Chapter 8

Chardum

I waited in the decrepit remains of Zachary’s living room with my ears wide open so I could hear each little sound my mate made above my head. I heard her walk across the master bedroom, heard her toss and turn as she struggled to sleep, and eventually, I heard her breathing even out as she found peace.

My skin itched when I went to the front door and carefully opened it. The door was hanging crooked in its frame, the bottom catching on the floor, but with a little muscle, I twisted it back in place. The air was fresh and smelled good, like fresh soil, and loamy earth, like petrichor and clean water.

The porch had been patched up with planks of uneven thickness, but they held my weight and didn’t creak as I crossed them and leaned my hands on the railing. Even outside, the building was a mess, and the barn had weathered to silvery-gray, with one door hanging off its hinges. Zachary would be horrified if he knew his home looked like this. How could this have happened?

I was starting to believe that I wasn’t the only one trapped by a curse. My friend must have been struck by something too during that last battle. It was the only explanation, and it made worry churn deep in my gut.

With more urgency than ever, I shucked the damn little towel and leaped from the porch and into the muddy front yard. As soon as I’d created enough space between myself and the buildings, I shifted. The change shivered through me painfully, like a muscle stretching that hadn’t been used in ages. Golden light briefly bathed everything around me, and then I was lying belly down in the muck, my scales repelling the slight drizzle of rain and the mud beneath me.

Spreading out my wings, my body was starting to feel better, aches and pains smoothing away as I stretched. Swinging my long, barbed tail behind me, I stretched like a cat and clawed the dirt with my front paws. Much better.

I was eager to fling myself into the clouds, to circle the territory and check each nook and cranny. Before I did that, I couldn’t resist swiveling my head on my long neck toward the master bedroom window to peer inside. There were no curtains, so I had an unimpeded view of her sprawled-out body on the bed, dressed only in panties and a shirt, no blanket to cover her skin.

Flicking out my long, serpentine tongue, I tasted the air and rumbled in discontent when I could not draw her scent to me through the closed panel. It seemed that at least some of Zachary’s protections on the building were still in place.

Launching myself with my hind paws, I was airborne with just a few beats of my wings. Soaring through the skies for the first time in twenty-six very long years. My dragon instincts ruled me for long minutes as I soared and spun, and then I caught the scent of deer in the woods behind the farmhouse. They did not expect a threat from above when I silently dove upon the herd. With my claws full of fresh food, I spent several even longer minutes devouring what I could, replenishing my reserves and finally fully healing my body.

Then it was time for business, and I winged my way to the spot it was all about, the secret that Zachary and I had been tasked with protecting. I inhaled deeply when I landed in the small clearing, filtering through the data rapidly and hissing when I discovered the scents of a vampire and a werewolf. The townspeople knew not to come here, so who were these trespassers? They did not smell the same as the ones Zachary and I had defeated twenty-six years ago.

I leaped for the sky to wing toward the town for further inspection. In the dark, with many clouds obscuring the stars and the moon, I knew nobody would see me, and I kept my flight low enough so as not to trip any radars. But I made a mental note to ask my Rosy about the air protocols nowadays. I had been out of the loop her entire life; it was possible technology had advanced even more.

The town was shockingly the same as I remembered, just more dusty and empty than I remembered. There was no sign of the luscious flowers and plants that had made the place quaint and idyllic. Half the shops were closed and boarded up, and the town hall’s once-white exterior was now a grimy brown. When I inhaled deeply and searched for familiar scents, I felt a pang of grief for each person I could not locate.

Then Grandma Lizzie stepped onto the back porch of her small cottage and raised her nose into the sky. As a werewolf, she’d run this town as the mayor and the leader of the small pack that resided here for a long time. Though Zachary and I had been here even longer and at first we’d had to adapt hard to a pack of werewolves settling so close to the secrets we protected.

She raised a hand over her eyes, squinting at the clouds above her like she sensed I was there. I wasn’t ready to land and shift, my dragon still riding me hard to remain the conqueror of the skies. But I lowered my altitude for a pass over her home, close enough that her porch light could catch on my golden scales. Close enough that I could make out the intensely relieved expression that spread over her face. Then she waved wildly with her arms, beaming at me, and eagerly jumping up and down.

I was feeling much better when I beat my wings to climb for the return flight to the farmhouse and my mate. Only small niggles of worry tickling the back of my brain. Who was that vampire? And was the werewolf I smelled one of Lizzie’s? I needed to get Rosy ready for her sacred duty quickly; we couldn’t afford to be caught unprepared.

First, I had to take care of some other tasks.