by Sadie Sears
“Come on in.” Sam opened the door wide, and I slipped through. There was a recliner by the fireplace in his living room, but I took a seat on the retro purple velvet sofa. Purple was a soothing color. “Lila, can I make you some tea?”
I nodded and tried to smile, but it felt wobbly. “That would be lovely, Sam, thanks.”
“Let me just—” Gretta gestured to herself, then disappeared for a minute, reappearing fully dressed in jeans and a loose tee.
Taking up the spot beside me, Gretta took my hands in hers and felt my head. “Lila, you’re flushed, and you feel warm. If you’re having symptoms, you should’ve just called. I would’ve come to you.”
That wasn’t why I was feeling warm. I just had my brain broken today, by a dragon, which apparently my sister now was. Since she was bitten, did that make her a were-dragon? Could she only change on the full moon? That was how all the werewolf movies went, right? I had so many questions.
I grabbed her hand and pulled it away from my head. “That’s not what I’m here for.”
Gretta cocked her head and sat back. “Okay. So, what’s going on?”
“Did you, or did you not, let Sam claim you?”
There was a crash from the kitchen, the sound of something metal being dropped on the floor, and Sam cursed. Gretta’s eyes skittered away from mine, and she didn’t answer. That said all I needed to know, but I still wanted her to admit it out loud, to admit what she’d apparently been intentionally hiding from me. “Are you a dragon now? Can you fly?”
I watched her. Gretta’s glossy dark hair was piled on top of her head. She didn’t need make-up to enhance her high cheekbones, her long lashes, or her full lips. Her only flaw, if it could be called that, was that she had to wear glasses. Of course, they made her look professional and smart, not flighty and elbow-deep in New Age bullshit.
“Lila, it’s not what you think,” she sputtered. Her normal, confident tone had completely disappeared.
Since our parents died and my symptoms first appeared almost a decade ago, I rarely got to play the role of the big sister, the one who took care of her rather than the other way around. But this was too important, too dangerous. She couldn’t hide secrets like this from me.
Before I could respond, there was another knock at the door. Sam, who had also apparently thought to grab a shirt, set the tea tray on the table in front of us and moved to answer the door. I held my tongue, not exactly anxious to air my grievances in front of strangers.
An older man stepped into the foyer and glanced over at us, then back at Sam. “Pardon my intrusion, but might we have a word in private?”
Of course, someone would show up to get Sam out of this conversation. I would have to have a word with him in private later. He nodded and led the man through the house to the back door and they stepped outside. I turned back to Gretta, who was still staring at the spot they’d disappeared from with a small frown between her eyebrows.
“Did you let Sam bite you?” I asked sharply.
She startled and blinked at me. “I—yeah, technically I did, but—well, I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to stress you out. You know what stress does to your MS, and I didn’t want you to relapse again. I mean, it was bad enough with the wizards—”
“The wizards are over now, Gretta. This is about right now, today. Do you think it was less stressful for me hearing your big news from the random dragon you sent to my house today?”
Gretta snagged that topic change. “Oh, how was he? Did you like him? Did you guys get along? What did he say about the note?”
She rapid-fired questions at me, almost as if the speed alone would make me forget the matter at hand, but Leath was the reason I couldn’t think about anything other than dragons claiming their mates. Bringing him up was counterproductive for her, but she didn’t know that. I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to tell her just yet.
“Where is he anyway?” She peeked out the bay window as if searching for him.
I shook my head and waved my hand. “I sent him away. I don’t need some dragon hovering over me, hanging around the house and disturbing the delicate balance I’m trying to maintain there.” My balance was affected enough by my MS. I didn’t need to add a man to make it worse. I reached over for one of the teacups and inhaled the scent of orange pekoe. Sam had good taste in tea, at least.
Gretta’s eyes flashed angrily. “Yes, you do! This isn’t just about a stalker. I mean, that’s a lot of it, but I’m not going to be around as much after what happened at the hospital, and what if you fall? Leath is the kind of guy who could help you.”
“I’ll hire a nurse,” I said between clenched teeth.
Try as I may, I was weak to my little sister when the waterworks came out. I didn’t want to make her cry, even if she had turned into a dragon and kept it secret from me. That wasn’t the person I was. She must have seen me wavering because she laid a hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently.
“Please, for me, just let him hang around until we catch your stalker. I need to know you’re safe. Please.”
I sighed. How could I say no to her? Not when she’d spent all her free time taking care of me and my daughter, Zoe, when she could’ve been having fun of her own. I sipped the tea. The caffeine content wouldn’t do much to calm me, but it was delicious.
“Okay. Not like I have much choice. He thinks I’m his destined mate.” Well, so much for not telling her. At my news, her eyes went wide, and her chin dropped, but I just nodded like it was no big deal. “Yeah, my reaction too, but maybe you can clear up what destined mate actually means?”
Leath had stumbled and tripped over his explanation, but I’d mostly gotten the gist. I knew Gretta wouldn’t sugarcoat it.
She took a moment to consider it, then slowly exhaled. “Well, it means that you’re meant to be together. You were made for each other.”
My nose wrinkled in distaste. “Made for each other? Me and some green-eyed, muscle-bound, meathead dragon who thinks my New Age life is bullshit? Destiny made an epic mistake with this one.”
Gretta gave me one of her knowing smiles, the smug one I hated. “Don’t be so quick to discount destiny, Lila. God, I prayed something like this would happen. The odds are almost impossible to calculate, so to be given this opportunity— You need to take his bite, Lila. You won’t have to suffer anymore; you’ll be healthy again like before.”
“What? I’m not going to let some dragon bite me just so I can be healthy again.” While I could admit it did have its merits, I wasn’t going to allow myself to be bound to a guy I didn’t even know just so he could say he did something good for someone. If I wanted to be with someone, I wanted it to be real, not some big favor.
“Lila, please.”
I mentally braced myself for a Gretta lecture. Some of them were worthy, but some were just Gretta sputtering at me while I helped her sort her thoughts. This time, I had an answer waiting for her, because my health, my life, and whatever man I chose to share it with were my business and not up for family discussion. Much the same way her being claimed and becoming a dragon hadn’t been discussed with me.
And as if my sanity could take any more, another loud knock echoed through the house.
I sat back and crossed my arms. “Sam’s a popular guy today, huh?”
The back door opened, and Sam jogged through to the front. His elderly friend stood in the back doorway, waiting patiently. As soon as Sam opened the door, another man lurched through.
“Mitias!” he yelled. “Mitias, I need your help!”
Gretta started to stand, but Sam held up a hand as the newcomer approached the old man—Mitias, apparently.
“Gerald, what’s happened? Is everything all right?” Mitias’s voice was soothing and calm when he spoke, and he turned the man toward the backyard. Sam shrugged apologetically to us, then followed.
Just before the door shut behind them, I heard Gerald say, “It’s Kristin. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
Icy dread cu
rled in my stomach. Kristin was the name of a friend and one of my regular clients that I’d been unable to get a hold of the last few weeks. But it was crazy to think there was only one Kristin in town, right? Still, I stood and moved toward the back of the house, curiosity nagging at me.
“Lila!” Gretta hissed. “What are you doing?”
I glared at her over my shoulder and kept moving toward the window that overlooked the backyard. One thing we’d both inherited from our mother was insatiable curiosity, and Gretta, despite her initial protest, tiptoed up to my side to listen in.
“So, you bit her?” Mitias sounded troubled.
“All the signs and feelings pointed toward her being my destined mate,” Gerald said. His voice was unsteady, wavering. “My dragon and I both were drawn to her desperately. We really thought she was the one. And I’ve done what I can, but she still—”
“Dragon psychosis,” Sam said. “That’s what this is, right? Do I need to call Cam?”
I frowned. I’d heard of dragon psychosis, and it sounded pretty straightforward, but I wasn’t exactly sure what it entailed. Judging by how pale my sister had just gotten, it wasn’t anywhere near good.
“When did the longing start?” Mitias asked.
“A few weeks ago, maybe around mid-May.”
There was a sharp intake of breath. “Mitias, do you think those wizards were involved?”
“I certainly don’t believe it was a coincidence. Between draining energy from the locals and exacerbating your mate’s sister’s illness, not to mention their dragon blood experiments, it doesn’t seem like too far of a stretch. It seems they could have also been experimenting with the compulsion of our kind.”
Sam growled. “So, if they couldn’t kill us, they’d find a way to compel us to bite humans and drive them insane so that the humans would turn against us?”
“Dragon psychosis doesn’t just affect humans. It affects the dragon that gave the bite, as well.” Mitias sighed and my chest tightened. “Both of them could be a danger to themselves, as well as those around them.”
I clapped a hand over my mouth. If Kristin was experiencing some kind of psychotic breakdown—oh, God. She had a kid, a son. Was he with her, wherever she was? Would she hurt him? Would she hurt herself? I didn’t even realize I was moving until Gretta caught my arm on the front porch.
“Where are you going?” Her face was flushed, her eyes wide with a panic that reflected mine.
“Kristin is my friend, and she has a son.” I pulled my arm, but she held firm. “I need to go check on them.”
Gretta’s gaze darted inside, then back to me, and she nodded. “Okay, but I’m coming with you.”
I didn’t have time to argue with her. We jumped into my car, and I smelled burnt rubber when I pressed the pedal to the floor. Gretta grabbed the dash and her door, but she didn’t tell me to slow down. She probably knew how well that would go over.
Spruce wasn’t an exceptionally large town, and I knew by heart where all of my clients lived. I’d made a house call or three on days when they were in too much pain to come to me, just as my best friend, Sophie, did for me. Kristin only lived a few blocks over from Sam, but the drive felt like it took forever. The tension hadn’t left my shoulders since this morning, and I knew I’d be paying for it later.
Gretta and I darted across the lawn to the faded blue Cape Cod house. The front door was unlocked, and Gretta grabbed me before I barreled through, stopping us long enough to knock. I had electricity running through my veins, possibly thanks in part to Sam’s caffeinated tea, and when no one answered the door, I broke free of Gretta and went inside.
The kitchen and living room looked empty upon our initial entry. “Kristin? Are you here? It’s Lila.”
There was a soft hiccup and the sound of metal scraping from deeper in the house. Gretta grabbed me, but instead of holding me back, she took the lead. Right. Gretta was a dragon now. I couldn’t imagine someone like Kristin hurting us, but I knew next to nothing about dragon psychosis and its effects. I clenched my hands into fists and held myself back behind my sister.
Kristin sat on the floor of the hallway beyond the living room, dressed in a simple white nightgown. The hiccupping cry came from behind the door she was currently trying to unlock with two sharp knives. Tears streaked her cheeks, and her eyes were wide and bloodshot, a manic grin stretched across her face. I covered my mouth in horror.
“Come on, Cody. Open up for Mommy.” Her voice was hoarse, scratchy, as if she’d just spent the last several hours screaming. “I promise it won’t hurt much. We’ll do it together, just you and me, sweetheart.”
Nausea rolled through me, and tears filled my eyes. She hadn’t even noticed us yet; she was so focused on trying to get the door open and get to her son. This is what dragon bites had the potential to do? I glanced at Gretta. Would my baby sister turn out the same way? Like Mitias said, the timing couldn’t be a coincidence.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when a scalding hand landed on my shoulder. Sam looked down at us with eyes full of sorrow. Behind him in the living room was the older guy, Mitias, and a blond guy with crazy-colored eyes who I recognized as Cameron. And then there was Leath. Of course.
My hands started shaking badly, and as Sam and Cameron pushed past us and into the hall, Gretta took my hands in hers and pulled me away. Pulled me toward Leath.
No. I didn’t want to end up like that. What if Leath was feeling the pull toward me for the same reason that Gerald felt pulled toward Kristin? What if the wizards were coming for me again, using a different tactic to get Gretta to work for them? Instead of making my symptoms temporarily worse with a few crystals, they’d just drive me insane permanently with the promise that only she could find a cure.
Oh, God, what if I tried to hurt Zoe like that?
Tears broke free and traced down my face as I yanked away from Gretta and ran out the front door. Someone called my name, but I didn’t turn around. I couldn’t. There was no way in hell I was letting myself become that, endangering my family. Even for a guy as sexy as the one standing in the street in my rearview mirror.
3
Leath
It was entirely by accident that I happened to be heading to Sam’s that afternoon. After a lunch shift at the retirement home that I’d picked up for lack of anything else to do, and a couple of games of chess with the oldies by the barber shop, my head still whirled with the conversation from that morning. I had intended to ask Sam for advice. If I got lucky, he wouldn’t tell me how idiotic it had been to just blurt out that I was Lila’s destined mate after only meeting her ten minutes before. I was a damn fool.
Yeah, no wonder she didn’t take it well.
But when he and Mitias came sprinting out of his house like there was a fire, I followed. If it was enough to rile Sam up, it was certainly something they needed back-up for, and I needed to be there. Annoying or not, Sam was my best friend. So, I’d been a little surprised and a bit worried when we stopped in front of Cameron’s creepy house. Apparently, Sam had called ahead because Cam was already running out the door. He gestured to me, then jumped in my passenger seat.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Cam blinked at me, his kaleidoscope eyes glittering in the afternoon sun. “You don’t know?”
“I was pulling up at Sam’s when he and Mitias came flying out and jumped in his truck. I just followed, thinking they might need help.”
I was trying to watch the road and follow Sam’s truck, but I heard the smack of Cam’s hand on his face. “Of course you did.”
“Why didn’t you just meet them there?”
Cam shook his damp hair as if to make a point. “I was in the shower when he called. He said it was close and he’d swing by and grab me. Anyway, from what Sam told me, another dragon in the area, an acquaintance of Mitias, thought he found his mate, bit her, and now she’s going—”
“Cuckoo for Choco Poofs?”
Cameron narrowed his eyes at me. “I wouldn
’t put it exactly like that, but that’s the gist. This dragon, Gerald, is also feeling the effects, but not at the level she’s at just yet. We need to get them somewhere safe.”
“Jeez,” I whispered. “I haven’t heard of a case of dragon psychosis in years.”
He nodded in agreement. “Mitias and Sam think it had something to do with those three wizards last month.”
“The ones that made Lila sick?” I growled the words and felt my pulse speed up. How much pain did those assholes intend to inflict on such a small, wonderful town?
I felt Cam’s gaze on me, studying me. “Sam also thinks Gretta and Lila overheard them talking about it and went to the woman’s house first.”
My pulse rocketed into my ears and my dragon stirred, urging me to drive faster. If Lila was in the same house, the same room, as someone who wasn’t in their right mind, she could be in danger. The steering wheel protested under my grip. Beside me, Cam made a humming sound.
“So, how did your client meeting go this morning?” he asked casually.
Fucking ether dragons reading my fucking mind. Sort of. “Fuck you.”
Cam chuckled but didn’t get a chance to respond because we’d pulled up in front of a small house with siding that had probably been blue once, but now looked a depressing gray. Lila’s car was parked along the street in front of it and the front door of the house stood open. My dragon roared for us to get inside, to protect her from the lunatic. We’d seen too many horror movies, but that didn’t make it any less of a possibility. Psychosis was no joke.
Sam led the charge into the house, and we found the siblings standing in the hall just off the living room, watching something farther down. Gretta had angled her body protectively in front of Lila, and I could’ve kissed her for that if I didn’t think Sam would rip my head off and play soccer with it. Lila’s face, though, was horrified.
Moving them back gently, Sam and Cameron headed down the hall toward what I assumed was the victim. Gretta took Lila’s quivering hands in hers—damn, she was shaking so hard—and pulled her away. I moved forward without thinking, intending to comfort my mate, my dragon needing to touch her and calm her. She took one look at me and bolted for the door.