Dragon Storm, page 6
They ate breakfast, and the men impressed her with how much food they managed to eat between the two of them. She knew shifters ate a lot, but she was only half shifter and wasn’t quite up to their weight.
“Do you feel up to a run this morning?” she asked as she finished her last slice of toast.
“Run?” Connor seemed surprised by the question.
“My snowcat likes to run every other day or so. Living here makes it easy to blend in and as long as there are no hunters in the area, it’s relatively safe. Are you up for it?”
“Dragons aren’t much for running,” Connor replied with a serious mien. “But we’d be glad to fly anywhere you would like to go.”
Josie sat back and thought about it. Even if their dragon forms were only as big as their human size, they’d be bigger than any bird. If someone should see them—especially some weekend warrior with a camerawell, it didn’t bear thinking about.
“Do you have to fly every few days, or can you go longer without shifting?”
Connor looked at Darius, and they both seemed surprised by her question.
“We don’t really know,” Darius finally answered with a bit of puzzled dismay.
“What he means to say is, we’ve never really had an issue with it. We can be in either of our forms for however long is necessary.”
“Really?” Josie was intrigued. “Out of necessity, shifters spend most of their time in human form. To stay too long in our beast forms invites the beast half to take over completely. While it can be a means of escaping the troubles of our human selves, staying in animal form too long isn’t encouraged. At the same time, we need to let the predator run, to ensure the happiness of our inner beast. At least, that’s what my grandfather taught me.”
“Well, if your cat must run, it must run.” Darius pushed his plate away and stood. Connor followed suit.
She hadn’t meant to run at that very moment, but she was curious about their beast form. She wanted to see it. Seeing, as they said, was believing. It would be hard for her to buy the dragon thing fully until she got a good look at them in that form.
Of course, they also said curiosity killed the cat. She didn’t want to dwell on that little pearl of wisdom. These men were her mates, amazing as that seemed. She needed to know what manner of creature shared their souls, and there was no time like the present to embark on that particular voyage of discovery.
“All right. We can leave the dishes ’til later.” She stood and headed for the door, the men following close behind.
Josie paused in the clearing in front of her small house. Normally, she would head into the woods before shifting form, just in case anyone was in the area and might happen to see her. Today, however, she wanted ample room to see what form her new mates would take when they shifted.
“Why don’t you guys go first? I’ve never seen a dragon shifter before.”
The twins looked at each other, sharing a sort of shrugging, raised-eyebrow expression that she couldn’t quite decipher. She imagined they were curious about her cat. She was doubly so about their claim of being dragons.
A part of her seriously doubted they’d be able to pull it off. Some dark part of her psyche fully expected their lie to be exposed.
And how wrong that part was.
A black fog-like shimmer surrounded first Darius, then Connor, and a split second later, two gigantic black dragons stood where the men had been. The only thing differentiating them was an intricate plate of armor that covered Darius’s breast and gleamed in the morning sun.
“Sweet Mother Goddess,” she breathed, shocked motionless. “You really are dragons.”
“You were expecting something else?” The voice came in her mind, unexpected and subtly amused. One of the twins was speaking telepathically to her. She thought it was Darius from the teasing tone, but she wasn’t sure.
“All this and you’re telepaths too?” Josie’s knees went weak as the two huge dragons advanced on her position. She was frozen in place, unable to move.
One reached out its long, sinuous neck, its massive head hovering in front of her face. One peridot green eye winked at her with amusement. The same peridot shade the twins shared.
“Guys, you can’t fly around like that. If somebody sees you…” It didn’t bear thinking about. She began to shake.
The giant dragon tilted his head in question, then looked at his brother. Their eyes narrowed as if troubled, and Connor shifted quickly back to his human form. He took her in his arms, holding her close while she clutched his shoulders.
“What’s wrong, love? What has you so upset?” His concern touched her heart.
“You’re so big…and there aren’t any dragons here. If someone sees you…” Hiccups interrupted her babbling as emotion threatened to overwhelm her. She didn’t know where to begin to tell them everything that was just wrong with being a dragon in the twenty-first century. Maybe they really were from another planet. Or another dimension.
“We don’t have to fly if you don’t want us to.” Darius came up beside her, in human form once more. She read concern on his face along with dismay. She was probably freaking these guys out with her violently swinging emotional display.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. She tried to get a grip, but needed a few minutes to come to terms with this revelation. Her cat clawed at her insides, wanting to get out. She pulled away from Connor and looked at both men. “You two stay here, and please don’t fly anywhere. Don’t do your dragon thing. At least not until I get back.”
“Where are you going?” Connor asked. He looked like he wanted to prevent her from leaving, but she couldn’t take that. She needed some space.
“My cat needs to run, and I need to think. I’ll be back in about an hour, okay?”
Connor watched her go with a sinking heart. She was clearly distraught. Something they’d done had upset her. It didn’t sit well.
“Do you think we scared her?” Darius stood beside him as they watched her lope off into the dense forest. She had shimmered with a white cloud of fog—the exact opposite of their dark black shimmer—then turned into a gorgeous spotted white cat. There were legends of such creatures living in the far north of their world, but neither of the twins had ever seen one of them.
“I don’t think our lady is frightened by much.” Connor thought about her reaction. “She seemed more overwhelmed than scared.”
“Well, we are a lot bigger than she is when we shift. Hells—” Darius shook his head, “—even in human form we are much larger than she is.”
“Our mate is a tiny thing,” Connor agreed. “We must be careful with her both physically and emotionally. I think she is more fragile than she seems.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Why else would she be living out here all alone? I fear someone or something hurt her in the past.”
Darius seemed struck by the thought. His eyes narrowed as he stared after the place she had disappeared. “I’m going after her.”
“She wanted to be alone,” Connor reminded his twin.
“I’m going to watch over her from above. She’ll never know.”
“Dar, if there truly are no dragons in this world, I imagine we’re going to face some difficulties. For one thing, we’re going to have to be very careful about being seen.”
“No one will see me.” Darius was adamant, but Connor knew Dar had little control over onlookers. He could only be careful and hope for the best. At night they would have a better chance of blending into the dark forest, but the sun was strong today.
“I don’t know, Dar. She wanted to be alone.”
“You just said she is hiding. What if she is in danger?”
Connor hadn’t thought of that. “We’ll both go. Fly close to the treetops and watch from above.”
“It is a good strategy,” Darius agreed before shimmering into his dragon form and taking to the sky.
Connor followed in his brother’s wake. They stuck low to the trees, using the dense canopy for cover as best they could. All while searching for a furry white cat with dark spots, pointy ears and a long, lush tail.
“I see her.” Darius was clinging to the top of a sturdy pine, high above the forest floor.
Connor latched on to a nearby tree as lightly as he could, trying not to rustle the leaves or make any other betraying sounds. The big cat prowled over the forest floor, pausing just once, its ears swiveling. Thankfully, she didn’t look up.
The cat turned into a streak of white fur as it took off at an unbelievably fast pace through the maze of tree trunks far below. Both dragons took to the air, following close behind, watching over her from above.
“She is faster than I would have thought,” Connor commented to his twin.
“Like an arrow of lightning,” Darius agreed. “Even flying, it is a challenge to keep up with her.”
“And she is hampered by the trees. I wonder what speeds she could attain on open land?”
“It boggles the mind.”
At length, she paused in a small clearing, climbing onto a large boulder to take a look around. She wasn’t even breathing hard.
“That’s our mate, Dar. She is something to behold, isn’t she?”
They both heard her surprisingly musical growl just before she looked up. Her tail twitched as she looked directly at the trees to which the dragons were clinging. She knew they were there.
Caught, the dragons drifted to earth in the clearing, shifting when they touched ground. Josie shifted too.
“You followed me?”
“We were concerned for your safety,” Darius began as Connor cringed.
“She will not take that well, brother,” he sent silently.
“Why not? Most women would be flattered by an offer of protection.”
“Have you not noticed our mate is independent to a fault?”
“I’ve run in these woods for years and never had a problem.” She looked annoyed, as Connor had predicted. “But you two. What were you thinking? You could have been seen. Do you know what would happen if someone with a camera caught you on film? These woods would be filled with news crews and UFO hunters before the day was through.”
“What is a camera?” Darius asked.
“Oh Lord.” Josie made a face and held one hand to her forehead as if she were in pain. Clearly, she was not pleased with them. “Look, it’s dangerous for you to be seen. Let’s go back to the cabin, and I’ll show you what a camera is.”
She shifted and was off like a shot. The twins did the same, following her path as quickly as they could.
The men were amazed by her photos, her camera and all the other entertainment equipment she showed them over the next hour. They loved the television, as she’d expected. They all watched the news report together, and she had a heck of a time explaining all kinds of things they weren’t familiar with including the satellite dish that allowed her to get television signals way out here in the sticks. Wherever the twins were from, it was very different from here.
“You said dragon shifters were rare in your world. Just how rare?” Connor asked.
“So rare they are only legend,” she admitted. “There are ancient tales about dragons, but nothing more. Snowcats are rare. Dragons are nonexistent. I shudder to think what would happen if somebody actually saw you in dragon form. You’d be hunted. Stalked. You wouldn’t be safe.”
Both twins seemed to think hard on her words. Neither looked happy.
“Then how are we to stay here? It would be difficult to fly if dragons are never seen in your skies.” Connor turned to his twin, dismay on his face mixing with determination to find some kind of solution.
“We could only fly at night.”
“With no moon.”
“In unpopulated areas.”
“It will be difficult, but not impossible.”
Her head whirled at the rapid fire sharing of thoughts. As twins they were probably used to finishing each other’s sentences. She’d have to get accustomed to the way they worked together. As a rule, she was much slower to process things and habitually methodical. She always thought things through every permutation before voicing her ideas. In fact, she’d been musing quite a bit about the twin dragons and their fate here.
“The more I think about your situation, the more I believe we need to go to Tibet to see my grandfather. He might be able to help us.”
“Tibet?” Connor looked at her hopefully. “Is it within flying distance? We could go tonight. There is no moon.”
“Flying distance, yes. But probably not for a dragon. It will take a day or so to get there by airplane and before we can get you out of the country, I’ll have to pull some strings to get papers for you. Or something. I’ve never tried to smuggle non-citizens across borders before. I’ll have to call for help.”
“Who would you call?” Darius looked suspicious.
“There are other Clans of cat shifters in the area. As I said, snowcats are rare and revered by most of the other big cats. If I ask the leader—we call him the Alphafor help, most likely he’ll help, though I’ve never revealed myself or my Clan affiliation to them. I’ve preferred to be a loner. Being snowcat causes problems sometimes. The younger and smaller felines tend to hang on your every word when they realize what you are, and that’s too much responsibility for little ol’ me.” She shrugged. She’d never voiced her thoughts on the subject aloud before, but the men seemed to understand. “And I’m only half snowcat. I wasn’t raised fully immersed in the Tibetan culture. I’m not as wise as most of the others. Or half as mysterious.”
Darius put an arm around her shoulders. “You are perfect to us, love. Never doubt yourself.”
She hugged him back, a little embarrassed at having revealed her secret doubts about herself, but glad to have his understanding.
“Let me make a few calls. We’ll probably have to go meet the Clan Alpha so he can check us out.”
“We’ll meet with whoever you wish, if you think it will help,” Connor assured her.
Chapter Four
They dined that night on venison that had been stored in Josie’s freezer. One of the twins held it in his hands for a few minutes to thaw it out. It was amazing how closely their dragon power was linked to them, even in human form. Josie had never seen anything like it.
Sure, she had keener eyesight, better hearing and a more acute sense of smell than normal humans, but the snowcat side of her nature seemed to be more separate than either of the twins’ dragon sides. Josie had sharper senses while in human form, while the twins could actually call heat and flame. That was something more magical than Josie had ever seen, even during her time in Tibet.
Her grandfather’s people had nothing on these dragon men. They were the dragon, and the dragon was them. It seemed a more intimate twining of soul and identity than she was used to in her own experience. Her snowcat resided in her and when the snowcat came out, she resided in it—separate and distinct.
The dragon twins didn’t seem to understand that differentiation. It was alien to them. Which made it fascinating to her.
Connor and Darius were surprisingly good in the kitchen, once they were shown how the appliances worked. Josie lived simply, conserving fuel and battery power. She had to rely on solar energy for her electricity. On cloudy days, she didn’t always get a full charge on her batteries, so she had learned to be frugal. As a result, she didn’t have a whole lot of appliances that required juice—either electric or gas.
She used the electricity mainly for lighting and entertainment, but she did have a few small electric appliances like her toaster and microwave. The stove was gas, and she had unpowered backups for almost every necessity. Hurricane lamps with full reservoirs of lamp oil stood ready should she need them, along with cords of wood for the fireplace. She could cook over it too, in a pinch, as the twins had tried to do, but she left that for true emergencies. So far, she’d never had to try it.
Leaving the kitchen with dinner preparations well underway, Josie placed a call she never thought to make. She’d had the man’s number for over a year, just in case, but hadn’t planned to use it. Tonight, it seemed, would be a first.
She called the Alpha of the local cougar Clan.
Getting through to him was easier than she’d expected. Cougars, being native to North America, affiliated themselves mostly with the were population rather than the more exotic cat shifters. Just the same, they kept themselves somewhat apart from the werewolves and other werecreatures, straddling the line between the cat shifters and the weres in a delicate dance of dominance.
The local leader of the cougar Clan was located a few hours from Portland. They had a Clan house and property on one side of the Columbia River Gorge and it was there, they agreed, that Darius, Connor and she would meet the Alpha the next day. She’d had to out herself in order to gain an audience with the man. Since moving to her cabin, she had resisted alerting any shifters to her presence in the area.
This Alpha knew she wasn’t a cougar. She didn’t have any affiliation among the North American Clans. In order to establish herself, she’d had to tell him exactly what she was. Subterfuge was not welcome by most Alphas. He had accepted her claims with guarded interest and seemed willing to meet to discuss her problems further. Unspoken was the knowledge that if she proved she was who she said she was, her life here would never be the same. The cougars would talk. She may have just given up her privacy for the twins’ sake, but what was done was done.
Josie disconnected the call with mixed feelings. She knew she needed help if she was going to get the twins to her grandfather, but she wasn’t sure of this Alpha. She’d never met the man, though he had a good reputation. She hoped she could trust him.
She also hoped he and his Clan members would be able to handle having a snowcat among them. Once other shifters found out what she was, they tended to get weird around her. Snowcats had a reputation for being closer to the spirits and more magical than most other shifters. It was something her grandfather and his followers did their best to encourage and maintain. As far as Josie was concerned, the reverence in which snowcats were held was only partially earned.
