Oh Shit. Plan B.
Maybe Danny’s smell-blocker didn’t work if I’d just shifted. I decided talking was useless; I wasn’t giving up any of these scales. I still wasn’t sure what my magic could do other than burn some tree trunks and make mild earthquakes, but I was about to find out in a real-life trial. With one quick move, I kicked off my slip-on shoes and connected to Mother Earth. With her grounding energy buzzing through me, my power traveled up the staff and out the tip, creating a purple arc of electricity that connected with the sorcerer’s dome, shattering it to pieces.
Yes!
His eyes widened in surprise, then he snapped his fingers and was gone, poofed out of thin air just like Steven did. Oh shit. Was he a druid too? Or was that just had some freaky sorcerer magic?
Eva and Danny’s binds left when he did, and she stood, quickly looking behind her. “He’s still here. It’s just a concealment spell.”
Great. Power of invisibility. Not this again. I spun around, fully ready to have him grab me or something.
Eva clasped Danny’s hand and together they built a large yellow ball of smoky magic between them. “Reveal!” she shouted as the smoke burst into the air, falling like tiny pieces of glitter on everything.
Suddenly the Russian appeared right behind Logan. I shrieked and Logan spun, swinging his fist out and connecting with the sorcerer’s jaw. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t for the Russian to crumple onto the ground unconscious.
“Damn, babe. Nice hit,” I told him.
“Let’s go!” he shouted, ignoring my praise. If there had been any druids in the area when I shifted, we were screwed.
Eva ran up to the unconscious sorcerer and wove some other spell over him. “To make him sleep longer.” She winked and then felt in his coat pocket for the Eye. “Damn it! He’s hidden it.”
“Eva! Do you have a death wish?” Logan roared. “Give it up. We’re out of here.”
She looked longingly at the unconscious sorcerer’s form, but finally stood, taking the glass jar of scales from Keegan and pocketing them. It was now up to her and Danny to sell them.
“One last thing,” she said, and then walked a few steps towards me. “Sloane dear, do you have to pee? Female dragon urine makes for powerful love spells and can fetch twenty grand a jar.”
My mouth popped open. But Logan just grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into the car.
Eva shrugged. “Just trying to help the cause!”
The second I was in the car, Keegan gunned it. We had no idea if the druids were close or what. I wouldn’t feel better until we were back on the land with everyone else. I was just about to lay back and relax when all of our phones simultaneously vibrated. It was a group text from Sophie.
- Get your asses to the rental. Lynn in labor! -
Oh shit. When it rains, it pours.
We called Danny and Eva, who were in the car right behind us, and all agreed that selling the scales could wait. The birth plan didn’t work without Eva and Danny to keep the baby from shifting and alerting the druids. Problem was, we were only about thirty minutes from the rental house we’d rented for her home labor—thirty miles from where I’d just shifted, signaling the druids to come to this area.
“She wasn’t supposed to go into labor for a week!” Logan cursed, gripping the edge of his seat as Keegan drove like a madman.
I sighed. “Can’t tell a woman’s body when to do its thing. We’re just going to have to make the best of it.”
Logan nodded, rubbing his hands on his jeans again. I’d never seen him this out of sorts. Suddenly he looked back at me and grinned excitedly.
“What?” I laughed. This man was a rollercoaster of emotions lately.
He shook his head, grin still in place. “A dragon youngling! I haven’t seen one since my parents were alive.”
Keegan was smiling too. We all were. This wasn’t just the birth of a baby. It was the birth of a baby dragon. A new generation. A thought struck me then. “Is she going to lay an egg or…?”
Logan laughed as Keegan turned down the road to the rental. “She’s in her human form. She will give birth to a human baby like a woman would.”
“Oh.” How was I supposed to know that?
He reached back and squeezed my thigh. ‘You’ll see in five years, right?’
I chuckled. ‘Maybe ten. Depends how painful this looks.’
My mate just stared ahead, grinning like a fool. Could this guy get any better? He loved babies, and kittens, and me. I’d hit the jackpot.
“It’s up here,” Keegan called out, looking from his phone to the gated house on the hill up ahead.
I gawked. Whoa. Hello, mansion.
“You rented a mansion for Lynn’s birthing house?”
Logan nodded. “It’s the safest. The high walls will hide any strange activity.”
Strange activity. Hah.
I could see our school bus in the driveway. At the beginning of the property, standing in the open iron gates, was Sophie.
Keegan pulled up with the window down and she ushered us through with a wave of her arm. “Come on, this labor is progressing fast. Nadine said she’s ready to push!”
Shit.
Nadine and Keegan were the only ones among us with medical knowledge. Keegan gunned it through the gate, with Eva and Danny right behind us.
He parked the car behind the bus and we all jumped out. Eva was a streak of black as her long hair trailed behind her. She burst through the pack of at least twenty shifters, mostly our old pack with some new, and into the front door.
She needed to get that baby into the spell bath to hopefully keep it from shifting into its tiny dragon form and alerting the druids. Danny was right behind her and I stared at Logan, frozen.
“What do we do?” I gripped my staff nervously. I would be of no medical help here, and I didn’t have baby-dragon-hiding magic either.
He looked lost. “All we can do is just be there in case they need help. But if the youngling shifts, I want you to get out of here. Go to Isaac’s land and keep Casey safe.”
I frowned. “Logan! We’re not splitting up.”
Keegan had jumped out of the car now and he and Logan shared a look. “Actually, that’s the plan from now on. You and Logan cannot be killed unless you are killed together. When there’s trouble, you both need to split up.”
His orders hurt my heart. The word “split” and “Logan” should never be used in the same sentence, but at the same time I knew his reasoning was logical.
“Just until the threat passes, then we’re together again,” I demanded, hoping I wouldn’t regret my choice of going along with this plan.
Logan ate up the distance between us. “Of course. You think I could stay away from you for more than a day?”
I grinned as his lips crashed onto mine and I eagerly drank in his scent. Logan Sharp was my kryptonite.
“Get a room!” Sophie called out as she passed.
I smiled. It wouldn’t be a normal day if Sophie wasn’t bitching about something.