Authors: Annie Nicholas
Chapter Seventeen
From this vantage point on Eoin’s back, Angie could view the world as if she were a giant. She tugged the leather jacket Eoin insisted she wear tighter around her torso. The wind seemed to blow right through her even with her sweater.
They flew over wild lands full of green trees and open fields. She hadn’t seen a farm or a road in the last hour. Ahead, a mountain rose from the rolling hills as if something had punched the Earth’s crust from underneath.
Stark cliffs formed the sides of the mountain. The peak was flat as a pancake with a piece of the forest still thriving on top.
Eoin did a lazy circle around the summit. “Looks vacant.”
The leather harness strapping her to his back creaked as he dove to land. Angie clamped her teeth shut, refusing to squeal in terror. She almost lost her grip on the bag Eoin had packed.
In the center of the plateau a field of wild flowers grew. Eoin chose to glide to a stop here. He patiently laid on the ground as she undid the harness with numb fingers. The air, thankfully, was warmer on the mountaintop.
She made a soft landing next to him with the bag and unpacked his clothes. She also discovered a bottle of wine, a brick of cheese, crusty bread, and grapes.
Eoin knelt next to her. “That corner store we stopped at was well stocked. I have to remember to shop there more often. I hate crowds.”
“You have more than I did.” She didn’t hide her curiosity as she watched him dress. Over the last few days, she’d seen Eoin naked enough times that the effect should have worn off. Nope, the sight of his tight ass still kicked her in the gut. She shivered. What would it be like if she ever touched him?
He pulled a t-shirt over his head and tossed her an inviting smile. The jerk knew exactly what she was thinking.
She whipped a grape at his perfect abs.
He caught it with unnatural speed and popped it into his mouth. “Thanks.” Sauntering over, Eoin locked his gaze on her. She noted the possessive nature in that look. She’d seen it enough times on Ryota, except Eoin didn’t make her feel owned. “I’ve never brought anyone here before.”
Angie stared over the long grass swaying in the soft breeze. The scent of flowers filled her lungs and not a modern noise could be heard. “It’s peaceful.”
Lying next to her on his back, Eoin entwined his fingers behind his head. “It’s been ages since I’ve visited.” He closed his eyes.
“You said this is where baby dragons learn to fly?” She’d never seen a baby dragon. Heck, the world hadn’t seen one. No photos or sightings. “Are there any babies?”
“Sure. My clan has nestlings right now. In about ten years they’ll be ready to come here and learn.”
“Ten?” That seemed young and old at the same time, depending on a dragon’s lifespan. “How old are you?”
“Old enough.”
“Fine, be like that. Then answer this. Why am I here? It’s not like I’m ready to learn to fly.”
“Not yet.” He opened his eyes and sat up with a fluid grace she envied. “I want to teach you how to shift.”
Her mouth unhinged. They were back to this
again
. He still thought she was a dragon. Just when she wanted to toss caution to the wind and accept his advances, he reminded her why she swore off shifters. All these thoughts tumbled in her head but not a word slipped out of her open mouth.
“Angie.” He spoke as if trying to coax a nervous colt to approach. “I know you believe you can’t—”
“I can’t.” She jabbed her finger against his chest.
He wrapped his hand around her finger and held it firm. “You can. Dragons can see magic.” Blinking slowly, his eyes changed from human to dragon. “I brought you here so I can examine your aura better.”
A breath caught in her throat and she was almost afraid to move or believe. “You already looked?”
He nodded.
She swallowed around a lump in her throat. “What did you see?” Part of her wished he hadn’t peeked. She’d come to terms with her fate. She didn’t need Eoin raising her hopes for nothing. She’d been down that road too many times.
“It’s hard in the city to look at magic in detail. There’s so much life that things can blur. Up here, we’re isolated.” He grinned. “And it’s beautiful. No one should disturb us.” His gaze unfocused and he studied the air around her.
She squirmed, burning with curiosity. “Are dragons the only creatures who can see magic?” For as long as she could remember, she’d known she was different. She’d wanted to belong but couldn’t find a place to fit.
“Your aura is pure dragon.” He ran his fingertips over some unseen thing. “We match.” His voice cracked and he cleared his throat.
Heavy anticipation settled in her stomach. What did that mean? She glanced at her unnaturally sharp fingernails. Pure shifters weren’t genetic throwbacks.
“There it is. I knew I’d seen it last night but I couldn’t be sure.”
“What?” The question came out sharper than she’d planned. Eoin wasn’t the enemy. He wanted to help.
“A shield surrounds your aura and blocks you from touching magic. I think your inability to shift has nothing to do with genetics. All shifters need magic to change shape and you can’t touch yours.”
She jumped to her feet and paced. “That can’t be right.” He didn’t know what he was talking about. He’d been trying to convince her she was a dragon since the day they met.
Climbing to his feet, he watched her. “I’m not wrong. We can try to break the shield together and then you can shift.” He sounded like a child on Christmas who couldn’t wait to open his present. Except the paper he’d been tearing apart was her life.
“Eoin! My parents were human.” She planted her hands on her hips and confronted him.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, they died in a car accident. That wouldn’t kill dragons.”
He ran his hand over his head while searching the ground with his gaze. “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “All I have to go on is what I see as fact. Let’s work on your shifting then we’ll figure out the rest.”
The cool wind picked up for a moment and shoved Angie’s body. She held herself, suddenly feeling very small. “We?”
He moved so fast she blinked when his arms folded around her. “Yes, we. We’ll figure this out together. Do you think I’d drop a bomb like this and not help?”
“No one’s ever bothered to help before.” When her parents had died and her world had shattered, she’d been shoved into one foster home after another. They hadn’t cared about dropping bombs on her and abandoning her as a child.
“Let’s start by trying to break the shield. As long as it’s intact you can’t touch the magic.” He held her at arm’s length and met her stare.
She nodded, the motion jerky and hesitant.
“Clear your mind.”
She took a deep, cleansing breath, and did as he asked. Uncluttering her thoughts was akin to chasing cats. It had been years since she’d last tried to shift. Even when Ryota had begged her to try, she had denied him. How had Eoin circumvented her defenses so easily? The process took a few minutes while Eoin stayed quiet.
“What is the first emotion you sense?” He spoke softly.
She’d done this exercise before, so discovering the emotion at her core didn’t surprise her. Fear. “Okay, I have it.” This sucked. Why couldn’t her trigger emotion be anger or happiness? No, she had to think of fearful things to shift.
“Focus on the emotion and—”
“You know I’ve tried this before, right?”
“No.” He sighed. “Either way, I need to watch the shield and see how it reacts to your attempt to change shape.”
“Oh.” That made sense. She took a deep breath, reluctant to start. She began with her childhood fear of monsters living under her bed. Of being curled under her blankets too afraid to breathe—of needing to pee but not wanting to put her foot on the floor.
Her heart quickened. She moved on to her first night in a foster home. It had smelled funny and she had to share her room with an older girl who had made fun of her fingernails. Small and alone, she’d faced the dark world and realized no one alive would miss her if she vanished.
Cold claws of fear gripped her spine. The nights hiding on the street, a pretty young girl trying to survive… Breathing grew harder.
But worst of all, being in her classroom when the knock came at the door. A police officer asking for her.
Sweat coated her skin. She recalled the sadness in the policewoman’s eyes as she accompanied Angie to the principal’s office where she sat on the hardwood chair and listened to the empty news of her parents’ accident.
She was alone.
Alone forever. After that day, when she’d been sick no one had wiped her brow with a cool cloth. When she’d gotten good grades, there was no one to run home to with the report card. When she’d gotten in trouble, she had no one to bail her out of jail.
“Angie? Angie?” Eoin shook her as his voice invaded her memories.
She opened her eyes. He leaned so close, concern clear in his face. She wiped her face clean and gave him a watery smile.
He gathered her into a tight hug. “Nothing, I saw nothing. Where did you go?”
“Someplace I hate visiting.”
“I don’t want you going back there again. You scared me.”
She buried her face into his chest and melted against his strong body. “Fine by me.” Heat enveloped her and she shuddered as the last of her pain faded away. “What did you see?”
“The magic couldn’t even sense your call.” He stroked her hair nice and slow, resting his cheek on top of her head.
“Are we done?”
“No.” He eased his hold as if reluctant to let her go. “I want to try an old way of shifting. Something we use when someone is troubled.”
“There’s another way?” She tilted her head to the side and retreated from his arms. “No one ever mentioned this before.”
“They probably didn’t know. The method is an old secret. Dragons and vampires are the longest living creatures on Earth, with a lot of information.”
She rubbed her hands together to warm them. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Picture your dragon.”
She went still. “How am I supposed to do that when I’ve never seen my dragon?”
“Use your imagination.”
“Jesus, Eoin.” She closed her eyes again. “I’m terrible at these games.” What would her dragon be like? She’d be a bitch, just like her, because they were the same person—black scales like Eoin’s, sharp claws, and a kick-ass tail.
“Reach out to her and take her hand.”
Stretching out a mental hand, she tried to do as he asked. To her surprise the dragon did the same. She laughed and surged toward her dragon-self only to hit an invisible wall.
Her dragon hit at the same time, claws tearing at the unseen surface. The clear image of her dragon blurred until she faded.
Angie screamed. “No, don’t go away.”
Eoin held her face between his hands. “You saw her?”
She snapped her eyes open and gripped his wrists. “We couldn’t touch. Then she vanished. What does that mean?” Had she lost her dragon forever? Was Eoin right? If he was, then who were her parents?
“It means we’re close. Let me try one more thing.” He pried her hands off his wrists and gave her space.
She clasped her hands to her chest and tried to blow out a frustrated breath but failed in grand fashion. “Eoin.” As she backed away, he followed. “I can’t anymore.” Couldn’t he see how much she was hurting?
He loomed with ominous purpose, and she couldn’t help but admire the trim definition of his shoulders and the corded grooves between each ripple of muscles in his arms. Compact everywhere. He was a warrior and didn’t understand the meaning of mercy. Reaching his fingers toward some invisible force around her, he tried to rip it apart with his bare hands.
Something tugged at her hard and she stumbled. Her pulse jackrabbited in her throat. He was right. Whatever he was doing was affecting her. Searing pain tore through her chest. She arched her torso to relieve the pressure. “Stop!” She shouted into the quiet mountaintop.
Eoin dropped his arms.
Instantly the pain disappeared. She rested her hands on her knees and caught her breath.
“We’ll have to reach out to my people. Someone might have a better idea.” He touched her hair.
She flinched. “No.” Enough was enough. Tears streamed along her cheeks unchecked. She straightened her back. “Don’t you think I’ve tried? Don’t you think I’d give anything to shift?” Her throat ached from restraining her sobs. “Some things can’t be fixed. Whatever you were doing was killing me.” She doubted a strange dragon would care if it killed her in the name of curiosity. “No more, Eoin.” Taking a shaky breath, she hugged herself. “No more, okay?” She hated the smallness of her voice.
Eoin wrapped his hand around her wrist. Sparks tingled along her skin where they made contact, lighting her nerve endings with sensation as he stroked her inner wrist with his thumb. Molten desire slid through her body. His other hand wrapped around the back of her neck in a gentle caress. “Okay,” he whispered.