HAPTER 7
Katie was right. Nick and Damien did look like they were about to kill each other. Several thousand feet in the air, they were now charging at each other, breathing jets of fire. The force of their collision made me cringe. Dragon shifters had increased strength and healing abilities, even had the ability to heal almost instantly, but I knew they weren't immune to pain.
After a few more collisions and a few swipes at each other, their razor-sharp claws glinting in the sun, Nick and Damien separated briefly once again, each of them seeming to retreat to their own corners, except the corners were pieces of blue sky. And it was shortly after this that they both seemed to spot me. Being that they were both so far away, I couldn't be sure, but they both seemed to turn their scaly dragon faces toward me.
After that, their "sparring match" intensified. They both swooped lower, as if wanting me to clearly see it. Damien actually stabbed Nick in the shoulder with one of his sword-like claws, making a large patch of Nick's dark green scales turn blood red.
I gasped, a hand flying to my mouth. "Oh, no."
Immediately after, I saw Alexandria. What had caught my attention was that she'd gasped, too. She was sitting right near the front of the few dozen onlookers that were sitting adjacent to Katie and me. And she looked just as concerned about Nick as I was.
Katie had given me a description of her before we'd left the cabin, though her description didn't exactly do Alexandria justice. Katie had said she was "curvy and blonde, kind of pretty, I guess. Roundish face." But Alexandria wasn't just "kind of pretty." She was a knockout, to be sure. Her "roundish face" was beautiful, as was her pale, platinum blonde hair that cascaded over her back in glimmering waves. And even though she was sitting, I could tell that her long, full-figured frame was beautiful as well. With her legs tucked beneath her, she sat with perfect posture, making her full, high breasts even more noticeable than they might have been otherwise.
The slight bit of anxiety about the time Nick would be spending with her returned. I grabbed an elastic band from my wrist and quickly swept my light brown hair up into a ponytail, a little self-conscious that my hair didn't cascade down my back in waves, glimmering or otherwise.
Nick and Damien continued to fight, roaring, and Alexandria began reciting some sort of low, quiet chant, her lips barely moving. The little cluster of onlookers turned their attention from the fight to her, seemingly impressed to have a sorceress doing a spell in their midst.
But not too long after she began, she stopped suddenly, frowning. After a few deeps breaths she resumed, but only to soon stop again, frowning even harder. She then stood and began waving her arms. "That's enough for now! I need to figure something out before we keep going!"
Nick and Damien were surely out of hearing distance, and after a few more shouts, Alexandria soon seemed to realize this. And so, instead of more shouting, she extended a hand skyward and shot a great bright burst of golden light from one finger. A collective gasp arose from all the onlookers; even I gasped. I'd never seen anyone do magic before, outside of the sort of magic that was shifters shifting.
The burst of golden light rose high in the sky until it was parallel to Nick and Damien, and at that point it seemed to burst, something like a firework. Which immediately caught their attention. Alexandria waved her arms again, and a few moments later, Nick and Damien began descending.
Nick landed first, shifted into human form immediately, and approached Alexandria. "What's up?"
She shook her head. "Not sure. But the spell isn't working right now for some reason; I can tell. My powers have honestly been a little out of whack since I fell and hit my head on that river rock last summer."
Damien landed close to Nick and Alexandria, shifted in a blink, and surveyed the group of onlookers. "We could probably do without the gawker gallery, here. I don't think my brother trying to increase his pathetic amount of strength really needs an audience. Not that you can't all probably see the show from everywhere else in the town, anyway."
People started to get up and leave, and Katie and I glanced at each other. I, for one, kind of thought we should be able to stay.
And within a moment, Damien looked at me. "Of course, you two don't have to go anywhere." He actually winked at me, his full mouth curving in a grin. "I'd never ask a VIP to leave."
Once everyone else had cleared out, Nick introduced me to Alexandria, shifting his feet, looking more than a little bit uncomfortable. She extended a hand, smiling, though the smile didn't reach all the way up to her sky blue eyes. And in fact, she actually seemed to be glaring slightly.
"It's so wonderful to meet you, Daisy."
I took her hand and shook it, murmuring the same, trying to not let myself be intimidated by her confident air and good looks.
The moment Alexandria released my hand from her unusually tight grip, Nick cleared his throat. "Well, maybe this should be it for right now. Maybe this afternoon, we can pick up from here, and maybe we'll have better luck. Maybe we can-"
"No, let's keep going." With her expression pleading, Alexandria took a tiny step closer to him. "I can do this; just give me a minute to try to get my head right."
Nick took a deep breath. "Well, all right."
I suddenly realized that when he and Damien went back up in the air, Katie and I would be left back down on the ground with Alexandria. And being alone with Alexandria, even if Katie was also present, was definitely not an experience I'd likely enjoy. Something just told me it would be an awkward time for all.
And so, I quickly stepped over, rose to my tiptoes, and gave Nick a quick kiss. "Katie and I just wanted to stop by on our way to the museum space. Good luck. I'll see you at home later."
After Nick had given me a quick squeeze, Katie and I really did begin heading over to the building where the museum would be, even though we hadn't previously planned on it.
And once we were out of earshot, she glanced over at me. "Boy, oh, boy. If looks could kill."
I snorted. "I thought I saw her giving me a kind of a nasty little look right after I kissed Nick."
Katie snorted herself, glancing at me. "Oh, I had no idea about that. I was talking about Damien when Nick pulled you close."
I looked at her, not knowing exactly how to respond. She looked back at me for a long moment, silently. And suddenly we both burst into laughter.
The next few days dragged by. I tried to busy myself with museum-readying work as much as possible, letting some of the town children who wanted to help, help. I didn't visit any of Nick’s, Damien’s, and Alexandria's spell-sessions again. Though each night, Nick told me that probably because of the head injury she'd received just a little over a year earlier, Alexandria was still having trouble getting her shifter-strengthening spells to work. And on the fourth day of her stay in town, Nick told me that there would be a council meeting later that evening, after dinner, so that the failure of the plan could be discussed and other plans explored.
But soon after the council meeting began, it became clear that Alexandria didn't yet think that the plan was a failure.
She leaned forward in her seat, her gaze on Nick. "Please. Just give me a little more time. I know my powers were weakened by my head injury, but they're not gone. And just a little while ago, I actually thought of a way I might be able to get them back, and fast."
With his arms folded across his hard chest, Nick looked at her, his expression unreadable. "I'm listening."
Alexandria took a deep breath. "There are supposedly some special crystals in a cave in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. My mother, who, as you know, was a sorceress herself, told me the legend about them once. She said that when worn around the neck, they'll give any sorceress increased power. And if a sorceress' powers have been diminished, for any reason, they'll restore her power to the level that it once was. So maybe these crystals are just what I need. Maybe they'll work, and we can continue on with the plan and increase your own power once I get mine back."
While the members of the council exchanged glances, Alexandria paused, her gaze on Nick, seeming to be expecting a response. But Nick remained silent, his expression still unreadable. Damien, who'd brought a paper bag of caramel popcorn to the meeting, threw a piece in the air, caught it in his mouth, and chewed while looking from Alexandria to Nick.
With her big blue eyes looking like twin pools of pleading, Alexandria continued, her gaze on Nick. “Please. Don't abandon the plan when it could so easily work if we get the crystals. Flying in dragon form, it would only be a day trip to go down to Tennessee to get them. You and I could even go down tomorrow-"
"No." Sitting up straighter in my seat, I stared her down, my pulse pounding. "No, I don't think so."
She sighed. "I was going to say 'You and I could even go down tomorrow with a big group, including everyone here.'"
More than a bit dubious whether that was what she'd actually been about to say, I continued staring her down for a long moment until Nick spoke.
"Being leader and chief of this town, and being that the town is currently under constant threat of attack from the wolves, I don't think I could leave in good conscience, and so I won't. However, if any others of you would like to volunteer to-"
"Yup." Damien tossed another piece of popcorn into the air and caught it in his mouth. "I'll go. Daisy and I will go."
Nick spoke through gritted teeth. "Over my dead, rotting-"
"But I want to." I turned from Damien to Nick. "I want to go. Everyone here in town has been so warm and welcoming to me, and I want to do my part to help keep the town safe, even in some small way. Probably the very least I can do is go on a short little mission to help get some crystals."
I did want to help keep the town safe; that was true. Though also, I just had the urge to get out of town. I just wanted to get far away from Alexandria for a little while. I wanted to put hundreds of miles between us. I wanted to forget about how attractive she was and how at one time, she'd enjoyed an intimate relationship with my boyfriend.
"Just let me go, Nick. Please."
He scowled, but before he could respond, Katie piped up.
"Sam and I will go, too. I've honestly been needing some adventure lately, and I think this is just the ticket. I've never even been out of Michigan, let alone had the chance to visit the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. I've only seen pictures in old books."
She paused briefly, studying Nick's scowl. "So, can we move ahead with this, then? With Damien, Daisy, Sam, and I going on the trip together? We can leave tomorrow morning at dawn and probably be back the following morning, if not tomorrow night."
Sam, who sat next to Katie, holding her hand, spoke in a low voice, his gaze on Nick. "I guess I'd like to go, too. And I'll make sure everything goes...." He glanced at Damien for the briefest of moments. "Smoothly."
With his expression still dark, Nick looked from Sam to Katie to me to Damien before returning his gaze to me. "This trip should take no longer than twenty-four hours, at the very most."
Katie stifled a little squeal of joy. So badly did I want to put miles between Alexandria and me, I almost squealed with joy myself. But, knowing that a squeal of joy might give Nick the wrong idea about why I wanted to go on the trip, I simply gave him a little smile instead.
"Thank you. We'll be back in twenty-four hours with the crystals. And then everything can proceed as planned."
And then Alexandria can go back to her own town, I thought.
A short while later, after Nick had adjourned the meeting, he stood talking with Sam in one corner of the lodge. Probably giving him explicit instructions to keep Damien and me separated as much as possible during the trip, I figured.
Katie sidled up to me where I stood near a gilded fireplace and spoke in a low voice. "So...I really did want to go on the trip just for the adventure, but was I also correct in thinking that you might have wanted a little assist from me in order to get away from Alexandria for a little while? I kind of got that just from your face."
I sighed, my gaze on Alexandria, who was heading over to Nick and Sam. "You thought exactly right. And I can't wait."
Damien strolled by on his way to the lodge exit, tossing another piece of popcorn in the air and catching it in his mouth. "See you tomorrow morning, ladies." He paused and looked directly at me, the edges of his full mouth curving in a grin. "When our adventure will begin."
Nick and I made love later that evening and then fell asleep in each other's arms. Or, I fell asleep, anyway. Right before I did, I could tell that Nick was still awake, staring at the ceiling.
The next morning, when we sat on the wraparound porch a while before dawn, waiting for Katie and Sam and Damien, I took Nick's hand in the dark, my gaze on the square-jawed silhouette of his face. "Everything's going to be fine. I promise I won't hop right in the sack with Damien four minutes after leaving town. Or anytime during the trip at all."
I'd meant my words to be humorous, but Nick seemed to shudder and didn't respond, so I continued.
"Look. We can trust each other. I trust you. If I didn't, I wouldn't be leaving you here alone in town with Alexandria."
It was true. I wouldn't even dare. From a distance, I'd seen her and Nick laughing about something in front of the general store the previous day, though they'd been in a group, and that had been the only instance of warmth I'd seen between them. Katie, who'd been surreptitiously watching some of the spell-practice sessions all week, also hadn't seen any kind of beyond-friends displays of warmth or affection between them, either.
Giving my hand a little squeeze, Nick turned his face to look at me. "I trust you, too. It's my brother I don't trust. So, I want you to watch yourself around him, Daisy. He's in love with you, and he'll take advantage of any opportunity when your guard is down."
"I know. But I plan to act the same way I always do around him. Friendly and civil, but not too familiar, and definitely not encouraging. Besides, ninety percent of the trip will be flying anyway, and during that time, he won't even be able to talk to me."
Nick soon gave me a long, tight hug and several kisses, and then went into the cabin. He said he could hardly bear to watch his brother taking me away on a trip.
Not long after, when the sky was just beginning to lighten, Damien arrived, dressed in black boots, jeans, and a black t-shirt fitted just well enough to highlight the muscular contours of his chest.
He sauntered over to the porch wearing a half-grin, put a boot up on the first step, and looked at me."So. You ready to ride me?"