Emma screamed.
Jack fired.
Heat seared Cassie’s skin. Move. Move. Her legs refused to obey her brain.
Pain seared across her forearms. Tiny blisters formed.
Emma groaned, slumped to the ground.
Cassie’s knees gave way. Horror clutched her throat, her chest. Using her dress, she smothered flames dancing along her friend’s left leg.
Jack cursed. Yanked at his T-shirt. Stifled the flames on Emma’s clothes, scooped up her friend and retreated into the house. He moved so fast, Cassie gaped. The last thing she saw was the tattoo dragon on Jack’s back. The tattoo reared, fury etched into its snarl.
Another roar almost deafened her. The red dragon struggled toward her. Terror held her in position.
Naked Manu didn’t blink as yet more flames poured from the jade dragon. He swung his sword, a strange power rippling through the air. Her skin prickled. She gasped, her throat parched, her skin throbbing from the heat.
The air dried. Smoke poured from June’s nostrils.
Cassie tensed for the flames. A roar filled the air, filled her head, filled her ears, deafening her to everything else.
The red dragon kept coming. Sharp teeth glittered. Terror, the like of which she’d never known, rendered her legs useless. A sob escaped.
This was the end.
She was gonna die.
In that instant, she realized how much she wanted to live. She gulped and gathered her strength to leap to either side, before the jade dragon crisped her. Emma.
A faint croak escaped Cassie. Was Emma all right?
Heat sizzled in the air. A roar sounded. A gurgle. Drops of what sounded like rain, felt like wet rain pelted the ground. Splattered her body.
Silence fell.
A pregnant hush.
Cassie dragged in huge breaths, trying to fill her starving lungs.
Time slowed.
Black-and-red filled her vision. Sweat beaded on her brow. Her heart tried to burrow from her chest, the fierce clamp around her ribs squeezing her to the point of dizziness. She blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. Black-and-red scales. A mean growl vibrated through the air, but not directed at her. Not her? The dragon was standing guard. Protecting her?
Cassie swayed a fraction before she forced her limbs to function. She shuffled to the right and peeked from behind her dragon sentinel.
Manu stood in front of the jade dragon, sword grasped in his right hand. The blade glittered, even in the faint light. What looked like blood splattered Manu’s body and his head drooped. She couldn’t see his face, but she could see the sagging dragon tattoo depicted on his back. His head bowed too and were those tears?
Cassie took another unsteady step.
She gasped, biting her lip to stifle her horror.
A dragon head lay on the ground.
The jade dragon—June—was dead.
She took off her glasses, wiped the lenses on her clothes, replaced them. Nope. Not imagining things. This was scary real.
The red dragon turned its big horned head toward her. His gaze narrowed in what appeared disapproval.
One of the three black dragons snarled, struggled to push past the other two.
“Shift,” Manu snapped.
The black dragon in the center shimmered before it transformed to a naked Samuel.
Cassie lifted her gaze to his face and fixed it there. Fury rode his features.
“You killed your mother because of a mere human,” he boomed. “You chose her over your own blood?”
Cassie backed up and tripped. Holy heck! Only she could trip over a dragon’s tail. The red dragon shifted its stance, putting himself between her and Samuel’s wrath. His red nostrils flared and wisps of smoke spiraled free.
“I had no choice,” Manu said in a flat voice.
“You had a choice. That human or your mother,” Samuel roared, his face turning mottled scarlet.
“It would have been murder,” Manu said. “Cassie didn’t do anything wrong. We’re friends. That’s all. Ma’s insistence on grandchildren and furthering the family line has caused this. Ma’s mind snapped. She would’ve killed an innocent.”
“You murdered your mother.”
Manu straightened his shoulders, lifted his chin. “She gave me no choice.”
The two black dragons shifted. Manu’s two brothers each grasped their father’s arms.
“You agree with your brother?” Samuel demanded.
Cassie didn’t hear the reply since Jack exited the house. “Is Emma all right?”
“She has burns on her right arm and leg, but they’re not as bad as I feared. She’s in a bath of cold water. She’s going to be okay. The baby too.”
“B-baby?”
“Yes,” Jack said curtly.
Hone sighed with relief as Cassie ducked into the house.
“Vehicle coming,” Jack snapped.
Manu snapped to attention. He strode to his mother’s body and stabbed her with the tribe sword. His low murmur rippled with power and his mother’s body faded to dust. He repeated the action with her severed head.
Hone willed his dragon to shift and prayed like hell Samuel could hold his shit together because the motor roared in the same manner as the one belonging to the local policeman. Yep, the cop who had a crush on Cassie.
His dragon stood to attention, pushing a rippling growl through Hone’s mind. Quiet.
“Clothes,” Jack snapping, thrusting clothes at him and another set at Manu. Enough to cover the worst of the blood on their bodies. “Put away the sword.”
Manu seemed to snap from the dark place in his mind and the sword melted into his human body. He yanked on the pair of track pants Jack gave him, and when he presented his back, Hone saw the sword resting in the hand of Manu’s dragon tattoo.
The cop car pulled to a stop. The door slammed as the driver climbed out.
“Is anything wrong, officer?” Jack asked, taking the lead.
“We’ve had reports of gunfire and strange flames in the sky,” the cop said.
“We did light our bonfire,” Jack said and gestured at the pile of tree clippings that had caught fire during June’s rampage. “I’m afraid it smoked a lot. Some idiot chucked a paint spray can in there because it scared the crap out of us when it exploded.”
The policeman scrutinized their faces, studied the fire. Tension radiated from his rigid frame. He didn’t believe Jack’s story.
“Where is Cassie? I mean Ms. Miller-Pope.”
“Inside,” Jack said.
“I’d like to speak with her.”
“I’ll get her,” Hone said.
Before he could go to the woman his dragon had claimed, the woman he’d come to love and admire, she appeared in the doorway.
Cassie’s hair was wet, and she wore a different dress with a lightweight cardigan covering her arms. Smart lady.
“Hi. Is there a problem?”
“A neighbor reported gunshots. I was worried the owner of the drugs had returned.”
“No, no problems,” Cassie said. “We did have a fire.” She frowned, and Hone saw some of her tension recede. “A barbecue.”
Hone smothered his flash of dark humor. A barbecue. Right.
The cop hesitated. “Okay. If there are any repercussions pertaining to the drugs, I’m a call away.”
“Thank you,” Cassie said. “I appreciate that.”
The strained atmosphere remained until the cop car disappeared.
“You can come out of hiding now,” Manu called.
His two brothers emerged from behind a clump of bushes, dragging Samuel with them.
“Murderer,” Samuel spat. “You’ve brainwashed your brothers. No one in the tribe will accept you as leader.”
“They already have. Ma had become unstable. You know it. You just don’t want to admit the truth.”
“No, it was that human’s fault.”
“Take him away,” Manu ordered. “Take Hone’s vehicle. Leave me a unit.”
Kahurangi plucked a unit from his wrist and tossed it to Manu.
“Keys are inside,” Hone said.
“You’d better sleep with one eye open,” Samuel roared as Kahurangi and Tane led him away.
Manu stood strong, his chin up and shoulders straight until Hone’s vehicle disappeared from sight and the engine noise faded. Then, he crumpled, his shoulders rounding, his head bowing in misery. “I had no choice. Ma had lost it.”
Hone strode to him, wrapped his cousin in his arms and gave comfort in the only way he knew how. Manu would forever have his support because his cousin’s actions had saved Cassie. Jack and Emma had put their lives on the line to save her too. He owed them big time.
A soft hand touched his arm. “Bring Manu inside. He needs rest.”
Cassie. Hell, he’d thought she’d run from him after the ferocity she’d witnessed. She stepped back, and instantly, he missed the physical contact. Was she okay with his otherness? He couldn’t tell. If he lost her after all this, he wouldn’t function.
“Manu can take the couch. It’s man-size and should be comfortable enough.”
“Thanks.” Hone waited until Cassie disappeared inside before half-guiding, half-manhandling Manu.
“I need a shower,” Manu said in a low voice.
So did he since blood and gore irritated his skin as it dried.
“This way.” Hone saw Cassie had planned ahead and a pile of fresh towels sat on the vanity counter. He started the shower and nudged his cousin toward it. “I’ll find you something to wear.”
Half an hour later, when Hone walked into the kitchen, Manu was sound asleep in the lounge, a lightweight blanket over him.
Jack and Cassie were sitting at the kitchen counter, each with a drink in hand. Whisky by the smell.
“Emma sleeping?”
“Yeah. I put our healing salve on her burns. She said she was okay and told me not to fuss.” Jack choked up, and Hone got it. He felt the same way about Cassie.
“I’m sorry,” Hone said. “You’re gonna be a father.”
“Yeah,” Jack said. “I never thought I would.”
“You should have told us.” Cassie gulped. “You and Emma—you p-protected me. You risked everything. For me.”
Hone reached for one of Cassie’s hands and fitted their fingers together. She didn’t pull away and relief flooded him. His otherness might not be a problem. “And for me,” he said.
“You would have done the same for us. Both of you,” Jack added. “Don’t deny it.”
“But your baby…” Cassie trailed off, her eyes bright with unshed tears. “And Manu…h-he…I—” She broke off and swallowed hard. “You could have lost everything.”
“It was the right thing to do,” Jack said. “I…we would make the same decision again.”
Cassie turned to him. “Want a whisky?”
“Sure.”
Cassie stood to get another glass from the cupboard. She scooped up the bottle of whisky and after filling his glass, she placed it at her elbow. “So, dragons. Were you going to tell me anytime soon?”
Jack downed his drink and set the empty glass on the counter. “I’ll leave you to it.”
Cassie waited until Jack had disappeared before she let loose her curiosity. “How do you become a dragon?”
“Taniwha. We’re born this way.”
“All the myths and legends about taniwha are true? I thought they were part of Maori folk tales.”
“Every myth or legend starts with a hint of truth.”
“How many of you are there? Is Jack one? Emma wasn’t surprised. She knew. How come you didn’t tell me?” The questions poured from her quick and fast. “What about children? If Jack is a dragon…um…taniwha, will their baby be one? Do you howl at the moon or anything? Wait. Are werewolves and vampires real?”
Hone suppressed a flash of humor. “Jack is a water taniwha. He is in his element in the water. His shift is different from ours in that he’s stuck in his form for a longer time before he returns to human. My family and relations are the flying, fire-breathing type. Like werewolves, we are ruled by the moon. We become highly sexual at full moon and to keep our human shape, we need a lot of sex at that time of the month. If we don’t, we’re forced to shift, a problem in these modern days.” Hone paused to sip his whisky. “Emma and Jack’s baby will have taniwha genes. From what I’ve learned, it depends. Some half-taniwha can shift. Others can’t.”
“Have you met any vampires? Any werewolves?”
“There are a few vampires around, but not many because of New Zealand’s small population. Werewolves, yes. Feline shapeshifters too.”
“Wow.” She rubbed her hands together in excitement. “Just wow!”
“You can’t tell anyone, Cassie.”
She prickled like a hedgehog. “I wouldn’t. I won’t. You’re my friends.”
“I want to be more than a friend, Cassie. I wasn’t kidding earlier. I love you.”
“I…oh.” Pink colored her cheeks.
“I don’t want you to leave.”
“We haven’t known each other for long.”
“No, but once a taniwha develops feelings, he or she is unwavering. My dragon considers you our mate. I haven’t looked at another woman since I met you. I wouldn’t. I’m not interested in anyone but you. You complete me.”
“Oh, Hone.”
Hone moved before his brain issued the order. He jerked her into his arms and held her tight. “I thought I was going to lose you.”