Earthbound (Dragons and Druids Book 2) Read online

  “But everything has its limits,” he went on. “I think your mother used up all of her magic to keep you hidden, keep you from appearing human. It took all of her energy to keep that spell alive and…”

  The world tilted on its axis as my vision blurred. The enormity of what he said slammed into me. “I killed her. I killed my mother…?”

  Chapter 7

  Isaac tried to reassure me that it wasn’t my fault, but I didn’t want to hear it. My mother had used up all of her power to keep me hidden, to essentially make me human, and it killed her. The thought brought me back to that dark place. The only measure of comfort I had was knowing that she was good the whole time, an original earth druid, never falling into Ardan’s gang of racist fleabags. We drove the rest of the way home in silence. I curled in my bunk with the curtain drawn. I only went out once, and that was to feed Hemlock. He let me get closer, but still growled. He was walking and his staples were looking good, so I was going to count that as a win.

  When the bus finally stopped, I heard Isaac call out to everyone that we were home. Home. That word didn’t hold much meaning for me anymore. Not like it did when my mom was alive. My car was about the only place I considered home. Logan and Nadine were home. So I guess wherever we were was home. I knew I should open the curtain and get out with everyone else. Logan had come to check on me, but I’d told him I didn’t feel well and wanted to be alone. I should just be able to pull the curtain back and get up. But a thick depression had settled into me and I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to do anything but stare at the wall. Even when I heard Nadine struggling to get Hemlock off the bus, I didn’t move.

  My mother had lied to me my whole life, made me think I was human. Then she killed herself by letting her magic dry up, and left me all alone to face this supernatural world. The bitterness sank in my stomach like a stone. How could she? Fresh tears leaked from my eyes.

  I smelled him before he even pulled the curtain back. Logan. Like a crisp mountain breeze had just blown through the bus, his scent wrapped around all of me, saturating me. My dragon pulsed, sending heat to my core.

  The bed pressed down with his weight and I tried to stop the tears.

  “You can tell me anything, you know.” His voice was so full of compassion it nearly broke me. He knew I wasn’t sick. I wasn’t even sure dragon druids got sick. He stroked my back for a few minutes and we just stayed in silence as I pulled my emotions in. Finally, I rolled over and he wiped a tear away from my cheek.

  “Isaac said that my mom had to be a fire druid too. That she would have had powerful enough magic to keep me essentially human, but it would cost her…” I didn’t finish. I didn’t need to. He picked up the rest through the bond. I sent him everything. All of my thoughts and fears and anger towards the whole situation.

  His hand tangled with mine. “Sloane, it’s not your fault. You can’t do that to yourself.”

  “How could she? Logan, I fed her, bathed her when she was all but ninety pounds and I was supposed to be at the prom having a normal childhood. How could she put me through that if she had the power to stop it? How could she leave me?”

  She could have done a tree healing like Isaac did with Dom. But that expulsion of magic might have cost too much. It might have revealed me.

  Logan’s eyes were a smoky greenish gray. “I think it’s obvious. She loved you more than she loved herself. Taking energy away from your concealment spell to heal herself would lead the druids to you. At fourteen years old, would you have been able to fight them off?”

  I couldn’t even fight them off now. I shook my head. “But not telling me? Not giving me any warning? She had to know that would only lead to her certain death.”

  Logan nodded in agreement. “She didn’t leave a note or a—?”

  I gasped as the green leather book flashed into my mind. The things she’d said the night she died. Crazy things. The woman from the hospice told me it was normal. That most patients got a bit delirious before they crossed over. But holy shit. I needed that book. NOW.

  “There’s a book. She said it was her life’s work. That I would need to continue it. I thought she was crazy because I figured it was just an address book. But what if it’s not?” I was sitting up now, my head nearly touching the top bunk.

  “What else would it be?” Logan asked, confused.

  I took a deep breath. “What if my mom wasn’t just hiding me? What if she knew where the other skyborn were?”

  Logan’s breathing became ragged, and I knew his heart was beating madly. “Why would you think that?”

  I wanted to cry happy tears, and tears of frustration that I hadn’t figured it out sooner.

  “Because she told me. She said ‘this book is full of people who are like you. Go find them.’ I mean, who keeps an address book nowadays? Logan, my mom was protecting skyborn.”

  Did I know that, or did I just want it to be true?

  Logan’s face fell and a haunted look passed over it.

  “What?” I thought this would be good news.

  “I should have believed Marcus when he said he’d met someone different, that this druid wasn’t like the others.” He answered, his voice devoid of emotion. “I should have gone with him to meet her.”

  If I was going to have to get over my past regrets, then so was he.

  “I should have gone to the addresses in the book the day after she died. They probably would have told me what I was, and everything. We can’t worry about the past anymore.”

  He nodded but still looked shaken. “Where is this book?”

  I winced. “My car, back at Jeanine’s bar.”

  He sighed. “I thought you might say that.”

  We’d had to leave my car when the druid Steven attacked me. The whole pack had fled in Danny’s limo, and we still hadn’t had a chance to go back for it.

  Logan seemed to be thinking, rubbing the scruff on his jaw. “It’s probably been impounded. I’ll have Gear take care of it.”

  I was going to intervene that if it was impounded they would need to see my ID, which matched the title and registration, but I was guessing Gear had ways around that.

  A thought came to me then. “We should leave a message for Eva. Have her come back. With the book … I mean, if it is what I think it is. It could lead us right to the others. We can go together.”

  Logan nodded. “We have four days to train you to control your dragon and kill druids. Because I have a feeling once you have the staff, Isaac will need to be training you full-time.”

  I went to interject that I hadn’t shifted at all since the night we were attacked in the alley of Jeanine’s bar, but that was no use. I nearly shifted last night at the underground fighting ring.

  “Alright, you get four days, but on two conditions,” I told him.

  A sly grin crept across his face and he leaned into me. “Oh? What’s that?”

  I leaned closer too, feeling my dragon slither inside of me, sending waves of heat to my groin. When was my next heat? Now-ish?

  “No running, and don’t kill me,” I said sternly. I hated running with a passion, so much so that I wouldn’t mind it engraved on my tombstone. Sloane Murphy, hated running more than druids.

  He leaned in closer, reaching up to brush my bottom lip with his thumb. “I promise not to kill you,” he said as he leaned in and took hold of my bottom lip with his mouth, giving it a hard suck and letting go with a popping noise.

  I moaned. There were many ways to kill me, and teasing was one of them. I was just about to tell him so when I sensed movement at the front of the bus, a member of the pack climbing on board. One guess who it was. Blond hair and boobs.

  “Did you make any dragon babies while you were gone?” Sophie teased.

  “I wish,” I told her, and Logan’s body physically stiffened. I could feel the heat coming off of him. He moaned but turned it into a cough.

  Sucker.

  “What do you want, Soph?” It gave me pleasure to hear the annoyance in Logan�
��s voice.

  She put one hand on her hip. “Ruben and I set up an obstacle course while you were gone. Danny told me we only have four days to train Sloane, so let’s get to it, sunshine. I’m going to make a warrior out of you yet.”

  I rolled my eyes and stepped off the bed, standing up next to Logan. “I did pretty good yesterday, considering I’m so out of shape.” I wanted Sophie to know I could hold my own, classically trained in ass kicking or not.

  She shrugged. “All I see is that you brought home a stray that nearly took my hand off when I tried to pet him.”

  Hemlock. I grinned. “Took me a few hours to teach him that trick.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Come on.” She turned and left the bus, shaking her hips as she walked.

  “Why did you put her in charge of my training again?” I asked my mate, who was still eyeing me with a smoldering look. “She did say obstacle course, right? You promised not to get me killed.”

  He grinned. “Sophie’s good at this stuff, and it helps her to keep her mind off of Cooper. They were close.”

  I reached out and touched the red beard tattoo on Logan’s arm and nodded. “Fine, for Cooper. But if she breaks me, I blame you.”

  He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. “If anyone breaks you, I’ll kill them,” he said seriously.

  I was about to reply when an air horn blasted outside. “Let’s go, sunshine!” Sophie yelled through a bullhorn.

  A bullhorn!

  “I’m going to kill her,” I growled.

  Two hours later, I wanted to die. Everything burned, my legs, my lungs … weird muscles in my shoulder I didn’t even know I had. Sophie and Ruben had set up an obstacle course with druid dummies made of clothes stuffed with leaves, akin to lopsided scarecrows. She stacked piles of wood I had to jump over, mud puddles I had to crawl through, and the worst … a ten-foot-high wall I had to climb over. It was slick cob over hay and had zero handholds. My elbows were torn to shit. The only good part was that Nadine had taped one of Sophie’s pictures over the dummy and I got to shoot it in the chest with a paintball gun.

  I was just coming up to the wall when she used to the bullhorn. “Come on, princess. I’ve been through this course a dozen times already! It’s easy.”

  I flipped her the bird and she just smiled as if it made her happy that I was pissed off. The entire pack had pulled up chairs to watch. All except Logan and Gear. They were off dealing with trying to find my car and Eva. Even Isaac had come to watch, eating sunflower seeds and gazing at the spectacle as if it was a silly sport.

  Ruben was in the trees with a druid dummy on a string. He would launch it down at me from different angles each time. I was running on some major cortisol and adrenaline. Not knowing when or where the druid would pop out from, made me super jumpy and paranoid.

  Just as I was approaching the wall, a druid was flying down from the trees at me. I popped off two paintballs. One hit his chest and the other went over his shoulder, missing him.

  Not too bad.

  But he was still coming at me. The force of falling from the tree kept his momentum, and I knew he was going to slam into me. I pulled my knife from my thigh holster, and with a battle cry I shoved it into his groin.

  A collective “Owwww” came from behind me as every male groaned.

  “That’s my girl!” Sophie screamed. “Now get over that wall! There are five hunters behind you and your pack is on the other side.”

  I’d lost my running start, which was the only way to get over the slick stucco-type wall. The five hunters behind me were pretend, but I had to act like it was real in order to pass the run. Looking down at my hand, I smirked at the huge blade in my grasp. With a groan I shoved it deep into the mud wall about three feet off the ground.

  “Great job! That wall looked really dangerous,” Sophie commented sarcastically.

  “Shut up, boobs!” I screamed, and heard Keegan chuckle.

  I gingerly put my left boot onto the knife handle and tested my weight. It held. Barely. From a crouch, I used all of my energy to spring up, jumping off of the handle embedded into the wall, grasping the top ledge.

  Hell yes, bitches!

  I went to pull myself up, but my arms were shaking from fatigue. I didn’t work out. This was basically hell on earth for me and my stupid arms weren’t able to hold my weight.

  Cooperate, arms! I yelled at my weak biceps as they quivered under the strain. My feet were sliding and … no! I fell down, landing on my heels and falling backward, lying there looking up at the sky.

  Sophie came over her bullhorn: “That would have been so badass if you’d have pulled it off. But unfortunately you’re dead. The hunters just killed you.”

  I gave her the middle finger for the hundredth time that day as Nadine’s face swam into view. “Hemlock is ready for dinner. You want to take a break and come feed him?”

  Yes. Something other than this torture. Anything.

  She helped me stand and Sophie rolled her eyes. “Fine. Rest your weary muscles, but we start up again first thing in the morning.” She had used the bullhorn again even though I was standing ten feet from her.

  “Someone take that bullhorn before I shoot it!” I called out over my shoulder.

  Danny grinned and ripped it from her hands. “Sophie, go make dinner!” he yelled in her ear through the horn.

  Sophie looked positively murderous at him and it made me feel a little bit better, but I was still dying. Was I limping? Everything was numb at this point so I couldn’t tell. “Nadine, I think I need to see a doctor. Everything shouldn’t hurt, right? Shouldn’t I be healing?”

  I whined as a muscle in my thigh cramped.

  She laughed, tossing her long black hair over one shoulder. “You’ll be fine after dinner. It’s good for you. Sophie may be annoying, but that knife in the wall move was totally badass. That’s the kind of thinking that will keep you alive the next time they attack.”

  Meh. I guess I was learning some cool moves, and best of all gaining confidence that I could maybe hold my own in a fight with a druid. Maybe. But shooting Sophie’s dummy was really the highlight of the day.

  “Thanks for taping Sophie’s picture on the dummy. It really helped my motivation,” I told Nadine as we reached the little hut we shared.

  She laughed. “Anytime.”

  Sophie wasn’t that bad once you got to know her. We had a mutual banter that was working for us. I no longer wanted to rip her head off all of the time. Just sometimes.

  As we approached the kitchen, I smiled at the dog bed Nadine had set up.

  “I took an extra pillow from your bed and covered it with both of our shirts. That way he smells us and knows we are the bosses,” she told me.

  “Smart,” I commented as I grabbed the dog food she’d run out and gotten, and set it on the kitchen counter with his bowl. I grabbed a handful of dried kibble and mixed my scent around in it, then dropped it in his bowl, keeping it high up on the counter away from him. After that, I pulled out about five pieces and placed them in my palm.

  “Hemlock, you hungry? You want dinner?” I asked. His nostrils flared and he whined as I bent low, bringing my palm near his face, fingers flat. “I’m not going to hurt you,” I told him calmly.

  He looked into my eyes, then at the food in my palm. I held the food about three inches from his face, and instead of growling he lowered his head and tenderly licked the kernels from my palm. I looked up at Nadine, who was slack-jawed.

  “Reward him!” Nadine said.

  “Good boy, Hemlock!” I told him, and set the rest of the bowl down, petting his neck gently.

  He scarfed the food as I stood to wash my hands. “He’s gonna be okay,” I told Nadine.

  She smiled. “Because of you.”

  “Because of you too,” I told her. But she was right. Because of me he was going to live, and that was a damn good feeling. Not just live but thrive.

  Nadine pulled a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water, taking a s
ip.

  “So … while you were running the obstacle course, I overheard Keegan and Logan talking about your heat.” She grinned.

  My what? My eyes were as big as saucers and she cackled in glee. “Keegan has an ovulation predictor app, and he’s been tracking your cycles.”

  I nearly fell over in shock.

  “Please, please, tell me you are joking,” I told her.

  She shook her head. “Not joking. They were talking about different options to keep you from shifting during that time. Logan said he could put you in that sleep again, but it lines up with when we have to be back to get the staff.”

  My mouth dropped open. How dare he even think of putting me into a three-day sleep! “What else did they say? This is beyond embarrassing.”

  Nadine grinned. “Keegan remarked that since you were mates you could just … mate. Logan nearly decked him.”

  That was interesting. “Why?”

  She shrugged. “He’s chivalrous like that I guess.”

  I barked out a laugh, grabbing a banana from the fruit bowl. “Not according to Monica.”

  Nadine’s brows pinched in confusion. “Who?”

  “Girl from Eva’s bar.”

  Recognition dawned on her face. “Oh, her. Pshh, she’s nothing. I’ve never seen Logan so in love. Seriously, he was really lonely before you came along. Like … in a dark place.”

  Love. We hadn’t said that yet, but obviously I was falling in love with him. How could I not? Those smoldering eyes, those thick lips, his gentle heart.

  “You’re moaning,” Nadine commented.

  I growled. “This damn heat! It’s coming and I can’t stop it.”

  Nadine grinned, pulling out a small silver key. “Do you want to stop it?”

  Did I want to? No. I’d never been more sexually attracted to anyone in my life than I was with Logan. We were mates. Mates were forever. Why wouldn’t I want to go all the way, and put out this fire that had been burning since before I met him?

  “What’s the key for?” I raised an eyebrow as she slid it across to me.