Twiceborn Endgame (The Proving Book 3) (17 page)

“Where the hell are we?” Yarrow asked.

“Canberra,” said Luce, who had a sense of direction like a homing pigeon. “That’s Black Mountain over there. We’ll need to find some wheels pronto if we’re going to get back to Sydney by dawn.”

We were in some kind of business park. Nothing but neat streets of office buildings surrounded us, with not a car in sight. Taxis were out of the question, even if there’d been any around, with Garth in his current condition. Too many questions.

I looked at Garth, his face a pale blur in the dark. He was stirring, trying to wriggle his way out of Yarrow’s arms. “Give him to me.”

Yarrow stopped and gave me an uncertain look. I reared up on my hind legs and took the groggy werewolf gently in my front claws.

“Put me down,” he muttered. “I can walk.”

“Bullcrap. A newborn puppy could beat you in a fight.”

“I just need a bit of food and I’ll be fine.”

He was well enough to argue. Definitely not dying, then. My heart swelled with joy.

“Keep still,” I hissed. Stupid werewolf needed someone to take care of him.

“What are you doing?” Luce’s voice was sharp.

“I’m not wandering around out here with my homicidal sisters on the loose and half the police force as well.” A blue light flashed past the end of the street as a police car headed for the building we’d just left. A plume of smoke spiralled into the dark sky above it, visible over the tops of the buildings between us. “I need to get Garth to safety.”

I spread my wings. Luce gave me a shocked look.

“You’re going to
fly
home?”

“Why not? It’s a three-hour drive. I can fly it in two.”

“But someone might
see
you.”

She’d had centuries of living with the queens’ edicts. The oldest taboo of all was showing yourself in trueshape anywhere humans might see you. And for centuries that taboo had kept the shifter world safely hidden.

“Luce. I’m so popular on YouTube already I’ve got channels dedicated to me. I think we’ve gone beyond the point of observing the old rules.”

Commander Wilson had been conspicuously absent from the battle in the foyer, as had that goblin traitor Patel. Taskforce Jaeger had known enough about us already to turn up at Gideon Thorne’s house and take us all in, easy as rounding up sheep. Hiding didn’t seem to be an option any more.

And I was sick of being a sheep. I spread my wings and leapt skyward.

I kept an eye on the horizon as I flew. I’d headed due east to get myself over the sea as quickly as possible. No point starting a new shifter panic if I could avoid it. Canberra had glittered below me as I passed, its neat circles and grids of streetlights showing the care with which the city had been laid out. It was still a hole, and cold as a dragon’s heart in winter, but at least it was easy to navigate around.

There was no sign of the grey before dawn yet, but I knew it couldn’t be far away. Elizabeth’s home—now mine—was on the very eastern edge of Sydney. With a bit of luck I could drop down out of the night sky with no one the wiser. Just as well I’d had Blue adjust the security spells already to attune them to me instead of Elizabeth, otherwise World War III would erupt when a strange dragon touched down in her garden.

I flew as high as I could without causing trouble for Garth. He was too precious to me to risk any further. Werewolves were sturdy creatures, but they weren’t completely impervious to cold, and at the speed I was travelling the wind tore at us. Damn Wilson and his pet goblin. The evening had been going so well—Thorne dead and my sisters, if not enthusiastic about the idea of sharing the domain, at least not outright rejecting it.

Instead of which, here I was, flying home with an injured werewolf clutched in my claws, the rest of my team reduced to car theft. Not the triumphant end to the evening I’d hoped for. I reckon I could have talked my sisters round given a little more time. Perhaps I still could. And there was probably one less of them to split with now.

Poor Faith. Was she even still alive? And if she was, what kind of state was she in? What Patel had done to her was sickening. She’d had no chance to prepare as Leandra had. Leandra had been a willing participant in the removal of her channel stone, forcing her essence into the stone so that she could colonise my body once I’d swallowed it. Poor Faith had been unconscious when hers was ripped from her chest, and I was very much afraid that that meant the stone was now nothing more than a pretty trinket, and Faith’s connection to her essence had been severed forever. She could never take trueshape again. What did that make her now? Not a dragon, that’s for sure. Certainly not a queen in the making any more. It might have been kinder to kill her than condemn her to such a half-life.

Garth stirred as the glow of Sydney came into view, and I finally faced the subject I’d been avoiding all this way: Garth and my new feelings for him. Everything had seemed so clear, so sharp, as I stared into his golden eyes amid the wreckage of the silver-barred cell. Now doubts were starting to creep in. I stared grimly at the horizon and that glowing city, my wing muscles burning with the labour of the long flight. I’d only known him a short time—could I really be so sure he was my soulmate? Plus he was my employee. That could make for some awkward situations.

And then there was Ben.

I headed even further out to sea, till the glow of the city was just a smudge on the horizon. I might show up on the radar at Sydney airport, but I didn’t want them getting a look at me.

What should I do about Ben? I still loved him too, didn’t I? It didn’t feel the same as what I felt for Garth, but it was still love. I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for Ben. He’d saved my life, taking the blow Jason had meant for me. How could I cast him aside so soon? He’d think it was just dragon libido hankering after a new conquest. And maybe he’d be right, in a way. There was no doubt I’d changed. I experienced new heights of emotion every day—lust, hate, and a white-hot rage that terrified me. Dragon emotions were as powerful as were dragons themselves. And there was no doubt that dragons didn’t view sex and relationships in the same way that humans did.

The two sides of my personality struggled to find a compromise that I could live with, but Ben didn’t seem prepared to live with any kind of compromise. Ben had been a rock to cling to as my whole life was torn apart and put back together in a different shape, the only familiar face in a world gone crazy. For that I would be forever grateful. But he couldn’t seem to accept that I’d been changed by what I’d gone through. He still wanted the old Kate, and rejected any signs of the new one. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t give him what he wanted. I simply wasn’t the person Ben had fallen in love with any more. I was both more and less than that woman, and she was gone forever.

I turned homeward as the horizon behind me began to lighten with the first faint hint of dawn approaching. Talk about cutting it fine. Not that a big city like Sydney ever truly slept, but there’d be people up and about already, shift workers heading for work, maybe even fitness freaks out jogging in the cool pre-dawn. It couldn’t be helped. I’d just have to take my chances of being spotted.

Arrowing down out of the east, I scanned the shoreline for Elizabeth’s palatial home. It stood proud on the edge of its cliff, looking out over the ocean. The grounds were well lit. That was a good thing when you were trying to fend off intruders, but not so great when you were trying to sneak in. Hopefully the neighbours were all good sleepers.

I settled on the grass by the fountain, letting Garth down gently. He groaned and rolled into a sitting position. I released trueshape and knelt beside him. Wordlessly he reached for my hands as two figures raced from the house.

“Took you long enough,” I said to Steve. “What if I’d been Gideon Thorne invading?”

“I can tell the difference between a black dragon and a gold one,” he said, but he wasn’t looking at me. “God, what happened to him?”

Garth did look pretty scary, his face a mask of dried blood.

“Where’s everyone else?” asked Dave, helping Garth to his feet. The big werewolf staggered and Dave wedged a shoulder into his armpit, helping to prop him up.

Steve and Dave both had the tight expressions of professional men expecting bad news and trying not to show their anxiety. They kept their gazes firmly on Garth, avoiding my naked body. Such gentlemen. It was something you had to get used to when you worked with shifters. Kasumi was the only shifter I’d ever met who could take clothes with her when she changed forms. Garth had no such compunction about staring at me.

“I’ve always had a thing for redheads,” he said, in that chatty way common in the truly drunk. Guess a blow to the head could have the same effect. He seemed to be having trouble focusing.

Steve and Dave exchanged a startled glance.

“It’s the head wound.”
Please shut up, you idiot
. They’d already seen us holding hands. “He’s not quite himself. And the others are on their way home from Canberra.”
I hope
.

“Canberra?”

“We had an unexpected detour. Taskforce Jaeger crashed the party at Thorne’s house. They had silver ammo, so it was a little hard to resist their invitation to visit.”

“Shit.” Steve rocked back on his heels, meeting my gaze for the first time.

“We didn’t lose anyone,” I assured him. “But Garth got shot, and I had to rip a chunk out of his head to save him.”

“You
saved
him?” Both of them stared at me now, never mind manners, wearing identical shocked expressions.

“Well, I know he’s annoying,” I said, deliberately misunderstanding, “but I’ve got kind of used to having him around.”

“You said they were using silver bullets. Werewolves always die of silver.” Steve looked back at Garth as if to assure himself that the big werewolf really was alive.

“Sorry to disappoint you.” That sounded more like the Garth we knew. He explored his bloodstained head with tentative fingers.

“How do you feel?” I asked.

He didn’t answer for a long moment, and I had to look away from the intensity of his gaze. That look spoke of things that couldn’t be addressed in front of Steve and Dave. Things that maybe I wasn’t ready to face at all.

“I owe you my life. Again.” Then he broke the solemn moment with a lopsided grin. “And I feel like shit. But at least I’m alive to feel like shit.”

“Get some rest.” Werewolves were exceptional healers, as long as they were given enough rest and protein to work with. A good feed and a decent sleep would work wonders for him. And maybe for me too. I needed time to think.

I motioned for them to lead the way into the house. They might be gentlemen, but I knew where their eyes would be if my naked butt was walking in front of them. Especially Garth’s.

Ben met us just inside the door, a dressing gown draped over his arm.

“I thought I heard voices.” He held it while I shrugged into it. “Saw you out here.”

“Thanks.” He held out his arms and I stepped into his embrace a little stiffly, conscious of Garth watching.

It was uncanny: I could
feel
where he was, as if an invisible cord connected us. Dave helped him up the stairs, and he didn’t look back, but I could see the tension in his thick neck and the way he carried his broad shoulders high.

Ben saw me watching Garth and raised a questioning eyebrow.

I sighed. “I need coffee. Come into the kitchen.”

Steve came too, since he was next in command with both Luce and Garth out of action temporarily. By the time I’d filled them in on the events of the night, sunlight lay warm across the kitchen tiles and I’d drunk three cups of coffee. Dave cooked breakfast and sent a tray of bacon the size of the great outdoors up to Garth’s room. I made a fairly decent dent in the world supply of bacon myself. Flying sure worked up an appetite.

At last I pushed my plate away, the bacon and the story all finished. “So what’s been happening here? Anything?”
Has there been any news about Lachie?
But I didn’t ask that. I knew there wouldn’t be any good news until I created it myself.

Ben shook his head. “All quiet. Wonder what the official line is on your demolition job in Canberra?”

“See if there’s anything on the news,” I said to Steve, and he turned on the TV that hung on the far wall. Dave liked to watch it while he cooked. Steve flicked between the various morning shows till he found one giving the news.

“—has died in a house fire in Sydney’s west overnight,” the newsreader was saying. “Neighbours alerted the fire brigade at two o’clock this morning after hearing the sound of glass shattering, but by the time they arrived the house was well alight. Our reporter has more on this story.”

They crossed to the scene, where the reporter stood in front of a blackened shell that had probably once been a neat brick bungalow like the houses on either side.

“I’m here in Church Street outside the home of fifty-one-year-old mother of two Elise Woods. Mrs Woods was home alone last night when someone threw what police believe to have been a Molotov cocktail through her front window. Neighbours heard the sound of breaking glass and a car leaving the scene at high speed. Next-door neighbour Geoff Burrows was first on the scene. Geoff, can you tell me what happened last night?”

Geoff looked like he hadn’t slept. His stubbly face held the expression of a man who’s seen things he would rather forget.

“Yeah, I was in bed with the wife when a noise woke me up. Sounded like glass breaking. And then I heard the squeal of tyres.” He gestured vaguely behind him. “Our bedroom’s at the front of the house, so I looked out but I couldn’t see nothing, and then I smelled the smoke. So I come outside and Elise’s house is alight. I tried to get in, to see if anyone was there, but the flames were too much, you know?”

He rubbed a hand across his bald head, his face anxious, and it was then that I noticed the bandages on his hands. “I was yelling at the missus to call the fire brigade, and screaming out to Elise. Her bedroom was at the front too, same as ours. I tried, I really did. Burnt me hands.” He shook his head. “That poor woman. She was a lovely lady, much nicer than the last one. I can’t understand why anyone would do this to her.”