Simone backed away two steps down the railing. “You’re freakin’ bunnies? Rabbits that fly?”
Desmond barked out a laugh. “Ah, no. It’s an unfortunate childhood phase we all go through, even if we end up taking different forms, like you as a witch.”
She allowed plasma to crackle down her arms and form fireballs in her hands. “I’m done asking. Explain.”
Desmond eyed the blue flames with interest and then gave a short nod. “Flynn?”
Flynn sighed and dropped the towel. The air popped the same way as when a bear shifted. He growled low, stretched out, and within seconds stood on four long legs, tail up in the air. His eyes remained the same, but his face elongated, he turned deep black, and scales sparkled down his back and legs.
Simone coughed, her feet frozen solid in place. She blinked several times, just in case she was hallucinating. Flynn stared calmly back at her, a huge beast. “Holy shite. You’re a dragon,” she whispered.
Chapter 20
Nick jumped off his bike and squinted up into the now empty clouds. What the fuck was that thing? He hadn’t seen anything but a dark shadow before he’d stopped the motorcycle. His blood rushed through his head, and he tried to shoot a mind attack up, if that thing had a brain. But it was already gone.
With Simone.
Rage rippled through him, and he turned to run toward the car Bear had just jumped into. The feel of the door handle beneath his hand spurred Nick on, and he ripped the entire door away from the car, throwing it across the driveway.
Bear’s mouth dropped open, and he jumped out, pushing Nick away. “This is a rental,” he snapped.
Nick grabbed the shifter by the T-shirt with both hands and slammed him against the car. “What the fuck just took Simone?”
Bear winced. “I told you to run, but no, you wouldn’t hurry.” He kept his body relaxed, but tension cascaded from him. “You stay here with Vivienne, and I’ll go secure Simone’s release. Or at least help her.”
“Who are they?” Nick drew Bear back and smashed him into the car again.
Bear shook his shaggy head, his brown eyes somber. “It’s none of your business. Just stay here and for once, keep out of the way.”
Nick shook his head. “I’m going to kill you if you don’t talk.”
Bear rolled his eyes. “You couldn’t kill me, but if you really must know—because I’m sure Simone will tell you anyway, if she lives—you’ve never seen anything like the guys who took her.”
“Bear,” Nick growled.
Bear shrugged. “Fine, but you have to know that hearing this might put a bull’s-eye on your damn demon head. I warned you, and you didn’t listen, but that’s your own damn problem. The guys who took her are dragons. Dragons.”
Oh, he was going to kill the smart-ass bear. “Do I look like I’m fucking around right now? Give me a straight answer, or I swear to God, I’m going to peel your brain like a damn avocado.”
Bear coughed. “Avocado? Weird choice there. I’d have gone with melon or onion, or even cucumber. Avocado shows some really odd childhood issues, demon.” His sarcasm failed to mask the very real concern glowing in his brown eyes.
That was it. Nick lowered his chin and shot a piercing blade into Bear’s head along with images of death and destruction.
Bear’s bourbon-colored eyes stared back. He blinked.
Nick frowned. There was no reaction from the bear. Shifters were usually overly susceptible to mind attacks. Sucking deep, he shoved harder and sharpened the imaginary blade.
Bear growled, and then his pupils widened until his eyes were a glimmering black.
“What the hell?” Nick asked, releasing him, staring deep. Bear’s pupils had changed shape to oblong, while a lighter black colored the iris. Eyes could change colors, not shapes.
Bear shrugged. Pain radiated from him. His face elongated. “You wanted to know.” Somehow, his voice had gone raspy.
Nick stepped back several feet, ready to drop into a fighting stance.
The oxygen popped around them, and sparkles glimmered through the molecules. Bear shifted, going from human to an eight-foot-tall grizzly. Stretching his neck, he let out a monstrous roar. His coat thickened down his body into a brownish-gold fur, and a small tail emerged.
Nick tried for another mind attack, honing his aim for the base of Bear’s skull. The bear clapped its huge paws, allowing the claws to clang together. He eyed Nick and snorted.
The mind attack still hadn’t worked. Nick’s temples began to ache with the pain of shooting the powerful blades, but no reasons for the failure came to mind.
Then Bear stilled. The air continued to shimmer and pop, and he stretched out, dropped to all fours, and morphed into something else. Agony vibrated on the breeze from him. Black with scales, a long snout, longer tail . . . holy crap, it was a dragon.
Nick breathed out. A real, breathing, moving dragon stood in front of him. The thing of legends and fairy tales. “Holy fuck.”
The beast nodded. “Yeah, I know. It’s a shocker.” The voice was Bear’s but deeper and kind of hoarse. He glanced down at the ripped clothing on the ground. “You owe me new jeans.”
Nick shook his head. “You don’t exist.”
Bear stretched weird-looking arms and then stood upright, bigger than any animal on earth, about twice the length of the car.
Nick frowned. “I would’ve thought a dragon would be bigger.”
Bear blinked, his eyelids moving sideways and not top to bottom. Flames danced along his mouth like the embers of a dying fire. Hot and ready to ignite at any time. “That’s not nice.”
Nick rubbed his chin, not sure whether to stab Bear or study him. “I guess it’s like shifting into a bear—you have to be roughly the same size, if a little bigger in animal form.” He’d grown up with shifters, so seeing a dragon wasn’t exactly a far stretch of the imagination. The surprise was in their ability to keep themselves a secret. “Dragons. Interesting.”
Bear stretched his back, and scales rippled. “Dragons have kept to themselves, mainly, and the headquarters is in the middle of the North Atlantic, not far from Ireland. That’s where they probably took Simone.”
“Who took her?” Nick growled, accepting the new reality because he didn’t have time for denial. If he was going to go after her, he needed intel and fast.
Bear slowly shifted back to a grizzly and then a man. With a sigh, he reached down and hopped into the ripped jeans, his lips turning down. “Maybe I can fix these.” Then he fell back against the car, his body shuddering.
“Bear?” Nick narrowed his gaze. “What’s wrong?”
Bear shoved off the driver’s side door. “Nothin’. It has just been a while.” He staggered in place for a moment and then seemed to gain his balance, but his coloring remained wan.
Nick settled his stance. “Bear? Who took my . . . Simone? Who took Simone?”
Bear sighed and shoved a hand through his shaggy hair. “Okay. The dragons are led by our cousin, Desmond, who probably ordered my half-brother, Flynn, to take her. She was taken because Vivienne called Desmond for help, and Desmond wouldn’t let his own flesh and blood be killed by the witches.”
“She’s safe?” Not that Nick was going to take any chances.
“Well, maybe. If she says that she had anything to do with the death of our father, then she’s not safe.” Bear scratched his arm.
Nick opened his mouth and then shut it. “She didn’t kill Roman.”
“I know that.” Bear shook his head. “But she will cover for you or me, I’m afraid.”
Urgency tightened Nick’s shoulders. “Who the hell do they think killed Roman?”
Bear shuffled his bare feet. “Well, they actually think I killed him.”
Nick stilled. “You took the rap for Simone?”
“Yeah. She’s my sister.”
Nick shook his head. “Wait a minute. If they didn’t punish you, what makes you think they’ll punish Simone?”
Bear tugged his ripped jeans up. “Who says they didn’t punish me?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve been exiled from the dragon community, and if they catch up with me, they’re gonna put me to death.” He shrugged. “That’s why I moved to the States and have stayed under the radar.”
Nick heaved out a breath. “That’s fucking crazy. You were just a kid.”
Bear slowly nodded. “Yeah, well, insanity is a staple with dragons. Sometimes they go too far over the deep end, like my father did when he tried to kidnap Simone.”
“So why the hell are you here and not preparing to save your own life?”
Bear lowered his chin. “Since the damn witches kidnapped me to Ireland, I chanced one last meeting with my half-brother to see if there was any way to stop the execution. When that failed, I was heading home to get ready for a fight because they will come after me. Then Vivienne called me and Desmond, and I was afraid Simone would end up in the wrong place and confess to the wrong thing. I haven’t spent a century in exile for her to go and get herself killed now.”
Nick coughed out heat and tried to retain focus when all he wanted to do was hit something. Hard. “You’re telling me that if Simone confesses to killing her father, she’ll be murdered.”
“Yes.”
Nick scrubbed both hands down his face. “Simone didn’t kill your father. I did.”
Bear winced. “I know, but she’ll probably try to protect you.”
“She’d better not.” She wouldn’t, would she? “You should’ve told Simone the truth about her being a dragon and not a bear shifter,” Nick said.
“Maybe, or maybe not. Either way, I wanted to protect her.”
Nick eyed the setting sun. “So a century ago, you lost your father, lost the sister you’d just found, and returned to dragon land to be sentenced to death.” Against his will, empathy slid through Nick’s mental armor.
“Pretty much. After, I’d headed to the States, joined the bear shifter nation, and never let anybody know about dragons.” Bear’s voice remained level, but Nick could sense the loneliness he must’ve felt as a kid.
“I’m sorry for any pain I caused you when I killed Roman.” Nick would do it again, to save Simone. “But now, we have to let the dragons know that neither you nor Simone killed Roman.”
Bear scratched his arm. “You have to understand that the second you confess, you’re a dead man, right? They definitely won’t let you leave.”
Nick nodded. “Unless you have a better idea, I say we go in and fight our way out.”
Bear winced. “You’ve noticed that demon mind attacks don’t work on dragon shifters, right?”
“Right.”
“You’ll be up against shifting beasts that can burn you to a crisp, and you won’t have any of your natural abilities. Can you teleport?” Bear asked.
Nick shook his head.
Bear sighed. “Then it’s crazy for you to even think of taking on the dragons. You don’t stand a chance.”
Nick mentally counted the weapons he’d stored in his temporary Dublin home. “I have more than my mind to use in battle. I couldn’t attack your mind, but I’ve been inside Simone’s, so there must be a way in.”
Bear shook his head. “The only way you got into Simone’s head was because she let you. On some level, she must really trust you.”
Nick tried to banish his fear as to what was happening to Simone. If she did confess to protect both Bear and Nick, would the dragons really kill her?
Nick had to save her, if it was the last thing he ever did. From the sound of things, there was a good chance it would turn out that way. “I want a layout of the dragon lair.” He turned and headed into the house.
Bear followed him inside. “It’s not a lair. It’s a mansion set into a cliff several thousand feet above jagged rocks and churning water.”
Nick paused. “So flying is the only way in or out?”
“Yep.”
“Are you sure you can become a dragon and get me in? You’re still not looking too good.” Bear’s normally bronze color hadn’t returned.
“I’m fine. Just takes practice.”
Okay, then. “Well then, shifter. Get ready to take a passenger right in.”
Chapter 21
The surreal night took an even more bizarre turn as Simone sat down to an opulent dinner, complete with servants, hosted by her newly discovered half-brother and cousin. The servants were deferential, or perhaps just plain fearful, and Simone’s teeth began to ache.
Everything in the room glittered with gold accents, including the utensils. “The legends about dragons and gold are true,” she said, taking a sip of an excellent Bordeaux and then leaving it alone for the baby’s sake.
Desmond nodded. He’d changed for dinner into a silver Armani suit complete with red power tie. With his brown hair and dark eyes, he could be a model. “Aye. Haven’t you felt the pull of gold and jewels?”
Hell yeah. She loved baubles and pretty things. Curiosity filled her about these new relatives. She’d been alone for so long, and now, suddenly she had more family members than she’d ever dreamed of, including Bear. “Sure, but no more than anybody else.”
“So you’ve never stolen money or hidden cash for pet projects or something only you approve of?” Flynn asked, cutting into a steak. While he’d also changed, there was something rough and untamed about him, even in a black suit that matched his hair.
Simone lifted an eyebrow, quite liking the roughness about him. It made him more approachable. Did he know about her trial? Was he hinting at the accusations against her? “That’s different.”
“Not really,” her brother said. “Don’t tell me you didn’t get a rush out of taking that money and hiding it from the Coven Nine, even if your purpose was honorable and your ends just. The taking and manipulating of riches is like a drug to us.”
She shifted in her chair and glared at him through antique candlesticks. So he knew all about her current situation. Made sense. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Yet she understood completely. “Why haven’t you contacted me before?” Yeah, it kind of hurt.
He sighed, his black eyes softening. “We didn’t know you existed until you joined the Coven Nine Council, which, of course, we keep dossiers on. Then our father put two and two together, and as you know . . .”
“Aye. He tried to take me and was willing to kill me if he failed.” Although bewilderment filled her, she kept her voice calm and factual.
“Well, yes.” Desmond poured more wine into the glasses. “He ruled our nation, and some say he had been slipping mentally for years.”
“I didn’t know,” Flynn broke in, his eyes burning with an emotion she couldn’t read. “I was on a mission on the other side of the planet, and I was unaware of your existence or his plan to take you. Beauregard only found out the day they visited you, and it was too late for him to contact me.”
Beauregard
. Simone nodded. “I believe he goes by Bear now.”
Desmond snorted. “That name is silly, and he will be referred to by his given name here.”
Simone squinted at her brother. “What if you had known about me and the threat?”
Flynn paused and studied her. “I would’ve protected your life.”
“Really.” Surprise filled her at how badly she wanted to believe that.
“Aye. You’re my sister, and I’d do anything to protect you.” Flynn’s eyes morphed to reptilian and back. “I’ve lived nearly five hundred years on this earth without a sister, and I’d very much like to change that.”
Five hundred years? Man, that was as old as Nick. Simone nodded, almost afraid to believe she could be close to a sibling. Maybe she, Bear, and Flynn could get to know each other. Perhaps the baby would love having uncles. A bear and a dragon uncle. How fascinating. “I would like to know you,” Simone murmured.
Flynn smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Good.” He moved to allow a small blond woman to refill his water glass, giving her a gentle smile. She smiled back, no fear showing.
Yet she changed as she neared Desmond, her shoulders hunching and her steps slowing. When she’d refilled his glass, she scurried out the door.
Simone watched the exchange, her instincts kicking in along with an unnerving sense of nausea. Morning sickness? At night? “How many dragons are here?” she asked mildly.
“We go deep into the cliffs, and about a hundred or so live here permanently,” Desmond said. “In addition, only about twenty percent of shifters with dragon genetics can actually shift into dragons. We have another hundred of our people spread throughout the world, most of whom can’t shift. Immortals can only have one true nature.”
“So I won’t be able to shift,” she breathed, her eyes widening.
Flynn nodded. “Only male dragons shift, anyway.”
Oh. Well, that bit. “Bear can shift into a dragon?”
“Yes, shifters can sometimes take different forms, but his true nature is a bear, so it harms him,” Flynn said quietly.
No more shifting into scales for Bear. “Why are there only two hundred immortals with dragon genetics across the globe? That number seems really minute,” she said.
“Dragon offspring are rare, even rarer than vampires or demons. It’s possible for a mated dragon to live thousands of years and not procreate,” Flynn said.
“Yet our father had three kids and was unmated,” she said.
Desmond shook his head. “Believe me, Roman was an anomaly. One we can’t explain and haven’t seen the likes of before or since. It was a shock that he’d procreated with a shifter, let me tell you.”
Poor Bear. How alone he must’ve felt. For so many years, she’d wanted to be close to Bear, but they hadn’t had a chance. Now she understood better why. Bear kept secrets, especially about his having dragon genetics, and that needed to end right now. “Are you and Bear close, Flynn?”
Flynn’s nostrils flared, and a veil dropped down over his eyes. “We were close when he was young, but I was on mission quite a bit, and then he was excommunicated.”
Simone frowned. “Why?”
Desmond shook his head. “Let’s not go into tragedy, shall we?”
Simone glanced from one man to the other. There were undercurrents she couldn’t quite grasp. “He’s in Ireland now.”
“Yes, I know,” Desmond said smoothly. “In fact, I’ve sent our soldiers to fetch him. He will join us soon.”
Tension emanated from Flynn as the men waged a silence-filled war, not quite glaring at each other but coming damn close.
Finally, Simone couldn’t stand the swelling atmosphere. It probably wasn’t good for the new babe she carried, right? “If you don’t mind my asking, why is Desmond the leader and not you, Flynn? Considering your father was the ruler. Our father, that is.”
Flynn grinned. “We use elections here and not order of succession.” Flecks of green glowed in his eyes. “When Father died, Desmond threw his hat in the proverbial ring of fire, and I did not.”
Desmond nodded. “Your brother prefers the front line and being a soldier. Said he’d rather have to eat his own fire than run for office.”
“Amen to that.” Flynn eyed his cousin. “Although I may have to take a run for it if the current administration doesn’t change a law or two.” He glanced at Simone and then back. “You understand what I’m saying, Desmond?”
Desmond stilled. For the first time, the predator lurking inside his handsome body became visible. “If you want to challenge me, do so.”
“I don’t want to lead. You know what I want.” Flynn held Desmond’s gaze, no give on his hard face.
“Our laws are our laws,” Desmond countered. “I’m not changing them for you or anybody else, and even if I wanted to, the nation wouldn’t agree and you know it.” He smiled at Simone, all charm again. “Our people need to approve changes to ancient law by a two-thirds vote.”
“How democratic.” She shivered at the definite chill in the air, and wondered what the hell they were arguing about without arguing about. Either way, she needed to change the subject before she threw up from the tension. “What about your mother or other siblings, Flynn?”
“My mother is a dragon who is currently on a cruise in the Bahamas, and she hasn’t mated anyone. You and Bear are my only siblings.” Flynn took a healthy drink of his water.
Simone coughed. Dragons on cruise ships. Who knew? She might as well try to understand as much as possible about these new relatives of hers. “I still don’t understand why Roman decided to kidnap me.” Her instincts focused on the problem.
“He most likely would’ve left you alone after meeting you initially.” Desmond nodded. “But when Roman investigated you, he discovered you were seriously dating a demon, and that pretty much was that, as they say.”
Simone frowned. “Excuse me?”
Flynn finished chewing. “Even though our father had lost his hold on reality, his fear was well founded. At the time, of course.”
Simone sat back, her nape tickling. “How so?”
“Well, dragons and demons can’t mix.” Desmond nodded at Flynn. “Right?”
So that was what Bear had been talking about when he’d insisted Simone break it off with Nick. It wasn’t demons and bears that couldn’t mix, but demons and dragons. “I’ve heard rumors,” Simone murmured.
Desmond laughed, the sound a little too loud. “Think about it. Demons attack minds, but dragon minds can’t be attacked.”
She studied him. Serious. “That’s a nice gift.” Damn, she wished Nick was there to prove the theory. With his age and powers, if anybody could slice into a dragon brain, it’d be Nicholai Veis. “So?”
Flynn sighed. “So, imagine if you, a witch-dragon, mated a demon and produced offspring. That child would possibly be the most powerful and deadly being on the planet. The biggest threat to dragons, for sure, because it would be able to mind attack.”
Simone shook her head. “You don’t know that.”
“Unfortunately, we do,” Flynn breathed.
“It has happened before?” Simone whispered.
“Yes. Where do you think the human legends about dragons come from?” Desmond said, pushing back his plate. “A millennium ago, such a creature actually existed, and it took out half of the dragon and witch races.”
She frowned. “There was a legend, one I didn’t believe, about a fire-breathing shifter that harmed my people.”
“Yes.” Desmond nodded. “There was a cross breed, a crazy being, and it killed for sport. With its skills, it was nearly infallible, and that can’t happen again. The Coven Nine and the Guard hunted all dragons down at that time, believing them to be mutated multis. We had to create this island just to survive and protect ourselves from the witch nation.”
“Witches and demons are now allies. Why don’t dragons come back into the world and do the same?” Simone asked.
Flynn leaned back. “I think it’s time we stopped hiding, but Desmond doesn’t agree.”
“No. Hidden we stay safe,” Desmond countered. “We can counter witch fire, avoid demon mind attacks, and fight as well as vampires or other shifters. We’re too dangerous to be allowed to live, and the other species will combine to take us out. Again.”
Simone swallowed. Perhaps the world had been that way before, but now peace reigned. “I think you’re wrong.”
Desmond studied her. “Maybe, but look at the bright side. Fate obviously stepped in with you, Simone.”
She tilted her head to the side. “How so?”
Desmond smiled. “You see, it’s a good thing you didn’t mate the demon and procreate our worst nightmare. The second you were with child, we’d have had to kill you.”