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“I bet. Humans are assholes sometimes, but so are supernaturals,” she agreed. Something dark flashed behind her eyes. “My family was awful. Abusive. But these guys chase all that bullshit away, and living here is a fresh start for us.”
“I’m glad you got out,” I told her. She gave a soft smile at my lack of judgment. “I was on the run when I came here, so I’ve mostly been a hermit. They’re breaking me of that now.”
“Sorry, I shouldn't have overshared, but I have a feeling today is a day of revelations,” she said with an apologetic smile. “I’m glad you found your safe harbor as well.”
We fell into comfortable silence as she expertly baked the cookies and plated them up. Her mates came in to make drinks, offering coffee and milk to everyone.
When we were back in their living room, taking up all the available couch space and chairs, dread settled back in. Quinn had been a nice distraction, but now that we were ready to hear it, I was freaking out a bit.
“I’ll start,” Quinn said as I dunked a cookie in my coffee. I took a bite before my nerves could ruin it. They were amazing, but even that was dulled in light of her words. “I wish there was a way for you to see. But I saw what you are, and you had a whole army. It was… amazing.”
My brow furrowed. “Wait, how is that a death vision?”
“An army?” Kane and Niko asked at the same time.
She sighed. “I say army because you were locked in battle. You won, but it came with a price.” She looked pointedly at me, and I swallowed hard.My death.
“Shit,” Niko cursed, and I heard a mug shatter. When I turned toward the sound, Kane’s eyes were trained on me. Anger made his entire body tense, all of that threatening power ready to lash out at a target that none of us could currently see.
“Hey,” I said, rushing over. He snatched me up before I could step on the broken ceramic, and Avi and Levi stepped in to clean it up. Kane held me tight, almost painfully so, but I let him. From the way he tensed, he wasn’t handling the news well. “She said it’s not set in stone,andnow we have a whole group of allies.”
“I’ll kill them all,” he promised. “Whoever comes for you. They’ll die.”
“I recognized the man leading the enemy, but I don’t know from where,” Quinn admitted. “There’s something so familiar about him.”
“Can you describe him?” Maxon asked. She nodded and swallowed hard, her hands shaking as her eyes went out of focus a bit. I got the impression that she was diving back into her magic. Somehow, she was reopening the vision so she could give us details.
“Long hair. It’s stark black. I didn’t get a look at his face, but he was powerful. Unnaturally so,” she explained. “It didn’t feel like all of his own magic either. It was off, layers of different magic, but he wielded it all. It was noticeable too, like people singing off-key while trying to play the same song.”
“Are there any supernaturals that can absorb magic like that? I’ve seen it gifted, but no one just gives their magic away without a cause, even in the face of death,” I questioned. That was one thing I knew personally. Anya’s sacrifice had been one of desperation and love.
She shrugged. “I’m not sure. I couldn't pick up on what he was with all of it interfering. And I know the description wasn’t much to go on, but he was definitely intense.”
“I wonder if the Arch Mage is involved,” Avi asked quietly. Kane stiffened around me again.
Niko sighed heavily. “We have some news of our own, and this just kind of solidified it. If you didn’t pick up on it, we have two dragons in our group.”
That information was met by silence from everyone but Quinn. She gave me a reassuring smile that promised I wasn’t alone. The witch had just met me, yet she’d accepted me without question. It meant a lot to me.
‘Thank you,’ I mouthed to her. She nodded as everyone started talking at once.
“But wait, I thought dragons were extinct?” Maxon asked, glancing from one of us to the next like he was trying to figure out who was who.
“I didn’t even know they were real,” Jude admitted. “I’d heard legends, but they’re as much of a myth to our kind as they are to humans.”
“It’s only been fifteen years since we fell,” I told him. “But before then, we had been hunted for several years longer than I’ve been alive. Our blood was valuable, used to cure the harshest poisons and ailments, and the black market was full of it. They hunted us until there were none of us left, plundering our strongholds like we were a fucking commodity to be used and abused.”
“Not to be an asshole,” Quinn said, “but why kill the dragons? Wouldn’t they be more valuable alive?”
Levi shared a grin with me. “Nah, it would be too dangerous. We’re stronger than most. We may have fallen to armies that outnumbered us, but as a whole, we aren’t the type of species you chain up in a basement and use as a blood bank.”
“We don’t shift the same as bears and wolves,” I explained. “It’s hard to explain, but we could have taken down whatever prison they put us in.”
“Wow,” she breathed out. “I’m so sorry for what you must have endured.”
“I thought I was alone for so long,” I admitted. “Until Levi and the others found me.”
“And now whatever dragons have come to town,” Kane added.
