It was too nice a day to head straight back home—she’d decided that on the drive over. And besides, she’d promised to show Conrad around a little. So she headed for the beach. On the way over, she filled Conrad in on the story of Eddie. He listened intently, that implacable mask on his face, though she definitely noticed a few flickers of jealousy when she talked about going on a date with him.
“You thought this man might be your soulmate?”
She glanced across at him. “I mean—I hoped he might, I guess. Isn’t that the whole point of dating? But I knew pretty fast that he wasn’t going to be it.” She shook her head. “He’s been sending me nonstop messages ever since.”
“Why? If it was clear that you weren’t meant to be…”
She shrugged. They were almost at the beach now, and she scanned the road ahead, mindful it would be tough to find a good parking spot—the beach would be busy on such a beautiful day. “He didn’t see it that way.”
Conrad nodded, a thoughtful look on his face. “I understand that humans have a different understanding of love.”
There it was again—that strange word. Mira swung them into a spot and switched the engine off, then looked over at Conrad curiously. “You’ve used that word a few times—‘humans’. Do you mean men?”
He frowned a little as they got out of the car. “No, I don’t think so? Humans. Those who inhabit only their two-legged bodies.”
Was the stress beginning to catch up to her? Or did she have a poorer grasp of this language than she’d thought? What he was saying didn’t make any sense. “Sorry—two-legged bodies? Is that some kind of poetry?”
“As I understand the words—these are ‘human’ bodies,” Conrad said patiently, as naturally as if he were explaining some simple quirk of grammar. “As opposed to our winged bodies.”
“What? I don’t have a winged body.” They were heading for a sandy path that wove through the dunes and would eventually emerge on a beautiful view of the ocean… but right now, Mira was far more interested in the absolutely bizarre turn their conversation had taken.
Conrad looked at her, looking a little nonplussed. “Of course you do. You’re a dragon.”
“I’m a dragon,” she repeated, her frown deepening. “I think I’ve gotten some words wrong. I thought ‘dragon’ meant… a big lizard. Wings, scales, pointy teeth?”
Once in her high school Spanish class during an oral exam, she’d tried to tell her class a story about how humiliated she had been when she’d tripped and fallen at the mall. Hiding a smile, her teacher had explained that the word she’d used might have sounded like it should mean ‘embarrassed’, but it actually meant ‘pregnant’. She waited, now, for Conrad to laugh and explain her mistake. But instead, he only nodded.
“That’s right.”
“You think I’m a dragon,” she repeated slowly. “You think I can turn myself… into a dragon.” Conrad was looking at her with confusion that was slowly turning into concern. A suspicion struck her. “Does that meanyou’rea dragon?”
“Of course,” the man of her dreams said, as easily as if she’d asked him if he’d like to grab some dinner. They walked down to the water’s edge in silence, Conrad taking in the vast expanse of the ocean with vivid admiration. But Mira was more concerned with what he’d just told her.
Had she invited a complete madman into her life?
Chapter 12 - Conrad
There was something wrong, Conrad could tell. Mira seemed distant for the rest of the afternoon, distracted… though she didn’t seem willing to explain what was wrong, and he didn’t want to risk aggravating her further by prying. She’d seemed completely baffled when they’d talked about shifting. It was as though he’d been telling her brand new information, as though she’d never heard of shifters at all. But how could that be? She was a dragon… he’d known that since the moment he’d set eyes on her in his dreams, and the magical resonance had been unmistakable when they’d finally met in person. Could he be wrong, somehow? It wouldn’t have bothered him if Mira was human, of course, but he’d met a few humans now, and she simply didn’t feel the same as any of them.
Was it possible that she didn’t know what she was? But how? Conrad’s dragon was as close to him as though, drowsing beneath his skin. Every instinct, every intuition, every move he made was underpinned by that deep presence. He’d known it was there for as long as he’d been alive—the idea of not recognizing it for what it was, why, that was unthinkable. He tried not to stare too long at Mira as he reflected on the subject, keeping his gaze on the beautiful surroundings… but as fascinating as the great ocean was, he couldn’t seem to focus on it.
They headed back once the sun had set, driving in silence. He was getting more accustomed to the feeling of being in a car, but it was still strange to move so fast without his wings powering the motion. He tried a few times to strike up a conversation with Mira, but she gave him short answers to his questions, keeping her eyes on the road. Grim foreboding settled in his stomach. Had he offended her earlier? He kept catching her sidelong glances, but he couldn’t read the expression on her face.
They pulled into the driveway at last, and as Conrad climbed out of the car, something made him pause. It was nearly dark now, and the windows of the house were all closed and curtained… save for one, where there was an inch or so of space separating the white curtains. Conrad’s gaze lingered on it for a long moment, and when Mira moved past him towards the back door, he extended an arm to block her passage.
“What—”
“Let me go ahead of you,” he said, keeping his voice low. She nodded agreement, her golden eyes suddenly watchful, and handed him the keys to the back door.
Hoping fiercely that he was jumping at shadows, Conrad let himself into the house, blinking as he willed his eyes to adjust faster to the darkness. His dragon’s eyes were keen even on a moonless night, but this body had a little more trouble seeing in the gloom… yet another drawback that made him grateful not to be trapped in his two-legged form. His intuition buzzed like an insect against the inside of his skull as he moved cautiously through the house, Mira watching him from the doorstep. The house wasn’t empty, that was what his dragon was telling him. And his dragon was rarely wrong.
When the attack came, Conrad was ready for it. He shrugged off the man who’d leaped onto his back effortlessly, barely even registering the surprise attack before he was swinging around in readiness for the next. Suddenly, there were two men on him, and he shouted a warning to Mira in the doorway as his fist connected with the first man’s jaw. The second man was holding something, seemingly trying to wrestle it over Conrad’s head, and he struck the man’s wrist hard, sending the object flying. It hit the floor with a dull thud, and he caught the glint of bright metal. Silver, he thought, his jaw clenching. Then he brought up his elbow to make short work of the second attacker. His human form may not have been his most deadly, but he’d made sure he could fight with it just as well as he could with claws and teeth at his disposal.
Speaking of claws and teeth… these men might be human, but if they’d brought silver to this battle, they knew that they were up against shifters. And even more worrying, they knew about one of their more closely-guarded weaknesses. Lana had told him that the humans of this world didn’t know about the existence of shifters, with very few exceptions… he wished now that he’d asked her more about it.
Mira screamed a warning, and he spun at the sound of her voice, his chest tightening. More men, out in the yard, closing in on the house, men in the same dark clothing as the one from the night before. He counted six of them—a team of eight, if you included the men now passed out on the living room floor. But then a shadow moved, and he roared a warning as a ninth man emerged from the darkness and grabbed Mira around the waist.
Conrad tore forward, pure instinct driving him, and he knew that he’d have torn the man apart with his bare hands if he’d reached him first. Before he could, he heard Mira spit a profanity in her language and bring up one of her knees. The man doubled over with a grunt of surprise, and Conrad took the opportunity to throw him aside, grabbing Mira’s hand. They needed more space, he knew that with a dragon’s instincts, and she ran with him into the front yard, where still more men were gathering. He saw a few of them holding glinting metal, realizing with a sick lurch that the devices were collars. Silver had the effect of separating a shifter from their magic, preventing them from shifting or healing… and from what he understood, the experience was deeply painful both physically and spiritually.