“Yes, there was a big red one. It landed behind those abandoned warehouses where a man said he saw it before I think. I’ve been watching and knew I’d see it sooner or later.”
“Well, if it comes out, give us a call back. We’ll send a photographer down to get its picture,” Amy said in a dry tone before killing the call and moving on to the next one without looking up at The Grid. She could only imagine he was fuming. He’d be in the station manager’s office again as soon as the show ended.
“You’re on the air with A.J. Webb,” she said into her mike, her thoughts now drifting toward Owen who must be down in the city. What was he doing down here?
“Hello, A.J.” the familiar voice said from the other end. “I keep hearing all these people call in about the dragons, and I want to set the record straight.”
“Okay. How do you intend to do that?” she asked, her heart nearly beating out of her chest.
“I’m the prankster behind them. They are merely harmless drones dressed up to look like fairytale creatures.”
“Why would you do that?” Amy asked, wondering where he was going with this.
“It was just a fluke. We never intended for people to really notice them.”
“How did you think people were going to not notice the sight of three large dragons flying about the city?”
“I guess we didn’t think about it at all, really. They were developed for a film that’s in the works. We’ve just been testing them out to make sure they could make the flights with camera equipment and everything intact.”
“Well, I guess you’ve shown people how incredibly realistic movie props can be then,” Amy said, trying not to sound as anxious as she felt.
“I guess we have. Anyway, we just wanted to apologize and set the record straight. I also wanted to invite you to meet with me to see them firsthand. I think you would enjoy it.”
Amy tried to wrap her head around what he was saying. Was he just playing out this little explanation of his to keep people from getting much more curious about the dragons or was it code for something else? Unable to make that determination, she elected to just play along and not make anything more of it than what it was.
“I appreciate the offer. Just leave your contact information with our comm team before you hang up, and they’ll make arrangements for someone to meet with you. Thanks for your call,” she said, ending the call and wrapping up the show.
“Why did you cut him off?” The Grid demanded, charging out of his booth and into hers before she even had her headphones off.
“For all I know, he’s just another crackpot,” she said sullenly, her mind far away on a thought that had nothing to do with the bad blood between the two of them.
“Or he might not be,” he replied.
“Well, then have someone call him up and go meet with him. Personally, I’m not setting myself up for some lunatic to drag me into an alley and murder me for shits and giggles.”
“Since when have you shied away from an investigative report?” he asked.
“Trust me. There is nothing for me to investigate on this one.”
“Well, that’s a good damned thing since he hung up after you cut him off rather than leaving his number.”
“Like I said: crackpot,” she told him with a scowl before turning to walk toward the exit doors.
“I’m talking to Richard about this!” he called after her.
“Go fuck yourself. Make sure you tell him I said that while you’re in there,” she called back, pushing open the door and heading out to her car.
“Why did you cut me off?”
Amy whirled toward the sound of his voice. He looked incredible as he stood beneath one of the palm trees that lined the parking area outside the station. She cautioned herself to keep her focus and not lose her head. He had let her walk away and had driven her away, in fact. He didn’t get to just show up and charm his way back into her life.
“What do you want, Owen? I think you made your feelings clear about cavorting with us mere mortals. If you just needed to throw people off your trail to explain you and your family flying around the city, then you’ve done that. You’re welcome. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to get going.”
“I get that you are angry with me. I know why you feel the way you do, and you’re completely right,” he said as he began to walk toward her.
Amy paused, her hand resting on the door of the car as she debated whether to get in it and drive away, or stay and listen to what he had to say. She found that she couldn’t move – a part of her yearning for him to do something to make this right. Yet she was so terrified that he wouldn’t and she would only feel worse.
“What do you want from me?” she asked finally.
“Everything. That’s the simplest answer. I know we have a lot left to learn about one another, but it is just details, Amy. We know enough about one another to know that we are perfectly suited. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about my brother and that I made you feel unimportant in that way. I want you to meet him. I told him all about you, and he’s excited to know you better. He said I was a fool for letting old family rules take a chance at losing what makes me happy, and he’s right.”
“I don’t know what to say to that. What happens when your mother finds out or when your clan finds out? Are you prepared to give up that part of your life to be with me?”
“My family will never forsake me. They love me. They might not be happy with my choice, but they won’t turn me away from it. As far as my clan, I’m not sure that is something I will ever have again. They were never the problem.”
“So you kicked me to the curb for no reason then?”
“No, not for no reason, Amy. There was a very big reason, but it’s something I’m willing to let go. It’s something that I must let go for both our sakes. It fills me with hate and vengeance, and that won’t resolve the problem like I felt it would.”
“I don’t understand what you are talking about.”
“The reason I came here, the reason I was on the mountain. Well, why all three of us were on the mountain – myself, my brother, Connor, and his girlfriend, Emily – we were preparing to go back home, my brother and I. Emily was just with us for her own safety. We had to get her out of there when we left. Anyway, we were in training, getting ready to take on the leader of our clan, Aiden.”
“Take on? You mean as in a fight?”
“Yes, a fight. One that would end in one or both of our deaths. It’s the only way to take him down. He must be stopped.”
“This is the man that killed your father. The one you said you needed to deal with. I had no idea that you meant a physical battle with another dragon.”
“It’s the only way to unseat him. We tried to go to the council of elders to tell them what he did, but with the man who told us fleeing for his life, we had no proof, and we became the ones who were punished. I told you we were exiled. That’s why. We stood up to tell the truth and got sent away for it.”
“So you have been getting stronger and getting ready to go back and take him down. You were afraid that I wouldn’t support you in that? You were afraid that you might not be around if you lost? What? I don’t get how you could let me get attached to you knowing you were going to be doing something so dangerous.”
“I didn’t think about it, Amy. For once, I just let myself feel, and before I knew it, I was in love with you. All my thoughts of vengeance began to fade away. Then I would go home. Connor and I would discuss our plans and how we were progressing in our preparations to take him on, and I felt torn between my need to avenge my father and my feelings for you. I want to be with you so badly, but I kept feeling like I owed it to my father to do something about the man that killed him.”
“So you felt you were doing me a favor by letting me go?”
“No. I made a poor choice. I let my need to take Aiden down get the best of me. I came here consumed by one thought, and that was to end him and his il
l-begotten power. He is a scourge to our clan, not giving anything back or allowing our community to progress. He only takes, doing what is beneficial for himself while people give up their own dreams for the greater good. They should be able to have both a spirit of community and a life they can be proud of.”
“Isn’t being a dragon something to be proud of?”
“Inside the community, yes. Outside of it, we stay hidden as best we can. We’re rumors over there just like we are here – shadowy figures flying through darkened skies to disguise our presence. To most people, we are freaks and misfits. Aiden wants to keep it that way. As long as we live in fear of discovery, he reigns supreme and uses that fear to further his own dark goals.”
A passerby glanced in their direction, making them both aware of their surroundings once again. They waited a few moments until he had passed, but then another came along to disrupt their conversation. Amy frowned for a moment, trying to make up her mind if she even wanted to continue this conversation, but of course she did. How could she not? Having Owen standing in front of her again only reminded her how much she wanted him.
“Get in the car,” Amy told him.
“Where are we going?” he asked as he climbed in, and she shifted the car into gear.
“My apartment. We can talk there without interruption,” she told him.
There was silence between them as they made their way to her place. Owen looked quietly out the window while she focused on the traffic around them, her mind running off in a million different directions. Was this something she could accept? Something she could understand? She felt incredibly nervous as they entered her apartment.
“You want a drink?” she asked.
“Sure, whatever you have,” he replied.
“Alcohol,” she replied, pulling out a bottle of red wine and uncorking it.
Grabbing two glasses, she brought the entire bottle over with her and poured each of them a glass before setting it down nearby. The way she felt right now, she might very well need it handy.
“Amy, I made a mistake. Here is the thing you aren’t understanding. If it had been a case of my family and clan being displeased about me being mated with a human, I could have lived with that. Where my struggle lay was knowing that I wouldn’t be able to take from Aiden what he had taken from me.”
“Why is that?”
“If you take down the leader, you become the new leader. However, if you are mated with a human, you are forbidden from holding power. So I couldn’t be with you and challenge Aiden for his position. If I launched an attack on him, it would be deemed purely personal, and I could spend the rest of my days either in a dark hole or executed for a crime.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. I mean, I get the rules and you aren’t supposed to mate with humans thing, but he killed your father. How is there no justice allowed for that?”
“As I said before, the man that told us about the crime fled for his own safety. He took his family with him. It wasn’t that he cared what happened to him – he was dying anyway – but he wasn’t about to let his family pay a horrible price for his betrayal of Aiden. Even if we could find him, the odds of him making it onto a witness stand aren’t good. If he didn’t die of his ailment, he most certainly would be taken out by Aiden somehow.”
“So you would have rather give me up than give up this dream of killing him?” she said, uncertain about whether she could fault him for that. It was a tough call for anyone, and even though she’d like to believe she was worth giving up everything else for, that just wasn’t the way the world worked. This wasn’t just something he was involved with on his own. There was also his brother’s stake in it. He would be resigning his sibling to no justice as well.
“No, I wouldn’t. I told you that I love you. I didn’t know how I was going to sort all this out. You were so upset about me hiding my brother from you, and you ran away. I let you because I thought it might be what was best for you.”
“And now? Why have you come back?”
“I came back because I was miserable without you. I had to do some long, hard thinking about what I was doing and talk to my brother about it. We had a very long conversation, and he agreed that we should let this grudge pass. I want to be with you, and he wants to be married next year. There is no place for this kind of hate in our lives anymore. We have to let it go.”
“I don’t know what to say. I’m terrified of getting too close to you only to have you run away.”
“I won’t run from you. Not now, not ever. You can believe that, Amy. There’s no reason you should fear being with me. I have given up on taking matters into my own hands, but you should know that there is something that I need to do.”
“What is that?” she asked uneasily.
“I have to go back to Ireland. My mother will be returning there soon, and she isn’t safe – not with Aiden still in power. Perhaps I can’t take him down, but I can make sure I get her somewhere safe, far out of harm’s way.”
“Can’t you just send her a plane ticket?” Amy asked.
“I wish that it were that simple, but my mother isn’t going to abandon her home so easily. While she was away, she was with a man that she had met. I had secretly hoped that she would stay with him where he was, but it didn’t work out as well as she had hoped, and she’s coming back home. It will take some convincing to get her to leave.”
“Surely she understands the danger of being there after you found out what the dragon leader did to your father?” Amy asked.
“We haven’t told her. It would have only brought her pain. She doesn’t even know we were exiled.”
“One of your relatives wouldn’t have told her?”
“No. Only the council knew what happened. We weren’t allowed to contact our relatives. Connor managed to talk one of the guards into letting him use his phone long enough to get Emily on a plane to join us. Aiden had been hinting at making a move on her, and she wasn’t safe. Mom was as long as she was out of the country, but she won’t be now.”
“How will you get to her if you are exiled? Won’t you risk ending up in a battle with Aiden anyway if you go back there?”
“No. We will find a way. The Mourne Mountains aren’t that far from Dublin. We can hole up in the city and get word to her to join us there.”
“Shouldn’t you tell her that you are coming at least?”
“No. The less chance of word getting out that we are on our way back or back in the area, the better it will be for us all.”
“Okay. Well, I am not sure what your point in telling me all this was if you are still going back into harm’s way. Are you asking me to sit here and wait to see if you make it back in one piece?”
“No. I’m asking you to go with me. I’m asking you to be by my side while I get my mother out of there. You will be safe enough in Dublin while we sort it out. I want you with me, Amy. I don’t want to be apart from you ever again.”
“I don’t know, Owen. I can’t just take off from my radio show and run off to Ireland with you.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“I don’t know. It’s my career. I would be committing entertainment suicide if I just walked away from it.”
“Tell me this, Amy. Is this what you wanted to be when you grew up? A radio personality? When you were spending all those hours in college, studying to become an investigative journalist, did you intend to sit behind a microphone in a little booth and take calls from crackpots talking about dragons flying around the city?”
“Seems those crackpots weren’t so crazy now, doesn’t it?”
“Perhaps not, but you understand my question. What’s the answer?”
“You may be right about that, but it affords me a nice lifestyle, Owen. I don’t know that I’m the kind of person that can give up my security for a potential fairytale ending.”
“How many girls get to run off into the sunset with an actual dragon?” he asked.
“I thi
nk girls are supposed to run off with a prince, not a dragon,” she said, recalling an earlier thought about it.
“No. The fairytales are all written by people who never actually met a dragon.”
“I’d say that would pretty much be most people, at least as far as they know.”
“That’s your answer then? You’d rather cling on to a job that I don’t think you really enjoy as much as you pretend to rather than be with a man who will love you beyond anything you thought capable?”
Amy studied his face for a moment, weighing his words against her thoughts as her heart danced against her chest. Her head said one thing, her heart another. Of course, she wanted to be with him, but what if that was the wrong decision? Somewhere in the back of her mind, she heard the always wise words of Barb – words she had once said when Amy had been struggling to understand why the man she had loved had been so cruel and left her in a pitiful heap of tears.
Someday, someone will come along who will make you forget all this pain. When he does, don’t let yourself dwell on the past – move forward and let the magic happen.
“I think I need more convincing,” Amy said, standing and extending her hand toward Owen.
“That would be my pleasure,” he replied, taking her hand and following her to the bedroom.
The following morning, Amy had made up her mind. No job was worth the loss of a man she loved and who loved her. Picking up her phone, she noticed that she had several missed calls from the station manager. She didn’t bother listening to them. Instead, she called him and quit, ignoring his pleas to reconsider. The best part was that she didn’t even feel the least bit anxious about it. In fact, it felt like a relief.
After a trip back to the mountains near Bear Lake to pick up Connor and Emily, the four of them booked their flights to Dublin and set out on what was destined to be an adventure for them all. Amy was fearful of what this trip might bring, but for the first time in a very long time, she felt free and ready to take on a whole new world.
Her eyes fluttered open as they set down at the airport in Ireland. She had fallen asleep with her head on Owen’s shoulder, sleeping peacefully for the entire last leg of the long trip.
Saved by a Dragon (Paranormal Shifter Romance) (Exiled Dragons Book 1) Page 9