“Well that sounds promising,” Elise said, frowning.
“It does, but it’s not enough,” Holden said. “The dragon ruby, which is the stone we still haven’t found, is rumored to be more powerful than all three of the other stones combined. It could wipe out entire armies easily, and quite literally allow Saul to take over the world.”
Elise was quiet, blinking at him in disbelief.
“I know it sounds absurd,” Holden said. “But it’s true.”
“So, what can be done about it?” Elise asked.
“Well, I’m part of an alliance of wizards and dragon shifters that are trying to find the dragon ruby before Saul does. The reason I’m in Blackstone, though, is that Saul has taken up headquarters in Sandview.”
“Sandview?” Elise repeated, a tinge of fear in her voice. “That’s pretty close to here.”
Holden nodded. “Yup. Blackstone is the closest town. Violet and I were sent to scope things out after some of our fellow soldiers discovered that Saul is raising an army by cloning bat shifters there. Don’t ask me how the whole cloning thing works. I don’t understand the details, I just know that it’s allowed Saul to quickly raise a giant army. He’s also been terrorizing the people of Sandview, although we aren’t sure how much. Part of our job is to find out, and to figure out a way to stop Saul’s operations. It’s too dangerous to go directly to Sandview, though, so we were sent here first to get our bearings.”
Elise had a crease of worry running across her forehead. “If things in Sandview are so dangerous, than Blackstone must not be all that safe, either. We’re not that far away.”
“Well, that’s part of what’s complicated,” Holden said. “Saul doesn’t seem to be paying much attention to Blackstone. And that’s probably because there are no shifters here. Or, at least, he thinks there are no shifters here. I’m sure he sent scouts out here to check, but since they couldn’t smell that Nick is a shifter, they assumed there were no shifters, and they left.”
Elise caught on quickly. “So as long as they think there are no shifters here, they’ll stay away. Which is why it’s so important that no one realizes that Nick is a shifter.”
“Exactly,” Holden said.
Elise pondered this information for a few moments. “Why didn’t you tell him about the war?”
Holden frowned slightly. “I thought he’d been through enough already today. I didn’t think it made sense to burden him with more worries, especially when there isn’t really anything he can do to help the war effort. He’s too young to fight, and, besides, he needs to learn to control his dragon better before he’ll be of any real use in a shifter fight.”
Holden saw the panic crossing Elise’s face. “Is this common? Shifters warring and fighting?”
“It happens every couple of decades,” Holden said. “But it’s not a constant thing. And besides, dragon shifters are the strongest of the shifters. Nick will have the upper hand in any fight he might find himself in. His ghosting will protect him, too. Shifters rely on our sense of smell to find other shifters in a battle. A shifter who can’t be detected by smell is very dangerous—and very safe from unwanted attacks.”
Elise still looked worried, but she nodded her head as though Holden’s words had reassured her. “So that’s really why you told Nick not to go around telling everyone he’s a shifter.”
“That was the main reason, yes,” Holden said. “It is true that there are plenty of people out there who treat shifters horribly for no good reason. But those people, while annoying, aren’t usually dangerous. The real danger now would be if Saul’s army discovered that shifters were in Blackstone. I think that, eventually, we’ll need to tell Nick what’s going on. But I wanted to give him a day or two to adjust to the fact that he’s a shifter before telling him that there’s a potential world war on the horizon.”
Elise let out a long sigh. “I think that’s probably a good idea.”
Holden felt his heart twist up in that funny way that was becoming all too familiar. He could tell that Elise felt exhausted, and worried, and he wished there was some way for him to shoulder her pain for her. Without giving himself time to think about what he was doing, he rose and went to kneel in front of the armchair she was sitting in. He grabbed her hands in his, marveling at the way his large, rough hands covered her smaller ones completely. She looked at him and bit her lip, which he could already tell was a habit of hers. He would have loved nothing more than to bite her lip himself, among other parts of her body, but he forced himself to stick to holding her hands.
“Listen, Elise. I know this is all a bit scary for you. And I won’t lie to you. There is a lot of dangerous stuff going on. But I promise you, I’ll do everything in my power to protect Nick. I’ll watch out for him, and I’ll train him how to use his shifter abilities to keep himself safe. I can’t guarantee you that no harm will come to him. I wish I could, but life just doesn’t work that way. What I can guarantee you is that as long as there is breath in my body, I will fight to make sure no harm comes to Nick.”
Elise swallowed hard, but she couldn’t keep a few tears from squeezing their way past her eyelids. She nodded, and gave Holden a lopsided smile. “Okay. Thank you.”
They looked at each other in silence for a few moments after that. It would have been the appropriate time for Holden to let go of her hands and make his way home. They’d said all there was to say tonight. But he did not let go of her hands, and she did not try to pull away. Instead, they sat there, eyes locked. Holden felt a fire beginning to burn inside of him. He told himself to move, to get out of that apartment right away, before his heart betrayed him. But he could not tear his eyes away from Elise’s. And then, before he could stop himself, he was leaning forward, and she was tilting her head toward him.
Their lips met softly, silently. There was no noise in the living room of that tiny apartment except for the ragged breathing of two people who knew this was probably a bad idea, but, for that one tiny moment, didn’t care.
Holden held that soft kiss as long as he dared. And then, with a small sigh, he rose and made his way to the door.
“Tell Nick I’ll stop by tomorrow, alright?” he said, turning as his hand reached for the doorknob.
Elise nodded at him, her curly red hair bouncing on her shoulders as she did.
“Good night, Elise,” Holden said softly. And then, he was out of the apartment before she had a chance to respond. He ran all the way back to the apartment he was sharing with Violet, wondering what the heck he’d been thinking and whether it was too late to keep himself from completely falling for Elise.
Chapter Seven
Elise dreamed strange dreams that night, filled with dragons and wizards and magnificent, dazzling rubies. She tossed and turned so much that by the time she woke up, all of her blankets and sheets had fallen to the floor of her bedroom in a tangled mess.
She sat up slowly and glanced at the glowing numbers on her alarm clock, which told her it was still twenty-two minutes until the five o’clock alarm would start blaring at her. She rubbed her eyes, trying to rub away the last vestiges of sleep. Her stomach flip-flopped with a mixture of fear and excitement as the events of the previous day came back to her in a rush. Her son was a dragon shifter, and one with a special talent for ghosting. Holden could help him learn to use his shifter abilities properly. But there was also a war going on that might threaten the safety of the entire world. A powerful dragon ruby was missing, and Holden and Violet were part of an alliance of wizards and shifters that were trying to find the ruby. Violet was a wizard. But she was not Holden’s girlfriend. Holden had kissed Elise last night.
He kissed me! Elise thought, her mind settling on this one thought.
Elise touched her lips gingerly, as though afraid to rub away the memory of the kiss. The kiss had taken her by surprise. She’d been admiring Holden since the first moment she’d met him, but she’d never expected him to actually notice her. She’d figured a guy like him would have plenty of o
ptions for women—women who were far more beautiful than her, who had their lives together and weren’t scraping to make ends meet by always working double shifts at a small town diner. Oh, and women who didn’t come with the baggage of a twelve-year-old son.
Elise fell back against the mattress and stared up at the ceiling, which looked gray in the faint gray light of early dawn. How could she have been so stupid, to let herself fall for Holden? And then to let him kiss her like that? She’d been caught up in the moment, that was all—swept off her feet by the fact that he had so generously promised to protect her son. But she had to make sure that the next time she saw him, he knew that their kiss had been a one-time event. It was precisely her need to protect her son that had kept her from ever having a serious romance after Nick’s dad left for the army. The last thing Elise wanted was for her son to finally have a male role model in his life, only to have that man disappear again. As soon as Elise started getting close to a guy, she would clam up and come up with an excuse to break things off. She couldn’t bear to think of the pain in Nick’s eyes if he finally thought he had a dad, only to have that dad desert him.
Which was why Elise could not allow things between her and Holden to grow romantically. Holden had offered to protect and help Nick. Elise wasn’t going to mess that up by starting a relationship with the man, no matter how goddamn sexy he was. If Elise never dated Holden, there was no chance of her eventually having an awful breakup with Holden. There was no chance of Nick viewing Holden as a father figure only to have Holden leave because of Elise.
Elise sat up again and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She was destined to be alone, at least until Nick was grown, and that was all there was to it. There was no sense in feeling sorry for herself. She had a lot to be thankful for, after all. She had a job, and a place to live. That was more than a lot of people could say. And she had a wonderful son, who gave her the inspiration she needed to keep moving forward. Life was hard now, but every sacrifice Elise made, she was making for Nick. He was worth it. Because of her hard work now, he would have a better future.
A little less than an hour later, as Elise cracked the door open to Nick’s bedroom to whisper goodbye before heading off to work, she did her best to remind herself that she was doing this all for him. He slept soundly, not even stirring when she looked in. With a sigh, she closed the door again and left the apartment, locking the front door behind her. She’d left a twenty dollar bill and a note on the kitchen counter, telling him to use the money to cover breakfast and lunch for himself. She’d have to go grocery shopping later, even though she knew she’d be dog tired by the time she was done with her shift.
Hell, she felt dog tired right now, even though she’d barely started her day. Yesterday had been draining, and Elise wished she could call in this morning, even though she needed the money. But she knew she was already going to be in trouble for calling in last night. She didn’t dare miss her morning shift, too. As she locked the door behind her, she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. She looked down to see a message from Holden on the screen.
I’ll stop by and see Nick later this morning, if that’s okay with you? I want to make sure he’s doing alright.
Elise smiled, and texted back an Okay. It would be torture sticking to her decision to keep Holden at arm’s distance from herself, but it was worth it for Nick’s sake. Holden was going to be a good influence in Nick’s life, and it had been too long since the boy had had a true friend.
* * *
Holden glanced at his watch and knocked on the apartment door again. It was half past ten. Surely, Nick was awake by now? Violet had warned him that he might be going too early, but he’d brushed off her concerns, saying that even preteens wouldn’t sleep later than ten. Apparently, he’d been wrong. Holden frowned. He hated being wrong, especially when it meant that Violet was right. The two of them had a long-running competition over who could be right more often. At the moment, it felt like Violet was pulling hopelessly into the lead.
Holden glanced down at the box of donuts he’d brought, and was about to knock again, when he heard the lock on the door click. The door swung open a moment later, and Holden found himself staring at a very sleepy looking Nick. The boy’s dark curly hair was a mess, sweaty and flattened against his scalp, and he still wore the plaid cotton pajama pants he’d put on before bed last night. Holden said a silent prayer of thanks that Violet was not here to witness this. She would have taken great pleasure in rubbing into his face the fact that Nick had just woken up.
“I brought donuts,” Holden said, holding up the box and hoping that sugar was an acceptable peace offering for waking up a twelve-year-old.
Nick said nothing, but opened the door wider and started walking toward the kitchen. Holden followed, closing the door behind him and setting the box of donuts down on the dining room table. Nick went to the refrigerator and grabbed a carton of milk. He sat down at the table and grabbed a chocolate sprinkle donut from the box, wolfing it down in two bites and then drinking several swigs of milk directly from the carton. Holden eyed him with amusement, and Nick must have noticed because he finally spoke at that point.
“Don’t tell my mom. She hates it when I don’t use a glass.”
Holden made a motion of zipping his lips shut and throwing away the key. “Your secret’s safe with me,” he said.
Nick’s only response was to grab another donut, which he ate only slightly slower than the first. When he was done, he took another couple of swigs from the milk carton and then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Did Mom send you over here?” he asked, eyeing Holden with a bit of suspicion.
Holden leaned back in his chair. “No. I wanted to come over. You had a big day yesterday, and I wanted to see how you were feeling today?”
Nick wouldn’t meet Holden’s eyes. “I’m alright,” he said. “Considering I just found out I’m a dragon.”
“Hey, I might be a bit biased, but I think being a dragon is actually pretty cool.”
“I’m not so sure,” Nick said. “It seems like shifters do awful things. That’s not the kind of life I want.”
Holden frowned. “What makes you think shifters do awful things?” he asked. “Of course, shifters have great power. But you can control that power. I’ll teach you how. You can use your talents for good.”
“I’ve never seen a shifter do good things. Not until you, I guess,” Nick said sullenly.
Holden felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle. He didn’t have a lot of experience with preteens, as his too-early arrival showed. But he knew enough to realize that there was something Nick wasn’t telling him right now.
“What do you mean, you’ve never seen a shifter do good things?” Holden asked. “How many shifters have you seen?”
Nick didn’t answer him. Instead he grabbed another donut and turned so that his face was angled away from Holden.
“Nick, this is really important,” Holden said, trying to keep his voice from betraying the dread he was starting to feel. “How many shifters have you seen?”
Nick shrugged, and didn’t answer. Holden forced himself not to push the boy, but he had to figure out a way to make Nick talk. Something about the way Nick was acting made Holden think he hadn’t been as innocent about the existence of shifters as he’d acted yesterday. While Holden was still mulling over what to say, Nick turned to face him, narrowing his eyes.
“Who sent you here?” he asked. “To Blackstone, I mean. And how did you know I was here?”
Holden’s senses were all on high alert. There was definitely something Nick wasn’t telling him. “No one sent me to you, Nick,” Holden said, keeping his voice neutral. “I was sent to Blackstone to scout out some…disturbances in the shifter world. But I had no idea that you were here until I saw your eyes glowing and churning outside the diner the morning I rescued you from that big fight.”
Nick stared at Holden, squinting his eyes as though trying to decide whether what the
older man had said was true. And then, to Holden’s great surprise, Nick burst into tears.
“I don’t want to be a shifter! I don’t want to be one of them! How did they do this to me? Did you have a part in it?”
Holden was taken completely off guard by the outburst. He reached across the table to try to grab Nick’s hand, but the boy pulled away, flinging donut sprinkles across the table as he did. Holden suddenly had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
“Nick, you’ve seen shifters before yesterday, haven’t you?”
Nick looked up at him and sniffed. He wiped away a few tears, then nodded.
“Where?”
“In the tunnel,” Nick said. “I…I know I shouldn’t have been there. I could tell it was dangerous. But everything was so strange. It was like a real life video game, and I couldn’t stay away. My life here is so boring, and…and…I was so careful to keep them from seeing me. But they must have, somehow. And they turned me into one of them. And now I’m an awful dragon, and I’m going to do awful things. My mom works so hard to give me a good life and I’ve ruined it all.”
Nick started wailing again. Holden slid over so that he was in the seat next to the boy, instead of across the table from him. He took Nick by the shoulders and gently shook him.
“Nick! Nick, listen to me. No one turned you into a shifter. I told you, it’s genetic. You’ve been a shifter since the day you were born. It’s just taken a while for you to realize it. But I need to know what this tunnel is. Who are these shifters you’re talking about?”
Stealth and the Dragon (Redwood Dragons Book 7) Page 8