Cameron
I roll over, wrapping my arms around my beautiful wife. After an incredible night together, my hopes are high that it worked. If everything goes according to plan, she’s going to be growing our baby really, really soon. We’re going to have a tiny Peggy or a tiny Cameron running around, giving us hell, before a year has passed.
I can hope.
And I am hoping.
She moans in her sleep before rolling over and snoring. Peggy isn’t what I would call a delicate sleeper. She is, however, the most beautiful woman to ever walk the face of the Earth. I’ll fight anyone who feels like arguing with me.
She’s going to be an incredible mom.
And me?
I’m going to be a damn good father.
The two of us fell in love unexpectedly, but then again, isn’t that how it always goes?
The moment you stop looking, that’s when you find someone.
It’s when you stop trying to make fate happen that fate finds you. It discovers you, wrapping you tightly in its grip, and it never seems to let you go.
A knock sounds on my front door, pulling me from my thoughts. I hurry out of bed, grab a pair of pajama pants, and wiggle into them. I dart out of the room and downstairs, hoping to get to the front door before the knocker strikes again. Peggy and I were up all night. She deserves to get some sleep.
I yank the door open without bothering to see who it is.
“Wilson? What the hell are you doing here?”
“Good morning to you, too, asshole.” He pushes past me into the living room and goes straight for the kitchen. “No coffee yet?” He asks, looking around. “Let’s make some.”
“Wilson,” I ask. “What’s wrong?”
The clan leader doesn’t come to my house often. When he does, it’s because something big is happening and he needs my advice or help. He’s officially in charge of the clan, but I help him out a lot. The two of us tend to work very well together: the result of years of friendship.
“It’s Lawrence.”
“What about him?” He was supposed to go to the stone tower last night to check for anyone. It’s not often that someone seeks refuge with our clan, but there’s this rule in the world of dragons that if you need something and you go to the stone tower on the night of the full moon, a dragon will come and help you. It’s this weird promise that’s become something of a legend. Without fail, one of us goes each month. It’s usually me, but I managed to convince Lawrence to go in my place because Peggy was ovulating last night.
“He didn’t come back.”
“What do you mean?” I glance at the clock on my stove. It’s mid-morning. He should have been back hours ago. Even if he waited until daylight to fly back, there’s no reason we wouldn’t have heard from him by now. That’s the deal. Even if there’s nothing to report, whoever goes to the stone tower has to report it. He should have checked in with Wilson. The fact that he didn’t means something is wrong, but I don’t need Wilson panicking right now. Maybe there’s a logical explanation.
“I mean he didn’t come back, Cameron. Something happened.”
“Don’t overreact,” I say cautiously. “The clan has been through a lot in the last few months.”
“Yeah, no shit.”
First my sister and her family were taken hostage by Lucky. My brother-in-law sacrificed himself to save me. Our clan managed to save a number of shifters from a nearby Lucky facility. We thought it might be the headquarters, but it wasn’t. We still don’t know where that is or how we’re going to take them down. Each day, we get a little closer to finding out who’s really behind this terrible organization, but days tend to pass slowly, and fighting gets tiresome.
After we brought the shifters back to our communities, Lucky struck again. This time by infecting us with a virus we didn’t know the rescued shifters had been exposed to. It was a nightmare. Again, we lost people. We’ve lost too many people. I don’t want to lose anymore.
Especially not my friend.
Especially not Lawrence.
“What do we do?” I ask. It’s the clan leader’s decision. He has to be the one to decide. Although I have plenty of ideas, I’m not sure how good most of them are. We could send out a search party. It’ll make us vulnerable, losing a large number of clan members for the day, but it might be worth it. Maybe Wilson will want to wait a few more hours, though.
“First I want a cup of coffee,” Wilson says with a sigh. “Then we’ll decide how long to wait for him.”
“Maybe someone came to the stone tower,” I point out the obvious. “Maybe he’s helping a dragon in need.”
“Maybe,” Wilson says, but his voice trails off, and we both know that’s not likely.
No, if Lawrence hasn’t come back yet, it’s because something bad has happened, and I hate to think about what.