Bound in Ashes

by Milly Taiden

  Nana raised her brows, staring at her curiously. “Now?”

  Morgan grinned. “I think this is perfect for that building. We can furnish the rooms and there are about a hundred apartments they can all share. Nobody has to sleep outside. I’ll have Mom arrange for bedding.” She squeezed Nana’s hands. “Okay, I feel better now.”

  Nana laughed. “You’re a gem, Morgan. But they could have slept on the stone floor.”

  She gave Nana a horrified look. “Children? Over my dead body! Anyway, that’s settled. We are so glad you’re back. Everything go well?” At that second, a two-foot-tall light green dragon dashed past the two women.

  Lexi’s voice rang from the castle. “Morgan, grab your child before he destroys anything else!”

  Nana gasped. “Noah,” she called out. Hearing her voice, the little drangonling tried to stop suddenly and tripped over his feet, falling, then rolling on the ground. He twisted onto his stomach like he did in human form to get his legs under him and stand. Poor little guy had yet to learn that dragon arms were much shorter in relation to the body than human limbs. He had his feet under him, but with short arms straight down, his forehead was still on the ground. He didn’t have enough core strength to lift his top half.

  Her baby dragon froze in the “downward-facing dog” yoga position, not knowing what to do. His little growl was as cute as anything. Morgan covered her mouth with her hand to hide her smile.

  Nana called to him. “Put your tail straight out, Noah. Let it tip you backward.” When the boy didn’t move, a memory of the morning he went missing crossed her mind.

  “Noah,” Morgan said, “stick out the snake.”

  His tiny tail popped straight out behind him and his body started tipping backward, and as soon as his butt hit the grass, he took off for Nana. When he called out for his grandmother, a high-pitched rawr left his mouth. He immediately stopped, almost tripping over his feet again.

  He tilted his head to the side. “Rawr?” he said quietly. Her little dragonling looked at Morgan and Nana, and Morgan swore the kid was smiling. His tiny green feet went into double time racing to them. “Rawr, rawr, rawr!”

  Beside her, Nana said, “He’s just like his great-great-whatever-grandfather. So cute until he hit age 956. Then he lost his hair, but I still loved him.” Nana let out a big sigh. Then scooped up Morgan’s precious little dragon.

  “Rawr, rawr, rawr.” Short arms flailed like he was telling an awesome adventure to Nana. When his head turned to the side and his tail flipped up, Morgan knew he was telling her about his snake.

  Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. She leaned closer to the older woman. “Nana, you don’t really understand him, do you? I mean do they—is there a dragon language?”

  “No, dear,” the grandmother said, “but he doesn’t know that, yet.” Morgan wanted to fall down laughing at how damn cute that was. “In his mind, he’s hearing every word his human brain is saying.” She turned back to the tot in her arms. “Is that right?”

  Noah nodded.

  “He shifted sometime yesterday morning,” Morgan told her.

  Nana’s head whipped back to her. “Yesterday morning? Has he eaten anything?” she asked her voice full of concern.

  “Well,” she replied with embarrassment, “besides me feeding him animal crackers, he doesn’t eat much. Stuff has a tendency to fall out of his mouth.”

  “What about drinking? Has he had any liquid in the past twenty-four hours?”

  Morgan’s head dipped lower. She had to be the worst mother ever. “We, uh, turned the water hose on and he put his head under it.” She cringed more. “I didn’t know what to do. He wouldn’t shift back to human and I couldn’t let him starve or get dehydrated. We took him for walks when it was time, to…you know.”

  “I understand, but you should have told me the moment I got back. He’s not a dog or a house animal, this is a baby.” Nana shook her head.

  Morgan’s guilt rose till she had tears in her eyes. “I know. I was distracted by all the people. I didn’t mean to walk him like a dog. He’s my baby, but I couldn’t have him doing nature on the castle floor, could I? Diapers didn’t fit right.”

  “I bet he loved being outside,” Nana sighed.

  “He did. It helped me feel less like the worst mother on the planet,” she sobbed.

  Nana gave her a soft smile. “Oh, honey don’t cry. Really. Don’t feel that way, Morgan. I can tell you’ve been incredibly upset and stressed over this, but it’s not as bad as you’re thinking.”

  Morgan sniffled, wiping at the tears going down her cheeks. “It’s not?”

  “It’s all going to be fine.” Nana bounced the little one in her arms. “Nana’s here and we’ll have you back in your human form in no time. I really thought he wouldn’t shift so quickly after my dream. I’m getting old. We need to keep an eye on the other older ones. Once their inner dragons realize they can come out, they’ll be popping shortly after.”

  Morgan wiped the moisture from her face and dried her eyes. The last thing she needed was anyone else noticing her tears.

  Lexi joined them at that moment. “Isn’t he the cutest baby dragon you’ve ever seen?”

  “Not to mention the only baby dragon you’ve ever seen?” Morgan said.

  Tor and Clacher had delivered the fresh kill to the camp and were headed their way. Morgan called out to him in the distance, “What did Kermit’s mom say to his father when Kermit became a full-fledged frog?”

  Tor’s brows came down like he thought she was a crazy woman and shook his head. Morgan smiled, then said, “Your son is green. Be proud.”

  Tor’s eyes bugged when seeing who Nana was holding, then picked up his pace. Little lizard arms reached out for him when he and Clacher were close. “Rawr-rawr,” her baby said.

  Her mountain of a husband melted. Morgan fell more in love with both her little and big guys.

  Clacher met his mate with a kiss. Lexi grinned at him. “Have you been in touch with Ker since yesterday?”

  “No,” he said with a frown. “Why?”

  She shrugged. “Neither Morgan and I can reach Tiana nor Ker. We were checking on them since Tiana was really upset yesterday morning when they left. Wanted to see if they’d come to dinner tonight.”

  Clacher looked to the side for a moment. Morgan anxiously waited as he and Tor tried to communicate with their youngest brother telepathically.

  Tor said, “No, he’s not responding.”

  “What does that mean?” Morgan asked.

  Nana said, “He’s either sleeping or unconscious.”

  “Unless he’s been sleeping most of the day, then…” Lexi looked worried. Morgan felt the same, but she’d been with her transformed son all day and more concerned with him turning into his human form. She prayed Nana could do what she said and get him back.

  But now she worried about her brother-in-law, too. Could something have happened to him? Why couldn’t either brother reach him?

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Morgan sat in the playroom downstairs with Lexi and Avery. Jae and Avery just arrived from being out of town on business. Their mates sat with them, except Clacher who flew up to Ker’s cabin to check on the new mates.

  The fact the brothers couldn’t telepathically reach him bothered them all. Morgan was sure it was something innocent like they were going at it like bunnies and just didn’t answer their phones. Or in Ker’s case, didn’t answer his…head? She had no idea how telepathy worked.

  In the meantime, they all sat staring at the little light green dragon playing with the other kids. Nana stood off to the side watching, but at least, she didn’t have her mouth gaping like the others with Morgan.

  “He’s so adorable, I want to scoop him up and smoosh him into me,” Avery commented. “I mean, look at his tiny hands and toes. His little nose is so cute.”

  “Yes,” Morgan said, “he’s cute, but this dragon form isn’t as easy as you’d think. There are problems you’d never think of.”


  “Like what?” Avery asked.

  “For starters, like eating with no lips,” Morgan replied. “Everything just falls out of his mouth when he chews on it. And I can’t spoon feed him because there are no lips to drag the food off the spoon.”

  Avery gaped anew. “Oh my god. I never thought of that.”

  “Yeah, me neither,” Morgan said. “And try taking him to the bathroom. Dragon butt and toilet bowl don’t go together.” Morgan let out a sigh. “But Nana can get him to change forms and then we’ll be back to normal.”

  She looked at Nana’s serious face. She didn’t look happy. Morgan added, “Hopefully.”

  The rest of the children and her little dragon seemed to be getting along with each other. The other kids were treating Noah as if he wasn’t in a different form. Morgan wondered if they knew it was Noah or a new playmate that looked like a giant toy dinosaur.

  Lexi’s oldest was not much younger than her son. Callie would be the next in line to shift. Noah stood next to her in the play kitchen the uncles had built.

  “I wander if the other kids would be afraid of Noah if he got mad,” Lexi said. As if on cue, Callie hollered at Noah and swatted at his paw. The boy let out a precious high-pitched rawr. Then Callie batted him on the head with a wooden spoon and that ended that. Noah moved on to safer pastures.

  “Okay,” Nana said, “I’ve seen enough, dragon boy.” She scooped him up and planted kisses on his face as he wiggled in her arms and snorted—Morgan figured that was dragon laughter.

  Nana carried the boy away from the others and sat on a bean bag. She placed Noah on the floor in front of her. Morgan watched as the elder whispered to her son. Was this where she got him to shift into his human form? She hoped so. Nana was going to have to explain to her what to do in case something happened and Nana wasn’t around for the next child. Someone had to be able to reach them other than the ancient know-it-all.

  Morgan now understood why the first shift could be deadly for the youngsters. Everything about them was different than how people operated. Not only eating and drinking, but simple things like going down stairs. Dragon legs, short ones, anyway, didn’t do that—they had to crawl down backward. They couldn’t sit in a chair because of their tail. And going to the bathroom in the bathroom—don’t even go there. That was a disaster.

  For several minutes, Nana spoke quietly with Noah. He shook his head a few times and nodded. Morgan wondered what the woman was telling him. She elbowed Tor. “What’s she saying?”

  “She’s trying to get his animal to retreat and let the human form come back. But it doesn’t seem to be working,” he answered.

  “What!” Morgan’s reaction was louder than she intended and everyone, including the children, turned to look at her. “Sorry,” she said and shrunk down where they all sat in the adult seating area observing.

  Morgan leaned against Tor. “Why isn’t it working? Isn’t this normal for you?”

  “It is,” Tor replied, “but at the beginning, the dragon may not want to give control to the human side. It can be very stubborn.”

  “Huh,” Morgan replied, “just like his father.” At that second, Tor and Jae froze, their eyes glazing over. The women recognized this right away as the brothers communicating via their familial link. Seconds later, both Tor and Jae were on their feet.

  “What?” Morgan asked. “Was that Clacher or Ker? What did they say?”

  Tor rubbed a hand down his face. “That was Clacher. He’s at Ker’s cabin.”

  “And,” Lexi pried.

  Jae continued. “The front door was kicked in and there were no sign of Ker or Tiana.”

  “Plus,” Tor said, “he found human blood and the scent of black dragons all over the place.”

  Nana joined them. “Tell Clacher to quickly look around the area then get back here. If the blacks have Ker and Tiana, we need a plan to get them back. Do we know the location of their hideout?”

  “Sayeh’s?” Tor confirmed. “No. Same as they don’t know where this castle is.”

  “Or you hope, anyway,” Nana replied. Tor grimaced at her. The thought of Sayeh knowing the whereabouts of their home scared the hell out of Morgan. If that group knew their location, they were sitting ducks, or dragons. The children would be in danger.

  “Nana, why hasn’t Noah changed back?” Morgan asked. She heard the fear in her own voice.

  “It’s nothing to concern yourself with, dear,” the elder said. “Some children are more stubborn than others. You should’ve seen the boys’ great-great-uncle Norman. The boy nearly died from dehydration before the dragon relented.”

  Fear tore through Morgan. Tor wrapped his body around hers. He whispered into her ear, “I’m sure Noah will be fine. His dragon is just having too much fun playing. He’ll come about soon.”

  Morgan squeezed her arms around her mate. She couldn’t speak around the terror lodged in her throat. She didn’t know what she would do if they lost their little boy. No. Hell no. She’d find a way to communicate with him and tell that stubborn dragon to give her little human son control or he was going to be in deep trouble.

  Nana sat in the recliner against the wall. “We need to figure out where Ker and Tiana are and what to do if Sayeh has them.”

  “How can we even find them if we don’t know where their compound is?” Lexi asked. “They could be anywhere.”

  Nana looked to the men. “You boys ever done triangulation?”

  Tor glanced at Jae. “I don’t think so.” Jae shook his head in agreement. “What’s that?”

  Nana sat back and sighed. Morgan noticed for the first time how old the woman looked. Lines had creased her forehead and smile lines crinkled the sides of her eyes and deeply around her mouth. But Morgan had to admit for being over two thousand years old, she looked great.

  “Not only can you boys talk to each other in your heads, you can locate each other,” Nana told them.

  Tor and Jae shared a look. Where they talking, or telepathizing? Morgan wondered. Tor turned back to his grandmother. “Yeah. We did something similar when Jae’s plane went down in the mountains. We came together and somehow found him.”

  “Yeah,” Jae said, “You never did explain how you found me.”

  Tor shrugged. “We don’t know how we did it.”

  “Now you do,” Nana replied. “We have to wait for Clacher to get back. Morgan,” Nana turned to her, “we need maps of North America and any state maps or area aerials. Anything that has land mass.”

  “Got it,” she said. Lexi and Avery followed her upstairs to begin the hunt.

  Not long after, they returned with encyclopedias, computer print outs, and paper maps from a SUV glove box. Clacher had also arrived. Nana had the women spread out what they had, centering the map of the United States in the middle of the downstairs coffee table.

  “Gather around,” Nana called. “You boys need to be touching, connected physically. I don’t care if you hold hands or touch feet. Whatever. Girls, stand behind your mate and put your hands on their shoulders. You are going to send them energy to boost their power.”

  “How do we do that?” Avery asked.

  “Hmm.” Nana thought on that. “Try imagining zapping your mate with a laser beam. That beam is made of energy from inside you. Picture it going from your head to his.”

  “Can it be a death ray?” Lexi asked with a giggle.

  “Oh, I like that idea.” Avery laughed with her.

  Nana clapped her hands. “Okay. Death rays are approved. Now let’s get started.” Nana checked to make sure the boys were in direct contact. “All right, boys, do what I say and this’ll work.

  “Project your mind straight up into the sky from where you sit.” She paused to looked around, seeing the guys’ closed eyes. “Now pretend a three-corner net is stretched between all of you, each of you holding a corner. When you have a solid grip, move backward, stretching the net, making it bigger and bigger.

  “Focus on Ker while you’re moving. When the
net covers him, we’ll know.”

  Morgan wanted to ask how they’d know, but didn’t want to break concentrations. Nana put her hand on Tor and Clacher’s joined hands and closed her eyes.

  “Ker, my boy,” Nana said, “where are you? Let your dragon reach out to us.”

  Morgan met the wide eyes of the other mate’s behind their brother. Their worried expression matched hers. Would this work?

  A sense of energy suddenly filled Morgan. All the others felt it also, if their body movements were any indication.

  “There he is,” Nana whispered, “the little scoundrel. Keep a tight hold on the net, boys. I’ll try to pinpoint the source. Hold on, son. We’re coming.”

  TWENTY-SIX

  How Tiana knew she was dreaming, she didn’t understand. She was in a dark space. Her eyes registered blurs moving around close to her body, but nothing touching her. In front of her was a wall, which she passed through like a ghost. Inside, chained to the wall, her love, Ker dangled from his arms.

  A monster of a man used Ker’s body as a punching bag. Blood ran down the side of his gorgeous face from a gash over his eye. A man sat on an upturned bucket, shoved a cattle prod into her love’s side.

  Ker’s body barely moved from the intense shock. How much had he endured if his body no longer reacted?

  She ran to him, but could do nothing to help. She was in a dream. “Ker,” she called out to him. Of course, he didn’t hear her. She brushed her fingers along his red-stained face. His breathing was shallow—too shallow. Wasn’t his dragon supposed to heal him. Where was his other side?

  The door to the room opened and a handsome man entered. A smug smile graced his face. For some reason, Tiana wanted to wipe it from his head. Violently.

  “Leave us,” he said and the two men practically ran out the exit. The newcomer got right in Ker’s face. Tiana did the same, making them a triad. She wanted to hear what he had to say. A name would be nice. Better yet, she’d like to know what the hell was going on?