Sophie leaned in closely and whispered into my ear. "Dibs."
I just smiled, secretly glad that her sexual attention was pointed away from Logan.
"Everyone!" Keegan announced. "This is Roxy and Ruben. They are bred from a long line of skyborn protectors and are very excited to be joining the team."
Gear and Cooper rushed in to introduce themselves first, while I hung back with Sophie. "So there are people still training their kids to protect the skyborn, even though there is only one left?" I asked her. I had remembered her saying she was trained to protect since the age of three.
Sophie looked over at me with only mild annoyance, which meant I might be growing on her. "First of all, there's two now. You keep forgetting that. Secondly, yes. My family and dozens of others train their young to protect in the hopes that the remaining skyborn will find them and hire them. The money isn't great. I could make more doing something else, but protecting Logan … and you … it's a great honor."
Wow. That was almost a compliment. "So, if you had kids one day … ?" I let the question hang in the air.
Sophie nodded. "They will learn to protect. Just as I did."
Wow. I imagined there was some secret list out there that Keegan had of shifters who were secret skyborn protectors, and when one died or he needed to add to his pack, he just picked off of his list. Crazy.
"Sloane?" Logan was calling me to the door with his hand outstretched. I stepped forward, taking his hand, and ignored the pulse of heat it caused to creep into my stomach, where my dragon lay resting.
"This is Sloane Murphy, the other skyborn," he told the twins, and I dropped his hand and waved sheepishly.
Ruben and Roxy both bowed. "It's an honor to be a part of this team," Ruben said with a very slight Russian accent.
Roxy looked a bit star-struck. She wasn't your typical beauty like Sophie, but there was something unique in her features, exotic, that gave her a beauty that was rare. "A female dragon … " she breathed, staring at my hair. The hair shock was common; my hair was redder than a tomato, and I added an apple-red shampoo wash that kept it away from the orange and more into the cherry-red variety. But the dragon awe was new and I wasn't sure how to handle it. Luckily, Logan was.
"We are honored to have your service. Sloane is … unique, and we've just had a run-in with some druids looking for her, so we're going to need more help. It's great to have you. Come on in."
He ushered them inside, but I was still hanging on the way he had said "unique"-like it was a disease, like there was something wrong with me. There was. I knew it and I was just waiting for Eva to confirm it.
I shuffled to the table, just as Danny walked through the front door wearing an adorable red plaid scarf and holding a steaming to-go Starbucks cup. "So, this is one of the perks of being let into the inner circle-taco Tuesday," he stated, looking at the table full of food.
Keegan pointed to the bear shifters. "Ruben and Roxy, this is Danny, our pack sorcerer and coffee addict."
Danny's eyes danced at Keegan's mention of coffee addiction. It must be an inside joke between them.
"Hello." Danny waved a hand in their direction and then gave me a wink.
He crossed the room to stand near me. "I know Sophie didn't cook this amazingness up by herself. She's not that talented." He pointed to the table and Sophie stuck her tongue out at him.
I smiled. "I helped."
Danny squeezed my upper arm. "I love that shirt. You're my spirit animal," he whispered, and I just laughed. His quirky unpredictable personality had grown on me.
Danny and I took a seat with everyone and silently started to eat while the others dug in. Sophie had taken it upon herself to sit next to Ruben and shove her cleavage in his face, peppering him with a thousand compliments. Meanwhile, I was quite shocked to hear Dom actually speak when he said about ten words to Roxy, asking her about her favorite model gun. Poor Nadine kept stealing glances at Gear and I eyed her tattooed arms finding a new one each time.
"Hey. You're quiet tonight. You okay?" Logan had sat next to me and was now whispering in my ear, which brought that unique woodsy Logan smell with him.
I shrugged. "Just the run-in with the druids I guess. I'm fine though. I'm actually tired. I wasn't able to nap much earlier with Mittens attacking my head."
Logan smiled. "You know she's your cat now, right?"
God … he's sweet and funny and good looking. How much longer was I going to be able to fight this undeniable attraction I had to him?
I returned his smile. "Can't help it if she loves me more."
Logan's hand reached under the table and squeezed my thigh. As he leaned in close, I felt the heat of his breath on my neck. "Don't worry about the druids. I'm not going to let anything happen to you," he whispered.
I barely registered his words.
Hand on thigh …
My dragon shook herself; I was flushed with adrenaline. His promise. His hand. It was all possessive, but … in an intimate, caring way I couldn't explain. My dragon was slithering around inside of me like a two-year-old hopped up on sugar. It's like she was trying to tell me something but couldn't speak. Yeah, screw what Logan said, I was stuck in heat; I was sure of it. I wonder if I needed to see a veterinarian about that or something.
Logan pulled his hand back and went back to finishing his taco, but it was too late. I was flushed and … well, hot and bothered. I needed some space to think.
I set my spoon down into my empty chili bowl and stood. "I'm tired, everyone. I'm just going to head up to bed early. It was so nice to meet you guys," I told Roxy and Ruben.
Roxy and Ruben nodded. Logan looked at me a little concerned but nodded too. "Goodnight."
As I made my way up the stairs, their chatter started up again, and I was relieved to have some quiet time. The moment I stepped into my room, my butt pocket started to vibrate.
I pulled the phone out hastily, closing the door shut. The only people who had this number were the pack and Eva. Pulling the screen up to my face, I saw that Eva was calling. Finally. Did I want to answer? Did I really want to know what my blood was-what I was? Yes. I had to.
I pressed the green circle and held the phone to my ear. "Hey, Eva."
Her voice was warm and polite but there was an underlying tone I couldn't read. "Hi, honey. Are you alone?"
Oh shit. "Yes. I'm up in my room."
She was silent for a moment and I knew then without a doubt-I was half monster. Then she confirmed it. "Sweetheart, I took your blood to my friend and he confirmed that you are in fact half druid."
Tears pricked my eyes; my throat tightened with emotion. "How?"
Eva sighed. "Well, If I had to guess, I think it was your mother, sweetheart. She was a druid and fell in love with your father, who would have had to have been a dragon. She probably left the druid clan and they magically stripped her of her power, making her essentially human."
I gasped. "They can do that?"
Eva gave a sarcastic chuckle. "They can do almost anything, dear."
Frick. I was in shock. "My dad … a dragon. How?"
"You're twenty-one years old. Twenty-one years ago, there were two dragons alive, Logan and Marcus."
I gasped. "Logan … could be my father?" I couldn't breathe.
Eva rushed her words. "Of course not!"
I exhaled all of my breath in one rush, unable to handle the kind of mental torment that would have held. "Who is Marcus?" Where did I know that name? It hit me then. Logan had mentioned a Marcus. He'd said he was a sucker for redheads … like my mom.
Eva exhaled and I could tell this story hit her personally. "He was Logan's mentor. They had a falling out. Marcus started talking crazy, talking about having sympathy for some of the druids. How not all of them were bad. Things like that. They had a disagreement and Marcus left. Logan looked for him for a few years, but finally only found him when he died. Killed by druids when you were probably a baby."
"Shit." I couldn't take any more; I couldn't breathe and it felt like a five-hundred-pound rock was sitting on my chest. Maybe I was having a heart attack. My mother … my sweet mother, who gardened and dedicated her life to teaching children … a druid. A dragon killer.