At that, my mouth goes dry.

  My little plan to keep her talking was stupid.

  I’m not interested in being bait for her, nor am I interested in finding out what, exactly she needs bait for. Nicole is evil, through-and-through, and I’m out of here. Any second now, I’ll have a chance to take off, and when I do, I’m leaving. No holding back. No turning back. Just going. I can do it.

  “Bait for what?” She says. “I’m sure you’re wondering.”

  “I’m not.”

  “I’m sure you’re wondering,” she repeats. “Well, there are rumors that there are dragons in these woods,” she says. “And you’re going to help me catch one.”

  “There’s no such thing as dragons,” I whisper.

  Then I hear a growl and I turn to see a dragon dropping from the sky and landing behind Nicole. It roars, and she seems unfazed. Turning, she says, “Welcome to the party, shifter. I wondered when you’d turn up.”

  Chapter Four

  Lee

  LUCKY KNOWS TOO MUCH about us. I don’t like everything they’ve done to my clan, and I really don’t like that they were apparently waiting for my phone call. It’s not okay that they knew I was going to reach out. It’s not okay that they’re still going strong.

  We’ve destroyed several of their buildings in Westbridge Forest. How many more are there? How many more people from their organization are hunting us?

  More importantly, are we ever going to catch a break?

  I stare at the wall in my little cabin. I should fly back to Fablestone. I should return to my clan. It’s been more than long enough. I’ve been gone too long. I left so I could call the number on Peggy’s business card. When Lucky approached her about finding a dragon baby, Daisy, she took the card they offered and shoved it in her pocket. Cameron and Peggy turned it over to me with the hope that I, being the resident tech genius, would be able to do something with it.

  After not knowing what the hell to do, after not being able to track it, I fucking called it.

  And she was waiting.

  She knew I would be calling.

  I didn’t get anything out of the woman except that she knows Fablestone exists and she’s looking forward to seeing us soon. She ended the call before I could do anything – track it, pinpoint her location. I couldn’t do anything.

  But she scared the shit out of me.

  Fablestone is my home.

  I don’t like knowing that the dragons are being systematically hunted. There’s another clan in the forest who is facing the wrath of Lucky, as well. What about the wolves? Are the wolves being targeted? I don’t know, but I think it’s possible.

  There are a few shifters living in the clan now who aren’t dragons. Rescued from a Lucky facility recently, they’re starting to heal from the nightmare illness Lucky sent down on us. Still, most of them aren’t talking much. I don’t know if Lucky managed to fuck with their memories or if they’re still just in shock, but it doesn’t matter.

  The only thing that matters now is saving my clan.

  The only thing that matters is keeping them safe from these monsters.

  But I can’t do that hiding in a cabin in the woods.

  I have to go back.

  I have to take care of my people.

  And I have to do it now.

  Chapter Five

  Julie

  THE DRAGON IS BIG.

  Magnificent.

  Huge.

  I’ve never seen anything like it before. Hell, I’ve never even imagined anything like it before, but I know what it is. It looks like a fairytale creature from years ago. It looks incredible.

  And it’s pissed off beyond belief at Nicole.

  Good.

  It should be.

  She’s a terrible person.

  It growls. Loudly. Nicole tries to seem cool with the huge dragon in her face, but she takes a step back involuntarily. I’m glad she’s not unaffected by this creature’s size or face. He looks angry. Mad.

  “We were just talking about you,” Nicole says. She reaches into her pocket. The dragon starts to move. He looks like he’s going to leap toward her, to hurt her, but Nicole pulls something from her pocket.

  Her weapon.

  I leap forward, launching myself at her back. I have to stop her. I know I’m too slow, too late, because the dragon howls in pain as he falls back. She shot him with some sort of dart, I think, but she’s on the ground now and I’m firmly sitting on her back. The weapons are long gone, tossed into the darkness with her fall.

  “What the fuck did you do to him?” I yell, screaming. I’m losing control right now, but I don’t even care anymore. “What did you do?”

  Nicole laughs, and it’s all I can do to keep from kicking her in the head. I don’t know what she shot him with, but he seems hurt. He howls over and over again, and then something starts to happen.

  He starts to shrink.

  “What the actual fuck?” I whisper.

  “Didn’t know he could change, did you? Most people don’t know that about the dragons. They aren’t monsters at all. Not really. They’re more than that.”

  She’s right.

  As much as I hate this bitch and don’t want to give her anything, I know that she’s right because I can see him changing before my very eyes. The dragon shifts into a man, and he’s naked on the ground.

  “He’s a prick anyway,” she grumbles. “They all are.”

  “Not another word,” I say.

  I have to figure out what I’m going to do. I’ve got her pinned and her weapons are gone, but I have to figure out a way to tie her up or otherwise incapacitate her. I’m no killer. I’m not going to hurt her. Not like that.

  I do need to figure out how to help this guy, though, because he looks like he’s in some serious pain.

  “Oh, stop being such a baby,” Nicole says. “The pain isn’t that bad.”

  “What did you do?” I ask again, pulling on her hair.

  “Ouch!”

  “Tell. Me.”

  She sighs loudly, as if I’m being completely dramatic. “If you must know,” she says. “I just gave him something to keep him from shifting. He’ll be human now, at least until he’s due for another dose.”

  “How long does the medicine last?”

  She looks at me sideways. “Long enough for us to call for backup. He’s going to need help from my team.”

  I dig my knee into her bag and slide my backpack off. I’ve got rope in there, and I pull it out. I might be a huge fucking nerd, but I can tie more knots than I know what to do with. Thanks to my time camping as a teen. I was in this girls group that focused on outdoor skills and learning to tie knots for a variety of reasons.

  The man groans. He doesn’t seem to be aware of his surroundings anymore. I don’t know how I can help him, but I’m going to do my fucking best as soon as I tie up this bitch. I secure Nicole’s arms behind her back. I go full BDSM-style and tie the rope up to her elbows. I’ve never tried that before, myself, but my roommate into college was a Domme and she taught me a few things about ropes. I make sure I don’t do anything too tight. I’m interested in keeping her in place: not damaging her body.

  Once I know she can’t move her arms, I secure her legs.

  “This hurts,” she complains. “Why are you doing this? This is a mistake. There’s been some sort of misunderstanding.” I ignore her and finish tying her. When I’m finished, Nicole is lying on her side, and I move to the man. I feel completely uncomfortable attending to a naked man that kind of just fell into my life in the middle of the woods, but hey, I’m not going to just leave him to be hurt here. Not alone. Not on my watch.

  I move to the man. Now that I’m looking at him up close, I’m surprised by just how...normal...he looks. I don’t suppose I’ve ever spent much time thinking about dragon shifters and whether they’re real or not. Here he is, though. In the flesh. Here’s a real-life dragon and he’s...yeah, he’s just super naked right now.

  He groans as I near him, but he doesn’t speak.

  “Are you okay?” I ask.

  “He can’t talk,” Nicole says.

  The man is very still on the grass now. He can’t be comfortable. Before I cover him with a blanket or anything like that, I need to make sure he’s actually not really injured. I can see the spot where she shot him. The dart is still sticking out of his skin. I pull it free and he almost whimpers, but I try to ignore his noises and I examine the dart. There’s nothing visible on it. I’m not a scientist. I don’t know anything about poison or darts or weapons or how any of that works.

  I do, however, know that if it has poison in it, the dart could be giving him more and more. Removing it was the proper choice. He’s not bleeding and he appears otherwise unharmed.

  “Do you want a drink of water?” I whisper.

  His eyes are closed, but he makes a grunting noise. I pull a water bottle from my bag and come back to him. I’m not sure how to make this not-weird. No matter what I do, it’s going to be awkward, and I hate that. That’s me: awkward penguin for the win. No matter what I do, no matter where I go, I can never seem to escape the reality.

  So I just ignore it.

  I ignore that he’s naked and I carefully lift his head. I bring the water bottle to his lips and he drinks.

  “Thank you,” he whispers.

  “What’s your name?”

  This time, he doesn’t say anything, and I turn back to Nicole.

  “What the fuck did you do to him?” I ask.

  She just closes her eyes and pretends she can’t hear me.

  Chapter Six

  Lawrence

  BEING LOST IN THE WOODS isn’t how I planned to spend my week. No. My mission was simple: get to the stone tower, sit around for a night, and then come home. When little Julie appeared, I wasn’t worried. I knew she wasn’t a shifter. She wasn’t in trouble. She was just a random human who happened to be camping at our spot. She could be easily ignored, or so I thought. It turns out, however, that I was wrong about her.

  So, so, wrong.

  Julie is much too brave and friendly for her own good, and that bravery may have inadvertently gotten me shot. I don’t know what the fuck Nicole dosed me with, but it’s nothing like anything I’ve ever felt before. I can’t shift, for one thing. I can barely move, for another.

  When Julie gave me water, it took every ounce of me not to scream. She smells amazing and she’s behaving so sweetly. I could hear her heart fucking racing when she neared me. She’s nervous about helping me. I think it’s because she’s never seen a dragon before.

  Either that or she’s impressed by my dick.

  Not that she looked.

  She probably didn’t look.

  I should have known Nicole and Bernie were with Lucky. At least, Nicole was. Her friend is most definitely dead now and I’ll probably never learn the truth about who Bernie is. For all I know, she could be some random stray Nicole picked up at the start of her journey, but my real theory is darker.

  I’m certain Bernie and Nicole were both with Lucky, sent into the forest to do dragon knows what, and Nicole turned on Bernie. Bernie didn’t realize she was to be the bait. Either that, or they both believed the other would be the bait when the time came.

  None of that matters now because Nicole got the jump on me and I’ve been shot. Apparently, my hunting skills are out of practice because everything hurts. Everything feels tight and tension clings to my body.

  “It’s going to be okay,” Julie whispers, and then she strokes my hair. My inner-dragon calls to her, wanting her. We’ve never been taken care of like this before.

  “He’s not going to shift back,” Nicole says, not-helpfully.

  “Fuck you,” Julie says. “And stop talking.”

  I feel a rush of contentment knowing someone is standing up for me, but it’s soured by the knowledge that this might be it. Julie is sweet, but she’s no warrior. Nicole is conniving and shrew. Worst of all, if I can’t shift, then there’s no way for us to get to Fablestone. It’s still dark out. The night isn’t even over.

  What if my clan doesn’t come for me?

  What if they can’t find me?

  I open my mouth to speak, but no sounds come out. I can’t tell if there’s something permanently wrong with me or not. Then Julie starts talking, and I realize I may have underestimated her.

  “Let’s see what this little guy’s symptoms are,” she murmurs. I take offense at the term “little guy,” but whatever. There’s nothing “little” about me.

  “What, you going to play doctor now?” Nicole asks. I can hear the malice in her voice. I can’t turn my head or open my mouth to speak, but I can sense that she doesn’t like the fact that Julie is still trying. “Let me call my team. My radio is back at my camp.”

  Yeah.

  That’s so not going to happen.

  “He can’t speak,” Julie says. Then she runs her hands down my jaw line. I shiver indiscernibly. Her hands are soft, but firm. “Nothing’s wrong with his mouth. Not just his mouth. It seems to be all of him. Some sort of paralysis poison, maybe.”

  Nicole’s breathing gets huffy. She doesn’t like having her work analyzed.

  Too bad! My inner-dragon is pissed at this entire situation.

  “You couldn’t have done anything permanent to him with just a dart,” Julie muses.

  “That’s not true.”

  Now it’s Julie’s turn to laugh.

  “You don’t work as a teacher and not learn how to tell when someone’s lying, honey,” Julie says. “And you, sweetie, are completely full of shit.”

  “I am not!” Nicole spews off a string of profanities, but Julie doesn’t seem bothered at all.

  Teacher?

  She’s a teacher?

  How random is it that we’re both teachers?

  Maybe it’s not random at all. Maybe it’s fate.

  “I’ve seen a lot of movies in my day,” Julie continues speaking as she touches and pokes my body gently. I’m not sure what she’s doing. Maybe she’s trying to see if there’s anything obviously wrong with my body or perhaps this is just another attempt to piss off Nicole. Either way, I’m not complaining that her hands are on me.

  She has a soft touch, and it’s been a long fucking time since I’ve had a woman touch me.

  Not that there’s anything wrong with women.

  Not that there’s a problem with them touching me.

  It’s just that things at Fablestone have been a little...crazy...for awhile now. Besides, I have to focus on being a good teacher. That’s why I’m still there. I’ve been lonely for a long time, but teaching makes me feel like I’m actually doing something that matters. It makes me think that maybe, just maybe, I’m not going completely crazy.

  Maybe I’m not wasting my life.

  “And one thing I always notice in movies is that when someone gives another person a poison, whether it be through a dart or a pill, there’s some sort of antidote.”

  Suddenly, her hands are off me.

  “Don’t touch me,” Nicole says, and then I don’t hear anything else. I strain myself, trying to hear what’s happening. Did Julie just sock her? Did she kill her? I can’t tell, and it’s driving me nuts. I hear a rustling and a bit of a scuffle. Then Julie comes back to my side.

  “Sorry about that, Mr. Dragon,” she says, running her hands up and down my arms. “I couldn’t take anymore of her smart mouth, so I had to gag her.”

  Mr. Dragon?

  “I went through her pockets and I found this.”

  She’s obviously holding something up, but my eyes are closed now. I think if I tried really, really hard, I could open them. Then again, maybe not. Everything feels hard. My entire body seems like it’s weighted down by some invisible force holding me here.

  If only I could shift.

  In my dragon form, I process poisons and food and toxins quite quickly. It’s not easy to get a dragon sick, which is one of the reasons Lucky is such a dangerous organization. They’ve devoted their entire organization to hurting dragons and shifters as a society.

  Worst of all: they’re good at it.

  Now Julie is standing beside me and she may have found an antidote for whatever they gave me.

  I just hope she’s brave enough to actually give it to me.

  And I hope I’m strong enough for it to work.

  Chapter Seven

  Julie

  IT COULD BE A BAD IDEA to give this guy a potion I don’t really know anything about, but we’re kind of out of options here. What am I going to do? Camp indefinitely in the forest with a paralyzed dragon shifter and a tied-up evil bitch? How long would we even survive?

  Fuck, are we even going to make it through tonight?

  I don’t know what my responsibilities are regarding the man, but he looks so fucking helpless. Plus, I mean, he did kind of try to come to my rescue. If Nicole hadn’t been so quick with her weird poison dart thing, he definitely would have saved me.

  Now I have to save him.

  When I fucked with her pockets, I discovered Nicole had a weird ointment. It was labeled with a smiley face. There was also a dart gun – the one she used on this man – that was labeled with an X. There were a few darts in there, too. If this man belongs to a group of dragons, maybe they have someone in their organization who can analyze the darts I found.

  I don’t like knowing this woman and her buddies are going around hunting dragons.

  It’s just wrong.

  What do they do with them, anyway?

  Experiment on them?

  Maybe using this cream on the dragon guy is going to turn out to be a terrible choice, but there’s only one way to find out.

  “Here goes nothing,” I mutter, and I pull the cap off the tube. Instantly, the scent of peppermint fills my nostrils. The man’s own nostrils flare, almost indiscernibly. There are so many unique things about him. I can’t help but find myself wondering if he’s going to want to talk to me after all of this. Like, are we going to hang out and get coffee sometime?