by Chant, Zoe
Nothing we can’t do when we stand together with our mate, it insisted. Side by side, we’re unstoppable!
Athena let out a breath. Glad you think so.
Santos reappeared from the hallway. “I think it would be good for you to meet Malachi. Elizabeth too, probably. We can all sit down and strategize about what to do.”
Malachi, the sheriff of Oak Ridge. The one that Damian had challenged, and who had beaten him without breaking a sweat, if you believed Damian’s story.
Of course, Damian was a hotheaded young idiot, whom Jeremiah had had to threaten into frightened complacency to keep him from trying to shift and break out of human jail, blowing the whole existence of shifters to an entire city.
Still. As far as Athena had heard, Malachi seemed like Oak Ridge’s Jeremiah. A powerful leader, willing and able to fight for himself, but also able to inspire the rest of the dragons to follow him. And he had the tool of human law on his side, which some of the red dragons dismissed as a weakness—but Damian’s situation revealed otherwise. It was another powerful weapon in his arsenal.
Athena hadn’t intended to sit down for a meeting with him when she came to Oak Ridge, but, well. If the opportunity was presenting itself to her, she couldn’t say no.
And she’d better do it before Alaric got involved in this whole situation, because she had no idea whether she’d be able to keep Alaric from challenging him to an honorable duel, otherwise.
“Okay,” she said, keeping her voice steady. “Where?”
“Lachlan’s would be best, if you don’t mind going back there for a second meal today,” Santos said, smiling. “Good neutral ground.”
Athena had to admit that she was relieved that Malachi wouldn’t be coming here. Which was crazy, because this wasn’t her home—for all she knew, Malachi came over here for a regular poker night every week or something.
But still, it felt like a home base. Like a safe place. That was a dangerous way to think, she knew: nowhere was really safe. Enemies could attack no matter where you were. That was something that Jeremiah had tried to instill in all of them—that was why they moved around regularly, both to keep anyone from knowing where they all were, and also to keep them from getting complacent, assuming that they were all safe just because they were somewhere they were used to.
So she shouldn’t feel like this at all, much less over a place she’d been in for less than a day.
But she did.
“Lachlan’s sounds good,” she managed.
Santos came forward, cupping her shoulder with one hand—the other hand gently caressed Olivia’s fine hair, tenderly enough that it made Athena’s eyes sting with some unnamable feeling.
“I can tell that you’re all tied up about something,” he said, his voice deep and quiet and gentle like his hands. “I don’t know what it is, but I can sense it. You’re struggling. And I just want you to know that I want to help with whatever it is. If you could talk to me about it—”
She shook her head, biting her lip. How could she tell Santos about the paranoia and violence that lived in her head all the time? He was part of this insane perfect fantasy world, so kind and accepting that it didn’t even seem real. He couldn’t possibly understand.
“Okay,” he said on a sigh. “But I hope you’ll change your mind. If something’s causing you pain, I want to know about it. I want to help.”
She closed her eyes for a second, unable to even really look at him when he was being so—so Santos.
And then she felt the soft press of his lips to the top of her head. God, he was just too much. All of him, it was all too much.
And she just wanted to let go and fall down into him, let it all overwhelm her until she’d forgotten everything she’d ever learned back home.
She opened her eyes. “Ready to go?” she asked, her voice as steady as she could make it.
He held up his phone. “Let me set it up with Malachi. I’m sure he’ll want to meet you right away.”
***
The sheriff of Oak Ridge was an intimidating-looking man: tall and broad, with severe features and deep-set dark eyes that watched Athena with a carefully evaluating look.
The woman with him—Elizabeth, who was his mate, Athena thought she remembered Santos saying—was also somewhat severe: icy blonde, with perfect makeup and an expensive-looking suit on. She was also pregnant, just beginning to really show. Malachi guided her into the booth across from Athena and Santos with a gentle hand on her back, then took the seat next to her.
“Well,” he said, after studying Athena for another long moment. “Athena. It’s good to meet you.”
“Is it?” she asked bluntly. Beside her, she saw Santos hide a smile, though she wasn’t quite sure what he thought was funny.
“Very much so,” he said, more mildly than she was expecting. “Santos tells me that you’re not invested in the conflict between our people and yours. That you’d prefer to see it end peacefully.”
“That’s right,” she said cautiously.
Elizabeth leaned forward. “We want to work with you to facilitate that. All-out fighting doesn’t benefit anyone, in our opinion. And this is the first opportunity we’ve had to speak rationally with someone from your clan.”
Ronan, Athena supposed, no longer counted as part of their clan.
“All right,” she said. “Speak rationally.”
Elizabeth smiled a little, and the break in her coolly professional façade made Athena’s shoulders relax minutely. “I’ll do my best. Our first question is—what does your leader want, exactly? Why is he pursuing this conflict in the first place?”
That was an unexpected question. Athena tried to consider it from Oak Ridge’s fairyland point of view. “Victor offered him a lot of money, to start with,” she said. “I don’t know if he’s going to be able to follow through on that now. He already handed some over, though.” Jeremiah had been greedily delighted, although she didn’t know what he wanted to use it for, exactly. Not creature comforts, that was for sure—it was Jeremiah’s opinion that too much of that would make his people soft.
Elizabeth nodded. “Victor’s assets have been seized at this point, so there won’t be any more coming,” she said. “I doubt Victor will volunteer that information, but it’s been in the papers.”
“It won’t stop him, though,” Athena said. “Now that he knows you’re all here, Jeremiah’s going to want to fight anyway.”
“But why?” Elizabeth pressed. “What’s his victory condition?”
“He wants our clan to grow,” Athena said. “It’s been shrinking over the last generation. He’d love to win over some of your younger members. Women especially; we don’t have many.”
“I wonder why,” Malachi muttered, and Athena looked at him sharply.
“What do you mean?”
Malachi met her eyes. “Just that from what Ronan has said, your clan is a brutal place to live, and women aren’t afforded much status. It doesn’t seem safe for you.”
Athena bristled. “I can take care of myself.” Beside her, Santos leaned in slightly, his shoulder like a warm, solid rock against hers, and she felt herself relax a little.
“I have absolutely no doubt about that,” Malachi said, and he sounded sincere. “But not everyone can.”
Athena thought about her mother, about Shiloh’s mother. About Shiloh’s sister Sage, who absolutely could not defend herself in a fight. “No.”
“So I’m not surprised there aren’t many women in your clan. And I’m sure you’re not surprised that, as far as I know, none of the women living in Oak Ridge would willingly submit to Jeremiah’s authority.”
Jeremiah would see that as weakness, Athena knew. An unwillingness to acknowledge their true natures, to live according to the natural order of things, away from their cozy homes, to fight for status.
Athena used to believe the same thing. But feeling Santos’ calm, compassionate presence next to her, Athena had to admit that she was changing her mind. Had been for
a long time, before she ever arrived in Oak Ridge herself.
She’d seen too much evidence of Jeremiah’s own weakness. Weakness to his instincts, weakness in the face of new ideas. Whenever anyone questioned his authority, he snapped into a rigid—and loud—reiteration of the same things he’d been saying for the last twenty years.
It had taken Athena a while to realize that that was what weakness looked like, but after Olivia had been born, she’d started to understand.
And now, she was starting to realize that it wasn’t just Jeremiah’s weakness. It was part of their whole clan. The rigidity, the violence. How they thought human culture was worthless. How they could never acknowledge that anyone else’s ways could be better than theirs.
“He also wants the prestige of having defeated you,” Athena continued, suddenly sick of all of this. “And he’ll take some of your stuff if he can. Whatever’s valuable.”
Under the table, Santos’ hand found hers, his fingers rough and warm. Startled, Athena let him twine their fingers together. It was a reminder that she had more than all of that now—she had this man, who was nothing like any of them. She could feel him, his presence, not just his hand.
Although the hand was nice, too.
Elizabeth leaned forward again, frowning. “How do you all make money? Do you have jobs? Investments?”
Athena couldn’t help but laugh. “No. No way. That’s all human stuff. No, we find abandoned houses in the woods and live in them. We take other people’s things and use those. We hunt for food, we shelter in caves when we have to.”
Santos turned to look at her. “That’s how you grew up?”
He sounded horrified, and his hand tightened around hers. Athena tensed up. “Yes. So what? I learned what I needed to.”
“No, I’m not—I’m trying to put down your education,” Santos said, his thumb stroking over her palm. “I just meant—it sounds like it was hard. For you.”
“It was. Jeremiah thinks that that’s what makes people strong.”
“What do you think?” he asked.
Athena looked down at Olivia’s soft curls. She’d been sitting quietly, watching Malachi and Elizabeth with wide eyes. New eyes.
“I think strength comes from being able to learn and grow,” she said quietly. “And Jeremiah can’t do that. He won’t negotiate, he won’t surrender, and he won’t change his mind. I’m sorry. If you wanted some kind of key to talking him out of fighting you, it doesn’t exist.”
Santos’ hand tightened again. “No one needs you to solve this conflict singlehandedly while we’re sitting at this table.”
He was as sincere as ever, but Athena was looking at Elizabeth and Malachi, and she could see disappointment in their faces. They’d really hoped that she had some kind of information that could help them talk their way out of a red dragon war.
Across the diner, by the door, she heard a startled exclamation, and raised her eyes to see—Ronan.
Still with his baby, but this time there was a woman with him as well. She turned to look at him, a questioning expression on her face, and he spoke a few words, too low for Athena to hear what he said. The woman’s expression firmed, and she started over to their booth.
Ronan came right after her, and Athena could hear him now. “Katie, wait, it might not be—”
Safe, was the end of that, and that made her stomach sink.
She liked being strong, capable, and dangerous when it was necessary. She didn’t want her own cousin to think she wasn’t safe to be around.
The woman—Katie, apparently—didn’t look like she was concerned, though. She marched right over to the booth and said, “You’re Ronan’s cousin Athena?”
Athena nodded, wondering if she should hand Olivia over to Santos, if Katie was about to challenge her for trying to steal her mate back to his home clan.
Or no, wait. Katie was human. Ronan had said so. So she wasn’t going to challenge Athena at all, but that meant that Athena had no idea what was about to happen.
Katie said, “Can I talk to you alone for a minute?”
Beside her, Ronan cleared his throat.
She glanced at him, and then corrected, “Can Ronan and I talk to you alone for a minute?”
Athena thought about it, then figured she didn’t really have anything to lose. Katie couldn’t subdue her, and she was willing to wager that she could take Ronan in a fight—after living the soft life for two years, there was no way he was in practice.
“Okay,” she said, and handed Olivia to Santos, as he moved to let her out of the booth.
Ronan made a surprised noise. Athena glared at him. “I can hand my baby off to whoever I choose.”
He nodded slowly. Then looked at baby Noah, who was busy with a graham cracker, and grinned a little, offering him to Malachi. “Want a refresher course?”
“Some things you never forget,” Malachi said with a return grin, taking the baby. “I have a teenaged daughter,” he said to Athena, who hadn’t asked.
“Oh,” she said, not really sure what the appropriate response was. Congratulations, maybe?
She glanced at Santos, who was smiling at her. The sight of him made the now-familiar warmth bloom in her chest again.
Forget Ronan, she was going to go soft if this kept up.
Uncertainly, she followed Ronan and Katie out of the diner into the parking lot, where Katie turned to her and said seriously, “Are you all right?”
“What do you mean?” Athena asked.
“I mean, are you okay back at your home? Are you safe there?”
“I—well—” If she was honest, the answer was no, just because no one was safe.
“My baby, Noah, is Victor Leone’s biological child,” Katie said, which made Athena blink and look at Ronan, who nodded. “I was trapped with that pack. I had to run away in the night to make sure that I could get away and raise my son somewhere he wouldn’t learn to become a selfish killer like Victor.”
She took a deep breath, met Athena’s eyes, and continued, “When Ronan told me you’d come here with your baby, I couldn’t let it go. I had to come here and tell you: if you’re in a similar position at all, if any of that sounds familiar—Oak Ridge is the place for you. You don’t have to go back home. You can come and stay here.”
“She’s right,” Ronan said, and Athena startled a bit. Katie’s gaze had been so direct, her words so heartfelt, that she’d almost forgotten he was there.
He was looking at Katie with an expression that was—fond? Proud? Both? It wasn’t something she was used to seeing on his face.
Then he turned to Athena, and there was the same fervor, the same sincerity in him that there had been in Katie. “All the reasons that I left home also apply to you, Athena. More, now that you have a baby.”
“I can take care of Olivia,” Athena said, contrary instinct rising inside her—the same reaction that was always guaranteed to drive Alaric crazy. Don’t tell me what to do.
“Only you can say what will be best for her,” Katie broke in, shooting Ronan a quelling look. “We’re not trying to tell you how you should raise your daughter. Just, if you decide that it’s not a good environment for her...Oak Ridge is an option. A good option.”
“Okay,” Athena said slowly. She looked at Ronan, expecting another righteous instruction, but he just nodded.
Then Katie said, “That’s all I wanted to say. Let’s go back inside. I’m starving, and I’d love to meet little Olivia, if you’re okay with that.”
“All right,” Athena said. God, what was this place? Who were these people—especially this human woman, who had apparently tamed her self-righteous, furious cousin into someone who actually thought before he spoke, and yielded to someone else when it was best.
Not that Athena had ever really had room to throw stones in that arena.
She followed them back inside, and found that Santos and Malachi had seated Olivia and Noah on the table and were encouraging them to bat and coo at each other. Noah seemed interested, b
ut Olivia looked mostly nonplussed.
Santos looked up as Athena approached, giving her that slow, warm smile that she was starting to get used to. “Hi. Everything good?”
She nodded, reaching out to take Olivia when he handed her over. Katie leaned in and said, “Hi, baby. Hello!”
Olivia looked up at her—and then suddenly her usually-serious face broke into a big baby grin.
Athena looked at her daughter and thought about how often she smiled at anyone back home. Olivia was afraid of Jeremiah, and had been pretty much since she was born.
Do I want to raise my daughter in fear? she asked herself.
No, was the answer. No. No, she didn’t.
Chapter 14: Santos
Santos was desperately curious about what Katie had had to say to Athena, but he was going to have to wait to find out—assuming Athena chose to tell him. He didn't know Katie very well; she'd only come to Oak Ridge a few months ago, and she lived out in the woods with Ronan, and was mostly busy with her son and with starting up her little coffee shop down the street from the diner.
So he had no idea what she might have wanted to tell Athena. She certainly couldn't approve of Athena's plan to get Ronan to come back home, but she seemed like a kind, caring person, and she looked too friendly to have wanted to start an argument.
God, it was frustrating to feel cut off from so much that was happening to and around his mate. Santos made the decision then and there: if Athena decided that she had to go back home, he was going to go with her. Hopefully, there would come a point where he could convince her to return to Oak Ridge, but until then—he wanted to be with her wherever she went.
As Katie finished getting to know Olivia, Malachi said to Ronan, “Athena tells us that there's no reasoning with Jeremiah. We'll have to fight him no matter what.”
Ronan nodded. “I would've been surprised if he'd picked up a talent for negotiation in the last couple of years. My father is not known for his flexibility.”
“What about his successor?” Santos asked, suddenly struck by an idea.
Athena and Ronan both looked at him. “Shiloh?” Athena said after a second.