“Yes, I want that. I meant no, we’re not hiding who and what we are anymore.” She paused as a shockwave rippled through the room at her statement. “Hiding what we are never did any of us any favors, clearly. We were found and captured anyway. I’m tired of hiding, and I know you all must be too. So no more.”
“But… the hunters,” Sierra whispered, her eyes wide with shock and fear.
“Fuck them,” Paisley replied, her eyes narrowed and her voice hard. “Like I said, even when we were hiding, we were still captured.” Sighing, she glanced around, her voice and expression softening. “Look, there are five of us. When has there ever been a grouping of dragons like this before? We’re solitary creatures—the hunters made sure of that—and the only time you find more than one dragon in an area is if they’re mates or a family. We are five badass, strong warrior dragons in one spot. And we’ll protect each other. We’re not alone anymore. We don’t have to hide.”
Fiona glanced at everyone else before focusing on Paisley. “That might paint a target on our backs too, though. Hunters might be more enticed to come after us if they know there are a few in one spot that they can take out at once. And what about the humans? They still don’t know about shifters. A regular shifter would freak them out, but dragons? There’d be mass
panic. We’d all either be slaughtered or captured for experiments.”
“Five dragons, Fi. Five. One is hard for a hunter to capture or kill. Five, who are all protecting each other’s backs, would be impossible. And we’re not going to advertise what we are. Especially not to humans. But we’re not going to hide anymore either. It’s historically been other shifters hunting and killing the dragons. So they’re the ones we’re not going to hide from anymore. A shifter comes knocking on our door? Don’t hide your dragon eyes. Shifters might be in the area? Shift anyway—as long as no humans are around. No. More. Hiding.”
Silence permeated the air as they all traded glances. Olivia felt a sliver of fear snake through her veins, but more than that, she felt relief at the thought of not needing to hide anymore. To have the freedom to be herself, to not worry about her pupils elongating when her dragon was near the surface, or whether she could safely shift. At least, not around other shifters.
“I know this might be hard for some of us to come around to,” Carlie said, her voice strong and full of conviction. “But I love this idea. Paisley’s right, there are enough of us that a hunter would have to be suicidal to come for one of us. And hell, maybe the reason they’ve been so successful is because we all scattered and isolated ourselves from one another. If they know we’re grouping together and standing our ground, in all likelihood they’ll back off. We were making it easy for them before. We need to show them we’re not scared of them, that they’ll die if they try to take us on.”
Olivia nodded in agreement, relief and pride filling her when her sister followed suit. She looked at Sierra, the only one who hadn’t agreed yet, and hoped she could overcome her natural timidity to see how right and natural this course of action was.
“It’s a big jump, to go from shedding our disguises and not being afraid, to letting the world know what we are. I mean, most shifters don’t even know dragons exist anymore, because we’ve hidden ourselves so thoroughly,” Sierra said softly. Pausing, she inhaled deeply before looking up and squaring her shoulders. “But maybe you guys are right. Maybe this is what we—and the dragon community—need. I can’t promise I’ll immediately be comfortable with exposing myself like that, but… I’m on board with this.”
Relief flowed through Olivia, but she cleared her throat. There was something she needed to address. “If we do this… if we stop hiding, from other shifters, hunters, male dragons—we need to start learning how to compromise with each other. How to have a debate without it turning into an argument. We need to know each of us has the others’ backs. We’re not just strangers thrown together in unfortunate circumstances anymore. We’re far more than that. We’re family. And as soon as everyone realizes that… Well, that’s when we’ll be unstoppable.”
The others slowly nodded, and then one by one, they all echoed family back. Lips curling in a smile, she looked over at their alpha.
A grin crept across Paisley’s face. “It’s settled then. No more being scared, no more hiding. We’re going to be ourselves from here on out. Ladies, you’re all a part of history now. This is officially the return of the dragons.”
Chapter 2
Olivia
Olivia clutched the steering wheel of her fifteen-year-old Chevy Silverado as she slowly drove into the small town they lived next to. New Leaf was a tiny town, with a rustic feel that she loved. But because it was so small, there was only one construction company in town, so there hadn’t been any other options to choose from.
She was a huge fan of having choices these days.
But hell, they were lucky there was even one at all in this little town. The next closest town or city that might have one was more than two hours away.
When they decided to stay together rather than return to their previous lives, they chose Montana. It was one of the biggest states, but it had the smallest population out of all of them, something that appealed to them after everything they’d been through.
But she didn’t think any of them considered how hard that could make things—like trying to find someone who could fix up their old house that they could try to trust. It was going to be hard enough to let strangers into their home. If this contractor seemed sketchy in any way, it wasn’t going to work.
They were all committed to being unafraid and coming out of hiding, but that didn’t mean it was going to be a smooth transition or happen overnight. It was going to be hard as hell, and starting it off with strangers in their home was going to be tough on all of them.
Finding the building she was looking for wasn’t difficult—New Leaf consisted of one main road, with only a few offshoots. Pulling into a parking spot, she stared up at the sign for Aaron Construction, her fingers flexing around the steering wheel.
Please, please, please don’t let them seem shady. No bad vibes. Only good vibes, she prayed.
If it seems like you’re in any trouble, I’ll just eat them. Problem solved, her dragon said nonchalantly.
She snorted. Funny. We’re not maneaters. Besides, letting you out in the middle of town is probably the worst idea in the history of ideas.
Probably not the worst, her animal replied with a hum. Remember when they released diet water that one time?
She couldn’t help the smile curling her lips. You’re ridiculous. Seriously though, no shifting, spitting fire, anything like that. We still have to hide what we are around the humans.
Who do you think I am? Jessica Simpson back in her MTV days? Give me a little credit here.
Huffing a laugh at her dragon’s mock offended tone, she peeled her fingers off the steering wheel and opened the door. Slipping out, she grabbed her purse, shut the door, and faced the building again.
Nerves rose up in her belly, displacing the amusement her dragon worked to conjure up. She should have come into town more than once a month. Gone to more places than just the grocery store and then straight home. Gotten a little more interaction in with the strangers in this little town.