Waking the Lost Dragon

Chapter 1

“We’re about ten seconds away.”

“Yep.”

“Are you ready for this?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“You know it’s not polite to answer a question with a question.”

“And you know I think it sucks when you ask questions you already know the answers to.”

“Are there any other kind? After all, I am the first Dragon Queen. I walked the earth when it was new… unpolluted… beautiful. I…”

“I’m not touching that one with a ten-foot pole. It doesn’t matter how wide you opened the door. I’m not gonna fall for it.”

Turning towards the opposite end of the portal, Sydney Kavanaugh tuned out Drakara, the Dragon Queen with whom she shared her soul, and tried to think.

She had to focus. Had to be sure everything was straight in her exhausted, sleep-deprived mind.

Carrick would want the facts, and just the facts. It was how he operated.

Yes, he cared how she was feeling and how worried she was. Of that, there was no question, but when it came to a mission– and boy howdy, she was about to ask him to go on one hell of a mission– he operated on facts, and little else.

“And he’s my last hope,” she whispered into the whirling, swirling Magic of the vortex.

“If my opinion matters at all, I think you’re doing the right thing,” Kara, short for Drakara, interjected with an over-dramatic tone and a theatrical toss of her massive head that took up the entire circumference of Sydney’s mind’s eye.

Sighing and slowly shaking her head, Syd blew out a long-suffering breath while using every ounce of her hard-won, well-learned control not to scream at the top of her lungs.

It was all so overwhelming– a feeling she hadn’t felt in over a decade.

It didn’t matter how much Magic she had, all the lessons she’d learned, the books she’d read, all the places she’d seen, or the gift of the very Dragon Queen who was dancing on her last nerve; she was tired.

No. Check. She was exhausted.

It was soul deep. It was an ache that compounded with every minute, every hour, every day that she came up empty-handed.

The last thing she needed was a petulant Dragon Queen, with hurt feelings and the means to let the whole dadgum world know about it, griping and whining while she was asking for help.

Sydney had always been really good at multitasking, but that ship had sailed. And there was no way in heaven or earth that she was going to lose her cool in front of Carrick and his Mate.

Absolutely no way.

She needed to get the situation under control. She had to reassure the two-thousand-year-old Dragon Queen with whom she shared her soul that she appreciated everything Kara was doing.

“Of course, it matters, Kara,” she placated, letting a fraction of the turbulent emotions she’d been keeping at bay seep into her tone.

“You’ve been with me every step of this crazy search and rescue mission.

Goddess knows, we’ve tried everything our combined minds could think of, or even imagine.

Hell, we’ve even pushed the boundaries of our collective Magical abilities– and still we got nuthin’. ”

“Well, at the risk of repeating myself, I think talking to the most renowned Dragon Elder on the planet is exactly what you need to do.”

“Thank you, Kara. Thank you so much. That means the world to me.”

And she meant it. Sure, some of what she was saying was to keep Kara cool, calm, and collected when they reached Carrick and Ginnie’s home, but that didn’t negate the fact that she truly appreciated everything the Dragon Queen with whom she shared her soul had done.

The aggravation was just the price she had to pay for all the invaluable help and support.

It was like having an overbearing older sister who thought she knew everything and was more than willing to share her unsolicited opinion at the drop of a hat.

The difference here was, Kara could set half the earth on fire with little more than a thought– and she most likely had ninety-eight-point-seven percent of all the answers anyone would ever need.

Also, just like a sisterly relationship, they shared an unconditional love and admiration that the Universe had blessed. It was just like…

“Nope,” Syd huffed. “Not gonna go down that dark, tormented rabbit hole again. Not now. Don’t have time.”

As the whirling, swirling Magic of the portal slowed, Sydney took one last deep breath. Stepping over the slightly raised threshold the second it opened, she exhaled when the soles of her light blue Converse tennis shoes touched the soft, thick Bermuda grass.

Inhaling again, she let the hot, dry air of the Chihuahuan Desert fill her lungs.

Bathed in the perfume of star jasmine, gardenias, and sweet acacia, she grinned as a whiff of something akin to grape soda tickled her nose right before her eyes landed on a huge Texas Mountain Laurel tree about a hundred feet to her left.

“There’s nowhere in the whole galaxy like Texas,” she breathed. “I don’t know what it is about this place, but…” Pushing a long, blond curl off her shoulder, she chuckled softly, “Well, it just soothes my soul.”

“Mine, too, Mo Nighean Shònraichte.”

Smiling at the use of Kara’s favorite term of endearment, my special girl, in the language of the Ancient Dragons, Sydney sighed and stood tall. “But enough of that. We can enjoy nature another time. We’ve got way bigger fish to fry.”

Walking down a path that cut through a gorgeous meadow and went past a pond full of ducks, it wasn’t long until both she and Kara felt the pull of another Dragon. “Carrick,” they breathed in unison.

Making her way through a line of magnolia trees in full bloom, Sydney caught sight of several tall, brass finials atop turrets jutting from a roof with at least seven different peaks of what had to be the largest house in all of Texas.

The closer she got, the more of the house she could see and the more her mind was blown. It was huge. It was massive. It rivaled some of the castles and fortresses she’d seen all over the world.

And it was old. Well cared for, but still very old, with a history that quite literally sent ripples through the fabric of Time and Space. It pricked at Sydney’s highly tuned intuition, begging her to come closer, to listen to all the stories it had to tell.

Tightening the light blue scrunchie holding all her curls atop her head, Sydney snorted, “It looks like the Haunted Mansion.”

“Well, Carrick’s Mate is a Necromancer,” Kara snickered.

Laughing despite the situation, Syd added, “Let’s hope we don’t need her expertise this time.”

“Amen, my girl. Amen.”

Opening the ivy-covered wrought iron fence, she stopped mid-stride when Carrick’s voice drifted out an open window. Sydney knew he had been on the phone. She’d heard bits and pieces as she drew near.

No, she wasn’t one to eavesdrop. It wasn’t her style, and it was disrespectful on a whole other level.

But sadly, unintentionally hearing others’ thoughts was one of the hazards of sharing her soul with one of the original Dragon Queens, combined with being the Special One, plus being so tired she was having a hard time keeping all her mental shields in place.

On this occasion, it was the happiness in his voice and the joy in his heart and soul that had her listening longer than she probably should have. The delight in his voice was palpable as he regaled, “You’re never gonna believe who was on the phone.”

“How about you just tell me?” A woman, most assuredly his Mate, teased. “After bobbing and weaving through a sea of well-intentioned and adorable older people pushing shopping carts through the market, I don’t have the brain power to do much more than get the milk in the fridge.”

Smiling at the banter of a couple in love, she couldn’t ignore the pang of jealousy tightening its stranglehold around her heart. It was maddening and something Sydney hadn’t ever planned to feel.

It wasn’t that she begrudged Carrick and Ginnie their happiness.

Oh, hell no! Quite the opposite. Sydney was thrilled for them, overjoyed, and undeniably elated, especially for Carrick.

She’d always thought of him as a surrogate grandfather and only wanted a lifetime of happiness for the renowned Guardsman.

The Great Goddess and the Ancients knew he deserved it more than most.

“It’s just that…” She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “I want the same thing.”

“And you will have it,” Kara reassured, filling the bond they shared with love and understanding. “How many times have Shavon and I told you that anything worth having is worth working for?”

“Enough.”

“Then there ya’ go.”

There was no reason to argue. She knew Kara was right. She just hadn’t planned on having to work quite so hard.

Inhaling deeply, she counted to three, straightened her spine, and marched through the gate. On the way up the walk, she heard Carrick announce, “It was Gunnar! He’s…”

Pushing the glowing doorbell button, she felt unease skitter down her spine and immediately knocked. “Carrick’s not going to like that, but…”

“But he’ll get over it,” Kara assured with a grunt.

“Were we expecting anyone?” Sydney heard him ask his Mate. She thought about announcing herself through the thick wooden door but decided to wait.

“I wasn’t,” his Mate’s reply was instant and filled with curiosity. “You’re the one always getting unannounced company,” she added with a giggle.

“That girl’s a keeper,” Kara snickered. “Sassy enough to keep up with the Old Man. I like her already.”

“Yeah,” was the only reply Sydney could muster.

As his footsteps grew closer to the door, her anxiety took on a life of its own. Sweat dotted her upper lip. Her toes tapped in her shoes as her fingers rang the doorbell again of their own volition.

Her heart skipped a beat, and all she could do was stand entirely still as the door was jerked open and Carrick snarled, “What in the hell…?”