For the Heart of Dragons (6 page)

Feral!
Kara’s heart clenched. For a dragon to go feral, their two halves would have to be completely separated. It wasn’t an uncommon thing in the old days, but in today’s world, the signs of distress were well-known. Someone should have noticed long before the dragon had lost control. Kara peeked back into the room. This dragon had either suffered in silence for a long time or experienced an intensely traumatic event.

Daniel pulled in a long breath and pushed away from the door, drawing Kara’s attention from the dragon. “Besides, Kyle doesn’t have the time to work on this right now. He’s going to have his hands full this afternoon when he announces the murder of an Ancient.”

“An Ancient!” Shock colored Kara’s voice. Very old dragons were treasured. For someone to kill one was unheard of. “Who?”

“Raven Nightingale.”

Kara stood in disbelief. Raven was one of the most distinguished dragons around. Even though she was a recluse, her reach was vast. Everyone knew who she was. Announcing her murder was going to rock the dragon world. “Who did it?”

Daniel shrugged. “Don’t know.” He looked up at the door. “Noah in there is the only living witness.”

Pushing her hands up over her damp hair, Kara tried to get herself together. The death of Raven was shocking, and to have the only witness go feral was bad beyond words. No wonder Daniel had insisted she come as fast as she could. She turned the situation over in her mind, trying to figure out how she could help. Once she had gotten her thoughts straight, she turned back to Daniel. “Tell me what happened.”

***

Kara stood in front of the cell door and contemplated her course of action. The tale Daniel had spun was preposterous, yet his men had backed him up one hundred percent. It was hard to believe the dragon beyond the door had been a human just a few days ago, but Daniel had explained it and shown her the heart stone responsible for transferring the dragon. Kara had never heard of that form of sharing a dragon, but Daniel had assured her it was real, and he would know. He wasn’t as old as some of the Ancients, but he was older than most of the dragons she knew.

But that didn’t matter. What
did
matter was that she had a person whose human and dragon parts were completely separate. This she understood and could work with. She had never seen a case as severe as this, but the concepts needed to reunite the pieces were the same. Marrying two halves that had never been one was the part that worried Kara the most.

Taking a deep breath, Kara took a step towards the door.

“Are you sure you want to go in there like that?”

Pausing, Kara looked at the tall man next to her and studied him for a moment. Of all the men in the hall, Laurence was sporting the deepest bites and wounds from the small dragon. He was also supposed to be Noah’s closest friend. In fact, all the men were people Noah was supposed to know, but the little dragon had attacked them all without mercy. An offhanded tease by one of the men had made her second-guess changing into the clean uniform Daniel had found for her. If Noah and the dragon weren’t connected, the dragon might not recognize the men as friends. It might just see the uniform and recall the men who had captured and drugged it. If she put on that same uniform, there was a good chance it would lump her in with the people the dragon saw as the enemy. Since her outfit was mostly ruined anyway, she thought it was worth risking its complete destruction verses the bites and burns she was sure to get in the Eternity uniform.

“Yes, Laurence, I’m sure.” She bent over and snagged the broken shoe out of her bag, just in case. “Let’s do this.”

Laurence shrugged, unlatched the door, and pulled it open just enough for her to slip in.

The sound of the bolt sliding home unnerved Kara, but she kept her eyes trained on the small dragon hunkered down in the center of the room. It watched her closely as she stood there, taking the scene in. The room was more trashed than she’d been able to see from the outside. Blood and soot stained everything. Chunks of concrete were missing from the bed, and the metal toilet was shredded beyond recognition. Thankfully, Daniel had had someone turn off the water so it wasn’t fountaining anymore, but everything was still soaked.

Once she was sure of her surroundings, Kara focused solely on the dragon. The fact that it hadn’t immediately attacked her when she had come in made her glad she hadn’t changed into the Eternity uniform. “Hello,” she said softly.

The dragon dropped into a protective stance and pulled its wings in tight against its body.

Kara watched his body language very closely as she took her first slow step into the room. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

Letting out a soft growl, the dragon’s back end wiggled like a cat getting ready to pounce.

“My name is Kara, and I just want to talk.” She spoke softly as she continued into the room.

After two more small steps, the dragon attacked, but Kara was ready for him. Raising the shoe, she bashed him in the side of the head, knocking his sharp teeth away. Once he was off balance, she grabbed the edge of the crest at the back of his head and twisted it over so he landed on his back with a yelp of surprise. Taking full advantage of his astonishment, she spun him around so his head was towards her and dropped down on his nose so her knee held his mouth shut in case he decided to bite. Leaning her full weight on his frill, she pinned him to the floor. One eye, wide with surprise, stared up at her as they came to rest on the floor together.

“Enough of this!” she snapped as the dragon flailed. When his sharp claws got near her, she swatted them away again. “
Enough!
” Taking the shoe, she smacked him hard in the chest, knocking the wind from him. When he gasped, she dropped the shoe and bent her forehead to the bottom of his chin. She rubbed against him as he panted for breath.

It was a dirty trick, using a courtship gesture in his time of distress, but she needed him calm and it was one of the few things she knew that would take the fight out of a worked-up dragon. She drew in a long breath from his skin as she rubbed her cheek and face against him. A whole mess of scent hit her, making her reel.
No wonder he’s attacking everything. He’s so far out of balance it’s amazing he’s conscious at all.
Shaking her thoughts away, she continued to nuzzle him until the tension in his muscles eased.

Once he was calm, Kara sat up and looked at him. He was beautiful—or he would be, once he was cleaned up. The spray from the broken toilet had done some good, removing part of the dirt and blood coating his scales, but he was in desperate need of a real bath. There was some form of band around his neck, but she would have to get closer to inspect it fully. That could wait until later.

He lay there, limp under her steady hold. The tip of his tail flipping back and forth was the only suggestion he might still be upset. “If I turn you lose, will you behave yourself?”

The dragon rumbled softly.

“Words,” Kara insisted. “You have them, use them. I will understand.”

It took the dragon a moment, but it rumbled a very guttural yes.

“Very well.” Slowly, Kara eased off the dragon’s chin and frill.

It lay there for a moment before carefully rolling over, catching Kara in one big, glassy eye to study her.

“I’m sorry about that,” Kara said as she shifted around to sit more comfortably on the damp floor. She tugged at her skirt, trying to get it into a more decent position. When she saw it wasn’t going to go, she gave up and turned her attention fully to her new patient. “You want to try this again from the beginning?” she asked, giving him a soft smile.

The dragon just stared at her.

Amusement curled up the corner of her mouth, and she let out a soft laugh. “Well, I think we should.” She cleared her throat, trying to make herself seem more professional. “My name is Kara Rose, and Daniel called me to come help. I’m a counselor.”

A doubtful look crossed the dragon’s face.

Kara smiled at him. “I’m not going to claim to know what you’ve been through or try to understand your situation.” She paused and studied the dragon for a moment before continuing. “Daniel has given me an idea of what happened, and I don’t think anyone could really understand what you’ve gone through. But I’m here to help you connect with your human half.”

The dragon rumbled softly.

Kara snickered in reply. “Well, I’m here to help you connect with Noah.”

“Mine!” the dragon growled and recoiled from her.

“Easy there,” Kara said as she held out her hands, trying to soothe the beast. “No one’s going to take him away from you.”

The dragon relaxed back into his resting position.

“Noah’s got a lot of friends who are worried about him. They just want to make sure he’s all right,” Kara explained. She considered the dragon’s posture for a moment. He was relaxed and showing no signs of the aggression he’d had a few moments ago. That was a good sign. “He
is
all right, isn’t he?”

The dragon blinked but didn’t answer.

A note of dread crept into Kara’s heart. She didn’t like the fact that the dragon couldn’t tell her if Noah was okay. “Can I speak with him?”

Pain colored the dragon’s dark eyes. “Lost!” it moaned and rolled its head away from Kara.

The note of despair in the creature’s voice broke Kara’s heart. She shifted over so she was right next to his head. “Come here.” She pulled his head into her lap. “If Noah were truly lost, you wouldn’t be here.” She ran her fingers over his warm scales, comforting him. “It’s a proven fact that it takes two parts for a dragon to survive. He’s in there—we just have to find him.”

The dragon blinked, considering her words. “Truly?”

“Truly,” Kara answered back. “And we
will
find him. Together.”

The dragon rolled his head over and pressed it into her middle.

Letting out a sigh, Kara held his head. Usually, she didn’t let her patients get this physical, but this was by far the worst case of separation she had ever seen. Normally, it only took a little convincing to get the dragon to back down and let the human half out. She had never seen a case where the dragon couldn’t reach their other side at all.

“Scared,” he rumbled.

Kara squeezed him tighter. “It will be all right,” she soothed him. After a moment, she released him and pushed him back so she could look in his face. “But first we have to figure out what to call you. You aren’t Raven anymore, and you aren’t Noah.” She paused as she thought about it. “What would you like to be called?”

The dragon blinked at her, unsure.

After a moment of indecision, Kara smiled at him. “Why don’t we call you Byrd, since Raven’s last name was Nightingale and Noah’s last name is Dove? Sound good?”

The dragon snickered and nodded its head. “Byrd,” he chirped.

“All right, Byrd. What say you and I blow this popsicle stand and go find something to eat?” Kara suggested. “I don’t know about you, but I could really use a good steak about now.”

Byrd nodded again and moved back so Kara could get up.

Pushing up from the floor, Kara straightened out her suit and looked down at her new patient. His wings hung low under the weight of his situation. Letting out a deep sigh, Kara shifted over and rubbed her fingers over Byrd’s shoulders.

The little dragon leaned into her side, accepting her touch.

She scratched a little harder as they turned towards the door.

Laurence eyed the quiet dragon but opened the door leading to the hall where the rest of the men were waiting.

Byrd growled softly until Kara patted him on the back.

“These men are your friends,” she reminded him.

He quieted down but watched the men warily as she guided him out of the room.

Daniel stood against the far wall with a smile on his face. “That was surprisingly easy. So when can I have my man back?”

Kara laughed. He had no idea the scale of the task they had in front of them. And it was going to be hell if facing down a feral dragon with a broken shoe was the
easy
part.

***

The ebb and flow of a heated conversation was the first thing Noah recognized as he floated on the edge of awareness. Memories toyed with his brain, but he couldn’t quite grasp them. Something significant had happened, but he couldn’t recall what it had been. He didn’t really hurt, just felt a little disconnected from his body. Like that time when he’d been playing with a volatile spell and had ended up in the hospital for a week. The out-of-body experience that had caused was very similar to how he felt now, but this was the other way around. Instead of being trapped outside his body looking down, he was stuck inside looking out with someone else in control.

He listened to the conversation, not really understanding what the voices were saying. From the timber, he could tell it was a male and a female talking passionately about something. But what eluded him.

As they went on, Noah slowly caught the gist of their argument. The girl wanted to do something, and the guy was refusing. The male’s voice was familiar, and Noah raised his head to look at the man. The world looked weird. Colors were overly bright, and the edges of everything were too sharp. He blinked a few times, trying to focus on the man. It took Noah a moment to identify him.
Daniel
. Noah looked over at the animated woman arguing with him. She was a mess. Her long hair hung loose around her shoulders in damp tendrils, and her well-cut suit was smudged with dirt and soaked beyond repair. Noah stared at the pair, wondering why they were arguing.

“She wants us to go with her.”

Noah looked around for the source of the new voice but couldn’t find anyone else. He tried to call out to ask, but nothing came out. “
Who?”
he asked in his head.

A soft snicker washed over him. “
We are one.”

Noah paused as he recognized the voice. “
Dragon?”

The dragon rumbled in response.

Noah felt the unusual sensation vibrate up from his own chest. The argument between Daniel and the woman paused in response to the sound.

“How about we ask him?” she snapped at Daniel.