by Angela Foxxe
“Why do we need to stay in here again?” Emma fussed, pouting angrily over the perceived injustice as only a teenager could do. “I can fly now, which means that I can fight.”
“It’s not about your abilities,” Senora said. “It’s about what’s good for the whole of the species. You’re the only other Supreme Guardian in existence right now. Ethan can’t risk you dying when he is risking his own life.”
“Then, maybe he should stay back and let us fight.”
Senora chuckled under her breath.
“I’m not happy about it either, but we all have to play to our strengths and do what’s logically best. As a human, I’m nowhere near as equipped to fight as Ty is. As the younger of the two Supreme Guardians, your life is more valuable in the long run.”
“So my brother is expendable?”
“He’s not expendable, but you’re less expendable. It was a tough decision to have to make, but it was the right one.”
“Why all the fuss for one man? Why can’t Ty just take him out?”
“The world doesn’t work that way. And even though we know that he is wrong, he’s getting paid to bring in your brother on murder charges. If he turns up dead, that will just intensify the search for Ethan and for anyone who helped him kill the bounty hunter. We have to play this carefully and do everything right or we could all end up on the wrong side of the law.”
“I guess I didn’t think about all that.”
“A lot of people wouldn’t. It’s hard when it’s your family being attacked. The first impulse is to attack back, but we can’t let our emotions cloud our judgment. We have to take a step back and make the best decision, even if it doesn’t feel as good as the knee-jerk reaction. Acting rashly is never good in the long run.”
Emma stared at Senora, her young face filled with admiration, then she smiled.
“What?” Senora asked.
“Dragons have a reputation for being the most levelheaded and patient amongst the shifters, but you have more restraint than anyone I’ve ever met. Are you sure you’re not one of us?”
Senora chuckled.
“I didn’t even know what a shifter was until I started working with Ty.”
“Most people don’t know about us. It’s weird going to school with ‘normal’ kids, then looking down and seeing scales pop up on your arm when you get nervous, or feeling like your breath is hot suddenly. I didn’t even know until I was eight.”
“Right before you were kidnapped?”
“Yes. Ethan said that starting the change early is a sign of something special, but it just felt like a burden. I don’t want to be anyone’s guardian, but I was chosen by Fate, and I don’t have a choice.”
The sadness in her voice tugged at Senora’s heart. She couldn’t pretend to understand where Emma was coming from, but she could understand being stuck doing something that you didn’t believe in. It was how she’d felt when she first got thrown into the mix with Ty, but that feeling was evolving into something closer to contentment.
“Sometimes, when you think you don’t want to do something, it turns out to be the best part of your life,” she offered.
“That’s easy for you to say,” Emma said, still whispering even though there was no sign of the intruder. “You don’t have the burdens that I have. Burdens I was born with.”
“We all have something,” Senora said. “And if I’m honest, I didn’t want to work with a partner at all, let alone Ty. But now that I’ve worked with him some, it’s not all that bad. And if I hadn’t worked with him, I wouldn’t know what happened to you after you were rescued, and that’s an amazing development. I rarely get to see people I’ve helped save after they’ve gone home. If nothing else, seeing you was worth all this.”
“You didn’t help save me; you saved me. No one else would have followed the clues that you did. I wouldn’t be alive without you.”
Senora wanted to brush off the compliment, but she knew that Emma was right. No one else had looked at the empty cages and zeroed in on the one with food. And even after she’d told the others what she saw, she was brushed off as a rookie by the more experienced agents who didn’t think that her discovery was anything important. They’d been wrong, and it had almost cost Emma her life. Senora knew without a doubt that the escaped trafficker would have doubled back and picked up Emma. Now that Senora knew who and what Emma was, she was surer of this than she had been years before. Even now, Senora feared for Emma’s life, and having Kaden show up to settle the score with Ethan wasn’t helping. If Kaden was allowed to leave and spread the word about this place, would anyone ever be safe here?
She wasn’t about to voice those fears to Emma. No one knew what was going to happen in the next few minutes or hours, and if they were lucky, Senora would walk away without having to worry about Emma. But Senora wasn’t that naïve, and she knew that there was a very real possibility that this entire day was going to go down in flames, and she was mentally preparing herself for every eventuality.
Senora was about to reassure Emma that everything was going to be alright when they heard Kaden bellow in the distance, his location obscured by the tight vegetation that protected the nest from being viewed from the outside.
“Ethan!” he yelled. “I know you’re here. Come out like a man and answer for your crimes. I’m not just going to go away.”
Senora scanned the area around them, but she couldn’t see Kaden, nor could she see Ethan. Ty was close, ready to fight if he needed to, but for the most part, the group seemed to think that this was Ethan’s fight, and they were content to stand back and let it play out before anyone got involved. Senora wasn’t comfortable with that, but it wasn’t her place to tell them what to do. This was outside of her capacity as an agent, and she wasn’t here to deal with Kaden. She was there to find Carla, and everything had happened so quickly that she hadn’t had a chance to talk to anyone about Carla.
Ethan didn’t answer Kaden, but Senora knew he was close. Keeping her voice low in case anyone was nearby and to keep the smaller children that huddled in the back of the tiny room from hearing her, Senora moved closer to Emma and all but whispered in her ear.
“Where’s Carla?” she asked quietly. “I didn’t get a chance to ask your brother.”
Emma shrugged as if she didn’t know, but her facial expression told another story.
“I don’t know where Carla is,” she said.
“If you don’t know, then how would you know her name? Did Ethan bring her here?”
“I can’t tell you where she is,” Emma said, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.
“Why not?”
“I can’t really tell you that either.”
“Did Ethan kidnap her?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. She asked Ethan to get her. The only reason that anyone is looking for her is because Kaden showed up and destroyed the hotel.”
“You don’t think that the hotel owner would have been worried about Carla?”
“No. People disappear from that job all the time, and no one ever notice-”
She stopped suddenly, her mouth dropping open and her eyes going wide. Senora followed her gaze and pulled Emma back instinctually, even though she knew that Kaden couldn’t see the opening beneath the strategically placed boulder that served as a window to their hiding place.
“Where’s Ethan?” Emma whimpered.
Senora could hear the children behind them curl more tightly into their corner of the room, their fear and helplessness overwhelming them. This was supposed to be a safe place for them to grow and change. Yet there they were, alone and afraid for their young lives. The unfairness of it all set off a rage inside Senora that she’d never felt. This wasn’t any different than Kaden bringing the violence to a school. She had a feeling that Kaden knew that the children were up here, and his intentions weren’t centered on the man he claimed was a criminal. Kaden was after more than just money, and suddenly, Senora was sur
e that the children were in more danger than they’d originally thought.
“We need to move them into the caves,” Senora said quietly.
Emma shook her head.
“Once they’re in the caves, they’re sitting ducks. And we can’t see anyone coming.”
“That’s no different than here.”
“There’s an escape hatch here,” she said, pointing to a place at the opposite end of the room. “And we can block off the cave from here. We’re safer here.”
Her voice rose a little at the end, and as Senora watched Kaden well across the small clearing, he tilted his head as if listening. Emma started to speak, and Senora covered her mouth and nodded in Kaden’s direction.
Emma shook her head, a look of comfortable disbelief on her face. Kaden was human; there was no way he could hear them from where he was.
But Senora wasn’t buying it, and she wondered if the rocks or some other portion of the landscape could be carrying their voices further than they would normally go.
When Kaden turned his full attention in their direction and scanned the scenery, she was certain that he’d heard them talking. She backed into the shadows, then turned and put her finger to her lips to signal to the children that they should be quiet. They nodded.
Senora opened the door that led to the cave and sent them through it, putting the oldest in the front and having Emma bring up the rear. She whispered into the ear of the oldest, instructing him to go into the cave’s corridor a few feet, then wait. He nodded his understanding, then solemnly led the frightened children into the darkness. Emma scowled and shook her head, but Senora wasn’t having it. She could still see Kaden’s feet in the window, and though he hadn’t come closer, it was clear from his stance that he was looking their way.
She leaned in close and whispered in Emma’s ear.
“You’re not going all the way. I’m going to watch him, and if he comes this way, I’ll signal you, and I’ll keep him here so you can get away. If he goes another way, I’ll bring you back in and barricade the door. But it’s not safe to stay here.”
Emma nodded, but Senora could tell that she wasn’t onboard with the plan at all. Senora couldn’t force her to agree, but she hoped that the girl would trust her instincts. Senora had saved her life once before, and she hoped that she would trust Senora to do the same years later. Emma begrudgingly joined the other kids just outside the door, and Senora closed the door. The edges of the door melted into the rough rock walls, and from more than a few feet away, Senora couldn’t tell where the door had been. The tension left her body, and for the first time since they’d fled into the tiny little structure, Senora felt like the children were safe and not just cornered.
Now to deal with Kaden, Senora thought.
She turned her attention back to him, but he was heading toward the trees, his focus trained elsewhere. It only took her a moment to figure out that he had found Ethan, and that Ethan was coming out of the trees to meet him with his hands up, but his body somehow completely relaxed despite the obvious danger. Senora scanned the trees and found Ty almost immediately, cautiously making his way behind Kaden in the trees, ready to pounce if Ethan needed him to. Senora watched, heart pounding in her chest as the two men-the bounty hunter and the hunted-stepped out into the clearing and faced each other.
“I’m innocent,” Ethan said loudly across the hundreds of feet that separated them.
“I don’t care,” Kaden called out. “I’m just here to bring you in. The justice department will handle the rest.”
“Your reputation suggests otherwise,” Ethan said. His expression was smug, but the truth shone in his eyes, and Senora was certain that Ethan was innocent just like he claimed. “I can prove I’m innocent. I won’t be going with you.”
“You can plead your case in court. I’m not here to decide your guilt.”
Ethan laughed.
“You and I both know that there is no innocence when it comes to shifters. I was marked for the death penalty the instant my name came up as a suspect. They never looked for the real suspect, and they won’t try anyone for this crime. The real killer is out there, and you’re wasting your time.”
“What are you hiding here?” Kaden asked, his question shocking Ethan. “You’re protecting something or someone. What are you hiding?”
Ethan didn’t answer right away, and before he could make something up, Kaden laughed.
“I knew this was where you hid the changelings. Tell me, do their parents know why you bring them into the mountains? Do they know that you’re selling them when you’ve been charged with protecting them?”
“I don’t sell them,” Ethan said, his expression twisted in confusion. “That’s preposterous. Our changelings are our most valuable resource. I would lay down my life for them.”
“Yet you left them alone and vulnerable while you went to the hotel in Texas. Why? Why couldn’t someone else go there? Unless you’re hiding something.”
Senora wondered the same thing, and Ethan’s lack of reaction wasn’t sitting well with Senora. What was he hiding? Besides the children. There was something, and when this was all over, Senora was going to get to the bottom of it. His body language proved that Kaden was at least partially right about something, and Senora was worried about the truth. Was she unwittingly helping him do something that he shouldn’t? What did she know about any of these shifters? What if she had been duped by Ty and the other shifters, and she was fighting for the wrong team? Just because the Sheriff of Glen Rose had been bad didn’t mean that Ty was a good guy. There were levels of bad, and watching Ethan dance around the answers to reasonable questions, she found herself wondering.
“You need to leave,” Ethan said calmly. “I’ll send a lawyer in to deal with these charges, but I can’t leave this mountain. I have to stay here or other lives will be at risk.”
“I don’t believe you,” Kaden said.
“You don’t have to believe me. Your belief doesn’t change my reality. I have a job to do, and I have those that I’ve been sworn to protect counting on me. I’m not going to walk out of here with you, and I’m not going to take my chances with the court. They have already tried and convicted me without a shred of evidence. The only thing that’s left is to go through the motions and make it look like there’s any justice involved.”
“You have so little faith in the system,” Kaden said, mocking Ethan.
“I’m not immune to my own reality. I know that human lives are believed to be more important than shifter lives. That’s our burden, despite the fact that we’ve been protecting humans for generations. They’ll never see us as equals, and I’m not going to walk into the firing squad to prove my point. I’m not going with you. You need to leave now before you get hurt.”
“Before I get hurt?” Kaden scoffed, laughing without humor. “Now you’re worried about me getting hurt? That ship sailed years ago. Nothing can hurt me now, and your little sob story means nothing. Unless you want me to take the children down with you, I suggest you cooperate.”
“It’s not going to happen.”
“I won’t leave without you.”
Ethan shrugged.
“Then, I guess you won’t leave.”
Kaden smiled at the implication.
“Do you think you stand a chance against me? I’ve been tracking you for days, and you couldn’t hide from me in your own mountain. What makes you think that you can beat me?”
“I have my reasons,” Ethan said, and his posture changed.
Gone was the relaxed stance and the look of complete calm. Ethan was gearing up for a fight, and he wasn’t bluffing with Kaden. He was prepared to take the man out if he had to, even though Senora knew that was likely to cause them problems in the end. But if Kaden gave them no choice, then Ethan had to do what needed to be done to save the next generation.
Kaden was still laughing when Ethan moved closer, his body growing as he walked.
“Is that how you fight, dragon?” Kaden shouted
. “You’re not even coming into this fight on level ground. You’re trying to reason with me one minute, then the next, you’re shifting like that’s supposed to intimidate me. Don’t you know who I am?”
Ethan shook his head.
“We all know who you are. You’ve been lucky in the past, but no human can take down every shifter he encounters. You’re going down, hunter.”
Kaden laughed. The clear, thunderous sound echoed off the peaks and carried into the valleys. His laugh unsettled Senora and without knowing quite why, her hand slid down to the gun that Ty had left with her. Hidden where she was, she shouldn’t have to use it, but everything about this moment felt wrong, and she wasn’t sure that she was as safe as she had assumed.
There was movement on the other side of the room, and Senora jumped when a familiar figure stepped out of the cave. Senora gestured at Emma, but the girl stood her ground. Senora could see into the hall of the cave, but the children were around the bend. She couldn’t see them, but she could hear their muffled voices as they struggled to stay quiet in the dark, tight space.
“You need to go,” Senora said, nervously looking from Emma to Ethan to Kaden and back again. “This isn’t going to go well.”
“My brother will beat him,” Emma said. “He’s not going to-”
Emma stopped, her face went blank, and she gasped softly as if the tiny noise was all that could make its way out. Senora turned and looked out into the field.
“What the-” Senora started, but there were no words.
Ethan was already shifted and advancing on Kaden. But the laughing Kaden was glaring him down, his own body changing rapidly. Senora watched in horror as Kaden’s body grew and stretched, then a large tail materialized behind him.
“He’s a dragon?” Emma said in wonder, not really asking Senora.
“You didn’t know?”
“No one knew,” Emma said. “No one knew that he was one of us. He’s been killing us for years. Why does he hate us?”