Chapter Two
“ W hat do you mean they’re bringing more wizards here? Why didn’t they ask us about it first?”
I was not at all pleased with this news. Over the last two months, we had settled into an odd, but comfortable, routine. We spent our mornings training, and I had quickly earned the respect of my mates with the skills my father had drilled into me. We spent our afternoons researching Draven and everything we could on all his known allies.
The wizards had moved into the lower portion of the cabin. I loved this place and didn’t want to move from it until it was time to launch our attack. The sprawling cabin was split level, giving the wizards their own bathrooms and kitchen, whilst allowing us the ability to lock them out of our living areas. I was thankful for their help against our common enemy, but I still wasn’t sure who I could trust.
“I wish they would have spoken with us first, but I am also relieved to have additional allies join us. This will not be easy to pull off, and I want you as safe as possible.”
As he spoke, Luke’s tanned arms slid around my waist, pulling me against him. I buried my face in his shirt and breathed in his woody scent. The tight knot of anxiety coiled in my chest eased. I relaxed into his embrace and let out a sigh. Well, it was supposed to be a sigh, but instead a purr came out. I purred… like I was a freaking cat.
“Did you just purr?” Luke’s tone was incredulous.
“I absolutely did not.” I could handle glowing tattoos and wings popping out of my back, but I refused to accept purring.
You definitely purred. Beasty snickered.
“Aw! You are the cutest kitty cat!” Luke began stroking my hair as though he was petting a fluffy Persian cat.
I huffed my annoyance and pushed away from him, which only caused him to laugh harder.
“Is the angry little kitty going to hiss at me now?”
I stiffened my shoulders at his teasing, realizing moments later that I probably looked like an angry cat with its hair raised on end. Beasty laughed even harder at my expense.
I was a terrifying fire-breathing dragon. I absolutely did not purr.
Lifting my chin, I turned and walked out of the room and outside into the brilliant sunshine. Luke’s laughter rang through the air as I shut the door behind me. Would I ever admit that I had purred? Not a chance. Happiness surged in my chest at the joyful sound, and my lips stretched into a smile as I walked around the side of the cabin and down to the lower entrance. Things had been rough recently, and my guys had all grown tense. Seeing the stress disappear from Luke’s face while he laughed, albeit at my expense, was totally worth my embarrassment.
You could always purr more often for them. Beasty’s voice cut through my thoughts. There are many amazing studies about the health benefits of adopting a cat as your pet—
I shoved her still-laughing self into a dark corner in my mind. I needed to deal with the wizards, and I couldn’t have her sidetracking me. They had been invited into our home, and we had allowed them to bring their team. We had all gotten along well, and I even found myself enjoying their company. However, I hadn’t agreed to having additional strangers brought into my home, and I didn’t appreciate not being consulted.
I yanked open the glass patio doors and stepped into the make-shift command station they had set up. Either a state-of-the-art computer or a hulking stack of paper covered every table and flat surface in the room. The whirring of computer fans and the clicking of keyboard keys filled the room. I glanced around, attempting to focus my eyes in the sudden darkness.
“Where is Gregor?” I spoke with authority. Gone was the scared girl I became after my parents’ murder. I was back for good, baby!
I had stumbled from one life-shattering event to the next, without so much as a moment to breathe or adjust to each revelation. Thankfully, the past few weeks had given me time to process my sorrow and confusion. I also had a decent mental grip on my new reality of supernaturals, mate bonds, and prophecies. With practice, I had mastered shifting between forms with ease, and I was learning to incorporate my new dragon talents into my fighting. My father would be proud.
For the time being, this cabin was my nest, and I would defend it. No one entered a dragon’s nest, or touched what a dragon treasured, without having their butts handed to them. Warm heat trickled through my chest as my irritation grew, my dragon fire restless and ready to turn any threat to ash.
Gregor came around the corner and into the room, stopping abruptly when he spotted me standing there with literal smoke coming out of my nose.
“Why was I not informed you were bringing more wizards to my home?” I asked.
“It’s only two more wizards!” he insisted, sounding somewhat panicked. “We didn’t think it mattered enough to bother you with the details. You see, we’ve had issues trying to gain access to the computers in Draven’s main company—the one he uses as a front for his illegal business deals. If we could get access, we could gain vital details which would help us take him and his allies down. We called the council for assistance, and they’re sending us their tech genius, along with his handler.”
Gregor speech raced as he rushed to get out his explanation. And a small part of me felt bad for making him so nervous. We had grown friendly, and I liked his team. Damien and my three mates all seemed to enjoy their company, especially when took guard shifts alongside the wizards to keep watch on our nest night and day. Draven had been very quiet, but we would not allow him to catch us off guard again.
I closed my eyes and breathed in slowly, pulling the heat back to my center and slowly extinguishing the fire.
“I’m sorry, Gregor,” I said. “I appreciate everything your team is doing. I’m just a little on edge and don’t enjoy surprises right now.”
“I apologize for not informing you of the issue and the new arrivals,” Gregor replied. “The male coming is a nadir, with incredible skill in creating and hacking technology. Whilst this talent has given him a higher position than most nadirs within the community, as he still remains a nadir, it didn’t even occur to me that his presence would be worth bringing to your attention. I will not make that mistake again.”
“A nadir?” I asked in confusion. I had not heard this term before.
“In the wizard community, all males are born with magic, but their level of magical ability can vary greatly,” Gregor explained. “In the case of my team, it consists of those who possess an amount of magic much larger than the general wizard population. There are a small number of wizards born without magic, or with such a scant amount of magic that we don’t even call them wizards. They are ‘nadirs’. These males do not attend our schools, nor do they attend meetings held by the council. Nadirs are sent to non-supernatural schools and colleges, and then allowed to work the more menial jobs that require no magic within our community.”
I barely kept my mouth from dropping open. While his tone held no disdain toward the non-magic males, it was clear that they had no respect within their own community. They were essentially rejects. Before I could even string together words to form a sentence, Gregor spoke again.
“The nadir I spoke of will arrive this evening. I’ll send someone to alert you immediately. You can come and meet him and his handler to ensure you’re comfortable hosting them under your roof.”
Gregor gave me a stiff half bow, and I was so dumbfounded I could do nothing more than nod my head before turning and leaving the darkened room.
I strode back to my porch and sat heavily on the porch swing. The wood groaned, and the chains squeaked as I began rocking. I had spent several hours each evening studying supernaturals and their different cultures. It had been a definite struggle to not judge all the strange laws through a human lens. Some of their customs were downright creepy.
I had discovered that many supers held disdain for other supers. They avoided spending any significant amount of time with each other. The elaborate balls and high court meetings were the only occasions all the supers came together, and that happened only three or four times each year.
While it made me uncomfortable knowing how the supers regarded each other, it was heartbreaking to think of them treating others in their own communities with that same disdain. You were judged based on your level of magic, not by who you were as a person, or even by your intelligence. The nadir had their entire lives dictated for them by ‘superior’ wizards. I wished that it could be changed, but supernaturals lived very long lives and were dead-set in their old ways. Change only happened at a snail’s pace.
One day, little dragon.
A sigh escaped me as Beasty’s words echoed in my mind. I hoped she was right, because I wanted so badly to bring that change to the antiquated paranormal world.