by Eva Chase
But what could I do with this human body against those undead creatures? In the damp tunnel air, I suddenly felt more useless than I ever had in my life. I had no weapons, no claws except the ones scrabbling in my chest. If I threw myself in there and tried to fight, all I’d be doing was giving the vampires a chance to grab me and turn the tables on the alphas.
If I could shift... If I could join them as an equal, prove I was worthy of the risks they were taking for me...
I pushed Kylie toward the wall. “Stay there,” I said. “No matter what. Don’t get any closer to them.”
She nodded, at a rare loss for words. I balled my hands, staring into the midst of the fight. I knew how the transformation was supposed to feel. I’d glimpsed the feeling in my memories. That stretching, unfurling sensation that would rip through my body. I wanted it now, so badly.
I reached inside to the frantic scraping of those internal claws. Burst out. Break free. Let loose the dragon inside. I was that dragon. I knew it, as much as I’d known my mother when I’d seen her scaled form flying overhead in my memory. I could taste the charring of fiery breath on my tongue.
But my body didn’t comply. My form stayed completely human. The dragon remained locked inside me. I groaned, wrenching at myself with all my will, and it was still me just standing there.
My memories had been unlocked. Mom’s magic had fallen away. Why was it still so hard for me to follow my true nature?
In front of me, a vampire slashed at Nate’s side, drawing a dark red streak through his bear’s chestnut fur. He bellowed and swung his paw, but his attacker darted away. Another bloodsucker was struggling on the ground with Marco. She sank her fangs deep into the jaguar’s foreleg, and he let out a pained snarl.
The memory of the lioness sinking her teeth into my sister flashed through my mind. It shook loose other fragments, bits of the past I didn’t want in my head right now. A warthog stabbing its tusks into the side of a great tawny mountain lion. Daddy. A polished floor streaked with blood. My mother’s fingers clutching mine so tight a stabbing pain shot through my bones. A whimper fading into a gurgle with the slitting of a throat.
A hoarse rumbling chuckle that seemed to echo all around me, rising higher as the blood flowed faster.
My stomach flipped, threatening to spew my hasty lunch up my throat. I gripped the wall to keep my balance.
“Ren!” Kylie said. She hugged me from behind. I let myself sag into her just for a second, and then I pushed myself forward.
I had to help somehow. I couldn’t stand back through another massacre.
I flailed for some kind of weapon. A length of bent pipe lay by the opposite wall. I snatched it up, spun around to look for a target to whack across the head—and stopped.
There was no one left to whack. While I’d been caught up in my memories, my alphas had finished the job. The wolf was just backing away from a vampire whose throat he’d gouged out. The grizzly slammed our last conscious attacker against the wall one more time, and the bloodsucker slumped onto the ground. Aaron and Marco had already shifted back into human form. Blood dappled Marco’s arm and side, and Aaron limped a bit as he moved toward his discarded clothes, but otherwise they looked fine.
And I mean fine. Even with fighting adrenaline still rushing through my veins, I couldn’t help appreciating the full view of their impressive physiques. The gods had really outdone themselves when they made this quartet of men.
Aaron’s impressive, er, apparatus and equally spectacular ass disappeared into his boxers and then his jeans. Marco sauntered over to another of the fallen vampires, looking as if he didn’t mind showing off all his equipment to anyone who felt like taking an eyeful. No, he definitely didn’t mind at all. He shot me a glance over his well-muscled shoulder and winked at me. My face flushed.
“Ren,” Nate said, man again. He strode toward me and then stopped as if realizing his big, brawny body plus nakedness might be a little overwhelming. I suspected his clothes hadn’t survived his transformation. Aaron shoved his shirt into Nate’s hands. Nate gave me a sheepish smile as he tied it around his waist for makeshift modesty. “Are you all right? They didn’t get to you?”
I shook my head and looked over at Kylie. She was okay too, but her knuckles were white where she’d balled her hands around the hem of her tank top. “Is it over?” I asked. “Did you... kill all of them?”
“They’re not dead,” Marco said, nudging one guy’s leg with his toe. “Or, not any more dead than they already were. But they won’t be bothering us anytime soon.”
“When vampires are injured severely enough, they go into stasis while they heal,” Aaron explained. “They’ll be out for a few hours at least.”
“They didn’t bargain for running into a bunch of alphas,” Marco said flippantly. “That’ll teach them to be that cocky.”
Aaron shot him a warning look. “We don’t want to be cocky either. They may have backup on the way. They’ll definitely be reporting the clash as soon as they’ve recovered. When they do, the local vampire lord isn’t going to be happy with us. They did have the right to question and attack us after finding us on their territory.”
Marco shrugged, but Nate’s expression had darkened. “We need to get Ren out of here fast, then.”
Aaron nodded. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay at Marco’s house any longer either. That’s the first place they’ll come looking for shifters who’ve recently passed through. Are there any shifter settlements we can make it to today while still giving ourselves some distance?”
West sighed. My gaze jerked to him. I hadn’t noticed him shifting back, and now he’d already gotten his clothes back on. He was just buttoning up his shirt, a patch of white that looked like a bandage disappearing under the fabric, along with a six pack that would have made most pro athletes cry with envy. Even if he was a jerk, I found I was a little disappointed to have missed the full view.
Then he started talking again. Unfortunately.
“My kin has a village just south of Morgantown, West Virginia,” he said in a clearly reluctant tone. “Or do you want to cower even farther away than that?”
Aaron gave him a measured look. “I think that’ll do.” He turned to Kylie. “You don’t have to come with us if you’d rather stay here, but I think you’d be better off spending a little while out of town. If the vampires caught your scent, you could become a target.”
Kylie openly ogled his bare—and buff—chest and gave him a sly grin. “Oh, don’t worry, I’d much rather hang out with you guys than those creeps.” She held out her hand to me. “Road trip! Just like we always wanted.”
I managed to smile as I twined my fingers with hers. This wasn’t the road trip I’d been imagining I’d take with my bestie. For one, I’d have preferred to kick it off with fewer semi-dead bodies. And to go without the threat of vampire vengeance hanging over us along the way.
Chapter 14
Ren
For the third time in as many days, I woke up in an unfamiliar bed. With no air conditioning in this home that was more cabin than house, the heat of the late June morning hung thick in the air. I’d kicked off my blanket, and the sheet was twisted around my legs.
I sat up on the twin bed, taking in the room I’d only seen in semi-darkness when we’d arrived late last night. A few of West’s canine shifter kin-folk had put us up for the time being.
Kylie was sprawled on the matching bed across from me, her face buried in the pillow. A faint snore drifted up from it. The only other furniture in the room was a well-worn rug, a cedar wardrobe that gave off a sweetly pungent scent, and a stool by the window. Daylight streamed in across the wooden floor.
I peeled off my sheet and poked around in the bag I’d packed before our rushed departure from the city. The guys had given Kylie and me the okay to stop by our apartment briefly, so I had a few sets of my own clothes, not Marco’s fancy get-up. Since it seemed possible we might need to run—or fight—again, I grabbed a pair of sweats
and a comfortable tee. Once I was dressed, I pulled the dark waves of my hair back into a braid.
Mom used to braid my hair, when I was little. The ghost of her fingers brushed over the nape of my neck as I twisted and wove. My throat tightened.
Follow the crystal, her voice had told me yesterday. I’d spent an awful lot of the drive to West Virginia staring at that crystal slab, and I still had no idea how I was supposed to follow it anywhere. If the pattern on it was supposed to tell me, I was still at a loss. It just looked like a random jumble of lines and dots to me.
Why did you have to go, Mom? I thought at her, wherever the hell she was. Why couldn’t you have stayed so we could do this together? Why didn’t you explain anything before you left?
I couldn’t get any answer to those questions right now, of course. I sighed and eased open the door.
The house was either empty or other inhabitants were still sleeping. The spread on the kitchen table suggested someone had already come through. A rich sugary smell wafted off fresh-baked blueberry scones. I hesitated, but the table was obviously set in anticipation of guests. I grabbed one, slathered some butter on it, and walked toward the front door as I took a bite.
The crumbly pastry melted on my tongue. That was heaven, right there. I closed my eyes, savoring it. Then I peeked outside.
The village we’d stopped in was apparently entirely made up of shifters. Aaron had told me more about shifter culture during the drive down. From what he’d said, it was pretty common for shifters to set up communities of their own, keeping the illusion of being normal human beings to anyone who happened to pass by, but having a little more freedom to be themselves the rest of the time. “It’s easier than constantly being on the alert, remembering you have to blend in.”
Standing on the cabin’s doorstep, looking across the packed earth of what appeared to be the village common, I could see the appeal. Most of the people ambling into the shops or chatting with friends looked like regular human beings. But over here a group of older teens were preening, a few of them experimenting with letting their canine ears protrude from their human hair. Over there, a couple of foxes who must have gone out for a morning run ducked into their house through a swinging back door. There was a sense of openness in the air that made it hard for yesterday’s worries to follow me.
As I watched, a familiar figure came into view at the edge of the common. The morning sunlight caught on the silver mixed into West’s light auburn hair, reminding me of the silver-tipped ruddy fur of his wolf form. He was walking beside an elderly woman who was gesturing as she talked. When she finished, he said something to her that made her face light up.
West took her hands in his and bowed his head to her. As he let go, she patted him affectionately on the cheek. Then she shuffled away, smiling.
A couple of the teens sauntered over. From their expressions, whatever they said was pretty cheeky. West gave the first boy a playful cuff to the ears. They feinted back and forth a bit, West clearly giving the boy space to try his strength. He let the younger guy get in a few taps of his fists before grabbing him in a quick flip and setting him down on his ass.
The boy shook his head with a rueful laugh, and West grinned—a real, relaxed grin, not the tense smiles that were the most I’d seen from him before now. An ache filled my chest as the bond between us tugged at me. That man over there, acting the alpha for his people... That was a man I could really fall for.
As if he’d sensed my gaze, West looked my way. Our eyes locked. A flicker of heat passed through me, speeding up my pulse.
I shouldn’t just stand here and gawk, right? I pushed myself off the cabin’s front step and ambled into the common.
The two teens standing with West peered at me as I approached. At first I thought it was just normal curiosity. But one of them waved to the rest of their group. Before I’d even reached West, I found myself surrounded. They looked me over from head to toe with subtle twitches of their noses.
“You’re the dragon shifter,” one of them said in an awed tone. “This is so cool! We’re, like, the first people to meet you now that you’re back.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling awkward. “Yeah, I guess so. It’s good to meet you too?”
“I have to see you shift,” one of the guys said. “It must be amazing.”
“Er...”
“Kids!” a woman’s voice rang out. A middle-aged couple had come up on our group. The woman shooed the teens back. She turned to me. “I’m so sorry. They don’t know the proper respect, at their age, and it being so long... It’s an honor to offer our hospitality to you.”
“History in the making,” her husband agreed. He squeezed my hand briefly with a pleased smile.
More people were emerging from their houses and the shops around us. My chest started to constrict. My fingers itched. I jerked them back toward my body—too late. A warm metal circle pressed against my palm. I’d snagged the woman’s ring without even meaning to.
An embarrassed heat flooded my face. I ducked down and pretended to pick it up off the ground. “I think you dropped this,” I said, handing the ring to her.
“Oh! Thank you so much. I can’t think of how that slipped off.”
I bit my tongue. A larger crowd was congregating around me. Murmurs of “Dragon shifter!” passed from person to person. “I talked to her first!” one of the teen girls was bragging.
What did they expect me to do? I sure as hell hoped they weren’t waiting for me to demonstrate my awesome—and completely non-existent—shifting powers.
West wove through the gathering crowd. For the first time since I’d met him, I had to say I was glad to see him. He gave me a terse smile, but his dark green eyes were softer than usual.
“I think we have a few things to discuss between the two of us,” he said, loud enough for the villagers to hear. They hung back while he ushered me back toward the house where I’d spent the night. His hand brushed the back of my bare arm. Even as overwhelmed as I was, my awareness of his body, just inches from mine, tingled into sharper focus.
West stopped when we were out of hearing distance and stepped to the side to give me more space. I felt that separation, too, like a tearing inside me. Whatever I thought about the wolf alpha and his attitude, some part of me wanted him next to me very, very badly.
“They, um, really are enthusiastic,” I said, hoping my longing wasn’t obvious.
West rubbed his jaw, which was covered with a light shading of stubble that made his handsome face even more appealing. He looked back toward the village common. “They’ve been waiting for dragons to return for a long time. Seeing you here gives some of them hope they didn’t have before.”
“But not you,” I couldn’t resist prodding.
He shrugged. “I haven’t made up my mind yet.”
Why should he, when all I’d been able to do was cringe in a corner yesterday while all our lives were in danger? I swallowed a grimace and turned to follow his gaze. Several of the villagers were still clustered together, glancing our way. Speculating about me?
Something felt off as I looked around. It took me several more seconds before I put my finger on it. “There aren’t any kids. Or is there some rule about when they’re allowed out of the house?” I hadn’t seen anyone who looked younger than their mid-teens.
West’s stance tensed. “There’ve been no shifter children born in sixteen years. At least not within the kin-groups. Kin can’t conceive in their mate-pairs unless their alpha is mated. It’s a biological block, to make sure vulnerable young aren’t born into extremely troubled times.”
“Oh.” My eyes widened. “Because I—” Because Mom and I had been hidden away in New York, all the shifters had gone childless all this time. I glanced at West. He was still gazing into the common, his eyes even darker than usual. “Could you have taken a different mate? I don’t know how all this stuff works yet.”
“Yes,” he said. “I still could. I could forsake the existing bond in order to form a
new one. But once that’s done, a shifter can never be mated to the one they gave up. You can’t go back on the decision.”
My stomach dropped. So all this time, despite all the doubts he’d had, he’d waited for me. Even though he’d had to watch his kin go without children.
Maybe I shouldn’t have accused him of lacking loyalty.
“It... hasn’t seemed like you’d have a problem with that outcome,” I said tentatively.
West’s gaze jerked back to me. “I said I haven’t made up my mind.” He rubbed his thumb over his palm, the scar there identical to the one Aaron had shown me. The mark of the alpha. “I knew you were alive, even if I didn’t know where you were. I didn’t think you’d stay away forever. It doesn’t seem smart to throw away something without knowing what it is.”
“I guess you do at least think I’m worth keeping alive,” I said, tipping my head as if considering. “You fought the vampires to stop them from coming at me yesterday. I should probably thank you for that. So, thanks. I mean it.”
“It was nothing,” West said, his voice going gruff again. “No vampire is going to manage to hurt me. You have been making an awful lot of trouble, though.”
“Yeah. I noticed. I’m sorry about that. None of this was in my life plan, you know.”
“Of course not.” He studied my face, some of the tension leaving his. For a second I thought he was going to add something. My pulse fluttered with the intensity of his attention. But he stayed quiet.
When the silence started to gnaw at me, I had to break it. “Do you really think the old traditions, with the dragon shifters and the alphas, could be wrong?”
He looked away, toward the buildings around us. “I don’t know. I don’t like how fragile that system turned out to be. One savage attack, and we nearly fell into chaos. If the rogues had caught you and your mother... I’m not saying it’s definitely wrong. I just don’t want to assume it’s right. I have to be sure I’m doing the right thing for my kin before I take any steps I can’t take back.”