, and she will come to our clan to do so.”
Her fear suddenly turned into something much more akin to excitement. She had a sister! After feeling so desperately lonely, she now had someone else in the world who shared her blood. Losing her mum had been bad enough. She’d become an adult orphan overnight, because no matter your age that’s what losing your only parent did to you. Then to discover she’d been adopted had shaken her to the core. She’d been anchorless. As if she floated through this world with no real roots, no one to ground her. She realized with a sharp pang, she wanted to belong, hated the feeling of not fitting in anywhere. Now she might. With her sister.
Even if they didn’t see one another regularly, it would be wonderful simply to meet and get to know one another.
“Here you go.”
A hot cup of tea was thrust into her hands. She took a sip and sighed as the sweet liquid slid down her throat.
“So…your dragons but you drink tea?” She started to laugh. “This is so surreal.”