Page 74 of Dragon’s Rebel

Chapter 33

They almost missed the dirt road. It was almost completely choked with weeds, and the underbrush had grown out on either side. It looked like no one had driven on it in years.

Maybe not since the investigation into her parents’ death ended.

Thorne was past it before Rebel realized it was there, and had to back up. He turned the SUV and nosed it through the underbrush, ignoring the branches scraping down the sides of the SUV.

This from a man who flinched at sugar icing on his computer monitor. He must really be worried about her. She wished she could summon up the energy to care, but she was still numb. The tall trees overhead seemed to block out all the sun.

After a few hundred yards, the trees thinned and then disappeared altogether, opening up into a large field with knee-high grass.

Thorne stopped the SUV, and Rebel got out.

The field spread out before her, bright with wildflowers, but all she could see was one thing. Twenty feet to her right was the wreck of her family’s trailer, collapsed and overgrown with vines. The whole place was sunny and quiet, except for the twitter of birds and the wind rustling the grass.

But in her mind, it was dark, trees swaying around her. She heard shouting and the hiss and crack of attack spells. Fireworks blossomed in the night, and then that final explosion…

“Rebel? Are you okay?”

She started at Thorne’s voice. It was sunny and quiet again, but she felt cold. She realized he was touching her shoulder, but she could barely feel it. Zane and Blaze stared at her, concern in their eyes.

Witches and magical creatures.

“I’m fine,” she said. “This is the place. This is where fucking rogue witches killed my family.”

There was a short silence as everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to say. Finally Zane said, “I guess we should start scanning the area.”

Blaze touched Rebel on the arm. “Do you want me to teach you the locator spell? It might make sensing the Seal easier for you.”

Rebel jerked away. “I don’t do spells.” She wasn’t a witch. She didn’t do magic. Didn’t they get that? Her skin was itching all over, and she wanted nothing more than to just run far, far away and never come back.

After a few uncertain moments, the other three spread out muttering spells and holding their glowing hands out in front of them, palms down. Scanning the area for any magical signatures that might indicate the Seal was hidden here.

Rebel didn’t buy it. She didn’t know why she didn’t buy it, but somehow now that she was here, she just felt like the Seals weren’t anywhere nearby.

Maybe her parents had never had them. That would be some fucking irony, considering they’d probably died to protect them

They died to protect you.

And that was the worst of it. Because knowing what she did now, it seemed likely that her parents had died because of her and Tempest. Because they were the Keepers of the Seals.

Something none of them had ever wanted.

Anger and bitter rage welled up in her.

Thorne, Zane and Blaze scanned the entire area with their magic, trying to find a hint of the Seals. There was nothing—not under the tall grass, or in the collapsed shed with its rotted remnants of tools and bags of fertilizer. Not underneath the overgrown garden plot.

Not around what was left of the trailer, that had been his mate’s home.

The place where her parents had died.

Thorne could barely concentrate on the locator spell Blaze and Zane had designed, based on the magical frequency of the Dragonfly Seal, which was now safely in Vyrkos’ tomb.

Most of his attention was on Rebel, who was still leaning against the SUV, staring at nothing.

He knew what she was feeling. That was the hell of it—he knew. And he didn’t know what the fuck to do for her.

They found nothing. No Dolphin Seal conveniently buried in the garden, just waiting for them to come and find it. Nothing but sun and bumblebees and death and tragic memories.