by Tully Belle
“You keep a dragon here?” Caran’s voice pitched high, bordering on a scream. “There are people nearby. What are you thinking?” She clenched her fists, ready to challenge him on this. She’d kept her mouth shut so far, but she’d been hurt and he deserved to know how she really felt.
“What the hell were you doing in there?” He stalked over to her and grabbed her by the arm. She flinched and limped backwards. He noticed her leg. “Jesus. Come on, you need that looked at.” His teeth gritted and his muscles corded tight. He stopped outside his bedroom. “Wait here until I get some clothes on.” He looked her up and down and shook his head clearly angry with her. She’d never seen him like this. It wasn’t fair. It wasn't her that he should be angry with. This was his fault for keeping it so close! What was he thinking?
Caran turned without waiting for him, making her own way down the stairs until she reached the third floor. She strode toward the rooms that held the medical supplies and pushed the door open. Grabbing the supplies she needed she sat on the bed in the middle of the room and cleaned the wound. It stung and she winced more than once.
She was applying the cream when Ash came in.
“You’re putting the lives of the people here in danger,” she said through gritted teeth. “They kill people. That one would have killed me. Is that what you want?”
“Of course not.”
“They need to be destroyed. All of them.”
He sat down on the bed next to her. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“I don’t?” She scoffed. “One killed my friend. Dean is dead because a dragon killed him.”
She expected him to understand why she felt this way. But he didn’t. Instead Ash narrowed his eyes and looked at her with distrust. This was not her fault. “I will put that dragon ahead of even you. That dragon has never killed anyone, and if you touch him or alert anyone else to his whereabouts, I won’t be able to protect you anymore.”
His words stung. “You would put the life of a dragon ahead of a person?” Caran was incredulous. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. What did he mean that he would put a dragon ahead of her? They were monsters, undeserved of such loyalty. Look at what had just happened to her!
“Yes. He comes first. Always.”
“He?” Caran shook her head in disbelief. “You talk about it like it’s a pet. Dragon’s aren’t pets, Ash. They are too dangerous, they can’t be controlled.”
“They can be.”
She finished wrapping the bandage around her calf. “Only you and your brothers seem to be able to control them. I don’t know how you do it but others can’t do that. If you weren’t around I could have been seriously hurt, perhaps killed too. You need to destroy them.”
His hands balled into fists. “Lyson would not have seriously hurt you, he was only trying to scare you to get out.”
Caran opened her mouth and then closed it again. “Wait, what did you say?”
Ash kept his face stiff and forced. “You heard what I said.”
“You called that dragon, Lyson. Your brother’s name.”
He nodded.
Caran didn’t understand. She’s seen photos of Lyson. He was a person, not a dragon. Did they name this dragon after him? Why?
“That is why I will always put that dragon ahead of you.” He pointed to the ceiling. “That dragon is my brother.”
Caran searched his face for a clue that he was having her on, that he would burst out laughing at the insensitive joke at any moment. He didn’t. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“We can all do it. Mac, me, Lyson. We can all change into dragons.”
“You can change into dragons?” Caran shook her head. “It isn’t possible. There is no biological way that could happen.”
“And yet it can.”
“You want me to believe that you can all change into a dragon anytime you like. Ha!” she scoffed.
“Yes.” He rolled an eyebrow higher. “Coming back is a little more complicated.” He was being serious. He actually believed what he was saying.
“No. It’s impossible.”
Ash took a deep sigh. “It may seem like that, but I can assure you, my brothers and I can shift into dragon form. I’m telling the truth.”
Caran was having a hard time getting her head around this. But he was being sincere and it shook her. “Dragon shifters? I’ve never heard of anything like that. How does it work?” she asked skeptically.
He narrowed his eyes. “I don’t want to get into specifics. This isn’t something that a lot of people know.” He glanced down at her leg. “How are you feeling?”
Her leg. She’d been so confused by the conversation that she’d forgotten about the pain. “Oh, it feels better. Thanks.”
“We need to get back to your room. I’d rather not continue this conversation here where anyone could walk in.”
He helped her up and they walked out together and headed toward her room.
Caran’s head spun. Ash could change into a dragon. It was something she’d never thought possible. Were all dragons really people who had transformed? By killing a dragon did that mean she was really killing a person? It didn’t make sense. Did anyone at Princess know this? Did Tessa? She couldn’t, otherwise she’d be training people to kill . . . other people. No, no, that wasn’t what she signed up for. She saved lives, she didn’t take them away.
They reached the room and Ash followed her in. He locked the door behind them.
She had so many questions and she wasn’t sure where to start. Her worldview had been shattered and right now she didn’t know what was true and she wasn’t sure how to put the pieces back together.
20
“Who are you?” demanded Ash. He made sure to keep his voice calm and controlled. He didn’t want her knowing that the trust he’d placed in her was shattering into tiny shards.
“What do you mean?” asked Caran. “You know who I am.”
She was still upset and shocked and it was breaking his resolve to question her like this, but it had to be done. He had to know if walking in on Lyson had been planned or a mistake.
“I need to know the truth about why you went into Lyson’s room and why you walked through that door.”
“You said I could look around. I couldn’t sleep, so that’s what I was doing.” Her eyes pleaded with him to believe her, and he wanted to, but he had to be careful. It didn’t make sense that she would simply go searching Lyson’s room. There was more to it.
“There are people, groups, that mean to do harm to dragons. Is that why you’re here?”
She composed herself and spoke quieter this time. “I can’t deny that my feelings about dragons are that they are menaces, creatures of destruction. I told you that my ex died. He died because he was crushed to death. He was trapped under layers of concrete from a building that was knocked down by a dragon.”
“So, you mean to destroy them as some sort of revenge fantasy.”
“No.” She shook her head defiantly. “Not now. Not after if what you just told me is true. I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
He studied her face. “There is a group called Princess. I wouldn’t put it past them to plant someone to spy on us.” He scoffed at the name of the group. “Their leader, Tessa, has always had it in for us.” He grimaced. They were hardly princess’s after everything they’d done.
“Ash, listen to me.” She stood up and walked over to him. “When I went into Lyson’s room I didn’t expect to see a dragon. Clearly it was as much a surprise to me as it was to him.” She indicated her leg. “But you being able to transform into a dragon, if it’s true . . .”
“It is.”
“It changes everything I believe in.”
“Why?”
She sighed and turned back to her bed. “I could never hurt someone, not like that. I care too much about life. About you and everyone here.”
“And your ex?”
She cocked her head to the side. “Dean has been gone
a long time. It’s time I let the past go and move forward. I thought I was doing that by being here.” She clasped her hands into fists. “I am doing that. It’s only been a few days and already my whole outlook on life has shifted. It’s because of you.”
“No, not me. You change yourself. Sure, circumstances might alter how you see things, but change comes from within.”
“Says the man who can change at will into a dragon.” She grinned and shook her head incredulously. She was coming around and starting to believe him. Good.
“Everyone has their own skills.” He shrugged.
That made her smile. “Of course, now I’m intently curious about how it all works. How do you do it? What happens to your body? Does your cells expand? Multiply? Does it hurt? What happens to your clothes?”
He raised a brow. “Interrogation time, huh? Look, there will be plenty of time for questions, and I will answer them, but for now we need to get back to sleep.”
“I doubt I’ll be able to sleep after what happened.”
“You should try. Everyone will be up in a few hours and we both need to get our heads straight before then.”
The smile that had been on her face returned to a frown. “Okay. I understand.”
He walked over to her and gave her a kiss on her forehead. He lingered a while, holding her, then turned, walking toward the exit.
As he closed the door behind him and hesitated. He wanted to believe her, but he had to be sure.
Ash locked the door from the outside. He needed time to think about this before he could make a decision, and of course he’d have to tell Mac what happened. He groaned and ran his hand through his hair. That was a conversation that he didn’t want to have.
21
Caran heard the door click as Ash locked it behind him. She wasn’t surprised, but it did disappoint her to think that she’d lost his trust. Truthfully she didn’t know what to think anymore. Everything she’d told Ash was true, it was different now. This changed everything.
She wasn’t a killer. She wasn’t even a dragon assassin like the rest of them at Princess. Not really. There was a reason that she’d never killed anything, she didn’t have it in her. And now she didn’t know who she was anymore. Everything that Tessa had told her had been a lie.
But had it?
She shook her head trying to separate the facts from her emotions. The fact was that unless Ash was lying and the dragon wasn’t Lyson, then killing them meant murder. The dragon that they had in the facility back at Princess had seemed so real though. There had to be some that were just dragons and nothing more though, right?
And the one that had knocked down the building that ended Dean’s life. Was that a shifter or an actual dragon? Was it deliberate or just a terrible accident?
There were too many unanswered questions.
Ash was right, she needed to sleep on this to get her head clear.
She checked the bandage on her leg and then lay down on the bed. She stared up at the ceiling, wondering if she’d be able to relax after everything that had happened.
As soon as she got out of here, she’d have to contact Tessa. She’d insist that they cancel their plans. No, wait. If she did that Tessa would suspect something was up and she still didn’t know Tessa’s motives. She doubted that Tessa knew about the brothers, but she’d been involved with dragons a lot longer that Caran had, so she had to know something. It would be better if Caran told her that she hadn’t found anything, that it was a cold lead until she knew more. It would give her more time to sort out who was telling the truth.
Oh god. She rubbed her hands over her face.
Before she did anything she needed to get things straight in her own head.
22
Ash waited until he was sure Mac was awake before going upstairs. He’d wrestled with how to tell Mac what happened. Knowing that Caran discovered Lyson would make Mac even less trustful of her. And he had good reason to be. Ash had become suspicious too. It was one thing to be curious and want to explore where she was, but to blatantly go into his brother’s room. No, he needed to be careful now. His feelings were clouding his judgment and he needed to be sure before he pursued this relationship further.
He opened the doors and stepped into Mac’s room.
Mac was at the table sipping a mug of coffee and reading from a tablet. He glanced up when Ash entered. “You’re up early. I thought you’d still be in bed.” There was a smug look on his face indicating that even though he expected Ash to still be in bed, he didn’t think he’d be sleeping.
“I need you to remain calm.”
“Calm?” The grin on Mac’s face fell and he placed his coffee mug down on the table hard enough for some of the liquid to splash out. He stood up, his attention directly on Ash now. “Talk.”
Ash winced and took a deep breath. “Last night, Caran found Lyson. She went into his room and through to the cavern.”
“What?” Mac thumped his fist onto the table. He shook his head and glared at Ash. “Where is she now?”
“She’s in her room. It’s locked, she can’t get out.”
“Jesus.” His lips were pursed tight and his eyes wide with rage. “Why the hell did you bring her up to your room? She’s been here, what, two days?” Mac’s nostrils flared. “She has to go.”
“No.” Ash stood his ground. He wasn’t about to let Mac make that decision. This was his call.
“What the hell, Ash? You just said she went searching for Lyson.”
“I said she found him, but I saw her in there, she wasn’t searching for him. I doubt she knew what she was walking into. You can’t fake that.”
“Jesus,” Mac repeated. “Your dick is clouding your head. This is really bad for us.”
“It’s only bad if she let’s slip what we are.”
“Oh great, you told her that we were shifters. Good one.” He spat the words out. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“It’s safer that way.”
“Safer?” Mac threw his hands in the air as he strode away from the table.
“Yes. Having her think we kept a dragon so close to everyone made her nervous. She had a bad experience in the past with one, and I wasn’t sure she could keep that quiet. Knowing that it was Lyson in there changed everything for her. She won’t spill that secret so easily.”
“But she still could.”
Ash cocked his head to the side. “I’m going to find out. One way or another, I’ll find out if walking in on Lyson was deliberate or an accident.”
“And how do you propose to do that? Find a mind reader?” Mac scoffed.
Ash kept his cool. If he was to convince Mac that they could still trust Caran, something he wasn’t sure of himself, he needed to remain strong in his convictions. “I’m taking her to see her mother.”
“You’re going to give her even more information about us, you mean.”
“I don’t think so.” Ash walked over to the window and looked out. “Seeing how they interact will give me a chance to observe her properly. I can’t do that here, it’s too distracting.”
“She’s too distracting, you mean.”
“Mother’s always know when their kid is hiding something.”
“Yeah.” Mac’s tone softened and his head lowered. Their own mother had given them up for adoption when Lyson turned five. Ash was seven and Mac was nine. They never knew the real reason she did it until they turned eighteen and found out what they truly were. Ash believed she was weak to give them up because of it, it wasn’t their fault, but Mac still held a soft spot for her.
“I’ll know more after I see them together and spend more time with her.”
“You’re giving her the benefit of the doubt before you know her properly.” He shook his head, clearly frustrated.
“No, I’m taking the time to make a decision. I can’t jump to conclusions, it isn’t fair. It was either a mistake or deliberate. I’m confident that she had no idea Lyson was in there, but why she was there at all, is what I
still need to figure out. You have to give me time to discover that.”
“Keep her close, Ash. I can’t have her causing a problem for us.”
“I will.”
Mac crossed his arms over his chest. “How’s Lyson doing after this?”
“He wasn’t too happy to see her, that’s for sure. Burnt her leg.”
“Any signs he’s transitioning back?”
“Not yet.”
“See me after you come back from the farm. I need to know everything that happened.”
“Okay.” Ash walked out and took the stairs down. That went as well as he expected. Even though Mac didn’t agree with him, he was willing to let him make the judgment call about whether Caran was trustworthy or not.
He made his way to the medical floor and grabbed a new bandage and cream.
Caran would be wondering why she got locked in her room. Or maybe she did know why and was planning her escape. He had no idea what he’d find when he opened the door.
He stopped outside her door and flicked the lock open. He paused then knocked.
“I’m awake.” Caran’s voice sounded distant and tired.
He opened the door and bought in the supplies. Her face was pale and he could tell she hadn’t had any sleep since he last saw her. “I’m sorry about locking you in here,” he said. “You have to…”
She lifted her hand to his lips to quiet him. “I understand. You don’t trust me and I did that to us.”
“It’s a difficult situation.”
She sighed and reached for the bandages. “Thanks for bringing these.” She got out of bed and sat in the chair by the window. “I’ll redress this and leave.”
“You’re not leaving.”
She glanced up, her eyes resigned to her fate. “Fine. Keep me locked here then.” She returned to attending to her leg.
“You’re not staying locked in this room either. I’m taking you somewhere.”
She looked up and narrowed her eyes. “Where?”
“How long has it been since you’ve seen your mother?”