by Jadyn Chase
Jackson catapulted back and left his vulnerable underside exposed. In a fraction of a second, the red dragon shot his pointed head forward and struck. He punched his snout into the soft place between Jackson’s foreleg and the bony plate protecting his chest.
Jackson tumbled onto his back, stunned. He slammed onto his spine, and the red dragon pounced for the kill. He planted all four limbs straddling Jackson’s prostrate form and coiled back his neck for the death stroke.
I saw it all from my place of safety. My throat constricted at the sight. If Jackson couldn’t kill this thing, no one could. We couldn’t leave one of these Lynches alive to carry the message back to their wretched Clan in the north.
I didn’t give myself time to think twice. Jackson was my friend. I couldn’t stand by and watch this bastard kill him. I folded my wings against my back and dove. I smashed my four feet into the red dragon’s neck and knocked him forward. His neck cracked like a whip, and we both landed right on top of Jackson.
Rage and blood lust took over. I bit down hard on the red dragon’s neck right behind his skull, and my teeth met in the center. Adrenaline gave me supernatural strength. I leaped clear and came to rest a few feet away from Jackson. With a powerful jerk of my neck, I snapped the red dragon off him. I flung my enemy in an arc by the neck and pounded his body into the ground.
He thrashed up for a second. The impact knocked a spurt of fire from his throat that caught me under the chin. Searing pain shot down my chest and stomach before I could jump clear.
In seconds, all the Hodges attacked in unison. I never had to move again. Ten bodies tackled the red dragon and mauled him to shreds before my eyes. He flailed and screamed, but he couldn’t fight them all at once. They tore him limb from limb until he lay motionless, a bloody wreck.
7
Louise
I came downstairs to find Luka sitting on his Jeep fender in front of the Watering Hole. I found myself smiling at him in spite of myself. “Good morning.”
He glanced at me once before he went back to scowling down the street. He didn’t smile. “Good morning. Are you ready to go?”
I wiped the delighted smile off my face. “Don’t look so happy to see me.”
He got off the Jeep and kicked a lump of dirt on the ground. “Are we still going to Granite Gorge today?”
I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. “I thought I’d have breakfast first. Do you mind waiting a few minutes?”
“Suit yourself,” he returned. “I’m on the clock either way.”
I was never so happy to turn my back on someone. What was the matter with him? Why did he turn so surly and standoffish all of a sudden?
I entered the bar and ordered another sandwich from Larry. I guess I was going to be surviving on sandwiches in this cesspit of a town. To my surprise, Luka strode into the bar and took the stool next to mine. Maybe I misread him. Maybe he wasn’t being standoffish after all. Maybe he was just…. you know, a jerk.
“Have you eaten breakfast?” I asked. “I could get you something.”
“I’m not hungry.” He reached across the bar and took the paper out from under the taps. He unfolded it and started reading.
I studied his profile. Now that I got a good look at him, I recognized the unmistakable signs of strain and fatigue. Lines creased his face, and he was wearing the same clothes as yesterday.
Should I say anything? A smart reporter would keep to her own business. I paid him to show me around, not to socialize.
Nope. Not me. “Did you get any sleep last night at all?”
His eyes flashed when he glared at me. “That’s none of your business.”
“Obviously,” I muttered and faced front.
What an asshole! Why did I even bother to try? Larry came back and gave me my sandwich. I would have eaten the whole thing in silence if Luka hadn’t spoken up. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. No, I didn’t get any sleep last night.”
“Why not?” I asked. “I thought you went home after you dropped me off yesterday.”
“I did.” He folded the paper, slapped it against his hand, and pitched it back under the taps. “We had an emergency come up. I was up all night dealing with it. That’s why I’m not in a very good mood today. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t take it out on you. I’m just a little on edge.”
I scrutinized him closer. He certainly looked strained around the eyes and mouth. “Did you get the emergency under control?”
“For the moment. We put a band-aid on it, but it’s still a problem.”
“Can you tell me about it?” I asked. “I know it’s none of my business, but maybe talking about it will help you put it into perspective.”
He compressed his lips. I couldn’t tell if he did it in annoyance that I asked or from the tension of the situation. “I wish I could, but I can’t. I’m sorry. It’s nothing against you, but it’s confidential.”
“All right. I can accept that. Do you want to go?”
He stood up and strode out of the bar without saying anything. At least he told me what was bothering him, so I knew it wasn’t me. If he hadn’t told me, I would have assumed I did something to offend him.
When I got outside, I found him behind the wheel of the Jeep with the motor running. I took my cue and got into the passenger seat. He drove out of town like a bat out of hell, and he said nothing all the way out to Granite Gorge.
I studied the map. A dozen times, I almost asked him something or tried to start a conversation, but I thought better of it and kept my mouth shut. Maybe I was learning after all.
He drove faster and more recklessly than yesterday. He wrestled the wheel right and left and crammed the pedal to the floor. Every time I looked at him, he locked his jaw tighter in fuming rage.
He screeched to a halt on a lonely road overlooking an enormous canyon. It cut jagged angles into the thick forest and dropped in precipitous grey cliffs that vanished out of sight. I took a pair of binoculars out of my handbag and scanned the Gorge. “This is amazing. I never imagined it was so big!”
Luka propped one leg against the fender and looked the other way. He squinted into the distance and kept his lips locked shut. I wasn’t going to get any help from him today. I could see that plain as day.
I tried again, just for giggles. “Do you know where Horseshoe Falls is?”
He didn’t look at me. “I know where it is.”
“That’s where the attack happened. I want to see it. The map shows it down here. It looks like it’s not far away.”
He pushed himself off the Jeep. “It’s just over the side there. It’s not far away, but the trail winds around in circles for over two miles. I hope you’re ready to do some serious hiking because it’s too steep to drive.”
He walked away without waiting for an answer. A second later, he disappeared down the side of the Gorge. When I got to the spot, I noticed a tiny trail cut into the rock. Luka’s head bobbed farther down.
I picked my way along it. He had to stop and wait for me every few hundred yards. It turned out to be a lot steeper than I expected. My ankles ached and my legs burned from working against gravity.
The trek down the Gorge took more than two hours. We emerged at a field of large boulders that formed the bank of a river tumbling down the Gorge. The granite walls towered over our heads and showed a crisp strip of blue sky directly above us.
Luka set off upstream. The rocks created an even more formidable obstacle, and I made slow progress over them. A steady pounding noise alerted me to the presence of the Falls long before we got anywhere near them. It deafened me and grated on my nerves.
All at once, Luka turned a corner and a roar greeted me. I looked up, and a solid sheet of white water thundered down a semi-circular cliff. It plunged into a deep pool under the Falls. Chilly spray filled the air with prismatic droplets that instantly cooled my sweaty brow.
Luka crouched next to the pool and submerged his head under the water. He came up dripping wet and flung his head sideways to s
hake the water off his curly hair. I took out my phone and took pictures of the Falls, the surrounding forest, and the river running down the Gorge behind us.
I studied the marks on the map. “According to the reports, the attack happened just downstream from here. The horsemen went swimming and were just about to….”
I stopped in mid-sentence and stared at Luka. He listened with his head on one side, and the water streamed down his cheeks and neck to saturate his shirt. The soggy cotton drooped to reveal his chest, and my mouth fell open in shock.
A bright red blistering burn marred the smooth skin underneath. It vanished under his t-shirt, and angry pockets of ruined skin showed against his collarbone. I gasped out loud and rushed toward him. “You’re hurt! What happened? Did this happen last night?”
Without thinking, I pulled his shirt collar aside, but I couldn’t see the edge of the burn. It extended down his chest and past his sternum. I touched the skin next to it, but I didn’t dare touch the burn itself. Just looking at it hurt.
He turned his head to one side and snarled through gritted teeth. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing!” I snapped. “How did this happen?”
He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw to stop himself from saying anything. I peered up at his face twisted with inner tension. At that moment, I realized. He wasn’t tense. He was in pain. All this time, I thought he was angry or upset about whatever happened last night when he was really hurting.
Just then, I became aware of my fingers on his skin. A tremor of electricity passed between my fingertips and his chest. What was I doing touching him like that? Even so, I couldn’t withdraw my hand. When I moved my fingers, a rush of heat washed through me.
I stood impossibly close to him. His face hovered before my eyes. The fibers of his irises bored into me. They cut to the very center of my soul, and I couldn’t look away no matter how hard I tried.
At that moment, his hand closed around my back. His fingers pulled me that last fraction of an inch closer so my body came to rest against his. The water from his shirt soaked through my clothes, and that sizzling energy radiated all through me.
Before I could stop it, he bent forward and kissed me. I saw him coming in slow motion. His lips grazed mine ever so softly at first. His eyes mesmerized me just beyond my nose. I froze in hypnotic stupefaction. I couldn’t summon the resolve to pull away, even as my rational mind told me I shouldn’t be doing this.
Little by little, he explored further. He increased the pressure, and his mouth collapsed against mine in beautiful sweetness. Without meaning to, I welcomed that subtle call. I wanted to understand the hidden subtext those lips implied to my heart and soul.
Just then, his tongue slipped into my mouth and touched mine. It sent a lightning bolt of excitement through my veins, and I pushed my body against him. I didn’t mean to. His tongue enticed me to respond that way.
His solid frame tightened, and his pelvis hardened against me. His other hand slithered up my spine to the back of my neck to steer me into his kiss. That hand compelled me to submit to his attention, and I went limp in his grasp. He could guide me anywhere he wanted in that moment.
As quickly as it started, it ended. He shifted his head to one side, and I caught a glimpse of his penetrating green eyes behind the tussle of wet hair hanging over his forehead. He eased back to gauge my reaction, and the spell shattered. The magnetic attraction that drew me to him now pushed me away. I stepped back with my head swirling.
I looked around, but I didn’t see anything. I couldn’t comprehend what just happened. I kissed him, but I couldn’t regret it. I wanted to. I wanted to do it again, but the circumstances made it impossible.
I passed my hand across my forehead. “We should probably…. uh….”
He walked past me down the river. “Yeah.”
He kept walking. That snapped me out of my daze. I had to go down the river in that direction to check the spot where the horsemen camped.
I shook the confusion out of my brain and stumbled after him. I found him standing on a grassy bank downstream from the falls. “This is the only campsite around,” he told me. “They must have camped here.”
“Right. Of course.” I fumbled for my map and my phone. “They did.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and watched me take pictures of the campsite, but the place showed any sign of any attack. After I took notes and all the pictures I could want, I put my stuff away.
I looked up to find him studying me. “What?”
“Aren’t you going to ask why the ground isn’t burned?” he asked. “If dragons attacked the horsemen here, why isn’t the ground burned the way it was at Buck Creek?”
“According to the survivors’ reports, the dragons didn’t use fire. They landed on the ground and killed the horsemen by biting them.”
He raised his eyebrows but said nothing.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “You don’t believe me?”
He shrugged. “This whole dragon thing seems a little farfetched, don’t you think? I mean, dragons don’t exist.”
“That’s what I say but you can’t ignore the reports, especially when there are so many of them that tell the same story.”
“Why would dragons attack a bunch of unarmed horsemen up here?” He waved his arms at the canyon walls. “It’s miles away from the Ridge. What did the horsemen ever do to deserve that?”
“I don’t understand it, either, but I intend to find out.” I did a quick check on my map. “Do you know where Parrot’s Perch is?”
His head whipped around fast, and his face went white as a sheet. “What?”
“Parrot’s Perch. Do you know where it is?”
He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. His entire demeanor changed in an instant.
“Luka?” I asked. “Is everything all right?”
He jerked sideways and spun away. He walked a few steps toward the river before he stopped with his back to me. I couldn’t understand what made him behave that way. He treated this investigation with such flippant disregard up until now, but the mention of Parrot’s Perch obviously triggered him. It terrified him.
“If you don’t know where it is,” I told him, “it’s no big deal. We can use GPS to find it.”
“No!” He whirled around. “I know where it is. It’s over there.”
He pointed up the Gorge in the direction from which we’d come. I frowned and pulled up the report on my phone. “Are you sure? The surviving horsemen say the dragons came from Parrot’s Perch. Their description clearly indicates they were facing that way when they saw the dragons coming.” I pointed toward the opposite cliff face.
“How could they possibly know the dragons came from Parrot’s Perch?” he countered. “They couldn’t know where the dragons came from.”
“One of them is a professional horse trekking guide. He knows this Gorge well. He knew exactly where they were when he first caught sight of them. He also hid nearby and watched them kill his friends. He watched them fly away, and he says they returned to Parrot’s Perch afterward. He says they dropped down from someplace high above the Falls. Either way, I have to check it out.”
“I’m telling you, it’s that way.” Without waiting for a response, he barged down the river, crossed by leaping from one stone to the other, and took off without me.
8
Luka
Crap. Hell and damn. Son of a sucking, stinking whore. How did I get into this mess? Here I was guiding a reporter around all these dragon battle sites and trying to make sure she didn’t discover anything incriminating. Now she wanted to go to Parrot’s Perch where the mother of all dragon battles happened just last night. Now what was I going to do?
I stormed up the path in a seething mass of confusion and frustration. I never should have agreed to this. Showing her the blast site at Buck Creek was bad enough. Horseshoe Falls wouldn’t tell her anything, but Parrot’s Perch was another matter altogether. I couldn’t let her go there.
No way, no how.
If she went there, she would find refutable evidence that the dragons were real. I couldn’t let that happen. I kicked myself for not thinking of this before. Jackson and the other Hodges and I should have destroyed the remains before we left last night. I just never expected Louise to see it.
What if she put two and two together? What if she got wise to the fact that I was there, that I participated in the battle, that I was one of these dragons, and that my whole Clan was all dragons? I shuddered at the thought.
That kiss under the Falls complicated matters even worse. What did I have to go and do that for? I couldn’t let myself develop feelings for her. She was an outsider. She was a reporter from another city. Nothing could ever happen between us.
When she stood so close to me like that, though, I couldn’t help myself. Her body vibrated with hidden potential that called a man to kiss her and hold her and touch her. What I wouldn’t give to kiss her like that again! I wouldn’t, though. I couldn’t. I had to guard myself against her from now on.
I had to start thinking of her as the enemy. She came to Smokey Ridge to expose us to the world. That made her my enemy, too. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring myself to think of her that way. She didn’t know what she was playing with. She didn’t mean to threaten the dragon Clans. She only stumbled on the secret by accident.
I got halfway up the Gorge before I shook myself out of my thoughts. I had to come up with a credible alternative to taking her to the real Parrot’s Perch. I had to take her somewhere to make her think she went to Parrot’s Perch when she didn’t.
I cast my mind over Granite Gorge in search of a possible solution. Inspiration struck when I spotted a trail cutting off the main route. I veered onto it. It wound around in circles for a while before it ended at a wide ledge overlooking the whole Gorge.
A picnic table sat in the center of the shelf, and a sign against the canyon wall gave rules for campers. I waved my hand at the view. Maybe that would distract her. “This is the only place anybody could camp where they would be able to drop down on Horseshoe Falls.”