“Ah, nope,” he admitted then pursed his lips. “It doesn’t matter. My brother needs me so I’m going to help him.”
Genna smirked. “Well, just use your power. Not the one in your pants.” When Jax choked, she went on as if she didn’t notice. “Pull it around you and your scales will make you invisible. I don’t think even the human’s radary-shit can pick you up.”
Tierney and Jax stared at her. “How do you know all this?” he asked. Genna barely looked twenty, but no one had asked her exactly how old she was.
“What do you mean, how do I know? How else?” she asked, not answering their question.
Tierney frowned. “The first time I saw you, in my dreams, I remember now, you had wings.”
Genna just stared at her.
“The Genesis Dracones babies didn’t all hatch at the same time, but Genna, I know you told us you were twenty, but could you be twenty-one? Have you gone through your Awakening?” Tierney asked. None of them had considered how old Genna really was and had just assumed she hadn’t gone through her Awakening yet.
“Why?” Genna asked suspicious.
“Have you gone through your Awakening?” Jax asked, nauseous at the thought of her struggling through it on her own. As much as he didn’t like her, she was his sister, sort of—in a magic kind of way—and having recently gone through his Awakening, he knew how painful and scary it was.
Genna snorted. “I didn’t go through an Awakening. And I won’t. I’m made of magic.”
Jax wondered if there was much more to Genna than they realized, or how powerful she possibly might be. He and Tierney gaped at her in surprise.
“Well, Goldy just went through hers. Why are you different?” Jax asked then he shook his head. “Look, never mind. Forget I even asked. I gotta get going.” He grabbed Tierney and pulled her against him for one last passionate kiss before pulling away. With an ache in his chest and worry for those he was leaving behind, along with fear for his brother, he left.
***
SAMI HURRIED OUTSIDE, happy to see the Camaro he’d rented still intact. With an idea of where Goldy’s brother lived but no address, he needed access to the internet. If he could get to Bastien and Dave before Marcius and his thugs did, he might be able to help them. All the way back into the city, he worried. What if he was too late? What if Marcius hurt her? He reminded himself that someone else had sent Marcius to retrieve Goldy so hurting her would not be in his best interest. Then again, knowing Marcius and everything he had done in the past, Sami wouldn’t put it past the bastard to hurt her first, and worry about the consequences later.
By the time Sami pulled into the parking lot of a computer store, he was a wreck. As he got out, he glanced down at his clothes. Shit. He had blood all over him. Reaching into the backseat, he riffled through his duffle bag and pulled out another T-shirt. With a quick look around, he pulled his jacket off and changed his shirt. Then he looked down and shrugged. His jeans had blood on them as well but it was mostly dry, so anyone seeing him would likely just think it was paint. Or so he hoped. Closing the door, Sami hurried into the store. His phone was a burner he brought with him and had no internet access. He’d need to pick up a laptop, preferably a floor model that was set up and ready to go.
Next he made his way to a Tim Hortons and sitting in the car, he used the free wifi to access the files he needed. Half an hour later he had the information he needed. Terrified of what he’d find, he sped toward the house where Goldy’s brother lived with his father, terrified of what he’d find.
***
JAX WAS GLAD of the cloud cover as he landed in a dark, secluded park in Calgary. Folding his wings in, he shifted back into human form and with a quick glance around, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. As kids, Sami, he, and Tierney had often talked about how cool it was that as Dracones they shifted back into human form in whatever they were wearing before they shifted into their dragon form. But he’d never before realized how handy it was until he saw Thaniel shift back into human form, naked. It seemed that Weres weren’t so lucky as to shift back and be fully clothed. Now he put his phone to his ear.
“Hey, I’m here, where are you?” he asked when Sami answered. His brother gave him an address and Jax punched it into his phone, studied the map, and then shifted back into his dragon. Wasting no time, he flew up into the night sky.
“Hey, bro?” he called out as he stepped into the tidy little home in a quiet neighborhood. There was no answer. “Sami,” Jax called out again, getting worried that his brother hadn’t waited for him.
“Yeah, I’m in here,” Sami finally responded.
Jax walked through the house to the kitchen where he found Sami sitting at the table, his head resting in his hand.
“What’s happened?” Jax asked. Sami didn’t look at him, just nodded to the floor on the other side of the table. Jax sucked in a breath, knowing what he was going to see. Sure enough, it was a body. “Who is he?” he asked.
“That is—was Dave, Bastien’s father. Bastien is Goldy’s younger half-human brother,” Sami said.
“Was he dead when you got here?”
“Yeah…and now I have no idea where Marcius took Goldy and Bastien.” Finally, Sami looked up at Jax. “I need to find them.”
The desperation in Sami’s eyes took Jax aback. “What’s going on Sami?”
Without a word, Sami stood up and peeled his shirt back so Jax could see the smooth green scales of his dragon tattoo. “Shee-it…you went through your Awakening?” Jax asked, stunned, even though the proof was right in front of him.
“I guess being around Goldy triggered mine and—” Sami shook his head and turned away.
“And what?” Jax asked.
Sami raked a hand through his hair, took a deep breath, turned back to Jax and said, “Goldy’s pregnant.”
Jax gaped at him. “Shit. You think the baby survived the transformation?”
Sami closed his eyes and turning, he sat back down. “The baby is mine.”
Now Jax could do nothing more than stare at him like he had lost his marbles as he tried to process that very surprising information.
Sami grimaced. “I know, we’re cursed. We can’t have kids. We aren’t supposed to be able to get anyone pregnant but somehow, I got her pregnant.”
As his brother spoke, Jax couldn’t help but widen his eyes as he stared at the extra soul stones that were lit up on the choker around Sami’s neck. Now it was Sami’s turn to frown until he realized what Jax was looking at. “My choker?” he asked.
“Ah…y-yeah.” Jax cleared his throat and met his brother’s eyes. “So…ahm, okay then, so you’re gonna be a daddy, does that mean—well obviously, it does mean you and Goldy, but are you over the other one?” Jax asked, not sure how someone could get over a soul mate, but maybe Sami had. And if he had, Jax wasn’t about to rock the boat, not after what Sami’s so called soul-mate had done to him.
Sami glowered at him and his eyes began to glow a darker green.
“Right. Sorry bro, I get it. Forget I even brought it up, but look, Tierney found me by using the stone in her choker, maybe you can try and connect to Goldy using the one in yours? One of those stones must be for your young, so you should be able to connect to Goldy, especially if you made that huge a connection to her,” Jax said, running a hand through his short hair, knowing they were grasping at straws.
After a moment, Sami’s eyes returned to normal and with shoulders slumped in defeat he looked away from Jax. “I have no idea how to connect with someone through them.”
Jax, feeling like an ass for bringing up Hellfire, stepped up and rested a hand on Sami’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“’S okay,” Sami whispered, but Jax knew it wasn’t.
“Well, your power should be a whole lot stronger now, so maybe you should try. You got nothing to lose and everything to gain,” Jax said.
“Yeah, not too sure about that,” Sami said, picturing the disgust o
n Goldy’s face as she turned away from him.
***
GOLDY SWAYED. After he killed Bastien’s father, Marcius had injected her with more drugs. Although she couldn’t move on her own or speak, Goldy was fuming and ready to kill them all. The shock of Bastien watching his father die had worn off, and tears now trickled down his face as Marcius and his vile thugs took them to an old warehouse in the industrial part of Calgary.
The thugs roughly yanked her and her brother out of the SUV then dragged them up to the door where Marcius waited. A long minute later, a shady looking middle-aged man with a pot belly and hair sticking up like he hadn’t showered and shaved in a while, opened the door. The man stared at them for a moment through a pair of dirty horn rimmed glasses, and then nervously peered all around outside before letting them in.
“Hurry, hurry,” he exclaimed, waving them in as if there were spies watching them. If only there were, Goldy thought, wondering how they were going to get out of this.
Two of the thugs led Goldy and Bastien down one hallway then another before shoving them into a little room. Goldy landed on the floor, unable to move. Bastien took in the room then turned and stared at her, wide eyed.
“Why? What’s happening? Why did they kill my dad?” he asked, looking scared, lost, and so terribly young.
Goldy had been screaming and crying inside ever since Marcius took her away from the cabin. Now, her heart ached and as Bastien stared at her, waiting for her to answer him. Goldy’s fury began to build at the unfairness as she struggled to speak.
“What, you won’t even talk to me?” he asked, his own anger starting to show. When he turned away once again, Goldy drew on everything she had but her scream of rage only came out as a squeak. That made her even angrier. As Bastien turned and glanced back at her with a frown, Goldy felt something she’d never felt until the other night with Sami. It was her power or perhaps, magic…she wasn’t sure about anything. Drawing on whatever it was, she managed to move a tiny bit as her brother studied her.
“What is wrong with you?” he asked her.
Goldy attempted to speak again but her plea came out weak and hoarse. “Help.”
Bastien tensed up then a second later, he moved towards her. “Can’t you move?”
Drawing on more of her power, Goldy shuddered inwardly at how good it felt as she managed to give a little shake of her head. She could see the indecision in his eyes as Bastien leaned down and helped pull her to her feet.
“T-thank you,” she managed to squeak out as he helped her over to the little bed.
“Why can’t you move? What did they do to you?” he asked, his anger momentarily gone.
With her own anger simmering and her power humming, Goldy was able to speak a little clearer but her voice was shaky. “T-they dr-ugged m-me.”
A few minutes later, the thugs dragged them out and into another room to have their photographs taken. By the time they finished, Goldy was feeling much better, though she didn’t let on.
“Why did they take our pictures?” Bastien asked once they were alone in the room again.
“I’m pretty sure for passports,” Goldy said, with dread filling her at where Marcius planned to take them.
Not wanting to be drugged anymore, Goldy sat still on the bed. She watched the two thugs standing guard outside the door from the corner of her eye. Bastien sat on the floor near the bed. His back was against the wall and he looked so young, and scared.
“I’m sorry this has happened to you,” she said quietly. Bastien pursed his lips but didn’t say anything. “Your dad was a good man—” she started to say but stopped when he glared at her.
“Leave me alone,” he snarled and turned his face away from her.
Rage and overwhelming sadness filled her. She had never felt so helpless in her life. As Bastien angrily wiped tears from his face, Goldy ached to pull him into her arms but knew he wouldn’t want that. Her heart was heavy and she felt like bawling herself, but she wouldn’t give Sami’s father the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She knew the thugs had beaten Sami to death. They joked about it earlier, making her want to throw up and wail at the unfairness of it all. Don’t think about it! The words kept repeating in her head but every little while it would sneak back in right along with the vision of her mother lying in her own blood on the floor. Then her hand would stray to the life in her still flat belly.
“What do they want with us?” Bastien eventually asked her in a low tone.
“I don’t really know,” she whispered.
A moment later, one of the guards stuck his head in the door and after peering at them, he turned to the other guard. “You got them? I gotta take a piss.”
“Yeah, they won’t give me any problems,” the other guard answered.
“We need to get out of here,” Bastien whispered back, looking pointedly at the lone guard out in the hallway.
“We do, but that guy is still too strong for us to take down by ourselves.”
“Maybe. I think there’s something wrong with them. They must be on steroids or something. Did you see that red flash in their eyes earlier?” Bastien whispered.
Goldy sucked in a breath, not sure how to tell him that the world he thought he knew was filled with all kinds of other non-human beings. She was still having a hard time believing it herself.
“They’re not on steroids, but…you are right about there being something wrong with them,” she said, and then took a deep breath. “I need to tell you something Bastien, and you will think I’m crazy, but I need you to keep an open mind, all right?”
Now she had his attention. “What?”
“Well, I’m not sure how to actually tell you this but…”
“Just tell me,” he said a little louder, getting angry again.
Goldy glanced nervously at the lone guard then took another breath. “Okay, here goes. Ahm, have you ever felt like you were a bit different than all the other kids?”
“Maybe, why?” he said, but the guarded look in his eyes said it all. He had.
“Well, I’m not human and you are only half human,” she said while Bastien stared at her like she was crazy. “Our mother was—”
“I don’t want to talk about her,” he snapped in response, and stood up to pace the room then glared at her. “You really expect me to believe that?” he spit out then turned away.
“Bastien, I think you know I speak the truth,” she said.
“No, I don’t. I don’t know anything about you. Is your mother just as crazy? Is that why she didn’t want me?” he asked bitterly.
Goldy shook her head, hating that he thought Summer didn’t want him. “No, she wasn’t, she was sweet, and…she loved you, she missed you every day.”
“Right!” Bastien scoffed at her words but then he blanched as her words hit him. “Wait, what do you mean, was?”
Goldy swore inwardly at herself for letting the cat out of the bag. She hadn’t meant to tell him like this. Taking another deep breath, she said, “They killed her, a couple of days ago.”
Bastien turned away and walked across the room. Taking a chance, Goldy stood up and with one eye on the guard who wasn’t paying them any attention, she went up to Bastien. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want you to find out this way.” She touched his shoulder but he pulled away.
“Don’t! Don’t touch me,” he hissed in response, but she heard his voice waver.
“I’m sorry. Those men out there and others, even worse people, are the reason she sent you to live with your dad. She hoped they’d never find you.”
Bastien turned on her with fury in his eyes. “Well, they did and they killed my dad.” Shoving past her, Bastien went and lay down on the bed facing the wall. Goldy walked over and sat beside him, letting him know she was there for him, but not touching him.
After a second he asked, “What are we?”
Chapter Thirteen
Battle and Ashes
SAMI STEPPED INTO THE ROOM where Goldy and Bastien were being held after
taking out the guard. His heart was in his throat with worry and not knowing what to expect, but as soon as she saw him, Goldy gasped.
“Sami!” With a shout, she jumped up and rushed into his arms. “Oh my God, how are you alive? They said they killed you. Are you okay?” She pulled away and ran her hands all over him.
Sami blinked in confusion. He was not expecting this reaction from her. “Ah, yeah, I’m okay. What about you two?” he asked, looking past her at Bastien who was staring at him.
Goldy nodded and hugged him again. “You came for us. I can’t believe you’re here.” Finally, she stepped back, wiped her eyes and smiled at him. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I thought…oh God…I saw what they did, and then they said they’d killed you.”
“Yeah. They thought they had.” Sami shrugged, noticing the dried tear tracks on her face. “I’m sorry it took me so long to find you, are you sure you’re okay?”
“I am now.” She smiled her bright sunny smile and Sami felt some of his earlier despair melt away. “But how? How did you find us?” she asked.
“Look, I’ll tell you all about it later. Right now, we need to get out of here,” he said glancing around.
“Who are you?” Bastien asked as he stepped up near them.
“I’m Sami,” he told him, and nodded towards the door. “C’mon, we need to be quiet.”
Goldy and Bastien both nodded and followed him out the door. “Watch your step,” Sami said as he skirted the pile of clothing filled with ash that used to be the guard.
“What? But how?” Bastien asked.
Sami glanced back at him briefly. “You don’t want to know,” he answered as he led them down the hallway.
“Yes, I do,” Bastien snapped back.
“Later then,” Sami said ignoring him as a spray of automatic gunfire rang out ahead of them. Sami began to run with Goldy and Bastien close behind him. Turning into another hallway, he sprinted to the corner and finally stopped, holding up a hand. “Wait.”
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