Shattered Spirits (26 page)

His impossible aura, the one she wasn’t supposed to be able to feel, flickered around him, now fully visible. Except he didn’t have an aura. He couldn’t. He was human and not a mage.

It was the stress of the situation, the agony still searing through her, and the panic of her inamorator’s life being threatened. That was it. But man! He glowed like all the assailants had.

Her aura sight must be messed up. Getting a beating could do that to a girl. Her headache was back in full force. She’d tried using her earth magic on the first guy in her greenhouse and an agony she’d never experienced before had torn through her. After that, she’d been unable to summon her earth magic at all.

And all of that just meant her aura sight was unreliable. She needed a place to hole up, take care of Ryan, and then figure out what the hell she was going to do. The question was, where to hide? The magic used in the fight proved the assailants had been mages. She didn’t recognize any of them as drakes, so they had to be humans. Which meant—

Mother, why did her head have to hurt so much?

It meant Ryan’s question still stood. Was the attack related to the decapitations or not? Not a lot of people knew where she lived, so it could have been the leak in the Asar Nergal. Or it could have been someone else.

No. The attack had been big. At least a dozen mages, maybe more. That required resources. But whose? And God dammit, whoever that was owed her an entire hoard. All her beautiful flowers, burning.

She pushed that thought away. Focus on the immediate danger. Losing her hoard was heartbreaking, but losing Ryan would destroy her. Find who did this, and end them. That was the goal. And because of all the mages involved, it had to have something to do with catching Boyd and the others earlier that night. Retaliation or something. She and her team had to be getting close to something big and someone powerful behind the mages. It was the only logical explanation. But who?

“The only person I can think of, who would have had the funds and the balls for an attack of that scale on an FBI agent, is Raven Mitchelle,” Ryan said, as if reading her mind. “But that still doesn’t make any sense. Her business is too legit for something this stupid.”

Unless it wasn’t legit. But she couldn’t say that and put Ryan onto Raven’s trail. She needed to keep him away from drakes, not get him more involved. But all those mage kids, not to mention Anaea—a human sorcerer—and Grey in Raven’s house implied the black drake was somehow involved in something more. Except Anaea wouldn’t be part of an attack on Capri. That didn’t seem her style and it certainly wasn’t Grey’s or Hunter’s. Not to mention that none of the mages who’d just attacked her had been kids. “So who else could it be?”

They cleared the gully and cut between two squat office buildings. To the left and up the hill was a strip mall with a twenty-four-hour coffee shop. The cold didn’t bother her much—her healing took care of that—but Ryan needed warmth.

Mother, he could have died. He had almost died. Panic raced through her. She needed to figure this out.

They reached the coffee shop, rage and panic thrumming through Capri. She needed to deal with this. Make Ryan safe. But once they stopped moving, she’d have to deal with his shattering mind—except he hadn’t broken apart yet. Maybe there was hope. Please, let there be hope.

Bright, warm light lit the coffee shop’s front window, giving her a clear view of the entire seating area. At this hour, it was empty. Thank God, and the Mother, and any other deity who might be listening.

Inside, a chime rang as the door opened and heat flooded over her. Ryan sagged onto a plastic chair at a table that gave him a clear view of all the windows and the front door. His skin was pale and sweat slicked his brow. She couldn’t tell how much blood he was losing beneath the baggy stolen coat. Without a doubt, they’d left a trail to the shop.

Which meant she needed to call for help now, before more mages showed up.

A middle-aged woman shuffled out from the back. Her eyes grew wide and froze on the table. Ryan had set the gun in front of him.

“Sorry,” he mumbled and pulled the weapon under the table.

“The minute we leave, I want you to call the police,” Capri told her.

“Why don’t I call them now?” the woman asked.

“That would do, too.” It wouldn’t give them a lot of time, but if more mages arrived, Capri didn’t want the woman alone and helpless. The catch was, were the police involved in this whole mess? Cooper or Ptolemy could have had enough of her. They could be connected to the mages. Anyone could—

Except Grey. Grey would never try to kill her. He was too good a friend.

She pulled the phone from her pocket.

“Can we trust whoever you’re calling?” Ryan asked. “You can’t rule out that whoever was responsible knows you and has connections.”

“This guy is safe.” She hoped. No, Grey was safe. He’d help her; she just had no idea how she was going to pay him back.

She dialed Grey’s number. It rang once, twice, three times. It started a fourth and clicked. It was going to his messages. But instead of the answering machine response, a gruff voice said, “Hello?”

“Grey?”

“Capri?” Grey cleared his throat. “This isn’t your number. And it’s almost one. What’s wrong?”

That’s what she loved about him. Smart. Always knew when someone was in trouble. He was going to make some lucky drake very happy.

“Capri?” he asked, panic edging his voice. “Where are you?”

“At the coffee shop on Meyer.” Shit. The words had jumped out before she realized what she was saying. She really needed a break, time to ground herself—and get rid of this damned headache.

“I’m coming over.”

“No, don’t—” He couldn’t see Ryan. If Grey knew he was her inamorator he’d… she had no idea what he’d do.

Grey strode around the outside of the building. In a blink of an eye he’d gated in.

Damn. “Wait here,” she said to Ryan and went outside to meet Grey. All she’d wanted was a safe place to stay. He could have given her that without showing up, but he hadn’t given her a chance to ask. This face-to-face was dangerous for both Ryan and Grey. If whoever attacked her knew Grey was as good a friend as this, he could be in danger, too.

“You were supposed to just talk to me, set me up with a safe house,” she growled, “not show up.”

“You sounded like you needed help.” His gaze traveled up her body, over the ratty blood-stained coat. “And it looks like you need it.”

“Yes, but if they see us together—”

His eyes narrowed and the muscles in his jaw tightened. “Who’s the drake?”

“The drake—?”

“Yeah, the guy sitting in the coffee shop glaring at me from the corner of his eye.”

“There’s no—” The only person in the shop was Ryan.

“I don’t recognize him. But he’s dressed as badly as you.”

Grey was seeing a drake, or rather a drake’s aura. Which meant Ryan’s aura wasn’t a figment of her headache or stress. It was real.

Mother, somehow Ryan was now a mage. But no dragon had body-shared with him… unless being her inamorator changed things within him, awakened his magic. Except that wasn’t possible. Only a dragon’s spirit could connect with the earth’s magic and that took time. At the minimum a day and the maximum was years.

“He’s a friend. He was visiting when… when trouble came calling.”

“That’s pretty vague.” Grey squinted. “He looks like the human you were with at Nero’s.”

Shit. Capri yanked Grey around so he couldn’t see into the coffee shop. “He’s not.” Her stomach roiled, and she bit the inside of her cheek. She hated lying to Grey, but it was best for him. He was already in Regis’s black book for keeping Hunter’s inamorata a secret and joining Hunter’s unofficial coterie. If it came out that he knew of another human mage, she doubted even Hunter could protect him. “So can you set us up for the night or what?”

The vein in Grey’s temple pulsed, and he turned his gaze back to the coffee shop. “What did you say his name was?”

For the love of—! “I didn’t.” Now was not the time for him to suddenly become jealous. He’d quietly waited for her for centuries, and she supposed she’d quietly waited for centuries for him to give up.

“I really don’t remember his aura.”

Her stomach flip-flopped again. Would he refuse to help her if he realized Ryan was a mage… or worse, her lover? She hadn’t thought Grey was a vindictive kind of guy, but did she really know him? Did any drake let another get close enough to truly know him or her?

“You can’t remember everything.”

Grey raised an eyebrow. Even in the frigid air, sweat slicked his temples. “Wanna try that again?”

“I—” She had no idea what to say. In that moment, she’d do whatever it took to keep Ryan safe from dragon-kind. Mother of All, she’d lost her mind.

She jerked away and ran a hand through her hair. It was loose. Ryan had pulled the chignon free in the greenhouse. Heat swept through her at the memory of his hands and lips caressing her human flesh. Of him sliding thick and hot inside her.

He glanced up from his coffee and met her gaze through the glass. A hint of a smile softened his expression and her heart thumped in response. Hers. Her heart belonged to him and no other. She had to keep him safe. No matter the cost.

“Ah, shit,” Grey said.

She whirled back to him. He stood so still. All sense that he was fighting to hold himself together had stopped. If she hadn’t known he was alive, she might have mistaken him for a statue.

“He
is
that human, isn’t he?”

She held his gaze, trying to figure out what to say. Did she need to protect Ryan from Grey or not?

“How did I become the go-to man for saving the asses of human mages?”

A growl bubbled within her. “I can save his ass just fine. What I need is a place to hole up until I figure out who’s trying to kill me.”

“You didn’t want me involved because he’s a mage, you stupid drake?” Grey met her growl and bared his teeth.

“I think you knowing about him will put you in danger.” She grabbed the front of his coat and yanked him close. Rage shook her, but she didn’t know why. Grey was going to help. She didn’t doubt he would. But why did he have to figure out what Ryan was? Why did Ryan have to be anything other than what she’d thought he was? She hadn’t wanted things to be more complicated, for either of them.

Grey jerked from her grasp. “Your little mage is the least of my worries.”

“He’s not so little.”

He flashed his teeth. “You don’t say.”

Something within her broke. She didn’t know what. Ice swept over her, and her rage turned to fear. Grey’s smile turned fierce, as if her fear were painted on her face. He’d come to a realization about her, one she was sure she hadn’t figured out for herself yet. In that moment, she knew he wasn’t just a good friend to Hunter, he was one to her as well. And she had no idea how the hell she was going to be able to repay him.

His gaze dropped to her feet. “Those boots are way too big for you.” He frowned. “And where are your pants?”

That was all he had to say? “It’s complicated.”

“Complicated?”

“Yeah, someone blew up my house.”

“Holy shit. Any idea who?”

“If I knew that I wouldn’t be coming to you for help. It could be anyone in Court.”

Warm air swept over her and the chime above the coffee shop door rang. “What’s going on, Capri?” Ryan asked.

“Just arranging a safe place to stay.” If she didn’t wipe his mind, they were going to have to have a long conversation—part of which involved whatever his earth magic might be. Hopefully it was something subtle, like enhanced strength or speed.

She bit back a growl. What the hell was she thinking? They couldn’t have a conversation. She had to wipe his mind, and if she could wipe hers, she would. Except now he had an earth magic ability, which meant dragon law demanded he be killed.

CHAPTER 31

The apartment Grey sent them to was a loft in a renovated warehouse in a seedier part of town. Ryan had remained quiet for the taxi drive, the climb up the stairs to the third floor, and the march down the dimly lit hall. He looked strained, as if the events of the evening had finally sunk in: they’d had sex. Her house had been blown up. He’d seen things he shouldn’t have seen. Impossible things.

And there was nothing she could do to fix that.

His aura flickered, brighter now than before. Whatever earth magic he’d developed, it was growing stronger. She just couldn’t figure out how that was possible. He hadn’t shared his body with a drake—sex didn’t count—so there was no way the magic asleep within his body had been woken. Only the magical strength of a dragon’s spirit could activate a human body’s connection to the earth’s magic.

Unless being her inamorator had something to do with it. Maybe his soul magic had also been strengthened. Maybe he wouldn’t live a normal human life and she wouldn’t be faced with an eternity of loneliness after he died. That still didn’t solve the problem of him losing his mind once he realized the truth.

This was such a mess.

She slid the key Grey had given her into the lock and opened the door. Weak illumination from a streetlight outside the bank of windows on the far wall created a sense of foreboding. She found the light switch and flicked it on. The place was basic and it didn’t look as if Grey had been in the loft for years. Most of the right side of the space was a gym and boxing ring. Dust sheets had been pulled from a kitchen table with three mismatched chairs, and from a bed by the bank of windows, mostly hidden by a series of paper screens. At her feet were two shopping bags, one with clothes and the other with food. Grey was a better friend than she deserved.

“Wow, you take me to all the best places,” Ryan said.

“I’m not sure we’re in any position to complain.” She dug through the bags, looking for bandages for Ryan.

“I’m still trying to figure out what that position is, exactly.” He closed the door and leaned against it, arms crossed, waiting for an explanation.

What could she tell him? “It’s complicated. Now let’s look at your injuries. I know your ribs were grazed.”