Celtic Dragons

by Dee Bridgnorth

  “I have a confession too.”

  He looked up at her, waiting.

  “I’m not strictly human.”

  Clearly he had been prepared for just about anything. But not that. “What?”

  She sighed, dragging a hand through her hair as she figured out the best way to do this. As usual, she hadn’t really thought it out first. “Um, okay, so. Here’s the thing. The dragon that you see in your visions sometimes? That’s …me.”

  He continued to stare at her. “I’m not following.”

  Groaning, Siobhan dropped her face into her hands. “Okay, so this isn’t going right. I just…what I’m trying to say is that I’m supernatural, Julian. I’m a shape shifter. Not really, because I can’t take any shape. But I’m a shifter, in that I can shift into a dragon form. All of us can—all of us at Connelly Security. We’re the newest generation of the Dragon Clan, and there’s a whole …background. That’s not important right now. I’m a dragon. That’s what I’m trying to say. I’m a dragon, and I fly, and that’s where I was last night. I went out to fly and clear my head, and then you got attacked.”

  For a long moment, they both sat in silence, the hospital room seeming to echo around them, large and empty and beige. Without realizing it, Siobhan was holding her breath, trusting him at this point enough to give him this information without too much concern that he would reject her, but still not knowing what his reaction would be.

  And then he burst out laughing, startling her. He laughed so hard that he winced, letting go of her hand to reach up and hold his shoulder to ease the pain caused by the laughter shaking him.

  Unsure what to think, Siobhan watched him, her frown growing with each new guffaw and deepening when he had to reach up and swipe the tears from his eyes. It was true that he was on medication and under a lot of stress, and his reactions might be out of proportion at the moment, but this was getting strange, and she wasn’t at all sure that she appreciated her darkest secret being laughed at.

  “Julian,” she said, her tone a warning. “You want to explain what’s funny about this?”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, still laughing. “I’m sorry. Honey, I’m so sorry. I’m not trying to be rude. I just—God. That makes so much sense. How did I not see that? Of course you are, Siobhan. Of course you are.” His hand pressed against his stomach to settle himself. “Of course you are my golden dragon guardian.”

  Slightly mollified by the awe in his voice, she decided not to bite his head off immediately. “What do you mean?”

  He reached up, pulling her down to him for a soft, tender kiss. “You’re my fierce, fiery, strong, incredible, magical gift from the universe. The vision of my golden dragon counts as one of my happiest times I’ve ever experienced. And it was you all along. It shouldn’t be possible, and I never would have guessed it, but now that you’ve told me, it’s the most sensical thing in the world.”

  “And you don’t resent me because I left you exposed so I could go flying.”

  “I do, actually,” he told her. “I resent that you didn’t take me with you.”

  Smiling, Siobhan shook her head. “I can’t believe you’re taking this so well. I’ve been so afraid to tell you.”

  “Obviously,” he said, leaning back against his pillows again, but still holding her hand. “Whenever I talked about my dragon in the vision, you always acted so strangely. I thought you thought I was crazy for feeling so connected to it.” He paused, smiling slightly. “To you.”

  “I couldn’t believe it when you told me what you were seeing,” she said, feeling so much relief and joy at finally being open with him that, despite their circumstances, she couldn’t stop smiling. “It was your visions that gave me my first push toward trusting that you were the one for me.”

  “The one?” he asked quietly. “You mean…?”

  She pressed his hand hard. “I mean that there’s a lot about my heritage and background that you don’t know yet. But the Dragon Clan mates for life, usually only with each other. But this generation is changing that and taking human mates. I think you’re mine.”

  “I know I’m yours,” he said, slipping his hand from hers to reach his fingers up to brush her cheek. “I think I fell in love with you right away, and I just had no idea what to make of it. You were under my skin—immediately. I couldn’t love you more than I do right now, Siobhan. Except that I will probably love you even more tomorrow. And the next day.”

  “What will Caroline say?” Siobhan asked, making a joke only because she was so emotional that she thought she might cry, and that would be humiliating.

  He chuckled, knowing her well enough to understand her response. “Come here, beautiful woman. I want to hold you.”

  “I love you,” She murmured, leaning into him carefully and tilting her head back to meet his lips. “We’re going to be okay, you know? Your visions …they can be changed. We can change them. We saved Melanie, and we’ll save me too. Xander isn’t going to get the best of us.”

  Before he could respond, her phone rang, and she sighed, reaching into her back pocket to pull the device out. “It could be Eamon reporting on Melanie. I just need to get the update, and then we can settle in here for the night. I’m sure they’ll let you go in the morning, and then we can focus better on finding Xander.”

  She swiped to accept the call while she was still looking at Julian, and she was surprised when she looked down and saw that she had answered a call from an unknown number. Immediately, she was on guard, slowly lifting her phone to her ear. “Hello?”

  There was giggling on the other line. “Hello, Siobhan. Guess what?”

  Siobhan looked at Julian, pressing the speaker button on her phone and letting him hear too. “What do you want, Xander?”

  “Don’t call me that,” the man said angrily, his giggle disappearing. “I don’t like that.”

  “I don’t give a flying fuck what you like,” Siobhan told him casually, watching Julian’s concerned face as she spoke. “You almost killed someone I love. You know I’m going to hunt you down, Xander. And when I do, I’m going to kick your ass as hard as I did last time. Harder, actually. Xander.”

  There was an angry hiss, but he didn’t respond to her directly. “I have her.”

  Julian’s eyes widened, his shock mirroring Siobhan’s own. “You have who?” Siobhan asked slowly, not wanting to jump to conclusions.”

  “You know who I have,” Julian hissed. “I’m going to kill her. Kill her! Don’t you want to stop me? Don’t ya? I bet you wanna stop me so bad, Siobhan. Come on, Siobhan. Come on. Come find me. I’m hidden!”

  “Melanie doesn’t deserve to die,” Siobhan said, needing him to confirm that he meant his mother. “Lots of women leave their children when they have them young. She wasn’t the one who hurt you. She just made a mistake.”

  That hiss came over the line again. “Shut up, you whore. You’re all whores. Come save her life, Siobhan. Come find me.”

  Moira was calling in as she was on the phone with Xander, and Siobhan’s heart sank. Moira was supposed to be off duty, so her call could only be bad news, confirming what Xander was saying. She swore under her breath, not looking at Julian, who was shaking his head ‘no’ at her emphatically.

  She had to stall Xander until she could figure something. “Oh, I’m coming for you, Xander. And I’ll take her away from you if it’s the last thing I do.”

  Siobhan hung up on him and tried to take Moira’s call, but she’d missed it. She swore again and went to call her back, but Julian interjected. “Siobhan, you can’t. You can’t risk your life for hers. This is the start of it. This is where you’re going to end up at the house that I saw. I can’t let that happen.”

  There was so much fear in his voice, and she took his hand, trying to reassure him. “Honey, trust me. I’m smarter than that. And I had to tell him that I was coming so that he wouldn’t kill her yet.”

  “But you meant it.”

  “I did,” she admitted. “But I’m not go
ing to walk into the traps you’ve seen, because you’ve seen them.”

  Moira called again, and this time Siobhan answered. “What happened?”

  “She’s gone. How did you know?”

  Getting up, Siobhan began pacing the room. It helped her think better. “Xander just called me. He’s got her. How the hell did he get her?”

  “She was at home,” Moira said, and Siobhan could hear Eamon’s voice in the background, talking to someone else. “By herself tonight. Her husband had put both of the boys in the minivan and left about half an hour ago. A repair truck showed up. People were going in and out of the house. They carried a refrigerator in and brought one out. It was legit. I was keeping an eye on the whole situation, and Eamon showed up to take over. The truck left, and we did a routine sweep of the house because Eamon hasn’t seen her before. I wanted him to know what she looked like and get an idea for the layout. When we got up to the house, it looked empty. We did a sweep, and it looked empty. So I rang the doorbell, prepped with a story about being lost in the area and needing directions. No answer.”

  “Did you actually go in the house?” Siobhan asked, stopping her pacing to stand by the window, chewing on her bottom lip fiercely.

  “Yeah. The whole thing. She’s gone. I was hoping we just missed her leave on her own, but he called. He has her.”

  Siobhan turned around, leaning up against the wall, her hand pressed to her forehead. “Yeah. He has her. And I’m guessing he’s at that warehouse.”

  “That’s a bit on the nose, isn’t it?”

  “No. He wants me to come after him. He’s taken her now to lure me. I’m a target for him now too.”

  “I don’t need to tell you to be careful,” Moira said. “You need backup?”

  Siobhan released her bottom lip, giving it a rest before she drew blood. “Let me call you back.”

  She hung up and walked back over to Julian’s bed, sitting down with him again. The look on his face was one mixed with worry and frustration, and she knew what he was going through, given what he had seen in his vision. “I know you don’t want me to do this, but you know that I have to.”

  “I don’t want Melanie to die, but she’s not the woman I’m in love with,” he said quietly. “I can’t even go with you. It’s not that I think you can’t handle yourself, or that I don’t understand that, by knowing about my visions, you can work to prevent them, but I still hate the idea of you running straight to this maniac.”

  “I know,” she said. “But this is my job, and I’m good at it. And …it’s bigger than Melanie. Yeah, she needs to be saved because that’s the right thing. But if it’s not her and it’s not here, he’ll kill again. It’s bigger than you or me or Melanie. It’s about removing a danger from the world, and that’s what I do.”

  “You’re not just a dragon. You’re a superhero.”

  She smiled slightly, shaking her head. “I’m a lot of things. Not a hero. I want your support, but I’ll go even without it.”

  Sighing, he dropped his head over to the side. “I know that. And you know that I support you. But I’m going with you.”

  “No.”

  “Yes, Siobhan.”

  “No,” she said again, firmly. “This is a bad time for me not to mince words, I know, but the fact is, you’re a liability. You’re injured, Julian. It’s not about just keeping you safe. It’s about keeping me safe. I can’t afford to have you to think about out there.”

  “So I’m useless,” he said, hurt and anger in his tone. “That’s a great thing to say to me before you march off into battle.”

  Siobhan reached out to touch his arm. “Julian …please. Don’t make it like this.”

  “I’m trying to understand,” he said, his jaw clenched. “But this isn’t easy for me.”

  Someone in the doorway cleared their throat. “Maybe I can help?”

  Turning, Siobhan saw Ophelia standing there, and she got to her feet, more relieved than she knew how to say. “Ophelia! You came.”

  “I made an exception.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Julian

  “This is wild,” Julian said, hooking the Bluetooth device into his ear and watching the footage from Siobhan’s camera play through on his phone. Her camera was on the pair of glasses she had put on, taken from their technology stores at the security agency. It was like he was looking right through her eyes, and with the Bluetooth device, he could talk into her ear as much as he wanted to. It wasn’t the same as being there with her, but it was as good as it was going to get, and he loved her for making it happen this way.

  Ophelia barricaded the hospital room door, not wanting any nurses to come in and interrupt them. Julian was stable and taken care of for the night, so there was no need for anyone to come in for hours—until he needed his next vitals check. Ever since Siobhan had left, they had been working together, using Ophelia’s power and control over her power to channel his into something that was more useful. He wasn’t perfect at it by any means, but with Ophelia’s help, he could trigger a vision at just about any time. He just couldn’t always guarantee what it would be.

  He could only hope that when Siobhan needed his sight, that his connection to her would help him to show her what she needed. It didn’t make up for the fact that she was going off to fight a murderer on her own, but it helped. It also helped that her friends were all there for back up. Julian just still wished that it could be him.

  “How’s the video footage?” Siobhan asked, moving around her office to help test the streaming feed. “Good enough?”

  “Yeah,” he assured her. “It’s actually pretty good. I can see clearly.”

  “Yeah, well, it won’t be like that the whole time,” she told him. “It all depends on where I am. And this warehouse that Moira identified could be out in the middle of nowhere. The video feed could cut out at any time.”

  “Is this your way of making me feel better?”

  She took her glasses off, turning them around so she could give him a look through the camera. “Excuse me, who set all this up just for you?”

  He smiled at the sight of her beautiful face. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” She put the glasses back on and strapped on her black work boots, which would be better than her flats if she had to do any running or combat.

  The sight of her tying her boots triggered a memory for Julian, and he had a flash of panic. “Wait! Siobhan, that outfit you’re wearing right now. It was the one in my vision, where you were dead in that house. You can’t wear that.”

  She slung a bag over her shoulder and headed for her office door. “Sweetie, that’s not the part of the vision that has to be changed. It’s the me dying part. It’ll be fine.”

  “It would help if you changed,” he insisted. “It’ll set a better tone. A different context.”

  “The me staying alive part will set a different context,” she promised, getting into her car. Before she turned on the engine, she put the coordinates for the warehouse into her phone and slipped it into the device-holder on her dashboard.

  Julian bit his tongue, even though he wanted to argue further. No matter how much they loved each other, he suspected that they would always butt heads a little bit. He was inherently more cautious than her, and she liked to rush in, relying on her strength and instinct to take care of her. It was always going to be a point of contention, but because he did love her, he would try not to suffocate her with his desire for buttoning things up.

  “The warehouse is thirty minutes from here,” she told him, beginning to drive. “Work with Ophelia while I drive, okay? I’ll switch the camera back on when I’m a few minutes out. No sense in running down the battery while I’m driving in the dark.”

  “Okay,” Julian agreed, seeing the sense in that idea. “Drive carefully.”

  “I always do.”

  He let out a laugh as she switched off the camera and Bluetooth connection, glancing up at Ophelia. “She drives like a maniac.”

&
nbsp; “That doesn’t surprise me at all.” Ophelia sat down on the edge of his bed, in the spot that Siobhan had been occupying, her gray hair and weathered face betraying the wealth of wisdom that she had to share with him. “How are you feeling? Are your thoughts tired?”

  He hadn’t thought of it that way, but that described perfectly how he felt. “Yes. They are. But that doesn’t matter. I don’t care if it makes me code again. Every bit of power we have needs to be used for Siobhan.”

  “Yes, but it’s important to take care of your power,” Ophelia told him. “We will be pushing your mind far tonight, to ask it to see things it has no business seeing. We’re going to be taking the gifts it offers you and demanding more, until it is dried up. Yes, it will help Siobhan to see what she has coming before she walks into it, but only if you are able to give her that information. Now, we need to rest your thoughts.”

  “How do I do that? Sleep?” Julian thought that sounded like a long shot.

  She shook her head. “A thought vacation. What makes you happier than anything? In your thoughts. What gives you peace and contentment?”

  Julian knew the answer to that immediately, and it made him smile in spite of everything. “There’s…a dragon vision that I have sometimes.” He didn’t go into detail, assuming that Ophelia did not know Siobhan’s true identity. She hadn’t told him to keep it a secret, but unless he heard otherwise from her, he wasn’t going to breathe a word to anyone. “I know that seems weird, but it’s my happy place.”

  Ophelia smiled and patted his hand. “Then close your eyes and envision it. It doesn’t have to be a vision, at least not at first. Just think of what makes you happy and let your mind get lost there. I will hold your hand, and maybe you can let your mind slip into a restful vision.”

  She didn’t have to ask him twice. Ever since Julian had learned that the guardian angel dragon who had come to him in his mind was really the woman he loved more than anything in the world, he had wanted to visit her again. One day, he wanted to fly with Siobhan in reality, but until then, he wanted to fly with her in his mind.