A week had passed since the family of experiment survivors had revealed themselves. In six of those seven days, they’d had complete silence. No one had heard of or seen the second family of dragons since they took the local GOE facility hostage to save Luc and Anya.
Isaac stood on the front porch of the modular home, a house comprised of old shipping containers, stacked one on the other, when he caught sight of movement in the skies. He waited for the familiar prickle of electricity over his skin that told him a storm had finally tracked him down, but it never came. The skies were cloudy, but not the dark color of disaster. His eyes narrowed and he wished his human body had better vision.
The movement in the sky grew larger, a shape nearing the Territory. The muscles in his body tensed, feet ready to launch him into action. Slowly, it took form. He could make out the line of a serpent-like body that wound back and forth and a tail that directed the beast’s flight.
Isaac’s brows rose in a silent question. This was not a dragon he recognized. He’d been a part of this family nearly from its conception. He knew everyone who had ever passed through the skies above him, except for this dragon. His feet led him down the short steps and into the center of the town area, head still titled back to watch the dragon above.
“Boss!” Isaac shouted for Dane’s attention.
The leader of the American Dragon family appeared after a moment. His hair was mussed from sleep and Miri, the dragon child he and his mate had adopted not too long ago, stood like a shadow near his legs. Isaac pointed into the sky at the incoming dragon. It was over them now, circling as it neared the ground below. Dane pushed Miri back into the house before closing the distance between him and Isaac.
Together they stood their ground as they waited for the offending dragon to land. It hadn’t attacked yet, which was a good sign. The best way for a dragon to attack was from the air with an elemental breath attack. A dragon could do a lot of damage from a distance before even setting a claw on anything.
The fact that this dragon was descending into the open space in the center of their makeshift town told Isaac and Dane that the dragon most likely meant no ill will. At least, the newcomer didn’t outwardly mean any ill will. The massive shape touched the ground, claws embedding into the earth. The beast had no wings to be seen, yet had flown through the air like it had been water. It made Isaac’s brows furrow.
Did their kind break all sorts of rules that physics had laid into place? Their magic gave them a phantasmal form when they walked in their human bodies, the invisible shape wreaking havoc on the world around them when they lost control of their temper. It was almost as if a human shaped body could not perfectly contain the magic that was a dragon. Now, Isaac had seen a dragon fly without wings.
A laugh broke Isaac from his thoughts. His mouth went dry at the sound. It was like bells falling through the air and brought his voice to the source of the sound. A woman jumped from the dragon’s claws, and removed a black motorcycle helmet to reveal a face split in laughter that made her eyes sparkle. Her wavy, blonde tresses were lined with green and blue streaks and a leather jacket protected her skin from the biting wind. Her laughter faded when her eyes met Isaac’s, the world seeming to pause for the two of them.
Could it be, Isaac wondered? Could it be that it was finally his turn to find a mate? The world delivered her right to him and he could barely believe what he was seeing. Before he could move, the wing-less dragon dropped back into a human form to reveal a large, Asian male with scars that crisscrossed beneath the collar of his shirt. His dark hair was cut short and stood on end, a hand raked through it just to make sure it still stood upright.
A smile fit for a movie star broke his face and sculpted his high cheekbones before he moved to wrap his arm around the blonde’s shoulders. Isaac’s heart sank. He gritted his teeth and stood his ground, trying not to expose the feeling that was pushing him into the ground.
The new dragon male bent in a bow and rose with the same, bright smile on his lips. “My mate and I come from the… other dragon family.”
Dane held out his hand, his introduction nearly useless. Everyone knew who Dane King was. Isaac snorted. The dragon man had chosen his own surname because of his supposed status over the United States. It was starting to look like he wasn’t the only king in the States. Isaac turned his attention toward the male holding the woman that made his mouth dry. Was this man another king? Or, was he a peon?
“Kenji Miyazaki,” the newcomer said. “You can call me Ken.”
The woman maneuvered herself out from beneath Ken’s arm and stood a little taller on her own two feet. She cast a hesitant look back at Ken, a message travelling between them that somehow started a storm inside of Isaac. He envied them. Perhaps, he envied Ken more. The storm thundered inside of him as he watched her hiss a frustrated whisper at the new dragon man.
She turned away from Ken with a shake of her head before a small smile touched her cupid’s bow lips. She held her hand out, not to Dane, but to Isaac. It made his stomach flip like a tsunami.
“Quinn Jenkins. Investigative Journalist.”
“What is a journalist doing with a secret dragon family?” Isaac blurted the words out. It was a fair question in his mind. This new family seemed to be all about secrets and shadows. Bringing a journalist dedicated to shedding light on secrets seemed a bit counterintuitive.
“My aunt was my legal guardian. When she shacked up with a dragon, I became part of the family. The investigative journalism came along after that.”
“And the mate status?” Isaac had never spoken so boldly in his life. Isaac had always been the one to stand off to the side, quietly taking in everything said in his presence while people forgot about him. It was easy for Isaac to blend into the background. He liked it that way.
This woman, Quinn, pulled him to the forefront. She made him feel seen in a way he’d never known he wanted. Then, another dragon male had claimed her as his. Isaac hadn’t expected the anger or jealousy that rocketed through him like lightning through metal. It made him almost hate the new dragon man.
Quinn looked over her shoulder almost introspectively at the new dragon man, Ken. She apparently didn’t have the right words for the situation because she just shrugged and stepped back. Isaac noticed Dane watching the interaction with darkened eyes. There was a warning in his gaze, one that hit Isaac’s anger like a buffeting wind.
I get it, Isaac thought. Don’t upset the interactions with the new dragons.
“To what do we owe the visit?” Dane asked with the formality of a leader, his voice growing strong and his shoulders rolling back as he took in the two standing before him.
It was the Asian dragon who stepped forward to explain his presence. It turned out that the other dragon family did, in fact, want to interact. They were no longer going to seclude themselves from the world or from the public dragon family. In fact, the secluded dragon family wanted their help with making the wrongs against them made public.
“With the way technology has advanced and helped us globalize, our reach could hit every country that has a dragon and a GOE facility,” Quinn said, her voice become fervent. She believed in her mission, in her words. “
Why now, Isaac wondered? They’d been silent and secluded for this long. Why reach out to the public family now? The dragon family had made a decent start in their new goal of taking GOE’S experiments to the public. The Guardians of Existence had been outraged when a Quetzalcoatl dragon started ripping apart one of their satellite facilities. Their attack on the facility had gone viral, almost instantly.
Did the family want their own, government allocated Territory? Did they want to get onto Dane’s territory? Isaac was not about to let these new dragons try to remove his leader from the seat of power in their home. Dane had been the one to find Isaac, to invite him to become a part of their family while he healed.
Dane glanced back at Isaac, the gears working behind the leader’s eyes. Isaac had a sinking feeling that whatever
he decided to do, it would involve him. More often than not, Isaac cursed his affinity for technology. The electricity that sparked around him made it so that he often had to learn to fix the things he used. Learning to rewire appliances and technology led to learning how to use them. Unfortunately, for Isaac that meant those around him often took advantage of his skill set.
He was dragged this way and that for other people’s needs, often willing to help, but never quite had the time to figure out what it was he wanted. He’d been content to live with Luc and Marc, the brother in every way except blood. Somewhere between Luc moving out and laying eyes on Quinn, Isaac became painfully aware that his own future had been leading him nowhere.
“We know that your family has not been affected by the experiments,” Ken began.
It should have been Dane that lost it. Dane had every right to be upset by that statement. He’s scraped together every straggler and survivor he could, from the wanderers to the raiders. But, it was Isaac who spoke before he could stop himself.
“You think we haven’t been hurt? Do you really believe that this family is full of innocents that have never experienced pain?”
Ken reached for the hem of his shirt and tugged it over his head. The scars Isaac had noticed at the collar of his shirt extended over his chest in neat lines. It almost looked as if someone had opened the dragon’s chest like a cadaver and peeked inside of him.
“There are some scars that can be seen and felt, but there are others that are a little harder to define.” Isaac’s mind tried desperately to look past his own scars. “Luc and Marc were separated from their parents. It forced them to steal to survive until Dane came along and offered them a home. Noelle lost her baby sister to this world and spent most of her life trying to find her. You aren’t the only one here with scars, Kenji.”
The new dragon’s face fell. It was half apology, half disappointment. He might not have been used to not getting his way. The new dragon was about to learn what life was really like. People didn’t just hand you everything you’ve ever needed because you smiled the right way or you pouted at the right time.
Isaac thought he could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance until he realized it was his own chest that was shaking with sound and fury.
“We’re willing to help,” Dane began. “We want this story to be heard, just as much as you do. But, do not for a moment think that you are better than anyone of my dragons here on the Territory. We are all the same, walking different paths of life.”
The new dragon swallowed and nodded. Quinn watched her mate before her eyes turned toward Isaac. Once more, the storm inside of him silenced. Peace overtook him, much like hitting the eye of the storm. The rumbling thunder quieted and the jolt of lightning bolts ceased. She studied Isaac as if her gaze alone could peel away the layers and reveal the hurt and the scars that he carried with him.
There was no way Isaac was about to bring it up. All he could do was turn away from the woman and start his trek back into the house. She was trouble for him, no matter what she made him feel. And, all Isaac wanted to do was avoid trouble.
While he could not leave his leader alone with the new dragon, Isaac could avert his gaze. For the rest of the conversation, Isaac studied the ground. He studied the size and shape of each pebble on the dusty ground. He counted the weeds growing around the firepit nearby. All the while, he could feel Quinn’s prodding gaze trying to catch his eye again.
Isaac didn’t know much about the bond of mates. There wasn’t some giant book of secrets he could devour and learn the intricacies of dragon magic, let alone some kind of user manual. Perhaps he should work on that. He was sure his own information would only reach as far as any other dragon knew.
“We’ll return in four days,” Kenji informed Dane. “Then we can take you to the family.”
“Couldn’t you just mark it on a map and call us later?” Isaac’s voice was loud even though he spoke to the ground. “What’s with all the smoke and mirrors?”
Isaac looked up and met Kenji’s narrowed gaze. It seemed the new dragon man had realized how his mate was looking at Isaac. The look he gave Isaac felt like tiny daggers across his skin. Was the bond still so new that she wasn’t enamored with him the way Anya was with Luc? It wasn’t Isaac’s fault the woman had eyes.
“Our leaders prefer to have as much security as we can offer to the survivors of the experiments. It makes them feel safer. It helps us to heal. This is just one small thing we can do for our people.”
Dane nodded. Isaac assumed his leader understood, because he didn’t. Were the dragons going to put sacks over their heads when they went to the other family in four days? It only afforded them this protection for a few more days because neither Dane nor Isaac were going to allow anyone to blindfold and carry their human bodies across the states.
“Also,” Kenji continued. “Our leaders request that you do not bring either of the Avila brothers with you when you come.”
“What the hell?” Isaac spoke before his leader could. The Avila brothers were his brothers. He spoke on their behalf. “That’s bullshit. Do you realize how long those two have been searching for their parents? They never stopped looking for them and now the brothers aren’t allowed to see them?”
Kenji’s lips twisted to the side, a look of pity touching his eyes. It wasn’t the kind of pity that one truly felt for another. It was the look one gave when someone beneath them didn’t understand the real world.
“The request comes directly from the twins’ parents.”
“Well, fuck,” Isaac cursed.
“Give it time,” Kenji said. “All they want is time before the brothers can see them.”
Hadn’t they had enough time? What was a few more weeks when the parents had been missing for decades? The brothers were not going to be happy. Isaac knew it most likely meant the modular home was going to get trashed when he told them. Fun times ahead, he thought.
***
Quinn’s mouth went dry. The world tilted sideways around her. It felt like she might stumble and roll away. What was with her today? To steady herself, she ran her fingers through her tousled waves. It did nothing to distract from the dragon man ahead of her.
His hair was a mess of curls that leaned to one side, nearly covering his piercing, gray eyes. They weren’t just gray, but an anomaly of color. Quinn watched as they changed from sky blue, to ice, to dove gray, to steel gray. It captivated her. When she was finally able to tear herself from his eyes, she found herself falling into him all over again.
She wondered what his shoulders would feel like under her hands. Would he feel like a rock, steady and true, or would he dissolve like a cloud, like a dream? His shirt clung to his barrel chest and led her gaze to the curve of his ass that she could just barely see.
Quinn wanted to know more about this silent man with his quiet presence. She wanted to take him on a wild adventure and see if there was more to this quiet presence that she could tease out into the open. What lay beyond that calm surface? Was there a whirlwind? Was there a tsunami that threatened to drag her under?
Ken quickly forgot about the second dragon man, his attention wrapped up in the American leader. The two of them talked logistics and planning, each trying to insert a demand for respect into their conversation, as if they weren’t blatant and plain to see. Kenji might not have been the leader of their group, but Quinn thought that might be one of his aspirations. He had the personality people loved to love. And he had the strength of body and will to back it up.
This was the man who supposedly was her mate. At least, that was what Kenji whispered every time he kissed her hair. She wished he would stop doing it, but never said so. She waited for the bond to present itself to her. Instead, she found herself admiring the curve of another man’s ass.
It seemed that she would never feel what the others did. Perhaps she was broken. Perhaps Quinn could only feel through thrill. She could only feel while her skin was inches above the pavement as she drove sixty
miles an hour. She could only feel while her frail, human body coursed through the sky, a mile over the ground.
“We should be getting back,” Ken said, snapping Quinn from her train of thought. Her shoulders sank, but she told herself she couldn’t act like this. She couldn’t be pining to touch every dragon man she came across.
Was there a term for those kinds of women, the ones who wanted to lay with every dragon they found? Some of them did it so they could later tell their friends they seduced a dragon shifter. Others did it in the desperate search to become some unlucky dragon’s princess.
Ken turned and laid his hand on the small of Quinn’s back to lead her away. She didn’t know how to tell him she didn’t like the small touches. She didn’t want to break his heart, so she let him touch her back, let him kiss her hair. Once they got back to the family, she would get on her bike and go for a long ride to clear her mind.
For whatever reason, Quinn spared one last look back. The curly haired dragon man still stood right where she left him. Only, this time he wasn’t trying to avoid looking at her like he had been for half the talk. Now, the dragon man met her gaze. She felt her body come alive with the electric feel of possibility and she hated herself.
Quinn shook her head. She tried to dispel the guilt, tried to dispel the attraction gripping her stomach. Ahead of her, Kenji’s body unfurled into the wingless Japanese water dragon. His scales had been darkened by the experiments GOE did on his body in an effort to understand his amphibious lungs. The edges of his white scales were a deep charcoal color that faded into a dusky gray. The spots of orange on his body were shades darker than they should have been and one of the horns on his beast’s forehead had been broken and had never grown back despite the unpredictable magic that allowed their shapes to shift from human to dragon.
The Dragon's Lover (Elemental Dragons Book 2) Page 2