Page 1

Chapter

One

“Hey, guys. Check this out.” Corbin called him and Cullen over, so Cosmo dutifully went with it, leaving his paintbrush balanced on the can of purple paint he was using to coat the gate. He loved the southwest tradition of using that color to ward off evil spirits, and he figured Pagosa Springs qualified as southwest.

Right?

“What’s up, bro?” Cosmo asked, coming to peer over Corbin’s shoulder. Or around it. The jolly fucking green giant was hard to see over. They might be triplets, but he was pretty sure they were fraternal. One way or the other, Corbin took after their dad.

“I’m growing gooseberries, raspberries, and wild strawberries.”

“Yay. That bodes well for jelly in late summer, hmm?” And mixed berry pies. He did love those. Or cobblers. Uhn.

“It does.” Corbin beamed at him. And we’ll have rose hips too. For tea and jelly. This place is really amazing. I mean, it’s been abandoned for a bit, but the plants and soil were just waiting for someone to come along and love them again.” Corbin turned back to his plants, waving his hands at them.

“Cool.” He felt that way about the house proper. It went deep into the mountain now, and there was a way, if one knew how, to get to the land across the veil, both the dragon dimension of Lunastra and the Land of Summer.

And since he and his brothers were both half dragon and half fae… Well, this house was the perfect gateway between all the worlds. This was their place. Their calling.

“Neat.” Cullen flicked a hand and an illusion of a shower of rose petals floated through the air. “I love rose hip jelly.”

Cosmo chuckled and shook his head, swallowing his jealousy. He had skills, sure, but they weren’t as impressive as Cullen’s. “Show off.”

“For all the good it’s done me,” Cullen scoffed.

He shook his head. “Your damn illusion talent has saved our bacon more than once.” Not too long ago, they’d all worked for an alpha dragon named Gavin, doing rescue for dragons and other folks who needed their special skills. And Cullen’s talent came in very, very handy. Way more in that profession than his and Corbin’s.

“Yeah. It’s weird, isn’t it? Being…here?” Cullen had been the one that was most worried about ending up in the Halloran house. This house had a reputation.

Dragons had died here.

Been murdered here.

It was more than a little “weird.”

“It’s our job to make it not strange,” Corbin said, stroking the leaves of a plant, which rose up toward his touch. “And you guys are doing amazing on the house and the porches and all. I love the purple.”

“We’re trying.” They had also called upon Lady Arian to come and bless the house, to clear some of the energy in it.

“Mmm.” Cullen shrugged, looking dubious. “There are still a few rooms I don’t love.”

“Then they need more cleansing. Cosmo?” Corbin looked at him.

“Yeah. I’ll have to see what I can do…” He wasn’t the best at this, but he had a little talent in his own way, and he was awfully available.

“Cool. That’s settled then.” Corbin turned back to his plants, and Cosmo chuckled, moving over to pick up his paintbrush.

The moment he touched it to the gate, he felt the lightning sensation running up his arms and into his brain that meant he was about to have a vision. Crap. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out, and he knew he was going down.

This was a doozy.

A huge black shadow covered the sky, a streak of fire splitting the air and setting the world alight. He ducked, knowing if that fire touched him it would burn him alive.

He tried to call a warning to his brothers, but nothing would come out. Just white noise.

He shook his head, wanting to ward it off by running into the house, but something kept pulling him toward the sky.

There was nothing he could do, nothing at all. The dragon was reaching for him, the huge beast relentless, claws outstretched.