He nodded. “I’ll need to gather some supplies, but yes.”
I didn’t want to know what “supplies” he would have to gather, considering last time I was pretty sure I drank wolf piss.
We’d reached the camp and my gaze fell to Sophie, in her human form, having an animated conversation with Logan and Keegan. Dom was cleaning a few of his guns while chatting with Roxy, and Nadine was staring across the courtyard at Gear, who was playing a card game with Ruben. It felt nice to have this slightly dysfunctional group to call my family.
“How’s rooming with Sophie going?” I said, trying to lighten the conversation as we walked closer.
Danny rolled his eyes. “I’m sick of seeing boobs. That’s all I will say.”
I laughed and Logan looked up, pinning me with his green eyes. ‘Did you know Eva was leaving to look for skyborn?’
Whoops. ‘Kind of…’
His eyes flared green and his jaw clenched. ‘Kind of?’
I swallowed hard. Danny gave me an eye roll and walked over to a flat grassy area to lay the staff down. He must have known Logan and I were mind-speak arguing. ‘She mentioned feeling guilty that you thought you were alone all these years. So she said she was going to look for skyborn.’
Logan was stalking towards me now. “And you didn’t think to mention this to me last night?” he said out loud.
I gave a resigned sigh. “She asked me not to.” That wasn’t technically true but her eyes had spoken for her. This was something she felt she needed to do for him and Logan would have stopped her.
Hurt crossed Logan’s features, but then it was gone quickly. “Sloane, you should have told me. She could get hurt. She shouldn’t have gone alone.”
I reached out and grasped his hand. “She’s a grown woman and a powerful sorceress. If she feels she has to do this, then let her.”
He grumbled and released my hand. “She’s not answering her phone. I’m getting flashbacks to when you ran off.”
My bottom lip pulled down into a frown. Not my proudest moment, leaving the pack like that. “Sorry.”
Logan waved his hand. “What else did the druid say?”
I quickly filled him in on what he had missed. That it was imperative we find this elf because my magic would keep growing and we needed to ground it with the earth or whatever.
Logan looked down at my bare feet. I’d walked back barefoot without even noticing. My boots were back by the waterfall. He didn’t say anything about the feet, and instead called over Sophie.
The coyote shifter walked over with an air of superiority, shaking her hips. I could see the beard tattoo covered in cellophane at her wrist. Logan had told me she’d been especially close with Cooper and was taking it hard, so I was going to try to let anything overly bitchy slide.
“Alright, Soph, you’re in charge of Sloane’s weapons training, and she can’t touch the knives. What’s your plan?”
I suddenly felt my dragon flare to the surface when he called her Soph. Logan must have felt it through the bond, because he looked cowed and stepped closer to me. Sophie simply rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers.
“Dominic!” she called.
The silent shifter lowered the gun he’d been cleaning and walked over to where we stood.
“I need you to teach Sloane how to shoot. You up for it?” she asked.
He looked at me for an extended moment and then nodded, walking away back over to his gun collection.
Okay. I was secretly terrified of guns. I didn’t think taking lessons from Dom, who barely spoke, was going to help ease my nerves any.
Sophie looked at me expectantly. “Come on, buttercup. You can’t always rely on your purple fire.” She tugged my arm and I followed her lead, looking back to glare at Logan, who was trying to cover a smirk. I think he sadistically liked me and Sophie hanging out. Bastard. Sexy, sexy, bastard.
“Alright, here’s the deal,” Sophie told me, linking arms as we walked. “You can’t be using that purple stuff in public around humans. I think a gun is a good weapon for you, provided you actually learn to shoot so you don’t blow your foot off.”
I gave her a side glare. We’d somehow made it to this weird friends-but-not-friends place. Frenemies.
“I’ll try my best,” I told her, and she seemed pleased with that answer.
‘What made you think putting Sophie in charge of me was a good idea?’ I asked Logan, glaring across the lawn as he spoke to Keegan.
‘She’s not in charge of you,’ he replied, not meeting my gaze. ‘Besides, you let her ride your dragon. I figured you were cool now.’
I inwardly groaned. I didn’t exactly let her ride my dragon, she’d jumped on as we both tried to keep Logan alive. This was not going to be fun. Whatever pride I had left was broken when I pointed to a rectangle thing on the gun and asked what it was.
The side of Dom’s scarred mouth twitched and Sophie full-on grinned, trying to hide a snicker.
“That’s a clip. It holds the bullets.” Sophie grabbed it and dropped it in my hand.
I was an idiot. Now that I held it, heavy and solid in my hand, I could tell what it was. I felt fear rise up in me. Guns killed people; I was holding a deadly weapon.
“You only fear it because you don’t know it.” Dom’s voice was low and deep; it commanded my attention and I nodded.
“Then teach me.” I wasn’t going to be afraid anymore. Afraid of being a dragon, a druid. Fear of being alone, or fear of guns, I was done with fearing everything. Knowledge was power, and I wanted to learn everything I could so that I could rise up from this shitstorm that had become my life.
Dom grinned, and I noticed that up close, smiling, he was extremely handsome. The grin was more maniacal than happy though… but it was something.
One hour later and I wasn’t a completely terrible shot. At least I wasn’t jumping every time I pulled the trigger. I’d tried over five guns in Dom’s collection, but a small Ruger pistol seemed to be my favorite. I felt in control of it instead of the other way around. While we were practicing, Logan and Keegan had been off in some big debate. When I asked Logan through our mental connection what it was about, he just said ‘Eva.’ Danny was crouched in the grass, throwing spells and powders at Isaac’s staff. I didn’t think it was going well, because after every spell he would mutter a curse word.
Nadine and Roxy had paired up and were practicing hand-to-hand combat drills, and something told me that’s where I was headed next. Ruben was in bear form, with Gear in the skies, exploring the territory more, getting a sense of Isaac’s land and any hidden dangers. I was about to reload my gun, the way Dom had showed me, when Danny suddenly squealed.
“Yes! In your face, bitch!” he shouted at the staff, and then upon noticing all of us staring at him, he straightened his shirt, smoothed his hair, and cleared his throat. “I found him.”
Excitement and fear bubbled through me as I put the safety on the gun, as I’d just learned, and set it down on the table we had set up.
“You found the … the elf?”