Chapter 11

 

 

The great golden dragon hit the ground right in front of Grace. He bounced and lay still at the giant’s feet. Grace rushed to his side. The instant she went down on her knees next to him, he started to change. His neck retracted. The spikes along his back sank out of sight. His whole glorious being collapsed and imploded into the form of a man.

The giant waved his arms against the sky overhead. He couldn’t stop the flames consuming him all over. He roared in impotent rage. He raised one foot to stomp, and he lost his balance. Just before he fell over, his foot caught in the branches of a nearby tree. He toppled, and his foot yanked the tree up by the roots.

The giant hit the ground, his foot sailing into the air. His leg pounded down to the ground with the tree still tangled around his foot. The tree’s massive root ball tore out of the ground.

The roots ripped up the sod. Dirt and soil flew into the air. The upheaval tossed Grace and Jamie into the air. Grace crashed down hard and lay still, not sure what to do next. Nothing happened. She didn’t hear the thump of flames anymore. She didn’t hear anything but birds twittering. She listened. Nothing.

She raised her head to look around. Jamie lay next to her with his eyes closed. Grace sat up and looked around. She was in the woods, and familiar woods at that.

She crawled over to Jamie. She touched his pale face. “Jamie! Are you okay?”

He blinked and looked up at her. “Lassie?”

She burst out laughing, but a lump stuck in her throat. “You’re okay! I thought you were dead.”

He rolled over on his back and threw his arm over his face. “Me head hurts.”

“I’ll bet it does,” she chuckled. “Come on. Can you sit up?”

He groaned when she heaved him off the ground. He cradled his head in his hand. She let him sit there for a few minutes until he finally raised his head to look around. He frowned. “Lassie?”

“Yeah.”

“Are we…are we in…?” He didn’t finish his sentence.

“No, we aren’t.”

“Where are we, then?” he asked.

“We’re in my world. We’re in Finlay Park.”

He frowned even deeper. He scowled at the woods. “How did that happen?”

“You were unconscious. That last giant you killed, he kicked over a tree. The roots threw us into the air. We must have crossed the doorway by accident. I don’t know. It just happened, and now we’re here.”

He struggled to get to his feet. “We mun’ go back straight away. I cinnae stay ’ere.”

He got himself upright before his knees buckled. He went down on the ground.

“I think you better sit tight for a while,” she told him. “You don’t know what’s back there, and even if you did go back, you’ve got nothing but that cottage to protect you. Why don’t you come back to my house for a while? You can rest up until you’re ready to return.”

“I cinnae leave the village unguarded.” He lifted his head, but he made no move to stand up.

Grace observed him from above. “You’re in no condition to defend the village anyway. Besides, you already got rid of those giants and the villagers are all up in the mountains. You probably bought them a little time. You can lay low for a few hours, at least until you can stand up without passing out.”

He hung his head. “Aye. Ye’re right.”

She didn’t say any more. She studied the back of his neck. He was human. He was as human as any man she’d ever met. While she stood there watching him breathe, he raised his head one more time. His eyes migrated to her face. “Lassie?”

For one instant, they stared into each other’s eyes. A spark of recognition passed between them. She knew. She knew the whole truth now. He was a dragon. All of them were.

Angelo said Jamie’s brother Fergus had the same mysterious power hidden under his skin. The rest of the brothers must have the same thing. Under their skin, they were dragons. That was their secret. They were dragons the same way the McLeans were wolves.

His chin fell on his chest. She lost sight of his eyes, but the reality still surrounded him. It radiated out of his skin. He was pure dragon all over. One part of her wanted to shrink from his alien nature. She wanted everything to go back to the way it was before. She wanted to take refuge in a world where he didn’t exist.

Here he was, in her world. He contradicted everything she knew and believed and cared about. As long as he remained on the other side of the doorway, she could pretend none of that ever happened. Now he was here. She couldn’t pretend any longer.

What was she thinking? He just used his dragon powers to slaughter fifteen giants. He saved her life and the villagers besides. She had no reason to shrink from him, and she wouldn’t. She learned her lesson letting Lachlan McLean walk away without thanking him. She wouldn’t make the same mistake with Jamie.

She bent down and took hold of him. She hooked her arm around his chest and wedged her shoulder under his armpit. She’d never supported a grown man’s weight before. He was a lot heavier than she expected, but she forced herself upright. “Come on. I’ll help you. You can’t stay out here.

He grumbled something like, “Leave me alone, woman,” but he couldn’t stand on his own. She helped him back to the path and down the hill.

She paused to rest at the Aviary. She leaned him against the brick wall, and he didn’t fall over. He closed his eyes and took deep, ragged breaths. “Ye mun’ forgive me, lassie. I didnae mean tae do this tae ye.”

“You’ve got nothing to apologize for,” she replied. “Just tell me one thing. I can only assume the other four know about you.”

“Aye. They ken it all.”

“How did it happen?” she asked. “How did it really happen? Tell me everything this time, and don’t leave anything out.”

He pried his eyes open to peer at her. His expression changed to one of serious, hardened determination. “It’s like I told ye. That spell cast a curse o’er me family. We kenned naught aboot it. Then out o’ nowhere, these wraiths attacked our castle, not far from Kinlochleven. They killed me father, and me and me brothers went on the run. A wizard told us we had tae go tae this particular castle. We went there, and the wraiths hounded us all the way. By the time we got there, we had lost all our men. ’Twas naught but the five o’ us left. We found Carmen on the way, and when we got there, we found the place deserted and under a curse, too.”

She listened with new ears. In the short time she’d known him, her world had changed. It included all these forces now. She could well believe every word he said. It made sense, even now.

“Inside this castle, we found this huge throne o’ black wood. It’s the Phoenix Throne. The forces o’ the curse attacked us again and again. We fought and almost lost our lives in the struggle. ’Twas the last day, and we didnae ken what was afoot when this witch appeared. It’s a laing story, lassie. I cinnae tell ye all, but we fought her. She threw this flaming ball o’ fire, and it struck the Throne. The whole thing went up in smoke, and while it was still burnin’, she hit me brother Angus in the chest. The blow sent him spinnin’ intae the flames, and he burned up wi’ it.”

Grace gasped. “No!”

“We all stood stunned. None o’ us could react. I hate tae think what it did tae Carmen tae watch him die like that, but right in front o’ our eyes, this huge black dragon rose from the ashes. It towered tae the ceiling and screamed tae wake the dead. Then all around us, hundreds of people appeared out o’ nowhere. The whole castle came alive as though it ainly fell asleep yesterday. Weel, that’s how it started. We found out we were dragons—Urlus—and Angus is King.”

Grace blinked at him.

Jamie’s chin sank onto his chest. “That’s the short story.”

She gazed out at the park beyond the forest. What could she say to that? She’d never heard anything so fantastic in her life, but it was all true. She had Jamie standing in front of her as living proof. She saw the giants and the wolves and…well, all of it.

Even Angelo confirmed it. Hazel brought that Urlu husband of hers back here for some reason. All Grace had to do was find the other four women. They would confirm the truth, but she didn’t even have to do that. She believed Jamie. She believed every word he said. What possible reason could he have to lie? He was a dragon, for Chrissake.

“I’m sorry, lassie,” he murmured. “Ye send me back tae Kinlochleven, and I’ll leave ye tae it.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” she replied. “Come on. I’m taking you somewhere warm and comfortable. You’re not sleeping on that stone floor after the beating you just took.”

She took him on her shoulder, and they staggered out of the park. Grace thought fast and took a back street to her house so no one would see them and ask questions. She let herself in and helped Jamie upstairs. She put him down on her own bed. He sank into the soft bedding. He closed his eyes and groaned.

She felt his forehead. “Maybe we should take you to the hospital. You could have fractured something.”

“Just leave me alone,” he growled. “I’ll be awright as soon as I get some sleep.”

She stood back and regarded him. He turned his head away and paid no more attention to her. Whether he passed out, or went into a coma, or fell asleep, or just lay still to focus on the pain, she couldn’t tell.

She slipped out of the room and went down to the kitchen. She cooked him some chicken soup, but when she carried a bowl of it upstairs, she found him fast asleep, his chest rising and falling in an easy tide. He no longer held himself stiff and still the way he did before.

She set the soup on the bedside table. She fetched another bedspread from the spare room and covered him up with it. She spread it over him and tucked it around his neck. Poor guy. He really went all out defeating those giants. Now he needed to recover.

Her friends married these men. What would it be like to touch one of them, to love one of them like that? Grace had never really given her heart to anybody before. She never even tried. Did she love Mike? Did she really love him the way she could have loved him if she’d chosen to?

She married Mike for safety. She married him for stability. Love never really entered into the equation. She never imagined a life of struggle and conflict. She never imagined a life battling supernatural forces. Now she found herself neck deep in it.

That world terrified her. She would give anything to face it with someone like Jamie. He understood it—at least, he understood it better than she did. He’d faced these forces before. He’d faced it with his brothers and their wives. A person couldn’t face this alone.

If she sent him back to Kinlochleven and stayed behind, he would face it alone. The McLeans might come back to help him, but until then, he was on his own. He could have died today fighting those giants with everything he had. If he was right and they came back stronger next time, he might not make it.

She had to help him. She had to face this. She could if she faced it with him. She could do anything with him at her side.

She stood by the bedside with one hand resting on his chest. Her heart ached for…something, something she couldn’t have. She bent down and kissed him on the forehead. Then she let herself out of the room, closed the door, and didn’t go back.