Wolf Creek Sheriff (Texas Pack 4) (Prequel) (Wolf Creek Shapeshifters) (5 page)

“That should do it. Tell Doan I’ll want a full report on this person who cursed him. I’m afraid this may be something bigger than just taking Doan out of the picture.” The dragon lord gave the potion back to Robert before turning to Colin.

“Now I have a request of you, Colin of the Wolf Creek Pack. I have a meeting with the dragon regions in a few moments and I’m requesting your help.” The dragon lord paused and looked at his son.

Aha! Now she understood why the dragon lord had agreed to help them so easily.

Q
uinn had tensed
up as soon as his father had made a formal request from someone not in the dragon clan, though he understood the need. He and his father had been debating what to do about their problem.

C
olin straightened
, his full attention on the dragon lord. “Anything you need, sir.”

The dragon lord sighed. “We have a dragon insisting we should take over the human realm.”

Stephanie gasped. Humans wouldn’t stand a chance against dragons. A ripple of fear slid down her spine.

The dragon lord noticed, of course. “Do not fear Stephanie, I will not allow that to happen.”

She believed him. His deep voice and hypnotic tenor lent sincerity and truthfulness to his speech.

“What can I do to help?” Colin asked.

Quinn took over. “We’re about to go into a meeting with representatives from the different provinces. Most are in agreement and do not want a war with the human realm, but a few are greedy and want more land than they have now. My father leads us as our lord, but we are not a dictatorship, but we aren’t a democracy either. Each region will have their say and my father will make the final decision for all.”

The dragon lord stared directly into Colin’s eyes, holding him with his intense stare. “One of my dragons is evil, but I cannot prove it. He is unstable and volatile.” He paused. “I would like you to testify before my dragons, explain to them the earth realm mind set. Dragons have not typically visited your realm and may not know that humans do not bow down in fear of an opponent.”

Colin raked a hand through his hair. “Shit, this would be all kinds of bad.” He shook his head in apology for his language. “Sorry sir.”

Stephanie watched as he got up to pace the room. They all watched him walk and talk to himself, his mutterings unclear.

He finally stopped pacing and stood before the dragon lord. “Is this why Doan is at Wolf Creek? To start a panic among the humans?”

“I don’t know!” The dragon lord roared, his frustration showing. His breathed deeply, obviously trying to calm himself down.

“There are no laws saying dragons cannot go to the human realm. There has always been an unwritten rule to not reveal yourself, but after hearing what was done to Doan, I’m now convinced Amon was behind it. But again, I have no proof.” You could hear the anger in the dragon lord’s voice.

“Amon? I doona ken him.” Robert’s brow furrowed. “I’ll need to inform the Queen.”

The dragon lord shook his head. “No need Robert, I’ve already spoken with her. She said she has confidence in my ability to take care of the problem.” Left unsaid was that they both knew she would step in if anyone got close to exposing Faery.

Stephanie felt like she was at a play without a playbill. “Queen? Aren’t you the king? Or is she the queen regnant?” She was so confused.

The dragon lord chuckled, dissipating some of the gloom and doom. “I am the Dragon Lord, my reign is of the dragons only. I am not a king. When Robert speaks of the Queen, he means of the Queen of all Faery. She is the only queen in Faery. My wife is known as The Dragon Lady. A somewhat appropriate term.” He smiled.

Okay, only one queen in this land. Stephanie nodded, yeah, that made things easier to understand.

Colin discussed his role in their upcoming performance. As a proxy for the human realm, he needed to be coherent and convincing.

The dragon lord stood. It was time to go, no more deliberating. “And Colin…keep your gun on your person. As I’ve stated, I do not trust Amon.”

“Always,” Colin said, not surprised the dragon lord knew he was packing.

E
ntering a large cavern
, Stephanie looked around at the men and women standing around in groups, talking. That was until they saw them and quieted down. There were no chairs and she wondered why. Maybe so they could shift quickly? Or maybe it kept the meetings short with no comfy furniture anywhere in site.

She ran her hand down the wall nearest to her and watched as a sparkly dust appeared on her fingers. She expected to find a wet and cold crypt like stone and was fascinated instead at the cool, dry surface. The dust illuminated the area where she stood, with the small, additional feature of glowing fingers. Absolutely freaking cool! This kind of magic would be awesome for human spelunkers. Putting her hands in her pockets, she hurried to catch up with her friends.

She was one of the last to enter and was glad, as she was able to hide behind the larger men. She was sure the individuals already there recognized her humanity and they probably wondered why she was here with their king. Or lord. Someday she’d get the titles right. Her group stood aside as the dragon lord went to the middle of the tavern and spoke to his dragons. She studied their faces, trying to pick Amon out of the crowd.

“There have been some rumors flying around about invading the human realm. I will state to you now, I will not invade! Nor will your Queen allow this. This is a foolhardy plan in my opinion. You already know my reasons, but you have not heard from one who lives there. I have asked Colin of the Wolf Creek Pack to speak on their behalf.” He nodded to Colin.

Stephanie admired the way Colin confidently strode to the middle of the room and addressed the audience.

“Humans are not ready to learn of us. They fear magic and will fight back with more than any of you can imagine. They are not weak in any way. If they have one foe to focus on, they will throw everything they have against it and will unify to defeat you. You also do not have the Fae community behind this outrageous proposal. I suggest you drop this foolish plot before it goes any further.” Expecting either outrage or questions, he waited for both.

Most of the practical thinking dragons shook their heads in agreement, silently admonishing the over zealous ones.

“I’d heard the rumors.” Stroking his long, white beard, the older dragon stood out in the crowd. “These uprisings have come and gone many, many times in my lifetime. Which, as most of you know has been pretty darn long.” He paused at the chuckles echoing through the chamber. “Living in the Faery world benefits dragons beyond the incredibly beautiful landscape and clean air to fly in. Lest you younger dragons forget, Faery magic sustains us. Your magic comes from this plain, and this plain only. Yes, you could live on earth, but at what cost? Over the centuries you would not be as strong as you are living here. Oh yes, you could visit Faery and get a boost, but it’s not the same as soaking it in every day. You would start to age at a faster rate and at my age, I can’t afford to lose any more years.” They chuckled again as he stepped back into the crowd, his speech done.

Stephanie noted the tone of the room and from her observations these dragons had no need or desire to start a war with humans. She wondered if Amon was even here, or maybe he was doing his work behind the scenes and trying to influence dragons on a small scale. Whispers to attentive ears can do a lot of damage.

“That’s easy for you to say, old one. You have a large province for your clan. What about the younger dragons?”

Stephanie no longer wondered. Evidently this was Amon and he decided it was time to speak up. She wasn’t impressed. Oh, he was tall like every shifter she’d met, and cute, but not beautiful. He had the pretty boy face of a young model doing underwear ads, but no character lines showing any strength or adversity. What he did have was charisma, and that was a dangerous thing in a young, untried rebel. Whether he was intelligent or imbecile, she wasn’t sure yet. The combination of charisma and intelligence could do horrible things in a society willing to follow any leader that stood out among the crowd. So far with what she knew of dragons, she didn’t think that was possible since stubbornness seemed to be bred into their bones and blindly following simply wasn’t going to happen. She tuned back in when she heard him getting louder and more virulent in his speech.

“Enough,” the dragon lord shouted and pointed at Amon. “You are greedy. There is plenty of space in Faery and each province provides an area for every clan. I would suggest you speak with the governor of your region before you go off half-cocked wanting to invade another realm.” The dragon lord turned his back in obvious dismissal.

Stephanie couldn’t help but worry as Amon visibly trembled in outrage. Her fear kicked up a notch when a growl rumbled throughout the room. She noted the dragons stiffening in response, readying for a fight. But to her horror, Colin still stood in the middle of the room making a perfect target for Amon’s rage.

Could a wolf take out a dragon if they both shifted? She doubted it. But man against man? Yeah, she believed in Colin. She bit her lip to stop herself from yelling out and distracting Colin when she could see he was totally fixated on Amon. Barely aware of Quinn and Robert, she felt the air stir when they moved to back up Colin.

She watched the dragon lord walk away from Amon in disgust.

Amon leapt at the dragon lord, claws showing where fingernails had been a moment before. No one was close enough to stop him from ripping into their lord, except for Colin and he didn’t hesitate. He moved in a blur so fast, Stephanie now understood how he’d been able to catch up to her in the restaurant parking lot.

The dragon lord turned back, resolute and ready to fight, but there was no need. Colin was in the air reaching for Amon.

Colin had pushed off and leapt five feet across the floor before Amon knew he was coming. Dragons may have strength and fire, but wolves had speed and extremely developed thighs. Colin tackled him and they both hit the ground rolling before Colin came out on top and pinned Amon to the stone floor.

“You need to think about this man, you can’t win. Calm down and apologize to your lord. Maybe he’ll go easy on you.” Colin huffed as he struggled to hold him down.

Stephanie didn’t think taking the reasonable approach would work. The cops she knew were well versed in trying to reason with someone, but she was convinced this guy was a zealot and believed his cause was righteous.

She was correct. Fear shook her entire body as Amon shifted, throwing Colin off in the process. The dragon lord, Colin, and Quinn shifted as well, while Robert pulled a sword from his back. She had no idea that was even possible since he hadn’t had a sword earlier.

The dragons hovered over the ground while Colin shifted and shook off his tattered clothes. This was no longer a fight Colin could win. As a wolf he was no match for the dragon and she really wished he would bow out and let the dragons handle it. But she doubted he would, as she was learning how protective wolves could be, especially Colin in particular. He stood on guard watching the dragons above his head, waiting for an opening, and he found one.

Amon flew close enough for Colin to leap and sink his teeth into the edge of one wing. Amon tried to shake him off, but Colin held firm until he heard Robert’s shout.

“Let go Colin, he’s going up!”

Colin shook his head abruptly, tearing out part of a wing before dropping to the ground on all fours. Spitting out the portion in his mouth, he growled as he paced and kept his eyes glued on the fight over his head.

Stephanie hugged the wall and sunk down so she wouldn’t be a target, trying to make herself as tiny as possible. She was thankful to see Robert still watching Colin’s back with Quinn and his father in the air battling Amon.

She could place-mark this moment as being another surreal point in time in which she watched dragons fighting right in front of her. They went as high as the ceiling allowed before diving and hitting one another with an impact that reverberated through her ears.

There simply wasn’t enough room for Quinn and his father to attack simultaneously. One would dive in while the other waited his turn. Amon was taking a beating, barely getting any hits in. His roar showed his frustration, and while his fire breathing was mind-blowing, it did nothing to the dragons he fought.

Relieved that he wasn’t throwing any fire her way, she was happy she wouldn’t be barbequed for tonight’s dinner. As far as she knew, he had taken no notice of her at all, for which she was thankful.

Amon landed, shifting back to his human form. His bruised body healed itself as she watched, cuts closing and sealing themselves. He was once again fully clothed she noted as she watched his chest heave beneath his shirt.

The dragon lord and Quinn landed with booted feet hitting the ground having shifted mid air, an impressible feat in her eyes.

The dragon lord stood with hands on hips, his ire still notable. “You would attack me?” He walked around his adversary, waiting to hear his excuse before pronouncing his punishment.

With a fanatic light in his eyes, Amon answered. “You are weak!” He looked around the cavern, spotting Stephanie where she hugged the wall. “There! That is what we would be up against. Can’t you all see how frail humans are? We are dragons, we deserve whatever we can take. Might makes it right!”

Some of the dragons shook their head in denial, while others looked on pitifully as they realized he wasn’t just a young dragon spouting a fantastical viewpoint, but instead he was deranged and unstable.

“Amon, you are a threat to all dragons and humans, therefore I must act to protect those you would harm…” The dragon lord abruptly cut off his pronouncement when Amon disappeared and reappeared next to Stephanie, moving so fast she didn’t register the move with her naked eye.

Her oh shit moment ended with Amon grabbing her around the waist and holding one sharp claw across her neck. Every dragon shifter in the room froze like an icicle hanging from a rain gutter.

She held as still as a column of cement, making sure not to move and accidentally cut her jugular by quaking in her shoes. Her quest had changed from fun to fear. The claw at her throat made swallowing the saliva pooled in her mouth difficult. The only movement she allowed was sliding her eyes to Colin, and he was pissed. He’d shifted back and was pawing through his tattered jeans. Seriously? Getting dressed was his priority? Maybe she needed to rethink this whole mate thing.

She saw Colin pull his gun out of the mess of material and turn, pointing it their way. Oh. Well okay then. He wanted his gun, not his clothes.

This was one of those times she was more than happy with her average height. Amon’s head would make a good target since he was so much taller than her.

“Let her go,” he growled. His voice was deeper, rumbling up through his chest to his vocal chords. His hands were steady with both hands gripping his weapon and his feet planted about shoulder width apart and head tilted slightly with Amon in his sights.

Ironically, Stephanie fought the urge to giggle at the naked dude with a gun. His nudity didn’t seem to bother him at all, which was all kinds of cool to her. He was her knight in nudity and she knew from somewhere deep inside that she could count on him to rescue her. But then, a shot rang out, almost deafening her. She felt the pinch of Amon’s claw when he flinched. What the hell? Did he miss his shot?

“Let her go or next time it’s your brain that takes a bullet, and it won’t be a little scrape like that one on your temple.”

Oh good, he hadn’t missed. The first was a shot across the brow, err bow. Ha! She was losing it. Making bad puns while silently freaking out on the inside obviously messed up your head.

“I’ll kill her wolf, just to show the dragon province how easy it is to kill humans,” Amon said.

“And then I’ll kill you. I’ll hunt you down wherever you go and make sure your death is long and painful.” Colin stood stoically staring him down.

Wait. What? She wasn’t ready to die. He was supposed to take out the bad guy and rescue his princess. Okay, she wasn’t a princess but she damn well deserved her happy ever after. Everyone did, in her opinion.

“You’re willing to allow your mate to die?” Amon asked, noticeably confused.

“We’re mates, we’ll be together in the after life or born again in another world. I’ll find her wherever she goes,” Colin stated adamantly.

Well, that was a new one to her and she didn’t like it one bit. Dead was dead. There was no sex in dead land and she wanted sex. Lots and lots of sex. A metaphysical world with no sex did not seduce her into being cool with this. No. If they got out of this, she would lay down some rules. No sacrificing the woman to save mankind would be rule number one.

Thinking about her new list of rules, she was startled when Amon pushed her aside and ran for a large opening in the cavern, which led to the ledge where dragons could land or take off.

Sitting now on the stone floor, she watched as he leapt off the ledge and shifted in mid air. Quinn was close behind as he too shifted while jumping off to follow Amon. Several other dragons did the same.

Stephanie was soon scooped up into Colin’s bare arms as he hugged her close to his body, smothering her against his skin.

The adrenalin rush that had gotten her through this mess decided to leave the building. She lay in his arms, weak and practically in shock. She’d be PTSD’ing over this adventure for quite some time.

She was having herself a grand ole pity party wondering if she could handle living in a magical world. But what choice did she really have? Going back to her mundane non-magical existence did not appeal either. This would be her life now, well maybe not battling dragon’s everyday but living with magical beings. Which was really pretty awesome.

“Stephanie? Stephanie!” Colin yelled.

While she’d been tripping out, Colin had been checking for injuries and evidentially saying her name for a while.

“I’m good. It was just a small nick,” she said.

Someone had given Colin a strip of cloth to wipe the blood from her neck. The small trickle of blood had stopped flowing and would only need a small bandage.