Chapter 8

EIGHT

I blinked at him a few times and promptly burst out laughing. For a moment there, I’d actually thought he was being serious.

The dragon just sat there watching me with an annoyed look until my chuckles finally died out.

“And here I believed Kira when she said you don’t have a sense of humor.”

Callum, bless his inflexible little heart, didn’t even crack a smile. “I wasn’t kidding.”

Oh. I sobered up in a hurry. “Then there is something very wrong with either your logic or your sense of hearing,” I told him flatly. “I can’t be your bodyguard. The idea is beyond ridiculous, and no one would ever buy it.”

“Talia would.”

Point to the dragon.

“Raine, you may not believe me yet, but the power you demonstrated was deeply impressive. You’re probably more than capable of holding your own against most of the attendees of this Symposium. And after the events of last night, it should be evident why I might need a bodyguard at an event like this.”

Actually, it did sort of make sense. He could probably deal with any of the other sovereigns single-handedly if they were in a space where he could shift, but while indoors in the middle of a city, he had certain vulnerabilities.

“Okay, maybe—technically—I could do it,” I allowed, before clenching my hands around the edge of the cushion in a white-knuckled grip. “But evidently you missed the part where I won’t .”

The dragon’s expression did not change. “I’m not asking you to take a bullet for me,” he explained coolly. “If that’s what’s worrying you. In fact, any actual violence is highly unlikely. No one wants to start an open war, especially if they’re likely to fail and risk looking weak.”

Which was exactly what had happened to Talia.

“And if you’re concerned someone might stab you in the back, your position as my employee should prevent any of the delegates from making attempts on your life.”

Should? “The answer is still no,” I replied stubbornly.

“Why?” His voice was low, quiet, and oddly intense.

It was a question that he could never learn the answer to. “It doesn’t matter why.” I stood up. “I’m sorry, but if this is what you wanted me for, I’m going to have to decline.”

Callum’s jaw clenched so hard, I thought it might break. His lips thinned as he pressed them together in frustration for a moment before he finally spoke up. “Is it your magic you’re so afraid of? Or is it me? How can I convince you to at least consider this?”

He sounded so certain. So intense. So… desperate.

“Why?” It was my turn to ask the question. “Why do you care so much? Give me one good reason why I should for even one second think about making myself a part of this world. Why should I risk myself for something that has nothing to do with me?”

He shook his head. “You don’t get it. This Symposium has everything to do with you. And every other ordinary Idrian like you. We need laws that will protect our people from others like Elayara. From those who want to use and manipulate the vulnerable for their own benefit. From the powerful who believe they’re above petty things like consequences. There have to be consequences, and if we don’t establish those, who will?”

His argument was surprisingly compelling. Or maybe just surprising, that anyone with power would use it to protect those who had none.

But that didn’t mean I was prepared to risk everything for a dream that was already too late for me.

“I wish I could help you,” I said soberly. “I really do. But…”

But how could I justify benefiting from a power that didn’t belong to me? How could I risk using magic that became harder to suppress each time it was set free? And how could I do so in front of Callum, when each step down this path led us closer to him discovering my secrets?

And yet… what were my choices? We needed a home. Needed safety, stability, regular meals. Where could I go to find those if I walked away now?

My heart felt ripped in half, torn between two impossible options. I had to make my choice. Had to decide which was less likely to destroy me and everyone that I loved. And while my head was urging me out the door, it was my heart that sat me down on that couch again. Picked up my tea and took a sip out of a mug that trembled against my lips.

“Only as recently as last night, you didn’t trust me,” I said, setting down the tea and looking Callum dead in the eye. “You thought I was out to murder your family and destroy your precious Symposium. What changed? How do you know I’m not an undercover saboteur? Waiting until you let your guard down to strike?”

He picked up his own tea, took a sip, and then shrugged. “You’re not.”

My eyes narrowed. For some reason, his bland certainty made me itch to prove him wrong, which was all kinds of messed up. Why would I want the dragon to think I was his enemy? “What makes you think you know me that well?”

He gave me a long look. “Am I wrong?”

I refused to dignify that with an answer. “You’re just guessing.”

Callum went silent for a moment. His amber eyes focused on me to the exclusion of everything else in the room, and for an instant, that focus was terrifying. As if he could see straight through me.

“I don’t know how much you know about dragons,” he said finally. “Your upbringing was clearly more human than not, so it’s understandable if you don’t know much. But I’m a black dragon.”

Kira had mentioned that before. As if it meant something important.

“Nope, no idea why that’s significant.”

“Each color of dragon has a particular gift or inclination. Gold dragons are charismatic leaders, like my mother. Silver are often empaths or seers. My brother is silver, and he’s highly sensitive to others’ emotions. Red dragons are warriors, and black dragons… we’re protectors. Not because we’re trained to be, but because it is at the heart of our very nature.”

He let out a sigh that sounded utterly weary and a bit exasperated. “We often come across as controlling and paranoid, and sometimes, it’s no more than the truth. We have a bone-deep compulsion to protect those under our care, and that compulsion drives a great deal of our personality and career choices.”

Part of me believed him. And a tiny piece of me… actually sympathized.

“I’m sure that makes you a charming big brother,” I murmured, and was rewarded by a grimace. “But what does this have to do with my question?”

“You’re just like me,” he said quietly.

I stared at him, arms folded across my chest, trying desperately to hide all of the things my face might be saying in reaction to that observation.

“What do you mean?” My lips barely managed to mumble the words.

“I know about the kids,” he said. “I know that they’re the real reason you begged Faris for a job.”

“That’s not enough,” I argued fiercely, not even sure why I was arguing. “So I have a couple of kids I’m trying to provide for. How does that make me trustworthy? If anything, it should make me more suspicious, because as you said in the beginning, I’m easier to blackmail.”

The dragon raised an eyebrow and began to look almost amused.

“Are you trying to convince me to suspect you of something?”

I gave a growl of frustration and sat back in my seat, just as something wickedly sharp dug into my bare ankle.

I yelped, jumped to my feet, and looked down to find myself bleeding from a set of four parallel furrows in my skin.

“What in the…”

A tiny orange paw darted out from beneath the couch, claws extended, and took another swipe at my foot.

I froze.

“ That’s how I know,” Callum said calmly. “First of all, someone who’s being blackmailed by threats against the people she loves doesn’t bring them within a stone’s throw of her mark. Too much danger if she’s discovered. Nor does she toss everything aside just to save a helpless kitten. As far as you knew, no one was watching, and no one was coming to save you. You just threw yourself in there without thinking, because you couldn’t stand seeing those kids inflicting pain. It was an idiotic thing to do, but I respect it. Enough that I know you’re someone I want on my team.”

For a moment, I had trouble forming words.

Could this possibly be for real? I had so many reasons not to trust him. So many reasons to walk away. I was just struggling to remember them as I sat here in this comfortable apartment, drinking tea with a gorgeous dragon who rescued kittens and actually seemed to want to help me.

“Okay,” I said, and if my voice was a bit hoarse, can you blame me? “Can I have a little time to think about it?”

He rose to his feet. “That’s fine. Come back here tomorrow and…”

His chin jerked up and turned towards the door. Those amber eyes went hot and molten just before a blast of sound hit me like a physical blow. The floor shook beneath me, and the windows shattered, showering the room with glass.

Callum let out a fierce, feral sound of rage, right before his full weight crashed into me and tackled me to the floor.

For the next ten seconds or so, I couldn’t breathe.

Part of me was convinced the entire building was about to collapse and bury us in tons of rubble.

Another part of me was trying to recover from being flattened by well over two hundred pounds of furious dragon shifter.

He was holding up most of his own weight on his forearms, but I was still feeling like a Raine pancake, right up until the shaking stopped, silence fell, and he pulled back enough for his gaze to land on me.

I instantly felt like prey. Pinned and paralyzed. But no sooner had a jolt of terror lanced through my core than those eyes softened and scanned my face.

“Are you hurt?” His voice was deep and harsh, as if it were coming from a much larger chest than the human one currently looming over me.

“All good,” I wheezed, and tried to sit up, while also trying to pretend that my heart wasn’t pounding and my face wasn’t suddenly flushed with some combination of embarrassment and… Nope, wasn’t going to finish that thought.

As if realizing what he’d done, the shifter king abruptly rolled aside and came to his feet.

“Stay here,” he ordered curtly. “I’m going after whoever thinks they can attack my territory and my people and live.”

So I was supposed to hang out in his penthouse apartment and wait to see if the floors beneath me collapsed? No thanks.

“Oh, so one minute you want me to be your bodyguard and the next you want me to stay here and wait for you like some delicate pampered princess?” I retorted. “Not happening.”

His gaze snapped to mine, fierce and commanding. “Are you saying you’ll take the job?”

“Maybe,” I hedged, still not ready to make that big of a decision. “I don’t know yet. But I’m definitely not going to just sit here and wait for the next attack. Now, are we doing this or not?”

He paused. Searched my face intently. He must have been satisfied with what he found because the pressure of his regard suddenly lifted, and he headed towards the door.

We were out of the apartment and halfway down the hall before I realized Callum still wasn’t wearing any shoes. It took only a few seconds more for it to dawn on me that we weren’t taking the stairs.

“Where are we going?”

He yanked open the narrow door at the far end of the hall, and I saw a second set of stairs—heading up .

There was no time to wonder what was up there, no time to do anything but follow as he took them three at a time, bursting through the door at the top and onto a flat roof overlooking Bricktown.

I raced to the edge and peered over. Lights, cars, pedestrians… All of it seemed so normal. The construction vehicles were gone. Several groups of people were strolling down Sheridan Avenue, but no one was reacting. No one even seemed to have noticed the earthquake, let alone the shattered glass or the explosions that had shaken our entire building.

“I don’t understand.” I turned around to see what Callum would make of the bizarre lack of attention and…

Okay, I’m not proud of it, but I screamed. A little. Very quietly.

Because Callum wasn’t there anymore.

Three feet from my face, a pair of enormous amber eyes burned with fury, while a mouthful of fangs hovered just beneath. Two curving horns stretched back over the looming mountain of black scales behind them, while dark wings flared in readiness.

It was a dragon.

I was facing an actual dragon .

Adrenaline surged, my heart hammered in my chest, and my limbs went weak with the instinctive terror of a prey animal confronting its own inevitable doom.

This was the reality of the man who’d asked me to work for him—an impossibly powerful creature of legend, who may or may not value my life or the lives of those I cared about.

A word escaped my lips that I’d told the kids never to use as the gargantuan beast reared up and reached out with one wickedly clawed forefoot.

I panicked and stumbled backward. Tripped over my own feet and fell, twisting to catch myself on my hands. But I’d been too close to the edge. The roof ended, and my hands grasped at nothing as the sidewalk loomed below…

My descent came to an abrupt halt as a terrified cry ripped from my throat. Something was fastened around my waist—a steady pressure that tightened gradually and pulled me upward. Lifting me into the air, holding me securely.

I turned, scrabbling for a grip on something solid, and found myself staring right into the dragon’s face. I could smell smoke and brimstone, could feel the heat of its breath, and as it brought me closer, I shut my eyes and held my hands out in front of me in a ridiculous and pointless attempt to fend off my approaching doom…

My palms came to rest on something warm and smooth. My feet hit the rooftop, and the grip on my waist disappeared.

I opened my eyes. I was mere inches from those appalling teeth, but the dragon’s mouth was closed, his entire body gone still as I… held his face between my hands.

For what felt like an eternity, we remained frozen in place. I could feel the warmth of his skin, the intensity of his regard, and the immense wellspring of power within that scaled form. But I could also feel him . Callum. His intense need to protect and his stubborn fury towards whoever dared to attack him. Attack his territory and his people…

Suddenly, my knees folded, and I hit the rooftop on my butt.

I’d almost fallen to my death, but the dragon had saved me. And while I was still huddled there in the cold breeze, unable to utter a word, one of those scaled forefeet pointed to the roof with a single claw, while the dragon fixed me with a stern stare as if to say…

Stay here.

Dark wings unfolded from his shoulders as he backed away, then they beat the air, buffeting me with swirling winds as he lifted off from the roof and melted into the darkness.

He wouldn’t be able to fly far, not here in the middle of the city, so I knew he would be back. And in the meantime… I could go back down and look for clues—from solid ground.

Maybe he’d meant for me to stay on the rooftop, but he wasn’t the boss of me yet. And I wanted very much to not be on top of this building in case someone tried to blow it up again.

I darted for the door with speed that would have made even my fae tormentors proud, dashing down the stairs and pausing to catch my breath only once I was midway down the hall.

It was worth remembering that our attackers might still be in the building. Despite the increased traffic of a Saturday night, I’d seen no sign of suspicion or alarm in the streets outside—it was as if they’d seen and heard nothing, so there was probably a sinister reason why.

If I just rushed out of here, I risked running straight into an ambush.

For the smallest instant, I wished I’d been born a true shapeshifter. That I could use my shifted form without thought and without guilt. I would be able to search in silence and sniff out any intruders with ease.

But it wasn’t like I had no other skills. I just had to figure out who or what I was facing…

And that, of course, was when the power went out, leaving me completely in the dark.

If I were in a movie, this was the exact moment when the creepy music would start playing so the audience would know something was about to happen.

I didn’t need music to feel a little creeped out. I could hear sounds from outside through the shattered windows at each end of the hall, but the sixth floor hallway itself was eerily silent. If anyone was up here with me, they were behind one of the doors.

All of them proved to be locked—including Callum’s apartment, so I headed for the stairs. I hadn’t been lying when I told Faris my hearing was excellent—it was the only one of my senses that had improved even in human form. If anyone tried to sneak up behind me, I would know, so I started down the dark stairwell one cautious step at a time, trying not to breathe loudly.

Halfway down the first flight, I missed a step in the darkness and fell forward. My ankle rolled, and I hit the stairs on my shoulder with a pained grunt before sliding the rest of the way down to the landing.

I ended on my back, biting my cheek to keep from crying out from the pain. My ankle throbbed. I’d hit my head on one of the stairs. But I had to move, because I still didn’t know whether anyone was out there in the dark, windowless stairwell.

It didn’t have to be this hard, the insidious voice in my head insisted. Power seethed and crackled just beneath my skin. I could let it go free. The stairwell would no longer be dark, and my enemies would run from me . But what would that make me? Who would I be if I just gave up and accepted it? Accepted what I had become. Would I still be me, or would I be as corrupted as the tormentors I despised?

And how would it change the way everyone looked at me?

You can’t hide from this, Raine.

Stop running.

Magic always breaks free.

Were they right? Was this ultimately a losing battle I fought with myself?

I didn’t know how to calculate the risks. Didn’t know the answers to any of my questions. I only knew that I couldn’t keep lying there in the dark, so I rolled over and rose to my feet, wincing when my weight hit my ankle.

One torturous step at a time, I made my way down those seemingly interminable flights of stairs. Nothing jumped out of the dark, no doors slammed, no footsteps echoed down from above. If there was anyone else in the building, they were still in hiding.

With that comforting thought, I finally reached the foot of the stairs and stuck my head out into the foyer to listen for anything suspicious.

I heard water—like the sound of a shower running—and winced again, this time at the thought of the damages. Probably the sprinkler system had been activated, which meant an absolute mountain of cleanup, just when the remodel appeared to be nearly finished.

Maybe that had been our attacker's goal. Callum and Faris both believed there was a saboteur attempting to put an end to the Symposium. If they destroyed the building—or at least made it unusable for the intended purpose—it might be enough to discourage attendees from coming all this way.

And if that was the case, the saboteurs probably hadn’t stuck around to rejoice in their success.

I straightened and limped out of the shelter of the stairwell, heading as swiftly as possible towards the exit.

But I didn’t get far.

Something darted out of the darkness and clamped around my arm.

An enormous weight hit me from the side, throwing me against the wall.

My ribs creaked. The breath was knocked out of me, and I gasped for air, while scrabbling to throw off the vise that gripped my bicep.

Magic surged up, hot and potent, flooding my limbs, begging to be used. I gritted my teeth against the pressure, felt the heat of it climb up my neck and prickle against my scalp. Every hair seemed charged with electricity, and my eyes… The soft glimmer that sometimes lurked in their depths was probably a raging inferno.

I let out a pissed off snarl and launched myself at whoever tried to cage me.

Whoever it was had human hands, and they were much bigger than me, so they were likely male… And that meant they had certain vulnerabilities, so I went after them with knuckles, elbows and knees.

I heard a deep grunt of surprise, felt soft fabric beneath my fingers, and then I was falling forward to land with a yelp on top of my attacker.

And that, wouldn’t you know, was the exact moment when the power decided to come back on.