“That’s me. I’m Sloane.” I took a step forward.
Her eyes creased as they fell to my shoulder and the tattoo that rested there. “Druid,” she spat and raised her gun.
“Whoa, whoa! Stop!” Nadine stepped in front of me. “She’s skyborn. Put that damn gun down, kid.”
Logan appeared out of nowhere in the woods behind her, stalking slowly like a cat about to pounce. He must have heard the truck pull up as well.
Tears filled the little girl’s eyes.
“I knew it! I knew this was trick.” She started to back up, back into her truck when Logan closed the distance between them and came up behind her, ripping the gun out of her hand, pinning her body to his chest with one arm over her belly.
“I’m skyborn,” he stated, and in that amazing way he could, shifted his arm skin to black scales, somehow keeping the rest of his body human, so as not to alert the hunters. She looked down at the inky black scales and gasped, which turned into a snorting laugh, which turned into crying. Poor thing.
Logan released her and she spun.
“I-I thought you were all dead,” she said between laughing and tears. “I thought I was alone. The lady stopped coming, and when you called I figured it was a trap, but I couldn’t let it go. I had to check it out.”
Logan reached out and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You’re not alone. Sloane, my mate, is half skyborn and half earth druid. That’s why she carries that tattoo. Her mother is the lady you speak of. The one who stopped coming. She died.”
The girl looked down for a second and nodded. As if she understood all about that.
Now that she wasn’t waving a gun at me I figured it was safe to approach her. I side-stepped Nadine and walked slowly towards the kid.
“Where’s your mom? My list said two skyborn lived at that address.”
The girl’s face suddenly looked haunted. Even her adorable, light smattering of freckles couldn’t make her look any less macabre. “She died. Last year. Druids.” That’s all she said.
My heart broke for her. She looked even younger than I was when I lost my mom. “Why didn’t you say so over the phone? We would have come and got you.”
She wiped a tear. “I didn’t know if I could trust you. Mom said not to trust anyone, but the redheaded lady with the matching necklace.”
She pulled hers out of her shirt.
“How have you managed this whole time?” Logan asked her.
She shrugged. “Mom trained me since I was young. Left me money in case she wouldn’t be around. I got a fake ID that says I’m sixteen. I tell everyone my mom is disabled and can’t leave the house.”
Holy shit. Holy freaking shit.
I wanted to burst into ugly crying sobs, but thought that would probably embarrass her and myself. So instead I just bit the inside of my cheeks to hold it all in.
Nadine took small steps closer to her. “Well, I was on my own when I was younger too, and Logan found me. Now we're family. You don’t need to be alone ever again.”
My throat hurt with holding in my emotions. I’d forgotten about Nadine’s troubled past.
The girl nodded but still looked shocked. “I’m Casey. Skyborn.”
Nadine smiled. “Nadine. Wolf shifter and protector of skyborn.”
Casey smiled. “Cool. My mom told me stories about shifter packs that protected us, but we were too scared to find any.”
Roxy smiled. “I’m Roxy. Bear shifter and third generation protector of your kind.”
Casey was totally infatuated. “I’ve never seen a shifter in their animal form. My mom kept us away from the magical world.”
“Smart mom,” I added, and she smiled at me.
“Sorry for pulling a gun on you. I saw the druid tattoo and I freaked,” she told me shyly.
I shrugged. “It isn’t the first time a gun has been pulled on me, and won’t be the last. There’s another earth druid here. Isaac. He’s not like the ones who killed your mom.”
There was mistrust in her gaze, but she nodded. Logan’s scaled arm had given her enough proof that she was safe. Why would a dragon shifter be hanging out with druids if they weren’t trustworthy?
Nadine linked arms with Casey. “Come on, you can meet the rest of the pack!”
Casey smiled shyly and nodded. “So … like … can I stay here for a while? I don’t have much money…”
Logan stepped forward, muscles clenched as he tried to hold in his emotions. “Casey, you can stay with us forever. You don’t need money. We’ll take care of you.”
She looked confused, like she couldn’t believe that was possible. “Thanks,” she muttered, before Nadine dragged her away, Roxy following close behind them.
The second I thought they were far enough that they wouldn’t hear me, I burst into hot ugly tears.
Logan reached out, pulling me into his chest and smooshing me against his body.
“She was alone this whole time!” I sobbed. “I should have gone looking for them sooner.”
That freaking book sat in my car for nearly five years!
“Shhh.” He stroked my back. “She’s here now, and that’s all that matters. We’re going to take care of her.”
I pulled back and wiped my eyes. “How are we going to afford this? Keegan is bringing new hunters today. All of them will require a salary. We’re going to need to buy more shipping containers, or whatever, so Isaac can build more housing.”
Logan sighed. “I’ll figure it out.”
I furrowed my brow. “No. We’ll figure it out. Tell me what we need.” I still had fifty thousand dollars left over which was supposed to be Griddish’s final payment.
My mate stared at me for a moment before speaking, as if sizing up my stress level and what I could handle. “A shitload of money. Keegan is bringing a busload of shifters. Forty at least. And all the skyborn are coming within the next few weeks, leaving jobs, houses, everything. We need to feed everyone, outfit the new shifters with weapons, and build more housing. I can give scales but…”
Whoa, that was a lot. I forgot how much my mate did being in charge of everything. Why couldn’t he have bought Apple stock in the ‘90s or something?
“But what?”
He shrugged. “They take years to grow back, and losing too many at once can weaken my powers. I’d need ten scales to outfit us for the next year. The ones Keegan took when Gear got hurt have already been used or sold.”
Ten scales at 50K a pop or only a few of mine at 100K a pop.
“I’ll help,” I told him, but he shook his head immediately.
“Your dragon doesn’t have the control to partial shift. A full shift would bring the hunters.”
“My scales fetch double yours! The last thing we need is for you to have weak magic,” I countered.
He groaned. “Fine, we’ll work out a plan with Keegan to go to a remote place and you can do a quick shift. We take a few scales and then we’re out of there.”
I nodded. Just relieved he would let me help.
He looked off into the distance at Casey, who was now standing around a circle of her new protectors. “I searched for them for years.” His voice was so … dark. Like it was hard for him to recount his loneliness.