Seagulls screamed far too close to my ears as we stepped off our seaplane and onto the docks at Harrow, Alaska. The pilot of the small aircraft had barely spoken two words to us during the entire flight from Anchorage, and as we made our way up the dock, he took off again as if he were being chased by wolves.
“Well, he was friendly,” Caleb joked quietly as he took my hand to help me across a broken board. “Anyone would think we all smelled bad or something.”
“I don’t think it was us,” Wesley commented. “He seemed more worried about this town. River had to pay him three times his usual fee to bring us here.”
My mouth gaped open at this news. What could possibly cause that sort of reaction?
Making a quick mental note to pay River back when that was all over, if we were alive, I sped up a little to catch his hand.
“You okay, love?” River asked, his sexy accent on that endearment making my heart flutter like I was a schoolgirl with a crush.
“Yeah, I just wanted to say thank you for funding this little expedition. I would have suggested we use the Omega jet, but I just had a bit of a gut feeling that we needed to keep our movements to ourselves for a bit, at least until we know who is trying to kill us.” I scanned our surroundings as we approached the shops facing the wharf. It seemed eerily quiet, like the whole town had been abandoned or all the residents were hiding.
“It’s my pleasure, Kitten,” he replied, dropping his voice low so as not to be overheard by the other guys walking loosely spaced around us. “But if you really feel so inclined, you’re welcome to show me your appreciation later…” One corner of his mouth twitched up, and the heated look in his eyes left no doubt as to what he meant.
“I may just do that… sir.” I grinned back at him and was rewarded by a quiet moan in his throat.
“All right, are we splitting up?” Austin asked in a loud voice, pulling everyone’s attention. “It’s fucking freezing and I’d rather we not fuck around any more than what’s necessary.”
During the remainder of our flight from New York, after we’d filled Vali in on everything we knew this far and after we’d all recovered from the fact that my new found healing magic had turned both Cole and Vali into dragon shifters, we had discussed a brief plan of attack. We knew that our contact, whoever he was, wouldn’t be back for another few weeks. The goal now was to either get some sort of contact details for him so we could at least call him, or possibly to find someone else in this town who might also have the answers we were seeking.
Entirely based on hope and assumption, I was determined that if this guy really was a shifter, and my gut told me that he was, then there could possibly be others like him living here too. Animals tended to live and travel in packs after all, so hopefully shifters would do the same.
“Agreed,” I said, raising my voice a little to be heard over the icy wind, which had just picked up. “Wes and I are going to go talk to the neighbors; between the five of you, can you sort us out somewhere to stay and also speak with some locals?”
“How come just you and Wes?” Caleb questioned, frowning.
“Because we are clearly the least threatening of the group.” I raised an eyebrow at the five of them. All standing firmly over six feet tall with broad shoulders and dangerous good looks, they were the picture of intimidation. Not that Wesley was any less handsome, in his own way, but he just lacked the air of aggression and danger that the other five vibrated with.
“Great, thanks, princess. Leave us to deal with these drama queens,” Austin muttered, but I know I hadn't just imagined the small smile crossing his lips.
Neither Vali nor Cole had spoken much since the flight, and I didn't blame them. Cole had just halfway shifted into a fucking reptile, and Vali had just been dumped with information on magical plagues and power plots and hidden wars. It was a lot to take in, even for those of us who had been living it for months, so I could only imagine how scrambled his brain must be.
“Yep.” I stepped over to the silent, imposing brothers who, for the first time, were actually standing close to one another. “Are you two going to be okay?”
Vali quirked a small, flirtatious grin at me. “Are you worried we are going to kill each other or have a mental breakdown?”
“Uh,” I hesitated. “Both?”
“We'll be fine, Vixen,” Cole assured me, his face still a little pale and his eyes hard. “Go with Wesley; he will take care of you while we sort out somewhere to stay. River and the twins can speak with the townspeople. Vali and I probably shouldn't interact with the public just yet.”
Vali raised a surprised eyebrow at his brother, then gave me a tight nod. I had a bad feeling about how this was all going to play out but couldn't see any better solutions, so I quickly gave them both a kiss on the cheek, then grabbed Wesley's hand and tugged him away from the group.
“You know they're probably going to kill each other, right?” Wesley chuckled as we walked hand in hand down the street towards the address Mr. Gregoric had given me. Fuck, so much had happened since that night it felt like it was a year ago, but it hadn’t even been three months.
“Probably, but I figure they need to work it out themselves.” I smiled at him. “They're big kids, right? And worst-case scenario, I can probably heal them again. Surely I can't do much more damage than what's already done?”
“Sweetheart…” Wesley said softly, pulling me to stop so he could look at me. “You're not feeling guilty about what's happening to them, are you?”
Staring down at my shoes, I shuffled my feet uncomfortably. We had done a quick clothing restock at the shops in Anchorage before boarding the seaplane, thank God; otherwise I would have been freezing my tits off.
“Well, it is my fault. I turned them into fucking dragons, Wes.” My toe kicked at a particularly interesting crack in the ground. Nearby, a motorbike engine kicked over, and I faked a bit of curiosity looking for it.
“Hey.” Wesley tapped my chin to raise my face back up to his. “You saved their lives. I am positive, beyond shadow of doubt, that they'd prefer to be alive and a little scaly over human and dead.” His description made me smile, and his own lips pulled up in a grin, his clear blue eyes laughing behind his glasses.
“It's going to take a little more to convince me, but I do see your point,” I admitted, and his hand slid up to cup my cheek, his fingertips resting on the soft skin behind my ear.