The Island Of Dragons: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (15 page)

I wanted to go with them, but Warren had said I couldn’t. He wanted me to stay put for a little while until everyone could be moved from the village to a makeshift village closer to the water. “There could be more quakes or aftershocks,” he’d said, and he didn’t want me anywhere near the castles if that happened. I understood, but that didn’t make waiting any easier. While full evening fell and the sky turned from dark blue to a velvety shade of midnight, I sat in the sand calling and texting people, trying to find out which of my friends were hurt and which of them were okay.

Thankfully, it turned out that Joanna had been resting with baby Abby on the ground floor of their house when the quake started. Lucas had been playing with Davy outside, and he’d been able to rush in and whisk Joanna and Abby out before the second story of their castle had crumbled. Also thankfully, Melissa and Dan, and Melody and Josh, along with another couple, had all been enjoying a late dinner outside, some distance away from the castles, when the first quake had hit.

However, Hugh hadn’t been so lucky. He and Sadie had been in their living room, and a portion of stone wall had fallen on Hugh as he’d been trying to usher Sadie to safety. He’d sustained an injury to his shoulder, although fortunately, Sadie had been able to make it outside without being hurt. Hugh claimed he was just fine and sent me a text saying that it would take much more than a falling wall to fell a “tough old dragon” like himself. Though shortly after, Melissa sent me a text saying Hugh’s shoulder was “pretty messed up.” I was glad shifters healed faster than regular humans.

At least a dozen other people in the village had been injured, some much worse than Hugh, though no one was in critical condition, and mercifully, all of the village children had somehow managed to make it through the ordeal more or less unscathed. A few scrapes and bumps was the worst of it.

That night, everyone who hadn’t been injured slept in tents on the shore, while the injured and their families spent the night in the makeshift medical clinic. Many men worked through the night, already clearing debris and repairing castles, the sound of their tools rising above the sound of the surf at times. Warren was out and about all night, checking on the wounded, overseeing repairs, and making calls to the other island leaders, checking to see if their people were okay, and fortunately all were, for the most part. Each of the two other villages had some injuries, but not as many as ours, being that their bungalows and cabins were all one-story structures.

Sometime very late, Warren came by my tent to tell me all this and check in on me. I was wide-awake, as he said he thought I might be. Shortly after he arrived, he said he had to leave again, and he made me promise to at least try to get some sleep. I agreed to try, but as frayed as my nerves were, I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to sleep without the comforting feel of his arms around me. Though somehow, maybe an hour later, I did finally manage to drift off, even with the sound of hammers clanging in the distance.

The next morning, Warren came back, bringing me clean clothes and some of my toiletry items, like my toothbrush and toothpaste. His bloodshot eyes told me he probably hadn’t slept a wink. After dropping my stuff on the little camp cot in my tent, he pulled me close and gave me a quick kiss before pulling away to look at my face. “Go ahead and get changed, then we’ll grab you a bite to eat, and then we’ll head to the outdoor clinic, and Dalton. It’s time for answers.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

When Warren and I arrived at the makeshift clinic, Dalton wasn’t anywhere to be found. Presumably having heard us asking about him, Dr. Benson poked her head out of one of the patient tents with her normally bright eyes just as bloodshot as Warren’s were.

“Dalton ‘discharged’ himself earlier this morning, very much against this doctor’s orders. Went back to his castle. Said he had some urgent scientific project to work on. I didn’t ask too many questions; he’s got his headache medication with him and seems to be very stable, and I’ve got my hands quite full here.”

A few minutes later, Warren and I arrived at Dalton’s guest castle, which hadn’t sustained any damage in the quake. Mine hadn’t, either, along with a few dozen others, including Warren’s, but that didn’t mean everyone could go back home right away. Not knowing when or if another quake could strike, it was just too dangerous. I wasn’t quite sure how much I was going to enjoy living on the beach indefinitely; I had a painful twinge in my back just from spending one night on the camp cot. However, a little twinge in my back was the very least of my problems, considering that Dalton seemed sure that the island was going to be destroyed in a month. As we knocked on his front door, a little twinge as a problem seemed downright comical to me.

It took him a while to answer the door, but once he did, he quickly ushered us inside saying that he was glad we were there. “I want to show you both something I’ve been working on since dawn. It’s actually almost done; just a few more hours now for some finishing touches.”

I asked what “it” was and he led Warren and me into his small, sparsely-furnished living room, gesturing to some contraption sitting on a work table in one corner. It, whatever it was, was kind of a box-shaped thing made from metal, plastic, and wires. Directly in front of the box, connected to it somehow, was some kind of a tray with a long roll of paper slowly being fed into it. Etching thin marks on the paper was a slender metal arm-type thing, like a pen, but “writing” parallel to the paper with the very end of it bent.

Dalton looked at Warren and me with a little look of consternation, as if he was a bit disappointed that we didn’t immediately know what the strange machine thing on his worktable was.

“It’s a seismograph. It’ll be able to give us advance notice before another earthquake hits. This way, at least we can all wait out the next month in the comfort of our own castles without worrying if our precious last days are going to be cut even shorter by several tons of rock falling on our heads.

“See, what I’m thinking is that the seismograph can be taken to one of the outbuildings, where several people, who I’ll train in the reading and interpreting of its data, can take shifts watching it. Any time it signals that an earthquake is imminent, the alarm sirens that we used with the golem can be sounded, giving folks plenty of time to get out of their castles. It really will make the next several weeks much easier, I think. Just being that I’m sure many people will be wanting to spend time with loved ones and say their goodbyes indoors, in the privacy of their own homes, and not down on the beach in tents.”

He paused for a breath, surveying Warren and me. “I should say that I don’t mean to make it sound like I’m excited about all this... about the ending of the island, I mean... but I guess I am maybe a little hyped up about the seismograph. I do find science unbelievably exciting; I won’t lie about that. Though at the same time this morning, of course I’m sad, too. I don’t want this island to self-destruct, and I don’t want everyone to die, of course, and I hated to deliver that news to you both.

“But, being that we have to face reality, and spend the next several weeks as calmly and enjoyably as we possibly can, I’ve decided that all I can do to help toward that end is try to use my science skills for the greater good. And being that that’s the case, and being that I’ve spent all morning immersed in this project... well, even in the midst of impending doom, I can’t say that the morning hasn’t been a bit exhilarating.”

Drawing his dark brows together, Warren led me over to a loveseat, sat us down, and then gestured for Dalton to have a seat in an overstuffed chair opposite us. Once he had, Warren leaned forward, elbows on knees, hands clasped. He looked at Dalton with an expression that didn’t bear even a hint of malice, an expression that was pretty expression
less
, actually. But somehow, this lack of expression conveyed deadly seriousness at the same time. As did the tone of his deep voice when he spoke.

“I appreciate your scientific contributions, Dalton, and the seismograph will be very appreciated in the coming weeks. However, I do want you to get one thing straight. This island isn’t self-destructing. No one is dying. Not on my watch. Not as long as there’s the smallest shred of hope that we can fix things, and I have to believe there is.”

Dalton shifted in his seat, pushing his glasses up a little higher on the bridge of his nose. “Well, there’s a lot I can do with science... things like making a rudimentary seismograph... but as far as preventing the closing of the wormhole, it just can’t be done. Opening one is much easier, and I managed to do that on the cruise ship just fine, yes... but stopping what has already been put into motion...” He trailed off, giving his head a single shake. “Not even if I had use of a nuclear reactor, or a—”

“That’s not what I meant.” Warren gave his own head a little shake, sitting up straighter next to me. “I didn’t mean that you fix whatever is happening using purely scientific means, and solely alone. I just need for you to tell Ellie and me exactly what is going on so that we can all try to think of a solution together.

“And I’m not ashamed to admit that I have no idea at this point what that solution might be, because of course I have no idea what’s going on. But I just have to believe there might be
some
way that what you said is going to happen can be stopped. I have to believe we can fight it. So, please... without further ado... tell us why the island is set to self-destruct, and then we’ll try to come up with some way to stop it. Please tell us everything.”

I finally spoke up, intensely curious about a certain particular matter. “Maybe start with the fact that we’re half-siblings and how on earth that came to be.”

I realized that the self-destruction of the island was surely a bigger deal to say the least, but the longer I sat across from Dalton, noticing how similar his eyes were to my own, I felt like I just had to get to the bottom of
that
mystery first.

Not seeming surprised, Dalton sat back in his big sand-colored overstuffed chair, a chair so big it almost seemed to be swallowing his small frame whole. “Well, that question’s easy. Your father, who of course is also my father, and my mother were both technology geniuses working for the government in the same department. And despite the fact that our father was a married man married to your mother, with an infant daughter, no less... well...” Dalton trailed off, reddening just slightly.

“Things happened, I guess. And by the way, I
am
really sorry to have to tell you all this. I don’t know how close you were to our father, or what kind of an image you hold of him in your mind, so I hate to... I don’t know. Tarnish your image of him, if I am. Although... well, a little later, your image of him is about to become very tarnished anyway. And that’s because... well, we’ll stick to the present matter at hand. I’m sorry to have to tell you of our father’s infidelity to your mother.”

A bit confused by some of the things Dalton was saying, I began nodding, but then turned the movement to a shake. “It’s okay. I’ve never really held my father up on a pedestal anyway.
Our
father, I mean. We were never close. I always found him a bit cold, actually. Very distant. I loved him anyway, just because he was my father, but... I guess I just never ‘got’ him, or maybe he just didn’t ‘get’ me. And in fact... I don’t even remember him telling me he loved me... ever. But... anyway, so, you were born after our father and your mother had an affair... and then what happened? Did you ever know our father?”

Looking inexplicably uncomfortable, Dalton glanced to the side for a moment before returning his gaze to my face. “Well, yes, and not initially, but then in later years, yes. Once I became a scientist of some renown, he sought me out actually, and we developed a relationship, though it was always kept hidden from you and your mother. My own mother had passed on at that point, and our father and I agreed that for your and your mother’s sake, it was probably best to just keep the two of you in the dark. Our father talked about you a few times, and even once showed me a couple of pictures. He seemed proud that his genetic traits seemed most dominant in us both, and not the traits of our respective mothers.”

While a warm, salt-scented breeze blew in through a row of open windows, Dalton glanced over at them before looking at me again, making his light green, hazel-ish eyes glint even greener in the bright sunlight.

“After my mother passed, and then your father and mother passed, I developed a desire to meet you, my last remaining family member, though I just wasn’t sure how to go about it. Then, a little while ago, I did a little research on you, taking a look at your social media pages, and I saw that you were going on a cruise with friends.

“At this same time, I already knew that I needed to make a trip through a wormhole to this island, and I knew the wormhole I needed could be created at a specific point in the ocean that the cruise ship would be crossing, so I got the idea to kill two birds with one stone, as it were. I figured I could come here to the island, and also accomplish meeting you beforehand, though I was going to do that in a surreptitious way, without revealing who I was.

“I guess I was just hoping to strike up a friendly conversation and leave it at that, so that on the chance that my trip to the island didn’t go so well, at least I could say that I met you after all these years. I don’t know why it began to feel so important to me, but it just did. But then I never got the chance anyway. The ship ended up traveling at a higher rate of speed than I’d anticipated, and we reached the precise wormhole coordinates faster than I’d thought we would. Then at that point, I had to make my move, even though I hadn’t had the chance to meet you yet.”

I stared at Dalton for a long moment, incredulous. “So, you... you what? You decided to get the ship to tip and dump me overboard, just specifically so we could meet? I could have drowned.”

He cringed, shaking his head. “No. I didn’t get the ship to tip just to dump you. No, not at all. That was just an unfortunate and unexpected side effect of my vibration device. I never meant for you to fall overboard.”

I scoffed, a bit dubious. “So, it was just complete coincidence, then?”

“Well, no, at least I don’t think so. But it wasn’t intentional, either. See, I set my vibration device to send only a life form with my DNA through the wormhole I created in the ocean, but, and I’m certainly not positive this is what happened, but I think the vibrations somehow drew you toward the wormhole, too, probably because we share some DNA. I think my vibration device might have even led you to come to the top of the ship without you even being aware that you were being drawn. Maybe the pull of the device also made it harder for you to avoid going over the railing, too, I really don’t know.”

With the bright sunlight bringing out the strawberry tones in his hair, Dalton paused, expression pleading. “I’m really sorry, Ellie. Please believe that I never meant to put you in danger. When I saw it was you that had fallen over the side of the ship, I was completely stunned, to the point that I had to summon up some serious acting skills in order to act like I didn’t know who you were. Whether the whole thing was coincidence or caused by my device, I hope you can forgive me. I hope you can chalk up the whole thing to a little brother being a stereotypical pain in the ass.”

I cracked a smile, unable to stop myself. “Well, I guess I can let things go. Especially considering that ‘the whole thing’ led me to meet the man that I love.”

Smiling again, I turned to look at Warren, surprised to see him sitting with his strong jaw clenched and nostrils flared just slightly, appearing as the very picture of irritation and annoyance. He now unclenched his jaw, though seemingly just slightly, because when he spoke, his words sounded as if they were coming out from gritted teeth.

“I’m really happy that you two have worked things out, and despite my current level of irritation, I really do mean that. But before we get any further into family bonding, I want to remind you both that we’re all currently sitting on an island that is supposedly going to self-destruct. Another earthquake may flatten this castle within minutes. And if I don’t soon get some answers as to why these earthquakes are happening, I may flatten this damned castle myself.”

*

Despite the seriousness of Warren’s tone, not to mention the seriousness of what he’d just said, I had to work hard to stifle a giggle, knowing full well that wanting to laugh at such a time was completely inappropriate. Although, it seemed like I wasn’t the only inappropriate one. I couldn’t be sure, but I caught Dalton’s eye for just a second, and I could have sworn I saw his greenish eyes twinkling. We were feeling more and more to me like real siblings every minute.

However, Dalton didn’t seem inclined to test Warren on the whole flattening-the-castle thing. He immediately adopted what seemed to be a genuinely sober expression and spoke in a voice that was equally as serious. “You’re right, Chief Knight. You’ve waited long enough for an explanation, so I won’t wait any longer.”