CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Storm quirked a smile as he recalled what Tristan had told him. Tristan and his brothers had laughingly told Storm how they met their mates. Their stories were sweet, romantic, funny and heart-warming.
“Maybe you can ask Gramma and Ne-ma to tell you the stories tomorrow,” he suggested. “They’re not really my stories to tell. But I can assure you that they’re really wonderful, happy stories. Tristan and his brothers are all living happily ever after with their mates and cubs now.”
Emilia tilted her head at him. A faint smile was playing on her lips as she regarded him for a long while.
“You know,” Emilia said at last. “I really respect that. A lot of people, I’ve noticed, like to talk about other people. They like to gossip and spread stories around, stories which aren’t theirs to tell. And too often, these stories get distorted, exaggerated and twisted, and secrets get exposed.” She sighed and looked away. “Sometimes, you can’t even trust your family to keep your secrets. Blood is not thicker than water,” she muttered with a bitter laugh.
Storm frowned. He didn’t completely understand her last statement. He and his brothers were very close and they always looked out for one another. Family was everything to him.
But from what Emilia had just said, it sounded like it was her family who had hurt her. Storm felt an overwhelming urge to protect Emilia from all harm, but to protect her, he needed to understand her situation.
“Would you tell me more about your family?” he asked softly.
Emilia hesitated for a while. Finally she said, “My stepfather died when I was eight. I never knew who my biological father was. When I asked my mother, she would just wave my question away. I suspect she doesn’t know for sure either. She used to boast that she had a lot of lovers and admirers before she married my stepfather.”
Emilia opened her mouth to say more, then shut it abruptly. She had been about to tell him something very important but decided against it at the last minute.
“You are a shifter,” she said instead. She was done talking about her family and her past. That was all she would say for now. It hadn’t been a pleasant trip down memory lane for her, and she wanted to change the topic. “I don’t know what kind, but I know you’re a shifter,” Emilia said as she studied him intently.
Storm nodded and answered without hesitation, “My brothers and I are dragon shifters.” He wasn’t going to hide what he was from Emilia.
At that, Emilia’s eyes rounded. “Wow. I’ve never come across any dragons before.”
“Dragon shifters are very rare,” Storm said. “And even though the shifter gene is passed down from generation to generation, the gene can lie dormant for a long, long time. The Fireblood dragons are only just beginning to awaken in us,” Storm explained.
“Can you shift into dragon form?” Emilia asked.
“No.” After a pause, he corrected, “Not yet. Only Sky’s dragon has emerged so far. I can feel my dragon stirring inside of me, but my younger brother Seath can’t feel a thing, and he has kind of given up on his dragon. It used to bother him a lot but now he has decided that if his dragon is going to be a lazy bastard and just sleep his life away, that’s his business. As Seath so eloquently puts it, his dragon is the one missing out on all the fun!”
Emilia laughed. “I think I’ll adopt his motto.”
Realizing what she had just said, she stopped suddenly and looked around.
“Can you sense...what I am?” Emilia said, paling slightly.
“I can sense you’re a shifter but I can’t tell what your animal is,” Storm answered.
Their food arrived, and as they ate, Emilia began to relax. They chatted about movies and music, but it was clear to Storm that she didn’t want to talk about her animal. Storm watched Emilia closely, but he couldn’t for the life of him tell what kind of shifter she was.
There were many bear shifters in Shadow Point, and Gramma and Ne-ma’s grandsons were all bear shifters. It was easy to identify the bear shifters. They were all big and burly, and there was something in the way they walked and talked that revealed the powerful beast inside of them. Lion and wolf shifters also revealed their animals in their behaviors and appearance.
There were many other kinds of shifters in Shadow Point. There were half-shifters, hybrids and a handful of shifters whose animals were so rare that they were thought to be mythical or extinct.
As Storm studied Emilia quietly, he grew more and more certain that she had a very rare and special animal inside of her. Was she being hunted? There were people and organizations that couldn’t seem to leave well enough alone and dedicated their time and resources to hunting down rare shifter breeds to collect their body parts or conduct bizarre experiments on them.
Emilia was right to be cautious. He was sure that her animal was very special, beautiful and precious, like her.
Storm swore that he would do everything to protect her. Whatever she was, he would keep her safe from her enemies.
But seeing how wounded and guarded Emilia was, earning her trust might prove to be the most difficult task of all.