“I’ve only just met Rage,” Maddox says. “I wouldn’t mind a couple of days here.” My brother looks my way as he says it. “I want to get to know him.” He implores me with his eyes.
I groan. “I don’t like it.” I do understand. How can I not? “A couple of days. We can’t afford more than that,” I concede. “As soon as you meet Bolt,” I say to Zale, “we need to leave. We can come back in a couple of months…if we’re careful.”
Zale nods. “Our life is a fuck-up. We can’t keep running. I, for one, am getting tired of it.”
“Me too,” Barrett agrees. “We can’t put down roots. Can’t make something of our lives. We have nothing. All of my belongings fit inside a small bag and I have to share a room with two men. How fucked up is that?”
“It won’t be for forever,” I say. If we were caught, my punishment would be awful. I shudder to think about it. Thing is though, if the weyr decided to dish out punishment to us, it could spell death for these guys. No, we have to keep going. A year is not long enough. Nowhere near it!
“You’re right.” Maddox’s eyes have a hard look. “Either they’ve forgotten about us, or we’ll have to face them. There’s only one way to find out which of those is the truth. We would need to take a stand. Maybe here is where we stand.” He looks unsure.
“No!” I practically shout. “That’s not going to happen. We can’t stand against the whole weyr. That would be insane. We’ll stay a few days, and then we’re hitting the road. I don’t know what I would do if anything ever happened to any of you.” I feel my eyes sting. “Besides, you’ve just met your half-brother. Do you want to pull Rage and the others into our mess? That might happen if we stay.”
Maddox looks down at the floor before locking eyes with me. He finally shakes his head. “No, I wouldn’t want that.”
“It’s settled,” I say. “We’re leaving as soon as you meet Bolt. A couple more days, and then we’re gone.”
“As soon as we meet all of them,” West urges. “I need to know if I have a half-brother. I have this feeling.” He smiles. I haven’t seen West smile for the longest time.
I nod once. “Don’t get your hopes up too much,” I warn him. “We’ll stay,” I sigh. Against my better judgment, I concede. It’s four against one, so what choice do I have? Sure, there’s a side of me that’s happy. The side that can’t stop thinking about Stephan. About how much I enjoyed our conversation last night. About how good he looked naked. Holy moly, I definitely can’t get that image out of my head. Most of me is afraid, though. I have this prickly feeling up and down my spine and over my scalp. I don’t like it!
Stephanus
The chair lands on the ground as Forge stands. “Say that again,” he practically snarls.
“Take a few deep breaths,” Jarrod says. “I know it’s a lot to take in.”
“Screw breathing!” Forge yells. “Say that again!”
“You heard me,” Jarrod deadpans.
I can see that Forge is about to lose his shit. “We recently found out that you have a half-brother,” I repeat what Jarrod already said.
“Fuck me!” Forge growls, looking astounded. “That can’t be right.” He shakes his head. His chest heaves.
Rage leans back in his chair. “I know just how you feel,” he murmurs. “They seem…okay.” He shrugs.
“There are four of them?” Forge asks, eyes wide.
“Five,” I reply.
“Four dragon demigods?” His brows are up.
“Yes,” Jarrod says.
“And one dragon shifter. A woman,” I add.
“And let me get this straight. One of them is related to you,” Forge says to Rage, his eyes are blazing, “one to me,” he points a thumb at his chest, “and a third one is Bolt’s half-brother? Fuck!” He paces towards the window and stares out of it for a few moments before turning around. “What about the fourth one? What do we know about him?”
“No idea,” I say. “West doesn’t know who his father is.”
“How can he not know?” Forge growls.
Jarrod shrugs. “West isn’t the most forthcoming of the group. We don’t know them very well, in general. He doesn’t know what his power is either. I don’t have the details.”
I see Forge is calming down. Up until recently, he didn’t know what his ability was either. He didn’t think he had one. “There’s a chance he could be related to one of us, as well.” Forge looks around the room. Everyone is here except for Bolt. We decided to call a meeting without him in the end. We’ll fill him in when he gets back.
I nod. Jarrod does too. One or two of the guys shift in their chairs. The idea is uncomfortable. We knew this day might come. Nothing can truly prepare you.
“At the same time,” Forge goes on, “we don’t know them. They could be bad news. They could have ulterior motives for being here.”
“I don’t think so,” I blurt. I won’t lie; I have Raven’s green eyes and kind smile in my mind as I say it. Still, I think they’re okay. All of them, even West.
Jarrod chuckles. “Don’t listen to Stephan. He’s biased.”
“Biased, my ass!” I growl.
“He has a hard-on for the dragon shifter.” Jarrod is grinning.
“If anyone is biased, it’s Rage. He met his brother today. What do you think of this whole situation?” I ask Rage.
Rage sits up. “I don’t fully trust them.” His dog sits up as well from her position at his feet under the table. “I don’t know them well enough yet to make a call.”
“What does your gut say?” I push him.
He narrows his dark eyes for a moment. “I’m inclined to trust them, but I’m leaning in that direction because Maddox is my half-brother. My gut could be lying. I wouldn’t rely on my gut…or yours, for that matter. I saw how you looked at the shifter. I agree with Jarrod on that one.”
I roll my eyes.
“Do you think they’re deceiving us about being our siblings?” Forge asks. He looks us each in the eyes as he speaks.
“No way!” Rage says. “They’re definitely related to us. You’ll see when you meet Barrett. Just because we’re related doesn’t mean we should trust them, though. Not a fuck! That would be a mistake. That’s logic talking.”
“I really think they’re okay,” I put it out there. “My feelings have nothing to do with the dragon shifter. But I do think that they’re on the run. It sounds like they escaped from their weyr.”
“Escaped?” Trident frowns. “Why would they need to escape?”
“I don’t know enough yet to comment. I’ll work on finding out more about it.” Raven spoke to me in confidence. I don’t feel right divulging too much. I will find out more and discuss it with the guys if it warrants doing so.
“I wouldn’t mind meeting them,” Tri says, grinning. “It certainly sounds like the dragon shifter is worth meeting.” He looks my way as he says it.