Skyborn(19)

"Cool," I said stupidly, trying to ignore the way my dragon purred  inside of me at the admission that Logan and Sophie were all wrong for  each other.

Nadine continued: "So Gear joined the pack about two years ago and I'm  totally in love with him." She swooned, but her face didn't look happy;  it was marred with a frown.

"Two years? Why haven't you guys hooked up?" Two years was a long time to crush on someone.

Nadine slowed to a slug's pace, for which I was grateful. "Too many  reasons. One, I don't think he's that into me. I mean, we kissed once on  New Year's Eve, but he got weird after. Two, Keegan forbids two  shifters in the same pack to date unless they are mates. It messes  everything up, as Logan proved. And three, Gear really loves the pack  and so do I. If we broke up and shit got weird, then one of us would  have to leave, and I know Keegan would boot him before me. I would never  do that to him."

Damn, I thought I had problems.

"How do you know if you're mates?" I had seen enough fantasy novels and  watched enough movies to know what a werewolf mate was, but I didn't  know how it worked in shifter real life.

Nadine sighed. "It's not like you see in movies. There is no magic. At  least not with us shifters. Your mate is just the person you choose to  marry and be with forever. There is a whole magical binding ceremony and  everything, but you can choose who you want it to be."

"So potentially Gear could be your mate," I pondered as we came upon a creek.

That got a slight smile out of Nadine. "I mean, yeah, but we would have to date first."

I frowned. "Sounds like Keegan's rule is messed up. I think you and Gear  would make a cute couple. Your babies would probably come out all  tatted up."

Nadine's laughter rang out into the forest and I smiled. It was nice having a girlfriend I could talk with.

"Now, dragon mates are a whole other thing. They're predestined. When  two skyborn mates find each other, it's supposed to be crazy. Like  fireworks and magnetic attraction and all of that."

My dragon coiled tightly inside of me sending small pulses out through my body.

"Really?" I asked in disbelief.

Nadine nodded. "I heard when dragon mates kiss for the first time  …  it's crazy magic."

I was about to ask her to elaborate when her arm came out quickly and  stopped me. She put one finger to her lips and inhaled deeply. I did the  same, but couldn't decipher all of the smells. Dog, cat, pine needles,  sap, smoke …

"You're trespassing," a gravelly voice came from behind us, and Nadine  spun in a crouched position. I spun too, less coordinated, and my gaze  fell upon two young men, big, tall, and scary looking. One of them was  holding an axe. Like a legit axe murderer.

Nadine relaxed a little when she saw them. "Oh, you're in Sam's pack,  right? My alpha is over there now making things right with him. We just  moved in next door."

One of the guys was blond with a scar over his bottom lip, and the other  had a shaved head. Blondie was eyeing Nadine's body. "I haven't heard  anything about that. Why would your alpha let two unmated females go  traipsing around another shifter's territory? It's almost as if he is  giving you to us."                       
       
           



       

The shaved head guy licked his lips. "Yeah. Like a gift."

My stomach rolled with nausea at the same time fear spiked through me.  My dragon was slithering, agitated inside of me, and I had to bite the  inside of my cheek to keep her from coming out. Nadine must have sensed  it, because she looked at me.

"Don't shift. I got this," she whispered.

I breathed heavily through my nose, trying to calm my dragon.

"Look, boys, neither of you is going to lay on hand on us unless you  want to lose your lives." Her voice was strong, but I saw her hand shake  the slightest bit at her side. "This is no way to greet a new pack."

The men looked at each other and laughed. Finally, the bald-headed guy spoke to his friend. "I get the redhead."

My body flinched, and that's when Nadine grabbed my hand. "Run," she  growled, and took off to the left, pulling me along with her. Shit! I  was already so sore my legs were wobbling as she dragged me along with  her blinding speed.

"GEAR! LOGAN!" she screamed as we tore through the tree-lined property,  and I heard the sound of cracking bones at our back. Oh, God. No …

"Run home!" Nadine shouted to me, and gave me a light shove as she  pivoted on one foot and turned to stand her ground against our  attackers. I turned to look over my shoulder just in time to see a huge  wolf arcing through the air, ready to jump right on me. Nadine was  underneath him and she leapt into the air, wrapping her arms around his  ribcage and slamming him to the ground like a professional wrestler. She  was already halfway through her own shift, holding his snapping jaws  open with her hands as her face formed into a wolf's muzzle and she  bared her teeth.

The other shifter had run up now and was about to pounce on Nadine and  help out his buddy. My eyes bugged as I saw that he was a freaking  mountain lion! Oh hell no. That wasn't a fair fight. I had seen enough  to know Nadine was a badass, but two against one wasn't right, and I  would never leave a friend behind, no matter what the odds were. I  wasn't a "run home" kind of girl. I scanned the ground and leaned down  and picked up a heavy sharp rock. Pulling my hand back to rest on my  shoulder, I pushed and chucked the rock like a shot-put. The mountain  lion was coming full speed at Nadine and the rock connected directly  with his head, knocking him to the ground before he could get to her. A  crimson burst of blood sprouted from just above his eye bone. Yes! I  gave myself an inward cheer. I might not be a runner or know kickboxing,  but I would break a beer bottle over your head no problem. I was  scrappy, something that came with years of living in rough  neighborhoods. My joy was short-lived, as the lion quickly stood. Blood  gushing down his muzzle, he glared at me with yellow eyes.

Oh crap. Nadine was in full wolf form now, snapping at the other wolf on  top of her like a rabid dog. Something weird was happening to my body. I  was pretty sure it was a major panic attack, but I couldn't be certain.  A low buzz was rattling my chest and I panicked that I might shift into  my dragon right here. That would show these two assholes what I was,  and also bring the hunters to us. Be calm. Be calm. You're safe, I told  myself, to no avail. I wasn't safe. I was two seconds from being  beheaded by a mountain lion. Suddenly the lion roared and darted towards  me, and the low buzzing became an electric crackle. I felt like I was  made of electricity. Power was zipping up and down my limbs, looking for  an outlet as I clenched my teeth, trying to hold in whatever this was.

The lion was close now; I was a dead woman if I didn't do something. My  dragon knew it too. As the shifter leapt for me, I raised my hands to  protect my face and shouted, pushing all of that electric energy out of  me. The moment my hands went up, a purple bolt of magic shot out,  striking the lion in the face and dropping him like a sack of bricks. At  the same time, I heard a gunshot, and Gear burst from the trees taking  shots at the wolf that was trying to tear into Nadine.

I looked down at my hands, which still held their fading, purplish glow,  and then my eyes fell to the mountain lion at my feet. He looked dead. I  stumbled backward and spun around when I saw Logan standing there  staring at me with green, slitted eyes.

I still had my hands held out stupidly and they were shaking. "I  …  umm."

Logan snapped out of his trance and took two steps past me, kneeling  down to feel the lion's pulse. "He's alive," he said in a voice that  made me think he wished he were dead.

I spun around and saw that Gear had shot the wolf on top of Nadine and she had crawled out and was shifting to human form.

The wolf was moaning but otherwise looked to be okay.                       
       
           



       

Once human, Nadine spat in his face. "They tried to attack us to do gods know what. I say we burn them alive."

Even now, at the end of Gear's gun, the idiot wolf was eyeing Nadine's  body with lust. Gear growled and the wolf looked from Nadine to Gear and  lowered his eyes. Logan was shaking with uncontrolled rage. He stood  two steps towards the bleeding wolf and leaned down low, getting one  inch from the wolf's bloody teeth. Holy hell, he could bite Logan's face  off if he wanted to. "These women are mine." Logan growled and it was  barely audible underneath the husky anger there. The wolf stared in  Logan's eyes as if trying to assess his dominance, but after a few  seconds he lowered his eyes to Logan's chin.