“Saul…dead?” Izzy asked, unable to find the strength to form even a complete sentence.
Noah nodded. “He’s dead. He won’t be hurting anyone else.”
Izzy closed her eyes and sighed, and Noah bit back tears.
“Stay with me, Izzy. I’m going to get you help. We’re going to be okay.”
“Too…late…for me,” Izzy said, then coughed and sputtered blood from her mouth.
“No!” Noah said. “No, it’s not too late. We just need a doctor to stitch you up and you’ll be good as new in a few days.”
Izzy made no reply, other than to sigh again. Noah pulled her head against his chest, unable to stop a few tears from squeezing past his eyelids. Izzy was right. Unless a doctor miraculously appeared out of thin air within the next few minutes, she wasn’t going to make it. He choked on his sobs, trying to hold them back and to stay strong for her sake.
“Shhh. It’s all going to be okay,” he whispered in her ear, even though he knew it wasn’t.
And then, as if to make things worse, he heard shouting in the hallway, along with the pounding of boots. More dark wizards, he thought. Can’t they leave us alone? Saul is dead, and we’re as good as dead. Just let us die in peace.
When the door to the room flung open, Noah looked up wearily and readied himself to once again shift into dragon form and fight. But then he stopped, his eyes widening at what he saw. A large group of men, all dragon shifters from the scent of them, had barged through the open doorway and were looking from him to Saul to Izzy. They all started talking at once, but Noah didn’t have the strength to tell them to speak one at a time. He didn’t have the strength to ask them who they were or where they’d come from. All he knew was that the sight of these dragons, with their pure eyes, clearly unsullied by Saul’s evil ways, was the most beautiful thing he’d seen in a long time—other than Izzy, of course.
“Doctor,” he choked out, looking up at the men and using his last strength to ask for help. He held Izzy’s limp hand tightly as he spoke. “Need…doctor.”
And then, his world went black.
Chapter Twelve
Izzy blinked her eyes open and was startled to see sunbeams dancing on the green nylon roof of the tent she was lying in. The last thing she remembered thinking was that death was only minutes away for her, but she must have been wrong. She didn’t have strong views on whether there was an afterlife or not, but she was pretty sure that whatever heaven might be out there was unlikely to be populated with green nylon tents.
Not to mention the dull, throbbing pain she could feel in her left side. Her hand went to the spot under her t-shirt from where the pain seemed to emanate, and she felt the prickly, plastic feel of stitches. No, she definitely wasn’t in heaven. She was pretty sure that once you got to heaven, any major injuries were healed up for you.
Slowly, wincing, Izzy sat up. She was wearing a pair of loose black sweatpants in addition to her white t-shirt. Her feet were bare, and she bit back a gasp at the sight of them. They were black and blue with bruises, and on her right foot her big toe had been bandaged up. She tried to wriggle it, then quickly stopped when the movement instantly caused needlelike pain to shoot into her foot and up her leg.
Izzy stretched out her arms in front of her and saw that they were also bruised and scratched. She put her hands to her face and felt long, scabbed wounds there as well. She decided it might be a good thing that tents didn’t usually have mirrors. If her face looked anything like her feet and arms, she’d rather not look at it right now.
Izzy crawled stiffly toward the entrance of her tent and unzipped it. When she peered out, she was greeted by the sight of dozens of other tents. Here and there, hiking backpacks were propped up against trees or large stones, and several dozen yards away from her tent, she could see groups of people milling about, all wearing Falcon Cross military uniforms. Izzy strained to see a familiar face among the clusters of soldiers, but none of them looked familiar. The face she really wanted to see was Noah’s.
With a sigh, Izzy crawled completely out of the tent and stood to her full height. She paused for a few moments, feeling dizzy at the change in position even though her movements had all been slow and careful. Before she could get her bearings again, she heard a voice that made her heart leap and sent a rush of warm happiness through every last cell in her body.
“Izzy! You’re up.”
She turned to look behind her tent. There was a spot there for a large campfire, although no flames burned at the moment. Dozens of log benches surrounded the spot, and Noah was rising from one of the benches. Dimly, she realized that many of the other Falcon Cross VIPs were sitting on the benches, too. The dragon shifters, the wizard military officers, Peter, and some other tall men who looked important but whom Izzy didn’t recognize. She didn’t care that much who was here, though. Noah was the only one who mattered, and he was running toward her now. She tried to run, too, but only managed a slight hobble.
When he reached her, he threw his arms around her. She didn’t care that the movement jabbed at her stitched up side in the wrong way, sending a searing pain through her body. All she cared about was that Noah was alive. He was safe, and his arms were around her. And then, his lips were on her lips. He pressed a long, firm kiss onto her mouth, which resulted in a chorus of teasing whoops rising up behind him. He ignored them, pulling away to look into Izzy’s eyes.
“Are you alright? How do you feel?”
“I’m okay, I guess,” Izzy replied. “My side hurts, but it seems you found someone to stitch it up nicely.”
“Yeah. They stitched me up, too.” Noah raised his t-shirt to reveal long, red marks which ran angrily down both his left and right sides.
Izzy gasped. “I should be asking you if you’re okay.”
Noah shrugged. “I’m fine. Dragons heal quickly. I was more worried about you, but you seem to be recovering nicely. It’s a long story, but a group of dragon shifters had been imprisoned in Saul’s hideout, and they were set free when Saul died. Luckily, one of them had medical training.”
Izzy looked at the group of unfamiliar men on the logs near the VIPs. “Are those guys the dragons from Saul’s hideout?”
Noah nodded. “Yup. Guess it’s not that hard to tell when someone is a dragon, once you know what to look for.”
“So Saul is really dead?” Izzy asked, still looking over at the new group of dragons.
“Yup. We killed him together. You were one hell of a warrior in there. Really made me eat my words about you being a coward.”
Izzy looked up at Noah’s green eyes that she loved so much. “I think I’m still a coward. I still felt terrified. But I couldn’t leave you there alone.” Izzy glanced over at Peter, who was deep in conversation with Raven at the moment. “I directly defied the head wizard,” she said, feeling a rush of guilt at the memory. “He must be furious with me.”
Noah laughed and bent to kiss her nose. “I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Because of you, Saul is dead and we recovered the dragon ruby. I think you’ll find that these victories put Peter in quite the forgiving mood.”
Izzy smiled. “Victory,” she said. “Such a sweet word.”
“Agreed.”
“But if we won, then why are we all still camped out here? Why not head back to Falcon Cross?”
“We were waiting for you to wake up and feel well enough to travel. There’s no rush, but as soon as you’re up to it, we’ll be heading back. Most of the army has been packing up to head out tonight, but a small squadron will stay behind while you heal.”
“I can leave tonight,” Izzy said, standing up straighter as though that would prove she was well enough to travel.
“Are you sure? There’s really no rush.”
“I’m sure. I’m ready to be home.”
* * *
The trip home was mercifully uneventful. Riding on a broomstick wasn’t easy for Izzy in her weakened state, but she managed. As soon as they entered Falcon Cross airspace, Iz
zy knew she’d made the right choice in coming straight home. The mood in the city was nothing short of jubilant. News of the final victory over Saul had already spread, and people were dancing in the streets. Celebration festivals were already in full swing, and Izzy felt energized by the happiness in the air.
With the chance to sleep in her own bed, in safety and peace, Izzy made a quick recovery. Noah visited her often, but he was also quite busy with official business. He had dived right back into work, although now work was much more fun than it had been before. There were official celebrations to be planned, and award ceremonies to be attended. For two solid weeks, there was at least one victory party every day. Izzy attended as many of them as she could. She was awarded a medal at one of the ceremonies in recognition of her help in recovering the dragon ruby. Izzy didn’t feel that she needed any special recognition, but she was quite glad that Peter had so easily pardoned her for her defiance of his orders. He knew as well as she did that things could have gone quite badly if her rescue attempt had been unsuccessful, but he didn’t hold this against her. Peter had never been the vindictive type.
Two and half weeks after arriving home, Izzy found herself sitting next to Noah in the VIP meeting room, in the very same chair where she’d sat at their last meeting, when she’d been so afraid of Saul. It had been less than a month, but that day felt like a lifetime ago.
The mood in the room was quite different this time, too. Instead of strained worry, there was laughter and joy. And instead of Noah being merely an acquaintance, he was Izzy’s lifemate and lover. He reached to hold her knee under the table, and Izzy couldn’t stop a silly grin from spreading across her face.
“Alright, alright everyone!” Peter yelled above the din of conversation. “Let’s get this meeting started. We have quite a few things to cover.”
It took several more tries before Peter managed to quiet everyone down. When he did, he started briskly going through his long agenda. There were several items that related to how the Falcon Cross military would be reorganized for peacetime. There were also a few more official celebrations remaining, and Peter asked for volunteers for various tasks. The most pressing matter, however, was what to do with the prisoners of war. After she returned to Falcon Cross, Izzy had learned that many of Saul’s dark wizards and evil shifters had been captured. Many were too far gone to help, having lost too much of their soul to dark magic. Those wizards had been placed in prison cells here in Falcon Cross to live out the rest of their lives, however short that time might be. Most wizards didn’t last very long when they’d been practicing as much dark magic as these ones had. Some of the wizards, however, had been new enough to Saul’s army that Peter believed they could be rehabilitated to become good citizens of the wizard and shifter communities.
Izzy found her mind wandering while Peter spoke. She wasn’t sure what part she was going to play in the efforts to rebuild after the war. She hoped there would be some way for her to work as a doctor again, instead of as some sort of military officer. Surely, there was a place for a doctor to be useful in the post-war world. She missed doing the work that she knew she did best. And, from the sound of it, there was a lot of work for everyone to do. Peter was now talking about the monsters, many of which had escaped from Saul’s hideout the night Izzy had stormed in to rescue Noah.
“We don’t know how many there are, unfortunately. We searched Saul’s headquarters and it seems he did not keep a record of how many shifters he changed into monsters. Our best guess, based on the food supplies left in the rooms that had housed the monsters, is that there were about fifty monsters total. We have a team trying to track them down, but it isn’t easy. They tend to find places deep in the forest to hide, only coming out when they are in the mood to kill.”
“Um, how often are they in the mood to kill?” Grayson asked, sounding somewhat alarmed.
Peter shrugged. “No one can say. They are inherently unstable creatures, thanks to the dark magic used to create them. Saul appears to have used them as guards. That’s why he left one at the Redwoods Base. But they are relatively easy to take down if you are prepared to meet them. Our wizards will track them down and kill them, even if it takes a while. Some of the dragons Saul had imprisoned want to help with the search effort, too. They are eager for a chance to do anything to destroy what Saul had built.”
Izzy perked up at the mention of the dragons. “Where did Saul find those dragons?” she asked. She’d been meaning to ask Noah for more information about the dragons, but he had been so busy and there had been so many other things to catch up on as well. Izzy had, at least, had the opportunity to meet with the dragon who had stitched up her and Noah, saving their lives. There had been a lot of life-saving going on in the last week of the war, it seemed.
Knox was the one to answer her question. “Saul found the dragons all over the place. Most of them were in normal human towns, trying to live as normal humans and keep their dragon shifter side a secret. But Saul had scouts specially trained to find dragons. Once the scouts found the dragons, they took them unaware. The dragons had no idea there was any kind of war going on, so they were easy to take by surprise. Saul imprisoned them and was trying to convince them to join his army. We think he was intending to use their souls for dark magic spells if they didn’t agree soon. But, thanks to you and Noah, Saul got distracted and never got that far.”
Izzy felt a puff of pride in her chest. Even though she’d defied Peter and the others, it seems she’d done the right thing after all. “And now?” she asked. “What will those dragons do now?”
Knox shrugged. “Well, like Peter said, some of them will help track down the monsters. The remaining majority will find new homes, probably in shifter or wizard communities. A few will head back to where they lived before the war, but most of them don’t want to go back to their human towns now. They didn’t like being caught off guard by what was going on in the shifter and wizard worlds. We think they’ll become good allies for us in holding back evil forces and making sure evil doesn’t rise again like it did with Saul.”
Izzy nodded. “It seems, then, that everyone is settling down again after the war.”
“That’s true,” Noah said, squeezing Izzy’s hand again under the table as he started speaking. “And I think that means it’s time for the Redwood Dragons to go home, too.”
Izzy felt her heart sinking. She had known, of course, that this day would come. The dragons had only come to Falcon Cross because of the war. But now, the war was over, and their home had been reclaimed. They would want to go back and repair the damage to their cabins, restock the artifact vaults, and get back to life as a clan of their own. Izzy wasn’t sure that there would be a place for her in the Redwoods, though. She knew Noah would want her to come. They were lifemates, after all. But what would she do for work out in the middle of nowhere, with a group of ten dragons and their lifemates? Before Izzy could twist her mind up too much in worry, Knox was speaking again.
“Noah’s right. It’s time for the dragons to go home. We have a lot to do back in the redwoods—including building new cabins.”
“New cabins?” Peter inquired with mild interest. “You mean you’re not going to just repair the ones that were damaged? Do you think they’re too messed up to fix?”
Knox shook his head no. “We’ll fix the damaged cabins. But we’ll need to build new cabins, too. You see, our clan has voted, and we’ve decided to open our home base up to any shifters who have been left homeless by the war. We know there are many who need homes, and we want to do our part to help. This war has also made us realize that our clan is too isolated. Being here in Falcon Cross, and being part of the wonderful city you wizards have built here, has made us realize that we would benefit from building up our clan into a larger village.”
“Knox, that’s wonderful!” Peter said, sitting up and clapping his hands twice in excitement. “There are so many shifter refugees that will be thrilled to hear that.”
Izzy felt her own heart po
unding with excitement. Surely, if the Redwoods base was going to be built up into an actual city, then there would be something for her to do there. The town would need doctors wouldn’t it?
Noah had already anticipated Izzy’s question. He was looking at her now, his lips stretched into a wide grin and his eyes sparkling. “We’re gonna need a town doctor. What do you say, Izzy? Would you be willing to come out to the Redwoods and help establish our first official clinic?”
A grin just as wide as Noah’s spread across Izzy’s face. “I’d love to,” she said. And then she leaned over to give him a hug and a firm kiss on the lips. She didn’t care that they were in front of all of the Redwood Dragons and Falcon Cross VIPs. She was overcome with love for Noah in that moment.
And, for the first time since she’d been pulled into this war, she felt like she was anchored to something. She was going home—to her new home.
Chapter Thirteen
Izzy spent the rest of the week on a cloud, happily packing up her few belongings and making plans for her trip to the Redwoods. But when all of her packing was done, and she found herself sitting in an apartment full of boxes with nothing to do except think about the move she was about to make, she came tumbling down off that cloud.
She started to panic, and couldn’t stop herself from worrying about every single thing that could possibly go wrong. Noah had promised to come over after work that day, and by the time he arrived at five forty-five p.m., Izzy was pacing like a wild animal and desperately trying to hold back tears. She felt like an idiot for being so overcome by worry, but it was too late to act like everything was fine. She hadn’t heard Noah letting himself in, and he saw the distress in her face before she had time to hide it.
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