I trained my eyes on the road and on the rearview mirror. So far, so good.
The green sign for Interstate 40 loomed overhead. I veered off the exit.
Waves of fury rolled off Elena. She was staring out the window, her MP3 player spewing manic beats through her earbuds into her ears, the frenetic energy of the music spilling out to reach me, ever so faint. I could make out Lacey Sturm’s soulful voice singing about miracles over crunchy guitar. Sure, it wasn’t my favorite genre, but I would have bobbed my head along to anything just to elicit a smile from her.
At times I wished she’d play her music loud in the car. It sure would’ve been a distraction, but then again, distractions could get us killed.
My mind wandered to Blake. His voice in our living room from across the Wall. How was it possible?
He had never met her before. He didn’t even know about her. No one in Paegeia did. No one. Tanya and Catherine had made sure of that.
I started to relax a bit as the car I had been watching in the rearview mirror finally passed us. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Why was Fox after us? I knew it was him. The humans this side, the FBI, dubbed him a serial killer, but it wasn’t that simple. They never puzzled out the connection between the victims; only Matt knew all his targets were dragons.
Fox was a sadistic son of a bitch. I’d had the displeasure of meeting him once, long ago.
His brother… well, he was a different story. He’d become a royal dragon just like I had.
Helmut McKenzie broke the Sun-Blast, but no one tamed his sadistic Moon-Bolt brother, Malcom, who later earned the nickname Fox.
Fox killed all the dragons on this side who had vowed to protect Elena with their lives. In the end, each one of them had kept that vow.
All of them were gone.
It was just us two now, plus the mysterious disembodied voice of the dragon who would one day be hers.
A black figure flew past us. My entire body shook into absolute alertness. I swerved a millisecond before the thing slammed into the truck. Elena came crashing into me. And just like that, it—he—was gone.
Dammit.
She put her seatbelt on as she moved back into her seat. “What was that?”
I didn’t meet her gaze, though with anxiety I looked her over. Thankfully, she was unharmed. I didn’t answer her, but I sure as hell pressed the gas harder with my foot. He was still out there.
These dragons didn’t obey Paegeian law. They didn’t stay in their human forms on this side of the Wall. They would tear her apart.
I needed to keep her safe.
Where the fuck are you? My eyes searched everywhere.
My heart jackhammered against my ribcage. Though all dragons’ heartbeats were nearly imperceptible, mine made itself known every time I fled with Elena.
“Dad!”
“Did you see where it went?”
“See where what went? Dad, what was that?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” She wouldn’t. It was too ludicrous, though it was part of her since birth. I never should’ve kept it from her, not this long.
“For once in your life, just tell me!”
I froze. She sounded like her mother in her frustration.
Her eyes were on me and I kept my gaze pinned to the road.
This is it, Herbert. You can’t lie anymore. She needs to know. “Fine. Please, let this time be different,” I mumbled. “Do you remember the stories I used to tell you?”
“Stories? What stories?”
“The stories about Paegeia, Elena.” My eyes darted to the rearview mirror.
She kept quiet for a minute. C’mon, they were your favorite stories when you were little.
“What does that have to do with this?”
“They’re real.”
For a few seconds, she became perfectly still in my peripheral vision. Don’t freak out. Not now, bear.
“All of it. It’s real. The dragons, the magic, the Wall… everything is real.” My tone was gentle but clear. She needed to hear the truth in it.
“Dragons!” She chuckled, not in a ha-ha way but with incredulity. She didn’t believe me. “Is this why we’ve been on the run my whole life? That’s your reason?”
“You can believe what you want. It doesn’t change the fact that they are real, and somewhere out there.” Something on the left caught my attention and I glanced over.
It was a distraction. Elena shrieked. Without even knowing why, I slammed on the brakes. The tires screeched on the rain-slicked asphalt.
The dark figure flew in front of the truck. I caught only a glimpse, then it was gone again.
Meanwhile, I lost control of the truck—I’d braked too hard on bald tires. Stupid stupid stupid. I should have done whatever it took to be able to afford a better vehicle. The truck spun a one, two, three revolutions as I wrestled with the steering wheel.
We finally came to a standstill.
Heat radiated down my spine, even though I wasn’t a fire-breathing dragon. The instinct to transform overwhelmed me.
I sat like that for a few seconds, taking deep breaths and trying to maintain self-control. “You okay?” My voice came out louder than I intended.
“I’m fine.” Her voice shook. Her gaze sharpened on my hand as it strayed to the door handle.
I had to protect her now, with my life if necessary.
“Elena, I need to get out—”
“No, no, please don’t leave me here!” Frantic, she grabbed my jacket. Her fear manifested in her trembling body, in the tears that pooled in her eyes. She could’ve been prepared for this. No time to think about what-ifs, Herbert.
With utmost tenderness, I pulled her chin so she’d look me in the eyes. My hands quaked, too. Not out of fear for myself. If anything happened to her, none of the sacrifices to keep her alive and safe would’ve been justified. Her parents, Cara, all the dragons Fox had slaughtered, they would all have died for nothing.
“Listen to me, Elena. Listen!”
She nodded, her tears threatening to spill.
I pulled her into my arms and planted a kiss on her head. I spoke into her hair. “You drive like hell, you hear me? Don’t slow down for anybody.” I let her go to look her in the eyes. “There’s a motel on Interstate 40. Just stay on this road. You can’t miss it. Someone named Matt will meet you there.”
“Dad, it’s pouring outside. I can’t leave you here with whatever…”
I cringed. The way she said that. I was one of those whatevers. She knew it; deep down, the knowledge was still buried there. But not now.
She needed to be protected.
She was going to get away. Matt would find her, keep her safe. I regretted not telling her who she truly was. She was going to discover it the hard way.
It wasn’t what I wanted.
Please, God, get me through this.
“Dad,” Elena slapped my arm. Her horrified stare was locked on something.
My gaze snapped in the direction of hers.
He stood in the middle of the road. It was him. Fox. The psychopath who was no doubt here on Goran’s command.
One could never forget his face. The face of pure madness, pure evil.
He was utterly drenched from the rain, but I knew that didn’t matter to Fox.
He approached the pickup with malice clear in every languid step.
“Elena.” I grabbed the wrist of the arm that was still slapping me. “I’ll be fine. You need to go. Now. And, bear, I’m so sorry. Whatever happens, don’t stop for anything.”
“Dad?” Her lower lip quivered like it always did when she was about to cry.
I kissed her head one last time. I wiped away her tears gently. She needed to be strong now.
I’m so sorry, bear.
“I’ll meet you there.” I tried to sound confident, like I believed this. And I hoped she bought it.
I climbed out of the truck into the furious rain. I took off my jacket as I closed the door.
Fox was going to transform, and I had to be ready.
I hadn’t morphed into my true form for years, too long. But it would come. It was who I was, my most authentic self. A twenty-foot monster covered with copper scales and two huge horns crowning its head.
In the misguided fables of humans on this side of the Wall, my dragon form was the picture of pure evil, but in fact, my kind was the opposite. Metallics served humanity as secret guardians. Serve and protect was in our blood.
She revved the engine of the pickup and it died.
I should’ve fixed the damn starter.
Two turns, bear, you know this. Try again.
She growled in frustration.
Fox was getting closer. His gaze was locked on Elena. He knew who she was.
“Start, you stupid piece of crap!” she yelled. The pickup roared to life, sparking hope in me again.
Fox broke into a run, zeroed in on Elena. He was going to morph midair, demolishing the pickup and its precious cargo.
Not if I had anything to do with it.
You wanted me, Fox? You’ve finally got me.
I ran, leaped into the air, and tackled him. I pinned him to the road.
Iridescent blue scales were already replacing his human skin.
Electricity shot through me, but I held on.
“Go, Elena!”
Finally, the truck raced down the highway.
A grunt left Fox’s mouth. He zapped me hard, a full dose of his electricity. I lost consciousness, letting darkness consume me.
When I opened my eyes, it had stopped raining. I lumbered to my feet.
Fox, resplendent in his dragon form, towered over the four-lane highway, which was engulfed in flames. A cold shock hit me when I saw it: my pickup truck. Between his massive paws like a plaything.
He was crumpling it.
Elena was inside.
I didn’t think. I let the shift happen.
Staying dormant for eleven years hadn’t been easy, but this? This was natural.
My limbs shot out from my human body. The Herbert Watkins humans knew vanished. In his place stood a royal dragon. The dragon who belonged to her grandfather, King Louie, long ago.
And, once claimed, a dragon never left the royal family.
It was why, when I discovered Tanya and Cara, when Elena took Cara’s place, I vowed to serve Elena. Still. Forever.
She was royalty and the one true rider of the dragon of all dragons, the Rubicon, who in some ways was already fulfilling his duty to his rider.
I wasn’t human, and human thoughts didn’t fill my head anymore. I was now my true dragon self. Dragons were guided by loyalty, heart, and soul.
I charged, the earth quaking beneath my giant form. I took his tail in my jaw and yanked him away.
If he thought I’d be as easy to dispense of as other dragons he’d killed, he had another thing coming.
A bolt of fire came from the sky as I hauled Fox off the truck. It lit up the sky as if to announce the arrival of two more dragons, who landed on the fiery asphalt. Cracks opened in the road and the earth groaned as they came to a halt.
One was a Sun-Blast, the other a Green-Vapor.
My wife had been a Green-Vapor, so I knew their little tricks.
The Sun-Blast was another story. It needed to be a fast kill, and it wasn’t going to be easy. Three against one. All Chromatics with abilities.
You were a king’s dragon. You don’t need abilities.
All three slowly fanned out in a circle around me. Cornering me.
They growled and made a big show of dominance. None of that scared me.
I decided to deal with the Green-Vapor first, then the Sun-Blast and last, Fox had to go. For good.
All three lunged.
When it came to Chromatics, one could never expect a fair fight. They were nothing like the stupid football players who loved the spotlight. No, they fought in teams.
Fire and gas blasted me in the face. My scales were impervious. I held my breath and pushed forward. I had to reach the truck.
These newcomers were distractions.
Fox wouldn’t stop until he had Elena.
He’d almost reached the truck again. I slammed my tail into his henchmen and stomped them into the ground. Temporarily unhindered, I whipped around to and dug with my jaw into Fox’s scales, pulling him away from the truck once more.
When he realized we were late, Matt would come looking for us. He’d come to our aid soon. I hoped.
The fight raged on, four dragons on an empty stretch of interstate, somehow uninterrupted by traffic.
I kept pulling Fox away from Elena, absorbing each electricity bolt he shot at me. The other dragons harried my every move, distracting me from Fox, and I kept having to spin around and subdue them with brute force, only to find Fox taking advantage of the lull and going after Elena again.
My energy was draining fast. It was unavoidable: I’d have to kill them.
The Green-Vapor gave me a perfect opportunity, exposing his nick as he tried to feint an attack. I ripped off his mane. He shrieked. I bit into the soft spot on his neck.
I tore him apart.
The Sun-Blast fled.
I rounded on Fox, seething with violence. A dragon gone mad.
He met my wrath with ferocity, but he was no match for me. My claws and teeth flashed so rapidly, a human couldn’t possibly have followed them. I dug into every scale I could reach, locked my jaw around limbs, slamming my body into his with resounding booms. I ripped and shook and shredded and beat him. As hard and fast as I could.
His electricity sparkled along his body. Blood pooled underneath him. The sparks finally died.
Exhaustion threatened to claim me, but I needed to go to Elena. I worried about the Sun-Blast who got away. If he knew what was good for him, he would stay away.
Elena was sitting still in the truck. Shaken. But intact. Her round, unblinking eyes on me.
I could hear the terrified tattoo of her heartbeat.
It’s me, bear. I would never hurt you.
I took a couple steps toward the truck.
She came back to life.
She kicked the windshield with her legs. Whatever Fox had done to the truck, apparently she was stuck.
Spiderweb cracks appeared in the windshield, nothing more.
Bear, it’s me. Some part of you knows it’s me. Stop being ruled by fear.
She wouldn’t understand this language—a dialect of Latin, the old language, the language of magic. Yet another way I had failed her.
Maintaining an unthreatening speed, I walked right up to the truck. I crouched down to look at her.
Look into my eyes, Elena. It’s me.
Our eyes locked, but hers were still filled with horror.
I hooked a talon into the windshield and flicked it off. It arced through the air and crashed to the side of the road.
I gazed at her, backing away slowly, and nodded for her to climb out.
She didn’t move, just sat there, her heart still thumping. She didn’t know me anymore. It was too long ago for her to remember the dragon flights I’d given her on nights when she struggled to sleep. She had been too little to remember.
She used to love my dragon form. I had fooled myself into believing that maybe, deep down, she would remember. But it was clear now that she didn’t. She was afraid of me and it broke my heart. Perhaps more so because it was my fault. I never should’ve concealed my dragon form from her. I should’ve trusted her more. With everything.
I concentrated on my human form again. My scales and limbs retreated, but with reluctance. I doubled down and pain wracked my being as I transformed. It never used to be this painful. Maybe that was what more than a decade of not shifting would do to a dragon my age.
Agonizingly, my dragon form merged into my human form.
When I was done, I looked up slowly.
Her eyes said it all. The betrayal, the shock of finally finding out what I was, or finally remembering, impossible to tell which.
I staggered toward the pickup.
“Dad? What the—” She closed her eyes and I realized that I had probably scarred her for life; I was buck naked.
My bag had been flung not far from the pickup. In a hurry, I took out some fresh clothes. I stepped into a pair of jeans and pulled on a shirt. “You can open your eyes, Elena.”
She did as I said. Those beautiful green eyes of hers, identical to her father’s, were filled with a thousand questions. “Dad, why didn’t—”
“I didn’t want you to find out this way. I’m so sorry.” I took out another shirt, uncapped a bottle of water from my bag, poured it over the fabric, and pressed it tight against my cuts. They stung, but I was fine.
With a sigh, I returned my attention to her. At least she wasn’t freaking out like the last time, the time she’d sobbed so hard we finally had Tanya come and erase her memory.
She was afraid now too, hurt like before, but this time, she was different. Sans hysteria.
I held out my hand to her. I raised the other in surrender, to reinforce what I hoped she already knew: that I would never harm her. In fact, I would die for her.
She remained petrified, staring at my proffered hand as if it were a cobra. My heart sank; she wasn’t going to take my hand. I’d broken everything. I deserved it.
Then, she reached her trembling hand out and grabbed mine.
Relief crashed through me.
I helped her climb out of the crumpled truck, until her feet were firmly planted on the road.
She had a mean cut on her forehead. I poured water on an unused patch of my shirt and started to clean it.
“Ow!” She jerked away.
“Hold still,” I murmured and dabbed her cut softly.
She winced and ground her teeth. If she knew what waited for her behind an enchanted wall, she’d realize this was nothing.
I took out the medical kit I always carried in my bag, grabbed a Band-Aid, tore it open, and placed it over the cut.
She watched me. Worried, concerned.
“I need to make a call.”
“Dad?” She grabbed my arm. “Are more dragons coming for us?”
The venom she’d tied to the word whatever was absent from her voice when she said dragons. My spirit lifted. “I don’t know, bear.” I touched her cheek. The corners of my lips turned upward as I dialed Matt’s number.
“Where—”
“Matt? Herbert here. We got attacked by dragons.”
“You serious? Someone knows about your… package. What is it?”
I backed out of Elena’s earshot. “No. I told you, not over the phone.” My tone was barely a whisper. He was dragon, too, stationed this side to enforce Paegeia’s regulations over the few who were living this side. “We’re stuck on Interstate 40. Meet us, and please hurry… It’s possible more are coming.”
I disconnected the call. I needed to speak to Elena. To tell her who she was so if something happened to me, she could communicate the right things to the right people.
I returned to her. “Elena, I need to tell you something. Believe me when I say this wasn’t how I planned on doing this.” I sniffed hard and wiped my nose. She couldn’t freak out now. “I wanted to take you out for a nice dinner and maybe ease into things.” A faint smile touched my lips, but then the hard lines of my mouth set in. “But…” I sighed and looked away. Tell her, Herbert. Why was it so difficult? “Bear.” My eyes found hers again. “I love you more than life itself, and I would never let anything happen to you. You need to understand that.”
She nodded fast.
At least she knew that. I swallowed hard.
And then terror swooped in. A dragon screeched. It was no Fin-Tail. This was another Chromatic. It landed. So fast, Elena probably couldn’t see it with her human eyes, but I saw it clearly.
There were more. Fox had a backup team.
The truth would have to wait.
“Elena, just run.” I spoke with a clenched jaw. “As fast as you can. Matt is on his way. Go. Now!”
She didn’t hesitate this time. She learned fast.
I didn’t think twice; I summoned my scales and horns again. My clothes shredded as dragon limbs and wings replaced my human ones.
I aimed for the dragon who’d landed in the middle of the road.
I knew my fate. I didn’t have the strength to kill this one.
Elena would never discover who she was. I’m so sorry, Albert. I wish I had done more.
I damn well was going to give it my all, though.
We slammed into each other. The beating was hard. Some of my scales got seared off. For now, at least, I was holding my own.
I saw the final blow, felt it in my being.
But then something peaceful washed over me. Strength returned. I had no idea what was happening to me.
I felt powerful. Indestructible.
I roared — and flinched at the sound. It was the call of an alpha.
“Blake?” I whispered.
Let me help you. You’ve done enough. Rest and everything will be over soon.
I felt my body getting up. Blake roared through me, then darkness consumed me as he struck.
