Chapter 1
Age is just a number. False, age is a word.
-Proven Fact
Keifer
“Farrow, you stupid fuck, where are you?” I growled into my phone.
Stupid fucking brother.
I wouldn’t have had to use my phone if the stupid fuck would’ve answered the telepathic call I sent, but the fucker was blocking me with everything he had. Something he’d only be able to do for one goddamned week, because, well…he just wasn’t me.
I was the oldest. I could do things that they all couldn’t. I could do things that my father couldn’t. Being the eldest, as well as having the gift of time, was helpful.
Not to mention the fact that I was prince of the dragons, for fuck’s sake.
I could tell that he was alive, but nothing else was coming through.
“He’s mad that you told him he couldn’t bring his girlfriend here,” Nikolai explained.
My eyes turned to him and I glared.
Brother or not, he wasn’t too old for a good ass kicking.
“What exactly did you want me to do? If I let him bring his girlfriend onto the grounds, then I’d have to let all of you bring your one-night-fucks, girlfriends, and boyfriends. Then it wouldn’t be very secure anymore, since the shield we spent two fucking years working on would have to come down. Every fucking dragon, dragon rider, or enemy of ours within a thirty-mile radius will be able to spot the place,” I growled in frustration.
Though he’d heard it all before. This was our sanctuary for fuck’s sake. There were other things besides them that I was thinking of!
I was beyond frustrated. It wasn’t like I wanted to forbid it, but I just couldn’t see any other way around it.
I looked at my brother, who was also the brains behind our operations.
Then I sighed. Maybe I was being unfair.
“If you can make it so the veil doesn’t have to be brought down, I would permit it in a heartbeat. But, I have other things to consider here. Until that time comes, I have a moral obligation to keep them out,” I shook my head.
Nikolai nodded and brought his finger up to his upper lip, tapping in concentration. His tattooed biceps bulged with each minuscule movement of his finger.
“Let me brainstorm when we get back from patrol. I might be able to figure out something,” he rumbled before he stood to go.
I watched him walk away, my mind full of turmoil.
“When are you going?” Skylar, my sister, asked, not even bothering to look up from her hunched position over some papers in the corner of the room. The place we all inevitably migrated to despite the massiveness of the sanctuary.
Skylar, my sister, who was the closest in age to me, was the scholar of the group. My mother and her had no special powers like my brothers and I did. No female on Earth had powers. It was only the male population that was blessed with those abilities.
But somehow, she could come and go as she pleased, passing through the veil as we did. As could our mother.
So she made up for her ‘shortcomings’, as she saw it, and put all of her available time and ability into research and caring for other dragon riders. She felt that she could be of some help in that way, so she chose to become a doctor, and she researches the dragon riders’ physical makeup, seeing what made them tick.
Very rarely did I see her without her nose in some sort of book. That didn’t mean that she wasn’t fully aware of absolutely everything. Even the things I didn’t want her to be aware of.
She also knew me incredibly well. Knew that I wouldn’t leave my brother for long. Not when he was so close to the change.
It could happen anytime now, seeing as his birthday was only months away.
And when that time came, I sure as hell didn’t want him in the middle of a busy city.
I could see the headline in the news now. Boy Goes Crazy; Summons Dragon In Dallas, Texas
Standing up, I stretched my arms up high over my head. “I’m going out to find the little peckerhead. Do you need anything while I’m gone?”
My sister didn’t answer me, and I didn’t really expect her to.
Your sister’s thinking about that boy again. Declan, my dragon, communicated telepathically with me.
I blinked. What do you mean?
Zed. Or maybe Fred. The dragon rider who came in last week with the smashed in skull. The one who’s in the faint.
I growled. That’d been a blow when Derek had gone down.
His name’s Derek. And it’s a coma…not a faint.
Close enough.
Not even, I thought with a roll of my eyes.
I felt a whisper of a laugh against my skin. The names of mortals other than you do not concern me.
Whatever you say. Meet me in the backyard.
10-4, homie.