Dragon's Secret Baby (Silver Dragon Mercenaries Book 1)

by Sky Winters

  Savannah went over to the table and sat down in front of it. “Do you…live here alone?” she asked.

  “My grandmother lives here with me,” he replied. “She’s getting old now, so I stay here and care for her, and she…teaches me.”

  “Teaches you? As in magic?”

  “Yes.” He nodded and sat down opposite her. “What is your name?”

  “My name's Savannah.”

  “I’m Abel,” he said. “Now, tell me how you found us out here.”

  Doubts and nerves overcame Savannah, but she pushed them all down and moved past it. “I knew there were witches in this town,” Savannah admitted. “I suppose I…sensed the rest.”

  “You sensed the rest?” Abel asked. His strange, hypnotic, brown-gold eyes flashed. “Does this have anything to do with the fact that you were born deaf?”

  “I…how did you know that?” Savannah asked.

  “Your hearing aid kind of gives it away,” Abel replied. “In any case, you’re not the only one who can sense things.”

  “I can’t sense anything from you, though,” Savannah said. “I can read people’s auras, sense certain things about them, but you? You're a complete mystery.”

  Abel smiled a slow, confident smile. “Witches know how to protect themselves,” he said. “We have spells that cloak us from others, but those spells don’t distinguish between those who mean us harm and those who don’t.”

  “So you’re cloaked?” Savannah asked. “Is that why I can’t sense you?”

  Abel nodded.

  “Whom are you protecting yourself from?” Savannah asked.

  His eyes grew cold, but that did nothing to take away from his handsome features. “From the monsters that prowl this forest at night,” he said. “The dogs that call themselves wolves.”

  Savannah felt her body grow cold and she realized that the enmity was not single-sided. She could tell from Abel’s tone that he feared and distrusted the shifters as much as they feared and distrusted him.

  “What’s wrong?” Abel asked.

  “I need your help,” Savannah said, fear clutching at her throat, “but I’m afraid that once you know who I am, you may not want to help me.”

  Abel looked at her carefully. His eyes were hypnotically beautiful. “Tell me,” he said gently.

  “I…” Savannah stumbled over her words, unsure of how to go on.

  “Take a breath, Savannah.” Abel’s voice was calm. “I can tell that you mean us no harm, and for that I will trust you. Tell me why you have come here.”

  “I met a boy shortly after I moved to this town,” Savannah said, throwing herself into the narration. “We fell in love, but we couldn’t be together, because it wasn’t allowed.”

  Abel’s eyebrows rose again and Savannah fell silent. “You fell in love with a shifter,” Abel said as though he were not surprised.

  “Yes.”

  “Go on,” Abel said.

  “We went before the elders to plead our case, but they refused us,” Savannah went on. “It was only when they discovered I was pregnant that they agreed to let us be together.”

  “That's impossible,” Abel said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The elders would never have agreed to your union simply because of a pregnancy. Unless, of course, the baby you’re carrying is a shifter.”

  Savannah nodded.

  She saw surprise flit across Abel’s face. “That is…unusual, to say the least,” he said. “And yet it seems your troubles are over, so I don’t understand why you need my help.”

  “My union with Xander has caused some friction in the pack,” Savannah said guiltily. “One of the members, her name is Marissa, she was upset. She chose to leave the pack in order to make an alliance with another shifter from a neighbouring town.”

  “I see,” Abel said. “Now that she's created a bridge, this new pack can challenge the old.”

  “Exactly,” Savannah nodded. “Which means--”

  “You and your child are not safe.”

  “Can you help me?”

  Abel fixed her with a penetrating stare that made her feel intensely self-conscious. “Do you know of the history between the wolves and the witches?”

  “Of course,” Savannah said.

  “I can’t imagine that your partner hasn’t already forbidden you to come here to seek our help.”

  “He would have, had he known I was coming here,” Savannah admitted.

  “And yet you came, anyway.”

  “I had to,” Savannah said desperately. “Xander has a lot to deal with. He's confused, and he’s worried it's clouding his judgement. He doesn’t see that Marissa is a real threat, but I do.”

  “Why do you think he can’t see that?” Abel asked.

  “They grew up together. He think he knows her,” Savannah said, “but he’s not thinking straight. I can sense something terrible's going to happen, I can feel it in my gut, and it's gotten to the point where I can’t ignore it any longer. I have to make sure my child's protected, and that the pack is, too, but I can’t do it alone.”

  Abel was about to speak when a curtain in the corner of the cabin slid open, revealing a doorway that Savannah had not seen when she'd first walked in, and out walked a woman, bent with age. At least a hundred years were etched on her face. Her eyes were pale and milky as though the color had been drained from them.

  Her hair alternated shades of white and grey, and it seemed to shimmer softly when she walked. She used a cane to navigate her way through the cabin, and it made a sharp crack, crack, crack against the wooden floors as she walked.

  “Grandmother,” Abel said as he stood and gave her his chair.

  The old woman sat down and fixed her milky white eyes on Savannah. She looked blind, but Savannah knew instinctively that she was able to see far more than most people did.

  “Hello, Savannah,” she said as though they were old friends.

  “Hello.”

  “My name is Elena.”

  “Grandmother,” Abel started, “Savannah has come–"

  “I know why Savannah has come,” Elena interrupted. “I know what she needs, but she will not find it here. We cannot help her.”

  Savannah looked from Abel to Elena in desperation. “Please,” she begged. “I can't do this alone.”

  “No, you can’t.” Elena nodded. “Why should we help you when you side with those who have persecuted us for centuries? You carry one of their kind inside you as we sit here talking, and when that child is born you will teach it to hate us, as generations before have done.”

  “That’s not true,” Savannah said quickly. “I would never teach my child to hate anyone.”

  “And what of your future husband?” Elena asked pointedly, her eyes boring into Savannah’s. “Would he share the same view? Would he teach your child to embrace us as enemies or friends?”

  Savannah looked down at her hands, unable to lie, and unwilling to speak the truth.

  “You say nothing because you know I’m right,” Elena went on, “and you cannot make promises you can’t keep.”

  Savannah looked at Abel pleadingly. “It’s unfair, I know,” she said. “It’s wrong to be hated simply because of something your ancestors did centuries ago. I don’t know why it has to be that way, but I do know that I will work to change it. I'll make sure my children don’t hate for the sake of hating.”

  “And how will you explain that to Xander?” Elena asked in her mystical voice.

  “The same way I’m explaining it to you now,” Savannah replied. “I know this is a lot to ask, but I’m desperate and I don’t have anywhere else to turn.”

  Abel’s eyes blazed with a fire that brought out the flecks of gold that hid there. He bent down beside his grandmother and looked at her calmly. “She means us no harm, Grandmother,” he said softly. “She needs our help.”

  The old woman wrinkled her brow at him. “You wish to help her?” she asked.

  “I do.” Abel nodded. “This hat
red must stop somewhere, why shouldn’t it stop with us? Perhaps if we help the pack they will learn to trust and respect us.”

  “That is a child’s fantasy,” Elena said mockingly.

  “You have always told me that the only way a child can become a man is by making mistakes,” Abel said in a hushed voice. “Perhaps it is time you allow me to make my own decisions and my own mistakes.”

  The old woman stared at Abel for a long while. It almost felt as though they were having some sort of silent conversation to which Savannah was not privy. She sat there silently, praying with all her might that Abel would succeed in convincing his grandmother to help her.

  Elena sighed long and deep. “I have taught you well,” she said at last, before she turned back to Savannah.

  Savannah felt her heart beat loudly in her chest, and she wondered if Abel and Elena were able to hear it, too. She could tell a decision had been made, but the answer was still unclear to her.

  “Will you help me?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Elena said, nodding. “We will.”

  Chapter Seven

  Savannah could see Xander half-hidden by the trees when she pulled up in the car. She tried to wipe her face clean of any signs that indicated where she had been all evening. He was at her door when she got out of the car.

  “Where have you been?” Xander asked.

  “I took my new car out for a test drive,” Savannah told him with a small smile. “Do you like the car?”

  Xander gave it a distracted look. “It’s fine. You were just out…driving all this time?”

  “Yes.” Savannah nodded. “I guess I just needed to get out and clear my head.”

  Xander nodded and then he reached out and took her hand. “Why don’t we do something fun, just the two of us?”

  Savannah smiled. “That sounds perfect. My parents aren’t home, why don’t you come in?”

  Xander nodded and they walked in together. This was the first moment amidst the madness of her current reality that Savannah actually felt like a normal teenage girl entertaining her boyfriend at home. She'd never experienced the feeling before, and it made her feel warm inside.

  Savannah drew Xander to the couch and they sat close together with Xander’s arms wrapped around her. He kissed the top of her head and laughed. “Does this qualify as doing something fun?”

  “I think so.” Savannah sighed. “We’ve never had this--”

  “You’re right.” Xander said. “We went from exchanging glances to practically exchanging vows to spend our lives together. It feels like we've skipped all the in-betweens.”

  “It’s not too late,” Savannah, reminded him.

  “I know.”

  “Maybe, after, we can go to the clearing,” Savannah suggested, feeling the strange need to glimpse the sight of the calm, pristine lake. “It feels like I haven’t been there in ages.”

  It was more than just the need to be in the clearing again. Savannah felt the urge to be with Xander in that space. She remembered the first day he had taken her there, the way his eyes had lingered on her body as she had stripped down before entering the lake, the way his hands had felt against her skin, and the way his lips had tasted.

  She wanted to experience those sensations again, but knew that they'd be enhanced somehow, this time, not that there was more between her and Xander. Now there was familiarity, comfort, and safety, mingled in with the passion and desire, and she could feel it burning, like a layer of electricity just beneath her skin.

  “That’s a good idea,” Xander said. “And you can see what the clearing looks like during sunset--it’s magical.”

  “I believe that.”

  She rested her head against his broad chest and tried to release all the worries that held fast to her thoughts. Savannah hated keeping things from Xander, but she knew he would dismiss her ideas, and she couldn’t just sit back and do nothing, especially when she felt partially responsible for everything that had happened.

  “Are things all right…with the pack?” Savannah asked before she could stop herself.

  She saw Xander’s eyes cloud over for a minute, but then he nodded. “Everything’s fine at the moment,” he said. “Rather than talk about the pack, why don't we just…be together.”

  “You’re right,” Savannah said, happy with the arrangement. “That sounds good to me.”

  They sat there for almost half an hour, sharing random conversation and exchanging little kernels of information about their lives. Savannah felt the strength of their connection strengthen as they opened up to one another. It was nice to feel normal. It was nice to have something that was completely theirs, untouched by the outside noise.

  Xander leaned in suddenly and kissed her, hard on the lips. There was an urgency there that made Savannah feel as if they were running out of time. The heat traveled up her body, and she felt the need to be with Xander, right then and there, in the dirt and muck of the forest.

  Xander pulled away abruptly. “Let’s go to the clearing,” he said, and Savannah nodded in response, noticing the urgency in his tone.

  They took Xander’s motorbike to the path that led up to the clearing, Xander holding Savannah’s hand as they manoeuvred their way up the steep hills, past the trees, past the little signs of life, past the noise, and to the furthest tip of the mountain.

  By the time they'd reached flat ground again, Savannah was a little tired, but enthusiastic. The light was beginning to fade and she knew they had made it just in time for the sunset. Savannah and Xander walked into the clearing, bright with sun-painted color, with clouds in hues of lavender, gold, and rose.

  Savannah took a breah. “Wow!”

  They moved to the bank of the lake where Savannah saw every color imaginable reflected there. It was like the water had been transformed into a cesspool of color that made her want to jump in, and find every secret each of those colors contained.

  “This is amazing.” Savannah said.

  The water winked cheekily at her and the wind made shallow ripples in its glass-like surface, so that one color moved into the others to create a unique spectrum. There was a glow about the lake, some kind of muted magic that Savannah sensed, as though from a great distance.

  “The water,” she whispered.

  “What about it?” Xander asked.

  “It feels as though it’s talking to me.”

  Xander smiled. “The lake is sacred,” he said. “We believe it contains magical powers.”

  “What kind of powers?”

  “Healing powers, strengthening powers, and cleansing powers. That’s what the legends say, though…I don’t know if it’s actually true.”

  “You’ve never tested the legend?” Savannah asked.

  “I’ve never needed to, I hope I never do.”

  Savannah looked back at the little crystals that seemed embedded in the lake. “I think it's true,” she said with conviction.

  “Can you feel it?” Xander asked glancing at her.

  “A little,” Savannah replied. “But I don’t know if that's what I’m sensing, or if my mind's just working overtime.”

  Xander laughed. “You want to go in?”

  Savannah looked toward Xander in surprise. “Now?” she asked.

  “Why not?” he asked with a shrug and a slow smile.

  It was like that first day they'd spent together, with only a few minor changes. Back then Savannah had been a stranger to him, with only the strange and inexplicable bond in common, that neither one could understand. He had trusted her enough to bring her to this perfect place and they had swum together in the lake’s clear waters and kissed under the sun’s golden rays.

  “Okay,” Savannah said, and Xander came forward.

  He undressed her slowly and tenderly, as though he were scared she would break. His eyes combed over every inch of her and Savannah felt her blood rise in response. She reached out instinctively and pulled Xander’s shirt off of him. When they were both standing naked in front of each other, Xander
took Savannah’s hand and they walked into the lake together.

  Savannah had expected the water to be cold and sharp, but despite the sun’s failing rays, the water was warm and soft. It rushed at her from all sides and draped itself around her like a caress. For the first time in what seemed like forever, Savannah felt the stress that had been gripping her for the last few days slip away. She turned into Xander and kissed him passionately, thrilled to find her mind released of worry, no matter how short the reprieve would be.

  “This feels amazing,” Savannah whispered, her lips pressed against Xander’s neck.

  She clung to him as Xander’s hands wrapped around her, and they turned together in the melding mists of color. There was a slight chill of magic in the air, surrounding both of them, tickling their skin lovingly.

  They kissed in the water, long and slow, and then they moved out onto the bank, unwilling to put their clothes on just yet. Xander pushed Savannah back onto the soft grass gently and then he moved on top of her. The chill clinging to her body died instantly as Xander’s body came over hers, his skin filling her with new heat.

  They kissed under the fading light of day and as Xander entered her gently, Savannah looked up at the bright stars twinkling in the faded midnight-blue sky. There were still edges of color clinging stubbornly to the clouds, but a few rabid rays of moonlight were quickly extinguishing them.

  Afterwards, Xander rested his head against Savannah’s chest and they lay entwined and completely content in the comfortable silence.

  “I wish it could always be like this,” Savannah said quietly.

  “It will be,” Xander assured her, and he kissed her breasts. “Once this is all over, all we’ll have left to do is swim, eat, and make love under the sky.”

  “That sounds perfect.” Savannah sighed. “But what about the pack?”

  She felt Xander tense instantly. “I thought we agreed not to talk about the pack today.”

  “You’re right,” Savannah said slowly. “Forget the question.”

  Xander propped himself up on one elbow and gazed down at Savannah as his fingers traced the contours of her face. Every so often he would bend down and place a kiss on her cheek, brow, or forehead. They lay there until they were both completely dry, and then they dressed slowly, as though they had all the time in the world and no place to go.