Chapter Seventeen

Kaitlyn

I pull into an underground parking garage that's half-filled and turn the car off. Save for Wyn's directions, the ride over had been silent as we all tried to absorb and process what had just happened. What we'd just seen. I look over and Ashley looks absolutely shell-shocked. Eyes wide, staring about a mile ahead of the car, her face is pale and the expression on her face is locked into one of disbelief.

I reach over and take her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. She looks at me and fat tears begin to roll down her cheeks.

“We're alive,” I say to her softly. “We're okay.”

“We're alive,” she whispers. “But we're pretty damn far from okay.”

“We should go inside,” Wyn says from the back seat.

We all climb out of the car and I quickly move to Ashley, wrapping my arm around her shoulder and together, leaning on one another, we follow Wyn through the underground garage. Other than the scuff of our footsteps, it's silent and filled with shadow. And I'm terrified more of those creatures will come streaming out of the darkness.

“You need not fear the Gahan here,” Wyn says without turning around, his voice echoing around the garage. “Or Nyro for that matter. We're safe here.”

“Where's here?” I ask, wincing at how much my voice is quavering.

“This is our training house,” he says. “It's a safe space.”

“Training house? I ask.

We reach a pair of elevators and Wyn punches the button to call the car. He turns and takes my hand, squeezing it gently. When his skin touches mine, I feel a rush of warmth. A surge of confidence. And I begin to feel a little better. A little stronger. It's as if I'm leeching energy from him. He smiles at me and nods as if he knows that's what's happening.

“A training house for what?” Ashley asks, her voice barely more than a whisper.

“For the Dragonborn,” he says. “And our human allies, of course.”

The door opens and my head starts to spin – I feel like I'm on the verge of passing out. As Wyn guides me into the car and there are more questions pouring into my mind than I can sort and process. A quick look at Ashley shows me she's dealing with the same thing.

As the doors slide shut, a fragment of a memory from my dream earlier comes back to me. I hear Nyro's voice warning me to stay away from the Dragonborn. What in the hell have I gotten myself into?

A few moments later, the doors slide open and Wyn ushers us out into a very large room. It looks like an old warehouse that's been converted – turned into a gym and dojo of some kind. There are mats and sparring rings. There are weights and workout equipment. And off to the right, I can see racks and racks of practice weapons – things I'm familiar with since I've taken some martial arts classes.

But what draws and keeps my attention are all the people standing on the mat in the middle of the training house. They're big, imposing looking men and women – and they're all standing there staring at us.

One man steps forward. He's well over six feet tall and seems as wide as he does tall. He ripples with muscle and has hair darker than night. There doesn't seem to be an ounce of fat on him and yet, he moves in an almost feline way – his movements are smooth and elegant. And when he draws closer to me, I see that his eyes sparkle with the color of polished jade.

He's a handsome man who looks capable of doing terrible things. And yet, gives off an air of gentleness – even kindness.

“Welcome to our training house,” he says. “My name is Quint and you will be safe here for now.”

Ashley's grip on my hand tightens and I hear a soft, terrified squeak from her. I look over and see the tears streaming down her face. Turning to Wyn, I give him a pleading look. As if the thought hadn't occurred to him before, his eyes widen and he nods. Stepping behind Ashley, he places his hands on her shoulders and I can actually see a soft glow emanating from his fingertips.

Ashley's eyes widen slightly and then her mouth falls open. A moment later, a look of calm and peace descends over her. The tears in her eyes dry up and she looks to be coming back to herself. She looks at me and I see that normal sparkle in her eyes returning. She's going to be okay. Wyn takes his hands off of her and steps back. I give him a grateful smile and he walks back to his position next to me, discretely giving my butt a squeeze as he passes by.

“Now,” the man named Quint says. “I'm sure the both of you have many questions and I'll be happy to answer them. But let me ask you first – are you okay?”

Ashley and I both nod. “Yes,” I say. “Wyn protected us. Kept us both safe. He fought Nyro and his monsters off of us.”

Quint looked over at him and I thought I saw something like respect in his eyes for Wyn. Cutting a quick glance at Wyn, I saw him stand up a little straighter, lifting his chin and puffing out his chest. I had to fight to keep from rolling my eyes and laughing. It's obvious that Quint is his – I don't know if boss is the right word – but he's definitely Wyn's superior and his opinion obviously matters a lot to him.

“Before we begin, there is something you both must accept,” Quint says. “There are things in this world that will defy your logic and your rational explanations.”

“Yeah, I'm getting that feeling,” I say.

“Tell me about it,” Ashley says. “The length of my list of the weirdest shit I've ever seen just about tripled tonight.

There's a soft smile on Quint's face. “Well, I'm sorry to have to add something else to your list,” he says. “Wyn?”

Wyn steps onto the mat behind Quint and starts to disrobe. Ashley looks at me with something like a mixture of shock and arousal in her eyes – yeah, she's definitely starting to feel like normal again. I admire Wyn's body as he undresses. Take in each muscle, every inch of his toned, taut flesh. And when he's naked, he stands there confidently and unabashedly – looking nothing like the shy, embarrassed guy he'd been when Ashley walked in on us – he looks directly into my eyes.

“What you're about to see is going to shock you,” he says. “Do not be afraid.”

“I give you my word that no harm will come to you,” Quint adds. “It will just be easier to get this out of the way so we can get into the real explanations you're owed.”

A feeling of foreboding crawls through my body and I feel a nervous tremor in my heart. But I simply nod and then turn back to Wyn – except that Wyn has started to change. His limbs elongate and his skin starts to peel away. It's all happening so quickly that my mind is having trouble processing it all.

What looks like wings – black and leathery – sprout from his back and unfurl. That beautiful face of his shifts, his neck and head elongating and sprouting a long snout filled with long, wicked looking teeth. His hands become thick claws tipped with terrifying looking talons, his smooth skin becomes something that looks like hard armor in a pale blue color, and a tail, long and serpentine unfurls from his body.

When his transformation is complete, he stands nearly nine feet tall and in all honesty, is majestic to look at. Gone is the beautiful Wyn I know and in his place is something that looks a lot like a dragon. But dragons don't exist. They're not real. My heart is stuttering so hard, I don't know if it's going to burst out of my chest or just stop beating altogether. Ashley and I cling to one another, the terror we're both feeling is palpable and when Wyn – or the dragon – turns its glowing blue eyes onto us, we both let out a scream so loud, it seems to shake the entire training house.

“W – what in the hell is that?” Ashley cries out. “What the fuck is going on here?”

I stare at it, adrenaline coursing through my veins, but as those glowing blue eyes lock onto mine and hold my gaze, I feel a familiar energy begin to slide through me. It starts to make the adrenaline and fear ebb and replaces it with something else – something sweet and pure. Something I know.

“It's Wyn,” I say. “That's Wyn.”

“The hell it is,” Ashley's keens. “I don't know –”

Leading Ashley by the hand, I walk her toward Wyn. She resists, but I pull her onward anyway. When we reach him, I hold my hand out and force Ashley to do the same. She's doing her best to pull away, but I refuse to let her. The dragon – Wyn – raises his paw, which is now massive. He moves it to a position hovering just over ours and lowers it. When he touches my hand, I shudder at the feeling of the rough, coarse armored scales that cover him – and long for the touch of his soft, smooth skin once more.

But what I feel next is exactly what I knew I'd feel – what I hope Ashley feels. And it's that calm, tranquil energy that flowed out of him before. That energy that took away our fears, that soothed us. As I look up and see him looking down at me, his blue eyes glowing softly, I feel Wyn's energy inside of me. Feel it coursing through me. And when I look over at Ashley, I see that her face and body have relaxed and I know that she feels it too.

Nodding, I step back, taking Ashley with me. Quint is standing beside us as dragon-Wyn lowers his hand and then shifts again, coming back to his human form. Ashley is looking at him with something close to awe in her eyes as he dresses quickly. I know it's not lust she's feeling – it's something almost reverential. And I know what she's feeling.

Seeing that Wyn exists – a dragon – it's like a real-life fairy tale coming true. We grew up on stories of knights and dragons and fairy princesses. We learned to believe in magic. But as we got older, those stories and that belief all faded away.

Now though, the entire game has changed and it's challenging everything we thought we knew. Thought we believed. We've seen magic. We've seen dragons. And I can't speak for Ashley, but I can feel those old, childish beliefs flowing back into me. I am starting to see things around me with that wide-eyed wonder I had as a little girl. And it sends a powerful wave of nostalgia washing through me. A sense of giddiness spreads through me and I have to keep myself from giggling.

I never realized how much I missed seeing the world through a child's eyes. Not until this very moment.

Fully dressed again, Wyn stands before me and takes my hand, the smile on his face small, but warm.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

I nod, still feeling a little entranced. “You're beautiful,” I say. “Just beautiful.”

Wyn casts a quick glance at Quint who is standing nearby, observing us in silence like an impatient father.

“A – are you all – that? Dragons?” I ask, my voice thick.

“Some of us are,” Wyn says. “Not all though.”

I nod as if it makes sense. Truthfully, none of it makes the first bit of sense to me. And yet, I'm strangely okay with that.

“We don't have a lot of time,” Quint says. “But I am the Warden for this territory. And these others are my Rangers and my Scouts. They keep this territory safe. They are charged with protecting you. You'll have time for individual introductions later, but for now, please follow me.”

Ashley and I fall into step behind Quint, with Wyn walking a step behind us. The gathering of people in front of us parts, allowing us to walk through. As we pass, I see them all looking at me with curious expressions on their faces. I have no idea why they're studying me so closely, but their scrutiny makes me feel awkward as hell.

After we pass, I hear a gruff voice behind me instructing everybody to get back to their training. A moment after that, music comes on and the activity I hear sounds a lot like a normal, everyday gym. We're ushered into what looks like a large conference room. There's a long, wooden table that's polished to a mirrored shine, and large, executive type chairs arranged around it.

And in those chairs are some of the people I'd seen in the gym before. They all turn and look at us as we walk in and another wave of self-consciousness washes over me. I'm an actress. You'd think I'd be used to people staring at me when I walk into a room. But somehow, this feels different from an audition. Very different.

There are three chairs at the end of the table – presumably set up for us.

“Kaitlyn, Ashley, Wyn,” Quint says as he takes us all in. “Please, join us at the table.”

I look to Wyn and his eyes widen in surprise for a moment, but he's able to smooth his face again, keep himself under control. I have no idea what it means to be asked to join the table, but it clearly means something to him.

We take our seats, Ashley on my left, Wyn on my right. Quint is seated at the head of the table opposite us and waits for us to get settled.

“Ladies,” Quint says. “Let me quickly introduce you to my senior Rangers – Zarik, Glyn, and Deyro. And my senior scouts are Ella, Vanessa, and Alexis.”

I look around the table as the introductions are made and notice that they all seem to be coupled up. Zarik with Ella, Glyn with Vanessa, and Deyro with Alexis. A hazard of the job with a shallow dating pool, I guess. I also notice that Quint didn't introduce Wyn as one of his senior Rangers – which makes me understand his want for Quint's approval a bit more.

“It's nice to meet you all,” I say.

“I really wish we hadn't had to meet,” Zarik said, a hint of laughter in his voice. “No offense.”

“It's not her fault that –” Wyn starts to say, his voice sharp.

“Wyn,” Quint cuts him off. “Relax. It was a joke.”

Wyn settles back in his seat, still glowering. Zarik is sitting there with an amused expression on his face, shaking his head. Although I don't like seeing tension between Wyn and his – for lack of a better word, co-workers – I'm flattered by his quick jump to my defense. It's sweet.

“Now then,” Quint says. “Kaitlyn and Ashley have many questions, but I suppose we should start from the beginning.”

And with that, Quint launches into a story that makes all of those fairy tales I read growing up sound like the most unimaginative stories I'd ever heard. His tale is fantastical, filled with wizards, dragons, and magic. And it leaves my head spinning – which, given what we've seen tonight, should be pretty damn hard to do.

And yet, somehow, it all makes sense. Even more than that, as I listen to Quint tell his story, it somehow, all rings true. And given what I've seen, I find that I believe every word he says.

Have I gone completely mad?