And it’s time to tell them what I know: what Henrietta didn’t want to have to tell them.
It’s time to share with them that rescuing Cameron’s sister, Ellie, wasn’t what we thought it was going to be.
It’s time to tell them we fell into a trap.
Cameron and Peggy live in a cute little house. Well, it’s not really little, but it is cute, and I hate feeling scared and uncomfortable as I approach it. They’re so lucky t
o have found each other when they did. They’re so blessed to have been able to find their true mates.
Growing up human in a world of dragon shifters, I heard all of the stories about mates. I used to ask my mother if those stories applied to me, and she’d always just smile and hug me, but she’d never say whether they were true or not. After awhile, I kind of got the message that nobody really knows.
There aren’t exactly a lot of human-shifter relationships, at least not in Fablestone.
I reach Peggy and Cameron’s front door and I take a deep breath. No more wasting time. I knock on the door and I hear giggling and laughing inside. I hate to be the one bringing the bad news to the temporary clan leader, but someone has to be the messenger, and it might as well be me.
I don’t really belong here, anyway.
“Natalie,” Peggy says, pulling open the door. She’s breathless, and I know it’s because she probably had to run and find clothing to answer the door. Her hair is a mess and her shirt is inside out, but she’s grinning.
Fuck.
I hate to do this now.
“Hey,” I say. “Can I talk to you and Cameron for a minute? It’s important.”
Suddenly, her demeanor changes.
“Of course, is everything okay?”
“Not really.”
“Come in.”
Peggy steps aside and I go into their living room. She sits down on the sofa and motions for me to do the same, but I shake my head.
“I won’t be here long.”
“What’s going on?” Cameron comes into the room. He’s wearing pajama pants, but no shirt. Like the other shifters in Fablestone, he’s completely cut. Even the older, retired dragons look fit and healthy. Fucking shifters and their incredible genetics. If I eat a cheeseburger, I’m paying for it on the treadmill for a week.
“There’s a problem in Fablestone: a sickness.”
“I know people have been sicker than usual,” Cameron says. He shrugs. “It’s just a virus. It should pass.”
“Actually,” I tell him. “Your mother and I have a different theory.”
At that, Cameron sits down, too. I have his full attention, as well as Peggy’s. I’m not used to having this much undivided attention at once. As one of the resident humans in the clan, it’s more common for people to ignore me. I take a deep breath and then I begin.
“I was uncomfortable with the idea that it was so simple to breach Lucky’s defenses. We attacked one of their buildings at the same time Clan Thuderstorm attacked another one. Each building had four employees and twelve shifters held captive. There were traps on the roofs, but that was it. Breaching it and killing the employees was simple, and then everyone returned home.”
“We were prepared,” Cameron points out. “We took our time scouting out the places, so we knew what we were getting into and we brought plenty of people with us.”
“That’s true,” I tell him. “But when we brought those captive shifters back, we started treating them for injuries. We didn’t treat them for anything else, and we let them become part of our communities.”
“They didn’t have homes to return to,” Cameron says. “So we offered them the chance to stay here with us. It was the right thing to do.”
“I don’t think that’s what she’s saying,” Peggy places a gentle hand on Cameron’s leg, and then she looks back at me. “What’s wrong, Natalie?”
“They were sick. Lucky infected them with a virus and let us capture them. Thunderstorm is sick and so are we. Each day the numbers grow, and it all started with the shifters we brought back,” I tell them.