Page 27 of The Dragon Shifters’ Enemy (Dragon’s Reign #7)

“Of course!” Tez shook his head emphatically. “In a way, revealing ourselves to the humans was exactly what some of us needed. Valerius, for one. Hiding up in the mountains. Not speaking to anyone. It wasn’t good for him.”

Caden glanced over at the Black Dragon King.

He and Esme were in deep discussion over a journal they’d found.

He felt a warm mental caress from Valerius.

Caden reached back for him and it was like they were mentally holding hands.

Caden looked back at Mei, feeling calmer and safer than ever.

Valerius was with him. Nothing could hurt him.

“Hiding who one is, who one truly is, grates,” Illarion stated, which was one of the truest things that Caden had ever heard from him.

“Now we rule because we are out in the open and our true nature is revealed. We should have done it ages ago. The world would not have gotten into such a mess if we had.”

And that, too, is an Illarion truth, Caden thought mirthlessly.

“You said you found something to connect Humans First with the Faith, Mei?” Caden asked.

“I am making educated guesses from what I am seeing here. It will take some time to go through everything. But these fools made lists,” Mei said with a rather cruel smile on her lips, “of the Shifter types they wanted to be.”

“What?!” Caden’s eyes widened. “Humans First… uh, they hate Shifters.”

“No, they don’t. They hate feeling powerless,” Jahara contradicted. “Despite the use of the words hosts and parasites to describe a human and its Spirit, they are jealous and fearful that they will never experience such a joining. And many of them will not.”

“They want what they cannot have. A Spirit can only give itself over. A human cannot simply take one,” Anwar agreed.

“That would be horrible if they could!” Tez blinked rapidly. “Like slavery! Eldoron is very displeased!”

Caden thought of the eager Spirits that had lined the route to High Reach when Anwar had arrived. They had desperately wanted to join with humans. Would they turn away a chance to do so? Would they consider it enslavement? Or a chance to finally enjoy the material world?

“Yes, well, they thought that they had gotten around that,” Mei said as she clicked around on the laptop. “Someone promised them that they could become Shifters, and not just any Shifters, but ones they wanted to be.”

“Seriously?” Caden’s eyebrows rose.

“Yes, they’ve even assigned hierarchies of Shifters.

Dragons on the top of course,” Mei chuckled.

“It appears that they assigned the levels by their idea of perceived physical strength with Werewolves, Lion, Tiger and Bear Shifters as directly under us. Chione will be annoyed as Sphinxes are third tier! Unicorn Shifters are way on the bottom. I suppose these bigots assumed one had to be a virgin to be one of those and virginity is not something they would want to admit still having.”

“What did Jasper want to be?” Caden asked. “A Dragon, I suppose.”

“His name is not on here, but I think this is his computer so he didn’t need to write down his choice,” Mei answered. “None on this list chose Dragon, or perhaps they were not allowed to do so. They were, after all, the followers not the leaders.”

“Is… is Landry’s name there?” Caden asked after a long moment.

“Even if her name is there, Caden, it could only mean that she went along with them,” Jahara pointed out and touched his nearest arm. “It doesn’t mean she was truly loyal to them.”

“I know, but I’m curious,” Caden admitted, but he was glad of Jahara’s possible explanation. He hadn’t thought of that.

Mei’s lips curled into a genuine smile. “She is. She wanted to be a Fox Shifter.”

“A fox?” Caden blinked. “Oh, she loved anime and kitsunes were her favorite.”

“Yes.” Mei nodded. “That makes sense. Foxes are quiet, curious and intelligent. It is a choice that shows imagination unlike the rest of these people. Werewolf. Werewolf. Tiger. Lion. Panther. Tcha! That is not how this works. Not at all. I cannot believe they thought this would work!”

Caden looked at the wall. “Do you think they believed that if they were in front of the wall when the Behemoth opened the door between the realms that they’d be joined with a Spirit? Did they think the Spirits would just come through and… and join with them, but this happened instead?”

“That might be what they believed,” Valerius said. “But if they did, clearly, they were wrong.”

Valerius came up behind Caden, but the gentle touch of his mind alerted Caden to his presence before he put his hands on Caden’s waist. Caden leaned back into him.

Esme stood to Caden’s right with a leather-bound journal in her hand.

It looked old and worn as if it had been held by many people over the years.

“This journal has been passed down for generations of seekers to the answer of where the Spirits come from, how they join with humans, and which kind.” Esme held up the journal like it was an exhibit. “At least, that is what I can tell from a very brief perusal.”

“Jasper’s family had this?” Caden asked, his brow furrowing.

But Esme shook her head. “I do not think so. This is a person of the Faith. Not Jasper Hawes.”

“Mei, we need to see who Jasper was communicating with,” Valerius requested of the Red Dragon Queen.

She nodded. “I haven’t gone into his emails yet. There is so much alone on this drive. It will take time to go through everything.” She shut the computer and stood up before picking the computer up and tucking it under her arm. “And I would rather be doing that with a glass of wine.”

Esme turned some of the journal’s pages. “I rather agree, dear. There are clues who the person, or rather persons, behind this are in these pages as well. I think it will require some time to parse it all out.”

“What are we going to do about this wall?” Illarion gestured to the wall. “If it is some door into the Spirit Realm that the Behemoth can access, I think we should destroy it.”

“No!” Caden cried. “We don’t know if those people are… are truly gone! What if the Behemoth returns and they’re transformed?”

Valerius tightened his hands on his waist. “Destroying the wall is not an option. Not right now.”

Caden looked up at him gratefully, but the “now” part of it worried him.

What are you thinking, Valerius? Caden asked over their bond.

That only if we can locate all of the walls and destroy all of them except the one or ones we want it to use, the Behemoth will be forced to come to us, Valerius answered.

Illarion scoffed, “You want to have a backdoor that your enemy can use?”

“You’re assuming this is the only wall in my territory,” Valerius told him. “I highly doubt that actually. The Behemoth is too big for this cavern.”

“You think it couldn’t crack open your little mountain range here, if it chose?” Illarion shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest.

“I am certain it could, but that would take time and that would give us an edge on it,” Valerius answered. “So I imagine that there is another wall somewhere more… optimal.”

“We defeated it before,” Esme pointed out. “It ended up with mass destruction, but the Behemoth was conquered… for a time. I don’t think it wants that again.”

“No, but we don’t want that either,” Caden said with a grimace.

“We will have this place monitored 24/7,” Valerius said grimly. “If the Behemoth comes back here, we will know. And perhaps… Perhaps these people can be saved if they are not lost forever.”

Caden did look at Landry then. Was she conscious? Frozen in there? He didn’t know what he hoped.

“I still think you’re insane for leaving this, Valerius,” Illarion growled.

“Noted. I think we should all head back to High Reach for now,” Valerius said. “There’s nothing more we can do here.”

“There likely are walls just like this one all over the world. In our territories. And we are here,” Mei murmured.

“So we all go back to our territories and frantically hunt for blank walls?” Esme shook her head. “That is a fool’s errand. We need to understand more about them to know how to locate them and how to destroy them. That’s best done together . We figure this out and we make a plan.”

“Esme is right,” Valerius said. “We need to stay together.”

“You might be afraid of the Behemoth, but I am not,” Illarion huffed his dismissal.

“He wiped the floor with you last time,” Tez barked out a laugh. “We all saw it. Every single one of us!”

Illarion’s eyes narrowed and his fists clenched. “While we are here , protecting Valerius’ territory, that thing could be in ours!”

“We would have heard if a Hydra appeared and started hurting the populace,” Kaila pointed out.

“That is not the point!” Illarion roared.

“Then what is the point, Illarion?” Jahara asked. “Are you afraid if you are gone too long that your populace will rebel?”

His eyes were like slits now.

“The harder you hold onto your people, the more they will slip between your fingers,” Jahara stated.

“Ah, let him go!” Tez waved a hand through the air. “He is no use with plans or research. And we managed to kill the Behemoth without him anyway.”

Illarion lunged towards Tez. Caden didn’t remember moving but he was, suddenly, between them.

One of his hands was on Illarion’s chest, holding him back, while the other was pushing Tez away.

Everyone stared at him open-mouthed. Only Valerius seemed unsurprised, but he did have an eyebrow raised.

But none were more surprised than Illarion.

“Get out of my way, Caden!” Illarion spat. “The golden idiot over there needs to get his head smashed against a wall a few times.”

“As if you could!” Tez cried. “Eldoron--”

“STOP! Both of you!” Caden hardly recognized his own voice. Frost filled the air, streaming from his nose and mouth. “This is not the way. We can’t be at each other’s throats like this!”

“This fight has been centuries in the making,” Illarion growled.

“Then it can wait a few more!” Caden growled right back.

Illarion’s eyes widened a fraction. Tez let out a laugh that turned into a cough.

“Tez is wrong , Illarion,” Caden told the Green Dragon King. “We need you and Mephous.”

Illarion pursed his lips. “My territory--”

“Will be all right for a few more days at least,” Caden told him. “Give us a chance to figure this all out. Help us make a plan. After this is all done, you can wait another 30 years before you see us again.”

“Thirty years is not enough,” Illarion said, but Caden knew he was going to stay.

For now, at least.

“Well, now that this is settled, I am heading for the helicopter. Wine is needed,” Esme said as she took Tez’s arm. “Come, Tez, we shall drink wine together.”

The others followed after her, leaving Valerius, Illarion and Caden of the Dragon Shifters there. Illarion stared at Caden speculatively. Caden dropped his hand from Illarion’s chest.

“You should not put yourself in my path again, little dragon,” Illarion said to him.

Caden heard Valerius’ fingers crack as he clenched them. But he indicated for Valerius to remain quiet. He looked up into Illarion’s cold eyes.

“I respect you and Mephous, Illarion, and I’m polite in general,” Caden told him and then his voice dropped as he added, “But don’t mistake either of those things as weakness .”

Illarion’s expression went blank for a moment before he suddenly laughed. Not cruelly. But with genuine amusement.

“Little dragon is fierce,” Illarion said. He pointed a finger at Caden’s chest. “I like that about you.” Then he strode out of the cavern, calling after the others, “Who wants vodka?”

Caden’s shoulders sagged and looked over at Valerius. The Black Dragon King’s lips were suspiciously twitching.

“Don’t mistake that for weakness, eh? I rather like that line!” Valerius grinned. Then he grew serious. “But don’t think I won’t rip Mephous’ wings off if Illarion ever touches you.”

Caden grinned at him as the Black Dragon King brought Caden into his arms. He rested his cheek on Valerius’ shoulder and saw Landry’s face in the wall.

“Do you really think she’s gone?” Caden asked.

Valerius drew in a deep breath. “I do not know. But, even if it were possible, I wonder about the cost.”

Caden hugged him. “Yeah, I wonder about that, too.”

“Let’s fly back to High Reach.”

They linked their fingers together and slowly left the cavern. Caden gave Landry one last look. He wondered if he would ever see her again.