I pointed to one wall. “My oldest sister, Temperance—she used to make up stories about all the animals. One time she spent hours connecting every piece of the painting into one epic tale. I never knew where she’d go with it when she started. The story came out totally different every time.”
My gaze fell on the chairs. “And my other sister—Mom always said she must have accidentally birthed a monkey when Verity came out. Verity couldn’t sit still for more than a few minutes. In here she’d climb up on the chairs and make a game of leaping between them, seeing how long she could provoke her dragon wings out for.”
“And Da...” I could picture him in my mind’s eye. Big and brawny like Nate, but longer in the face and even darker haired. My chest clenched up. “I always wanted to see more from the windows. He’d sweep me up in his arms and hold me right by the top, and tell me about all the things we could spot from here to the horizon.”
I felt the giddiness that had run through my little girl’s body. The joy of having my father’s attention focused all on me.
What would he, and my other dads, have thought of me if they could see me now? What would my life have been like if the rogues had never sent it brutally off course?
Nate ambled over and sat down beside me. I leaned against his shoulder. He took my hand, rubbing his thumb over the back. “You lost a lot,” he said. “More than any of us can understand. We each lost one mentor. Your whole family is gone. I have no idea what that’s like. But whenever you want to talk about it, you can come to me. To any of us. I think I can speak for the other alphas there.”
“Thank you.” Now that I had talked about my family, my heart felt a little lighter. “I actually think I’d like to spend a little time in here on my own before we go. If that’s okay.”
“Of course,” Nate said. “I should take care of a few things around the estate before we move on. If you need me, one of the attendants will know where to find me.”
He tipped my face toward his and kissed me softly. When he moved away my body was humming. I could feel his presence through our bond even after he’d left and shut the door behind him. While he was on the estate and that close to me, I didn’t think I’d need anyone’s help to find him.
I lay back down on the sunning stone and just drifted in and out of memories for a while. Weirdly, letting those fragments of my past rise up didn’t increase the pain of my loss. If anything, they soothed it. It was a heck of a lot better remembering the happy times. Why should my only clear recollections of my family be my fathers’ and sisters’ last moments of panic and torment?
When I sat up again, my nerves felt more settled. I touched the edge of my phone in my pocket. I did have another kind of family that I wasn’t going to leave behind completely. I’d promised Kylie I’d keep checking in. The last thing I wanted was her figuring I’d ditched her.
Hey, Ky, I texted to her. Exciting times here. We’re going to take the battle to the rogues. I came up with a brilliant plan... Well, we’ll see how brilliant it is when we try it.
Her response came a minute later. Oh please. If you came up with it, of course it’ll work. I can just imagine your dragon self smashing all those assholes.
There was something pretty satisfying about that image. I wish you were here to really see it. I guess we’ll be near New York again before too long. We’re heading to Marco’s estate next, in Florida, and then West’s is up in the Northeast somewhere.
Oooh, Florida sun and fun! Where’s his pad?
I smiled. Apparently not far from Miami.
That figures. He totally looks like the clubbing type. Make sure you keep him in line, you hear?
Before I could answer, someone knocked on the door. “Come in,” I said.
An attendant peeked inside. “Dragon shifter,” he said. “Nate requests your presence by the holding rooms.”
Shit. It was already time to see just how brilliant my plan was. I sucked in a breath. Add another one to the many conversations with my bestie I was going to have to put off finishing.
“All right,” I said. “I’m coming.”
Chapter 11
Ren
It felt strange, being the only one of the shifters around me still in human form. I set my feet down as quietly as I could, moving with the others up the wooded hillside we’d chosen for our ambush. A loamy smell filled my nose. Furred bodies wove through the trees around me.
My mates and Nate’s kin who’d joined us had all shifted as soon as we’d left behind the vehicles, stashed off the road. It made sense, since in their animal bodies they could move faster and more stealthily, extend their senses farther, and just generally be more badass. Nate and Marco padded along on either side of me, West loping along ahead of us. Aaron soared overhead alongside Alice, watching for worrisome activity below.
I could have been a hell of a lot more badass as a dragon, but the one thing I wouldn’t be was stealthy. Not to mention it wouldn’t do us much good if I burned out my limited shifting energy tramping through the woods and then had to do the actual fighting as a human.
Orion should have reached the rogues’ camp last night. The plan was for him to tell them that we’d be passing along this stretch of road this morning—that we’d planned to slip away during the wee hours to avoid notice. They’d think they were coming right down to the road to ambush us there. But they’d run right into our ambush before they had a chance to see they’d been misled.
At least, that was how it was supposed to go. Assuming Orion came through and didn’t just throw in his lot with the rogues. He’d seemed determined to follow my plan when I’d talked to him before he left, but also a little browbeaten. Maybe once he’d gotten farther away from my and his alpha’s authority, he’d decided to take his chances with people who hadn’t locked him up and drugged him. Even if they were murderers.
I really hoped I’d been right about him, though.
West slowed at the top of the hill. He walked to the crest where the ground slanted down again and glanced back at us. This was where we’d planned to stop.
Aaron dove from the sky, leaving his sister on sentry duty. He shifted as he reached the ground and made a graceful landing on both human feet.
“There’s movement a few miles off,” he said. “I’d guess they’ll be here in half an hour or so. We should spread out downwind so they don’t catch our scent before we’re ready to spring.”
I nodded. The other animals drifted back into the trees. I followed, staying by Nate’s side. I was going to have to hang farther back than the others, because my smell wouldn’t blend into the natural landscape as well.
There might be a few downsides to being the rarest type of shifter around. But I did mean to use my unique skills to my best advantage.
When Nate stopped, with a dip of his head toward me, I ran my fingers into his thick grizzly fur and pressed my face to his shoulder. He nuzzled me back.