“This is her, huh?” The first words from the elderly woman in front of us did not get us off to a good start. “She’s too skinny. Looks like a strong wind will break her in two.”
“Appearances can be deceiving,” I snapped back, taking an instant dislike to Cole and Vali’s bunica. It was probably something to do with the sneer on her face as she looked me up and down, or the way she turned to her grandsons and patted them on the cheeks.
“You could do so much better. Handsome boys like you shouldn’t have to share one silly little American girl,” she cooed, totally ignoring my angry growl as she tugged my two dragon lovers inside her house. She didn’t bother inviting the rest of us in but she also didn’t slam the door, so Wesley took my hand and tugged me along behind the others.
“Just chill, Kitty Kat,” Caleb murmured in my ear as he walked alongside me down the corridor toward where the old bat—I mean, lady—was fussing over pouring tea for her nepotii. Which I had just learned meant grandsons.
“Don’t tell me to chill,” I muttered back at him. “Did you not hear what she just said? They could do better.”
“She’s clearly blind,” Wesley offered. “It’s the only explanation that makes sense.”
“Whatever,” I sulked. “Let’s just get this over with. I’m feeling anxious about us all being gone and leaving Finn in charge of Omega.”
We had reached the kitchen then, and the ancient looking woman was fussing over everyone but me—pouring tea out for everyone and ensuring there were enough seats before sitting down herself and beginning to jabber at Cole and Vali in their native tongue.
“Bunica,” Vali interrupted her with a polite smile. “I’m sorry to cut you off, but our friends don’t speak Romanian, so this is a little rude.”
The old woman sniffed indignantly my way and muttered something more in Romanian that caused Cole’s hands to tighten and a muscle in Vali’s cheek to twitch.
“No, bunica, she has not learned our language. We have been a little busy staying alive lately.” Vali’s response was clipped, and I flushed with embarrassment. “As much as we would love to catch up properly, we are a little pressed for time. When are we able to visit our străbunic?”
His grandmother pursed her lips in that way that only grandmothers seemed capable of, when their lips get all tight together like the ass end of a cat and you just know you’re in trouble.
“Well, if that is how it is, we shall leave right now. My vehicle is not large, though, so your friends will need to ride in the back.” This was delivered with a dismissive sneer in my direction, to which I could barely contain my eye roll. Who was this old bitch to judge me? She didn’t even know me!
Following them through the house to the backyard, where presumably her “vehicle” was parked, I didn’t hear any of what was said. I was too busy cursing out the old woman inside my head. She hadn’t even had the good manners to introduce herself, for fuck’s sake. Talk about rude.
“Seriously, bunica?” Cole sighed, and I peered around him to see what the problem was. Parked by the side of the house was a single cab truck with barely enough room to seat two. The “back” that she’d referred to was the straw-covered flatbed, which was currently occupied by around seven chickens.
“How about we just take our rental and follow you?” Vali suggested ever so diplomatically.
“No,” his grandmother snapped. “That plastic piece of rubbish will never make it. We take mine. Get in now.” Without waiting for any more discussion, she rounded the front of the vehicle and hauled her ass up into the driver’s seat.
Too damn tired to even bother arguing that our rental was not a “plastic piece of rubbish” and could undoubtedly go anywhere this farm cart could, I just shook my head and started for the chicken-infested truck bed.
“Not a chance,” Cole snapped, grabbing me by the waist and lifting me into the tiny middle seat of the driver’s cab before sliding in beside me and slamming the door. “Vali doesn’t mind a little nature every now and then,” he informed me with only the slightest hint of sarcasm.
The furious look his bunica gave me almost tipped me over the edge into giggles, but I just managed to hold it in by burrowing into Cole’s warm side.
The drive from Cole and Vali’s grandmother’s house to wherever her father lived was a long one, and it did require a decent amount of off-road driving that was, no doubt, tossing the guys around in the back like crazy if the turbulence we felt was anything to go by. Still, eventually we got there, and thankfully bunica had refrained from any further attempts at conversation.
“This is where our străbunic lives?” Cole asked her with a healthy dose of skepticism. I didn’t blame him; I was thinking the same thing as we peered into the darkness of an honest to coffee cave.
“Not your străbunic,” our guide snorted. “Mine. He is my father’s grandfather.”
“But…” I started to say, then slammed my mouth shut when I realized my next words were about to be “but you’re already so old.”
She clearly knew what I’d been about to point out, though, as she curled her lip at me in distaste. “Not all of us were blessed enough to escape the plague, fetiță.”
Without waiting to see if we were all following, she hauled her walking stick out of the truck and began hobbling into the cave, leading us toward… dragons? Hopefully.
The thought made me chuckle inside and thank fate that I wasn’t still a virgin. Dragons in caves liked to eat virgins, didn’t they?
“Focus, Vixen,” Cole murmured to me, “I can see your mind going all over the place right now.”
“He’s right,” River agreed, coming up on my other side. “We need to stay alert. These dragons may be distant relatives, but that doesn’t automatically mean they’re on our side.”
“I should warn you,” Bunica called over her shoulder, “the ancients prefer to remain in their dragon state.”
“Why did you never tell us this, Bunica?” Vali asked, jogging to catch up to the sour little woman. “How come you’ve never brought us here before?”
She paused then, rapping her cane on the uneven stone floor and peering up at her much taller grandson. “Your father forbade it. But even if I had, would you have believed me? Pah.” She waved a gnarled hand and continued her hobbling walk. “What does it matter? You’re here now, and our family line will continue.” She cast a glare at me over her shoulder. “Or it will if you come to your senses and choose a suitable dragon bride.”
“Real classy,” I snarled under my breath, and Austin poked me in the side.
“Don’t pout, Princess. It’s not a good look on anyone over the age of six.” He was teasing, but he did have a point.
“I’m not pouting,” I defended myself. “I’m glowering. Totally different thing.”
“Hmmm,” he murmured. “I’ll let you glower at me later if you want. Sounds like I missed out on some fun while we were in Barbados. Something about a washing machine…?” He arched a pierced brow at me, and I gave him a saucy grin.
Before I could flirt anymore, we turned a corner and my jaw just about hit the damn floor. Pretty sure what I was looking at was the dictionary definition of dragon, given the massive, silver reptile sitting on top of a ridiculous pile of gold and jewels.
“What the—” Caleb started to exclaim but was cut off by Wesley jabbing an elbow in his ribs.
“What is this, Andreea?” the huge creature rumbled in a voice like moving rocks. “You’ve brought me a snack?”
The old bird turned to us with a self-important smirk and explained, “He is speaking in the language of dragons. Only those with dragon magic in their blood can understand.”
I raised my brows to Vali, but he just gave me a short headshake. He could probably tell I could understand the silver dragon just fine and just didn’t want me to start anything with his grandmother.
“These are my grandsons, străbunic; they have recently had their heritage restored to them and wished to meet you, the Elder of our kind.” Cole and Vali’s grandmother, Andreea, made an awkward sort of bow as she spoke, and I got the impression the silver dragon was probably a bit of a stickler on tradition.
“They have, have they?” The dragon swung his huge head to his two great-grandsons with a few more greats thrown in. I hadn’t worked out how many yet. “Prove it, children. Show me how you have managed this thing that none other has done in hundreds of years.”
My guys glanced at one another and simply began stripping down. They moved some distance away from the rest of us and then shifted seamlessly into their dragon forms. Almost in perfect synchronization, too, it was quite the sight to behold.
When they were fully shifted, Vali stretched his wings wide, then folded them back into his body and raised his horned head to his ancestor.
“Satisfied?” he asked, his dragon voice like gravel. It was the first time he’d used it, that I was aware of, and I really wouldn’t be surprised if neither of them had even known it was a thing until now. Then again, the two of them have been hanging out together a lot in dragon form, so maybe they’d already figured this one out and I was just slow on the uptake.
The older silver dragon began snorting puffs of smoke from his nostrils in what I quickly realized was laughter. “Well, color me surprised. And you’re my descendants, eh? Always knew it would be my line that escaped that cursed plague.” His chest puffed out in what appeared to be pride, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“We came to ask you an important question,” Vali continued, cutting to the chase. “As we understand it, a long time ago there was a Ban Dia artifact that was broken and given to different races for safekeeping. You don’t happen to know if the dragons were given a piece, do you?”
“Ban Dia,” the old dragon spat, shooting a ball of flame into the darkness of the cave where it puffed out. “I should have known those witches were involved. They were the cause of the whole damn plague in the first place.” He trailed off into a rumbling mutter, and bunica gave me a smarmy sort of look that made me want to snatch her walking stick off her and smack her with it.
“So, you don’t know then?” Cole pressed, interrupting the ancient dragon’s rambling. “Was this a waste of our time?”
Oh, smart one, Cutie. Play to his ego. Lord knows he must have a huge one, given the pile of treasure he is guarding.
“How dare you,” the ancient snarled at Cole, puffing smoke as he moved closer. “I have held rank as the Dragon Elder since well before the plague hit and will continue to hold it for centuries to come. I know everything.”
“Clearly not, or he would have known his descendants had turned scaly,” Caleb muttered in my ear, and I tried not to snicker. It was curious that he could also understand the dragon language—maybe a byproduct of our completed bonding?
“So, you do know where we can find another piece of the amulet?” Cole pushed, “Because if not, then this was a waste of jet fuel getting here.”
I bit the inside of my lip, holding my breath in anticipation for the old dragon’s response, even as part of me wanted to make a joke that Cole was channeling Austin a bit. The old dragon had done nothing to earn our suspicion and irritation, but everyone was on edge at the moment. Our nerves were frayed down to the last thread and everyone was being a bit more caustic than usual.
“Of course I know,” Big Silver—as I had just named him in my head—bragged. “It’s right here in the room. Everyone knows that a dragon is the safest guardian for any jewel worth hiding. They’d have been idiots not to entrust a piece here.”
My brows shot up, and I had the sinking feeling it wouldn’t be anywhere near as simple as “Oh, cool! Can we have it?” And then Big Silver replying, “Sure! Here you go!”
“If you want it, you’ll need to prove your worth as dragons of my lineage,” Big Silver informed my guys, and I groaned. Yep, there it was. Why couldn’t anything just be simple with these big, scaly bastards?
Logically, I understood that this was easy in the grand scheme of things. He’d been guarding this amulet piece for thousands of years, of course he needs to test us. But just once in a while it’d be nice not to jump through hoops.
“Of course we do,” Cole rumbled, and I was sure it was no accident that Vali’s wing twitched out and smacked his brother in the ass.
Vali cleared his throat with an exaggerated coughing sound and side-eyed Cole before responding to Big Silver. “What would you have us do, ancient one? Offer gold in exchange? Perhaps a juicy, young virgin?”
Even through dragon-speak, I knew he was being sarcastic. Big Silver didn’t, though, and swung his huge head around to sniff at me!
“Not even close to a virgin,” Big Silver remarked in disgust, and my jaw dropped in outrage.
That motherfucker! As if he can tell from a sniff!
Big Silver was spared my wrath, though, as he continued speaking and I was nowhere near loud enough to be heard over the rumble of a dragon voice.
“And I have all the gold I require. No, you must complete a good deed for our dragon-kin, and in exchange, I shall give you that ratty old gem shard. It’s useless without its other parts, anyway, and I’d be shocked if one of the guardian races wasn’t extinct by now.” Big Silver shifted on his horde and coins rolled down the mound, tinkling across the floor.
“A good deed,” Vali repeated. “Any good deed?”
The old guy huffed another laugh. “You must take me for a fool, boy! No, it is a specific task that I require help in. If you can accomplish it, the gem shard is yours. If not, well then I guess you aren’t worthy.”
“This is stupid,” I muttered under my breath, but I just wanted to get on with it now.
Cole must have felt the same way. “Spit it out then, old timer. We don’t have eternity on our hands.”
A rumble of a growl rattled Big Silver’s chest, but he thankfully didn’t end up turning us all into barbeque. “A young dragon-kin descendant has been taken against her will. I require that you free her so she may return to her family.”
“Sounds rather altruistic of you,” Vali commented. “What do you gain from this? It’s my understanding that the nature of dragons is to be greedy, so please excuse me if this question seems rude.”
The old dragon grinned then, and I sucked in a sharp breath of fear at the sight.
“Her clan owes me something. That’s all you need know. Andreea will give you more specifics on where to find the girl. Now leave me; I require sleep.” The dismissal was followed by a rumbling roar which left no room for questions or negotiations.
Quickly, both Vali and Cole shifted back down to human form and tugged their clothes back on under Big Silver’s menacing gaze. Just as we began to hurry out of the cave, Wesley nudged me and pointed to something behind the horde of gold that Big Silver sat on top of.
It took me a moment to work out what he was pointing to, but when I did, I gasped.
“He’s chained?” I hissed to Wes as we followed the guys out of the cave with Bunica at the lead. “Why do you think?”
He shrugged back to me, twisting his lips as he contemplated reasons. “I don’t know,” he said quietly. “But it begs the question… who chained him up?”
“Ugh, good point,” I cast a glance over my shoulder at the enormous reptile whose beady eyes followed us. “Makes me wonder about this something that he is owed. His freedom, perhaps?”
Wes shrugged, tucking my hand into his. “Maybe? I doubt it was another dragon that chained him, though.”
I nodded my agreement, chewing the inside of my lip as we exited the cave. “You make a good point there.”
“I always make good points, sweetheart,” he grinned, tossing me a sexy wink that set my heart pounding and my cheeks flushing. Adorable, sexy bastard that he was.
