Bonds Broken & Silent (Fate Fire Shifter Dragon Book 4)

by Kris Austen Radcliffe

  Ladon set Dawn on a table. From the shelf behind him, he picked up a battery-powered lantern and flicked the switch.

  The beautiful lights vanished.

  Daisy blinked. “Come on! Please! It’s not like you’re hiding!”

  Red emergency lights popped on, accompanied by a nasty background buzz. The room smelled antiseptic.

  Ladon dug in a drawer behind the table. “Do not harass him. The only reason you’ve seen what you have is because he is concerned about your dog.”

  “You said she was okay!” Daisy all but shrieked at the man pulling gloves and needles and all sorts of medical gear out of the drawer.

  Ladon stopped, his hand gripping a set of gloves and poised over the drawer. “She may have a fracture in her hip. He says we need to remove the glass and stitch her wound, and when the storm is over, we are to make sure Dmitri’s vet takes a look at her wounds.”

  He returned to pulling supplies out of the drawer.

  Daisy wrapped her arms around Dawn’s neck. “I’m sorry, girl! If Mom had activated me, I could have helped you. I’m so sorry.”

  Ladon dropped scissors onto a tray. “What did you say?”

  Daisy lifted her head. “I’m an unactivated Shifter. My mom enthralls animals and she wouldn’t activate me before she ran off and I have this ring that’s my Dad’s and I think he’s your sister’s husband.” What was she doing? Her mouth just blabbed. “A Fate told me to learn Russian.”

  Ladon pulled on the gloves. He peered at Dawn’s wound, obviously doing his best to not act either surprised or annoyed. “I need more light.”

  The brilliant and beautiful faerie lights burst on again. They rippled through the wide space of the office, bouncing off the metal cabinet doors and the shiny table. The room was bigger than Daisy had first noticed and extended at least twenty feet off to the left. Other tables and desks spread down its length, all gleaming.

  But she still did not see the dragon. “How is he doing that?”

  A spice-scented snort moved across her neck. Daisy yipped, jumped to the side, and knocked her knee on Dawn’s table. The dog whimpered.

  “Derek is not your father.” Ladon filled a syringe with some clear liquid. “This will numb the wound.”

  Daisy rubbed her knee. How did he know for sure… Derek… was not her father? Then again, why was Daisy so sure? “This is too surreal.”

  Ladon stepped back from Dawn’s side. “He wishes you to leave the room.”

  “What? Why?” Leave Dawn? “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “It’s your choice. He is better at wound care than I am but he does not trust you. He will not care for your dog unless you leave.” Ladon snapped off the gloves as if the choice had already been made.

  “But…”

  Ladon’s strong fingers cupped her elbow. “I suggest you allow him to care for… Dawn? That’s what you called her, correct?” He ushered her toward the door.

  “Dawnstar.”

  Ladon nodded. He’d already pulled her half way to the door. “She trusts him and seems to be willing to allow him to tend to her wounds. So you need to go out into the hall and wait until he finishes pulling the glass from her leg.”

  “But…”

  Ladon swung open the door.

  In the hall, in the gloomy shadows thrown by the red emergency lights, stood a tiny Asian woman with spiky platinum-blonde hair, huge dark eyes, and a sweet, lovely face. A disarmingly non-threatening woman, though Daisy immediately smelled why she came across as cuddly and friendly.

  The woman standing in the hall in front of her was an enthraller.

  Chapter Five

  “Ivan,” Ladon waved to the woman, “he requests your assistance.”

  Ivan frowned at the same time her tiny nose did the enthraller-smelling-for-another-enthraller twitch. “Who are you?”

  Daisy held up her hands. “Don’t enthrall me!”

  The sound that rolled from the tiny woman standing in the hallway in front of Daisy sounded more like a Dawn growl than anything human. Ivan pointed at Daisy’s chest. “Ladon, who the hell is this?”

  “My name is Daisy Reynolds. I came here because I think I might be…” She glanced at Ladon. “…related to… Derek.”

  Ivan snorted. “You sound Australian. Not Russian.”

  How did she figure that out? Daisy had her accent under control. She should sound Californian, not Australian. “I was born in Perth, okay? I’ve been in the States for years.”

  Ivan snorted again. “Years. Sure.”

  Ladon nodded over his shoulder. “I found her and the dog smashed under a tree five miles up the road.” He moved behind Daisy so Ivan could enter the room. “I suspect she would like to talk to your boss. Correct?”

  He still had his hand on her elbow and still stood like he could snap her in half at any second. Like he didn’t trust her. At all.

  “Boss?” Daisy asked.

  The top of Ivan’s head came in right at Daisy’s shoulder as she pushed by and into the room. She wore black shorts, sneakers, and a t-shirt with the words “Russian Hacker” across the front. It all added to the cuddly, friendly demeanor of this small woman Daisy suspected was anything but.

  “The rain stopped. Sounds like the tornado did damage on the outskirts of town.” Ivan walked toward Dawn. “One of the employees said she saw your van headed down here so I figured I’d ask why.” She scowled at Daisy. “Pavlovich is in Munich, by the way. Smoothing over something or other.”

  Ladon humphed.

  “Your supplies are ready.” Ivan waved her hand dismissively. “The dog is in pain?”

  “Yes!” Daisy pulled away from Ladon.

  “I will do what I can. My scents don’t do much for animals.” Ivan turned her back to Daisy. “I take it Ladon wishes you to leave the room?” She leaned toward Dawn’s muzzle and breathed out.

  Daisy was too far away to catch a hint of her brew. “Why do I have to leave? I know what you all are!” She rubbed her elbow. “I’ve dealt with Burners and Fates and Shifters. It’s not like either of you is a surprise.”

  Ivan stood as tall as her small frame allowed. “No one who comes here looking for work or validation or a place to hide is surprised. Nor are we surprised by you.” She waved her hand again. “Wait outside. Give him the room to work that he requests. I will deal with you when your dog is stable and we have contacted our vet.”

  She pulled a cell phone from her pocket but stared at Daisy like she wasn’t going to turn it on until Daisy went outside.

  “Let me talk to the vet!” Maybe Daisy should have gone off with the doctor. Hid with him. These people were as unfriendly as they were terrifying.

  Ivan’s eyes softened. “We don’t have an onsite vet.” She shrugged. “Which we should. Our vet will have his hands full because of the storm, so it may be a day or two before he gets here. But we will keep her stable and comfortable until she’s examined.”

  “But—”

  “Do what Ivan says.” Ladon shoved her through the door.

  “I will take you over to the hotel when I’m done here,” Ivan called. “Get you an application. Housekeeping is hiring.”

  The door slammed in Daisy’s face.

  Her life had spiraled out of control a month ago when that Burner chased her into a busy road. She’d gotten entangled with Fates and Shifters. And now she’d just been dismissed by a dragon and a tiny enthraller.

  “Let me in!” she yelled. Don’t mess with Fates, the doctor told her. Don’t mess with Shifters, her mother said. She wasn’t stupid enough to mess with Burners. “I came here because I didn’t have any other choice!”

  The sounds of shuffling floated through the door. Daisy pressed her ear against it, close to the edge, and listened.

  “… no idea,” Ladon said.

  Something clinked like they dropped glass into a bowl. They must have pulled a glass shard from Dawn’s haunch.

  “…more likely it’s Pavlovich,” the woman said. Another pi
ece of glass clinked.

  Ladon snorted. “…old?”

  “… looks legal to drink.” The woman’s voice dropped. “Shush, girl. It’s okay.”

  Daisy wanted to yell “What are you doing to my dog!” but kept her mouth shut.

  “Remember that kid in ‘82?” the woman said.

  The next snort sounded too beast-like to have come from Ladon.

  “I doubt she’s a Seraphim sleeper…”

  What the hell was a Seraphim? There were angels, too? But Daisy remembered the doctor mentioning one of the major Shifter badass groups called themselves “Seraphim.”

  They thought she was a Seraphim plant?

  Shit, she thought. This was not what she’d thought would happen when she arrived.

  Daisy dropped onto the floor next to the door. It’s not like she had any choice but to come here. She had Fates chasing her. She had no idea at all where her mom was. Her dog was hurt. She needed help.

  “…Fates using her?” the woman named Ivan said.

  Ladon said something Daisy could not parse.

  “…could breathe ‘truth’ and… questions.”

  Ivan wanted to enthrall her. Make her answer questions. She’d end up spilling all her secrets and she’d babble on and on about the doctor and the Fate named Daniel and she’d destroy the safety she’d been trusted to protect.

  The barn suddenly, completely seemed too small. Too close. The air smelled heavy like the enthraller had already breathed out whatever she needed to make Daisy talk.

  The lights winked back on. The hallway burst into a bright white blaze of office doors and tools leaning against the walls and hay pushed into corners. At one end, the open area where Ladon’s van waited. At the other, what looked like another wide-open area, perhaps an indoor horse practice arena.

  How big was this building?

  What the hell did she just drive into?

  Daisy leaned her head against the door again and listened. Ladon and Ivan must have moved and she no longer heard their words.

  She hadn’t considered that the people around her possible-father might not offer her the trust the doctor had. That they’d invade her mind without any consideration at all to her privacy. Or the terror it caused.

  The memory of the boy groping her at school flooded back in. The surprise of having a hand under her shirt. His sweaty palm. His chuckle in her ear. The attempt to kiss her neck and the sweet barbecue stench of his breath.

  But this time she couldn’t hit back. She might have some resistance to an enthraller, but she didn’t know how strong Ivan was and this time, she was powerless against the groping.

  She backed away from the door. She could not speak of the doctor. His life depended on her secrecy. And the Fate had offered her trust. She couldn’t allow an enthraller into her head.

  But she couldn’t leave Dawn.

  Shuffling noises came from inside the room. “…needs x-rays.”

  She couldn’t take the dog, either.

  I’ll come back for you, she thought to her dog. Dawnstar couldn’t hear her, but she thought it anyway.

  Daisy didn’t have a choice.

  Chapter Six

  Daisy ran by Ladon’s monolithic black van. At least she’d had the sense to pull her bag over her shoulder when she climbed out of her car. Leaving the last of her cash in the front seat would have been as stupid as leaving her injured dog.

  She stopped, her hand gripping the frame of the barn’s door to the outside world, and looked over her shoulder. Down the hall, her wounded dog rested on a table, a dragon stitching the cuts in her haunch and an enthraller offering the solace Daisy could not. An enthraller who wanted to pry into Daisy’s mind.

  Maybe Ivan would listen. Maybe she’d leave Daisy in peace. Or not.

  Out in the open, the sky had begun to clear and the clouds to scatter. Blue poked through. Shadows crawled over puddles and damp stones. The wind had died down too.

  The air smelled freshly rained out and the only scents that hit Daisy’s nose were steam and mud. If there were enthrallers around, they weren’t near.

  Daisy walked out onto the gravel surrounding the massive Middle-American-looking barn. If it was a metal structure, it didn’t look it from the outside. Neither did the other huge out-buildings on the other side of the wide, rut-free, pebble-and-dirt circle between the buildings or the trails leading away into the trees and fields.

  Whinnying echoed from the closest of the other buildings, which looked more like a dance hall than a barn. Daisy sniffed again, picking up traces of horses and other large animals, but also beer and wine, and a lot of floral notes. The whole place appeared and smelled picturesque, as if designed with tourists in mind, and she could see many wedding receptions happening here.

  The “bar the dragons favored” turned out to be some sort of full-on resort in the middle of a damp, tornado-filled Missouri backwater.

  And she had to get away because she’d miscalculated. Deep in the back of her mind, a part of her must have figured that “good” Shifters operated with an honor code. That she’d show up, tell her story, show the ring to the leaders and bam! They’d take her in. Because no “good” Shifter should be without family.

  But why the hell did she think they’d be any different from Kobayashi and his indistinguishable band of backup goons? Why would this group of Shifters look at her and know immediately that she was “good”?

  Unless one of them stuck her enthraller tentacles into Daisy’s mind.

  New voices carried between the buildings. Daisy pulled the hood of her jacket over her head and turned toward the trail labeled “Hotel.” Shingles from the barn’s roof littered the walkway and she skipped around them, moving quickly through the trees toward what she hoped was the main area of the complex.

  Maybe she could catch a ride into town. Branson had to have a bus station. She’d go somewhere else. Regroup.

  But where would she go? Rock Springs? Hang out in the wilds of Wyoming hoping to catch sight of the other dragon?

  At least there wouldn’t be Shifters around.

  The trail opened up into a wide park-like area with benches and swings. A fountain bubbled water through leaves and debris in the middle of a small, grassy circle. Chimes clinked periodically as the last of the wind blew through what had to be the rear courtyard of the complex’s hotel.

  Four stories high, it looked like every other modern hotel she’d ever seen—beige and white, sealed windows, awnings over every entrance. At least two restaurants on the main level and a wide expanse of glass looking in on a pool and exercise area.

  Lights glowed in half the windows. People bustled about inside.

  The place smelled like waffles and booze.

  Daisy sniffed again. Waffles, booze, and idling buses.

  She tucked her bag under her arm and quickly walked toward the open double doors leading into the courtyard. Maybe the hotel had shuttles running into town. Maybe they had some sort of special Branson attraction crawl and she could sneak out with a group of tourists who’d gotten stuck here during the storm.

  The doors opened into the end of a long lobby area filled with low-backed ugly chairs, a granite-topped desk with three staff members behind it, and a throng of chatting, too-calm, random people.

  Several talked loudly about spending the last hour in the basement of the hotel, in the laundry facility, without anything to drink. They all reeked with the tangy combination of fear and heat exhaustion, and several looked pale.

  But a layer of sweetness overlaid the group. It curled around Daisy, a feeling that conjured the exact opposite of the storm that had just torn through the world: Blissful lilacs and warm spring breezes. Sun and fluffy clouds. A day right for relaxing.

  She knew it came from an enthraller, but getting out didn’t seem all that important anymore. Taking a moment, breathing now that the storm had passed, seemed like the best idea. Maybe resting in one of the flat, square chairs next to the front door. Couldn’t be all that dif
ficult to figure things out, could it?

  “Um, hi.”

  Daisy blinked, spinning on her heels, and faced the male voice who’d spoken. Calm or not, now wasn’t the time for some guy to hit on—

  The most gorgeous iron-gray eyes she’d ever seen watched her from under a knit cap of the same color and a mop of messy, blue-black hair. She stood nose-to-nose with the guy, who was no taller or shorter than she was. He wasn’t particularly wide, either. But he did have a nice, lanky inverted-triangle shape, with narrow rock star hips and a sinewy, strong-looking build.

  He tipped his head slightly, his eyes still wide, and pulled a hand out of his pockets. “Aiden,” he said, offering his palm for a shake.

  His fingers glided over her skin, warm and strong and with just the right pressure to make her want them to linger.

  “Daisy,” she said. He looked older than her, but not a lot. She doubted he was old enough to drink. “Are you here with your family?” She needed to get away without calling attention to herself. Best to make small talk with the hot guy.

  Aiden released her hand but leaned forward. “Full disclosure.” His gorgeous eyes took on a flat stare of concentration.

  She’d seen the exact same look before on the face of that Fate who broke into her apartment. That crazy psycho bitch who tried to kill her and Dawn. The same I’m looking at something playing over the back of my eyes expression.

  Daisy didn’t gasp. She didn’t step back or do anything that would cause a commotion or draw attention. She stayed calm and she faced the one kind of person more dangerous than the enthraller working the crowd. Or a Burner.

  Aiden nodded once and looked around before leaning close once more. “I was hoping there’d be a healer here. Someone willing to help a… person like me.” He tipped his head again as he looked her over. “My future-seer is broken.”

  Chapter Seven