Steam (11 page)

He traced the line of her jaw. “Niya,” he whispered. “Where did you go?”

Raven stared at the photo, feeling his heart start to pound. He’d had a long and complicated relationship with the dragon queen. He wiped away the lone tear that had escaped. God, he’d been so in love with her. Hell, he was still in love with her, even after all these years. She’d even confessed her own love for him more than once. But loving the leader of an entirely different race was tricky. Especially when he was the leader of his own clan. Add in the growing tensions between the witch clans, and it’d been impossible to give their relationship the attention it deserved.

Another tear ran down his cheek and he took a deep breath, trying to get his emotions under control. He’d tried to talk her out of attending the training session he’d been running that fateful day. He’d begged her to stay home but she’d waved him off. It wasn’t like they’d been expecting a bloody battle. All they’d been planning was a training session with the handlers. The four handlers had been trying to create a perfect storm. But creating a storm of that magnitude could be dangerous, and he hadn’t wanted her anywhere near in case the handlers lost control.

Reluctantly, he’d agreed to allow her to tag along, and it had proved to be the worst decision he’d ever made. Niya had accompanied him, along with her son and her entire retinue of bodyguards.

The handlers had been successful in creating the storm but somehow, the other clans had heard about what they were trying to do. They’d found themselves surrounded by both the Takahashis and the Keitas as well as a large number of vampires and werewolf shifters. The battle had been bloody, with heavy casualties on all sides.

Somewhere along the line, the dragons had disappeared. He’d never found out what had happened. Niya would never have abandoned him, and it wasn’t in a dragon’s blood to retreat. He’d never figured out how the other clans had worked out where they’d be but it didn’t matter anymore.

Raven still had nightmares about that day. He’d lost four clan members, including two handlers, people who he’d cared about immensely, and the love of his life all in the same day. And worse, they’d never told anyone of their love, so it wasn’t like he could actually talk to anyone about how he felt.

For the last quarter of a century, he’d used all his free time searching for Niya, or anyone one who could tell him what happened. But it seemed like the dragons had gone into hiding. He’d spotted Niya’s son a few times, but he’d never been successful in getting close enough to speak with him.

Raven had taken to parading a constant stream of women in front of the clan. The women were actors, hired to act like one night stands. He had used the excuse of going out on random dates to search for the love of his life.

Now, he wasn’t just searching for Niya. The upcoming battle was growing nearer, he could feel it in his bones. And for the sake of his clan, he needed to get back in touch with his allies.

Leith had been snooping around, using all his seeker spells to try and figure out where the dragons had disappeared to. He’d searched the cliffs Matthew had pointed out and had yet to find anything. But the cliffs were huge and there were only so many hours of the day Leith could search. Raven would have joined him but he was determined to do right by his clan and supervise Sunny’s training.

He stroked a single finger over the face in the photograph, cradled it to his chest and leaned back in his chair. He was so tired. He hadn’t been sleeping well and it was starting to catch up with him. It wouldn’t hurt to close his eyes for a few minutes.

A heavy knocking pounding against the window startled him and he nearly upended his chair. “What the fuck?” he swore.

He had to blink his eyes a couple of times when he saw the man standing at the window, beckoning for him to come outside.

The chair didn’t stand a chance when he jolted up and took off at a run. He heard the clatter of it tipping over before he hit the hall at a dead sprint. He ignored Anna’s gasp as he raced passed her and out the door.

He veered right, his eyes searching for the man he’d seen at the window.

There.

Raven stumbled to a halt in front of the tall man and bent at the waist, resting his hands on his thighs as he tried to catch his breath. “Your Highness,” he said between quick intakes of breath.

The prince crouched down and stuck his face under Raven’s so he had no choice but to look the dragon in the eye. “Raven MacAlister. Tell me why you’ve increased your efforts to find us?”

Raven’s heart nearly stopped when he gazed into those jade green eyes. Gareth was definitely his mother’s son, and not just because of the color of his eyes. He apparently had the same habit of appearing right when Raven was least expecting it.

Raven finally caught his breath and forced himself up. How Prince Gareth looked so regal when he was dressed in a black T-shirt, even tighter jeans and bulky black boots, he’d never know. The man looked like he belonged on a college campus somewhere, but Raven knew the prince was probably hundreds, if not thousands, of years old.

Gareth stared at him expectantly, one eyebrow raised. “Well? I know you’ve been looking for my mother since the last battle but why has the search switched from her to dragons in general so suddenly?”

A soft wind blew around them and the scent of heather surrounded them. Raven closed his eyes at the memory the flower brought back. Gareth probably wouldn’t want to know about how his mother and Raven had made love in blooming heather more than once.

Pulling himself back to the present, Raven looked at Gareth, careful not to meet his eyes. Despite the fact that Gareth stood before him as a man, Raven didn’t forget he was looking at a dragon. And dragons were the consummate dominant predator.

“The prophecy…” He trailed off, wondering if Gareth remembered what he was talking about. The man had sat in on their meetings several times. But it had been more than twenty-five years since he had seen Gareth. It seemed like a long time to Raven, but to someone who was immortal, the twenty-five years had probably passed in a blink of an eye. So Gareth either remembered the conversations about the prophecy like it was yesterday or he’d forgotten about it in the hundreds, possibly thousands of years’ worth of memories he had to sift through.

“Mmm,” the dragon hummed. He cocked his head and his eyes shifted to his dragon ones momentarily. “You still believe that, do you?”

Apparently, the dragon prince remembered. “Our fire handler has been located. It won’t be long before our earth handler comes into their magic.”

Gareth shifted. “You’re assuming the handler survived into adulthood. I understand you decided to scatter your clan after the last witch war. Why?”

Raven rubbed the back of his neck. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. If our clan members were scattered, it would be harder to kill us off. If we’d stayed here, we ran the risk of facing genocide. And with half of our handlers dead, our defenses would never have survived a large scale attack.”

“I’m curious. Do you still think scattering your clan was a good idea?”

Grief tugged on him. His clan had been so much more than just the people he led. They had been his family, both literally and figuratively. In an effort to keep their whereabouts secret, he had contacted most of them only sporadically since they left and he missed them all dearly. “Yes. It was the right decision at the time. It has, of course, led to a weakening of clan bonds.” He’d been unaware of the death of Sunny’s parents, or even her birth. He wondered what else had happened to his people that he didn’t know. How many were dead? How many had children?

“Mmm,” the prince hummed again. “Interesting. But I fail to see why you’ve decided to search out the dragons instead of recalling your clan?”

“I’m calling on the alliance we made with your people. If we are to come out victorious in the upcoming battle, we will need the aid of the dragons.”

Something flared in Gareth’s eyes, and Raven felt like he was being assessed. “I’m not completely against the idea,” the dragon prince said slowly. “But there will be two conditions.”

Raven’s head snapped up. He had not expected such an easy agreement. “Name them,” he said.

The dragon prowled over to him, his eyes completely shifted. There was no hint of white around Gareth’s irises at all and his pupils had elongated to look like small slits in dangerously glittering pools of jade. “You shouldn’t be so quick to agree,” the dragon advised.

“You are your mother’s son,” Raven said immediately. “You are an honorable man.”

A thin stream of smoke drifted out of the dragon’s nose, hinting that the beast was closer to the surface than Raven had originally imagined. He snorted and his skin flashed to the faintest shade of green, the scales shimmering in the sunlight before Gareth concealed them again. “I’m no man,” he said in a low, growly voice. “I’m a dragon. But I am my mother’s son.”

Raven stared at Gareth’s chin and stood straight. “Your Highness, your conditions?”

“We will not fight with a weakened people. The first condition is that you must recall your clan members. There is strength in numbers which you cannot replace with handlers, no matter how strong the handlers are.”

Recalling his clan was no hardship. Some work would have to be done to the cottages on the clan property since no one had lived in them for years, of course, but he would love to have everyone home again. “Not a problem.”

Gareth’s eyebrows rose again. “Maybe not for you. But have you considered the feelings of your clan? Perhaps they have grown to like, or even love their new homes. And what of the children?”

Shit
. He hadn’t even stopped to consider what would happen if his clan didn’t want to come back. “It will have to be something I deal with when and if it comes up. What’s your next condition?”

Gareth looked at him consideringly. “Recall your clan. I must convene with the dragon elders before I tell you my next condition. I will be in touch.”

The prince didn’t say anything else. He simply turned and strutted toward the forest, transforming into a twelve-foot long dragon almost instantly.

The beast took one long look at him and Raven wondered if he looked like a tasty snack to the giant lizard. A forked tongue flicked out of Gareth’s mouth once before the beast took flight, apparently unconcerned about being spotted by humans.

Raven watched the dragon fly off, very confused but also hopeful.

Perhaps he’d be seeing the love of his life very soon.

“Sunny,” Sloan groaned as she let the ball of fire fizzle out of existence. “You need to concentrate.”

“I’m trying,” she snapped, conjuring still another flame in the palm of her hand.

Sloan held his breath as Sunny started manipulating the size of the fire. He’d taken over her training after she’d nearly burned the castle down. Anna still helped out occasionally, but it was best if she stayed away while Sunny worked on learning control.

The fire dissipated and Sunny sighed. “This is hard,” she whined.

Sloan fought to keep his lips from quirking up in a smile. She was so damn adorable; he wanted to throw her against the nearest tree and kiss the daylights out of her. “I know,” he said, trying to soothe her. “It was hard for me to learn control too. And I remember Anna trying to learn. It took her forever. Don’t worry, it will come.”

Sunny pushed a lock of hair off her face and blew out a breath, clearly frustrated. “But it was easier when Anna was training me.”

Sloan nodded and rubbed her back. “It was because her power was feeding yours. You didn’t have to work as hard to keep your fire going. The air magic helped it.”

Sunny plopped on to the ground in a heap. “Then I should continue to work with her.”

Sitting down next to her, Sloan wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “You’re doing great. Just think, everything you’ve achieved in the past week has been all on your own. There’s been no help, intentional or not, from Anna. You’ve made huge strides.”

“Thanks,” she said tilting her head until it rested against his shoulder.

She still sounded down, so he wracked his brain for something to cheer her up. “Have you been into town yet?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“No. I haven’t had enough time, really.”

“Let’s take a break then, and go into town.”

Sunny agreed easily enough and before long, they were in his car, driving along with the windows down and the music blasting.

He couldn’t help the smile that time, when she started singing along to the radio at the top of her lungs. She sang off key and her timing sucked, but she was having a ball. It was one of the things he admired most about Sunny. She really didn’t care about what other people thought.

Parking on a side street, he raced around to open her door while she dug around in her small purse for sunglasses. Her smile of thanks was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen, and he offered his elbow reflexively.

She tucked her hand into his arm, and he reveled in the feeling. He let her lead him around, stopping whenever she wanted to look into a shop window, or coo over some brightly colored flowers. He stood still as she placed a silly hat on his head and waited while she took a picture of some children with their noses pressed against the toy shop’s window.

Acting purely on instinct, Sloan bent down and plucked a daisy from a shop’s garden. “Here,” he said, offering her the flower.

“You shouldn’t have picked that,” she scolded even as she tucked it behind her ear. “But thank you. How does it look?”

“Beautiful,” he said, well aware he referred to more than the flower.

“Ice cream,” Sunny said suddenly, pointing behind him.

A little bemused by the sudden change in subject, Sloan turned around. Sure enough, there was an ice cream stand. “Do you want some?”

Sunny nodded and practically dragged him across the street. They got in line behind a small girl, who had hair the same vivid red as Sunny, and her mother.

Sunny crouched so she was at eye level with the little girl. “What kind are you getting?” she asked.