Dangerous Lovers

by Becca Vincenza

  “No, siren. What I was saying is that there are a higher majority because they are narrowed minded and scared paranormals within the Braden clan that would rather not see old, powerful, paranormals return to existence. How human some of us act sometimes.” York said the words as if an afterthought, but Nixie looked like she took that to heart. She looked like it was an insult.

  “How human some of us act?” Nixie ran her tongue between her teeth. She looked aggravated. “You know what? I think it’s time for me to leave.” Stone looked up at her.

  “Nixie that isn’t what he meant. You know that. But there is some concrete evidence in here. We need to at least hear him out. What if Cain is getting out of hand? You know how supreme the were-eagles can be. They are a proud race. All the Weres are. You know this. And what if…” Stone didn’t look like he was winning an argument with Nixie though.

  “You don’t get to speak up shape-shifter.” Nixie’s jaw tightened. As she started to move she reached between her and her guard and snapped the metal on her wrist. “I will escort myself out, thank you.”

  I looked desperately at Stone trying to understand, but I gave up and decided to go after her myself. Nixie was turning a corner when I finally got out of the door.

  “Nixie!” I called. It seemed strange that I was the one doing the chasing now when only an hour ago I was being chased.

  “You will never understand my little guppy so don’t try to ask. I am not going to tell you. And if you want me to go back into that room with that clam-head you are sadly mistaken.” She didn’t even turn toward me, she just kept walking away. She was wearing flip-flops that clacked rather hard every time her foot connected to the ground, showing her intense anger.

  “Please…you are my best friend.” I whispered. She stopped. I could see her fist tighten and her back stiffen.

  “Why did you say that? Why? Why? Why?” She muttered as she turned on her heel and headed back toward me. She hugged me tight. “I am letting that blowhole know that I am only coming back for you.”

  Nixie was back to being her normal happy self, but I could see in her eyes she was still being haunted by something. I wanted to ask, but I knew that past memories were more painful if someone forced you to talk about them. Like ripping off a Band-Aid that wasn’t ready to come off. It pulled on your skin, brought unnecessary tears to your eyes and made it all the more painful to watch.

  “If you are done leaving, we can finally finish this meeting.” Xavier said. His tail twitched.

  “If you stopped saying such insulting things, we would,” Nixie replied with a big smile. It looked like Xavier was going to reply, but stopped short when Elijah stood up.

  “I would like to continue my tale if possible.” It was a rare time to see such emotion on his face, but if I was guessing, he looked annoyed.

  Nixie and I took our seats over by Stone. Xavier put his hand out as to indicate for Elijah to go on. Stone sat rigidly. I tried to grab his hand, but it was balled into a fist. Instead I was brave and placed my hand on his thigh. He seemed to relax a little under my touch, which brought a small smile to my face.

  “After that incident-” Nixie straightened like she was about to say something, but when Elijah turned his cold glare on her she shut her mouth with a bit of a pout. I thought I heard her mumble under her breath how he was a blowhole.

  “Cain dedicated a whole team to finding and destroying these rare paranormals, but when rumors started saying the old paranormal races were coming back, he decided to step it up a notch. He needed to find Audrey, and find out what she knew.” Elijah was leaving a lot out. I knew that he had most of my memories from when he pushed the other wraith from my head, but no one mentioned it so I didn’t say anything.

  “So will you stay or will you go?” Xavier turned his eyes onto Nixie and Stone.

  “You know what you are asking us right? You want us to turn our backs on our clan? The clan that has been a family to us for our entire lives?” Nixie asked paling. Stone’s jaw had started to twitch.

  “Maybe they could think about it.” I offered, looking at Xavier. It was strange, but his eyes softened when they looked at me. A small smile formed on his lips.

  “Yes, they can think about it.” He turned his attention to my friends. “You have a week, after that I must ask that you leave if you decide that is what you want to do.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Stone

  A week wasn’t a very long time to decide whether or not I wanted to leave the people I thought to be my family.

  After the meeting, I went with Audrey back to her room, where she curled up next to me and fell asleep. I knew that things were taking their toll on her. She wasn’t used to all this excitement. Five years in isolation didn’t warrant a lot of action. Just thinking about that made me grind my teeth together.

  Things felt like they were crashing down around me. I knew the loyal decision was to take her from here and back to my family, back to my clan. How can I do that with the evidence York showed me? When I wasn't even sure if I was falling for her? I thought about earlier today when we were in this very room, and I was so close from ripping off all of her clothes.

  When she wrapped her legs around my waist, instinct took over. My hips moved into her. I couldn’t control myself. I was starved for anything I could have from her. I don’t think she realized that she let out a gasp. I didn’t care; I succumbed to my tunnel vision. I wanted her. We arrived though. Gods her skin was so smooth, and when I touched more scars, the scars that Nixie had warned me about, I wanted nothing more than to rip the person apart who had done this to her. Feeling those scars reminded me of our time together at the cabin. She had told me some about the “dark room” as she called it, but I could easily tell what she wasn’t telling me. A year of being abused in the worst ways. I almost stopped then, but my body wouldn’t have it. Not only was I painfully hard, but touching her skin was like the ocean on a hot summer’s day.

  Touching her scars was painful in several ways. I wanted to destroy who would ever mar her skin, but I didn’t think less of her. She was beautiful on the inside and out. I didn’t flinch or jerk away. No, I had to taste her. I kissed each inch I could. But I knew soon I’d lose all control. Looking down at her, her lips parted and her chest was rising and falling hard. Audrey’s eyes were half-lidded, but so intelligent. Searching, I knew, even though all I wanted to do was be with her at that moment, it wouldn’t be right. I watched her and realized I wanted more than her body. I wouldn’t take any less than all of her.

  Looking down at her now, I wondered if this is what love felt like. This odd sense of belonging, my heart racing at the sight of her. She made me want to be so much more than what I was. She made me want to be better. I thought back to the years before. There were endless people, faceless, voiceless people that all pleaded for me to stop. The great thing about being a shape-shifter is if you knew a person’s fear it was easy to use it against them. Hearing the shrieks, calls for help, and they would promise you anything as long as you gave them peace because it was a living nightmare. Nothing was safe from me. I thought strongly about what Audrey had said during our first few days together. It was hard to believe how much and little time had passed since I met her.

  She had told me that she wanted to know if those people were innocent. The ones I attacked. They were guilty for being from a different clan, for knowing things that Jacobs and Cain wanted to know. I knew that I would have made my father proud. I had become untouchable. Nothing could break me. The other shape-shifters nicknamed me Stone not only so that fey couldn’t control me with my name, but also because of my unbreakable nature, even under the most drastic of circumstances. At first I thought they were referring to the amount of torture I had endured myself, but now I wonder if they meant something else. Maybe those second glances I got weren’t from admiration, but because I was a monster among beasts. I was another soulless creature created by Jacobs.

  I pulled Audrey closer. She made me be
tter. She made me want to be good. She reminded me that even though people weren’t always innocent, there were lines to be drawn and lines that shouldn’t be crossed. What gave Cain the right to want to torture her for information about her only living family? I understood that. Isn’t that what I had to be debating at the moment? Whether or not I wanted to stay with the people I considered my family for most of my life or should I remain here with this magnificent creature in my arms.

  She moaned a little, twisting in her sleep. Gods I wanted to take her nightmares away. But instead of a tear falling from her closed eyes, I saw a small smile form. I looked at her and realized she wasn’t having a nightmare. No, she was having a good dream. Something she deserved. Then, for whatever reason I decided to sing to her. I sang her the lullaby my mother used to sing to me.

  • • •

  The next day was less eventful, but Elijah had come by Audrey’s room and was speaking with her privately. I knew that I needed to talk to Nixie. I left Audrey’s room where we had been before Elijah came. I didn’t know how long they would be gone but I figured that Audrey would find the note I left telling her I went to get some air. On my way to find Nixie I couldn’t help but think about old memories I’d rather forget.

  My father treated me like nothing more than a trophy. I was the thing he paraded around, so proud to call me son. He lost his real love and affection for me when I was only seven years old. I think it would have hurt less if I knew that he was truly proud. In the end I could have always been better. I could have been a step faster than I was. I could have been slightly stronger than the others. He demanded perfection, and that is what I gave him. Nothing less. If there was more, he would have demanded that of me as well. I would have gladly striven for it.

  I pushed myself to my limits neither for him nor for me. I had done them for her. Always for her. My mother was the only person I hadn’t been able to save. If it meant I had to destroy others to save the ones close to me, I would do it. My heart had blackened to the point that when the blood splattered on my face, all I could do was wipe it away and move on. I had no remorse for what I had done.

  She used to sing to me. I remember the song. It was a sweet little tune that was also a little sad for her. She would sing it to me when she would give me bath, or tuck me into bed. At times, I could hear her singing it while she thought she was alone. I knew that she wanted another child but after having me, there were compilations. In the end, it was another thing that I took away from her.

  I would find myself singing the song to myself when my father would pull me along showing me off. The proudest day of my father’s life was when I was admitted into the Braden Clan’s protective services and admitted into Jacobs’ special ops team.

  That night I was pulled around by my father. He would slap me on the back and tell everyone how proud he was. How proud my mother would be if she were still alive. He would still call me his survivor. I hated when he called me that. My teeth would grind, my whole body would tense, and I would sing in my head. I sang the song my mother used to sing to me.

  I would never do that to someone. I took. I could never give.

  I shook myself free from the memory and continued my search for Nixie. While I walked around, I ran into the Zeke and asked if he saw Nixie around. I assumed she was free from the were-cheetah. He had mentioned that he saw her head out on the north-wing deck. I headed that way hoping to find her still there.

  Outside she leaned against the railing. The wind was blowing softly. She looked at peace even if her coral eyes reflected an endless sadness.

  “Will you leave?” I asked, moving next to her, my forearms draped over the railing.

  “So many reasons to stay, so many to leave.” Nixie paused and straightened a little. “So she is rubbing off on you, isn’t she Stone?” Nixie looked away sighing not even able to hold her own joke. We were silent for a long time, the weight of our decision weighing heavily on us. Nixie let out a heavy sigh. “End of the week to decide right?” She started to leave.

  “Nixie wait, you partially shifted…have you always been able to do that?”

  “No I haven’t.” She didn’t turn back to tell me, but marched forward.

  • • •

  Audrey and I were headed toward the kitchen when Drake appeared. I felt Audrey twitch as if she wanted to hide behind me, but she stayed where she was. My thoughts of Drake had been far and few between in light of the problems I was faced with. But seeing him now stomping toward his daughter, I couldn’t help but wonder what supposedly extinct creature he was…what Audrey was.

  “We will start your training in the morning,” Drake growled. His eyes flicked between us, showing his obvious dislike for our physical contact. “If it wasn’t for Xavier, I would kill you for touching her.”

  “She is not yours to command,” I ground out standing tall.

  “Careful what you say, boy.” With a final glance at Audrey, who still hadn’t cowarded behind me, he pushed past me.

  “You shouldn’t have said that,” Audrey whispered.

  “Why? It’s true, he isn’t your keeper. You’re not his.” You’re mine, I added with a silent growl.

  “You don’t understand what he is like. You just… don’t understand.” She sounded so defeated. I could see her right hand start to twitch like she did when she started to count something.

  “Then tell me,” I whispered. Grabbing the hand that twitched, I placed a kiss on her knuckles.

  “He-he, well we, we are,”

  I could see this was difficult for her. She swallowed hard looking around as if she wanted to escape. I tightened my hold on her hand.

  “We are dragon-shifters.” She looked up at me through her eyelashes. I could see the fear in her eyes.

  “That explains a lot,” I said, hopefully sounding light enough to make it seem like a joke. Inside I was shocked. It made sense for Drake. I could imagine a dragon-shifter having such a build. Audrey though…

  I eyed her as I started to lead us toward the kitchen. Audrey was small for a dragon woman.

  “What did your father mean by your training?” I asked, stilling mulling over the fact that she was a dragon. No wonder Abram had kept her locked up tight.

  “I have never been able to transform…” She looked away. “I gave up believing that I had a dragon form.”

  I grabbed her hand. Dragon-shifters weren’t the same as Weres–none of the elder races were. Dragon-shifters lived in harmony with their animal spirit, not entirely human in their human form, but not entirely dragon in their dragon form. While were-creatures held most of their animal’s habits and traits even in their human forms, the elder races weren’t like that.

  From what I remember about tales involving the elder races, they held a certain relationship with their animal spirits that even were-creatures couldn’t quite understand. Looking at her now, I realized how deeply her pain ran. She didn’t have that connection. I pulled her close and she buried her face into my chest.

  “What do you know about dragons, Audrey?”

  “Only that they are hoarders. Their possessions are sacred, and to steal from them is almost certain death. I never knew about their hearts until you told me about them. My father never talked about our heritage much, seeing as I might not ever…” She trailed off and buried her face a little deeper.

  “There is this tale about the first dragon-shifter and how it came to be. Would you like to hear it?”

  She nodded.

  “He was a dragon, black as the unforgiving night sky, and just as cruel. He would protect his hoard fiercer than any other dragon and would even kill another dragon if they got too close. He would attack the human villages that would build too close to his hoard. One human village decided that if they would send a virgin offering that he would leave them alone."

  “Though this great, black dragon was known for killing a human without blinking an eye, he didn’t kill the woman. Instead he instantly fell in love with her long blonde locks, and
her pale brown eyes. He had never seen someone so beautiful and decided to keep her as a gem as he did with other precious jewels. But she was sad, and broken."

  “Overtime the dragon started to feel the same way, and didn’t understand why. He thought for sure that someone had stolen something from him. While he searched out for the jewel he was convinced went missing, he destroyed even more towns, and killing livestock and the men who would try to attack him."

  “While he was out, the woman he had stolen for his own, left the caves and saw her old home destroyed. Hurt by the dragon’s betrayal of his promise to not hurt her family, she sought the dragon out. When she found him, he looked down at her and realized he had found his missing jewel. She cried and told him that she never wanted to see him again. His heart broke. He didn’t understand that he loved her in a different way than his jewels. Watching her cry, he let her go and flew away into his cave. For years, he mourned the loss of his most precious possession. He pleaded with the Gods to let him talk to her, human to human. The Gods granted him the gift to shift. He flew down from his caves leaving his jewels unprotected, and forgotten, and went after his love. When he found her, she had aged but he didn’t care."

  “He told her that she would always be the rarest of gems in his eyes. He told her how he had never attacked her family after the day she came to him. She forgave him before he even said anything because she had heard it was a red dragon that had attacked her old home."

  “They lived many years together, he never aged, but she grew older every day. He told her everyday how beautiful she was, and she always believed him. But the day came when it was her time to leave this world, and he didn’t want to give her up. He shifted into his dragon form ready to rip out his own heart in order to die with her. Instead, when he pulled out his heart, he only had half, and he offered it to his beloved. Years melted away, and she became the same age as the day they met. They lived happily ever after.”