Please let us not be too late, she said to herself. Please let them not have been sold off to traders already.
They cleared the mountain range, and Tegan swooped down a little lower so that they could get a better idea of the terrain. A lot of it was rocky, hills covered with shale and obsidian that were much less welcoming than the green hills on the other side of the mountain range from whence they came, and that gave heart to Ciara because it meant that those wagons couldn’t travel very fast, and would need time.
Sure enough, they spotted a caravan on the road, not twenty miles from the mountain range. And from what she could see they had stopped, possibly to fix an axle or take care of something else that was holding them up. Idling next to the caravan on either side of the road were two enormous dragons – one green, one yellow – very likely meant to act as guards, and be on watch for any attackers.
“Tegan!” she shouted over the wind, trying to get him to hear her, but there was no need – he was already banking for one of the hills so they could land. He deposited her gently at the base of a hillock, then landed next to her and stretched out his enormous wings before shifting back into human form.
“I’m guessing those are the slave traders,” Tegan said. “And that the dragons who with them are shifters from the Firewalker Clan.”
“Yes, that’s what I’m thinking too,” Ciara agreed. She looked off into the distance, squinting her eyes so she could see the caravan – they were much harder to spot from the ground, a simple blip on the horizon. Adrenaline pumped through her now, hot and fast, and she was eager to get moving. “So what do we do now? Swoop in and rescue them? Breathe fire and rain brimstone down on them so that we can kill the kidnappers and rescue everyone else?”
Tegan sighed. “We can’t just dive bomb them and hurl fireballs,” he told her. “Nearly all of the ones who are there aside from the slaves are going to be shifters. We’re outmatched.”
Ciara felt her heart start to slide into the bottom of her shoes, and she gritted her teeth, fighting to stay positive. “But what are we going to do if we can’t rescue them? We need to bring back at least some of them in order to provide your clan with proof. And I need to get my father back.”
“Yes, but that isn’t going to happen when we’re just one human girl, and one shifter. We stand no chance against them right now. They may as well be an army.” Tegan pursed his lips. “We’re going to need reinforcements.”
“And just where are we going to get those?” Ciara demanded, propping her hands up on her hips. “It’s not like we can go to your clan for help.”
“No, definitely not,” he agreed. “But there is another option, though it’s slim.”
“Oh really?” Hope began to rise in her chest again. “And who’s that?”
Tegan’s face tightened, and he looked away before answering. “The Blackfire Clan. My father’s clan.”
Chapter Nine
Tegan was having a hard time dealing with the swirl of emotions in his heart, as he flew north east toward the Blackfire Clan, who, from what he’d managed to gather over the years, were located in the heart of the Black Forest. Trepidation, hope and fear were the predominant emotions, along with shame and anger coming in along the edges, to make for a rather overwhelming cocktail of mental conflict.
He’d always thought that someday, after Grey had passed on, he would try and visit his father to confront him – to ask the bastard why he’d abandoned him, and why - if he knew Tegan existed - he hadn’t stuck around with his mother to raise him, and provide him with the life he should have had, and the love of a family. That was why he’d tracked down the location of the clan –and a name. Dageus Blackfire. Tegan thought back to how shocked and angry he had been when he discovered that the man most likely to be his birth father, was also the clan leader.
Oh, how it angered him to know that his father was the Alpha of another clan, and that if he’d claimed Tegan as his son, he would have lived a very different life. In fact, Tegan would have been next in line to inherit clan leadership. But instead here he was, raised by the one man in the world who’d shown enough kindness to take him in, and shunned by the clan leader who was supposed to protect him as a member of his own. The truth was that if it weren’t for the fact that he had promised Ciara that he would do everything in his power to help rescue her father, including approaching his birth father’s clan for help, he would not be flying toward the Black Forest now.
He definitely had never in his wildest dreams imagined their first encounter being one that involved begging his potential birth father for help. No, he’d imagined a more confrontational scenario, perhaps one where he’d waged war on his birth father, and everyone who followed him.
No, if not for Ciara he wouldn’t be doing this at all. But she needed this, and she needed him, and Grey needed help in order to rescue the villagers, and expose the corruption within his clan.
All of that was more than enough motivation to get him to swallow his pride, his fears, and ask this man for help.
Unlike the terrain they were in before, this area was greener, with many cliffs and hills as well as plains making up much of the landscape. Lakes and rivers dotted the terrain and provided the water needed to make the place vibrant. They crested a cliff, and the Black Forest came into view, the one where the Blackfire clan had carved the heart out of, to make their home very defensible, though a forest was an odd choice for a dragon clan to live since the trees could go up in smoke at any time.
Ah, he thought as they drew closer and he got a better look at the forest. But they’re pine trees. Pine burned without actually burning down, making the Black Forest an ideal choice for the Blackfire Clan. Even though the forest might catch fire, it was very unlikely that the village itself would burn down unless it was set on fire directly. And Tegan had a feeling that there were likely spells to prevent that - if Grey could trade for small spells that allowed him to do things like communicate via fire, surely a clan Alpha had enough coin to buy protection spells from wizards for his clan’s village.
Tegan began to descend, slowly enough as he was keeping in mind the fact that Ciara was in his claws, and that she wouldn’t be able to handle the air pressure of a fast descent. It reminded him of how fragile she is, how precious, and he wished there was somewhere he could have left her, not at all feeling comfortable with bringing her into a den of dragons he wasn’t sure would be friendly. But he knew no one he could take her to outside of Grey, and there was no way that he could get her to him since he was banned from the Redwater Clan, so the next best thing was to keep her close to his side to ensure that she remained safe.
“Okay,” he told Ciara after he’d landed and shifted back into human form. “It’s very likely that they’ve already seen us approaching from the distance.”
She nodded. “I saw sentries high up into the trees,” she told him. “They definitely spotted us. We should be prepared for a confrontation, or at the very least to be questioned.”
“Well aren’t you observant,” Tegan said, impressed.
Ciara smiled at him a little impishly. “I try to be useful even though I don’t have wings and I can’t breathe fire.”
“You’re very useful,” Tegan said. “The best partner a dragon could ask for.” He pulled Ciara into him for a hug, then dipped his head down and took her mouth in a long slow kiss. As usual she ignited a fire inside his belly that had absolutely nothing to do with the dragon inside him and everything to do with the fact that she made him feel ridiculously alive. The feel of her softness against him, the sweetness of her scent… he never wanted to let any of that go.
“Just in case something goes wrong and we don’t get another chance,” he murmured softly against her lips.
She nodded, then kissed him just a little longer before she pulled back. “We’re going to be just fine,” she said, stroking her thumb across his cheekbone as she looked deep into his eyes. “We have to be.”
They approached the rest of the forest c
autiously, their eyes scanning the copses of trees for any approaching sentries. It didn’t take very long before they encountered someone – two dragon shifter males, dressed in black and purple dyed clothing, a uniform of sorts with an emblem of black flames emblazoned across the center. They dropped down from the trees and directly into the path in front of them, and Tegan heard two more drop down from behind him.
Ciara stiffened visibly, and Tegan placed a reassuring hand against her back, fully prepared to move her out of harm’s way, if need be. “Who are you, and what business do you have in this forest?” One of the sentries, a blonde with brown eyes and a slender build asked sternly. His eyes were not unkind, but Tegan knew that if he made a wrong move, the sentry wouldn’t hesitate to attack.
“I’m here to see Dageus Blackfire,” he said. “My name is Tegan Stoneclaw of the Redwater clan.”
“I’ve never heard of you,” the sentry said, his frown deepening. “The Redwater lives to the south of us, and we have no dealings with them. What could you possibly want with our Alpha?”
“I believe he’s my birth father,” Tegan snapped, unable to keep his anger from spewing forth. “And I’ve come seeking his assistance.”
The sentry’s eyes widened in shock for a moment, and then narrowed again. “That’s impossible,” he said. “The clan Alpha doesn’t have a son like you. If he did, I would know about it.”
“And why is that, exactly?” Tegan asked, annoyance rising in his tone, even though he expected that the dragons wouldn’t believe him, or at least not initially.
“Because,” the sentry spat back, “I am his son.”
Chapter Ten
Ciara couldn’t help but think that things were going from bad to worse as they were dragged, bound hand and foot, into a large cabin that was no doubt the home of Dageus, the Alpha, and also Tegan’s potential birth father. First, Tegan and the sentry who had proclaimed himself to be the Alpha’s son, had engaged in a heated argument about the validity of Tegan’s story, which had mostly consisted of vehement denial from Garrison. Eventually Garrison had ordered his men to bind them and drag them in front of the Alpha to be punished for their insolence and their lies, as he had put it, because there was no way that Dageus could have another son – he had been mated forever, as far as Garrison was concerned, and had been faithful to his wife in every way up, until she’d died a few years ago.
Ciara scowled as she was forced to her knees, and it took a supreme effort for her not to topple into the harsh and unforgiving floorboards, nose-first. Gritting her teeth and fighting against the urge to shrug the sentry’s hands off her, she waited for Dageus to enter the room. She had to admit it was a nice room, with hand woven tapestries of dragons flying and fighting covering the walls, and a nice granite mantle against the wall to her right that was large enough for her to sit in. The furnishings were of very nice quality as well, and she suspected that the Blackfire clan likely traded well with nearby human villages in order to obtain their finer goods.
Next to her, Tegan was not faring much better. His brows were drawn into a fierce scowl, and if looks could kill, she imagined that the guards would be dead by now. His hands were fisted behind his back, his wrists raw beneath the rope, and she had the feeling he’d been trying to wiggle out of them since the moment they’d been tied, or at least loosen them so that he could engage in a fight, if things got even worse.
“And just what is the meaning of this?” A deep, stern male voice asked. The owner of the voice soon followed into the room, dressed in an ornate black and purple tunic, and Ciara sucked in a breath. There was no doubt in her mind that this was Tegan’s father – he had the same black hair and the same tall, lean, muscular build. There wasn’t a total likeness to the features – Tegan’s eyes were blue, whereas Dageus’s were brown, and his nose was thinner than the Alpha’s. But they had the same jaw and the same lips – the likeness was apparent to anyone who bothered to take a look.
And from the way that Garrison’s jaw tightened as he looked between the two of them, it was obvious that even he noticed. But it didn’t appear as if he were going to let go of his denial, as evident from his next words, “These two were found at the edge of our woods. We spotted them flying in and figured they were heading for us so we came to question them. This man here, Tegan Stoneclaw, claims to be your son and is asking to speak to you and beg favor.” He sneered.
Dageus paused, then crouched down in front of Tegan and studied his face. His jaw went slack with recognition. “My god,” he breathed. “You… Marissa is your mother, isn’t she?”
“Yes.” Tegan’s face tightened even further. “Yes, she is.”
Garrison looked as though he’d been slapped in the face. “Are… are you publicly acknowledging that this intruder is of your blood?” he asked, gaping.
Dagues rose to his feet with a scowl. “How could I not?” he demanded of his son. “He shares my features as well as the features of a female dragon shifter I once was very fond of, before you were born. Now untie them at once!” His face softened a little as Garrison reluctantly moved to untie Tegan and Ciara. “How is your mother, if I might ask?”
Tegan looked as if he might spit on the man’s feet as he was finally untied. “I wouldn’t know,” he said between gritted teeth. “She abandoned me many years ago because she was ashamed of my birth. I haven’t seen her since I was a child.”
Dageus blanched. “Marissa…she did that to you?”
“Don’t act as if you’re innocent,” Tegan laughed bitterly. “You must know that in some clans bastard children are shunned, which is exactly what happened to me. You are just as much to blame for not claiming me and raising me as you should have.”
“But I didn’t know!” Dageus growled, his eyes wide. “She never told me! One moment things were fine between us, and then the next, her father was forbidding her from ever seeing me again, and she disappeared from my life. I was forced to move on.”
Tegan looked as though someone had struck him over the head. “Wh… what? You really didn’t know?”
Dageus shook his head slowly. “No, of course not. Had I known I would have demanded she marry me, her father be damned. I wouldn’t have condemned my seed to the life of suffering as a bastard.” He scowled. “I can’t believe she didn’t tell me…that she would do this to her own kin.”
“How… how did you two know one another?” Ciara ventured to ask rubbing her wrists from where she had been bound, and the Alpha turned his gaze to her for the first time. She was a little intimidated by his presence, it was true, but she couldn’t help it – she had to know. “Tegan’s birth mother’s clan… is it close by?”
He shook his head. “No, it’s quite a distance from here,” He ran a hand over his face, and it was clear that he was deeply affected by the revelation that he had a son he didn’t know about. “I was still a lad,” he explained, “I was traveling, trying to learn more about the world around me. My father thought it was important for me to understand the ways of the clan before I succeeded him and became the Alpha. He wanted me to get a sense of where we were in relation to everything else, and who our potential allies and enemies were. That’s why we’ve done so well,” he said, gesturing to the room around him. “I met Tegan’s mother when I was passing through her clan’s territory, and decided to camp in a forest that was near her village. She was gathering some herbs from the trees and bushes, and I ran across her while I was hunting for my dinner.” He turned to look directly at Tegan, his eyes suddenly lit with fire. “I was drawn to her from the moment I laid eyes on her.” His tone grew far away as a melancholy smile graced his lips. “But unfortunately her family didn’t approve of me and eventually forbid her from seeing me. Nothing I did got through to them, and so I gave up and moved on.”
Tegan looked absolutely devastated. “So… you really never did know me then,” he said quietly, looking down at the floor. His shoulders sagged, all the self-righteous fire she’d seen burning in his eyes from earlier, fizzlin
g out at the realization that his father was not the hateful man he’d thought he was. Ciara ached for him and wished that she could take him into her arms to comfort him, but she refrained. She didn’t want to do anything that might embarrass him in front of his birth father.
“I swear to you, I didn’t.” Dageus looked absolutely crestfallen. “But I wish that I did know, at the very least so that I could have assured you were taken care of,” he said. “I imagine your life must have been very difficult.”
“It was,” Tegan admitted. “But the Redwater clan took me in as their own. A kind man by the name of Grey saved my life.”
“I’m very glad to hear that. I owe Grey, and the Redwater clan a great debt for taking care of you in my stead,” Dageus said. “I shall have to pay them a visit very soon.”
“Yes, well, that’s why I am here,” Tegan replied. “Right now I can’t go back there. I’ve been banished.”
“Why is that?” Dageus sat up straight in his chair, outrage drawing his features into a scowl. “Why would they do something like that to you?”
“Perhaps he did something to deserve it,” Garrison drawled from his position behind Tegan. He’d been leaning against the wall, his face impassive, but a kind of resentment simmered behind his eyes. “You don’t simply get banished from a clan for no reason at all.”
“I don’t like that tone you’re taking,” Dageus warned. “Show some respect.”
“Yes, well I don’t like it when strangers show up and announce they are kin,” Garrison snapped. “The next thing I know he’s going to be asking for you to usurp me as the heir.”
“I would never do that,” Tegan replied, his tone surprisingly warm as he turned to Garrison. “I haven’t come here because I need shelter, or because I’m coveting a title that I don’t deserve. Please don’t be threatened by me; I’m only here to ask for help.”
Shades Of Dragon (A BBW Dragon-Shifter Paranormal Romance) Page 8