by Olivia Ash
If he's going to get caught, it would seem as though he's not going to apologize for it.
The door swings open, and Jace enters. His eyes drift briefly between me and Drew, but there isn't a hint of surprise on his face like I expected.
“What did I not tell you this time, Rory?” he asks, slamming the door behind him.
I smirk. As difficult as this man is, as much as he and I butt heads, at least he's starting to figure me out.
“I want to finish the conversation we started in the forest,” I admit, leaning my hands on the back of one of the chairs. “I want to know—”
Jace lifts a hand, interrupting me. “No, Rory.”
I quirk an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“No,” he says again, his voice even more firm than before. “I’ve thought it over, and I shouldn’t have told you that in the first place. It was a moment of weakness, Rory. I want you to trust me on this. It's better if you just focus on your training. Focus on shifting, Rory. Connect with your dragon, and for once in your life, let me handle this.”
I frown. My impulse is to tell him off, to dig in and just be an obstinate ass until he gives me the information I want. The intel I freaking need to keep myself safe.
But I don’t.
There's something about his tone that makes me stop. It’s authoritative and controlling, but beneath it all is a hint of pleading. Like there’s just a little bit of a request hiding beneath his dominant, do-what-I-say personality.
I push off the chair in annoyance, pacing as I try to figure out how I want to handle this. What I want to do.
“You act like it's easy, Jace,” I say. “Just shift,” I add with a mocking gesture toward the window at the dragons outside. “Harper says it might not even happen.”
“Ignore her. You just need to train,” he says, willfully ignoring Drew’s existence at this point. “You just need to build that connection to her and open the line of communication. Make sure she trusts you.”
I shake my head in irritation, pacing the room with my back turned to him. “What do you think I'm doing? What do you think we've been doing? All this time? All this training?”
“I know,” he says quietly.
It's tender almost. Comforting.
Before I can help myself, I look at him to find him standing still by the door, his full attention and focus on me and his shoulders tense. There's an imploring twist to his eyebrows, as if he wants to say something but hasn't figured out the words yet.
He’s not going to tell me, but that won’t stop me from figuring it all out.
Fine. As much as I hate to admit it, I’m going to have to dig the old fashioned way—and I figure Irena will be more than happy to help me find everything I need.
With a slow breath, I release the simmering anger that's burning in the back of my shoulder blades. It won't do any good to yell or argue. I still need to know everything about the bounties, and with time, I know I will. But for the moment, he's raised a very good point.
Shifting.
It's something I need to master, and soon.
“Tell me about your shifts,” I say, my gaze darting between the two men before me. “Please,” I add a little begrudgingly as my anger slowly dissolves. “It’ll help me figure out how to do it.”
“My first shift was during a sparring match with Jett when I was just a boy,” Drew says, his gaze on the floor and his arms still crossed.
I do a double take as Drew calls his father by his name.
The man truly has no sway over my fire dragon—to Drew, he and his father are equals. I smirk with pride.
Jace, however, briefly glares at the fire dragon as if his mere presence is a grave annoyance. I try to ignore the feud that seems to be raging, ever stronger, between them.
“It was brutal and unfair,” Drew continues. “But it dragged my dragon out of me, exactly as Jett wanted. The man always gets his way.”
The fire dragon is calm and collected, even as he shares a horrible truth about his past. But that’s Drew—never show emotion, never let anyone know that something gets to you. Never appear weak.
He’s not weak. Even now, all these years later, that memory scars him.
My impulse is to go over and hold him, to comfort him, but I know Drew wouldn't want me to do that in front of Jace or anyone else, for that matter. When Drew has feelings, he prefers to have them in private.
In the silence that follows, I don't really know what to say—I didn’t realize so many shifters use stress and near-death experiences to spark the shift.
“Is that the best way to do it?” I ask. “To force it like that?”
“Absolutely not!” Both Drew and Jace say in unison, glaring at me.
I lean back slightly in surprise at their tone. After their outburst, they both glare at each other and look away just as quickly, but the urgency in both their voices says everything I need to know.
That's a last-ditch effort.
“Okay. Fine,” I say, leaning my fists against the table. “Jace, what about you?”
Jace's gaze flickers to the windows, and he smiles. It's the barest hint of a grin, like he's remembering something nostalgic. “It was during a race back when I was just a kid. A few of the other competitors shifted and were cheating. And Harper was no better,” he adds with a sideways glance toward me. “She used to cheat all the time when she was little.”
I chuckle.
“There I was trailing the pack, furious and angry, and I just…” he paused, trailing off and shaking his head. “I just let the dragon take over because I knew in that moment that he could help me win.”
“Did you?” I ask.
A cocky grin spreads across Jace’s face. “You know we did.”
I laugh.
We.
It really sinks in for me, in that moment. Me and my dragon—we’re a team. An us. She has a life, and it’s my duty to protect her.
“The point is,” Drew interjects, “it's all about a moment of heightened emotion and alignment with your dragon. It's all about learning to trust each other and work together.” He pauses. “When both of you are ready, all you have to do is let go. You’ll shift the moment you give in.”
I frown, not entirely sure what that would even feel like. What it would mean. I figure it’s one of those things that only makes sense in the moment, when everything aligns perfectly, and all you have to do is relax into it.
Like Drew said—give in.
Truth be told, I’m not very good at that.
Besides, there’s no way I’ll shift before I have to face Zurie again. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, since it would be easier to just dig my talons into her than fight her as a human.
Zurie is coming. It's just a matter of when, how, and where she will attack. I need to find a way to intercept her, but I don't even know where to start.
“Any word on Zurie?” I ask.
“No chatter,” Drew admits.
Jace frowns, shooting another irritated glare toward Drew like he’s exasperated the man even exists. “None for us either.”
I wait for a moment, watching Jace’s expression for signs of a lie. Any twitch, any tell at all that will give him away.
There's nothing. He's telling the truth.
“I have heard from the Darringtons, however,” Jace adds, his intense glare fixed on Drew. “I know all about your father’s promise, Drew. Hand over Rory, and you get everything you could ever dream of. You’ll become the Boss. Money, power, women—you’ll get it all.”
Drew stiffens, his eyes narrowing as he stares down the thunderbird, silently daring him to continue.
Jace squares his shoulders like he’s aching for a fight. “Is that what you're waiting for? The moment you can steal her away to hand her in?”
Drew’s nose wrinkles in disgust. “I would never.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Jace admits, his jaw tensing as he prepares to draw blood.
“I don't need his money or his power,” Dre
w says, sneering. “I have everything I could ever need already,” he adds, pointing at me.
I can’t help myself—I cover my mouth with my hand to hide my flattered smile.
Aw.
“You're a Darrington,” Jace says, taking a few menacing steps closer. “All you want is power.”
All right, this is going too far. At this point, they’re just looking for an excuse to rip each other’s throats out.
“Guys,” I say tensely, my tone warning them to stop.
They ignore me.
“And your kind are so innocent?” Drew snaps. “Every Boss wants her, and somehow the Fairfax are the only ones with no intel leaked to the chatter? They're the only ones who don't want her dragged off to their Capital?” Drew scoffs. “Everything about you is suspicious. The Fairfax have their secrets too.”
“Stop it!” I snap.
Primed and aching for a fight, both men freeze and tilt their heads to look at me. Jace is leaning forward, ready to throw a punch the moment Drew says the wrong thing—and Drew is no damn better. I catch his fingers curl into a fist, like he’s ready to land a blow of his own on Jace’s nose.
I put myself between them, forcing them to back away from each other as my glare darts between both of them. “Spectres don't live long if they trust too easily, and I'm no idiot. I know who I trust and who I don’t, so you both need to back off.”
My gaze shifts toward Jace, and for a moment, we share a tense look.
The fact is I'm not a Spectre anymore. I have three men and a sister I trust with my life. Harper is on my side, and Jace—well, I want him. I want to trust him. To have him. To feel his hands along my body. To feel them—
Hey, I snap inwardly at my dragon. Stop being horny.
She curls around herself in irritation, as if she can’t believe how obstinate I can be.
Oh, baby girl, we’re just getting started.
I shut my eyes, squeezing them as tightly as I can as I try to quell the tide of desire and lust that races through my traitorous body as it reacts to him once again. To him being so close. To my dragon’s need for us to finally mate and finalize our bond, at any cost.
But there's tension too. Uncertainty. Dread.
Before I can say anything else, there are footsteps once again outside, and the door swings open once more.
This time Harper walks in, and her gaze falls instantly toward me.
“Oh, good, you're here,” she says as she shuts the door behind her. “I figured you wouldn’t be far. Find anything good?”
Jace groans, exasperated. “Can’t you women give me a moment of peace in my own damn suite?”
Drew scoffs. “Did you just call me a woman?”
I try and fail to hide a small smile at the jibe, admittedly grateful for the interruption and not at all surprised Harper is here.
“Look, I don't have long before the chopper leaves,” Harper says. “But I ran into Irena.”
I impulsively stiffen with concern, and the only thing that moves is my gaze as I look at her. “Yeah?”
Harper hesitates, her mouth parted, as if she can't quite form the words or isn't sure what to say. “I see incredible magic lying dormant within her,” the Fairfax Boss eventually says. “It's alarmingly similar to Kinsley Vaer.”
“How similar?” I ask, tense.
Harper pauses, frowning in the silence. “Identical.”
Her words sit on the quiet room as we all process what she just said.
Identical.
“Through a fluke in both the bio-weapon and the vaccine, it would appear that Kinsley inadvertently gave Irena all of her power,” Harper says quietly, letting it sink in. “Kinsley gave Irena an exact copy of her abilities.”
“What does that mean?” I ask.
“I don't know,” Harper admits. “But it would seem you both have incredible power that you haven't yet accessed.”
“Wait,” Drew interjects, lifting his hand to slow down the conversation. “How do you know any of this?”
“I'm a thunderbird,” Harper says dryly, with an annoyed glance at Drew, and I figure there isn’t a Fairfax dragon alive who actually likes him. “Part of my training and trials to even become the Boss forced me to learn how to read dragons—especially the gifted ones. I have to be able to see a dragon's magic. A dragon's ability and potential,” she adds, gesturing toward me. “I have to be able to see what other people can't, and my thunderbird lets me do that.”
“And Kinsley's magic?” I press. “How are you so familiar with it?”
Harper frowns, her nose wrinkling slightly as a grim expression crosses her face. She gently lifts her shirt, revealing a long scar across her side that trails down beneath her pants, and I wonder how far down her leg it goes.
“Kinsley and I have met,” Harper says simply.
I grit my teeth as a blast of rage shoots through me. I tighten my fists to keep my anger at bay, but white light flutters along my skin as I think of the pain Harper must have gone through.
It makes me want to rip out Kinsley’s throat even more, and I didn’t think that was even possible.
That woman—she's just evil.
Harper lowers her shirt and nods toward the door. “I offered Irena training, but—well, I'm sure you know how that went.”
My shoulders slump a little in disappointment, and I set my hands on my hips as I try to figure out what the hell I’m going to do with my sister.
She can’t fight what she is. She’s running out of time to face it, but instead, she just keeps running away.
“Rory, look,” Harper continues. “You need to push Irena to train with me. And if not me, then Jace. With someone who is at least mildly capable. Either an ice dragon or thunderbird.”
She pauses and briefly looks at Drew, the only fire dragon in the room, but he doesn’t seem to care about her unspoken jab.
“Irena’s dragon is stifled,” Harper continues. “If she doesn't give it room to breathe, it may not survive.”
I take a deep breath, rubbing my temples as I try to figure out how on earth I'm going to do that. “I'll try, Harper.”
“Good,” says the Fairfax Boss with a nod. “Now—“
“Nope, we’re done,” Jace interjects, pointing toward the door. “Everyone out! Just go.”
“I'm not finished talking,” Harper says with an indignant look at the dojo master.
“You are,” Jace says, lifting his eyebrows skeptically, as if he's astonished she would challenge him here in his domain.
The Fairfax Boss rolls her eyes and indulges him by walking out the door, leaving it open for the rest to follow. Drew stalks past Jace, the two of them glaring at each other until Drew disappears into the hallway. I go to join them, but Jace gently grabs my arm and pulls me back, closing the door so that only the two of us are in the war room.
Surprised, I wait to see what he wants.
He holds my arms, my forearms resting on his as he gently grabs my elbows and pulls me closer. He presses his forehead against mine, and the electric current of our connection burns through me.
In that instant, he becomes tender, softening at my touch as he breathes me in.
But that’s Jace—an asshole to everyone else, and tender toward me.
I have to admit, I kind of like it.
I relax my shoulders, leaning into him and giving him at least this moment of truce. There's so much I want to say, and I have absolutely no idea how to say any of it. I want to ask him about this choice Harper’s forcing him to make. I want to tell him I was listening. I want to know what he's going to do and what he's thinking.
But I don't.
“Why won't you tell me about the bounties?” I ask instead to distract myself from the sensation burning through my traitorous body. I can't manage to pull away.
He doesn't answer at first. Instead, he gently runs his knuckle across my cheek as his gaze wanders my face.
“It's not weak to let someone protect you,” he eventually says.
I smirk, looking up at him in playful challenge. “Then maybe I should lock you in a tower and out of trouble, just to see how you like it.”
He grins, and instead of answering, kisses me lightly on the nose. It’s a feathery brush of his lips against my skin, and it leaves the lingering sensation of fluttery joy. Of love and devotion, all shared without a word.
It’s his way of asking me to drop it. By indulging what my dragon wants, maybe he can distract me from what I want.
It won’t work.
“You can stay,” he says quietly with a nod toward his bedroom. “If you want.”
Of course I want to.
But I won’t.
“Goodnight, Jace Goodwin,” I say instead.
I'm tempted to brush my lips across his, but I don't want to torture either of us any further.
As I walk into the hallway, I feel his eyes on my shoulder blades. It takes everything in me to not look back at him, to not give in to the burning desire that practically controls me every time he's near.
I'm just not sure what to make of him anymore, but that's kind of how it's always been. Jace Goodwin—the sexy, frustrating enigma.
And, for the time being, my mate.
Chapter Nine
As I lay in the wrinkled sheets of my bed, staring at the ceiling, I just can't sleep.
All I can think about is Zurie’s next move. I'm trying to figure out what she will do. Where she will go. How she will try to draw me out—and then how she will try to kill me.
And, more importantly, how I could possibly kill her.
It's hard to stay ahead of the person who trained me.
There are just too many options. The one that makes the most sense is for her to try to lure me out of our secure location, but Irena and my men are the only bait I'll take. They're all safe here—for the moment. Irena’s clearly cooped up. She's the risk, and probably the bait Zurie’s counting on manipulating to her advantage.
But Irena’s no idiot. She won’t play into Zurie’s hands.
That said, it's inevitable that Irena will eventually try to leave. She's cooped up and surrounded by the enemy—well, at least as far as she thinks. She's still not used to dragons, and even though she knows this is the safest place to be, it's only a matter of time before I catch her trying to sneak out.