Dragon Keeper (Dragon Home #2)

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

“They’re not here.”

They hadn’t been there just a few short years ago. And this was Luuk and Jon and Myk’s house, but it wasn’t. A huge Victorian facade had sprung up on one side, barely visible, but there.

Sloan figured that was why his gut had told him they needed to go see Myk and his brothers. They’d just gotten there too late.

His youngest brother Riley stood up from behind the trees and brush they crouched in. “I’m gonna go knock on the door.”

Brayden, the middle brother and the cautious one, grabbed his arm. “No you are not. We have no idea what we’re dealing with.”

“Shit.” Sloan squinted, trying to see if there was any movement. Any life besides the Sleeping-Beauty-level rose garden.

“Dude, what the heck is that?” Riley blinked, his eyes going wide then. “That is the biggest fucking beaver I’ve ever seen.”

Sloan glanced over, curious, and then he looked again. For once, Riley wasn’t just being an overdramatic asshole. Yeah, “that” was the biggest fucking beaver they’d ever seen, and they’d seen a lot of fucking beavers in their time out in the woods.

“Dude,” Brayden said. “Dude, can you imagine the size of the dam that creature makes?”

To Sloan’s shock, the beaver looked at him, tilted his head, and then flipped them off with one clawed finger. Okay. So, that had just happened. It was pretty fascinating in a completely weird and unnatural sort of cool way.

Riley whispered, “I don’t think it’s really a beaver.”

The laughter started then, hard and happy. The three of them just cracked up because what else was there to do? What else could they do?

Well, it was obviously not worth sitting here, crouching in the damn bushes. They’d been sighted.

It’s better than being beavered.

He looked at Riley. Seriously? Beavered?

Riley nodded, waggled his eyebrows. Clever, right? That was clever.

Brayden rolled his eyes. Children. We are having a beaver situation here. Pay attention.

Brayden stood up, waved, and smiled. “Hi, we’re looking for the people who used to live here. Luuk and Jon, Myk—I don’t suppose you know where they’ve made their dam? Den?” What do beavers make again? Dams, dens, tiny homes?

Sloan had obviously lost control of this situation, especially when, all of a sudden, instead of a great big beaver, there was a great big dude naked with pretty impressive front teeth, standing there staring at them. “Look. The triplets aren’t interested in company. Go away.”

Sloan looked at Riley, who looked at Brayden, who looked back at him. They weren’t triplets, right?

Riley shook his head. No, no way. It was a set of twins and then Myk. But I mean, if this dude doesn’t know, maybe they all just looked alike.

Myk didn’t look anything like the other two, Brayden pointed out, and a curl of smoke escaped from one nostril.

I’m trying to help. The last thing they needed was for Brayden to flame out here. Roses burned.

Guys, please pay attention. There’s a big naked dude waiting for us to answer, and if we’re not careful, his balls are going to freeze off. Was Riley worried or excited?

Well, then, maybe he should get a pair of pants.

“You can go now. This is private property,” Beaverman said.

“No, we really can’t,” Riley snapped. “We need to know what happened to our friends. If they don’t live here anymore, then where are they?”

Those big front teeth made a whistling sound when the guy blew out a frustrated breath. “You stay there. Right there.”

The guy turned and headed toward the front door, putting his feet down hard. They made an impressive noise for bare feet. He strode to the front door of the house, then knocked, crossing his arms over his chest as he waited, glaring at them kind of sideways.

The door opened to a violently green man, like Jolly Green Giant green, but somehow it worked.

“Yarrow, we’ve talked about naked time around the yard,” the guy said.

The beaver man jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “They want to talk to you about people who used to live here.”

Emerald eyes met his, and one of the green eyebrows lifted, arched madly. “Do they now? Interesting.” The beaver man got a smile. “Thanks, Yarrow. Get some clothes on or shift back. You’re going to freeze your nuts off.”

See, that’s what I said. Riley was two seconds away from socking him in the shoulder. Sloan could tell.

Not now. He shook his head and stood up, stepping forward. “Hello. We’re not here to cause trouble. We had friends who lived here. We were worried about them. Looks like maybe we had a reason to be…”

“How did you know them?” The roses seemed to be growing. Like just climbing up the house, the thorns thick and worrisome.

“We were just friends. Last time we saw them, Nevvy was just a baby, but they were… dealing with an infestation.”

Vampires. They’d been dealing with bloodsuckers.

Brayden nodded. “Nevada is a sweetheart. Just a little dragon.”

Suddenly, one pink and one purple face appeared on either side of the green one’s head. It was sort of like he duplicated himself in different colors.

Creepy.

“These are the ones I was telling you about,” the pink one said.

“They’re a little bigger than you described them.” The green one was the oldest, Sloan could tell.

“Yeah, I think we should get Hawk. Let’s see if Hawk knew them. They look old.”

“Hey!” Riley burst out. “I’m not old.”

All three brothers grinned as one, saying, “No?”

The purple one motioned to them, and it looked like rainbow fairy lights falling from his fingertips. “Come on. It’s chilly, even for springtime.”

What do we do? Should we go in? Brayden asked.

I don’t think we have a choice. I mean, seriously. We have to know what happened to Myk and Luuk and Jon? That’s what’s important. What if they have Nevvy in there?

“I guarantee you Nevvy is at school.” The original triplet winked at him.

How had they heard them?

“Are you sure?” Sloan shot back.

“Yes, actually. I had to go into town, so I walked down with all of them. Well, rode. Are you coming in? I mean, it is getting late…”

Are these guys for real? Riley was starting to get agitated.

I’m going to say it doesn’t matter. We need to find out.

“Come on, guys. We make empowering burgers. And we can prove to you this way that there are no vamps here.” The green one stepped back, even as the beaver thumped his tail in disapproval on the ground.

“Okay. We’ll come.” Brayden gave them a winning smile, then glared at Riley as he made to protest.

“Cool.”

The pink and purple brothers faded back into the house, and the green one waited for them on the doorstep.

He felt the magical wards that pressed at him as he passed through, the feeling making the hairs on his arms stand up, making his scales rattle. But no one exploded, so he guessed they passed whatever test that ward was about.

They headed into an impressive foyer, the A-frame windows looking out, and the roses were somehow off to one side from this vantage point. It was really cool, oddly enough.

“So where are the others?” Sloan asked, looking around curiously.

“Come into my part of the house. I’m Corbin.” The green one led the way. The other two had disappeared like smoke, but they looked like they would be pretty small dragons. He thought he, Brayden, and Riley could take them if they decided to attack.

“So, come on in and have a seat.” Corbin led them into a sunken living room with couches covered in native-looking rugs and tons of plants all over.

“We’d rather just see Luuc or Jon or Myk.”

“Well, see, here’s the thing. Did you know they had a vampire problem?”

“We cleaned out that cell of vamps.” Bray scowled.

“Not entirely, apparently. And they were nearby as little as six weeks ago. Again.”

“What?” Riley growled. “Where?”

“We took care of it. But I have a feeling this is some sort of convergence point for them. They’ll always come back here. That’s why I’m here with my brothers.”

“So wait.” Sloan stood back up. “Are Myk and Luuk and Jon gone? Nevvy? You said she was in school!”

“Calm down. I’ll get you a drink and a snack. My brothers went to get their mates, and then I bet Cosmo will go get Myk. He can explain.”

“Then I’ll wait here to see him,” Sloan stated. If they could produce a happy, healthy Myk? Then he would be satisfied.

If they couldn’t? There would be hell to pay.