Skyborn(14)

"Ohh, interesting," Eva crooned. I was starting to feel lightheaded and  my dragon was getting restless. When I was about to ask how much longer  this was going to be, she abruptly let go of my shoulders. The buzzing  stopped and I was grateful. Eva's eyes were lined with unshed tears as  she stroked the side of my face. "I'm so sorry you had to go through  that with your mother, dear."                       
       
           



       

Her statement caught me off guard and a lump formed in my throat. "It's  fine," I mumbled. It wasn't fine. It would never be fine. No one should  have to bury their mother at sixteen years old.

Eva's face changed then and she looked at Logan this time. "Someone very  powerful bound her magic in infancy. I couldn't see who, but it is a  spell that would need to be reinforced every few years or it would start  to slowly wear off."

I reeled back in shock. "What are you saying?"

Eva shrugged. "Honey, your mother had to have known."

"No way!" I shouted, stepping back.

"She wasn't a dragon. She died of cancer," Logan said in my defense, but  I knew it was falling on deaf ears. The look in Eva's face was one of  certainty.

Eva nodded. "I know."

"Dragons don't get cancer," I said, because I needed to hear it. My mom wouldn't keep that from me.

Eva nodded again. "I know. Your mother wasn't a dragon  …  but she wasn't human either. She couldn't have been."

The world stopped spinning; time stopped, my breathing stopped,  everything in the moment just stopped. I stood there, willing Eva not to  say another word, but at the same time I needed to know.

"What was she?" I breathed.

"I don't know," she confessed.

All of the air whooshed out of me in a rush. "You don't know. Then she  could have been human." Relief poured through me. My mother was an  interesting person, with quirks like anyone else, but she would have  told me if she was a freaking dragon!

Maybe she tried?

A memory came back to me then of things she said on her death bed. Crazy  things. Maybe it wasn't crazy. I pushed those memories down and hugged  my arms to my chest, suddenly cold.

With one swoosh, Logan pulled off his shirt and handed it to me. "We can  talk about this another time. I need to find us another house, make  sure no one else knows about her. She needs to learn to control her  dragon." He spoke as if I wasn't standing right there. He also spoke as  if he thought it was all nonsense. I don't think he thought my mother  was my real mother and that scared the crap out of me.

I pulled his shirt on, forcing myself not to moan as his scent washed  over me. Clearing my throat, I said, "I have one more question for Eva,  but I would like to ask it in private." I held my head high, hoping  Logan wouldn't be offended, and trying not to check out his abs now that  he was shirtless.

Hurt crossed his face but was quickly masked. "Of course. I'll wait outside."

Eva called out after Logan: "I will wire the money for the scales to  your account. I can do fifty for the black and a hundred for the red."

Logan looked impressed. "Think it will fetch double?"

She nodded. "For a century, there have only been black scales on the market. This will fetch triple."

He nodded. "Alright, send the fifty-K to me and Sloane can have the hundred. It's her scale."

My eyes widened. Fifty-K? Did he say K  …  as in fifty thousand? I heard the door shut and knew that Eva and I were now alone.

Eva looked at me. "Do you have your bank details on you?"

I shook my head in shock. People didn't wire transfer one hundred dollars.

"How much for the red scale?" I had to ask. I needed to hear it again.

"A hundred thousand sweetheart. Just give me your full legal name and I  can have my guy find your bank account." She winked. "He's good with  that stuff."

When I could get my mouth to close, I nodded. "Right. Okay." Holy shit  of all shits. One hundred thousand dollars for a single dragon scale.  Maybe there was a bright side to this life after all.

Eva reached out and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. It was  something my mother did and it caused a lump to form in my throat.

"I know what you want to ask, sweetheart, but I can't make you human.  Now that your dragon has come out, there's no putting her back."

Disappointment crashed through me, because it was what I wanted to ask.  "But  …  you said there was a spell  …  that someone had hidden my powers.  Can't you do it again? I don't want to be like this."

Eva frowned. "Someone did hide your powers, honey, and when your mom  died it slowly started to fall away. Now your dragon is out and your  powers will be too and there's nothing I can do to stop it."

I don't know why I felt like crying. It was stupid, really.

"You think my mom hid my powers, don't you?" I needed to know.

Eva screwed the lid on a jar and looked up at me. "No. I think your mom  paid a very powerful sorcerer to do it, and then she kept the spell  alive with her own magic. Somehow. Then, when she died, the spell slowly  died too."                       
       
           



       

I shook my head. "My mom didn't have magic."

Eva shrugged. "Okay. It's that or she wasn't your real mother."

Anger flared up inside of me. "You think my mother would lie to me? She wouldn't! You didn't know her."

Eva set the jar down and placed her hands together in prayer pose.  "Forgive me for saying hard things, but I was a mother once. I would  have done anything, even lie, to protect my child."

She shrugged as she made her point. I didn't want to believe what Eva  was saying, but I also knew that denial got me nowhere. Knowledge was  power. "You think she was a sorcerer?"

Eva shook her head. "It would take a very powerful sorcerer to be able  to mate with another dragon. A sorcerer that powerful wouldn't have  succumbed to cancer."

My brows furrowed. "A shifter?"

Eva shook her head again. "Skyborn are purebloods, and shifters cannot produce offspring with them."

"What, then?" My foot was tapping as the anxiety ran through my body.

"Sloane, sweetheart, I don't know what she was. I'm just glad she kept  you safe. Now, you need to stick with Logan and the pack to stay safe.  Do you understand me?"

I nodded as I chewed my lip.

"I'm not kidding. Don't run off. If you run, you're dead," she said ominously.

Great. That was confidence inspiring. "I won't." I didn't have anywhere  to go. Well, I guess I was about to be a hundred grand richer, but I  knew nothing about being a dragon, and now that I knew my transformation  signaled the hunters, I couldn't afford to leave.

Logan wasn't too bad on the eye either. Bonus for staying. My dragon  purred inside of me at the thought and I just chuckled. She was totally  still in heat. I didn't care what anyone said.

"Thanks for everything. Sorry for getting upset," I said lamely. I had  always had a fiery temper, but I was also good at apologizing, so at  least there was that.

Eva smiled and reached out to smooth my hair again. "I can't imagine what you must be feeling. It's a shock I'm sure."

"Yeah."

"Well, keep your head up, stick with Logan, and try to stay calm as your powers come in."

My eyes widened. "So, there's going to be more  …  weird stuff?"

Eva nodded. "Tons. Sorry, hun, but I'm always here if you need me. I've  known Logan since he was a baby, and like I said, I've taken a magical  oath to protect the skyborn. So whatever you need, if it's in my power  to do, I'll do it."

Wow. I hadn't expected this woman to be so sincere and loving. I thought  she would be some two-faced sorcerer that was just in it for the money.

"Alright, thanks," I said awkwardly, pulling the hem of Logan's shirt  down to try and cover my ass. Eva gave me a light side hug and walked me  to the door.

"Stay safe." With those last words, she opened the door and Logan was  there waiting for me-low slung jeans and no t-shirt. Heaven help me. I  had enough drama in my life. The last thing I needed was to shack up  with a dragon and with my luck lay a half dozen dragon eggs a month  later.

"All set?" Logan asked. His demeanor had changed; his jaw was clenched and he looked annoyed.

"You okay?" I stepped closer to him.

He was breathing heavily through his nostrils, glaring at me with those mossy green eyes.

"Jesus, what?" I shouted. Had something happened in the few minutes I was alone with Eva.

Logan leaned in close, bringing his body heat with him, and whispered in  my ear, "I've waited years for you. For another  …  so that I wouldn't  feel  …  alone. And now you're here and you don't even want it."