Skyborn(20)

"I will honor pack politics this one time. But next time you step foot  on our land or so much as sniff our women  …  you're dead," Logan  breathed, and the wolf just stared at his chin.

I hadn't noticed it before, but the lion shifter I had knocked out was  in human form now. He must have shifted while Logan was talking to his  friend. "What the hell is she?" he said from his crouched position on  the ground and pointed to me, staring at me like I had sprouted two  heads. It was Blondie.

Gear popped off a shot and it sank into the man's shoulder, sending him  into screaming agony. "Don't look at her," Gear growled, and I flinched  at the gun's loud report.

Logan stood, towering over both of them. "This is our territory. Go back to yours and stay there!"

Blondie glared at Logan, but finally stood and started to walk away,  back into the forest the way he came, holding the bleeding wound in his  shoulder. The injured wolf that Nadine had fought limped after him,  bringing a trail of blood with him. They were gone and I let out the  breath I had been holding. Gear pulled off his shirt and handed it to  Nadine, who tossed it over her naked body as she whispered her thanks.

Gear looked at Logan. "Did you see it?"

Logan nodded.

Gear raised an eyebrow and I noticed that even in all the scuffle his green Mohawk stood tall and uncrumpled. "It was  …  purple."

My nerves tightened to knots in my stomach. They were talking about me, about what I did. Whatever it was...

"What does it mean?" Nadine asked, and I continued to stand there stupidly, wondering what was wrong with me.

Logan sighed, scratching the back of his neck. "I don't know. But I don't like it."

Footsteps crunched behind me and I saw Keegan run up with Sophie and  Dom. Keegan took in Nadine's half naked body and the blood on the  ground. "Jesus. I barely get into a truce with the alpha next door and  you're trying to kill two of his shifters? What happened?"

Nadine put one hand on her hip. "They were taunting us like they were going to … "

It was an ugly and scary word but it needed to be said.

"Rape us," I finished, and Keegan's eyes glowed yellow as a growl tore  from his throat. Dom pulled two guns out from inside of his hoodie and  held them at his sides. His chiseled face looking murderous.

I don't think Logan knew what the men's intentions with us were, because  upon hearing me say that, his fists clenched. "I'll kill them," Logan  said between labored breaths. Sophie's face fell in compassion; she  pulled her coat off and walked to put it around Nadine.

Keegan spoke up from beside me. I didn't even notice he had moved closer  to me. "We need to stay here for a few weeks at least, so Logan can  train Sloane. We can't go on the road with her in this state. Until  then, we need to play nice with the neighbors  …  unless they provoke any  of us again."

Dom sneered. "And if they do?" he asked, and I was finally given an  unobstructed view of his face sans hoodie. He was good looking, but the  fine scars and hard-set eyes told me he had lived a hard life.

Keegan peeled back his lips, showing all of his teeth. "Then we kill them."

Logan was pacing the forest, hands clenched. I could sense he was trying to keep his dragon from rushing to the surface.

"You okay, bud?" Keegan crooned in a calm voice as if he was approaching  a rabid dog. Maybe he was. Logan looked positively ready to attack.

Logan spoke through gritted teeth. "I thought they were just having a territory dispute, not that they were going to … "

Ahh yes. That word again. Rape. No one wanted to say it. It was that  awful. A total violation of your body. I had a friend in college,  Tamara, who was raped at a frat party. She came to me crying the next  day and told me. She was trying to reason it out; she was wearing  revealing clothing and had drunk a lot. I had to be her voice of reason.  Did he obtain consent? She shook her head and had burst into sobs,  telling me she tried to push him off and said no three times. I knew it  would be hard but she needed to fight it. In the end, it got a ton of  bad publicity for the school and the boy was expelled but never served  jail time because she willingly went into the room with him. What kind  of bullshit is that? Some old male judge sits on his throne and decides  that because a pretty girl in a short dress goes into a room with a guy  at a frat party, that guy is owed sex? It was awful, and I was there  every step of the way with Tamara. She was now going to law school while  working at a nonprofit as an advocate for young girls who had  experienced that same thing.                       
       
           



       

"Nothing happened … " I tried to soothe Logan's fears, because I knew what  it felt like to have all of that pent-up rage for a friend. I'd had it  for Tamara. The moment she told me about the incident, I'd asked her if  she wanted me to help her hide the body. I also knew how hard it was to  control the dragon, and if Logan shifted it would tip off the hunters.

He stopped pacing and faced me. "But it could have." His eyes were a searing green, as if they had been ignited with fire.

Nadine spoke in a light-hearted tone. "No way. We totally had them. Me  with my jujitsu and Sloane with her purple whatever that was."

Everyone looked at me as she addressed the elephant in the room.

"Purple what?" Keegan asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know what happened. One second my body felt like it  was vibrating with electricity and the next there was a mountain lion  jumping at my face. I  …  threw purple magic at him, I guess, and he  collapsed."

"Purple?" Keegan and Sophie both said at the same time. Dom just stared at me behind thick eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, purple. What's the big deal?"

Logan exhaled loudly and crossed the distance between us. He pointed to  Keegan. "Shifters have no magic, beyond that of shifting, extreme  strength, and other traits of a shifter  …  but no magic. Dragons have  green magic." He pointed to himself. "Eva, and the other sorcerers  powerful enough to produce magic, have yellow magic. And lastly, druids  have red magic."

"Oh." Shit. What was wrong with me? I had some freaky purple magic. No wonder they were all staring at me.

"So  …  what does purple magic mean?" I asked, trying not to sound afraid. Tried and failed.

"Different colored magic can mean … " He lowered his voice to barely above a whisper. "That you're a hybrid."

I had conveniently blocked out what Eva had said in her office. About my  mother not being a dragon, that maybe she was some other type of  magical creature. But it all hit me now. Confirmation. My legs went weak  and I involuntarily fell backward. Logan rushed forward and caught me  just as I passed out.





8





I AWOKE IN the bed of my unicorn room and heard muffled voices just  outside of my door. I rolled over and could see that it was popped open a  few inches.

"No, no, human DNA is too weak to carry a dragon child. They always miscarry," Logan whispered.

"Well, then, what is she? Hybrids are rare, right?" Keegan whispered back.

"Very," Logan spoke. "So much so that I've only ever heard of a handful.  I know that shifters and skyborn species cannot bear young, so she  can't be part shifter. She might be part sorcerer though."

Keegan gave a low whistle. "This is crazy. Girl lives her whole life  spelled to think she's human, and now this. If people found out there  was another dragon. A hybrid dragon at that … "

Logan's voice turned sharp, deadly. "No one will find her."

Keegan suddenly moved in front of the doorway. I could see his back  through the crack. "Her heart rate has elevated. She's awake."

Logan sighed. "Alright. I'll go talk to her. You need to hire two new shifters. You're right, six isn't enough."

Keegan must have been grinning; I could hear it in his voice. "You don't  tell me I'm right often enough, my friend. I like the sound of it. I'll  get right on it. Not sure there are two more shifters in the world I  trust, but I know a friend who has a pack of old-school shifters that  were raised to protect like Sophie and I were. I trust him, and they  will take the oath of protection same as I did."

It sounded like this oath of protection was something you couldn't go back on without serious consequences.

"Thank you," Logan told him, and Keegan moved to leave. "One more thing  …   I think we need a pack sorcerer, and Danny is powerful and I trust him  …   Eva's too busy with the bar." I could feel the tension in the air from  my place on the bed ten feet away.

"You want me to hire my ex-boyfriend? The one I broke up with to keep  your secret?" Keegan's voice could cut glass and it gave me chills.  There was so much hurt there.