Summer and the Dragon (Redwood Dragons Book 2) Read online

  “Lily? What’s the matter?” he asked again.

  “What the hell was that?” she asked, then threw his backpack at him. “And put some damn clothes on!”

  The pack hit him with a surprisingly forceful thud. He took a step backward and tried to quickly fish some clothes out. He was at a loss as to why she was so mad.

  “What was what?” he asked as he quickly pulled a shirt over his head, then started looking for pants.

  “Why were you flying like a maniac? Were you trying to kill me?”

  Vance looked up at her, surprised by the words, and even more surprised to realize that the look in her eyes wasn’t exactly rage. It was closer to terror. Just then, Knox and Bree landed next to Vance with a gentle thud. Vance was still looking around in confusion when Lily’s gaze shifted over to Bree, and Lily took some of her frustration out on Bree.

  “Why didn’t you tell me there was going to be a wild stunt show at the end?” Lily asked. She was visibly shaking, and Vance was starting to realize that he had made a big mistake.

  “Lily, I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to scare you, honest. I just thought it might be fun to do some tricks. I thought you’d enjoy it.” Instinctively, he reached forward to put a comforting hand on Lily’s shoulder, but she recoiled like a frightened animal.

  “Magicae arma!” she yelled. A nearly invisible force field went up, causing Vance’s hand to fling backward suddenly.

  “Hey!” he said, starting to feel a little angry himself. “I wasn’t trying to scare you on purpose. I thought you would like doing a little crazy flying.”

  A loud pop and rush of energy came across the clearing as Knox began shifting back from dragon to human form.

  “I had no idea he was going to fly like a madman, or I would never have let you fly on him,” Bree said. “I would have gotten Myles, or someone else sane. Come on. Let’s go to the cabins. You can sit down and take a breather there.”

  “Arma terminantur,” Lily said. The force field shield fell away, and Bree took a step forward to put her arm around Lily. The two of them started walking down the short path from the clearing, which led to the eleven cabins that served as the Redwood Dragons home base. Bree gave Vance a pointed glare before they left, but Lily did not so much as glance at him. Knox was just finishing getting dressed, and he looked up at Vance and shook his finger at him.

  “Not cool, man. Not cool. You scared the living daylights out of our guest before she even arrived at our camp. I’m going to have to go calm her down and make sure she’s okay, but don’t think you’re getting off easy on this. We’re going to be having a conversation later.”

  With that, Knox grabbed his backpack and stormed off after Bree and Lily, leaving Vance standing by himself, confused and angry.

  “Someone sane?” Vance spat out at to the empty clearing. “I am sane. I know how to fly better than anyone. I’m always careful. And why the hell am I always getting compared to Myles?”

  Myles was another one of the clan members, and Vance considered him to be something of a goody-two-shoes. Myles always did everything by the book, never took even the slightest of unnecessary risks, and, in Vance’s opinion, was boring as hell most of the time. But Knox loved Myles. In fact, the only person whom Knox loved more than Myles was Knox’s best friend, Noah, another one of the dragons.

  But what made this instance of getting compared to Myles worse was that Vance hadn’t even realized that what he was doing would cause such a big reaction. He had expected to get reprimanded a bit by Knox for drawing attention to himself, but he had never expected Lily to get angry with him. Maybe he should have realized that not everyone would enjoy fast-paced, acrobatic flying, but he loved it so much that it had never occurred to him that it would scare Lily.

  “God, I’m such an idiot,” he said aloud to a nearby tree. The tree stood silent and unmoving, and, with a big sigh, Knox started walking down the path that led to the cabins. He could feel anger filling him, and he knew he needed to get his emotions under control, but it was hard to feel like he was always getting in trouble just for being himself.

  Yeah, he took risks sometimes. That was part of what made him good at his work. He’d risked his own life and health numerous times in order to get ancient dragon artifacts out of the wrong hands. The shifter world was a safer place, quite literally due to the fact that he had swooped in and managed to snatch up powerful artifacts in situations where even his own clan mates had said it would be impossible to complete the mission successfully. Knox always gave him the hardest missions, and Vance always received lavish praise for his work. And yet, he was always getting yelled at by Knox, or by Noah, who served as Knox’s second in command. They told him he was too showy. He drew too much attention to himself. Yeah, he was good at taking risks, but he needed to stop taking so many unnecessary risks. He needed to be more of a team player, and think about the repercussions his actions might have for the clan, not just for himself.

  Vance let out a sigh as the cabins came into view. Bree and Lily were nowhere to be seen, but the rest of the shifters who were at base right now were gathered around the fire pit that stood in the center of the base camp. Knox was with them, gesturing emphatically as he spoke, although Vance had no idea what he was talking about. Vance couldn’t see Knox’s face, but he could see the other shifters glance up as he came into view. They all had a hint of disdain in their faces, and he knew in that moment that they had already seen how upset he had made Lily. They were glaring at him because he had frightened their guest. All happiness and praise over the fact that he had just recovered a powerful ancient spear was forgotten. Vance let out a long, frustrated sigh.

  He was the dragon everyone loved to hate.

  Chapter Four

  Vance’s mood did not improve over the next several hours. He found himself sulking on the outskirts of the barbecue that night, watching from a safe distance while everyone else laughed and talked with Lily. Not many women came through their little base in the Redwoods, and Vance felt his stomach twisting with jealousy as the other dragons all leaned in a little too close to ask Lily about how her trip from Falcon Cross had been, or about what she was most looking forward to that summer. He gritted his teeth and chewed angrily on his lower lip as he saw Owen gently touching her arm, asking her what her job at the Advocacy Bureau was like. And he did his best to look the other way when Myles laughed a little too loudly at one of her jokes.

  But Vance was pretty sure he’d never been so angry or frustrated in his life. He felt he had a claim to Lily. He’d seen her first, after all. Logically, he knew this made no difference. But in his desperation, he grasped at any small reason to call her his. His blood boiled as he watched everyone else enjoying her company, falling all over themselves to get closer to her. And he found himself downing beer after beer as he paced back and forth several feet away from the fire pit.

  Knox hadn’t spoken to him yet, but Vance knew he’d be getting a lecture before the week was done. Knox hated showoff dragons more than anything, and Vance was the biggest showoff of the group. He would readily admit to that. But he didn’t feel like he deserved to be yelled at for scaring Lily. It hadn’t been intentional. He had wanted to show Lily a good time. But Vance knew that wouldn’t matter. Knox was keenly interested in maintaining good relations between the Redwood Dragons and the Falcon Cross wizards, and Vance wasn’t an idiot. He knew Knox viewed his acrobatic flying today as a threat to those relations, but Vance hadn’t been trying to stir the pot. He’d only wanted to capture the attention of the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

  Vance let out a sigh and downed another long sip of beer as Lily laughed at some other stupid joke that Owen had just made. Lily hadn’t made eye contact with Vance all evening. Vance had wanted to talk to her and explain things again before the barbecue had been in full swing, but she’d turned and walked quickly in the other direction as soon as she’d seen him coming. Vance frowned as he remembered this. He decided that he’d finall
y had enough, and turned to walk away from the fire pit, leaving the happy group behind him. He tossed his beer can in the trash, and then slipped into the darkness of the woods.

  Instantly, he felt better. He knew some people thought that the forest was spooky at night, but to him, this was when it was most peaceful. He moved almost silently through the woods, breathing in the fresh, woodsy air, and running his hands across the massive trunks of the redwoods.

  According to legend, the ancient Redwood Dragons clan had lived in these same forests for thousands of years. The history of this place often brought chills to Vance. Sometimes he could hardly believe that he was lucky enough to be here, running his hands across the same trees that his ancestors had. And yet, sometimes, he felt as though he didn’t belong here. It was a nagging feeling that had plagued him his whole life.

  After all, he wasn’t really one of the ancient dragons. His former clan leader, William, had been the last of the Redwood Dragons bloodline. When William realized that he was unlikely to ever have a son of his own, he had gone out and adopted orphaned dragon shifters as his own. That had been during the last great shifter war, so orphans had been relatively easy to find. Vance was one of ten young dragon shifters William had brought here and raised. Now, William had retired and moved to Texas, and Knox was clan leader. And, even though Vance loved Knox most of the time, all the changes in clan politics had intensified the little voice in Vance’s head that told him he might be better off somewhere else. When that little voice came up, Vance always pushed it down. But it was getting harder and harder to do.

  Vance had been so excited to be home for the summer, but the disapproving looks everyone kept giving him tonight had cooled his excitement somewhat. Was he just too brazen, too rash to be part of this group? And did he really want to spend his entire life alone, without a woman? There wasn’t much chance of having a girlfriend as long as he lived out here in the woods, and he had pretty much blown his chance with Lily before they even made it home.

  Vance let out a long, frustrated sigh. Lily had awakened desires within him that had been dormant for a long time. He felt almost angry now as he realized that his sudden feelings of discontent with his life here and the summer ahead stemmed from the fact that he would be spending that whole summer looking at Lily, but unable to have her for his own. His dragon was restless within him, and Vance wished he could shift right now and go for a long, soothing flight in the summer moonlight. He didn’t dare do that, though. Knox already had enough things to yell at him about. Vance didn’t need to add to that list by flying around for no reason and risking being caught.

  “Not hungry?” a voice behind him asked, nearly causing Vance to jump out of his skin. It was Knox.

  “Jesus, Knox. I know you’re the best in the world at sneaking up on people, but do you have to sneak up on your own dragons? You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

  “Sorry. It’s just habit for me to move so silently,” Knox said, but the moonlight revealed the hint of a smile on Knox’s lips. Knox was unapologetically proud of his stealth skills.

  “Why’d you follow me, anyway?” Vance asked, even though he already knew the answer. “Can’t a man get some peace and quiet out in the woods?”

  “I wanted to talk to you,” Knox said, his voice sounding suddenly weary. “You know you can’t keep defying our clan’s ground rules about overly showy flying. It’s true that this area isn’t very heavily populated, but we still have to be careful. If the wrong person sees us and gets too curious, the clan’s base camp could be in trouble.”

  Vance resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He didn’t see how his flying style made much difference. Flying was flying, no matter how many flips or barrel rolls he did in the sky. If someone saw a dragon, they would probably freak out regardless of how tamely that dragon was flying. Besides, Lily had set off a long stream of shimmering light behind them. How was that not showy flying?

  “Did you also reprimand Lily for her little magic show up in the sky?” Vance challenged.

  Knox sighed. “Lily is our guest. It’s not my job to reprimand her, but I did explain to her that we try to keep our flying low key around here. She was extremely apologetic, unlike you. Look, Vance, you know I consider you a brother and a dear friend, and I know you’re just trying to have some fun. But I can’t look the other way when you break clan rules about flying protocol. You’ve got to stop.”

  “Or what?” Vance asked, crossing his arms. “You gonna kick me out of the clan?”

  A pained expression passed over Knox’s face, and, for a moment, Vance felt guilty. He knew that Knox had a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, and that the rules had been set even before Knox’s time as leader. Knox was just trying to do his best as clan leader to protect everyone. But, still, Vance didn’t appreciate being scolded like a naughty schoolboy when he’d just been having a little fun out in the middle of nowhere.

  “Of course I’m not going to kick you out of the clan,” Knox said. “But if I can’t trust you to play by the rules, you’ll be grounded from further missions until I can.”

  Vance’s eyes shot up in shock. “You wouldn’t!” he said.

  But the look in Knox’s eyes told Vance that he would. Vance was tired now and was happy to have a break from missions over the summer. But Vance also knew that he would go stir crazy sitting here on base for months at a time while everyone else was sent off to work on exciting artifact recovery jobs. Deep down, he loved his work, and he didn’t want to lose his chance to do the most exciting parts of it.

  “You gotta get your shit together, okay?” Knox said, the weariness in his voice growing even more evident. “And for Pete’s sake, don’t fly like a maniac with a girl on your back. They don’t like it.”

  Vance was about to open his mouth to protest again, but he shut it and thought better of it. Knox seemed like he was just giving him a warning right now, and Vance should just let it go at that. There was no need to explain to Knox why he had been trying to impress Lily. All that would do was earn him some good ribbing from the clan leader, and Vance was not in the mood for that right now.

  “Fine,” Vance said sullenly. “I’ll get my shit together, whatever that means.”

  Knox sighed, but seemed to accept Vance’s half-hearted apology. With a slight nod of his head, Knox turned to head back to camp. Vance watched Knox go, feeling both angry at the clan leader and glad that he himself did not have to take on the responsibilities of boss. Vance knew that Knox did not like the disciplinary portion of being in charge, and he certainly didn’t blame him for that. But at least Knox had some sense of control over his life. Vance was feeling more and more like he was just a small, insignificant piece of the shifter world.

  Vance was a troubled soul, searching for something but not quite sure exactly what it was that he was searching for. When he saw Lily earlier today, he’d thought for a brief moment that maybe he’d found it. But that hope had been dashed almost as quickly as it sprung up. Vance set his jaw in a determined line and began to turn to walk deeper into the woods, but just before he did, he heard Knox calling back to him one more time. His voice was faraway, but the words came through loud and clear.

  “You know, Vance, you have to get a girl to trust you first. Then she’ll let you take her on as wild of a ride as you want.”

  Vance frowned into the darkness, surprised at how much Knox seemed to realize about his desire for Lily, and surprised at how quickly the thought of taking her on another wild ride made his heart beat nearly out of his chest.

  Chapter Five

  Lily woke with a start, feeling disoriented as she sat up and realized that her head was pounding. Sunlight streamed in through her window, and she closed her eyes against its unforgiving brightness. Like a flood, everything came back to her, and she smiled despite her wicked hangover.

  She was deep in the heart of the California Redwoods, and she would be here for the next three months. She had nothing to worry about, and no work responsibilities to s
tress her out. For the first time in her adult life, she could truly relax.

  Lily swung her legs over the side of the bed and made her way to the kitchen of the small cabin. She started inspecting the contents of the cabinets, hoping to find something that would take the edge off the pounding in her head. She came across a dusty bottle of ibuprofen, with an expiration date two years passed. With a shrug, she popped two of the pills, downed some water, and hoped for the best.

  This cabin had once belonged to William, the former leader of the Redwood Dragons clan. But since he’d been gone, the clan had mainly used the cabin for storage. It would serve as Lily’s home for the summer, though, and the dragons had made an attempt to clean it up and stock it with basic supplies. Headache medicine must not have been high on their checklist, though.

  Thankfully, it seemed that coffee had been a priority, because Lily found a fresh, unopened bag of beans in another one of the kitchen cabinets. Lily started brewing a pot, then sat at the small kitchen table to wait. She had checked the fridge yesterday and knew it was stocked with eggs, yogurt, and fruit, but she felt a little too queasy to eat anything at the moment. Maybe after her coffee.

  Lily had surprised herself with how many beers she had downed last night. It had been years since she’d had a proper hangover, but for some reason she’d really let her hair down around the campfire last night. Perhaps it was the excitement of being in a new place, or maybe she was trying to calm down the last bit of nerves left over from her flight into the shifters’ base camp. Whatever the reason, Lily had really let loose.

  But it had been worth it. Lily could not remember the last time she’d laughed so hard. It’s not that she hated her life back in Falcon Cross or anything like that. It’s just that she always had so much stress to deal with from her job. Here, she felt like she could just be herself. And the dragon shifters had all been so funny. Bree had warned her that the humor around the campfire could get a little crass. After all, Bree was the only woman in the group. But the men had all been on their best behavior last night, and Lily had never felt uncomfortable.