dragons breath 01 - stalked by flames (33 page)

No response.

I cupped my hands around my mouth. “Hello?”

A bird flew down and landed ten feet away. He tweeted at me, pranced around for a minute, and flew off. That was the only sign of life the place had—a random bird. I curled into myself. Maybe they’d come back if I just waited for them. They had to know I’d return and find the damage, even if I were a full day late.

So I sat there. For hours, unwilling to leave. Not so much as a car drove by during that time. I considered going over to Earl’s place but didn’t feel up to seeing him right then. The smarter thing to do was check out the other places we’d found when we’d talked about relocating. If there were any survivors, they might have gone to them.

Forcing myself to get to my feet, I walked back to the truck. Between the severe heat and all the tears I’d shed, my mouth was dry. I grabbed my canteen and gulped down half of it. That gave me time to collect myself before driving.

I went to the church first since it was closest. The folks there said they hadn’t seen anyone from my group, but they said they’d pray for them. Next, I went down to Highway 9 where the ranch house was located. A man I didn’t recognize stepped out of it when I pulled up and pointed a shotgun at me.

“Sorry,” I shouted out the window. “I was just looking for my friends.”

“This is our place now,” he yelled.

Despair gripped me as I pulled away. They couldn’t be dead, they just couldn’t. The idea of never seeing Trish again to laugh and joke with her was too much. I’d even miss the antics between Danae and Miles. Justin wasn’t exactly my favorite person, but I couldn’t stand to think him dead, either.

I drove to a couple other places we’d considered and discarded, but they were empty or otherwise occupied. Despair flooded me so badly I stopped at a small park where there was little chance of being bothered. I drank more water and wished it was alcohol instead—anything to dull the pain. Going back to Conrad right now with this news wouldn’t help his recovery process at all. What was I supposed to do?

Then it hit me that Aidan expected me at our training area in less than an hour. I still didn’t know if he’d been involved in that deadly dragon battle Conrad and I discovered. After everything else that had happened, I needed for him to be alive. I’d already lost too much in one day.

I glanced at my gas gauge and discovered it was down to just over a quarter tank. Damn. Conrad and I had gotten it almost full before going out scouting for food yesterday. Wait, yesterday? It seemed like weeks ago. How in the hell had everything gone from okay—or at least getting by—to worst-case scenario?

I drove down Lindsey Street, praying with everything I had that Aidan would be there waiting. Along the way, I passed Verena’s house, but she wasn’t outside. Probably still resting. The first time she’d healed Conrad she’d slept for twelve hours straight. It hadn’t been that long yet since the second time.

The familiar red sign came up ahead. I didn’t see Aidan standing there, but that didn’t mean anything. According to the dashboard clock, I was still a little early. I pulled the truck into my usual spot under the trees. Then I gulped more water down because it was satisfying and lucky for me the magic canteen refilled itself regularly.

Donar came walking down the south gravel road a few minutes later. I tensed, seeing the grave expression on his face. He never showed up without Aidan. When he came, it was always with his cousin.

Still clutching my canteen like a life preserver, I got out and met him at the gate.

Chapter 35

Bailey

“Please don’t give me bad news. I can’t take any more today,” I said, giving him a pleading look.

He bowed his head. “I wish I could tell you something good.”

“I saw the dragon bodies.” I swallowed. “Was one of them him?”

Donar didn’t look up. “We picked up our dead yesterday evening and buried them. Aidan was not among them, but I found him later badly wounded. It’s a miracle he survived.”

“Don’t you have healers or something?” I asked, raising my voice. This couldn’t be happening—not to Aidan, too. I had to grab hold of a nearby tree to keep from crumbling to the ground.

Donar let out a sigh and met my gaze. “After the battle he didn’t return to the fortress. When we didn’t find his body, I went out searching for him. Eventually, I found him in a house down the road from here, covered in blood and wounds. My guess is he didn’t feel safe enough to come back.”

“Why would that be?” And how could Aidan possibly not feel safe in his own home?

“It’s complicated.” Donar glanced back down the road. “I need to get back to him before he wakes.”

“I want to see him,” I demanded.

“He’s vulnerable right now.” He shook his head.

I stepped up to Donar and clenched my fists. “You’re just gonna have to trust that I wouldn’t hurt him. I’ve lost enough people in the last couple of days. I can’t afford to lose him, too.”

Donar stared at me. I could sense he was deciding on my sincerity and whether or not he could trust me. We’d beat up on each other often enough that we’d built up a sort of friendship. As odd as that might sound.

“Alright,” he relented, “but if he demands you leave, then you leave.”

“Fine.” We started walking down the road. “Can you please explain why he doesn’t feel safe at home?”

“I said it’s complicated.”

I resisted smacking him. “Yeah, I got that, but why?”

“His father is the pendragon—our clan leader—and isn’t expected to live out the year.” Donar was quiet for a minute before saying more. “Competition for who will replace him is fierce and Aidan has the potential to be one of the top candidates. There are some who would take advantage of him being down at the moment.”

My brows drew together. “Who would try to hurt him?”

“His older brothers.”

Aidan had older brothers? This was the first I’d heard of them.

“Wouldn’t that be even more reason to go to a healer? If there’s a way to recover faster, why not use it?” I asked.

Donar sighed. “With injuries as grave as his, the healer can’t fix everything all at once. And each time he works on him, Aidan will be completely unconscious for about eighteen hours. It is the price we pay for using healing magic.”

That could explain the reason Conrad hadn’t stayed awake long earlier, though I didn’t know how much of a difference there was between dragon and sorcerer magic. “So if he allows himself to be healed he wouldn’t be able to defend himself if anyone attacked him while he’s asleep?”

“Exactly, and his sister and I can’t stay with him all the time. We’ve got other responsibilities at the fortress. At the place here,” he nodded at a white two story house up ahead, “no one will bother him.”

It occurred to me then why Aidan had sought me out. If he was to survive the succession for pendragon, he was going to need as many allies as possible and somehow I factored into that plan. It couldn’t just be that he wanted my help clearing out the pure dragons from the area. There had to be a lot more to it.

Hearing about it now, I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for him. I couldn’t imagine my brothers trying to kill me just to get my stepfather’s ranch to themselves without me competing for it. If I’d heard about his problem when I first met him, though, I might have told him to go to hell. It wouldn’t have mattered as much to me then.

“He has a sister, too?” We stepped onto the porch. “Anyone else I should know about?” Aidan had kept more of his life from me than I’d realized. Of course, I hadn’t told him much about me, either.

“No one significant,” Donar replied.

We entered the house and I took a look around the living room. It was clean and cozy with brown leather couches, black end tables, and a huge flat screen anchored on a beige wall. I tried not to think about who lived here before and where they were now.

I glanced at Donar. “Did you put Aidan in one of the bedrooms?”

“Yes.” He looked up. “You’ll find him in the first room on the right upstairs.”

“Was he up there when you found him?” I asked.

Donar snorted. “No, he made it as far as the kitchen. It took me hours to clean up all the blood on the floor.”

It was good to know shape-shifters were the clean types.

“I’m going up there,” I said, hurrying up the stairs. I needed to see for myself that he was alive and well. All I had left was Aidan and Conrad—both injured to the point they nearly died. There was something driving me to hold close those who remained. Focus on them and not what I lost.

“I’ll join you.” Donar followed close behind.

“You still don’t trust me, do you?”

“Perhaps more than I’d trust his brothers,” he responded.

“Somehow, I don’t think that’s much of a compliment.”

I entered the room and found Aidan lying on a queen size bed. A blanket made of black camrium cloth lay beneath him, but nothing covered his skin except a bunch of bandages wrapped around his arms, stomach, shoulder, and legs. I averted my gaze, seeing a whole lot more of him than I expected. One important part of him hadn’t been damaged at all.

Clearing my throat, I looked at Donar. “You didn’t cover him up?”

His brows furrowed. “Why?”

“Because he might get cold or something.”

“Bailey,” Aidan said in a raspy voice. “Stop giving my cousin trouble.”

Relief filled me at seeing him awake, gazing at me with those strange yellow eyes. I glared at Donar. “Did you give him anything to drink?”

He worked his jaw. “I hadn’t had a chance since I returned here.”

I looked around the room and spotted a dresser in the corner. Pulling a middle drawer open, I found a bunch of men’s shirts. I took one of them and walked over to Aidan, dropping it over his manly bits.

“What are you doing?” he croaked out, attempting to lift his head.

I hated to bother him, but I couldn’t concentrate with so much of him exposed. Even with all his injuries it was distracting. “Preserving your dignity.”

“My what?” He frowned.

“Shut up and drink.” I helped him lift his head further and held my canteen to his lips.

Annoyed yellow eyes stared at me while he gulped down the water. I was impressed he was able to finish it off. Maybe with his body running super hot it meant he needed more water than humans.

“My apologies, cousin,” Donar said after Aidan finished. “She insisted on seeing you.”

Aidan lay his head back down. “It’s fine.”

I sat on the edge of the bed next to him. “How are you feeling?”

“I’ve been better,” he said, taking a shuddering breath.

Now that his annoyance had passed I could see the pain in his eyes. All his wounds were covered, hiding the damage, but he definitely didn’t appear to be in good shape. His skin was paler than usual and some of the bandages had a bit of blood seeping through. That couldn’t be good, considering he’d stopped bleeding fairly quickly when I’d wounded him. Had that really been two months ago? It was already early August.

“We need to change these bandages,” I said.

He closed his eyes. “Are you volunteering?”

“Would you let me?”

Aidan lifted his lids. His gaze dropped to my wrist where I had a birthmark there. It was rather disconcerting the way he stared at it. Then he looked up to stare into my eyes for more than a minute. I couldn’t imagine what he was thinking.

“If you wish to do it, then you may,” he replied.

I swallowed. “You’re trusting me?”

“Yes.”

And in that moment I realized he’d just decided to put his life in my hands. A strong man who’d been gravely injured and couldn’t be more vulnerable than he was right now. That couldn’t be easy when your own brothers wanted to kill you. How could he trust a dragon slayer to take care of him? I felt the gravity of his decision deep inside of me. It was more than a little humbling. This was my chance to prove to him I’d never hurt him.

“You cannot be serious,” Donar said, outraged.

Aidan glared at him. “It is my decision.”

“I’ll get the bandages and cream,” he said, shaking his head. I was rather certain he was cursing in the dragon language as he left the room.

“There is despair in your eyes, Bailey,” Aidan said, stretching his hand to put it over mine. “That can’t be for me.”

He’d noticed? I’d been trying to hide it and not think about it. “The last couple of days have been…tough.”

Aidan lifted a shaking hand and wiped away a tear on my cheek I didn’t even know I had. “Tough enough to make a hardened slayer cry?”

I almost laughed. “We both know I’m not that hard core yet.”

“You will be.”

“Someday.” I averted my face.

“Tell me what happened,” he said.

I took a deep breath and relayed the past two day’s events—except for Verena, which I literally couldn’t talk about. My voice caught a couple of times, but for the most part I got through it. Even with Aidan injured, he had a calming influence on me. His eyes had far more sympathy in them than I ever would have expected.

“Then you came here?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I answered, toying with my leg harness. The one he’d given me not all that long ago.

“And you believe they are dead.”

My throat was too swollen to respond so I nodded. He gently took hold of my shoulders and pulled me down next to him. It was so unexpected that I didn’t think to protest.

“You’re going to hurt yourself,” I said, eventually finding the strength to speak.

“I don’t care.”

My back was facing him. I couldn’t see his face or his expression, but I could feel his fingertips running lightly up and down my arms. He was trying to comfort me when he needed to be recovering from his injuries.

“Why are you being nice?” I asked.

“Would it do any good for me to be cruel to you right now?”

“No,” I huffed.

“We made a vow to help each other. I’d like to think that covers more than just training and battles. If I’m going to let you re-bandage my wounds, then you will allow me to comfort you.”