Dragon’s Protected (West Coast Water Dragons Book 6)

by Kayla Wolf

  Staying here was out of the question. Harvey had made it very clear that he wanted her gone. Besides, her father had ordered her to come back to the pack, and she’d managed to stop him from suspecting anything about her profound change in allegiances. If she headed home now, she could make them think that she was still on their side. Maybe she could have an impact—maybe she could change something about the battle that was looming. She’d do what she could. She realized, as she finished her glass of water, that she didn’t care about what happened to her. What she did care about was what happened to the dragons here. She wanted them to be safe, wanted them to be able to protect themselves from her family.

  She knew what she had to do. She’d drive home tonight. Her eyes shifted to the bedroom, working out how much packing she had to do before she left. Not too much. She’d packed light. She’d head home to her family straight away as her father had instructed. She pulled her phone out, rolling her eyes to see that he’d sent her a handful of text messages making sure she knew she was expected home as soon as possible. Typical. Well, she’d get there when she got there. She’d do everything she could to convince the Alpha to delay the attack. Maybe she could head it off altogether, but from the way her father had been talking, that didn’t seem likely. At the very least, she’d give them some unhelpful information, so they’d be on the back foot if it came to a battle.

  And from her vantage point, she’d warn the dragons about what was happening. Even if it meant betraying her pack, betraying her family. Risking being made an outcast—or worse, simply killed for her betrayal. She wouldn’t put it past the Alpha, and though it was deeply, frighteningly sad, she knew in her heart that her parents wouldn’t put up much of a fight. Hadn’t she spent her whole life learning that to her parents, the wellbeing of the pack was much more important than the happiness of their eldest daughter?

  Phone in hand, she set about saving all the numbers of the settlement that were pinned up on the fridge. Harvey had given her his own personal number that first day—her hands shook a little as she programmed that one in, tears threatening to well up again. No, she told herself firmly, fighting that urge down. No more self-pity. Not until this was all done and dusted. A part of her desperately wanted to hope that if she could pull this off, give the dragons enough information about their enemy, they might forgive her, Harvey might welcome her back. But she forced that part down, too. Hope was the enemy. She’d had hope, these last few hours, hope that she had a future outside of her pack, hope that a life with Harvey could be possible, despite who she was and where she was from. She’d been wrong. And hope was more painful than anything she’d ever felt in her life.

  With the contact numbers saved, she grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote quickly, not letting herself agonize over what to say too long. She needed to get going. Time was of the essence here—she needed to get back home to start doing what she could to protect her new friends. She explained, in brief, that it was her pack that had the history with the dragons of the peninsula. That their numbers were growing, that they were planning an attack. And she explained, as simply as possible, that she was going to do everything she could to stop it and warn the dragons of the attack, if and when it did come.

  She hesitated over signing it—her instinct was ‘love, Lori,’ but she knew that would be painful. Instead, she just wrote her name—then she folded the paper and tucked it into her pocket. She’d leave it on Harvey’s porch on her way out.

  And she’d hope that somehow, she could make up for what she’d done.

  Chapter 10 - Harvey

  Harvey was still awake when the letter slid under his door. He’d been sitting on the couch with his head in his hands, just trying to give himself some time to process everything that had gone on. He knew it was going to take much longer than a couple of hours. It felt like being punched in the face, the dizzy, ringing shock he was feeling. But instead of clearing after a few seconds, this daze had had him in its grips for hours now. Maybe it would never quite let him go. He’d never known anyone who’d been betrayed so completely by their soulmate.

  Because she was his soulmate, still. There was nothing he could do about that. He’d tried his best to stop feeling what he felt about her, but he couldn’t. Even after what she’d done, he still loved her. Still wanted her desperately. His dragon was roaring in his chest, confused and frightened by what was happening. Why had he walked away from her, it seemed to demand, wings flaring? Why had he slammed the door in her face, when all he really wanted to do was to take her into his arms and forgive her immediately for the wrong she’d done him?

  But that wasn’t an option. His head had to overrule his heart on this one. What did his heart know, anyway? All his life, his head had been what had kept him safe. Kept him alive, even, when it came to the battles they’d had with their so-called allies. It was his head that protected his friends, his family, kept them safe. And it was his head that he needed now, in the face of the awful thing that had just happened. To think that he’d been inches away from giving up his suspicion, his paranoia, his fear of enemy attack.

  His blue eyes flicked up to the piece of paper that slid through the gap under the door, his heart pounding. She was out there, that was what that meant, probably hesitating on the porch, wanting to knock on the door. He still remembered the terrified look in her eyes when he’d turned on her, his dragon roaring in his chest, all the anger and shock and betrayal he’d been fighting with almost surging to the surface. At that moment, he’d felt the magic tingling in his body and known that if he didn’t keep himself under control, he was going to shift, right then and there. There had been something almost animalistic in the way she’d recoiled from him, cowering like a dog that had been scolded. And that had broken his heart, too, to know that she was so frightened of him.

  What was he going to do if she came back with her family to fight them? There was no way he could fight against her. As angry and hurt as he felt, he knew that.

  He heard soft footsteps as she left his porch, and he realized he’d been holding his breath. He gave it a few moments, his hands trembling a little where they were resting on his thighs, then he got up, curious despite himself about what she had to say in the letter. Part of him felt like he should just tear it up—but it was her handwriting. Her careful hands had formed these words. If he tore it up and never read it, it would torture him forever.

  Then again, it felt like this whole night was going to torture him forever as it was. What was one more twist of the knife?

  Dear Harvey,

  I don’t expect you to trust me, but this is the truth. My family is the pack that betrayed you all those years ago. My parents were children at the time, but we share memories. They sent me here to spy on you. The Alpha is planning an attack, and it will be soon. We number close to one hundred, last time I checked.

  You don’t have to believe me, but I’m on your side. My parents always told me that the dragons betrayed them and stole their home, but I don’t believe that. I don’t want bloodshed. I don’t want anyone to get hurt. I have no loyalty to my pack any longer—they’ve treated me poorly since the day I was born. I’m leaving now like you wanted. I’m going back to my pack, and I am going to do everything in my power to stop this attack. If I can’t, I’ll at least send you information about what they’re planning so you can be prepared. Keep your phone on you. Make sure your friends are ready.

  I’m so sorry. I’ll do my best to make this right.

  Lori

  He must have read it a hundred times. It was as though he entered some kind of trance, reading the letter over and over as the night wore on. Her handwriting was cramped and shaky—she’d clearly written this quickly—and a few marks on the paper looked like tearstains, which twisted his heart even as he tried to harden himself against it. He couldn’t trust her, he told himself over and over as the hours wore on. She was the enemy. She was a wolf. Wolves were their ancient enemies, their sworn foes. And what was more, she’d lied to him. She
was from the pack that had tried to kill them all—the pack that had taken so many of his friends from him. He reached up absent-mindedly, one hand tracing one of his deeper scars that ran down his arm from the point of his shoulder.

  He could still remember the wound that had caused that. Two wolves, working together—one had held his wing down with its paws, the other had put its jaws around the wing joint and almost ripped the wing from his body. His jaw clenched, adrenalin surging at the memory, his dragon growling in his chest. But a part of him pointed out, straight away, that that had been more than fifty years ago now. Lori hadn’t even been born yet. He couldn’t hold her responsible for the actions of her pack.

  But she’d helped them. She’d come here to gather information—to make it easier for her family to storm the peninsula and kill him and his friends. How could he be anything other than furious about that? All of this new information—about how she was going to try to stop the attack, send him information to help them prepare—all of that was deeply suspect. She had betrayed him. He’d be a fool to trust that she was actually going to betray her family. Hadn’t he sensed, since the very moment he’d met her, that she was hiding something? He’d thought she was just shy and guarded, but no. She was a double agent.

  And he couldn’t waste any more time wishing that she wasn’t.

  Dawn was close when he finally folded the letter and tucked it into his pocket. He knew he should feel tired—it had been an incredibly long night—but the old adrenalin was taking over. This was what he’d used to live for, this feeling of anticipating a fight. He felt like his old self again as he strode out of his cottage, eyes hard, jaw tight. His old self had no time for love. No time for pity or compassion. There was only survival. Keeping himself safe. Keeping his family safe. Making sure they knew what was coming for them. A hundred wolves … could that be true? That was close to how big the pack had been back in the old days. And back then, there had been more dragons to balance the scales. He took a deep breath. Could he trust Lori’s information? It was all he had to go on.

  He woke his friends one by one. At this time, even the early birds among them were still blinking and sleepy—Lachlan with his bird’s nest of blonde hair, scowled at him truculently until he saw the look on his face.

  ”Harvey, what is it?”

  ”Trouble,” Harvey said simply. He’d known Lachlan a long time, and the other dragon nodded after a moment of eye contact. Trust Lachlan to know when something was important. He headed back inside to get dressed, and they went together from door to door, gathering the full dragon population of the peninsula.

  Lachlan, Bryce, James, Daniel, Emerson, Alice, and Harvey. Seven of them … it felt like nothing compared to the huge group they’d been all those years ago. They sat around Bryce’s huge kitchen table—his partner was still asleep in the other room, and they kept their voices low, not wanting to disturb any more people than necessary. He filled them in quickly, thankful for the adrenalin that kept the emotion out of his voice, stopped his voice from breaking when he talked about Lori. He didn’t bother mentioning that she was his mate. What would be the point? He needed his friends to be ready to fight these wolves, and they’d be compromised if they thought that one of them was his soulmate. He couldn’t think about that, though. Not without losing his grip.

  “I can’t believe this,” Lachlan said softly. He was their leader, by popular agreement—Harvey could see the way his friends were looking to him, waiting for his word on the matter. “I can’t believe that after all these years …”

  ”I can,” Harvey said bleakly. “They were furious when we fought them. I’m not surprised that they’ve been plotting all this time.”

  ”Is Cyrus still the Alpha?”

  “I don’t know.” He took a deep breath, pulling his phone out of his pocket. No messages … his heart twinged. On his way through town, he’d noticed that the old truck Lori had arrived in was gone already. She must have left straight after she’d dropped the letter off to him. He’d shown it to his friends already, grateful that she hadn’t made any reference to their relationship. “Lori said she’d give us information when she could, but—”

  ”Can we trust her?” Lachlan wanted to know. “She came here to spy on us. What changed? What if this is just another trick—a way of feeding us fake information?”

  ”I’ve been wondering the same thing,” Harvey said levelly, keeping the feeling out of his voice. “She’s had a change of heart since she’s been here, from what I could gather.”

  ”What made her leave? What made her run off like that?”

  ”I overheard her on the phone. It seems she was called back home.” There was something curious in Lachlan’s eyes—he frowned to himself, aware that his friend was onto him, starting to figure out that something else was going on. “We’ll take any information she gives us with a grain of salt. In the meantime, I suggest we start patrolling around the clock. It’s very likely they’ve sent scouts ahead,” he added, frowning to himself as he remembered the wolf he’d seen in the woods. How had he been so stupid, assuming it was just a stray? It had been in league with Lori.

  “If there are so many of them, we ought to move in pairs, at least,” Lachlan said. “I’ve been caught alone by wolves before—it doesn’t end well.” Harvey’s hand moved to the scar on his shoulder again, and Lachlan nodded. “You and me, first watch?”

  ”We’ll take second,” Daniel said. His soulmate Alice was holding his hand, her blue eyes resolute.

  ”Third,” Emerson said, clapping James on the shoulder.

  ”I’ll hold down the fort here,” Bryce said in his rumbling baritone. “Organize a polite evacuation of the human guests.”

  ”I hadn’t even thought of that,” Lachlan said, dismayed. But Harvey waved his hand.

  ”We’ve got protocols in place for this,” Harvey said, deeply glad that he’d organized a few ironclad excuses to send guests home at a moment’s notice. “Can you handle it, Bryce?” The big guy nodded, never one to waste words. “Right. I’m going to get going now.”

  ”I’ll tell Serena what’s going on then come find you,” Lachlan said simply, rising to his feet. The seven of them took a moment to exchange glances. The atmosphere was tense and worried, but Harvey trusted the people in this room more than anyone. “Let us know if you hear anything from Lori,” Lachlan said, giving him a meaningful look. “If there’s a chance it’s good intel, we can’t turn it away.”

  He nodded, trying to hide the way that Lori’s name made his stomach twist itself into knots. Then they headed out. Harvey turned for the forest, taking long strides, feeling the prickle of exhaustion behind his eyes that came from a long, sleepless night. But even if he’d had time to get some sleep, he knew he wouldn’t be able to. He had to keep busy, that was the secret. Bury himself in patrolling, in keeping the peninsula safe for him and his people. That way he wouldn’t think about Lori too much. Wouldn’t start torturing himself with memories of how her body had felt against his, the softness of her long dark hair, the glow of those silver eyes …

  His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he jumped a little. He was nearing the tree line now. It was beginning to get light—the sun hadn’t risen yet, but the cold gray pre-dawn light meant he could see well enough. He pulled his phone from his pocket as he headed down one of the various trails through the forest, his heart pounding. A text message from an unknown number. Sure enough … it was Lori.

  Harvey. I just got back home. There’s a pack meeting tonight at eight. I’ll tell you what I learn there as soon as I can. You don’t have to respond to this. Take all the time you need. Lori.

  He bit his lip hard, turbulent emotions storming through his mind. It was good to hear from her, that was the worst part—seeing her name on the screen had made his heart skip a beat before he could control himself. He missed her. He was glad she was okay, glad she was safe. As much as he tried to fight it, he knew that it was true. He cared about her, still. Even after everything she’d don
e. Was that what love was? Love was stupid.

  He tried to distract himself by scanning the trees for wolves, but it was a fool’s errand. Looking for wolves just made him think about Lori more. What had she meant, take all the time he needed? Did she really think there was a way they could get through this? That after her betrayal of him, they could be together? It was impossible. She was a wolf—she was his enemy. But she was helping him, his treacherous heart opined. She was putting herself in incredible danger to help him, in fact. If he knew anything about wolves, it was that they were even more ruthless about betrayal than dragons were. If her family found out that she was helping him, sending him information about the planned attack, she’d be in serious trouble. What if they hurt her?

  It would serve her right, you idiot, he told himself angrily, trying to harden his heart. But it was no use. Like it or not, he loved her. That was why this hurt so much. And like it or not—he trusted her, deep down. Trusted that she was telling the truth, trusted that she wanted to help him and his companions, that she was willing to risk her life and betray her pack to help keep them safe. And he knew, deep down, that he could forgive her for what she’d done. She was his soulmate, after all.

  But what if he never got the chance? What if her pack attacked and killed all seven of them? Or worse—what if they found out she was trying to help them?

  What if he never saw her again?

  Chapter 11 - Lori

  There was something oddly peaceful about driving at night. Lori was incredibly calm as she steered her truck along the familiar roads of home, headed for the farmhouse where she’d spent so much of her life. The country was achingly familiar. This was home. But at the same time, it was all completely different now. She’d changed, she could feel it. The time she’d spent on the peninsula, with Harvey … it had made her a different person. A stronger person. A person who knew what she had to do, and was going to do it, no matter the consequences.