Nick sniffed again, then turned to look at Holden. To Holden’s relief, Nick seemed to finally focus on what Holden was saying. “There’s an underground tunnel that goes from the caves outside of Blackstone all the way to some caves that are between here and Sandview. The tunnel is old and I don’t think a lot of people know about it. I found it one day by accident when I was really young, and I’ve spent a lot of my childhood riding my bicycle back and forth between here and the Sandview caves.”
“But Sandview is fifty miles away!” Holden said. “That’s a really long bike ride.”
Nick shook his head. “No, the Sandview caves are a lot closer than Sandview itself. It’s probably about twenty miles from here? And I’ve always been pretty fast on a bike.”
“Of course you have,” Holden said, rubbing his forehead. “You’re a shifter after all.”
Holden was starting to feel sick to his stomach. If Nick knew about shifters because of some caves near Sandview, that could only mean one thing: Nick had inadvertently discovered Saul’s hideout. Holden was about to ask Nick for more details, but the boy had started talking again of his own accord. It seemed that once Nick finally started confessing to his little tunnel trips, the words just came tumbling out.
“A few months ago, the Sandview caves, which had been empty for as long as I’ve known about them, were suddenly full of people. The first time I saw people there, I hid from them because I thought I’d get in trouble if anyone saw me and told mom that I’d been in the tunnel. But it didn’t take long for me to realize that the real danger wasn’t someone tattling on me. These people were strange, and not nice. They could change from human to animal form and back again. They brought people in and tortured them. I think they were people from Sandview, but I’m not sure. The animal people, uh, I guess you call them shifters, were very strong. They held the torture victims down and some other people used rings to hurt them. I didn’t understand it at the time, but now I know the people with the rings were wizards, like Violet. Only they weren’t nice like Violet. They used their magic to do mean things.”
Holden sat back in his chair, stunned. “My god, Nick,” he finally said. “You found Saul’s hideout.”
“Saul?” Nick asked.
Holden figured there was no point in keeping details from Nick any longer. He explained to the boy about the war that was raging between the good and evil shifters and wizards. He told Nick how Saul had been building an army of bat shifters near Sandview, and, as Nick had seen, torturing the townspeople. When Holden was finished speaking, Nick frowned and picked up another donut, munching it slowly.
“Yeah,” Nick finally said. “They’re not very nice. When I started to turn into a dragon myself—just an arm or a leg at the time—I resisted it as hard as I could. I thought they’d done something to turn me into one of them. Are you sure that’s not the case?”
“I’m sure,” Holden said. “Shifters are born, not created. But what probably happened is that being around other shifters made your inner dragon restless, and sped up the inevitable process of your dragon forcing its way out.”
Nick considered this for a second. “I feel a lot better today than I have in a long time.”
Holden nodded. “That’s because you allowed yourself to shift. You won’t ever feel as awful as you did before you shifted yesterday, as long as you keep shifting at regular intervals. But tell me, do Saul’s soldiers know about the tunnel?”
Nick considered this for a moment. “I don’t think so,” he said. “They never mentioned it as far as I heard. And I never saw anyone come anywhere near the entrance. It’s not that surprising. I think that tunnel is about a hundred years old. It must have been built with dynamite blasts way back in the day. Kaboom!”
Nick threw his hands up above his head to mimic the motion of an explosion, and Holden chuckled. It didn’t matter what age boys were—they all seemed to love the idea of things getting blown to smithereens. But Holden didn’t care much why the tunnel had been built, or how. He was just glad to hear that Saul’s men seemed oblivious to its existence.
“And what about the wizards and shifters who were torturing people,” Holden asked. “Can you remember anything of what they were saying? What kind of questions were they asking the people they were hurting?”
Nick furrowed his brow. “I don’t really remember. It was hard to understand them, and I was more interested in the flashes of light from their rings, or in the way the shifters turned into animals and back again. Besides, I didn’t dare get too close. I didn’t want any of them to see me.”
Holden shook his head in amazement. “Nick, you don’t even realize how lucky you are that you’re a ghoster. If you’d been a normal shifter, or even just a normal human, those shifters would have smelled you coming from a mile away. They would have known you were there, even if you were quiet and stayed out of sight. I seriously can’t believe your luck.”
Nick, for his part, seemed unmoved by this observation. He shrugged, and continued munching on his donut, looking thoughtful. After finishing the sweet treat, he looked over at Holden with apprehension in his eyes.
“Are you sure that I won’t do awful things, like those shifters I saw?” Nick asked. “I don’t want to be a bad person.”
Holden smiled at him. “You’re a good kid, Nick, and you have a good heart. Being a shifter doesn’t automatically make you good or bad, just like being a human doesn’t automatically make you good or bad. You’re going to be just fine, trust me. In fact, there might be a way you can help us win this war, thanks to your ghoster abilities and your knowledge of the tunnel.”
“Really?” Nick asked, perking up. “That would be so cool.”
Holden laughed. “Yes, really. But first I need to talk to Violet and let her know everything you’ve told me. And then we have to talk to your mom and see if she’ll allow it.”
Nick made a face. “If it’s anything remotely dangerous, she’s going to say no. She’s horribly overprotective.”
“Well, I’m not going behind her back. I promised her I’d take care of you. Chin up, though. I’m sure we’ll be able to find a way for you to help the war effort, no matter how overprotective your mother is.”
“I’m not so sure,” Nick said glumly, slumping in his seat.
Holden said nothing, but, from what he’d seen of Elise so far, he had a feeling Nick’s worries were justified. She was overly protective of her son. Not that Holden could blame her. The boy was all she had in the world. Still, he had to at least try to convince her that the plan he was formulating was a good one. If he couldn’t, his only other option was going to be a big, bloody battle—one that might leave him and several other good shifters and wizards dead. And he couldn’t protect Nick anymore if he was dead. Holden was surprised at how much this thought troubled him. He looked over at Nick and smiled, tousling the boy’s hair. He’d meant it when he said Nick was a good kid. He could see great potential in the boy’s wary green eyes. It was sad that the boy had never had a shifter father to guide him, but Holden knew he could make a big difference in Nick’s life if he only had a little bit of time.
“We’ll figure something out, kid. I promise,” Holden said.
And Holden would figure out a way to involve Nick in the war effort safely, if it was the last thing he did. Dragons don’t break promises, after all.
Chapter Eight
“Absolutely not!” Elise said, standing with her hands on her hips. “There is no way I’m letting you just waltz up to an army of evil shifters and wizards who torture and kill people with no remorse.”
“I’m not walking right up to them. I’m sneaking up to them. They won’t even know I’m there.”
“The answer is no,” Elise said, trying to keep her voice from shaking with emotion. She could hardly believe that her son was sitting there with a straight face, asking to walk right into the lions’ den. Literally, the lions’ den! There were lion shifters in Saul’s army, after all. Or so she’d been told. Nick crosse
d his arms and gave her a defiant look—the same look he used to give her as a toddler when she told him he could not have ice-cream for dinner.
“I’m a dragon. I can do whatever I want,” he declared.
Out of the corner of her eye, Elise saw Holden wince, then frantically shake his head “no” at the boy. Elise walked right up to her son, grabbed his left earlobe, and twisted it hard.
“Ow! Mom!” he protested, pulling away.
“Dragon or not, I am still your mother and you still live in my house. If you want me to continue to put a roof over your head and to feed that dragon appetite of yours, you will do as I say. Do you understand?”
Nick whimpered and nodded his head.
“Now go to your room. I want to have a word with Holden.”
Nick scurried off to his room, suddenly happy for the chance to get away from his mother’s presence. Elise turned her gaze sharply on Holden, who winced again.
“Elise,” he said. But she held up her hand and shook her head.
“No. I’ll do the talking. And let’s go to my bedroom where we’re out of Nick’s earshot. I guarantee you he has his ear pressed up against his bedroom door right now to listen.”
Holden followed Elise to her bedroom without another word, shutting the door behind him as Elise whirled to face him. The sight of him in her room, leaning easily against the closed door, took her breath away. For a moment, she forgot to be angry. His bicep muscles flexed slightly as he looked over at her with intense, searching eyes. Elise had a crazy impulse to rush across the room and throw her arms around him, kissing him with abandon. There was just something so sensual about having him in her bedroom. She should have known better than to bring him in here.
She pushed away her thoughts of romance and tried to remember that he was only in here because she needed to make it very clear to him that she was not okay with his putting ideas of grand adventures into her son’s head. She was here to protect Nicky, not to think about how sexy Holden’s muscles looked in the soft light of her bedroom.
“What were you thinking?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips again and trying to look as stern as possible. But she must not have made a very imposing figure, because she saw a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
“Oh, am I allowed to talk now?” he asked.
“No! Yes! I don’t know!” Elise said, frustrated at how flustered she felt. “I just can’t believe you would even put an idea like that in Nick’s head.”
Holden let out a measured breath, not responding right away. Elise balled her fingers into fists and tried not to cry. She’d never been much of a crier. As a single mother, tears had not been a luxury she could afford. She’d had to remain strong for her son. But this week had been too much for her, and she’d found herself constantly on the verge of breaking down.
“I’m sorry,” Holden said. “I only thought that—”
“You didn’t think. That’s the problem,” Elise interrupted. “You didn’t think about the fact that you were asking my son, the only family I have, to put himself in harm’s way.”
“It’s not exactly like that,” Holden protested.
“No? Then what exactly is it like?”
Elise could feel herself losing control of her emotions. She knew it would be better for her sanity right now if she just told Holden to leave and spent a few hours alone, composing herself. But she was too angry and irrational to do the smart thing at the moment. As if it hadn’t been a shock enough learning that her son was a dragon, and that there were evil dragons and wizards out there who would love nothing more than to kill off him and every other good shifter, Holden was actually suggesting that her son sneak up on Saul’s army and spy on them.
Elise reached over to steady herself on the headboard of her bed. She’d felt sick to her stomach when she sat there and listened to Nick describe the secret tunnel he’d been playing in for years without her knowledge. The tunnel itself wasn’t a big deal, but knowing that there was now a group of crazed, evil shifters and wizards on the other end of that tunnel was enough to make Elise’s heart stop. Here she had been, working her ass off at the diner to make ends meet, not knowing that her son was spending hours in danger of being discovered by some very violent people. Elise knew she couldn’t have known, and yet she felt like a failure as a mother.
And now, Holden, who had sworn he would protect Nick, was suggesting that the boy sneak back through the tunnel to spy on Saul’s men. He wanted Nick to take pictures of Saul’s operations, and to eavesdrop on what the soldiers were saying. As though asking a twelve-year-old boy to spy on coldblooded killers was no big deal.
“I’m sorry, Elise,” Holden was saying again. “I wouldn’t have asked you if I thought there was a high likelihood that he would be caught. He’s a ghoster, so they can’t smell him. Shifters ‘see’ with their noses more than their eyes. As long as he was careful, there’s virtually no chance he’d be caught.”
“Don’t you get it, Holden?” Elise asked sitting down on her bed and putting her face in her hands. “He’s twelve. You can’t put that kind of responsibility on him. You can’t ask him to walk into such a dangerous situation, no matter how small the chances that he’ll be caught. He’s too young. And you swore to protect him!”
Holden was silent for a long time. Finally, he walked over and sat on the bed next to Elise. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and took in a deep breath, exhaling it slowly.
“You’re right. I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have thought it through more clearly, and I should have asked you before bringing it up with him. I got so excited about the possibility of getting the upper hand on Saul that I wasn’t thinking straight.”
Elise mumbled out something that sounded like “It’s okay,” but she was finding it hard to speak. Holden’s arm around her was so warm and strong, and it made her feel so safe. She couldn’t stay angry at him when he held her like that. She wanted to pull away, to tell him that she couldn’t handle being this close to him, and that they couldn’t have a future together. After all, hadn’t he just proven to her that he didn’t take her son’s safety as seriously as she did? Why would she even consider a relationship with someone who might just leave, or might put her son in harm’s way?
A little voice in her head told her that no one would ever take her son’s safety as seriously as her, because she took it a little too seriously. And perhaps that was true. Perhaps she was overprotective. But Nicky was all she had, and just the thought of anything happening to him made it hard to breathe.
Elise stood up abruptly. This was all too much for her. Too many confusing, mixed emotions were swirling through her mind right now.
“I can’t be with you like that,” she said firmly, crossing her arms and giving Holden a defiant look. He wasn’t looking for an argument, though.
“I’m sorry,” he said in a weary tone. “I didn’t mean to imply anything by putting my arm around you. I just wanted to comfort you, as a friend. I’m not exactly looking for romance, either, but I do care about you as a person. And about Nick, too. He’s a shifter, and you’re his mom. That makes you both my family, in a sense. We stand by each other in the shifter world, and we take care of each other.”
Elise kept her arms crossed and frowned. Holden had spoken the perfect response. They were to remain friends, and that was it. He cared about her in a strictly platonic way, and wanted Nick to be taken care of. That’s exactly what Elise wanted, so why did she feel a rush of disappointment at his words?
“You okay?” he asked.
She forced the frown away. “Yeah. Just a long day. Long week, really.”
Holden nodded. “You’ve had a bit of an intense week, that’s for sure. Do you work tonight?”
“No. Thank god I’m actually not on the schedule tonight. I’m so on edge right now that I’d probably lose it on the first customer who complained about something stupid like having to wait more than two seconds to get a refill on their drink.”
Holden laug
hed. The sound filled Elise with warmth, and she couldn’t help but smile.
“Why don’t you go out to dinner with me?” Holden asked. “As friends of course. But I think you could benefit from a night where someone is refilling your drink rather than the other way around. You deserve a bit of a break.”
“With Nick, too?” Elise asked.
“He can come if you want him to,” Holden said. “But he could also go spend some time with Violet tonight, and you could have a real break for once. A real, adult dinner out. Violet’s been working today on researching the location of the dragon ruby, and I bet Nick could help. It might make him feel a little better if he had a way to help out with the war effort. He really just wants to do something that matters, you know?”
Elise bit her lip, stalling for time. The thought of going to dinner with Holden alone sent a thrill through her whole body, which was exactly why she thought it was a bad idea to go. She didn’t trust herself alone with him. How could she sit across from him for an entire dinner, looking into those soulful green eyes, and not feel any kind of desire? Her mind was screaming at her to say no, but her heart managed to get a hold of her mouth first, and she found herself saying, “That sounds great.”
Which was how, an hour later, Elise found herself sitting in a booth across from Holden at Blackstone’s only Italian restaurant. She peered at the sticky, laminated menu that had a bit of crusted pasta sauce on one corner, trying to figure out what she could order that wouldn’t be too difficult to eat in a ladylike manner.
It’s not a date, she told herself. But she still found herself opting for a chicken dish with bowtie pasta in a white lemon sauce. She wanted to steer clear of long spaghetti or red sauce, both of which would have made it difficult to eat without getting food all over her face or shirt. Holden seemed to have no such qualms, and ordered the spaghetti and meatballs. Elise felt another twinge of sadness as she reminded herself that they were only here as friends. What was wrong with her? She should be happy that they were both on the same page, and not interested in a romance.
Stealth and the Dragon (Redwood Dragons Book 7) Page 9