Skyborn (Dragons & Druids #1)(32)

Ahh yes. That word again. Rape. No one wanted to say it. It was that awful. A total violation of your body. I had a friend in college, Tamara, who was raped at a frat party. She came to me crying the next day and told me. She was trying to reason it out; she was wearing revealing clothing and had drunk a lot. I had to be her voice of reason. Did he obtain consent? She shook her head and had burst into sobs, telling me she tried to push him off and said no three times. I knew it would be hard but she needed to fight it. In the end, it got a ton of bad publicity for the school and the boy was expelled but never served jail time because she willingly went into the room with him. What kind of bullshit is that? Some old male judge sits on his throne and decides that because a pretty girl in a short dress goes into a room with a guy at a frat party, that guy is owed sex? It was awful, and I was there every step of the way with Tamara. She was now going to law school while working at a nonprofit as an advocate for young girls who had experienced that same thing.

“Nothing happened…” I tried to soothe Logan’s fears, because I knew what it felt like to have all of that pent-up rage for a friend. I’d had it for Tamara. The moment she told me about the incident, I’d asked her if she wanted me to help her hide the body. I also knew how hard it was to control the dragon, and if Logan shifted it would tip off the hunters.

He stopped pacing and faced me. “But it could have.” His eyes were a searing green, as if they had been ignited with fire.

Nadine spoke in a light-hearted tone. “No way. We totally had them. Me with my jujitsu and Sloane with her purple whatever that was.”

Everyone looked at me as she addressed the elephant in the room.

“Purple what?” Keegan asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know what happened. One second my body felt like it was vibrating with electricity and the next there was a mountain lion jumping at my face. I … threw purple magic at him, I guess, and he collapsed.”

“Purple?” Keegan and Sophie both said at the same time. Dom just stared at me behind thick eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, purple. What’s the big deal?”

Logan exhaled loudly and crossed the distance between us. He pointed to Keegan. “Shifters have no magic, beyond that of shifting, extreme strength, and other traits of a shifter … but no magic. Dragons have green magic.” He pointed to himself. “Eva, and the other sorcerers powerful enough to produce magic, have yellow magic. And lastly, druids have red magic.”

“Oh.” Shit. What was wrong with me? I had some freaky purple magic. No wonder they were all staring at me.

“So … what does purple magic mean?” I asked, trying not to sound afraid. Tried and failed.

“Different colored magic can mean…” He lowered his voice to barely above a whisper. “That you’re a hybrid.”

I had conveniently blocked out what Eva had said in her office. About my mother not being a dragon, that maybe she was some other type of magical creature. But it all hit me now. Confirmation. My legs went weak and I involuntarily fell backward. Logan rushed forward and caught me just as I passed out.





8





I AWOKE IN the bed of my unicorn room and heard muffled voices just outside of my door. I rolled over and could see that it was popped open a few inches.

“No, no, human DNA is too weak to carry a dragon child. They always miscarry,” Logan whispered.

“Well, then, what is she? Hybrids are rare, right?” Keegan whispered back.

“Very,” Logan spoke. “So much so that I’ve only ever heard of a handful. I know that shifters and skyborn species cannot bear young, so she can’t be part shifter. She might be part sorcerer though.”

Keegan gave a low whistle. “This is crazy. Girl lives her whole life spelled to think she’s human, and now this. If people found out there was another dragon. A hybrid dragon at that…”

Logan’s voice turned sharp, deadly. “No one will find her.”

Keegan suddenly moved in front of the doorway. I could see his back through the crack. “Her heart rate has elevated. She’s awake.”

Logan sighed. “Alright. I’ll go talk to her. You need to hire two new shifters. You’re right, six isn’t enough.”

Keegan must have been grinning; I could hear it in his voice. “You don’t tell me I’m right often enough, my friend. I like the sound of it. I’ll get right on it. Not sure there are two more shifters in the world I trust, but I know a friend who has a pack of old-school shifters that were raised to protect like Sophie and I were. I trust him, and they will take the oath of protection same as I did.”

It sounded like this oath of protection was something you couldn’t go back on without serious consequences.

“Thank you,” Logan told him, and Keegan moved to leave. “One more thing … I think we need a pack sorcerer, and Danny is powerful and I trust him … Eva’s too busy with the bar.” I could feel the tension in the air from my place on the bed ten feet away.

“You want me to hire my ex-boyfriend? The one I broke up with to keep your secret?” Keegan’s voice could cut glass and it gave me chills. There was so much hurt there.

Logan’s voice was soft but laced with anger. “I told you to tell him who I was. I never wanted you guys to break up.”