Skyborn(18)

He nodded, impressed. "Smart girl. The first time I sold a scale, I paid  for the entire town of Glastonbury to drink at the pub. Was a fun  night."

Glastonbury? "You're from England?" He didn't have an accent.

He nodded, looking a bit uncomfortable. "Yeah, but I've been in the US long enough to lose the accent."

Something occurred to me then. "Do you need the money? I mean, should I be sharing this with you guys?"

I remembered he had said he paid the pack's salary on the sale of his  scales and other dragonly things. He smiled. "Don't worry about it. I  can take care of you."

I can take care of you. How long I had wanted someone to say that to me  …   since my mother got sick and I had become the adult. Normally I was  independent and didn't like the idea of depending on a guy, but hearing  Logan say he could take care of me did funny things to my insides.

"I'll share next time. I like to pay my own way," I told him.

He smiled and nodded. "As you wish." He turned to leave and I nearly  melted at the fact that he'd probably unknowingly made a Princess Bride  reference.

As he closed the door, I collapsed back in bed and kicked off my boots.  This crazy day was catching up with me and I felt the pull of sleep  weigh down my limbs.

I was a dragon and there was no getting out of it. Might as well embrace reality.





7





AT SOME POINT in the night the upstairs got too hot, so I opened my door  and cracked my window to allow for a cross breeze. This permitted a  certain tiny kitten to jump up on my bed and sleep atop my head. As the  early morning light peeked into the room, I cracked open my eyes to see a  small paw on my forehead.

I groaned. "Mittens, get off." I shook my head a little to dislodge her,  and she must have thought it was my invitation to play, because she  began attacking my hair, causing me to yelp and sit up.

"Ow!" I shouted at her, and her mood changed lightning-quick as she  leapt onto my lap, purring and kneading my thigh like a well-trained  masseuse.

A shadow at the open doorway caught my attention. Logan was standing  shirtless in low slung sweats. He looked perfect, and here I was with a  cat-hair rat's nest on my head and yesterday's make up.

"She's a horrible bed mate," Logan warned me.

I scratched Mitten's head and her purr ramped up a notch. "Yeah, I  gathered that when I woke up at 2AM with her tail in my mouth."

Logan smiled sheepishly. "Ready to train? Nadine is suiting up."

I groaned. I hated working out. Like, my workout hate was so strong I  didn't even own workout clothes. I was the only chick in America not to  own a pair of yoga pants.

Logan's brows knitted. "If you're not a fan of lifting weights, we can start with a run."                       
       
           



       

A run! I groaned louder and Mitten's hair stood up on end as she hissed at me. Crazy cat.

"Look, there's something you should know about me. My favorite activity  is sitting on the couch and drawing while devouring a bag of potato  chips. Unless I'm running for my life from some hunters, I don't run."

Logan's eyes danced with amusement but his face didn't crack a smile. "Have you ever played sports?"

I nodded. "I played competitive soccer for ten years."

He looked shocked. "Perfect."

I cocked my head to the side. "I was the goalie."

"Oh." His face fell.

I was damn good at stopping that ball; my reflexes were insanely fast.  Almost not human now that I thought of it. But running? Lifting weights.  Never.

"Do you like living?" Logan finally asked me as Nadine slipped into the open doorway beside him.

I rolled my eyes. "Obviously."

Logan shrugged. "Then this is going to be the hardest week of your life,  because there will be running. There will be lifting weights. And there  will be no potato chips. If you want to survive attacks from hunters  and druids, you need to train."

Dammit. My twenty-one years of laziness were gone. Rest in peace.

Nadine looked at my pathetic pile of clothes stacked in the corner of the room. "Do you own workout clothes? Tennis shoes?"

I shook my head. "Nope. All a part of my genius plan to avoid exercise."

Nadine smiled. "I like her," she told Logan, and chucked a pair of hot  pink sneakers at me. I caught them midair as Mittens flew from my lap  and into the safety of Logan's arms.

"Meet us downstairs in five," Logan told me sternly as he and Nadine left me to myself.

I looked at the clock on the night table and inwardly shivered. It was  6:06 AM. An ungodly hour. If there were two things that were true to my  soul, it's that, one: I hated exercise, and two: I was not a morning  person.

I rifled through my pile of clothes and found some black knit harem  pants and a lacy bralette that might pass for a sports bra. Then I  slipped on a long sleeve V-neck and put on the pink tennis shoes. It  wasn't exactly attractive, but it would do.

After slipping into the bathroom to brush my teeth, I made my way  downstairs. Sophie was wearing skin-tight leggings and a bright pink  sports bra, her hair into a high pony tail as she flipped some eggs on  the stove. Nadine and Logan were stretching, and I noticed Dom was  asleep sitting up in the corner of the room with his gun on his lap,  finger on the trigger.

Sophie looked back as if she sensed me; when she got a look at my outfit  she stifled a smile. Scooping some eggs on a plate, she motioned  towards them.

"None of the idiots around here can cook, so I'm left with the job," she  told me, as if that was some sparkling invitation to eat the eggs she  had just made.

I grabbed the plate. "Well, I'm a pretty good cook, so I don't mind helping out."

Her body flinched for a moment and then relaxed. "Cool," she said.

"Is Keegan still asleep?" I directed my question at Nadine.

She shook her head. "Nah, he got up about an hour ago. There is an alpha  nearby and he wanted to introduce himself and let him know this is our  new territory."

Let him know. Not ask him. I raised an eyebrow and Nadine laughed. "Cooper and Gear went with him. He'll be fine."

I shoveled the eggs in my mouth and looked at Logan, who was staring at  me with a smirk. "I'm afraid if I train you right away I might kill you.  So go for a light jog with Nadine and then meet me in the barn."

Dick #2. Keegan definitely got the #1 spot, but Logan was close behind.

"I can run when my life depends on it," I informed him with a glare. All  of a sudden I felt butt hurt that Sophie's ass looked like you could  bounce a penny off of it and mine had a unique jiggle. My eyes fell on  Nadine's arms and I decided that she was probably stronger than Gear.  Those guns were toned.

"I know. But when you stop, and you're out of breath and weak, that's  when the hunters attack," Logan told me. Dammit, he was right, but I  didn't want to admit it.

I decided to say nothing, and Nadine just linked arms with me and pulled  me for the door. "Ignore them. You'll be kicking ass and taking names  before you know it."

I smiled. Nadine was like my own personal fortune cookie.



"Call 9-1-1. I'm having a heart attack," I told Nadine between labored  breaths. We weren't running on flat terrain here. I was leaping over  fallen logs and rocks and it was a miracle I hadn't broken my ankle yet.  There was a distinct burning in my chest and I was sure my ticker was  about to explode.                       
       
           



       

Nadine smiled. "Okay, let's walk and talk for five. Didn't you hike the Grand Canyon?"

She mercifully slowed to a fast walk and I followed, getting some relief  to my lungs. Air. Air is good. My legs felt like Jell-O. Damn all of  those nights watching Netflix for six hours straight. When I could  finally speak, I answered her question: "Yes, but walking and running  are like two different species. And I thought I was dying then too." The  Grand Canyon had been tough, but I had gone alone, and no one was there  to push me harder or see me complain. Just the average fellow hiker. It  had been freeing being out there alone, just me and Mother Nature. I  was used to being alone.

Nadine ignored my comment and switched gears. "Okay, so I know you're  dying to know the scoop about everyone," she told me as we ducked under a  low branch.

I wasn't really, but sure. I nodded.

"Sophie and Logan dated for like six months, against Keegan's wishes,  and it totally blew up. They were all wrong for each other and now it's  totally awkward."

Oh, this was the scoop. Yes, I did want to know this. "Wrong how?" I asked, confident now that I had enough oxygen to talk.

Nadine shrugged. "They just didn't mesh. Logan is the strong, silent,  moody type. Kind of a Keegan and Dom mix. Sophie is superficial and high  maintenance. They had nothing in common."