Skyborn(39)

"Don't. Move." My eyes flicked up to see Isaac watching me cautiously  with those golden eyes. I froze, looking down again to see my magic had  encased Logan. His own green magic was leaking out and merging with mine  to make the most beautiful oceanic teal color I had ever seen. Hope  burst inside of my chest.                       
       
           



       

"Can I save him?" I asked Isaac. I didn't know if he would know the answer, but I had to speak it out loud to someone.

Eva's voice called out from behind me. "They're mates," she told Isaac.

I could see now that the entire pack was assembling around us. Nadine  looked injured but alive, Gear still in his bird form and clutched to  her chest. I continued to brace myself awkwardly over Logan as the  purple and green magic danced and pulsed between us. Isaac bent down low  and took a whiff of Logan's hair. Okay. Weirdo. Then he stood.

Isaac addressed the pack: "His soul still remains. You know what they say about dragon mates, don't you?"

I heard Sophie reply, and was grateful she wasn't dead: "They're bound to each other. If one dies, they both die."

Isaac gave her a once over and shook his head. "Wrong. The legend says  that in order to kill a dragon mated pair, you must kill both. For as  long as one lives, the other will survive."

Just then, Logan took in a huge gasping breath and I burst into shocked  tears. The purple haze was thinning out now, and Logan's shoulder seemed  to have stopped bleeding.

"You're alive," I told him, smiling as the pain and numbness that had once claimed my body faded away.

He looked up, and Isaac peered down directly on top of him. "Welcome back."

Logan frowned, confused. "Who are you?"

Keegan swam into view just as I sat up fully. When I registered the limp  red fox in his arms a strangled sob left my throat. Keegan was limping,  holding Cooper's fox in his arms. The red fur was nearly all black with  ash and soot. Like he'd been burned.

"Coop!" Sophie screamed throwing herself forward and crashing onto her knees.

Logan's eyes were pinned on Keegan's, his breathing coming in and out  rapidly. Keegan simply shook his head as Danny walked up behind him.

"I couldn't save him." Danny said resigned.

Sophie was sobbing into the ground, pounding on the grass and Keegan's  jaw was clenched so hard I thought his teeth would snap in half.

Oh my God. Cooper was dead. The gentle giant with the twelve-inch beard …  was gone.

The way his little fox form lay so limply in Keegan's arms, the alpha's fingers clenched in his fur. It tore me in two.

"Those druids will be back." Was all Keegan said.

Logan groaned as he sat up fully, never taking his eyes from Keegan's.

"Coop." Logan finally said ignoring Keegan's warning and tears sprung from my eyes at the misery in his tone. It was a goodbye.

"Alright. Everyone on the bus!" Isaac broke apart our mourning and  pointed to the yellow school bus in the parking lot. That was his bus?  Keegan looked at Eva, who nodded.

"This is my friend I told you about. He has land where we can go to heal and recover," Eva told them.

How the hell did Eva know so much about this man? Who in the hell was  this man? I didn't care right now. I only cared that Logan was alive and  that Cooper was dead. I couldn't process it yet, that we had lost one  of ours. Keegan started barking orders for everyone to get on the bus,  and handed Coopers lifeless fox off to a grieving Sophie who took him to  the bus. Then Keegan pulled the trusty tweezers out of his pocket and  waved it before Logan. Logan sighed, and I helped him stand fully as he  thrust out his hand to Keegan; black scales formed on his arms while the  rest of him stayed human. Keegan plucked three scales and handed one to  Eva. "Gear first," he told her, and she nodded, running off to find  Nadine and the injured falcon.

I looked around, surveying the carnage. Blood, dead bodies, and scorch marks littered the ground.

"I'm gonna get Mittens from the limo. I'll meet you on the bus," Logan  told me in a scratchy voice, emotions still raw from the loss of Cooper.  He reached down to place a soft kiss on my lips, holding my gaze.

‘You saved my life with that weird purple magic,' he mused.

I gave a sad smile. ‘Guess you can't call it weird anymore.'

‘It's purple. It will always be weird,' he replied, and I relished  having him so close, breathing in his scent. It was like a balm to my  saddened soul.

"Are you sure about Mittens? I can get her." I didn't want him overextending himself.

He nodded. "I'm fine." Then he walked off, and that left me and this  weird druid, alone. Isaac was just standing there waiting for me to  acknowledge him. I turned to look at him and he nodded.

"You're a dream walker. I know most dragons have the capability, but I saw you. You visited me in my meditation."

My face went red, because that sounded all kinds of weird. "Yeah. Sorry."                       
       
           



       

He shrugged. "I'm sure you can't control it. Just like you couldn't  control that purple blast of magic that made me feel like I'd been  kicked in the balls."

My eyes went wide as I winced. "Ouch, really?" Oopsie.

He grabbed his junk and nodded. "It was very effective, but I need to  teach you to control it better. Hone it. Give it a purpose. Harness your  druid power."

I swallowed hard. "No offense, but I don't really want to learn the ways  of the druid. I'm a skyborn and that's enough for now." I'd had enough  weirdness to last me a lifetime and I hadn't even begun my training with  Logan yet.

Isaac nodded. "Understandable. But you will. I'm not like those  monsters. I don't use dragon magic to gain power. I borrow from Mother  Earth, and so will you."

The way he was speaking, with such finality, it was annoying and scary. "Oh yeah? Why's that?"

He grinned, his straight white teeth and dimpled cheeks making him look  ten years younger. "Because I've been waiting a century for one of your  kind. Together we can kill Ardan and take out the druid line forever."

My pulse skyrocketed. "How?" To be honest, that's all I had wanted to do  since I heard of these crazy monsters, but Ardan seemed way too  powerful for only two druids to take on. Hell, he'd just commanded red  lightening from the sky and could disappear and reappear at will!

Isaac stepped closer and pulled his sleeve up to show me an intricate  tattoo on his upper arm. "Because our powers are bound now. I am a  master druid, and you are now my apprentice."

Druid say what? I stared at the tattoo, confused, until he tapped my  shoulder. Looking down over my left shoulder, Eva's coat had slipped  down leaving a bit of the flesh there exposed. I gasped at what I saw.  An intricate Celtic tattoo covered my entire left shoulder cap. The ink  was slightly green and it looked like it had been there forever.

"The hell is that?" I shrieked, trying to wipe it off; the marks looked identical to his.

Isaac smiled. "Initiation marks. The Earth has chosen you, as it chose me. Together we will end this war."

Oh shit.

"But  … I … " I didn't know what to say. I didn't want it. I didn't choose  it. But it was there, right on my shoulder. Did I want to deny something  that could bring an end to Ardan? An end to having to live on the run  and fighting for our lives all the time? I couldn't do that. I couldn't  deny Logan and I the freedom we so desperately deserved. This man was  powerful. He'd held his own with Ardan. Maybe if we teamed up, we could  take him out.

"Teach me," I said, and Isaac grinned.

He nodded. "Together we will make the Earth safe for all skyborn, and in turn all of the humans they are bound to."

My brow furrowed. "You mean just Logan and I?" The way he said all the skyborn sounded weird.

Isaac stepped closer, bringing a scent of earth and tree sap, and  lowered his voice. "No, I mean all of the skyborn. There are dozens in  hiding all over the world. The Earth shelters them from being found, but  not for long."

My stomach dropped, my body went numb as shock ripped through me. We weren't alone.



Wondering what will happen to Sloane and the crew next? Read on with  Earthbound: Dragons and Druids book 2. http://smarturl.it/EarthBoundBook

Also, if you haven't read Logan's prequel, you can do so here for free. http://smarturl.it/LoganBook





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Acknowledgments





A big thank you to my beta-readers for telling me if it was crappy or  not. Shout out to my bestie Jaymin Eve just because. Huge thanks to my  editor, Lee with Ocean's Edge Editing, for making it shine and finding  my many, many typos. As always, I am thankful for my readers and release  team for being so enthusiastic about this book and loving Sloane and  Logan as much as I do. Thank you to Tiffany Pipkin for helping me pick  Sloane's name. Most of all, thank you to EVERYONE who bought this book  or shared the link so that we could fundraise an orphanage in India  together. This is something that will change the lives of 12 children  and I am so grateful for your support in that. Lastly, thank you to my  husband and children for dealing with my starry-eyed look when my head  was lost in this story and dinner was burning. I love you guys.