by Jadyn Chase
To my surprise, he didn’t let me go when he stopped kissing me. He slipped his arm around my shoulders and hugged me into his side. He guided my head onto his shoulder and held me there.
This sensation nearly made me burst into tears from unstoppable relief. Kissing him was one thing. His arm around me, drawing me into his iron body reduced me to a small, vulnerable sprout barely big enough to raise my head to the sunshine.
I curled into his massive presence. Nothing could harm me here, not even my own overblown life. I didn’t have to make any decisions here. He required nothing from me except that I accept my place at his side.
What did it all mean? I couldn’t fathom. I couldn’t think clearly enough to figure it out, and do you know what? I didn’t care. It could mean any number of things or it could mean nothing at all. I didn’t care if it meant anything or nothing. I appreciated it exactly the way it was. It felt good, and I needed nothing more.
We sat there like that for over an hour. I dared not move for fear of breaking the mood, but after a while, he shifted his position. I sat up, and our bodies came apart. He smiled and lowered his eyes. His cheeks colored and his gaze slid away. Did he feel the same way about me?
He interlaced his fingers into mine and stood up. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
“Where are we going now?”
“Heck, I don’t know.” He let out a short burst of laughter. “Let’s just go somewhere.”
I hurried after him to the Jeep. That was the first time I ever heard him laugh, and his face radiated real happiness. It transformed his appearance so he looked like a mischievous little boy instead of a big, brooding hulk.
He hopped into the Jeep and fired it up. I barely got my seatbelt buckled before he roared down the mountain and off somewhere. The woods sped by so fast I couldn’t distinguish where we were heading, but I didn’t care about that anymore, either. I would go anywhere with him.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when he pulled in at Jacks River Fields. I stared around me with wide eyes. “What did you bring me here for?”
He strolled through the short, soft grass. “I don’t know. I just thought we’d come here and relax.”
I sauntered at his side and surveyed the campground. “This is a really nice place. It’s hard to imagine the dragons attacking and killing those people.”
“If the report is true, they didn’t die here,” he remarked. “The men transported them to Buck Creek and killed them there.”
I cocked my head. “How did you know that was in the report? I don’t remember telling you that.”
He shrugged and looked away. “I must have read it somewhere else, then. Besides, that shoe was found at Buck Creek.”
I went back to studying the surroundings. No campers occupied the site now. We had it all to ourselves to enjoy. This place was way too nice to let a petty disagreement mar such a pleasant morning. I reminded myself to leave the story behind. “I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that dragons really do exist.”
“They exist,” he murmured.
“And the people of this area,” I asked, “do they all know about the dragon Clans?”
“Not everybody. A few people know. The rest are oblivious, and the more oblivious they stay, the better. It’s for their own protection as well as….” He opened his mouth to say something and stopped himself. “As well as the dragons.”
I examined him. I never met anyone who presented such a conundrum begging to be unraveled, but I would probably never know what he wanted to hide from me. “How did you find out about them?”
His head shot up. For an instant, his eyes pierced me to the marrow. Then he snorted with laughter. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“What’s so funny?” I demanded. “You better not be laughing at me.”
His hand slipped into mine. “I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing at myself. This situation is too ridiculous to believe.”
“What’s so ridiculous about it?” I asked. “Is it ridiculous that we’re holding hands and walking through the woods?”
“Not at all. It’s ridiculous that I should feel the way I do about you when there’s no chance on God’s green Earth that you could ever feel the same way about me.”
“How do you know that?” I asked. “How could I feel anything for you when you never told me how you feel?”
He scanned the tree line. “Let’s just say I wish things could be different, but they aren’t so there’s no sense crying about it. Better to laugh it off.”
I started to say something when the smile drained off his face. His cheeks sagged, and his body stiffened. He stared over my shoulder and his fist clamped around my hand tight enough hurt. When I glanced behind me, I saw four big men emerge from the forest.
They advanced on us with slow, steady tread. They entered the field on an inexorable track to intercept us. Luka swiveled to face them. He dropped my hand and pushed me behind him.
He backed up a few paces. “What’s going on?” I croaked.
He dove his hand into his pocket and fished out his keys. Without turning around, he shoved them into my hand. “Get out of here, Louise.”
“I can’t!” I gasped. “I’m not leaving you here. Tell me what’s going on, Luka. Who are those men?”
“Get out of here, Louise!” he thundered. “Get to the Jeep and drive. Don’t stop until you get back to Norton. Now go!”
Without turning around, he crammed his hand against my shoulder and pushed me toward the Jeep. Adrenaline scorched my insides, and I ran. I stumbled across the field in a blind panic. What was going on? What were those men going to do to Luka? Why did they come after him here?
While I ran, my mind kept spinning over the same words. I couldn’t leave him behind. I couldn’t abandon him, not after everything that happened. I had to go back for him.
I didn’t go back for him, though. I bolted for the Jeep and fumbled trying to get the key into the ignition. My hands shook so badly I dropped them more than once and had to retrieve them from the floor.
I wheezed in terror and heartache. Luka! Did I scream that name out loud, or did it stay trapped inside my heart and soul? Luka! I screamed it even when I turned the key and skidded backward to swing the Jeep around. It screamed burning rubber all the way down the road.
I made it several miles before my head cleared enough to realize I had no clue where I was or where I was going. I pulled off the side and took out my phone. I checked my location on the GPS and navigated the most direct route back to Norton.
I looked over my shoulder. What if those guys followed me? What if they killed Luka for some God-forsaken reason? I couldn’t think about that. He told me to drive, so that’s what I had to do.
I floored it all the way to Norton and screeched to a stop in front of the Watering Hole. I jumped out and snatched my handbag from the floor. I bolted for my room and banged into something solid.
Two strong hands grabbed hold of my arms. “Hold it, you! Where’s the emergency?”
I screamed and tried to break away. I struggled against the grip for a second before I recognized the burly guy I met in the bar the other night. My mind floundered trying to place his name. Jackson Hodges.
His fingers dug into my arms and his black eyes smoldered with inner fire. “What are you doing in that Jeep? Where’s Luka?”
I stared in all directions with wild eyes, but I couldn’t see a thing. “Jacks River…..Fields campground. We were down there and…..some guys came out….and Luka told me to leave him there and take the Jeep and drive. He told me not to stop until I got back to Norton. I didn’t want to, but he told me to.”
He narrowed his eyes, and his jaw muscle jumped under the skin. “Who were they?”
“I…..I don’t know,” I stammered. “They were big, and they had red hair. One of them had a tattoo on his arm…. here.” I pointed to the inside of my elbow. “It looked like a fishhook.”
He jerked his hands away and pointed up t
he stairs to my room while he walked away. “Get inside. Don’t come out.”
“Where are you going?” I cried. “Don’t…. don’t leave.”
“Get inside,” he barked. “This is no business for the likes of you to get involved in. Don’t make me tell you again.”
“What are you going to do?” I called after him.
He got into the Jeep. I left the keys in it like an idiot. He turned over the motor. “I’m going after him.”
12
Luka
It took me about a fraction of a second to recognize Axel, Damian, and Kai Lynch. I didn’t recognize the other one, but I could never mistake that look in their eyes. I wanted Louise as far away from them as she could get.
What was the use in fighting? They trapped me miles away from the Ridge. No one knew where I was, and Louise wouldn’t know to tell anyone, either. I did my job too well by keeping her away from my family.
I wished now I took her up to the Ridge and introduced her to everyone. I wouldn’t be in this situation now if I did. I warned her too many times to keep away from the Ridge and anyone named Kelly.
I should have known the Lynches would pull something like this after they vacated their initial stakeout on Cursed Crag. Pop rounded up every Kelly within spitting distance and armed them all to the teeth. Then Marvin and Jackson and Owen and Vince Hodges and all their kin flew down from Granite Gorge to help us roast those bad boys in their own juices.
We all rolled out and surrounded the Crag, but when we rushed in to the attack, we found the place deserted. The Lynches left traces of a firepit still warm and a few squashed cigarette butts, so they were definitely there.
Needless to say, their cowardice and nonappearance did nothing to improve anybody’s mood. Pop and Marvin put their heads together three or four times in the week since about forming another posse to go visit them where they live and teach them a lesson about encroaching on other people’s territory, but so far, nothing eventuated.
Now here they were. How they tracked me here from town, I couldn’t tell you—not that it mattered. Here they were, as big as life and just as mean.
I cocked my ear until I heard the Jeep peel out of the campground. Then I relaxed into the inevitable. At least Louise would be safe far away. I could occupy these troglodytes long enough by fighting with my last breath to stop them from going after her next.
One thought gave me comfort. My death would give Pop and the Clan all the justification they needed to put Clan Lynch in the ground once and for all. I soothed my churning brain with that fantasy while my four adversaries inched toward me.
I could see it now. A couple hundred dragons would descend on the Lynches’ stronghold in the north. With any luck, the Hodges would join the party. That would make probably five hundred dragons or more, all out for blood. The Lynches wouldn’t stand a chance. They would never rise again, and the rest of us could live our lives undisturbed for a change.
The four meatheads fanned out to encircle me. I didn’t care. I didn’t even try to position myself for any kind of advantage. This would be a slaughter and no mistake. My best hope was to go down swinging and do Clan Kelly proud. Nothing else mattered. If I could hurt or cripple one or more of them, I could die happy.
Axel flashed a hideous grin to my left. He pushed his shirt sleeves up over his elbows and flexed his fingers into fists. Kai sauntered to my right. He cracked his knuckles with a theatrical flair like that was supposed to scare me. His biceps rippled, and the flame tattoo on his inner arm quivered and flickered. Yeah. I’ve got your fire right here, buddy. Come and get some.
Damian remained standing in front of me. His lips contorted in hateful menace. I closed my eyes against the sight and listened to the other guy, the stranger, snaking around behind my back. Any second now, they would pile in and do their worst.
My nerves sang with the tension building to a breaking point, but the rest of me stayed calm and relaxed and serene. So this was what it felt like to face certain death. I heard it happens like this sometimes, that fear and anxiety leave you in a state of flawless clarity and confidence.
I observed myself from outside. I saw myself standing still, not even trying to prepare for the fight of my life. From a disembodied location about ten feet above my head and off to the left, I watched the four of them tighten their muscles. Axel rocked forward and back on his heels, ready to charge.
In slow motion, I took note of Damian inhaling a deep breath, craning his mouth wide open, and letting out a bellow to shake the forest to its roots. At the same moment, all four of them rocketed toward me.
How curious it all seemed. How insignificant and pointless. Did I really get involved in this petty little war? How did that happen?
Damian extended his arms to grab me. Axel hauled back his fist to pound me flat. The stranger behind me bent low and barreled straight for the backs of my legs to tackle me. I kept perfectly still and tranquil through it all. I stood apart from all of this. I felt nothing at all.
I held myself motionless until Damian’s hot breath brushed my cheek. At the last possible second, I vaulted straight up. The four of them collided in a heap under me. They thrashed and writhed in a confused mass of bodies and limbs, but I couldn’t stand on ceremony.
The instant I moved, my awareness rushed back into my body. All my tranquility flew out the window, and the rush of battle and danger took hold. From my vantage point off the ground, I looked down on the twisted mass of men, and I let the explosive dragon soul out of its cage.
I arched my neck and my wings shot out of my back. Rage and wicked intent flooded my brain and I ceased to be a man that could think and consider. The fighting lizard’s razor intellect cared for only one thing: cold-blooded murder.
I hovered over them, curved my head down, and unleashed hellfire on their helpless forms. They wriggled around to look up at me, and their eyes popped when they saw my fire coming. They would sizzle to a crisp, and their death vapors would satiate my venomous appetite for destruction.
I spat my flame and it pounded down on the group. At that instant, Damian shifted. He flipped over on his back and the fire woofed against his chest. It deflected off his scales, but he didn’t have time to spread his wings before the heat incinerated his cousins.
Axel and their other friend screamed. They scrambled out of their pile, but flames already licked up their arms and caught their clothes and hair. They flailed around the campground trying to slap out the flames, but it spread through the grass.
They yelped in terror. I recognized that behavior only too well. Their fear and surprise defeated their own ability to shift. They convinced themselves they couldn’t lose. Now they didn’t know how to act when the fight turned against them.
Back in the pile, Damian got his wings unfolded at last. His body protected Kai, but I already changed my strategy. I couldn’t hurt him with fire. He was too strong. I drew in my wings and let myself fall on top of him. I stretched my talons and hit him with everything I had.
Attacking Damian Lynch was certain suicide, but I already got rid of two of these morons so I already scored two points more than I hoped. What better way to meet my death than at the hands of such a formidable foe?
He didn’t disappoint, either. His slanted, red eyes narrowed watching me descend on him, and he hurtled upward to meet me. He folded across the middle. His wings and limbs wrapped around me and hugged me in tight against his slick, scaly body. In a second, he overcame all my strength and rendered me helpless in his grip.
He whipped sideways and tumbled me onto my back. He rolled up on top of me and crushed me to the ground under his greater weight. I screeched my rage and struggled to loosen his hold, but his powerful muscles told me it was useless.
I lashed my head and tried to cut his skin with my teeth, but they only deflected off his hardened scales. I whipped my tail and slammed it into his flank with all my might, but it barely shook him.
I felt the tide turn against me when, out of the corn
er of my eye, I saw Kai launch to his feet. With Damian and me out of the way, he could take all the time he wanted to collect himself. He brushed off his clothes with maddening slowness. He eyed Damian holding me down and measured his next move.
He took his time shifting, too. He arched his back and opened his chest. He lengthened his neck, and it continued extending until it grew to a pulsating rope of steel. His skin darkened and turned red. The texture changed to scales, and when he bowed forward again, his lizard head bobbed before my eyes. He growled and sulfur billowed from his nostrils.
Kai strutted toward me and lowered his head close to my face. I tried to move away, but I couldn’t do much with Damian holding me in place. I closed my eyes instead. If they were going to kill me, they might as well hurry up and get it over with.
I didn’t see if they signaled each other or what. The air rushed into my lungs when Damian lifted off me. I experienced a moment of blessed relief. The next instant, they both laid into me at once.
Something ripped my shoulder and my eyes popped open to find Kai’s head buried in my chest. His teeth locked in the fleshy muscle between my forelimb and my chest. When I tried to fight upward, Damian levitated off the ground and pounced to land with one massive foot on my neck.
The next instant, Damian cracked his tail around and smashed me in the ribs. Kai flopped onto his side with his teeth still embedded in my shoulder, and he raked his horrible claws down my flank to tear me apart.
I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t breathe with Damian’s foot compressing my throat. My eyes rolled back in their sockets. I searched the campground in a vain hope that someone might help me.
Damian delivered one brutal thunderous blow after another up and down my torso. Mortal dread crept through my veins and blotted out the peace and calm I experienced before. I didn’t want to die. Now I stared down into the pit of death with no possibility of escape.