Dragon Guard Read online

  “I’m glad you did.”

  “Professor?” I asked, worried when he paused, looking sad for a beat. “What’s wrong?”

  “All this time, I wished I could do more, but I’m just a professor, and then you come along and look at what you’ve started.”

  I wasn’t sure I deserved the credit for any of this. “All I did was put people in danger.”

  “You put yourself in that same danger. You were willing to risk everything to save all those innocent lives. You still are. There’s a lot more to you than you think,” he said and with a firm nod. “You’ll see that soon enough.”

  I hoped he was right, but there’d be time for that later. We hurried to find my parents, giving Fredwin and Mom a chance to catch up, then to introduce Aiden, and then the four of us returned to where the others waited.

  Elsa and Mom talked quietly in the corner with Jenny for a few minutes before all three finally nodded in agreement.

  “We’ll be back shortly,” Jenny said. “Once the message is sent, there will be no more communication to the campus. I’m sorry, but that’s how it has to be.”

  “Fredwin, is there anything you need to pass along?” Elsa asked.

  “No, I’m sure my students will be well looked after.”

  I frowned at the weird tone of his voice, but no one seemed to sense anything wrong, so I figured it was just me being… me. Everything seemed wonky today, and I was exhausted. More than exhausted, really. All I wanted to do was crash, but there seemed to be so much work still do to and plans to figure out. I yawned, covering my mouth with my hand, but Aiden caught it.

  “Go get some sleep, Everest, I think you’ve earned that much at least.”

  “No, no I’m fine. I can help.”

  “Trust me,” Preston said sincerely. “You’ve done more than you think. Get some rest. It might be hard to come by over the next few days.”

  The second I thought about laying down, my body grew heavy, and I mumbled something about seeing them all in the morning. I left them to talk about whatever they were going to do next and found my way to my tiny alcove. There was a cot and a curtain to pull around it for privacy and help block out some of the noise. But I was tired enough, I doubted it would keep me up. I barely kicked off my shoes and rested my head on the pillow before I was out.

  Sinister cackling filled my ears as I jerked awake, staring around the darkened space, hearing nothing, but silence. The blanket had tangled around my ankles, and I kicked it away, wiping cold sweat from my forehead.

  Radnak. I’d been dreaming about him, attacking. Except this time when he grabbed Slade, I hadn’t been able to stop him. He’d crushed his throat and killed him. Just like that.

  I rolled over and tried to get back to sleep, but it wouldn’t come, so I got up and quietly shoved the curtain aside. A few security lights were on overhead, but that was it. Some of the beds were like mine. Most were spread across one section of the Underground, more bunks, and cots, whatever they could find to make sure as many people as possible had beds.

  I thought about going to check on my parents, but didn’t want to bug them so late, and headed towards the infirmary to peek in on Tank instead.

  I’d thanked him before for rushing in to save us all. His wounds had looked terrible, but when I poked my head in the infirmary, he was sound asleep, snoring. The dragon that Slade said was called Morg slept on the bed beside him, watching over him. Everyone here had such interesting and sad stories. I barely knew half of them, and I wanted to know more at some point.

  I wandered around a bit more, spotting Davis sitting on the platform that rose over everyone else. He was watching the monitors, security cameras of the entrances, I thought. Not that I knew exactly where we were. I considered going up there and keeping him company when I passed by Slade’s small alcove and heard him growl.

  “Slade?” I whispered, thinking maybe he was awake.

  But then he growled again, and I heard thrashing sounds.

  He whispered, but the words were lost in the growling. Was he having a nightmare? Carefully, I pulled back the curtain to see him, blanket twisted around his body and snarling at the darkness.

  “Zara,” he rumbled when I came closer.

  For a second, I hesitated, but seeing him in pain was too much. He said he lost someone close to him and clearly, he was not over it. I grabbed his shoulders and gave him a hard shake.

  He growled in warning, but I did it again.

  “Slade, wake up. Just a nightmare. Slade.”

  His eyes flew open, and he sat up, nearly headbutting me in the process. He stared around wildly, but didn’t pull out of my grip. “Everest?”

  “Sorry, you were having a pretty bad dream.”

  Those deep, blue eyes landed on mine. My heart gave a flutter, and I quickly let go of his shoulders.

  “Couldn’t sleep and I was walking by… I’ll just… I’ll just go,” I mumbled, knowing I was blushing furiously, and made to rise, but he caught my hand.

  “You can stay if you want to talk,” he grunted. “And thanks.”

  “For what?” I asked, not trying to get up again.

  “Waking me. I wasn’t even there, but I keep seeing it.”

  “Zara?”

  He swallowed hard.

  “She’s the one you loved and lost, isn’t she?”

  He leaned his back against the concrete wall, picking at his nails. It was the first time I’d seen Slade—hard face, tough ass Slade—uncomfortable.

  “You don’t have to talk about her if you don’t want.”

  “No,” he said quickly. “I haven’t really, with anyone since I found out. I threw myself into the next mission, protecting you.”

  “What was she like?” I leaned back beside him.

  He relaxed a bit when I wasn’t staring right at him.

  “I’m going to guess she was the complete opposite of me. Pretty, not stubborn, knew how to fight.”

  He laughed, and I mentally nodded to myself at a job well done.

  “She was stubborn, and yeah, she knew how to fight. She’s the one who showed me a move or two when I first came here. She put up with all my shit, didn’t back down… a lot like you actually.” He sighed heavily, and I sensed his confusion in talking about her and me. “She was on the team that rescued me and brought me here. I wasn’t the easiest person to deal with.”

  “You, difficult? Never,” I teased.

  He flashed a crooked grin. “I’d been through hell, and then here was this girl yelling at me to use my anger and stop hiding. The first time I lashed out at her, I swore I’d hurt her, but she dodged my attacks like she’d swatted a fly.” He laughed. “It took a while, but she broke me down enough to build me right back up.”

  “She saved you.” No wonder he loved her. He was haunted by his past, by what he’d seen when with the Black Diamonds, and Zara had been the one to bring back his sanity. I was a bit jealous of her and at the same time… “I wish I could’ve met her.”

  “Me too. She would’ve liked you,” he agreed. “Would’ve taught you everything she knew, but now I’m going to.”

  We sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes. I wanted to ask how she died, but that was probably pushing it too far. I wanted to ask him about his time with the Black Diamonds, too, but I knew that was really pushing too far. I did not want the person responsible for training me to hate me in the morning. He would tell me when he was ready, and if he was never ready, then I’d just deal with it.

  Or I’d go ask Tank or Davis. I bet one of them knew.

  “I actually hated you for a while after we first met,” he admitted with a sheepish smile.

  “What, why? Not my fault a car filled with assassins tried to kill me.”

  “It wasn’t that.”

  He was back to picking at his nails, more furious than before, and I reached over to stop him, holding his hands in mine. He looked over at me and something passed between us I never experienced before. A weird understanding o
f what our lives had become suddenly, and that no matter what happened tomorrow, we were going to face it together. I pulled my hands back, uncertain, and tucked my hair behind my ears as he continued to stare at me.

  “Aiden was hurt a while back, and I was assigned to watch you,” he explained. “Before then, I was stationed with Zara at another outpost. For a while, everything was fine, but the night I saved you… her outpost was attacked and she… she was…”

  “She was killed,” I finished softly for him. “I’m so sorry, Slade.”

  “It wasn’t your fault, but I blamed you for a while, only because I couldn’t blame the ones responsible.”

  “Well, nice to know you never left me alone though. I saw you a few times. You looked more pissed off than before though.” Now I knew why. He lost the girl he loved and was forced to watch after the one who kept him from being with her.

  I was almost too scared to move. Slade had yet to open up to me about anything, and here he was, openly talking about Zara. I waited to see if he would say anything else about his past, but he changed the topic of conversation.

  “Your parents, I’m assuming that went well. Talking to them, I mean.”

  “Yeah, you know, finding out your parents had to keep their lives a secret because of who your father is, it’s a bit to take in,” I confessed. “I’m kinda still frustrated with them, you know?”

  “I get it. There were several arguments between Mahlia and Jenny about actually bringing Mason and you here, but she insisted on you two having a shot at a normal life. Your mom loves you both, but I’ve never felt such strong emotion between two people than your parents.”

  I’d felt that love when they told me about how they met. Every girl wanted to believe in true love, and my parents had it, the real deal. They fought for so long to keep it, and when they had to part ways, it nearly killed Mom. What would I give to find love like that with someone? The necklace at my neck warmed and I reached up to touch it, wondering what it was trying to tell me this time.

  “So, this training,” I said, enjoying just talking to Slade and not ready to go back to sleep yet, “how crazy are we talking?”

  He just grinned. “You’ll see tomorrow.”

  “Oh, come on, give me a little hint at least.”

  “No. But trust me, in a week, you won’t be winding up on your ass every five seconds.”

  I glowered at him as I muttered, “It wasn’t every five seconds. I thought I held my own pretty well those last few times.”

  His eyes darkened, and he grabbed my hand tightly. “Everest, you have to swear to me you won’t throw yourself in harm’s way anymore. They might not want to kill you, but if they get a hold of you, I’m not sure what will happen.”

  Radnak. He needed me alive, and I found myself nodding.

  “No, I want you to swear to me you will not do anything stupid. Whatever Radnak wants from you, all it takes is one mistake.”

  “I swear I won’t fling myself at any more enemies,” I said lightly, trying to make him smile again, but he only scowled at me. “Alright, alright. I swear I won’t put myself directly in harm’s way.”

  “No matter what,” he added.

  I opened my mouth to say those words, but paused. What if he was in danger again? There was no way I could simply stand by and let him be attacked… or killed. My nightmare appeared before me again, watching Radnak kill Slade.

  Crossing my fingers behind my back so he couldn’t see, I repeated his words.

  “Good,” he said, satisfied.

  I let out the breath I’d been holding.

  “You should get some more sleep. The next few days are going to be rough for you. You’re not in school anymore.”

  I gave a quick nod. “Yeah, figured that part out already. You know the nearly being killed a few times gave it away.”

  “You can’t tell me you wanted to really stay there?”

  I shrugged. “It wasn’t so bad.”

  “You had to wear uniforms,” he reminded me.

  “What? The blazer wasn’t that terrible…” I glanced over, and his brow rose. “Alright, the uniforms are atrocious, and I was surrounded by so many snobby students it was driving me to be even more anti-social than I already was.”

  He nudged me with his elbow. “You’ll fit in here, don’t you worry about that.”

  “At least I’ll be able to do something here, something worthwhile.”

  His jaw tensed as he nodded and said nothing else. Apparently, being here with Slade did not mean I was no longer his charge to protect. He might be willing to train me so I could defend myself, but I doubted my chances of being able to fight alongside him like Tank or Davis.

  Like Zara.

  I wasn’t sure what made me do it, but I sent a silent prayer to the dead dragon, hoping she’d find a way to lend me some of her strength. Before this was all over, I sensed I was going to need help, a lot of help.

  I stayed with Slade for another hour or so, just talking about how bad classes at the school really were. He had never had to suffer through any sort of school and told me from now on, my education would be a hands-on only experience.

  “Your magic will need some work, too,” he’d said at some point. “And you might even be able to shift.”

  “Shift?” I asked confused. “What do you mean shift?”

  But he only smiled wider and spread his arms wide as if that was answer enough.

  I was ready to smack that smirk off his face until he would finally relent and tell me, but then it hit me. Jared, he was a hybrid. Witch mother and dragon father. There were a few others I knew about, and my eyes nearly bulged out of my head as I leapt off his cot, shaking my head.

  “Oh, no,” I snapped.

  “Oh, yes,” he argued. “There’s a possibility you can shift into dragon form, too. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

  “See what? Slade, what are you planning?”

  “Nothing, just sometimes the dragon needs a bit of a swift kick to make it happen the first time.”

  “You’re going to enjoy this training way too much, aren’t you?”

  “Turning you into a true warrior? Yeah, yeah, I am,” he agreed, and another strange moment passed between us. Whatever was going on with Slade and me, it was just getting started.

  A dragon. I was a dragon. “And here I thought being a witch was exciting enough.”

  “Welcome to the party, Everest. You’re going to have a great time.”

  Four

  Slade

  “I don’t care what you say, this is not a party.” Everest yelled, rolling back to her feet. “And I am far from having a good time.”

  We’d been training hard for the past two weeks, and I thought she was getting the hang of the hand-to-hand combat at least, but something changed today. We were alone in the part of the Underground set aside for training. Here, she could focus and not be distracted by her friends or her parents. Usually, she could focus. Today she was off. She was fumbling her blocks, and I’d managed to take her down four times in the past twenty minutes.

  She was furious. I wanted her to be and to use it, but she wasn’t taking it out on me. She was holding back, and I hadn’t the slightest idea what the hell was going through her head.

  “What’s wrong with you?” I finally growled. “What?”

  “Nothing,” she snapped, falling back into her stance. Her right leg planted a bit further back than her left, and she brought her fists up, waiting. “Come on already.”

  But I didn’t attack. I crossed my arms and stared her down.

  “What? Stop looking at me like I did something wrong.”

  My brow arched. “Everest, if we keep training when you’re in this state of mind, you’re going to get hurt.”

  “I thought that was the point.” She didn’t fall out of her stance. “Well?”

  I pivoted on my heel and stormed off. “Take a break.”

  I expected to hear her throw some curses at me or chuck a water bottle at m
y head. I did not expect her to full-on tackle me to the thin mat.

  I grunted, my palms slamming into the vinyl with the weight of her on my back.

  She pinned me to the floor, but I easily rolled us over and got to my feet, leaving her scrambling to get back up again and come after me.

  Her punches were wild, and I easily ducked each one before I finally caught her wrist and spun her around, holding her trapped in my arms.

  “What are you doing, huh?” I demanded angrily. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”

  She struggled in my arms, and I let her go, stepping away as she spun around, and with a yell, came at me again. I’d pushed her hard the past few days, but there had been an undertone of friendliness to our training. Not exactly lightheartedness, but she hadn’t acted like a banshee. As she stepped in closer, I pressed her arms to her sides and held her against my chest, studying her face closely as she fought to get free.

  New worry lines appeared on her forehead, and she looked exhausted, like she hadn’t slept in days. She even felt smaller in my arms, as though she wasn’t eating.

  I released her quickly. “Everest, just talk to me. What’s wrong?”

  “It’s nothing,” she spat, wiping sweat from her brow and turned her back on me. “I’m fine.”

  “Seriously? You’re far from fine, and we both know it.”

  Her shoulders hunched, but she didn’t turn around or say anything else.

  “Whatever, if you don’t want to talk, that’s fine, but your ass better not come back in here until you’re clearheaded and ready to focus.”

  I waited for her to leave, but when she made no move to, I did, growling in annoyance as I scooped up my water bottle and towel and left the training room. If she wanted to be a stubborn witch, I could be a just as stubborn dragon.

  After our talk that night in my alcove, I felt us growing closer, and it scared and excited me at the same time. Everest was someone I felt I could talk to about anything and even started opening up more about my past. I hoped she felt the same for me, but the more I told her, the more she clammed up until she barely spoke to me the past three days.