Page 11 of Magic Betrayed (The Shifter of Sheridan Avenue #2)

ELEVEN

I don’t know how long we huddled there with the dragon shielding me from the heat, but as the fire seemed to burn itself lower and lower, I once again felt that echo in my mind—not truly audible, but still clear.

Callum was begging me not to fall asleep. He was going to shift back.

My eyes were already closed, so there was no chance of me seeing anything, but I could feel when the bulk of the dragon vanished. Heard the sound of breathing—harsh and labored. The small whispers and rustles as he pulled on his hastily discarded clothing.

Then his voice. I was so happy to hear his voice.

“We need to move. In case they come back.”

He sounded exhausted, and I recalled what he’d told me earlier—that only the strongest shifters could shift twice in one day, and afterwards… they collapsed.

I couldn’t afford to just lie here. We were alone and exposed, and if we were ambushed, neither of us would have the strength to do anything about it.

So I opened my eyes and pushed up on trembling arms. Today, we were all each other had, so we were going to have to keep each other safe. Somehow.

The shapeshifter king dropped to one knee beside me, and I scanned him quickly for injuries. His pullover was on backwards, and his stubbled jaw was clenched in fury and stubbornness, but there was no sign of blood or pain. Only the reflection of my own loss echoing back at me from his amber eyes, alongside a swell of relief mingled with determination. He wasn’t going to collapse until we were safe.

“Raine.”

And then his hand was cupping my face—warm and somehow steady—as his gaze seemed to pierce straight through me.

“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

“No.” I couldn’t seem to come up with more words. Not when he was touching me. Not when he was looking at me with that bright, peculiar expression that said…

No. I refused to let my hopes run away with me. “I’m okay.”

A sense of deep satisfaction welled up from somewhere outside myself.

“Five of them, Raine.” His eyes glowed faintly. “You took on five of them and won.”

More like I’d stalled them until I could free the dragon, but I was willing to take the win.

“Thank you for saving me… again.” My voice rasped and shook in the aftermath of so much adrenaline.

“You saved me first.”

Somehow, every time the two of us were together, we ended up almost dying.

“We need to stop doing this.”

Callum’s hand dropped as a bit of a growl rumbled from his chest. “Doing what? Winning?”

That’s what I got for hanging out with dragons. “No, that part I’m good with. But I’d like to skip the near-death experiences, starting now.”

He just shrugged, as if near-death experiences were on par with gnats or unexpected rain showers or stepping in gum in a parking lot. “I’m afraid you may not be able to escape those entirely. The important things are being prepared to defend yourself and knowing who to trust at your back. And Raine?” He caught my gaze and held it pointedly. “I trust you. No matter who I was facing, if I could only choose one person to have my back? I would choose you.”

My heart tried to stop, and I could only sit there blinking stupidly as I attempted to process his words. It was an utterly insane thing to say. He could call on help from other dragons. A winged assassin. A fae prince. Some of the most influential Idrians on the planet were among his friends. So what did he mean by saying that he would choose me ?

Maybe a more important question was, what did I want him to mean? And did I even have the energy to figure that out?

“Car,” I managed to say, changing the subject to something a little less fraught. “Safer.”

He took my arm. Somehow pulled me to my feet, and together, we staggered to the SUV. Opened the rear door and crawled in.

I didn’t have enough energy to pull myself up onto one of the seats—not to mention the leather was white and I was covered in mud—so I simply stayed on the floor, setting my back against the front of the seat and stretching my legs out towards the cab. Callum followed, shut the door, locked it, and then collapsed on his side next to me.

Thanks to the custom interior, there was a lot more open floor than normal, but it was still cramped with six and a half feet of muscled shapeshifter sharing the space.

“Have to stay awake.” Callum’s words were slurred, and I could feel his body going limp beside me. “Call Ryker.”

Call Ryker. I didn’t have a phone.

“Callum, where is your phone?”

He went silent for a moment.

“Dropped it.”

So the phone was outside somewhere—maybe lost in the mud—and we had no way to ask for help. Hopefully, whenever the tow truck got here, the driver would call someone.

Well, more than likely they would call the human emergency services, and we would be in an absolute crap ton of trouble for creating a brand new sinkhole, setting a van on fire, and disturbing the peace.

But it was difficult to be very afraid of these consequences when I was limp with exhaustion and floating on a sea of emotions I couldn’t seem to bring under control.

We’d won the fight.

But we’d lost the van.

We were exhausted and vulnerable.

But Callum was lying beside me.

His bulk was somehow warm and reassuring, even as he slipped towards unconsciousness. And with him this close…

It was impossible not to be reminded of the almost magnetic attraction I’d felt when I first saw him—an attraction that time had neither softened nor diminished.

He was still gorgeous. Utter physical perfection in my eyes. Only now I knew that he was also caring, protective, responsible, dependable, and gentle when the occasion called for it. He loved his family, cared about injustice, and knew how to apologize when he was wrong.

And he trusted me, even when it made no sense.

Kes had seen it coming. My own heart had tried to tell me, but I’d silenced it to protect myself.

Only now—when I was too tired for denial—was I willing to admit that I was completely, stupidly in love with a stubborn, responsible, rule-following, pain-in-the-ass dragon.

I wanted Callum-ro-Deverin, and I could never, ever have him. Thanks to Leith, King of the Wildkin Court, I knew all of the reasons why I would never be acceptable as Callum’s… anything.

He had the reputation of the dragon royal family to think about. His position as shapeshifter king. True, shapeshifters didn’t always mate with their own kind, but with Kira marrying a half-fae, there was more political pressure on Callum to choose a proper dragon as his partner.

Also, there was my criminal history to consider. A human walking around with four different kinds of stolen magic had no business considering herself a potential partner for one of the most prominent Idrians in the country.

So. It wasn’t like anything could ever come of this. But I was exhausted, and my boundaries were weak, so for once, I didn’t try to stop myself from embracing the moment.

We were together. And despite the mud and the cold, the disappointment, and the waning adrenaline, for the moment, all was well. Being this close to him—having him rest beside me in perfect contentment—was at once exhilarating and comforting. Completely safe. Safe enough to finally let go and let my exhaustion carry me off to sleep.

* * *

I awakened to the sound of beeping. A warm, heavy weight rested on my lap, and my fingers were tangled in something soft.

When my eyes cracked open, I saw lights flashing and heard voices approaching the SUV.

Right. We’d found the van. Fought mercenaries. Callum had shifted, the van exploded, then we’d crawled back into the SUV and passed out, despite my best intentions.

I looked down, and my heart almost stopped.

Somehow, in his sleep, Callum’s head had ended up in my lap. My fingers were resting on his beautiful auburn hair, and his arm stretched across my legs, almost hugging them.

My heart pounded as I stared at him—his face relaxed in sleep, dark eyelashes stark against his skin, stubble grown out to shadow his jaw. Utterly vulnerable, trusting me to keep him safe.

I should wake him up. Should disentangle us before whoever was out there found us in a decidedly compromising position. But I couldn’t bring myself to move. Didn’t want this unforeseen and impossible moment to end.

But end it did, and I heard the locks click just before the door was yanked open with enough force to strain the hinges. A bright, focused light flashed into my eyes, and as I shielded my face with my hand, I could make out a bearlike form looming in the open door.

Still not Sasquatch, sadly.

“They’re here!” Faris’s voice was a deep, angry rumble and I smiled in spite of myself. Where I had once been terrified of that sound, somehow, the cranky elemental now just sounded like home, family, and safety.

He lowered the flashlight and looked me up and down, taking in the mud and Callum’s limp form.

“Are the two of you utterly incapable of being left alone without creating some kind of disaster?” he grumbled. “How is he?”

“He shifted twice in a day,” I explained, and saw Faris’s gaze sharpen. “But I don’t think he’s hurt.”

The only answer forthcoming was a grunt. Then, “What happened out here?”

“Mercenaries.”

Faris’s eyes glowed green in response.

“There were five of them. They were after the van, just like we were. Linked it to Kes. Blew it up just so we couldn’t use it to find her first.”

He didn’t seem surprised by this information, so I suspected Kira must have filled him in on my revelations about Kes.

“And the sinkhole?”

“That was, uh…” I swallowed. “That was me. A drus ambushed Callum, and I had to find a way to hold them off.”

One of his eyebrows rose. “Pretty damned smart. Except for the part where it came just a little too close to destabilizing a critical piece of the city’s water supply.”

Well, crap. “How do I fix it?”

He huffed. “ You don’t. Luckily, you know someone who can rebuild the underlying structures that keep the water where it belongs.”

Meaning himself.

I let out a long, relieved breath. “Thank you, Faris. I’m sorry to keep causing problems for you. I swear I didn’t mean to break anything.”

“You were just trying not to die?”

I shrugged. “If it’s any consolation, I’d prefer to avoid these situations, too.”

Faris grunted again, this time in what sounded like agreement, and indicated Callum with a jerk of his chin. “Shall I remove my nephew?”

My hesitation was just long enough to produce a knowing gleam in my boss’s eyes.

“Just hang tight. We’ll get what’s left of the van onto the flatbed, and then drive you back into the city.”

He started to turn away, then reached into his pocket and tossed me a phone. “Found this on the ground. You can give it to him when he wakes up.”

Then he shut the door, and I relaxed once again, feeling the exhaustion creep back up my limbs and tug at my eyelids. Callum hadn’t been kidding about the toll healing took. Even after a nap, I didn’t feel even close to recovered.

“What time is it?”

My heart rate skyrocketed at the unexpected sound of Callum’s voice—a sleepy rumble that made me want to stroke his hair and soothe him back to sleep.

But I managed to yank my hand away, face flaming with embarrassment, before I betrayed any of the feelings currently rioting in my chest.

“No clue,” I admitted. “Were you just pretending not to be awake?”

“Still asleep,” he mumbled.

I felt my heart crack a little, and admitted to myself that Sleepy Callum was utterly adorable. Weird thing to think about the most powerful shapeshifter in North America, but I wasn’t going to take it back.

“Don’t worry,” I said quietly. “You can keep sleeping. We’ll take you home.”

His whole body shifted closer, as if to reassure himself that I was still there—that we were, indeed, safe—and then he seemed to relax again.

On the floor beside me, Callum’s phone buzzed. I almost ignored it, but then realized that it might be something urgent, so I picked it up to glance at the screen.

There was a text alert.

From Grandma Pearl.

A surge of anger momentarily pushed back my exhaustion, and I glared at the screen for a moment before coming to a decision. Normally, I wouldn’t dream of looking at someone else’s texts, but I needed to know if I was right—if she’d sold information to the mercenary crew.

So—not without a twinge of guilt—I used Callum’s fingerprint to unlock it, then tapped on the messages icon.

There were three texts, and then a slightly blurry photo.

my business is information and all information is for sale

i’m sure you understand

but i feel that a warning might have been more fair

consider this a partial refund

So I was right. And maybe Callum had expected it, but I still seethed with fury. Whatever she’d sent, it couldn’t possibly repay us for the loss of our only lead.

I tapped on the photo. It was a head on picture of the white van, before its destruction. We’d seen similar ones before, at Grandma Pearl’s, with two people sitting in the front.

Except this time, the driver was unmasked and looking straight at the camera.

Adrenaline shot through me as I stared at the picture. It was a little blurry, true, but not so much so that this person would be unrecognizable. She was probably about my age, with medium brown skin and dark hair either pinned up or in braids. Her expression was grim—almost hunted—and something… something about her seemed familiar, even though I didn’t think I’d ever seen her before.

But even if I hadn’t, someone had to know who she was, which meant…

We had a new lead.

A long sigh escaped me as my head fell back and my eyes shut once more. This wasn’t over. Wasn’t a complete disaster as I’d feared. I could rest, knowing that there was still a way.

Sleep claimed me, with a tiny smile on my lips, and my fingers resting gently on Callum’s hair. I might regret my boldness later, but I was too tired to move.

Right.

That was the only reason…

* * *

The next time I woke up, I was in a bed that wasn’t mine.

Again.

Sunlight was glimmering through the slats of modern looking shutters, leaving patterns on the gray bedspread. The rest of the room seemed sterile and unlived in—also completely unfamiliar.

Again.

I really had to stop doing this.

“You’re awake!”

At least the voice was someone I knew.

Kira was leaning into the room, gripping the door frame for balance and watching me with wide, hopeful eyes.

“How are you feeling?”

Battered. Anxious. Sore. But most of all…

“Is Callum okay?”

A faint smirk appeared on Kira’s lips before she seemed to catch herself and smooth it away. “He’s fine.” She straightened and strolled into the room. “The double shift just wiped out his energy stores, but he’s up and growling at people.” Her head tilted to the side and her eyes narrowed. “And his first question when he woke up was whether you were okay. Is there something you’d like to share with the class?”

Her question took me straight back to the moment Callum had touched my face. Demanded to know if I was okay, and told me he trusted me to have his back.

True, it was far from a declaration of love, and some might not even find it all that romantic. But my heart kept insisting that his actions meant something .

“Like what?” Part of me wanted to spill everything and ask her for advice. She’d already confided that she thought there might be something between us, and that the idea, for whatever reason, delighted her. But how embarrassing would it be if I poured out my heart and my hopes and then found out that Callum had no actual interest in me?

“Raine.” Kira crossed the room and sat on the foot of the bed. “Have the two of you not talked about this at all?”

I shook my head tentatively.

“Then I’m going to smack my brother upside the head until he starts behaving like a grownup.” Her frown grew decidedly fierce. “The vibes between you two are so thick, they’ve started to feel like…” Her words trailed off.

Like what? I was desperate to know, while being simultaneously terrified to ask.

“Anyway, he’s here.”

Thank you, for dropping that bomb while I was still wrestling with my wayward heart.

“And where is… here?”

“Faris and Morghaine’s. It’s quiet during the day since they’re off dealing with the city health department, and big enough for both of you to recover while someone kept an eye on you. And before you protest that you don’t require babysitting, we had the medic come in to check on you both, and she warned that you would need a lot of rest. Didn’t want you waking up and taking off unsupervised.”

I gave her my most convincing “Who, me?” face.

“Whatever. You would have been out that door the minute you could walk, and you know it.”

Yes, probably. And I couldn’t decide whether I loved or hated that she knew that about me.

“Anyway, Callum wants to talk to you as soon as you feel up to it.”

That sentence was enough to send a jolt of adrenaline racing through my limbs. I scrambled out of bed, stood up, and discovered that—once again—I was wearing someone else’s pajamas.

It was probably a bad sign that I instantly wished the pajamas I was wearing were Callum’s.

Also, I really, really wanted to stop waking up in strange places wearing unfamiliar clothes.

“I’m up,” I said, with a brisk confidence that was miles from the truth. “And I need to talk to him, too.”

Kira looked me over for a moment as if trying to make sure that I wasn’t about to fall over, then tossed me a hoodie. “Sorry about changing your clothes again. You were covered in mud and blood, and I didn’t think you’d want to wake up that way.”

“And I’m sorry about ruining your clothing and constantly needing to be brought home and put to bed like a toddler,” I said dryly. “I swear I’m going to break this habit as soon as possible.”

She laughed. “A pretty common occurrence for shapeshifters, I’m afraid. You’ll probably end up getting a lot more comfortable waking up in weird places wearing whatever clothes are available. Or you could always start carrying around extra outfits. Most shapeshifters do—kind of like a mom with a diaper bag.”

Yep, all of that would take some getting used to.

“Come on.” She headed for the door and beckoned me after her with a jerk of her head. “I’ll make you some tea while you guys talk.”

I pulled the hoodie on over a t-shirt featuring a band I’d never heard of, smoothed my hair back as surreptitiously as possible, and followed her out of the room.

We ended up in a wide hallway decorated with an oddly shaped mirror and half a dozen impersonal art prints—almost like a hotel. There were several other doors—all closed—and at the end of the hall, a set of stairs leading down. All of it was filled with natural light from numerous windows, and I couldn’t help feeling a little subdued as I was reminded of the vast difference between my own circumstances and those of everyone helping me.

My closest allies were two kings, a princess, her consort, and a royal heir, and then there was me—a criminal human refugee living on the generosity of others.

Lucky thing I’d been forced to bury my pride ages ago, or it would have been smarting with the reminder of the yawning gap between us. As it was? I would use every scrap of power and influence they were willing to lend me if it meant bringing Kes and the kids home.

The stairs opened into a bright, modern living space with massive, floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over downtown. The open floor plan was simple and sleek, done mostly in gray and red, with black leather couches and a black dining room table. It appeared barely lived in, except for the stainless steel and black kitchen, which showed evidence of habitation—a coffeemaker, an electric kettle, two plants, a couple of abandoned mugs, and a frying pan on the range. The kitchen island was even messier, with a stack of papers, a laptop computer, a steaming mug of what—knowing Kira—was probably tea, and…

A dragon.

A gorgeous, grumpy dragon with messy hair, just the right amount of stubble, and an endearing frown on his lips…

I slapped myself mentally, just as said dragon spotted us and almost fell off his barstool.

But even as I was busy berating myself for the direction of my thoughts, our eyes met, and the most astonishing thing happened. For the first time since I’d known him… the dragon blushed.

Oh no. Was he remembering last night? The way he’d put his head in my lap while he slept? Recalling the things he’d said to me? Or worse, the fact that I’d been running my fingers through his hair?

Or was he just feeling embarrassed about being ambushed and taken out of the fight by a single drus and a bunch of tree roots?

No matter how badly I wanted to know, I was way too chicken to ask, so I went with a more practical inquiry.

“Was it as bad as it looked?” I tucked my hair behind my ear and hoped I sounded more brisk and businesslike than I felt.

When Callum just looked puzzled, I clarified.

“The van. Was everything completely destroyed?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” He glowered at nothing in particular, then held up his phone. “You saw the picture?”

I winced. “I did. I’m sorry. I swear I don’t normally read people’s messages, but when I saw who it was from, I just…”

“I’m not upset,” he assured me. “I just wanted to know that you’re okay. None of us knew, or even could’ve guessed. We’ve called her family, but…”

He paused at the puzzled look on my face. “You didn’t recognize her.”

I shook my head, feeling the uncomfortable weight of dread begin to grow behind my heart. “Should I have?”

“Maybe not.” His forehead creased in thought. “I always meant to ask whether you might have seen her in the fae prison, but there was so much going on that I forgot.”

My heart began to pound. “Who, Callum? Who is she?”

“It’s Chesney,” he said softly. “Chesney Bradshaw.”

I knew that name…

Talia. The elemental queen. Chesney was her daughter’s name.

The woman driving the van—the one who had taken Kes and nearly killed me—was the missing princess of the Elemental Court.