“This morning, when I learned that Commander Hawkins had suddenly sent you away, I knew that something wasn’t right. Although he has the authority to interfere with dragon training and end it early, he’s never done so before. I had a bad feeling that he was doing this to try to get back at you for testifying against him to the High Council. And I know how much of an asshole Commander Hawkins is. He doesn’t play nice, ever. In his mind, killing someone would be a perfectly reasonable way to repay them for testifying against him. I was worried that he was going to try to kill you.”
“Looks like you were right.”
“Sadly, yes. I left Jake’s office and came straight here.”
“But how did you know where I was?”
“I knew where the drop-off point was—where you were to be left to continue on alone, hiking in the woods. I flew there on my broomstick, then flew north, looking everywhere in the trees for signs of life. I figured there would be wizards or shifters or something in large numbers. And I was right, although I didn’t see the wizards until the battle actually began, because they had been hiding under invisibility shields before then. That’s why I was a little bit late to the party.”
Russ laughed and winked at her, causing her heart to skip a beat. “Better late than never. Although, if you flew in on a broomstick, why didn’t you have it with you when you hopped on my back? Wouldn’t it have been better to keep yours with you than to have to steal an unfamiliar broomstick from another wizard?
Mandy shrugged. “It would have been. But I made the mistake of leaving my broomstick leaning against a tree when I first arrived at the scene of the battle. Apparently, dark monsters like to eat wood, so my poor broomstick didn’t fare so well on its own.
Russ shook his head. “Who knew?”
“Who knew,” Mandy echoed. “Anyway, while I was flying out here, Jake was checking up on Commander Hawkins back home. After I stormed out of his office claiming that Commander Hawkins was going to murder you, he got a little worried and decided to check into the details of where Commander Hawkins had sent you. Commander Hawkins had hidden most of the information behind all these passwords and double encryption schemes and such.”
“Jeez, that doesn’t look suspicious at all.”
“Right? Jake thought the same thing. As head trainer, he technically has the right to all of your information, including the details of where you were being sent to fight with a dark monster. But he was smart enough to know not to ask Commander Hawkins. There was something behind all those passwords that the Commander didn’t want people to see, and if Jake asked Commander Hawkins for the passwords—”
“That ‘something’ would conveniently disappear before Jake got the passwords.”
“Exactly. So instead Jake went to one of our best IT guys, and asked him to help him hack in. The IT guy hates Commander Hawkins, because Commander Hawkins has treated him like shit in the past.”
“Surprise, surprise.”
“It took a good half day, but the IT guy broke in. Commander Hawkins’ passwords weren’t as secure as he thought they were. And Jake found a whole lot more behind those passwords than just the details of your dark monster mission.”
“Such as?”
“Commander Hawkins had hidden away documents on an underground movement to bring dark magic back. There are several wizards and shifters involved, from clans all over the country. The bottom line, I guess, is that they feel life has not improved since the great war, and that we would have been better off with Saul as our ruler.”
Russ gawked. “How could anyone say that? I’m not the biggest fan of organized clan government. You know that. But things under Saul were horrific. People were randomly tortured or killed, and we were always in danger of shifters and wizards being exposed to full humans.”
Mandy shook her head. “It boggles my mind, too. But it goes to show that we have to be vigilant about keeping evil at bay. The fact that so many wizards and shifters could be interested in following a leader pursuing dark magic so soon after Saul just goes to show that some people never learn their lesson, no matter what.”
“So were these wizards and shifters tonight part of Commander Hawkins’ army?”
Mandy nodded. “Yes. And as you’ve probably guessed by now, they used dark magic spells to get the dark monsters out here, then bound them up until you were here for them to attack. They knew roughly where in the forest you would be, and had scouts following you all day to keep track of your exact location. Once you were settled down, they brought all the dark monsters close to you and waited for you to fall asleep before launching a surprise attack.”
“They weren’t very good fighters, though. I mean, the dark monsters were about what I would have expected, and that was no piece of cake. But the wizards and shifters were ridiculously easy to take down. There were two of us against hundreds of them, and we still beat them easily.”
“I know. That’s because Commander Hawkins doesn’t know much about dark magic. Not yet, anyway. He’s been doing his best to learn, as evidenced by all the documents on dark magic Jake found in his hidden computer folders. But dark magic, thankfully, takes a long time to learn. The wizards and shifters you saw here tonight tried to use all the dark magic spells they’ve been learning, but they couldn’t manage them very well under the stress and fast pace of battle. That’s why we won. We were fighting a whole small army that had no idea how to actually fight.”
“But Commander Hawkins must have known that these guys weren’t good enough at dark magic yet to go out and fight a battle?”
“Maybe he knew that, but he was too blinded by rage to care. He must have figured that no matter how inexperienced the soldiers were, that so many of them would still be able to take down one dragon.”
Russ frowned. “It’s not easy to bring down a dragon. Still, that large of a group might have had a chance to kill me by force of sheer numbers. But I think any hope they had of doing that was lost when you came along. They didn’t stand a chance against you.”
Mandy blushed. “Well, they might have, if they used normal attack spells. But they insisted on using the dark magic spells that they didn’t know how to properly use. That was their downfall.”
“Well, whatever the reason, I’m glad they were horrible fighters. But it’s quite sobering to hear that people are once again delving into dark magic.”
Mandy studied Russ’s face for a moment. His brow was creased into a worried furrow, and he had a far off look in his eyes. She wondered whether this would change anything about his desire to move back to Chicago, but she was afraid to ask. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer. A part of her hoped that he would now see the importance of sticking close to the good wizards and shifters, but she knew that his desire to live apart from the world of magic and shifting ran deep. Even this might not be a big enough scare to keep him in Torch Lake. After all, the threat seemed to be largely over by now. Commander Hawkins would be forced to answer to the High Council, and whatever ragtag group of evil wizards and shifters was left behind would probably fall apart with no leader. Commander Hawkins had destroyed his own dark magic movement before it even had a chance to begin.
“What now?” Russ asked after the silence between them had stretched on for several long seconds. “Should we head back to Torch Lake right away to alert the High Council to what happened here?”
Mandy chewed her lower lip thoughtfully. Part of her would have loved to call it a night and fall asleep in the woods, then worry about everything else come morning. Lord knows she needed the rest. But in her haste to get to Russ, she hadn’t bothered to pack any supplies. She had no food, and no sleeping bag. As much as she would have loved to curl up next to Russ in his bag, she felt awkward about doing so when their relationship, if you could even call it that, was so undefined. Reluctantly, she decided to suggest that they head home.
“I’ve contacted Jake on my emergency radio to tell him what happened, but he didn’t respond before my battery died, so I�
��m not positive he received the transmission. I’ve been using the thing to communicate with him all day, and I didn’t bring extra batteries. Maybe we should try yours?”
Russ looked at her and shook his head. “I wasn’t given a radio.”
“What? Radios are standard safety equipment for any dragon going out on a dark monster search. How were you not given one?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t know they were standard equipment. I asked the commander who dropped me off and he said they don’t issue them on these missions because the dark monsters have the ability to use the electronic signals to track you down and attempt to kill you.”
“That’s total bullshit. They didn’t give you one because they didn’t want anyone from Torch Lake to be able to track you down. I was wondering why I couldn’t get any radio response from you. I tried all day. I figured you must have just had the radio off since you hadn’t gotten very far into your mission yet, and weren’t likely to meet up with trouble at this point.”
Russ laughed. “Well, looks like I met up with quite a bit of trouble, after all.”
Mandy grinned. “Are you referring to me, or to the evil wizards and shifters?”
Russ playfully punched her arm, and his touch sent happy tingles up and down that arm.
“You’re definitely trouble, but I’m happy to meet up with your kind of trouble any time.”
Mandy rolled her eyes at his cheesy line, but his words secretly thrilled her. It was nice to know that, after everything they’d been through, he still felt something for her. If she had to be out in the middle of nowhere fighting off an army of crazy, bumbling dark wizards, there’s no one else she would have wanted fighting by her side. She hoped that he felt the same, but there would be time to explore their feelings in more depth later. Now, they needed to make a decision about what to do tonight.
“We should head home, don’t you think?” Mandy asked. “It might not be safe to stay here, and besides, I don’t have a sleeping bag. Add to that the fact that Jake has no idea where we are or what happened. We need to warn him before Commander Hawkins gets away.”
Russ sighed. “I suppose you’re right. But I don’t think we need to go all the way home. It would take us the rest of the night to get there, and by the time we do, Commander Hawkins will probably have realized that something is wrong. I’m sure his army was supposed to report back to him right away on what happened tonight. If we killed off everyone, he’ll realize soon enough that something is wrong when no one reports back to him. And if anyone did escape, we’re probably already too late to tell Jake what happened before Commander Hawkins hears.”
“Fair point, but where will we go if not all the way home? What’s your plan?”
“There’s a small town about two hours’ flight from here. I saw it on the map when I was being briefed on my mission, and I heard one of the commanders mention a twenty-four hour Wal-Mart. If he was right, and there is one there, we can get new batteries for your radio. Then we can find a motel room for the night and head back in the morning. Or, worse case scenario, we can buy a sleeping bag for you.”
Mandy nodded, surprisingly disappointed that Russ hadn’t offered to share his sleeping bag with her. She shouldn’t have cared, since she had already decided that doing so would be a bad idea. But still, she wanted him to want to share with her. She knew this was a ridiculous thing to be sad about, but she couldn’t help the way she felt. She managed to keep up a happy face on the outside, though. “Sounds like a perfect plan,” she said.
And it was. It would have been difficult to fly all night to get back to Torch Lake, but she had enough energy for a short flight. And if they did find a motel with vacancies, she would be able to sleep in a real bed. Her tired muscles would thank her for that.
And so, she summoned up the last of her energy and cast a flying spell on her “borrowed” broomstick, then followed Russ high into the cloudless night sky.
Chapter Seventeen
Three hours later, Mandy was happily lying in a real bed, just as she’d hoped to be. There had indeed been a Wal-Mart, and Mandy had easily found the replacement batteries she needed for her radio. She and Russ must have made quite a sight walking through the store. Sure, you were always bound to see strange things at a Wal-Mart in the middle of the night, but Mandy hadn’t realized just how much of a hot mess she was until she noticed that she was getting stares from fellow customers. She’d giggled when she caught sight of Russ and herself in one of the mirrors as they passed the women’s clothing department. They were both streaked with dirt and dried blood, and Russ had a giant bruise on the side of his face. Neither one of them looked like they had brushed their hair in a week. Add to that the fact that Russ attracted attention anyway, thanks to the fact that he was at least a half foot taller than an ordinary man. Mandy also noticed that her dark purple magic ring stood out next to her otherwise torn and dirty clothes. She had been too tired to bother with hiding it from the humans right now. The ring looked like a priceless jewel, and it was priceless to Mandy, of course. No one else would have had any idea just how special that ring really was, though.
Mandy fingered the ring as she lay in the motel bed. She was freshly showered now, and dressed in PJ shorts and a tank top that she’d grabbed off the clearance rack in the store. Russ was still in the shower himself, although he probably wouldn’t be in there too much longer. He’d told her it would only take him about five minutes to rinse off, and, even though she’d told him to take his time, she imagined he was probably eager to get to bed. It had been a long day, to put it mildly.
Mandy bit her lip and looked nervously over to the side of the bed where Russ would soon be joining her. The motel had only had one room open, and the room only had a single king-sized bed. Apparently there was some sort of knitting festival in town this weekend, so the motel was unusually full. Russ had said he didn’t mind sharing the bed with her, and Mandy had said the same. But even though she didn’t mind, she was nervous. They both knew they had feelings for each other. Would any of those feelings be acted on tonight?
Mandy frowned, and shook her head as though she could actually shake that thought out of her head. They were here to rest, not to explore what either of them might be feeling for each other. To distract herself, Mandy turned her thoughts to Torch Lake, wondering whether Jake would be able to catch Commander Hawkins in time. As soon as Mandy and Russ had made it a safe distance away from Wal-Mart, the very first thing they’d done was to radio Jake. They’d explained everything that had happened, and he had not dilly-dallied around talking to them for long. He’d signed off to go call an emergency meeting of the High Council to get a warrant for Commander Hawkins’ arrest. He’d promised to radio back with news as soon as he had it, but so far there had been no word. Mandy wasn’t sure whether she should be worried at this point, but she told herself to remain calm. After all, it could take a little bit of time to get the warrant, and even once they had it, Jake would be much more interested in helping the Torch Lake police capture Commander Hawkins than in updating Mandy about every little thing. She needed to be patient. Jake would contact them as soon as he had real news.
Mandy heard the shower switch off, and a few minutes later Russ stepped into the room wearing only a pair of PJ pants. Mandy tried not to stare at the perfectly defined muscles of his six-pack, or at how broad and masculine his chest was. It was a losing battle, though. His body practically begged to be stared at, battle wounds and all. The bruise on his face had darkened, and she could see now that he had a long, angry gash up the side of his right ribcage. But other than that, he seemed to be as good as new. Even with the bruise, his face was so handsome that Mandy could hardly breathe when she looked at it. In fact, the bruise almost made him look more attractive. He was a fighter. A warrior. A dragon.
“Any word from Jake?” he asked as he came over to the bed and slipped beneath the covers next to her as though it was the most natural thing in the world.
Mandy was still having troubl
e breathing, but she managed to squeak out a “No.”
Russ sighed. “I suppose we should get some rest while we wait.”
Mandy nodded, and Russ reached to turn out the lights. The sudden darkness felt intimate, and Mandy still found it hard to find her breath. She wondered if Russ felt the electricity in the air between them the way that she did. Was he hyperaware of her body next to him, the way she was of his? For a few minutes, everything was quiet. But just when Mandy was beginning to think that Russ had fallen asleep, he spoke, his voice low and husky in the otherwise still room.
“Thank you for coming for me.”
Then, before she could answer, he reached underneath the blanket and grabbed for her hand. Her heart beat in her chest as he ran his thumb gently back and forth across the inside of her palm, and she willed herself not to tremble. It was hard not to, though. She had craved his touch for so long, and for so long she’d told herself to just accept the fact that she and Russ would never be. But now, here they were, lying in a motel room bed together after perhaps the strangest night of her life. She wanted to say something witty or clever to him, but her mind was mush right now. All she could think about was how she wished he would kiss her. And so, finally, she settled on a quick, short answer.
“Of course.”
There were so many other things she wanted to say. She wanted to tell him that she would always come for him. That Commander Hawkins was a fool for thinking he could take on a dragon. That it had been her pleasure to help Russ fight off the dark wizards. That fighting beside him in battle had only made her want him more than ever before. But she couldn’t manage any other words just then, so she lay perfectly still and concentrated on steadying her breathing. She wondered what Russ was thinking. Was he fighting his own battle of desire as well? Did he want to give in to the pull on his heart as badly as she did? The uncertainty of it all was enough to drive her crazy.
Dragon Returning (Torch Lake Shifters Book 1) Page 16