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Chapter 17
Ren
“Areyou sure that’s the right place?” West said, frowning at my phone. I’d set it in the middle of the table between the five of us with the map appopen.
“Look at it,” I said, motioning between it and the crystal slab. “They’re practically identical. I poured over the entire country, and that’s the only place that’s evenclose.”
Aaron eased the phone a little closer to him to study it. “Sunridge, Wyoming. Do you have any idea why your mother would have wanted you to gothere?”
“Or why there’d be a lovely picture of it imprinted on a crystal in the first place?” Marcoremarked.
I shook my head. The muscles in my shoulder stung at the movement. I’d kept healing as I slept last night, but ruddy marks still streaked my arm, chest, and abdomen where the wolf had sliced me up. The pain hadn’t completely easedeither.
“I’ve never heard of it,” I said. “Mom never mentioned it. But why would she send me to find the crystal if she didn’t want me to go to the place itshows?”
“We can make the drive,” Nate said. “Even stopping for the night, we’d get there tomorrow. We can figure out the rest once we see what’sthere.”
“As much as I enjoy a good adventure,” Marco said, “I’m feeling weary of surprises at the moment. I say we don’t leave until wolf boy’s people are finished theirpatrol.”
He glanced at West, who gave him a short nod. “They’re still surveying the area around the village for any further signs of rogue activity. I expect them to report back within the next couplehours.”
“So we’re sticking around here until then?” I said. “In that case, I want to get in some more defensetraining.”
Aaron’s eyebrows rose slightly. “You’re still recovering. You shouldn’t strain your body toomuch.”
I pushed back my chair. “I’m not saying we go all out. But I need to be able to handle myself better in a fight. These guys are obviously still after me. That attack won’t be the last one. I want to know I can get through the next time on more than justluck.”
“Ren,” Nate started, but West glowered athim.
“She wants to train. She says she can handle it. Is she a dragon ornot?”
Good question. My gaze darted to the ceiling. Kylie was lying in one of the bedrooms upstairs, resting from injuries she didn’t have the supernatural ability to quickly heal. It wasn’t just my own life atstake.
“I guess I’ll just fight West if none of the rest of you wants to come,” I said. West narrowed his eyes at me when I shot him a challengingsmile.
In the end, all five of us tramped back into the clearing where we’d practiced yesterday morning. A few of the villagers trailed after us, but to my relief West spoke to them and they drifted away. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, jitters running through mymuscles.
I was way too wound up. That hadn’t helped me any yesterday. Thinking back to my little interlude with Aaron—the part before I’d gotten distracted by his hands and his lips—I inhaled slowly and felt my lungs expand. In and out. Steady and even. I’d spent so much time hiding myself away, not even knowing why, but now it was safe for me to let my dragon out. Now Ineededto.
Those rogue shifters who’d attacked me last night, they hadn’t cared that I couldn’t fully access my powers yet. They’d seen me as a threat anyway. Anger stirred in my chest at the thought, along with a shudder of energy like the flap of powerful wings. I could be that threat. I had it in me—I knew Idid.
“When you’re attacked by someone stronger than you, there’s no shame in taking every advantage you can get,” Aaron said. He pointed to his own body. “We all have weak spots where one quick hit can do a lot of damage. Eyes. Throat. Groin. If you can get a strike in any of those places, go forit.”
“But maybe not while you’re sparring with us,” Marco piped up. “I’d personally like to keep the family jewelsunsmashed.”
Nate rolled his eyes at the jaguar shifter. “Not helpful, Marco.” He glanced at Aaron. “Maybe we could find her a weapon she can get comfortable with, for the timebeing.”
“And break shifter law?” West shook his head. “Are you out of your mind? I thought the whole point of bringing her back into the fold was to settle everyone down, not rile them up evenmore.”
“There’s a law against us using weapons?” Isaid.
Aaron nodded. “The kin-groups decided together that no shifter should attack another with anything but their own strength. Our strength we inherit and earn; winning that kind of fight is a fair measure of victory. It also means most of the time no one has to die over ascuffle.”
“But she can’t use all of her strength yet,” Nate said. “If there’s ever been a time to make anexception—”
“No,” I said quickly. I didn’t want any more exceptions made for me. “I’ve got to learn to do this the shifter way. Come on. Who’s going to tryme?”
Marco stepped forward with his crooked grin. I waved a finger at him. “No funny business thistime.”
