Chapter 7
seven
To my surprise, Liam wasn’t the one who found us. Neither was Sloane. Jess earned that honor. Though based on her mortification at discovering us in a pile of limbs in the dirt, she wished she had skipped her morning run.
“Jess.” I wiggled my arms and legs to flag her down before she made a quick escape. “Thank God.” I was so low on energy after the surge of magic, it was a miracle I was still conscious. “Get Liam.” Moisture streaked from the corners of my eyes. “Tell him to bring an SUV. And Burdock.”
“Um.” She shielded her eyes. “Are you two…?”
Unless dragons had anatomy no one had explained to me, I felt confident us lying in this position—with Rían’s back to my front—wasn’t going to result in any dragon babies, if that’s what she was hinting.
“There was a fire,” I blurted, desperate to get her moving. “Rían threw us into the lake but almost drowned. I got him out, and he collapsed on top of me. He’s okay, I think, but he’s exhausted from the magic exchange. I need Burdock and transportation here now.”
“Oh.” She dropped her arm and made a determined fist. “I’m on it.”
Within minutes, she returned with Liam. Sloane had come with him, but he sent her to fetch Burdock.
“What did you do?” Liam squawked at me. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you two go off alone.”
Fresh guilt swept through me, and I wanted to hurl. I’d had plenty of time to grasp that my poor control had caused this, and Rían almost died in the process. I was a bad luck charm. No two ways about it.
From the first time we met, after he had been mauled by Mercer in town, resulting in the vampire in the potting shed, our time together had been calamity after calamity until this latest catastrophe struck.
Grunting with the effort, Liam hefted Rían up while I scurried out from under him then laid him on his side.
A flurry of activity sprang up around us as Burdock arrived with a few extra helpers.
He performed an on-site exam and announced Rían was simply exhausted, and the others descended on him, lifting him and carrying him to an idling SUV, which made it easier for me to fade into the background and then escape.
I cut through the park on the east side and hit the sidewalk, unsure where I ought to go.
The answer came to me when my feet guided me to my house, not Rían’s, and I let myself in.
No one was here, but the gaping hole in the floor had been sealed and some type of magic wafted from it.
As certain as I had been I would never come back here, I didn’t have a lot of options that didn’t end with Liam flapping his arms like a chicken and pecking at me for his cousin’s sorry state.
Burning through that much magic, then manhandling Rían, had left me empty and wobbly on my feet.
Though I felt none of the old comfort that came from sliding between the sheets on my bed, I still curled in a ball, damp and miserable, and allowed my mind to drift away.
Heat burned through my spine, and a solid weight draped across my waist. I snuggled into the covers and caught a fishy whiff rising off my skin. Determined to ignore it, I shoved my face into my pillow.
The movement prompted a groan to rise behind me, and flipping my eyes open, I glanced down. I could just make out the outline of an arm under the sheet with me. Adrenaline crashing through me, I aimed a mule kick, slammed my elbow back, and screamed bloody murder.
“The fuck,” a muffled voice whined as my strike landed, the mattress dipping.
Already in motion, I leapt to my feet and jumped off the bed, landing in a crouch.
“Who are you?” I swiped the nearest item off the floor and brandished it in front of me, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “What do you want?”
“To not get elbowed in the nose and kicked in the lady nards for starters.” The lump of blankets sagged over the edge, smacking onto the hardwood. “Good thing I don’t want kids.”
“Sloane?”
“What did you expect? You disappeared. Everyone lost their shit. Everyone but me, of course.”
“Of course.”
“Brilliant best friend that I am—” she was on a roll now, “—I shifted and tracked you here. Then I paid a kid to walk his dogs the way I came to muddle the trail.” Her head burst from the twisted fabric, her hair a static halo, and she squinted at me. “What’s with the sandal?”
“Huh?” A quick check of my hand proved I was, in fact, clutching a sandal over my head like a weapon. “That’s beside the point.”
“You just spayed me, so I feel it’s a valid concern.”
“The room is spinning.” I clutched my head, dropping the shoe. “I think I sat up too fast.”
“Probably the lake fumes.” She waved a hand in front of her face. “Those sheets need washing.”
Despite the raging ache in my skull, I had to get it together. “How long was I out?”
“Four hours or so, and before you ask— No. I didn’t tell anyone I found you. I’m no snitch.”
With a great amount of effort, I wedged my feet under me. “Thanks for that.”
“Mind if I ask why we ran away?” She folded her legs in front of her. “So that I have my story straight.”
Failure. Failure. Failure.
The condescending voice chanting the word into my pounding head belonged to Carmichael.
“I could have killed Rían today.” I wobbled toward the kitchen. “Liam was right—”
“I knew this was his fault.” Her eyes glinted golden. “What did he say to you?”
“Nothing I wasn’t already thinking.” I pressed a hand to my stomach. “Want a snack?”
Sloane wrapped around me from behind, pinning my arms down by my sides.
“No one blames you for what happened today. The almost drowning part was unfortunate, but the rest? It’s part of the learning curve. You did exactly what Fayne taught you, right? The only difference was you paired up with Rían. That means if anyone is to blame, it’s on her.”
One lesson. That was all I’d had with her. That hardly made me a pro. The blame belonged to me alone.
Latent wolf. Fledging dragon. The designation didn’t matter. I was a walking disaster either way.
“Next time, we’ll bring a spotter.” I swallowed hard. “If there is a next time.”
“You can’t be afraid of your potential.” She rested her chin on my shoulder. “And, if you ever want to round the bases with your giraffe, you can’t be afraid of being alone with him. Unless you’re into the voyeur thing.”
“Uh, no.” I shuddered at the idea. “People have watched me every second of my life and reported back on what they’ve seen. I would never invite that into my bedroom.”
“Bedroom?” She snickered into my ear. “Does that mean you would invite it in other places?”
“Pervert.” I exhaled, shrugging her off me. “Too bad the phones are still down. I want to check on Rían, but I don’t want to go through Liam first.”
“That reminds me. I heard the blackout is lifting in three days. Nothing official, but that’s what the rest of the clan seems to believe. You can ask Rían about it when you see him.”
Three days until the lines of communication between Brentwood and the rest of the world came online.
“Our time here doesn’t seem real, in a way, but that’s all about to change.”
“You sound too sad for your own good. We’re going to visit Rían.” She gripped my hand. “Right now.”
A token protest was all the defense I could mount against her declaration as I let her guide me out onto the sidewalk. She aimed me toward his house rather than the urgent care center, so that was good.
The gout of flames painting the sky crimson over our heads, not so much.
Rían was not happy.
“That is a whole lot of dragon.” Sloane stopped to gawk. “How can he even get airborne?”
“He shouldn’t be flying in his condition.” I bit the inside of my cheek. “I need to get his attention.”
“He’s probably flipping out because he can’t find you, but you can’t take all the blame all the time.
” She turned a slow circle, searching for I wasn’t sure what.
“I’m the one who concealed your trail, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
I do feel sorry for Rían getting caught in the middle of this, but Liam needs the taste slapped out of his mouth for dumping his panic in your lap then blaming you for it. ”
Things were so black and white for Sloane. I wished I could go through life with such clarity.
“We need to get his attention.” I went into problem-solving mode. “Then we can get him to land.”
“The park is the only place with enough room for him to touch down without demolishing a city block.”
Ice trickled down my spine at the thought of returning to the scene of the crime, but she was right.
“There’s a box with first aid supplies mounted on the light pole near the boat ramp.
There should be a flare gun in there too.
All parks in Brentwood are supposed to keep them on hand to signal location if there’s a suspected drowning or lost hiker, that kind of thing.
They’re for public use, so it should be unlocked. ”
“Works for me.” She took my hand and broke into a sprint. “Let’s hurry before he gets out of range.”
No one had ever mentioned being a dragon involved so much running.
Stumbling after her, I fought against regret over my decision to den up and lick my wounds in private.
A mistake. I saw that now. Truthfully? I could claim I had fallen on bad habits and figured no one cared if I left.
But that excuse was wearing thin. No. I had been a coward, and I couldn’t afford to indulge my fear any longer.
It was time for me to step up and fix my messes rather than hiding from them.
We made it two blocks before bumping into someone, but they were too fixated on the spectacle to pay any mind to us.
Sloane and I reached the park in record time and aimed straight for the light pole.
Sure enough, the emergency supply box was unlocked, and I retrieved the flare gun, checking it was loaded, then passed it to Sloane.
“I’ve always wanted to shoot one of these,” she gushed, taking aim.
“Better you than me.” The way my day was going, I would shoot Rían out of the sky. “Make it quick.”