Hidden Fate

11

“Can I just say that I, for one, am glad I’m not a drag—” Eva started, but then she wheezed. “Oh, my God. Let me roll my window down, please.”

Thorn growled as he pressed the child lock release button on the door handle. Both Saphira’s and Eva’s windows lowered, and they hung their heads out.

“Tyson, for the love of the gods,” Thorn bit out as he glanced in the rearview mirror. “You know better than to pull that s**t. I thought you saw something. You do realize, if this goes wrong, we’re all going to be in danger?”

Begrudgingly, I rolled my window down as well. This car needed to air out, pronto.

A loud huff came from the backseat, and I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.

Peter.

I think something crawled up into your brother and died. Still scanning the area, Thorn lowered his window as well.

I mashed my lips together, but a small laugh escaped. Leave it to my brother to cause chaos when it was least convenient.

“This smells great.” Elliott sniffed. “I don’t know what your problem is.”

“And you wonder why I didn’t want you helping out with the company,” Peter grumbled.

“El, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you.” Eva pinched her nose shut. “No one likes the smell, so just stop.”

Neck cording, Thorn gritted out, “Everyone focus. We’ll be there soon.”

That sobered everyone up, and I refocused on connecting with my dragon. I didn’t sense anything other than the normal animals in the woods, which was a good thing. None of them sensed any danger.

A two-story light green house stood before us with a beige stone chimney and a dark green slanted roof. The house sat in the center of a half acre of cleared land surrounded by thick trees.

We pulled right up to the red wooden front porch as Edna landed in the middle of the yard. Her eyes flicked to us before she turned and slid into the trees to shift back into human form.

Everyone climbed out of the vehicles and stood in front of the house. Three wicker chairs and a red wooden bench were placed in the yard, but as we’d been driving for so long, none of us sat.

“What is this place?” Thorn asked as he came around and took my hand, tugging me between Vlad and himself. He scanned our surroundings, his pupils slitting as he looked for something out of the norm.

Eva stood on Thorn’s other side. Sol strolled up to take the spot beside her. Elliott and Tyson were between Sol and Saphira, but for once, they were silent. Errol and Brenton flanked Peter. Theron stood closest to where Edna had disappeared, with Hydra next to him.

“I don’t know.” Theron swiped his phone screen. “It’s a thirty-minute drive from the main thunder, where we were heading.”

Other than Edna flying at us out of nowhere, nothing seemed off.

“She’s heading back, so we’re about to find out.” Cassidy faced the direction Edna had disappeared into the woods.

Silence descended.

Edna stepped into the yard, and my jaw almost dropped at her appearance. The same smoky gray eyes took in our entire group as she smiled warmly. Her hair was a caramel brown that hit a few inches past her shoulders, and she was only a few inches taller than me, coming in around six feet. The impression I’d gotten from the dragon was nothing like the kind woman standing before us.

She tugged her cyan button-down shirt over her jeans. “I’m so sorry I alarmed you. I’d planned on you all staying with Mindy and me, but the closer you got, the more restless I felt, so I went for a flight. Then I doubted my decision, but you guys were already close. The best option was to bring you here, a backup location I have for Mindy and a few of the older members in case…”

She didn’t have to finish her sentence. Every single one of us knew what she meant: in case Drake came looking to kill her.

Thorn’s jaw unclenched. “I’d rather your thunder not know we’re here.” He then connected, We saw how well that went with Wyvern.

Fair point. And Theron hadn’t been very willing to help us until Thorn had healed Sol. Trust had to be earned, but hopefully, since Theron trusted us and the two of them had a connection, this would go more easily.

“Listen, I’m not comfortable hiding things from my thunder.” She bit her bottom lip. “It doesn’t feel right. They do know about this place, but we all avoid it so no one will tie us to it. Until I see that Thorn will follow through on his promise, I’m most comfortable with you staying here.”

“Of course, Edna,” Theron said and wrapped an arm around Hydra.

Edna took a moment to study each of us and frowned when her gaze landed on Peter, Eva, and Elliott. Her lips pursed. “And why did you bring humans? It’s bad enough to have the marked one and Drake’s missing fian—”

A menacing growl emanated from Thorn. “Do not finish that sentence. Everly is my fated mate and wife. Drake took her, knowing she was mine and kidnapped her family to force her to surrender. That’s why there are humans with us.”

My heart skipped a beat at the word mine. I loved when he claimed me in front of others and behind closed doors.

Her eyes bulged. “Wait. Are you saying the humans with you are her family? That she was human and became your fated mate?”

He nodded, pulling me more tightly against him. “She was.”

Edna stepped back and clutched her stomach.

She looked afraid, prompting me to say, “He did it to save me. I was going to die—it wasn’t malicious. And I’m so glad he did.” I glanced up lovingly at my mate.

Tilting her head, Edna observed me, and after a moment, her hands dropped to her sides. “That’s good to know. But how is that possible? Mending a dragon doesn’t make complete sense to me, but to create a new one from thin air?”

That was a good question and one that had a simple but complicated answer.

“When a dragon shifter dies, their magic is released and stays around us.” Thorn narrowed his eyes as if he could see the magic hovering. “Healing and creating a dragon are pretty much the same. To heal a dragon’s magic, I must remove the magic from its body and infuse it with our ancestors’ magic to mend it. When I turned Everly, I filled her body with the magic of our ancestors, and it created her own unique dragon.”