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My jaw clenched. “Serenity,” Aaron started, but I felt anything but serene. I whipped around, tossing off my jacket. If the fae wouldn’t come to me, I’d just have to track them down andmakethempay.
My muscles twanged as my body shifted fully into dragon form. I filled nearly half of the room. The pedestal suddenly looked tiny. I stalked around it, my nostrilsflaring.
There. A faint scent remained under the cold rock smell. Like cut grass mixed with sleet. I’d never noticed that odor before, but every instinct in me told me it was the fae. I inhaled deeply, trying to follow the trail, andpaused.
I could tell it was fae—and I could also tell it was old. Stale. My dragon senses suggested the scent had been left days ago. Maybe the fae woman who’d told us about the weasel and her companions had passed throughhere.
I let myself shrink back to near human size to dash through the narrow entryway. Then I prowled down the length of the cave back in dragon form. I tasted the air on my tongue, dragged more into my massivelungs.
Not a hint of fresh fae scent reached me. They were nowhere around. The bastards really had justleft.
With a growl of frustration, I collapsed back into my human self. The stone floor chilled my bare skin, but I didn’t care. I pulled my knees up to my chest and pressed my face to them, holding in a sob. Tears drew frigid streaks down mylegs.
Mom was gone. She’d been gone for seven years, and I’d known all that time she might be dead, but now it was completely real. There was no hoping for any otheroutcome.
I didn’t want to accept it. She’d come here for me. Because she’d wanted to give me all the power she could, so I could take this role as leader of all shifter-kind. Because she hadn’t wanted to putmein danger by bringing me with her. Maybe if we’d been together, if I’d known what I wasthen...
Footsteps scraped over the floor. One of the guys draped my jacket over my shoulders. They all gathered in a semi-circle aroundme.
“I knew we couldn’t trust the fae,” West muttered. “They helped the rogues, set us up every way theycould.”
“Quite the strategy,” Marco said. “Make it look like we were taken down by our own kind so they couldn’t get in trouble over breaking the treaty. Very sneaky. I’d almost admire their wiles if they hadn’t been using them againstme.”
“I don’t think this is the time for jokes,” Nate said, with a frown I couldhear.
Aaron knelt down in front of me. When I raised my head to meet my mate’s eyes, he rested his hand over mine. His expression was solemn. “We won’t let this stand,” he said. “The fae committed a crime, and they’ll answer forit.”
“How?” I asked in a croak. My throat felt thick with unshedtears.
“When we come down from the mountain, the first thing we’d have done anyway is visit the centers of the shifter community to spread the word that you’ve been found and taken on your role as dragon shifter. We can start with the avian estate, since it’s the closest to here and our mate-bond is already consummated—and because the monarch of the fae has her domain only a short distance away. We’ll bring the matter straight toher.”
“Isn’t there something else we need to talk about first?” Marco said. “What happened with that crystal? Your mom came all the way up here for a reason, princess—what’s this power she wanted you tohave?”
I reached my awareness through the ache of grief inside me and the soreness of my overworked muscles. Nothing inside me felt all that different.The flame of truth, that strange figure had called it when I’d smashed the crystal.Burn to destroy or burn awaylies.
My lungs tickled at the thought of breathing fire. Could I produce a different kind of flame now? I didn’t think I could even manage to shift back into my dragon form after two transformations in such close succession. My endurance still had a ways togo.
“I’m not totally sure,” I said. “It has something to do with my dragon fire and with finding the truth. The flame inside the crystal is what showed me what happened to my mother. Somehow I’m supposed to be able to use it to get at what is real? But it didn’t come with an instruction manual oranything.”
Wouldn’t it have been nice if it had. I guessed, like everything else since my life had taken this crazy turn, I’d just have to figure it out as I wentalong.
“That sounds useful, given how things have been going,” Nate said. “You’ll be able to tell who totrust.”
“Once I figure out how to use it.” I gave my eyes another swipe and pushed myself onto my feet. My loss still weighed heavy on me, but I had my four alphas to protect now, even as they protected me. I had a whole community of shifters to lookafter.
And the fae who’d killed my mother were still out there, committing who knew what other crimes againstus.
“All right,” I said. “Let’s get off this mountain, and then I want a meeting with the faemonarch.”
* * *
Iliftedmy head at the smell of salt seeping into the SUV. We were coming up on the coast. Which meant coming up on the estate by the Pacific Ocean where Aaron oversaw the avian kin-group.
Today I was going tomeetthat kin-group as his mate and one of their leaders. My skin itched at the thought. I curled tighter into the back seat and looked at my phone again. Kylie had just replied to my lasttext.
I wish I could be there with you, Ren. You shouldn’t have to deal with news like that without your bestie. I know how much your mom meant toyou.
I wish you were here too,I wrote back. The one comfort of getting off the mountain had been getting my cell phone service back. Although there was still a lot I wasn’t sure how to tell Kylie. It was easier to go back to joking around.You’re just sad you’re missing out on all the eyecandy.
