At the mention of “druid,” Lynn flinched. The kid, Geoff, even stepped back a pace. These people were wary, and they should be. Other than my mother and I, they didn’t trust druids.
“He’s good, like my mother was. He wants to protect us,” I interjected. “He’s also training me.” Isaac wouldn’t hurt them, and I needed them to know that and not treat him differently.
She nodded. “Okay, then. If you trust them, I trust them. We’re just so used to being alone. Being wary.”
Logan nodded at that. “And you should be, but not of these people. Come on, let’s meet them.”
‘I used my connection to tell the pack that they are in fact all skyborn,’ Logan told me. I’ll bet Sophie was freaking out.
And with that, we led the family of three, soon to be four, out to meet the pack.
I forgot about the awed reverence the pack had in the presence of skyborn. They’d had it with me in the beginning, and now with Lynn and her family. Sophie just stood there, mouth slightly open, staring at the baby bump, and the way Lynn cradled it.
Roxy and Ruben, wearing giddy grins and their eyes half lidded, looked like they were either super elated or very stoned. I noticed Gear circling the skies, and Dominic crouched on the roof of the bus, looking up and down the street for threats.
“Is that your bus?” Lynn asked and I nodded, adjusting the grip on my staff. No need to go into semantics now. Technically, it was Isaac’s.
Lynn leaned in, sniffed Sophie and then smiled. “I haven’t been around a shifter in ages.” She looked excited to be around other supernaturals again.
Sophie looked puzzled. “Why didn’t you try to get some protection detail?”
Lynn and her husband shared a look, then Lynn looked at her son Geoff and smiled. “Tell you later,” she told Sophie, and Sophie nodded.
There was a story there for sure, one not meant for children’s ears.
“I’m Tony.” The father reached out and shook Keegan’s hand. He must have instinctively known he was the alpha, although he kept risking glances up at Dominic, with his wild rooftop perch and gunned-out glory.
We can’t take you anywhere, I thought silently to Dominic, even though he couldn’t hear me.
“Lynn, why don’t you and Geoff get on the bus and I’ll follow you in the car?” Tony kissed his pregnant wife’s cheek.
“No sir,” Keegan interjected. “I’ll take your car and follow behind. I need you all to stick together. It’s safer.”
Tony looked at the alpha for a moment and then nodded, handing him the keys to an old Toyota Camry in the driveway. “Not used to having protection,” he added.
“Well, get used to it. We’re going to make sure you guys are safe from now on. All of you,” Logan said and his words hit me then. All of you. We needed to track down all of the skyborn and let them know we could help them. Especially if their magic necklaces were wearing off.
Lynn waddled onto the bus with her husband’s help, as Isaac crossed the front lawn with Keegan to stand on either side of Logan and I.
“We need to track down all of the skyborn. My mother made them all necklaces with her power in it that kept them appearing human, but it’s wearing off now. They’re all at risk.”
Keegan nodded and then looked at Logan. “We’re going to need more shifters. A lot more.”
Sophie must have been listening in, because she peeked her head over Keegan’s shoulder. “I’ll call Daddy. He has the updated list.”
Daddy. Of course Sophie called her father daddy. I suppressed the eye roll that was twitching at the edge of my eyelids.
Isaac looked over his shoulder at the other skyborn retreating onto the bus and then lowered his voice. “If Ardan is building an army, then why shouldn’t we?”
Sometimes I thought Isaac was all tree-hugging and rainbows, and then he said stuff like that.
Keegan grinned, as if building a shifter army would bring him great joy. “I’m on it. I’ll meet you back at Isaac’s land in California.”
Sophie made a whining noise and Keegan groaned. “Fine, you can come.”
“Eeeep!” she squealed, jumping up and down.
He pointed a finger at her. “But no choosing warriors just because they’re hot.”
She shot him a dejected look but agreed.
As they walked off to get into the other car, Isaac turned at me. “You need to train, Sloane.”
I know, I know. I knew nothing about being an earth druid. Especially not a fire druid. “But the others…”
Isaac nodded. “We’ll call them. Tell them about the necklaces and invite them out to the land. That’s the best we can do.”
Okay, so the idea floating around my head of going on a worldwide skyborn tour wasn’t going to happen.
Logan nodded. “I agree. Right now, you need to learn to control your power. I don’t want you getting hurt like that ever again.”
“You’re right. Okay. Let’s get Lynn and her family back to the land and I’ll start training with Isaac.” I agreed with my mate. The last thing I wanted was to shoot off massive amounts of purple magic and fall into a coma.
Both Logan and my mentor sighed in relief.
It was time to learn to tame the purple magic. Without hurting anyone’s balls.
I learned a lot on our bus ride back, like the fact that every summer when my mom went on her “educators’ retreat” and I was at summer camp, she was really visiting all the skyborn in the U.S., Canada, and even one in Mexico. Yeah, no retreat. She was seeing what they needed, finding new ones and marking them in her book, making them necklaces and keeping them safe. Learning that my mom had some wicked rare and ancient magic, and that she had helped the queen create the skyborn race, was a whoa heavy moment. I mean, I knew she went with the queen to try to help from what I saw with the Eye, but to be the one that actually held the magic possible to make an entire race was … overwhelming. I knew I was only half her, but part of me wondered if I held this magic too, and it terrified me. Of course the first thing I asked was if my mother’s magic helped bind the dragons to the humans, and if that could be reversed. Lynn assured me it was the queen who did that particular piece of magic and it wasn’t reversible. My mother had tried.