Page 34 of Smoke and Mirrors
“Have fun waking him,” Hunter kissed my cheek after pulling on yesterday’s jeans and shirt. “I’ll be back when the rugrats are up.”
With the blankets thrown back and the soft, morning light filling the tent, I took a moment to admire the art covering Razvan’s back. A single, massive tattoo of a dragon, twisting and winding through smoke and fire, covered his entire back from his neck and disappearing under the band of his boxers. From the black scales inked on the backs of his thighs, the tattoo seemed to continue over his entire backside.
The dragon seemed to inflate with smoke with every inhale and release bright burning flame with every one of Raz’s exhales. It looked so alive and vivid, like it moved not just with his breaths but on its own.
Before I knew it, my hands were tracing the beast’s scales, following its movement like it was a real creature that wrapped around me protectively. My hands felt warm human skin beneath them but my mind felt armored scales that almost burned to the touch.
I closed my eyes and quieted my human mind as I was learning to do, tapping into the power that was bestowed upon me. Smoke floated around me, fire burned in my lungs, reptilian vision and instincts matched with intelligence and cunning beyond what human minds were capable. So this was what being a dragon felt like.
“Mm, Mel?”
The sensations faded as I opened my eyes. Razvan had flipped onto his back and blinked up at me.
“Good morning,” I chirped awkwardly.
His grey eyes narrowed. “I swore I felt another dragon beside me, then I looked up and it was you.”
“Yeah,” I breathed, raking my hands through my tangled hair. “Hunter and I had an eventful date even before you crashed it.”
I filled him in on what I told Connor about Thembi, quickly thinking I needed to keep these three guys together as much as possible. It was tiring repeating myself.
“A shaman, huh?” He turned on his side and propped himself up on one elbow, scratching his jaw with the other hand. “One of the shifters I’d been caged with years ago talked about shamans.”
He said it so casually but I still winced at the mention of him and others being exploited like that.
“What did he say?”
“A lot similar to what you just said. Poor cat held out hope that one would find us and rescue us. He said they looked human but we’d just know when one of them came along.” He smiled at me. “I knew you were different,steluta,but it was so long ago that I never put two and two together.”
“I can’t stop wondering why he gave it tome,” I sighed. “I was a child, barely bigger than a toddler. And my drunk ass mom got us all kicked out of there.”
“Maybe it’s not entirely gifted,” he suggested. “Maybe there’s something in you that was always there. He saw it and knew you were the right one to pass this torch to.”
“I still feel so clueless about it,” I admitted. “I want to use it to help more shifters but I have no idea what I’m doing. And then there’s Connor—”
“Sshh.” He sat up, wrapping me in a warm embrace that instantly soothed like the comforting heat of a campfire. “One thing at a time,” he murmured, rocking me gently. “Connor first, and then all the enslaved shifters in the world.”
“No pressure or anything,” I snorted.
He loosened his hold and looked at me with wide, metallic eyes.
“You’ve already done the unheard of by saving Hunter and me. So many shifters have lost hope that anyone is on their side. Word will travel fast,steluta.And just knowing you’re out there and that you care will light a fire under so many asses.”
“That’s sweet,” I touched his face. “But I didn’t save you. You were already free.”
He smiled, his thumb caressing across my cheek.
“You did,steluta. In ways you can’t imagine.”
* * *
The five ofus pulled up to the hospital a half-hour later. Roo and Rinna had never ridden in a car before, so I sidled up next to Raz, Roo sat next to me, and Hunter sat at the far end with Rinna in his lap. Raz indulged Roo by driving over every bump and pothole in the road, making the boy scream and laugh in delight with every jump and jolt through the truck cab.
“You don’t have to fuck up your tires just to keep them entertained, Raz.”
Rinna immediately clapped a hand over her father’s mouth and narrowed her eyes in a stern expression. “Don’t say bad words, Daddy.”
“Sorry, sweetie. I forget sometimes.” He smacked a big kiss on her cheek and I thought my heart couldn’t melt anymore.
