Chapter 9
THIS LITTLE NUTJOB
Ziara
Ijerked awake.
Flinging myself out of bed, I landed in a crouch with my daggers drawn.
Their weight was comforting because I knew I’d slept with them sheathed at my thighs last night.
Learning you’ve stolen from a dragon understandably freaks a person out, and I felt just shy of paranoid.
That bastard had promised to come for me, and I was determined to be as prepared as possible.
Was it any wonder I was having nightmares about the beast?
My tongue throbbed where I’d bitten it to escape, the coppery taste of blood sharp and real. My ribs ached where the nightmare dragon had captured me in his claw. I lifted my shirt to find faint bruises already forming.
Impossible.
Dreams didn’t leave marks. Sweat drenched my shirt, plastering it to my skin despite the cool underground air of the den.
Nothing but a nightmare.
Footsteps echoed in the corridor outside my window.
Low voices I recognized joined in as the patrol passed, leaving behind the scent of the oils used to sharpen their weapons.
Water dripped somewhere deeper in the tunnels.
Electricity hummed. Inhaling deeply through my nose, I focused on the sounds and scents of normalcy as I attempted to reason my racing heart into a less breakneck speed.
I was safe. The dragon was miles away, likely still licking his wounds behind his creepy hedge.
My hands had almost stopped trembling by the time I re-sheathed my daggers and scooped up my backpack, unzipping the small front pocket.
Careful of the sharp end, I reached in and withdrew the bloodstone, trying like hell to ignore the way it pulsed in my hand.
This sharp little piece of crap was the hope of my people.
I studied it, wondering what the big deal was.
Better be worth the trouble.
I stowed the artifact back in its pocket and sucked in another deep breath through my nose.
A familiar scent signature reminded me I wasn’t alone.
Straightening, I forced my shoulders away from my ears and crept into the living room.
My boyfriend’s little sister was asleep on my sofa, exactly where she’d been when I’d stumbled through the door early this morning.
Knowing I couldn’t wake her with blood on my breath, I took a quick trip to the bathroom, rinsed out my mouth, and splashed water on my face. I considered changing into less sweaty clothes, but I’d be working out soon, so what was the point?
Instead, I carried a brush and a spray bottle of water to wake the pup with a pat on her shoulder. “Mornin’, sunshine.”
She jerked awake and sat up, her long blonde hair a rat’s nest of tangles and knots. “What time is it?”
“Time for you to get your butt to the mess hall before you miss breakfast.”
“I can’t believe I fell asleep.” She yawned and stretched. “I tried to wait up for you to make sure you got home safe.”
Well, if that didn’t sucker punch me in the feels. “And what would you do if I hadn’t?”
“I would have come after you.” Tali wasn’t disrespectful enough to add “duh,” but the insult was heavily implied.
Regardless, her answer tugged equally on my heartstrings and my protective instincts because this little nutjob would do it.
I leveled an authoritative stare at her and said, “Don’t ever come after me. ”
She stuck out her chin in defiance.
“I mean it, Tali. You wouldn’t believe the shit that’s out there. We almost got eaten by a griffin. Promise me.”
She huffed out a breath. “Thought you didn’t want me making promises I don’t intend to keep.”
I tapped her leg with the brush, and she scooted over, making room for me to slide onto the cushion behind her. Ignoring the way her nose wrinkled at my scent, I sat and started working the knots out of her hair.
“I already have an alpha, pup.”
“The alpha has the pack to protect. Mack’s supposed to protect you, but with him gone—”
That was about enough of that bullshit. “I can protect myself.”
The girl gave me side-eye.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Nothing personal, but with Mack gone, it’s my duty to keep an eye on you.”
The pup was thirteen, going on twenty, with the baby face of a cherub and the attitude of a budding alpha. She lived to test boundaries and had a hard time showing her throat to anyone. That would be a problem someday. For now, she was just a girl who didn’t quite fit in.
I could relate.
She would be the death of me. Her cheeks were high and tight with her grin, but I couldn’t escape the feeling that consequences would come for me. I needed to keep her out of the dragon’s arctic hemisphere until her brother could talk some sense into her.
“I mean it, Tali.” I stopped braiding long enough to use her hair to turn her head around to face me. “I will never forgive you if you put yourself in harm’s way for me. I’m the adult in this relationship.”
The sparkle in her eyes told me she wanted to argue, but could tell I meant business. I must have leaned too close, because my scent made her nose wrinkle. Trying to ignore her reaction, I straightened her head and got back to work.
It wasn’t Tali’s fault that being the spawn of a dark magic-wielding witch had twisted that part of me into an evil creature that had to be contained. Sereana’s spells kept my beast locked away, but even she couldn’t fully hide the scent. According to Tali, I smelled “wrong,” whatever that meant.
“Did you get the artifact?” she asked, snapping my attention back into the present.
“Of course I did.”
“You did? Seriously?”
Her genuine surprise kind of stung. Kids can be a little too honest sometimes, but she should know me better than that. Last night, I’d been terrified out of my skull, but failure had never been an option.
“Have you no faith in me, pup?”
“I… do.”
“Really convincing.” Still, I couldn’t blame her because I got it. She wasn’t the only packmate who saw my inability to shift as a weakness. No matter how many times I’d proven myself capable.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Well, I snuck into a castle, stole the magical rock from a hoard, tricked a dragon into releasing me, and narrowly escaped his gargoyle sentries with my life. Just another day on the job.”
Her head and eyes rolled in unison. “Yeah, right.”
This kid. I fought back a laugh. “You don’t believe me?
“You gotta admit, it sounds a bit out there, Zee. You’re fast, but not fast enough to outrun a dragon.”
“I got the drop on him while he was in his human form.”
I suppressed a shudder as memories of the dragon’s scaly form shattered my peace.
No. Not memories. That was a nightmare, drawn from fears rather than reality.
His dragon form could be the size of a lizard for all I knew.
In fact, that was how I needed to think of him from now on.
Then I could step on him the next time my mind went there.
Evicting the scaled menace from my thoughts, I tied off her hair and started on my own. We took turns in the bathroom. Then I stopped by my room and grabbed my backpack, shooing Tali toward the front door. Rust might be taking the day off, but I wasn’t.
I couldn’t.
And I sure as hell wasn’t going back to bed, no matter how much I wanted to. Four hours of sleep would have to suffice, because right now, I needed to put a little space between me and my thoughts before I crawled out of my skin.
As I ushered Tali toward the front door, she paused to pull faces in front of the cracked mirror behind the bar. Mackiel and I lived in an old tourist trap—a basement Wild West saloon. The old dance floor was now our bedroom, the bathroom had a shower, and the small dining area was our living room.
It had taken a lot of work, but from the cracked red brick walls to the exposed pipes that groaned every time the heat kicked on to the scuffed hardwood floors, I loved it all.
It had an embossed tin-tiled ceiling, for chrissake.
The place was rad. The old chestnut bar with its giant cracked mirror was icing on the cake.
Mackiel had wanted to hunt down a replacement mirror, but I’d objected.
The kaleidoscope this one offered was perfect, even with thousands of reflections of Tali’s tongue.
“Goofball,” I said, nudging her out the door.
Outside was quiet, a benefit of the old saloon’s location. We were on the outskirts of the pack, deep in the tunnels. Where absolutely no dragons could get to me.
As we strode toward the familiar sounds of the pack, fragmented daylight filtered through small glass squares embedded in the regraded sidewalks above.
The string of lights that illuminated our way was unnecessary since we could all see down here just fine, but they were one more thing I loved about my home.
They made the narrow tunnels that used to be sidewalks feel almost magical.
“How’s school going?” I asked as we took the side tunnel that led to the mess hall. “You keeping up?”
She rolled her eyes at me. Again. “I’m not stupid, Zee.”
“It’s not your brains I worry about. It’s your eye-rolling. And your problem with authority.”
“A friend once told me that only the weak are intimidated by strength.”
I bit back a growl. “That’s horrible advice. I take it back.”
“You can’t. It’s probably the smartest thing you’ve ever said.”
I kind of wanted to throttle her, but the kid wasn’t wrong. “Fine, but I’m making an amendment. Context matters. That advice was meant for a bully who was giving you trouble. It’s not an out, allowing you to treat your teachers like shit.”
“I don’t treat them like shit. But sometimes they’re wrong.”
Alpha children were no joke. As she grew older, Tali would challenge everyone, climbing the ranks until she eventually reached my father.
I’d lost a lot of sleep worrying about what would happen when the two of them inevitably bumped heads, but I couldn’t worry about that today. I had too much on my plate already.
“Just… be respectful,” I said.
She flashed me a toothy smile. “Always am.”
“Yeah, right.”
Whispers called my attention to a nearby doorstep, where a pair of sisters watched us. The instant I saw them, they both dropped their gazes. We hurried on our way, and they followed at a distance.
The tunnels grew busier the closer we came to the mess hall, and I was the recipient of even more sideways glances than usual.
Tali must have noticed the attention, too, because she shuffled closer and whispered, “You did bring back the artifact, right?”
“Yeah.” I bit my lip.
She stared at me. “But?”
I gave her my most innocent look.
“Everyone’s looking at you funny.”
Forcing a smile, I asked, “Don’t they always?”
An older wolf stepped from his doorway, blocking our path. His chest puffed out as he dipped his chin in what looked like… respect?
“Well done, Ziara.”
I blinked. “Thanks, Oren.”
He moved aside, gesturing for us to pass.
Three more wolves emerged from a cross-tunnel ahead. They parted, pressing against the brick walls to give us space. One even bared his throat.
Tali’s hand slid into mine. “This is weird.”
“Understatement of the century, pup.”
A female wolf I’d trained with stopped sweeping her stoop. Her eyes tracked me with an intensity that made my skin crawl. Not hostile, but not friendly either. Assessing.
“Morning, Kara,” I offered.
She nodded once, sharp and deliberate, before returning to her task.
I should have come clean to Tali. She was a bright pup, and she’d find out I’d left the dragon alive soon enough.
As would the rest of the pack. Had Hitch not told them?
He would, and then the tenuous shows of respect would come to a screeching halt, the uncomfortable questions would start, and I’d have to lie to everyone like I had my dad and Rust.
I knew damn well why I hadn’t killed the dragon. The sight of his shirtless torso had short-circuited my brain. His face had been even more problematic. Chiseled jaw; wide nose; strong brow; eyes so icy they hardened my nipples when they lowered to blatantly check me out.
Nobody had ever looked at me the way he did.
Not even Mack.
But now my pack was in danger.
I should have killed the motherfucker when I had the chance.