Steffan stepped out into the fresh but warm air and took a big gulp, trying to clear the female’s scent from his sinuses. Gods, but he’d wanted to haul her over that flimsy wooden desk and carry her out of there. And he knew Aiden felt it too. They were in a whole heap of trouble.
Bad enough he’d spent the whole of the car journey trying not to breathe in Aiden’s scent—and failing. Bad enough, his attraction to Aiden had bloomed into something totally new and scary in the space of a couple of hours in his company. Bad enough, he and Aiden were perfect matches for two bonded males…and Aiden wanted him, too. But then they’d met her. And she matched them as if she’d been designed for them by the gods themselves.
Aiden paced, shaking his head. “Fuck this. We need to leave. Me and Steffan need to leave. You’ll have to deal with this.” He pointed at Rhiannon and Kate.
Steffan agreed with him. Except for one little problem. He’d promised Nathan. Given his word, and a dragon’s word became his bond, never to be broken. Besides, he owed Nathan. Maybe…
“I’m staying. I made a vow. But you should go.” He jerked his head at Aiden. “Go back to the guesthouse and pack your stuff. You’ll have to take the train, as we need the car. Which means you’ll have to change once you’ve walked to the outskirts of our land and fly back. But we’ll pick up your bag if you leave it by the Diadre Stone.”
The Diadre Stone marked the beginning of their territory, and it helped maintain the magic that kept their land hidden from prying human eyes.
“I don’t see why I should go alone. You’re feeling it, too.” Aiden scowled at him.
“I won’t act on it. You might.”
“Not fucking likely. I don’t like the Havsa. It’s an…annoyance. Nothing more.”
Steffan did not have the time for this. Part of him wanted to take Aiden in hand. Teach him a thing or two, but the young dragon wasn’t his concern. Mia was, because of his promise. “You were the one who suggested we leave. I can’t leave. I’ve a promise to fulfill. You can stay or go. But you stay…and you keep your hands off her. I am taking her back to our clan and keeping her safe until Ice, Nathan, and Dom arrive.”
“I don’t have any interest in touching her. And you’re not some high and mighty fucking perfect dragon. You sensed it, too. And unlike me, you never leave your fucking cave. I’d be more worried about myself if I were you. I got laid only recently. How long’s it been for you, eh, Steffan?”
With those parting words, Aiden turned and stormed off along the seafront, walking away from their little group. Steffan let him go. Not his problem.
“This is going to be an interesting few days.” Rhiannon looked happy about the fact.
“Can’t you two do something? A spell or something so we aren’t attracted to her?” He hated the pleading tone in his voice. But damn it, Aiden’s words were spot-on. It had been…decades since he’d experienced the touch of another. Hadn’t missed it mostly, but now with a perfect match for a bonded male, and a female made to be his—both within arm’s reach? His control hung by a thin thread.
“No magic can stop the power of innate attraction between true mates. This perfect triad is an amazing coincidence. Now, why would anyone want to get in the way of that, even if they could?” She patted his cheek once. “I’m going to explore the shops. See you back at the house later.”
“I’ll come with you.” Kate shot him a concerned glance and trotted after Rhiannon.
They left him alone, the wind whipping his hair into his eyes, as the careful wall he’d built over centuries began to crack and crumble all around him.
He needed to think. Not sure what else to do, he turned and walked back to their rental, thankful he’d pocketed the second set of keys.
Once inside, Steffan stood and looked around his temporary bedroom. He could do without this little trip. His thoughts switched longingly to his cave home and momentarily to his two dogs. He missed them, despite knowing his friend Leah would look after them well.
Steffan’s thoughts drifted back to the present situation and Aiden’s heated words. He recalled the first time he’d met the young male. It had been some ridiculous clan gathering, and Robert had demanded his presence. He’d gone along reluctantly to hold up the peace. Oh, he’d defeat Robert in an instant, but where would that leave him? As clan leader, and no thank you very much. He didn’t need the hassle. So, he’d attended the needless ceremony and the party afterward. And as the dragons gathered on their land, some in human form, some in dragon form, he’d become aware of someone watching him. He’d turned to see the most gorgeous blond male staring at him. Beautiful green eyes locked with his, and he’d felt attraction bloom for the first time in…decades.
Since the loss of his mates, more than two centuries ago, he hadn’t experienced the touch of another dragon. And for the last half-dozen decades, he’d not dallied with humans either. Most of the time, his lonely, celibate life didn’t bother him, but now Aiden and Mia had stirred up long dormant yearnings. Ones he had no right to. He’d lost his mates and didn’t deserve, or want, another chance at being bonded.
These days he lived like a bloody monk, alone and cut off from others. Nathan had asked him to join the Scottish clan, to be nearer him and his mates, but Steffan had declined. He didn’t want to live in a house, trapped within four walls. His cave went on and on. The front lay open to the elements and wild, and sometimes he slept there in dragon form on the nights he needed the freedom.
Christ, he missed home right the fuck now. His leg throbbed and he groaned. He loved to take long, hot baths in his spacious tub and soak away the aches and pains from his old battle wounds. The thought of his scars brought him back around to the younger dragon playing on his mind. Aiden wouldn’t want him if he saw him without his clothes on; Mia either. His body came crisscrossed with myriad marks. His right leg was the worst, the thigh covered in a livid red line that had never faded and still stung and burned due to the vile poison injected into him all those years ago.
The same thing had been done to Nathan’s mate, Ice, or Claire, as he should try to remember to call her now. Except she’d gotten to a healer in time. Steffan hadn’t, and only his immense reserves of power and strength had stopped the poison from killing him. But it hurt. Every single day, it niggled away in his leg, burning and driving him half crazy. The scary thing was it grew worse as time went by. About the only thing that stopped it was to sit in a bath hot enough to nearly scald him. The heat of the water soothed the burn of the poison, and he’d get a few hours’ relief.
Some days, he truly wondered why the fuck he carried on. Living alone. In his cave. In pain. Nothing for company but the memories and echoes of his mates. He missed them every day, but over the years, the loss had become less acute, and he hated that. He wanted the sharp pain of new loss, as it meant they were near to him still. Fresh in his mind. Now, he struggled to remember the exact way their female had laughed at a joke or how they’d both smelled. Yes, he’d rather the acute pain and sharp memories than this lingering loss and depression, along with his memories fading more and more each decade. But he wanted something even more than sweet oblivion or perhaps even death. Revenge.
The dragon who had done this to him, and killed his mates, must be made to face what he’d done. The ancient dragon known as Rhyndor and his pet witch, Celine, were the reasons Steffan still battled on. One day, he would find Rhyndor and end him. So far, Steffan had hit only dead ends in his search, and none of his friends had found anything concrete either. The cowardly fucker must be lying low. Sometimes there’d be dragons who claimed they’d found him and fought him, but their stories were nonsense. They talked of a dragon brought to his knees by life, who never fought back, and that didn’t fit the bastard whatsoever.
Steffan had been amazed the gnarly old dragon hadn’t come for him or Nathan before now. Especially since Nathan had taken the life of Rhyndor’s bonded male in retaliation for what had been done to Steffan, hence Steffan’s feeling honor-bound to help Nathan and Claire now.
He winced at a sharp stab of pain in his thigh. Rubbing the limb, he frowned and gritted his teeth until it passed.
“You sure you are up to this, young man?” Rhiannon stood in the open doorway and spoke in the ancient language.
He had to laugh. Only Rhiannon would call him such a name.
“Tired of shopping already?”
She merely pursed her lips and waited for him to answer her question.
He sighed. “I’m sure. I owe Nathan. And I have no stake in the Havsa situation. I’d already withdrawn from the clan when the trouble went down. I don’t think the Havsa were right, don’t get me wrong. Their actions were terrible. But I also think our clan overreacted in retaliation. And anyway, as I say, I have no iron in this fight. Nathan knows this. My loyalty to him is greater than my loyalty to any clan, and I’m going to make sure Mia is safe.”
“I think we would have been more than capable of protecting her.” Rhiannon pursed her lips. “Although Aiden is an impertinent and undisciplined young thing. He needs a bonded male. Someone older to take him in hand.”
Steffan ignored the surge of excitement heating his blood at the idea of being the one to take Aiden in hand and focused on the suddenly interesting carpet. He had to grit his teeth against his pounding blood and racing heart.
Another shard of pain burst along his thigh as he tensed his muscles, and he winced. Rhiannon watched him with concern. “Your leg?”
He nodded. “Damn thing’s been playing up recently. No idea why.”
Secretly, he feared somehow the poison grew stronger because he’d become convinced the pain was getting worse. Which made no sense after hundreds of years. He decided for once to share with another person. “Do you think poison…magic…can suddenly become stronger after hundreds of years?”
To his shock, Rhiannon’s eyes filled with tears. “No, my friend. But you can get weaker.”
“What?” He reared back at her answer. No way. He didn’t feel weaker. Oh, but you do, a small voice reminded him. Some days when you ache and burn, you feel much weaker.
“You’ve been living for centuries on nothing more than a desire for revenge. You’ve shut yourself off from us. Closed down. A soul cannot be fed by vengeance alone. You’re lucky it hasn’t turned your soul and heart dark and bitter, taken you over. You’re still a good male, Steffan, I sense as much. But you need to find something else to live for. Maybe this trip will provide you with it.”
Her words slammed into him, and his stomach roiled. Did he deny his soul what it needed? How utterly sad, in the real sense of the word, would it be if he simply faded from this life, no vengeance achieved, but nothing else of value gained either? Not sure how the fuck to react, he gave a perfunctory nod.
Rhiannon sighed but said no more. She gave him one last shrewd glance, then turned away to head back to her own room.
Tomorrow, he needed to persuade the female to come back with him, get the hell out of here, and leave her in Rhiannon’s capable care until Nathan came for her. His friend owed him. Big-time.
Mia busied herself tidying and tried to ignore the swarm of insects that had taken residence in her stomach. These were no mere butterflies, more like a nest of angry hornets. She clenched her jaw as another wave of nausea rolled through her, and she tried to ignore her clammy skin. Maybe she’d caught the summer cold going around? A fresh wave of anxiety washed over her, and she gave an exasperated cry and headed to the kitchen.
She didn’t usually drink much at all, and certainly never during the day, but damn it, she needed something to take the edge off. Never normally an anxious person, and not someone fearful, she hated this feeling. Of course, she’d had moments of fear. Who didn’t? But mostly, other than the depression she’d suffered with since her adopted mother’s death, she lived her life on an even keel. She went after what she wanted and didn’t mess around. So why had she invited those strange people to her home?
She headed to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of wine from the fridge, turning the screw cap with an impatient twist of her wrist. Just the glug of it going into the glass soothed her nerves a little. The first sip went down like cool, crisp heaven. She sighed and tipped her head back, letting her eyes close.
These people she was expecting freaked her out. Yesterday, she’d known inviting them here would be a bad idea, but the woman had touched her hand, and she couldn’t for the life of her remember why she’d been concerned. She’d wanted to cancel, but she realized she didn’t know their names, had no contact number for them, and had no idea where they were staying. All of which proved they weren’t legit.
A rapping at the door set her heart racing once more, and she downed half her glass in one go. She glanced to the back porch where Marlow lay in his basket and, with fear in her heart, trudged to the door. The closer she got, the slower she walked, until she froze, staring at the dark shapes beyond the frosted glass.
Get a grip. She repeated the mantra over and over as she pulled back the safety chain and swung the heavy door back.
“Mia! Hello again, dear.” The dark-haired woman gave her a warm smile.
The lady with the lighter, warm blond hair also grinned at her, friendly and inviting. The two men didn’t. The blond scowled at her as if she’d personally offended him, and the dark-haired vagabond watched her with a carefully neutral expression on his arresting face.
Why the hell had she invited them here? She hadn’t wanted to, she was certain of that fact now. My God, she must be losing her mind. Wanting one thing, doing the total opposite.
“I realize we didn’t give you our names yesterday.” Once more, the brunette woman spoke. “I’m Rhiannon. This is Kate.” She pointed to the other woman. “And Aiden and Steffan.”
“Nice to meet you, Mia.” Steffan stuck his hand out, so she took it out of force of habit.
The moment his skin made contact with hers, something within her universe tore. As if the atoms she was made of split and reformed into whole new versions of themselves. Her body tingled, her heart raced, and her breath rushed out in quick little gasps.
Sounds receded. The wind faded, the light in the corridor dimmed, and the floor underneath her moved.
“Are you okay, Mia?” Rhiannon spoke, and her voice sounded so strange. As if it echoed down a long, long tunnel.
Mia tried to speak, but her mouth refused to move. Through all this strangeness, she became blindingly aware of one thing. Her very center, her core, throbbed with an ache like nothing she’d experienced before. It took all she had not to pull Steffan to her by the hand she held and melt into him. Merge with his rock-solid body and simply cease to exist as the single entity she’d spent her whole life being.
Steffan pulled his hand away, and she fell back against the wall, gasping. Sweat beaded on her forehead and her legs shook.
“Oh, this is quite…unusual. Almost unprecedented. Such a strong reaction. This is not going to be easily ignored or pushed to one side. I’ve heard of matches like this but never witnessed one.”
Mia had no clue what Rhiannon babbled on about, but she needed to sit down. She didn’t want to pass out.
“Come, my dear. Lean on me.” Rhiannon held out her arm.
For some reason, Mia wanted to touch Steffan again. Despite it nearly making her pass out, she needed to feel his skin on hers once more. She reached her arm out blindly, but Rhiannon snatched it away and held on to it.
“No, my child. Best not to touch him again. Not until you’re feeling stronger, at least.”
Mia let the woman lead her to her own lounge, legs as shaky as a newborn foal’s. She folded into the chair nearest the door and crumpled in on herself. Her mind tried to catch up with the events of the past few minutes, and as her strength returned, more panic set in.
How could touching one man’s hand cause such a reaction? She glanced around the room and wanted to scream at the people all watching her with such concern on their faces. She didn’t want to be examined like a specimen in a lab.
“Do you want some more of the wine you were drinking?” The blond spoke, and his face no longer held hostility. Instead, his green eyes were filled with concern.
“Yes, please. Wait…how do you know I’m drinking wine? Oh, you know what? Forget it.” She wanted the drink.
“I’m scared.” There, she’d said it. “I know asking this is stupid, because if you are going to hurt me, you won’t tell me the truth. But what do you really want? This isn’t about my art, is it?”
Aiden returned with her wine, and she noticed he’d topped up the glass. She took a long, grateful gulp—and another for good measure.
“It’s not about your art.” Rhiannon sat on the sofa and folded her hands in her lap.
Aiden sat next to Rhiannon and watched Mia, while Kate took the chair at the far end of the room. Steffan stalked to the window and stood with his hands locked behind his back, looking out over the view.
“We read the report of the incident when you were a teenager. We think we know what occurred.” Rhiannon pursed her lips when she finished speaking.
Mia’s head shot up. Oh, God. Her ultimate nightmare had come true. They’d finally come for her. The shadowy they her mother warned her about so often had finally caught up with her.
“Are you going to experiment on me?”
“What?” Steffan turned from the window, his eyes narrowed.
“Mum told me… Mum said people might come for me. Nothing happened. Nothing other than what’s in the official reports. I swear.”
“We aren’t here to do experiments on you.” Steffan walked toward her and shocked her by dropping to one knee in front of her, his arms folded over his other knee, their gazes now level. “You’re one of us. We’re your people, and we’re going to tell you some…frankly, some pretty insane-sounding things. But it’s all true, and if you listen to us with an open mind, you’ll perhaps learn a lot about yourself. Your true self.”
The light in his eyes flared as he watched her, like a fire burning and ebbing, and the way his eyes shone and then dimmed fascinated her.
“You want to know what I think, Mia?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “I think you were trapped in that shed. Locked in by a pathetic little bully, but you were young and you were in the dark and scared. And the longer you spent trapped, the more terrified you became. Eventually, something snapped, and fight-or-flight took over. You simply acted on instinct.”
He paused and she swallowed hard. So far, so correct, but she could admit as much and still claim she used a match.
“Then I think, without knowing why, you put your hands to the door and conjured up the image of fire. Bright, hot fire. And as you thought about it, flames burst forth, and you let them burn. You stood there and let them burn, and they didn’t harm you. And then you walked through the flames and the weakened wood and out to freedom. That’s what I think.”
Oh crap. Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck. Eyes wide, she looked around the room, suddenly wanting to escape this surreal and terrifying inquisition. She had no one here with her. No one on her side. Her mother would have known what to do, but now Mia only had herself to rely on.
“Don’t panic. Don’t try to run. We aren’t here to hurt you.” The man slowly reached out his arm and touched her wrist, light as a feather.
Once more, the strange feeling of faintness and overwhelming, incendiary lust built within her. Surely to God he used some sort of magic. This wasn’t normal.
He pulled his hand away once more. “Feel that? You can’t fake a connection like it. It’s only happening because you’re one of us.”
“Who are you? You keep saying one of us. Are you a cult?”
The blond, Aiden, laughed and shook his head. “No, although not far off in some ways.”
“Aiden,” Rhiannon snapped. “Stop it.”
“We’re your people, that’s who we are.” Rhiannon took her hand and held it gently. “We’re your kin. Your family. Your clan.”
Clan? What an odd word.
“This might come as rather a shock, but you are adopted.”
She simply nodded. “I already know. Found some papers amongst Mum’s belongings. Are you…witches?” She waited for the laughter, the pitying looks. But Rhiannon gave a slight tilt of her head.
“You can call us witches, as we are in some ways, yes. We’re much, much more, though. And so are you. I sense your magic is strong.”
Suddenly, something burst within her. Some dam of pent-up, crazy panic and a big dose of loss. Because right now, in this truly surreal and fucked-up moment, she missed her mum so much it emotionally gutted her. She shot out of her chair and ran from the room. Her footsteps pounded down the hallway, and she burst through the front door, taking in huge lungfuls of fresh air as she hit the bright outdoors.
Not considering where she ran to, only needing to get away, to get some space to breathe, she raced down the path from her small cottage toward the tiny, one-car country lane at the top of the hill.
She heard voices behind her but didn’t pause.
“Stop, Mia!” Steffan’s gruff, deep voice washed over her, but despite it making her legs weaken for a moment, she paid him no heed and carried on moving. The fact that he affected her so only added to her terror. It made no damn sense whatsoever.
The wind whipped her hair violently, and she became dimly aware of light rain hitting her face. Her feet left the ground. One moment, she’d been pounding along, the next, she flew through the air and landed with a thump over something hard. The air left her lungs, and everything spun as she found herself staring at the ground.
It took her a moment, but when she oriented herself, she realized she’d been slung over Steffan’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
She beat her fists uselessly against his back and kicked her legs. “Put me down. Seriously, put me the fuck down right now.”
“No.”
“Fuck you!” She screamed the words. But the guy kept right on strolling back toward her cottage with her. Were they going to hurt her? To kill her? They must be insane. Talking of witches and all that shit? Yes, something truly bizarre happened to her once, but there would be a scientific explanation. Maybe a form of spontaneous human combustion due to her heightened fear? Only one that didn’t progress and burn her…but how to explain how she walked through the flames without a blister on her? Still, it had to have a reasonable explanation. It did.
If they got her back into the house, she’d never escape them. Something told her as much. She needed to get away. Acting on instinct, she lifted her head and screamed.
“Fucking hell.” Steffan jogged the last few steps and pushed through the door. He strode down the hallway and dumped her unceremoniously on the sofa.
She winced as her foot hit the soft covering, and she glanced at it. Oh, shit. Was that blood?
“Be careful. Aiden, can you fetch a cloth?” Steffan lifted her foot with gentle hands and looked at it. “You were running on gravel in bare feet. You’ve torn your soles to shreds.”
And even with the panic and the fear and the damn pain in her foot, his touch still made her want him. A padded cell waited for her, with her name on it and everything. She was damn sure of it.
He turned her other foot over and shook his head. Aiden strolled back into the room with the cloth and passed it to Steffan.
“I need to use the bathroom. I’ll have a look and see if there’s any antibiotic cream in there.” He glanced at her feet and winced, before turning and stalking out of the room.
Rhiannon moved to stand by her. “Child, you’re going to have to calm down. I know all of this is scary and new, but trust me. Once you learn who and what you are, a whole new world will be opened to you. An amazing one.”
She took deep breaths and tried to calm herself. She didn’t usually react to things in such a way. Normally, she kept pretty level-headed. She didn’t freak out and wasn’t flighty.
“What’s this?” Aiden walked back into the room, holding the picture of two dragons in flight she’d been painting.
She jutted her chin. “That was in my bedroom. My private space. You’d no right.”
“I went to the bathroom and saw it through the open door.”
Shit. She had left her bedroom door open, and she remembered thinking she ought to go and shut it. Those paintings were private. Not shared with her buyers and followers. They came to her in vivid, strange dreams, and she found herself compelled to draw them. The style clashed with her bright, cheerful landscapes. The pictures of dragons were darker and more complex. They held none of the childlike innocence of her other work.
Kate regarded the painting, her brow furrowed. “This is amazing. Did you draw it?”
She nodded, beyond the ability to summon a lie.
“The style’s so different from your other work, but I love it.”
“Why do you paint dragons?” Aiden demanded. “There are at least five pictures in your bedroom showing nothing but various dragons. Why?”
She sighed and faced up to him. Might as well spill her guts. If they were going to take her away to some sort of lab and experiment on her, her dreams wouldn’t make any difference one way or another.
“I dream about dragons. A lot. God knows why. I have since I was a kid. So I draw my dreams. It helps me process them.”
“Truly one of us. Maybe a powerful latent. Ice has strong magic, but she didn’t dream of dragons. I sense your magic is maybe even stronger than hers.” Steffan dabbed at her feet with the cloth, then turned to Aiden. “Did you find any cream?”
Who was Ice? She started to ask, but Aiden spoke.
“Oh, yeah. Here.” Aiden dug around in his pocket and pulled out the small tube of antibiotic cream she kept in her bathroom cabinet.
Her mind snapped back to his snooping. “I hope you enjoyed having a good look around all my personal shit.” Oh, crap. She ought to be extra nice to these people. Instead, she kept throwing them attitude, but she’d never been one to bite her tongue or back down from a fight.
“I did, thanks.” Aiden flashed her a smile, but it didn’t warm his face. She got the distinct impression he didn’t like her. No problem, as the feeling was beginning to be mutual. Arrogant bastard.
“We need to explain to you where you come from.” Steffan dabbed cream carefully on her cuts and grazes, and she tried not to gasp at the sting. “But you’re going to need an open mind…and to try to keep calm. Do you have any comfy shoes you can slip on?”
For a moment, she only stared at him, thrown by the question. Then she pointed to the pull-on running shoes by her door. He went to fetch them and carefully, oh so carefully, put them on her scratched-up feet. She winced as they went on, but she knew they’d keep her cuts clean until she dressed them properly later.
“I’m sick of waiting, wondering what you’re going to tell me. Just lay it on me.” She shook her head as a sort of dulled acceptance replaced her earlier terror. “And pass me some more wine, will you? I’ve a feeling I’ll need it.”
Steffan raised one sharp eyebrow but did as she asked and grabbed the wineglass for her.
She took a fortifying sip as he began to speak.
“The dreams you have and these paintings you do in private…they are strongly linked to what I want to tell you. It all also ties in with the experience you had when trapped in the shed. You’re not fully human.”
She’d been taking another sip of wine, and now she coughed and spluttered as it went down the wrong way.
Steffan patted her back, and slowly, her coughing fit faded. Her eyes watered, but she at least breathed right again. Steffan watched her, and he reached out to swipe his thumb across one cheek. Her heart fluttered in her throat at the sensation of his callused digit touching her face. It struck her as so intimate.
“You okay?” He finished wiping her tears away and looked directly into her eyes.
Stomach flipping with a mix of nerves and excitement, she had to look away from his molten gaze. “I’m okay. But…what you said. Seriously? You’ll have to do better than that.”
“Words can be so weak when trying to explain something huge, something life altering. I often find showing a person something works better.” Rhiannon gave her an impish smile. “Why don’t we go outside for a moment?”
Should she? What if they bundled her into a car or something and drove off with her? She hesitated, and Steffan laid his hand over hers.
“We won’t hurt you. I give you my word.”
Call her an idiot, but she trusted him somehow. Despite his scary countenance and his huge build, something about him soothed her, and she had no idea why. She’d always had superhoned instincts, but now that she’d calmed down enough to focus, she found her gut saying this man, these people, weren’t a direct threat to her. Plus, what harm could it do? They only wanted her to step outside; they could have already done anything they wanted to her, inside or out.
“Okay.” She stood and her legs wobbled.
“Whoa, you’re okay.” Steffan held her elbow until she steadied herself.
They filed out of the house and into the cool air of yet another showery and blustery summer day. Rhiannon gave her a smile and proceeded to strip her clothes off. What the heck? Were they nudists or something?
She looked from Steffan to Aiden, and both men cast their eyes to the ground.
“We don’t usually do this in public. It’s a private affair, but you won’t believe it if you don’t see it with your own eyes.” Rhiannon winked at her and, finally stripped of her clothes, held her arms out. The wind picked up, and leaves and dirt lifted from the ground. They spun around Rhiannon in a mini tornado.
Holy fuck, they were witches! She watched with wide eyes as the woman in front of her became almost invisible. A flash of lightning made her close her eyes for a split second. She blinked them open…and screamed.
Where a moment before Rhiannon had stood in front of her, now a huge beast occupied the same place. An elephant? She looked again as the wind calmed down and the leaves and debris fell to the ground…and started to tremble. It wasn’t an elephant or a rhino or anything as prosaic. In front of her stood a dragon. A fucking dragon!
She must be seeing things. Maybe they’d spiked her drink? The dragon took a lumbering step toward them, and she squeaked and stepped back. A warm, solid hand landed on her lower back.
“She won’t do anything to you. That’s still Rhiannon, only in a different form.” Steffan stopped her from moving any farther back.
“This can’t be happening,” she muttered.
“I feel exactly the same way,” Aiden said.
“You’ve not seen this before?” She turned to him, confused.
“I didn’t mean the dragon,” he growled.
“Aiden, shut the fuck up. You had the opportunity to leave and decided to stay, so quit moaning about it.” Steffan’s tone brooked no argument.
Their words went right over her head. She couldn’t focus on their spat while a fucking dragon stomped about in front of her.
“Want to see something cool?” Kate asked her with a smile.
Did she? What they termed cool, she might find terrifying.
“Why don’t you fly for her, Rhi?” Kate spoke again.
The dragon did a weird blowing thing, almost like a subdued trumpet of sound, and turned around and lumbered over the garden. With a few flaps of her huge wings, she soared into the air, not going too high so she’d probably be shielded by the high conifers on the right of the garden. And there lay nothing but empty wild flower fields to the left before reaching the sea. The dragon flew in a lazy circle around the large patch of mottled grass Mia called a lawn, then swooped in to land near them. She blew steam out of her nostrils and nodded her head.
Okay, so it had kind of been cool.
A thought struck her. “How many people know you exist?”
“Not many. It’s a highly guarded secret, and one you must now also promise to keep safe.” Kate fixed her with a serious frown.
“Why are you showing me this?” Her mind whirred. Dragons breathed fire, right? She’d set a shed alight. She dreamed of dragons… No. Fucking. Way. She turned wide eyes to Kate. “Are you about to tell me that I can change into a dragon?”
“Change, no. We think you are a latent, which means you can’t shift physical form. But you can still be powerful. Your magic can be strong. You can bring forth fire and put it out. Read people and animals easily. Maybe see certain things in your dreams. Perhaps, if you are strong, you can be a powerful healer. We won’t know until we put you to the test.”
Test? Oh, no. Her fear returned.
“Hey. Don’t worry, we don’t mean tests as such.” Steffan placed his hand on her lower back again, once more settling her. “We’ll help you and teach you your magic. It’s dangerous to leave you here in the human world without you knowing how to control the ability you possess. If you come back with us to the clan, you’ll be able to explore it in a safe place.”
Did they expect her to abandon her life and go live with them? No way. She loved her little cottage and her painting work. True, there wasn’t much else she’d miss, but she’d definitely miss those things. And she loved living by the sea.
“We don’t mean forever,” he added. “For a little while, until you learn about your heritage and your people. It might be that you decide to stay, but that will be up to you. Or you may wish to return to your human life, and that will be fine once you know how to control your power.”
A breeze whipped up, and once more, a mini tornado coalesced around Rhiannon’s dragon until the lightning flashed again, and there stood the woman again. Rhiannon pulled her clothes on quickly and efficiently and turned to Mia. “You look peaky, love. Let’s go inside and make you a nice cup of tea.”
Mia burst out laughing. How British! She’d had her mind well and truly blown, and now came the much-needed cup of tea.
They headed back into the house, and Rhiannon rattled around in the kitchen, putting the kettle on and getting mugs out.
Mia sank down back onto the sofa, happy to lift her feet once more.
“The cuts will heal quickly, but you might need bandages for a day or two. I’ll purchase some in town.” Kate jerked her chin toward Mia’s feet resting on the sofa. “We’d like you to come back with us tonight and stay at the guesthouse. Then tomorrow we can head to the clan territory.”
Her heart thumped in a rapid-fire dance as she considered the request. Should she?
“There’s something else you need to know.” Steffan moved to sit by her.
Oh, not more bloody revelations! As if they hadn’t dropped enough on her. She looked at him and waited for it.
“You have a sister.”
Nothing he said could have surprised her more. His words socked her right in her gut. A sister. Family. Oh, God.
“Like me?” Her voice caught. Was her sister this strange latent creature too? Wow. Someone like her, with the same genes. A blood relative.
“Yep. Like you.” Steffan smiled, and it softened his hard features and made him look younger. “She looks like you and possesses some powerful magic. She’s cool, too. I think you’ll like her.”
“You know her?”
“Yep. She’s ma…married to a couple of friends of mine.”
“A couple?” She frowned. His words didn’t make sense.
“Erm, yeah. It’s a dragon thing, and you don’t need to worry about it now. But she has two…erm…husbands.”
Wow. Kinky. Mia had always had a bit of a fantasy about being with two guys. She immediately suffered pangs of guilt for perving over her sister’s relationship. They undoubtedly loved each other deeply, and that was the main thing.
“You’ll meet her if you come back with us. She and her two males asked us to find you. She wants to meet you, and she will come to our clan to do so.”
Her fear suddenly turned into something much more akin to excitement. She had a sister! After feeling so desperately lonely, she now had someone else in the world who shared her blood. Losing her mum had been bad enough. She’d become an adult orphan overnight, because no matter your age that’s what losing your only parent did to you. Then to discover she’d been adopted had shaken her to the core. She’d been anchorless. As if she floated through this world with no real roots, no one to ground her. She realized with a sharp pang, she wanted to belong, hated the feeling of not fitting in anywhere. Now she might. With her sister.
Even if they didn’t see one another regularly, it would be wonderful simply to meet and get to know one another.
“Here you go.”
A hot cup of tea was thrust into her hands. She took a sip and sighed as the sweet liquid slid down her throat.
“So…your dragons but you drink tea?” She started to laugh. “This is so surreal.”
“We are similar to humans in many ways when in our human form.” Aiden spoke, and she turned to him, intrigued as he’d barely uttered five words to her. “We eat the same food as humans. Drink the same things. Live in houses…or, most of us do.” He shot Steffan an odd look, and the other man only scowled in response.
“But we have different rules about social interaction.” Rhiannon sipped at her own tea. “Our culture is markedly different. We don’t believe in one god, but many. We have a special heaven, called Neffee, purely for dragon souls. There are other shifters, too. Other…beings. But we don’t mix with them. We fought a violent war against humans, different from the one other shifters were involved in at a later date, and we withdrew from society, both human and shifter. We live in clans, make our own rules. Go our own way.”
Other things like them? Mia hardly dared let her mind contemplate it, in case the panic and darker feelings came roaring back. She wanted to enjoy the warm glow coming from thinking about her sister.
She sipped her tea again and fixed Rhiannon with a determined look. She sensed the woman might be in charge here, so better to deal with her. “I’ll come with you. To your clan. But I don’t want to come back tonight to the guesthouse. I want my own space. I need time to think about it all.”
“I don’t think you should be alone.” Steffan’s jaw tightened. “You might freak out once you’re alone and thinking about all this. One of us should stay.”
He must have seen the alarm in her eyes because he held his hand up. “One of the females. You’ll be safe and will have company if you feel afraid or need to talk.”
It sounded like a fair compromise. She smiled at Kate. “Want to be my guest for the night?”
“It would be my pleasure.”
Oh, Lord. She’d invited a dragon for a sleepover!