Logan shook his head in disbelief. “They had a hybrid.”
Danny chuckled and left Keegan on the porch, waving a hand at Logan. “That old thing. Oh, honey, he wouldn’t know a donkey from his own ass. He didn’t even notice that when I clapped loudly I set off a counter spell. He’s harmless.”
I grinned and I looked over at Keegan to see that he was staring at his ex-lover longingly.
“Thank you for that,” Logan told him, and Danny simply nodded.
“Do you think they know anything?” I asked the group. Sophie and Nadine must have gone into town, because they were nowhere in sight.
Dom was the one to speak: “The big guy wasn’t completely sold, but he didn’t want to start a fight on a hunch. They make me sick. Every single last druid needs to be hunted and burned.”
Logan and Keegan nodded their agreement, and I found myself shrinking back.
Dom’s declaration was like ice to my heart. I mean, I understood. Hell, I agreed. They were racist murdering assholes, but … I think I was one of them. What if I … turned dark and attacked Logan or something? At that thought, I realized we were still holding hands, so I pulled mine out of his grasp.
“I’m tired, I think I’m just going to shower and take a nap,” I told the group.
Keegan and Logan shared a look, and then Keegan nodded. “Of course. There’s pizza inside. Help yourself. Nadine and Sophie are shopping in town, but I want everyone back for dinner, because the two new packmates are coming to meet everyone. I think you’re going to like them.”
I nodded and started walking inside. As I passed, Danny’s arm snaked out and caught my wrist lightly, forcing me to turn and look at him. “It was really nice to meet you today, Sloane.”
My heart was beating like crazy because I was ninety-nine percent sure Danny knew my deep dark secret. But damn I had a good feeling about him, that he wouldn’t rat me out. “You too, Danny.”
He released my hand, and with one last look I walked inside, grabbing a slice of pizza on my way up the stairs. Those men were awful, the way they spoke about my friends as if they were less than them because of their magical lineage. It made me feel dirty. And to think I might be one of them … it made my skin crawl.
I didn’t really want to nap, I just needed to think, to wrap my head around everything that had happened the past few days. After closing the door to my room, I plopped on my bed, and at the same time Mittens shot out from underneath it and jumped on my lap. She coaxed a smile from me with her incessant purring as I rubbed the length of her back and got lost in my thoughts. The fingers of my free hand curled into a fist as I absent-mindedly rubbed my palm where the knife had singed it. Clearly, I wasn’t even dragon enough to touch the knife, wasn’t full of enough good. A horrifying thought came to me then—what if I touched a red druid’s knife? Would it not harm me? Would I be able to kill a dragon with it? Kill Logan with it? No—that thought was too much. I collapsed back into the pillows and raised both arms above my head to block out the stupid smiling unicorn that was looking down on me. Mittens was massaging my thigh as I started to feel the pull of sleep take me down.
Stuck between sleep and waking, I had a vivid dream that caused me to toss and turn. In my dream there was a man. He sat in a cave behind a waterfall, just sitting there calmly in quiet meditation. He looked to be about early forties, dark chocolate-colored skin, with a few grey hairs in his trimmed, well-kept scruff. His black hair was cut short, and although he seemed too old for me, I had to admit he was good looking. He sat erect in a cross-legged meditation pose, shirtless, eyes closed. And when I wondered why I would be dreaming of this man, his eyes snapped open and I felt a shock run through my sleeping body. His eyes were hauntingly beautiful. They were like a honey-colored sunset, like something I would paint.
Although his skin was dark, I could see the outlines of tattoos along his shoulder and neck, and my stomach sank. He was a druid. He was looking right through me as if I was there in the cave with him, but … he didn’t scare me. Not like the other druids I had met. At that thought, his lips quirked into a half smile, and I was snapped awake as Mittens pounced on my head and attacked my hair with her claws.
“Ow! You crazy cat.” I ripped her off and swatted her bottom before placing her on the ground. She took one supreme look at me and then retreated to her place under the bed.
My heart was still pumping with adrenaline as I recalled my dream. The dark-skinned man with the honey-colored eyes. I grabbed my sketchbook and colored pencils off of the chair beside my bed and started drawing. I had to. I couldn’t get him out of my head. Like he was important to me. It felt stupid, considering I was pretty sure he was a druid, but he didn’t feel evil. Not like the others. Evil didn’t meditate under waterfalls, right? The last druid I dreamt of had found me, so I was hoping this wasn’t another one of those prophetic dreams. Maybe I should tell Logan? But then he would probably wonder why I was dreaming of all of these druids.
Because I am a druid…
I sketched in a blind frenzy, reminding me of my early college days when I was filled more with inspiration and less with care for technique or pleasing the viewer. An hour passed and I had a detailed sketch of his face and torso in graphite. But those eyes … I colored them first and they were perfect. It took over ten colored pencils to get the color right. So many yellows, oranges, and browns. Who was this man? Why did I dream of him?
“Sloane?” Nadine knocked on the door and I slammed my sketchbook shut, clearing my throat.
“Come in,” I called out.
Nadine entered and gave me a shy smile. “I heard three druids came while Sophie and I were in town. Must have been scary.”
I nodded. “One of them chucked Keegan across the house like it was no big deal.”
Nadine shrugged. “Druids and shifters hate each other. There are always fights when we get together. Normally they only hang out at pureblood bars, so we don’t see them on the social scene.”
My mouth dropped at the mention of pureblood bars. The fact that there was segregation like that, it was horrid. “That’s awful. Why do they hate humans so much?”
Nadine sat down on the edge of my bed, her straight black hair falling around her shoulders. “Humans are weak. Druids despise weakness. Magic is strong and Faery used to be filled with strong magical creatures, so I guess they’re trying to get back to that place so they can rule the world and all of her magical minions or whatever.”
Sounded delusional. “So, you’re half human…”
Nadine nodded. “Yep. I regenerate if hurt, and I age slower. We age normally until puberty, then it’s about one year for every five human years, but I will get old and die one day just like them. Our DNA stops regenerating injuries at about age eighty. So yeah, I guess I’m weak too.”
I scoffed. “You’re not weak, you’re part human. It’s just natural and comforting. Getting old and dying is normal.”
I wanted so badly to be normal again. Logan had said we would never die unless we were killed, and it scared the shit out of me. In my mind, it made me a monster.
Nadine slapped my thigh. “Cheer up! We’ll have plenty of time to stick it to the druids over the next few decades together. Come on, Keegan wants us all downstairs to meet the two new recruits. They’ve been sworn in and bound to you and Logan, so it’s not possible for them to spill your secret.”
“My secret?” I paled, and Mittens took that moment to swat at my dangling feet.
Nadine looked confused. “That you’re a dragon shifter?”