Alpha Protector Dragon (Shifters of the Aegis) Read online

  “Bet it’s got something to do with his guest,” Ghost whispered. “Dragon flew in about a half-hour ago. One of the Snow Flight.”

  “Flight of the Snows,” Lily corrected her. They were a prickly bunch, stuffed from their horns to the tips of their tails with pride, protocol, and etiquette. Insult one and they’d sulk for centuries. Any normal Shifter would die long before that grudge did!

  On second thought, maybe it wasn’t so smart to make people sit around twiddling their thumbs. “Thanks for the heads up. I better get moving.”

  And maybe she ought to clean up a bit. She tossed her helmet down by Ghost’s wheelchair and ran her fingers through her brown hair. Short curls crushed flat by the helmet’s weight fluffed under her touch, surrounding her delicate, fine-boned face. A few swats dusted the worst of the grime off her riding leathers. “How do I look?”

  “Like you’ve been dragged behind a car for a couple of miles,” Ghost informed her.

  “Bite me.”

  With a laugh, Ghost snapped at her. Lily flipped her friend the bird and hustled over to her father’s trailer.

  Air conditioning was for wimps, not Wolves, and so the trailer’s innards burned like a furnace in the midday sun. The cheap curtains drawn tight over the windows didn’t do anything to cool the place. They just made the furnace dark and gloomy.

  As she adjusted to the shade, Aaron King spoke from somewhere in the shadows. “Lily. How nice of you to finally join us.”

  “I’m a Wolf, not a dog. If you wanted me to ‘Heel!’, ‘Sit!’, or ‘Stay!’ you should have trained me better.”

  Objects emerged from the darkness. Her father’s couch, desk, and table (significantly cleaner than normal). King himself, glaring, hands on his hips, his long salt and pepper hair pulled back in a neat pony tail. Hell, he’d even waxed his mustache.

  Wow. Lily snorted. Things must be serious.

  The last figure to emerge from the gloom took her breath away.

  He sat in the corner, as still as an adder. Shirt and shoes as black as midnight, covered by a black suit despite the heat. Hair like a raven’s wings swept away from a narrow face. High cheek bones, full lips, a firm, pointed chin… his was the face of aristocracy. The fine-boned elegance that came from centuries of royal breeding. From his piercing gaze to the quiet, understated power of his lithe body, he radiated a simmering, fierce masculine aura. The edge of a tattoo peeked out beneath his cuffs. A hint that something wilder, more primal, lurked beneath his refinement.

  Hot as hell – if you were into ominous and possibly malevolent Bad Boys.

  Which Lily was.

  Shimmering at the edge of her vision, she saw it.

  His Dragon.

  Shifters often saw the outlines of other Shifters’ spirt animals. It was like having a second pair of eyes, one that saw the spirit lands and not the mundane world of men. Those ‘eyes’ opened now to reveal a towering creature, far larger than the shabby trailer. A Dragon crouched beside the stranger, fierce and proud. Like him, it was a creature of midnight. Black scales glittered. Long and slender, its serpentine body coiled tight. On its head it bore the pair of slender, backward-curving horns that marked it as a Dragon of the Flight of the Snows.

  “I remember you,” she told him. “You were at the meeting Rex Fairburn called. I don’t remember your name though.”

  Her dad supplied that missing information. “This is Casey Briggs, a representative of the Flight of the Snows. Mr. Briggs, this is my daughter Lily.”

  He rose in one fluid, graceful motion and bowed his head in a formal greeting. “I bless the sun that shines upon our meeting, Ms. King, and pray that Brother Wind brings fortune to us both. The Sand Pack has been an ally of my Flight. May the day’s journey tie our Kinds closer together.”

  Because ‘Hi, nice to meet you’ just isn’t good enough for the Stick-Up-the-Butt Flight…

  Her own spirit, a shaggy brown Wolf, pranced with excitement.

  Play! it urged her. Nip! Bite! Tease!

  No. Insult = century-long grudge, remember?

  Her Wolf didn’t see the problem with that.

  But Lily did, and she held her tongue. “What’s the occasion?”

  “Not ‘what.’ Who.” Her father waved at the couch. “Please, have a seat.”

  Suspicious, she flopped down on the end farthest away from their visitor. More carefully, the Dragon settled back into his chair. “This about those Fangs of Apophis that have Fairburn so wound up?”

  “In a way, yes.” Ignoring her, her father turned his chair toward Casey and leaned forward, grim and intent. “In the last six weeks, my daughter has been assaulted four times.”

  The hackles on her Wolf’s neck rose and all thoughts of play evaporated. “What’s that got to do with anything?” Lily muttered.

  “You think the Fangs are responsible for this?” said the Dragon.

  Like anyone here was stupid enough to miss that hint! “So what? If they come for me, it saves me the trouble of hunting them down.”

  She might as well have been talking to herself because both men ignored her. “I do, Mr. Briggs. The attacks are becoming more lethal too.”

  “Lethal my ass!” Lily howled. “A couple of cracked ribs never killed anyone!”

  “Last Wednesday, a truck pulled up beside her at an intersection and opened fire.”

  Before driving off, too fast for her to follow. That attack was annoying, she had to admit. SOBs had ‘killed’ her favorite bike.

  The Dragon leaned forward too, hands steepled together. “Why would the Fangs – if they exist – want your daughter dead?”

  “I have no idea,” her father sighed. “We helped Fairburn destroy one of their safe houses. My first thought was that they wanted to punish me.”

  Because, of course, everything was always about him, not her. Lily considered drawing the .357 hidden under her jacket. Maybe if she put a few slugs through the trailer’s roof the two men would remember she was here.

  “Yet they haven’t struck at Fairburn, so I can’t believe that’s their true goal. It’s a mystery.”

  Lily glowered at the two, arms folded across her chest. Furious that they discussed her like she wasn’t even in the room.

  No one noticed. “You have a conundrum on your hands,” Casey admitted, leaning forward. “Why share it with me, though?”

  “Because of this.”

  From his pocket, her father drew a large golden coin. Thick and heavy, it oozed antiquity, like a Spanish doubloon. Strange letters had been clawed onto its surface, more like gouges than words.

  A tremor rocked the Dragon. He rose, blood draining from his face. “Aaron King, son of Davis, son of Lawrence, son of Justice King, I stand before you.”

  What the hell? Lily edged away from the raving lunatic. Why was he rattling off her dad’s family tree?

  Her father held that coin up like a talisman and the Dragon continued his dazed speech. “I, Casey Briggs, Brother of the Flight of the Snows, thank you for the gift you gave the Marakeen. I will assume the debt and repay it, though it cost me my life’s blood.”

  None of this made sense. Not the Coin of Dragon-Buying. Not the weird, formal speech. Heck, not even the words! What was a ‘Marakeen’, anyway?

  Whatever it meant, that promise seemed to reassure her dad. “Thank you for honoring your Flight’s debt.” He placed the coin down gently on the coffee table.

  Casey picked it up and held it, reverently, in his hands. “What would you have of us? Name this thing and I shall provide it, if it is within my power.”

  “I want you to protect my daughter.”

  Outrage coursed through her. Her Wolf scrambled to its feet, hackles rising.

  But this was a ‘guy thing’, an agreement between the ‘boys’… and no one so much as glanced her way. That insufferable Dragon simply bowed his head and rumbled, “I will guard your daughter, for all my life if need be, until the day you deem this threat vanquished.”

  “Like he
ll you will!” Lily barked.

  Now they looked at her. Snow Snake seemed surprised by her fury – but her dad wasn’t the least bit surprised.

  “I don’t need a babysitter, or a bodyguard, or whatever the hell you want to call this idiot.”

  “Lily!” Her father jerked his head at the scowling Dragon. “Remember your manners!”

  Oh, hell no she wouldn’t! Screw the Flight of the Snows and the threat of century-long pout-fests. “No. Veto. End of discussion. You don’t get to assign me a protector like I’m five years old.”

  The insults were taking their toll on Casey’s patience. His lips pinched and, in the shadows, his Dragon lashed its tail like a furious cat. “Aaron King is not only you father, he is your Alpha. You owe him obedience.”

  That was it. That was the last straw. Her Wolf exploded in sharp, furious barks as Lily rounded on him. “I’m an Alpha too and I do not obey anyone!”

  “You’re… an Alpha?” He blinked at her father. “Is your daughter from another Pack?”

  “No!” Lily howled. “I am one of the Alphas of the Sand Pack! This Pack.”

  “‘One’ of the Alphas?” Like an affronted lord, the Dragon sneered at her. “What a foolish thing to say! There can only be one Alpha.”

  Three steps, and she was right in his face. Casey backed up but hit the chair and nearly toppled over. Teeth bared in a snarl, eyes blazing, she stared him down. Letting him know that – Dragon or no – she wasn’t afraid of him.

  “You don’t know anything about Wolves! Our Packs have two Alphas. One for the women, one for the men. Normally, they’re Mates, and they’re equals. Maybe Dragons beat each other up until there’s only one left standing, but we’re Wolves. We work together. We’re a Pack. And a Pack has two Alphas.”

  “A fact my father,” she spat, “forgets.”

  “I haven’t forgotten you’re my daughter,” he rumbled, anger simmering behind his words.

  Lily rounded on him, abandoning the Dragon. “Well, you should! I am an Alpha – your equal! But you can’t see that. No, to you I’ll always be a ‘daughter’. A little girl. Your ‘princess.’”

  “I never spoiled you!”

  “You’ve never respected me either! You would never pull this on my mother!”

  “YOUR MOTHER IS DEAD!” he roared, pushed to the breaking point by her rebellion. “And I will not lose you!”

  Silence fell as the two Wolves glared at each other. Even the music outside had been turned off. The whole Pack listened, nervous, as their Alphas fought.

  Lily was the first to turn away – but not in submission. “You lose a little bit of me every time you dishonor me. Today, you’ve lost a lot.”

  “Lily…”

  Elbowing her way past him, she stormed out the door. Staring Wolves startled and quickly tried to hide the fact that they’d been eavesdropping.

  Lily ignored them. She stalked to her motorcycle and snatched up her helmet.

  Her father, it seemed, was content to let her go.

  Her new bodyguard, however, was a different matter. He banged out of the trailer behind her and stomped over. “Ms. King, we need to talk.”

  “No, we don’t. You need to get lost. Fly back to your Lair in the Sierra Nevadas and sit on a pile of gold… or whatever it is Dragons do for fun.”

  In his spotless black suit and leather shoes, he was out of place in the shabby trailer park. Like a movie star wandering through a flea market. Yet he held onto the conversation with a tenacity that would impress any Wolf.

  Or dog.

  “My Flight owes your father a Blood Debt. Repaying it is the highest honor any Dragon could receive.”

  “How nice for you,” she sneered, as she swung her leg over her Harley. “Too bad your ‘honor’ dishonors me.”

  “You mustn’t think of it that way. I’m a Dragon, the strongest of Shifter Kinds. You are… well, just a Wolf.”

  Just a Wolf? ‘Just’? Rage tinted the world red as the Harley came to life beneath her. “Oh, hey, that’s a great argument. ‘I’m not dishonoring you, you just suck!’”

  “That isn’t what I meant!”

  “Well, it’s what you said!” Damn, the sooner she escaped this pompous fool the better!

  He suddenly seemed to notice the rumbling motorcycle. “Where are you going?”

  “Away. I’ve got errands to run.”

  “Where?”

  “None of your business.” Ooh, it felt good to say that!

  “Ms. King,” he huffed, drawing himself up in indignation, “I am your bodyguard. I cannot guard you properly unless you tell me where you’re going.”

  “Sucks to be you, then,” she purred.

  That felt even better. As did throwing the Harley in gear and leaving him standing in a cloud of dust.

  Chapter 3.

  This damned Wolf Princess was not making life easy!

  Did she truly think that flight would make him abandon his duty! No, this was the greatest honor of his life. He summoned his Dragon, letting its power wash over him. Around him, the Wolves of the Sand Pack gaped, wide-eyed, as he Shifted. His body stretched into a sinuous, glittering serpent. Black wings like curtains of night burst from his shoulders. Gleaming ivory horns curled from his brow, the one bit of light in his Dragon’s somber hues. With not a single glance at his bedazzled spectators, Casey launched himself into the air. Returning to the element that Dragons ruled.

  It didn’t take him long to catch up to Lily. No creature on Earth moved as swiftly as his Kind! And, oddly, the Wolf dawdled her way north on back roads, clearly in no hurry to finish her errands.

  When she spotted him, she pulled off the side of the road and gazed upward. Casey hovered over her, patient. No doubt, she intended to rail at him. To try to drive him off with insults or pleas. Well, she would find him implacable. Her words would fall on deaf ears.

  In fact, no words came. Scowling, Lily studied him. Then she grinned. A big, Wolfish grin. The smile of a playful imp with a nasty idea of fun.

  Hopping back on her bike, she drove north. Faster this time. Casey had to push himself to keep up. Her plan quickly became clear: she made a beeline for the town of Cortez. A place full of mortals – who would panic the moment they saw him, a ‘monster’ out of legends. Among the Shifting Kinds, Bears and Wolves had it easy. A human who saw them Shifted was frightened, nothing more. But Shift in from of them – or Shift into something ‘impossible’ like a Dragon or a dog-sized Rat – and all hell broke loose. People panicked, screamed, fled. Their minds, so used to a ‘normal’, sensible world, buckled. They hallucinated, desperately trying to force the world to ‘make sense’ again.

  If he flew into a large town, no telling how much harm he’d do.

  Or, rather, how much damage another Dragon would do. If one of the ‘First’ Flight trailed her, then yes, Lily could dump them by sticking to populated areas. But the Flight of the Snows had not forgotten themselves. They remembered that Dragons were meant to be the Princes of the Air.

  Softly, with deep, rumbling words, he called out to Brother Wind.

  Brother, hear me! Heed the plea of the one you hold aloft. Wrap me in the fringes of your cloak. Hide me from the eyes of enemies and foolish ones.

  Around him, motes of light danced through the air. He still saw perfectly, yet the next time Lily glanced up, she smiled in triumph at the ‘empty’ sky above her.

  Casey smiled too, with a mouth full of fangs.

  Two can play games, Princess!

  At the edge of Cortez, she pulled up to a ratty food cart and ordered a burger and fries. As she devoured the greasy fare, he circled overhead. Riding the thermals like a giant hawk. Despite everything, he found himself admiring her. The delicate beauty of her sharp, elfin face. The sleek lines of her long legs and taut bottom, covered by a form-fitting leather that left nothing to the imagination.

  Natural though they were, such thoughts disturbed him.

  This is my ward, the woman I am sworn to guard. Sh
e is the daughter of an ally of the Flight. To lust after her is wrong. It is Incorrect Behavior, which angers the spirits of the land. I can no more touch her than I could touch my cousin.

  If he had a cousin. Which he didn’t. Mates had vanished when the magic of the Wellsprings drained out of this world. When that happened, most Dragons threw themselves into hook-ups and doomed marriages, unions where the wife was destined to age and die as her husband, eternally young, watched on in misery.

  Not his Flight. Miles Kennedy, his Alpha, forbade false unions. When natural, masculine needs grew too great to bear, he and his brothers could seek release with prostitutes or women who would not mind if their lovers vanished in the morning, never to be seen again. But love? Marriage? No. It was forbidden, doomed. No marriage could withstand the weight of the years.

  Though the Fools Who Had Forgotten Themselves swore they’d Claimed Mates. True Mates. And Wellsprings were returning to life, all across the world. Which meant…

  Which means nothing. I don’t love Lily King. I couldn’t Claim her, even if I wanted. All I’m doing is staring at her ass – and that is profoundly disrespectful.

  Movement drew his eye to the earth. Lily had finished her lunch and returned to her bike. Casey drifted after her, pleased with his stealth and cunning.

  He expected her to wander into Cortez. Do some shopping or get a tune-up for her motorcycle. Instead, she headed over to Route 491. Traffic was heavy today and as she watched for an opening, he circled again.

  When the break came, his clever plan fell to pieces.

  Lily raised her gloved fist and waved a middle finger at the ‘empty’ sky above her. She might not know where he was – but she guessed he was there. With a howl like a wild boar, her motorcycle leaped onto the highway and charged off.

  Casey threw himself after her. Great wings beat furiously, tearing through the hot air with every ounce of their strength.

  But the bike pulled away, zipping around an SUV at an insane speed that made him want to scream in horror. Dammit! His ward was going to get herself killed trying to escape him!