Charred Hope (#3, Heart of Fire) (15 page)

“Dillon’s a big bird to face without a dragon,” Mason said, glancing at Gunner.

“I don’t need backup,” she reminded them. “If I get close enough, I can become something bigger than him. What I need is a ride to his location.”

“
We
need a ride to his location,” Mason corrected her. “Which means flying, right?”

She nodded. Gunner grumbled and Mason didn’t appear pleased, but she knew they’d both be willing to go, despite their feline issues with flying.

“I can carry one,” Luke said, stepping forward. With short blond hair and light eyes, he was tall and slender, lean in the way of a swimmer.

“You don’t want to wait for Chace?” Mason asked again.

“He’ll know where to find us.” She smiled. “I’ve never seen a phoenix, Luke.”

“All fire, no bite,” Gunner replied.

Skylar smiled. A few hours ago, when Chace randomly disappeared, she’d figured he would return soon. The longer he was gone, however, the more concerned she became. While it was true he should be able to take care of himself, what happened if either he couldn’t or wasn’t willing to kill someone he’d been intimate with at some point?

What if he was in danger?

He’d gone off her radar an hour before, but he was alive. She felt his magic burning in her blood. His location had been far from Dillon’s and no longer co-located with Freyja’s. Uncertain how to interpret his absence when he wasn’t close to either of the two people who posed a threat, she’d texted a few times then left it up to him.

His lack of response was as troubling as his sudden disappearance.

Trust him, Sky.
It wasn’t the first time she’d told herself this. It shouldn’t be hard after their night together, but she was afraid of trusting anyone. People had a way of betraying or dying on her.
Not my dragon.

“We got trouble,” Mason growled, eyes on the sky. “Looks like the griffins are tracking you, Sky.”

Her eyes flew up. She considered them. If one got close enough, she could turn into a griffin. But after her attempts at flying earlier, she knew how clumsy she was at it.

I can’t be afraid to be who I am now,
she told herself.

Luke was transforming into a phoenix nearby, and she glanced at him. While large, roughly the size of a small car, he wasn’t anywhere near the size of a dragon. His head was the size of a human’s, his plume of feathers the color of fire while the long, elegant tail of a phoenix smoldered.

“It’s got to be easier to fly when I’m that size,” she murmured and approached him.

Luke was a good two heads taller than her. She stopped close to him, listening for the senses that would separate his unique shifter signature from the others nearby. She keyed in on it.

“Mason, can you and Gunner find what army we can to face Dillon?” she asked, facing them. “I’m gonna give this flying thing a go again.”

“You sure about that?” Mason asked.

“Yeah.”

The griffins above had doubled in number.

“I’m tired of running,” she decided. “At some point, I have to stop, right?”

“At the right time,” Gunner agreed.

Ignoring him, she stripped out of her clothing, channeling the energy of a phoenix shifter.

“We’ll see how this goes!” she said cheerfully. “I’m going after Dillon.”

Gunner and Mason exchanged a look. She knew they were reluctant to act without Chace or the dragons, but she wasn’t going to wait any longer to find Dillon after seeing the damage he’d done.

“We’ll follow on foot,” Gunner said finally. “Don’t fly too fast. We need to be able to keep up.”

Nodding, she closed her eyes and let the shifter magic take her.

Chapter Eleven

Chace awoke with a groan, hating how badly his head was pounding. He lay still for a long moment to assess his body. Fear raced through him at the idea he was back on the beach again, unable to heal, waiting to die.

There was no pain, though, aside from his headache, only general body soreness and fatigue. He often felt this way after he’d healed. His body repaired itself automatically whenever he shifted but took time to replenish the blood loss, which was why his head throbbed.

“Glad you’re awake,” a quiet voice said.

It wasn’t Skylar’s, and it took him some thought to figure out whose it was. Chace opened one eye then the other. The sunlight streaming through the cabin’s windows was too bright for his delicate head. He squinted.

“Pizza?” he asked, the scent tickling his nose.

“Your lair doesn’t listen to me very well,” Ginger said in some amusement. “But it did make you some food.”

He pushed his body into a sitting position and leaned back against the headboard of his bed in the cozy cabin that was his home.

Ginger appeared a little healthier than before. There was color in her cheeks, and she wore clothing the cabin had probably found her. Her frame was too thin and frail for her slenderness to be natural, the circles under her eyes showing him how bad her experience had been.

Seated in the living area, she smiled, a cup of tea in her hands. Her gaze was direct and confident, if tired, her warm air cheerful, like Skylar’s.

“What did they do to you?” he asked in a hushed voice.

She raised an eyebrow, another trait that reminded him of her daughter.

“Not that you look bad but … well, you really do,” he said.

“Just the usual. Interrogation, torture, shaved bald and bled near death.” Her response was chipper. “It’s all behind me, though.”

“Why torture? I understand wanting your blood, but torture?”

“They needed to find Gavin and to know what Sky’s gift was as well as mine,” she answered. “I wouldn’t tell them.”

Chace didn’t want to imagine the lengths someone like Dillon or Freyja were willing to go to in order to break Skylar’s sweet mother. That Ginger had survived was nothing short of crazy.

“Freyja was in on it, too?” he asked.

“Of course. She’s the brains. Dillon is the muscle. I wouldn’t trust either of them for everything in the world. They argued a lot about how best to proceed with me and Skylar, but I don’t have any doubt that they were both responsible for what happened.”

“What about Mason?” he pressed. “Or do these questions bother you?” He searched her face, aware of how much suffering she’d gone through and unwilling to put her through more.

“No, I’m fine,” she said with a faint smile. “I remember Mason. Briefly.” She was pensive. “I met him when I first got there. I don’t recall much else about him.”

Chace said nothing, his thoughts on Skylar again. He wasn’t able to shake the image of her ending up like Ginger. As powerful as Gavin was, he hadn’t been able to protect his family, and Chace began to wonder what it’d take to safeguard his Sky.

Her skill was better suited to protecting her than Ginger’s, once she learned to harness her magic and the different abilities each shifter gave her. He didn’t want to think they’d always be in danger.

Which means Freyja and Dillon need to die.
He also understood Skylar’s view on killing, that it should only be done if necessary. She’d pleaded for the lives of those who helped brainwash her already.

Would she reconsider once she saw her mother? Would she realize there were certain shifters that just couldn’t be allowed to live, if there was any hope for peace? It’d be different if Freyja hadn’t been able to manipulate others from her hibernation.

Restless and worried, he flung off his comforter and wrapped his sheet around his waist then went to the bathroom. The cabin had clothing waiting, and he changed quickly.

“You’re safe in the cabin,” he said when he re-emerged. “You’re in no shape to come with me.”

Ginger flushed in anger.

“Don’t even try,” he warned, amused. “You’re staying here. Cabin won’t let you leave, even if you wanted to. I suggest you get some rest and regain your strength.”
I couldn’t save Gavin, but I will save you.

“You’re in no shape to fly,” she said in irritation.

“I’ll be fine,” he assured her. “I’ve got to take care of some business, then I’ll bring Skylar to meet you.”

Ginger’s expression softened. “I’d like that, Chace.”

Uncertain how to respond to the amount of emotion in her voice, he nodded curtly. He went to the kitchenette and wolfed down pizza. It helped his pounding head, and he chugged two liters of water down before going to the door and looking out.

It was almost sunset. The dragons would be active soon. The fastest way to end this mess: convince them to wipe out those threatening the peace. Any thought he had about giving griffins mercy was gone with the realization of what would happen to Skylar, if he didn’t act.

He’d go to the dragons for backup then rain down fire on those trying to hurt his Sky and destroy the shifter community.

“Your phone has been buzzing.” Ginger’s soft voice drew his attention from his planning.

Chace crossed to it, aware he probably had a few messages from Skylar already. He hadn’t wanted to tell her what he was doing, in case Freyja was lying about Ginger. There were half a dozen messages from Sky and two from Gunner. He read through them quickly, frowning at Gunner’s. Sky was asking where he was and if he was safe. Gunner, however, told him what she was doing.

For reals, dude. You need to be here. That girl is crazier than you. She’s gonna challenge Dillon on her own.

“I’ve gotta get going,” Chace mumbled and hurried out of the cabin. The last message from his friend was sent over an hour ago, while Chace had been unconscious.

He paused on the ledge outside the cabin, stretching his senses. Skylar was able to locate the shifters, but he didn’t have the same skill. Instead, he sniffed the air, seeking the faintest scent of griffins. It didn’t take much to assume that wherever they were, she’d be close, too.

He wasn’t able to smell anything in his human form. With dragon senses that were a hundred times more powerful, he should be able to identify which direction to try at least.

He texted Skylar quickly.
Don’t do anything crazy. I’m on my way.

“Ginger, stay here!” he called over his shoulder once more. Willing the cabin to keep her safe, he undressed and shifted.
This mess ends tonight.

Chapter Twelve

Soaring in the skies as a phoenix wasn’t much easier than a dragon. Skylar found her attention darting between keeping herself steady and eyeing the griffins, who didn’t seem at all concerned about the smaller winged beasts in their midst. They were more occupied with trying to find
her,
circling and flying in dizzying circles without being able to locate her.

They don’t know I’m a phoenix.
Not for the first time, the idea of watching them flail around in confusion amused her.

Luke kept close to her, guiding them subtly further north without drawing the attention of the griffins. Far below, she was able to see the massive black lion and tan panther racing with ground eating strides in the same direction Skylar went. The flock of griffins was keeping pace with the creatures below, assuming what Dillon had about her being a panther shifter.

One of them snapped at her, and she squeaked involuntarily before steering away. At times, she found herself too interested in what was going on below to notice when she crossed over into the flight path of a cranky griffin. With her clothing strapped to her back, it was a little harder to balance.

Mason was right about me making a horrible Pegasus,
she thought more than once. If a two-pound pack threw her off, what would a full-grown man riding her do to her ability to fly right?

She scoured the terrain below them. It had gone from the deserts of near The Field to the pine and mountains of the Tucson Mountains to the desert once more, headed west, towards California. They were closing in on Dillon’s position, even if she wasn’t certain where he was.

Dillon wasn’t in the mountains. She wasn’t certain why that surprised her, except that she half expected him to throw her off a cliff the next time they met. If a height loving griffin wasn’t in the mountains, where was he? More importantly,
why
?

Another secret hideout?
Freyja was there as well, which made her think it was a location the two didn’t want discovered. Neither had moved since she began making her way there a couple of hours before.

The sun was perched on the horizon directly ahead of them, the sky beginning to turn vibrant shades of pinks and oranges. Skylar checked again to try to identify where Chace was.

He was hidden. How was that possible? Unease went through her, but she assumed, if he was in danger, it was at the hands of Dillon and Freyja, which meant she was headed the right way. She didn’t doubt he was able to handle one of the shifters. Two, though, might be more of a challenge, especially if Dillon had another lasso or some other trickery up his sleeve.

She drifted out of the way of a large griffin, back towards Luke, and coasted for a moment on the sturdy wings of a phoenix. Flying was relaxing, when she wasn’t worried about her balance or being sideswiped by a griffin. The cooling evening air ruffled her feathers. The stench of griffins was strong. Thus far, they were content to track the great cats below without making any attempt at snapping one of them up.

As she had a few times before over the flight, she tested the shifter magic to see if she was able to pick up the stream of griffin power. It was present, within reach, in case she needed to tap into it.

There.
Skylar slowed her pace, her vision sharper as a phoenix than it had ever been as a human. She searched the area below her for some kind of structure or indication of where the two were hiding.

Nothing was below them, aside from the open desert.

Puzzled, she precariously inched closer to Luke, leery of letting one of his wings knock her off kilter, and nipped at his tail feathers.

He spun in mid air, mouth open as if to spew fire at the griffin that dared touch the magnificent plume trailing him. When he saw her, he closed his mouth and hovered, waiting.