Page 14 of Hidden Fate

Thorn slowed and coasted into the turn. “Do you sense anything?” His pupils slitted as his dragon surged forward.

My chest burned as my dragon surfaced and brushed against my mind. Though I couldn’t sense things as well as when I was in full dragon form, my vision was enhanced. A mile away, a fox ran through the trees, and nearby, some bunnies were stirring. The only large things I could sense were Edna and a house two miles in the distance. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Same,” Saphira answered.

“I do.” Tyson coughed, and Thorn and I tensed. Tyson continued, “Elliott just farted, and it smells like rotten eggs.”

The horrible stench hit me, and it was so strong, I could taste it. I gagged.

“Holy shit,” Elliott gasped. “I swear, you smelled it before it even completely left my butthole. That is so fucking cool.”

“Can I just say that I, for one, am glad I’m not a drag—” Eva started, but then she wheezed. “Oh, my God. Let me roll my window down,please.”

Thorn growled as he pressed the child lock release button on the door handle. Both Saphira’s and Eva’s windows lowered, and they hung their heads out.

“Tyson, for the love of the gods,” Thorn bit out as he glanced in the rearview mirror. “You know better than to pull that shit. I thought you saw something. You do realize, if this goes wrong, we’re all going to be in danger?”

Begrudgingly, I rolled my window down as well. This car needed to air out, pronto.

A loud huff came from the backseat, and I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.

Peter.

I think something crawled up into your brother and died.Still scanning the area, Thorn lowered his window as well.

I mashed my lips together, but a small laugh escaped. Leave it to my brother to cause chaos when it was least convenient.

“This smells great.” Elliott sniffed. “I don’t know what your problem is.”

“And you wonder why I didn’t want you helping out with the company,” Peter grumbled.

“El, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you.” Eva pinched her nose shut. “No one likes the smell, so juststop.”

Neck cording, Thorn gritted out, “Everyone focus. We’ll be there soon.”

That sobered everyone up, and I refocused on connecting with my dragon. I didn’t sense anything other than the normal animals in the woods, which was a good thing. None of them sensed any danger.

A two-story light green house stood before us with a beige stone chimney and a dark green slanted roof. The house sat in the center of a half acre of cleared land surrounded by thick trees.

We pulled right up to the red wooden front porch as Edna landed in the middle of the yard. Her eyes flicked to us before she turned and slid into the trees to shift back into human form.

Everyone climbed out of the vehicles and stood in front of the house. Three wicker chairs and a red wooden bench were placed in the yard, but as we’d been driving for so long, none of us sat.

“What is this place?” Thorn asked as he came around and took my hand, tugging me between Vlad and himself. He scanned our surroundings, his pupils slitting as he looked for something out of the norm.

Eva stood on Thorn’s other side. Sol strolled up to take the spot beside her. Elliott and Tyson were between Sol and Saphira, but for once, they were silent. Errol and Brenton flanked Peter. Theron stood closest to where Edna had disappeared, with Hydra next to him.

“I don’t know.” Theron swiped his phone screen. “It’s a thirty-minute drive from the main thunder, where we were heading.”

Other than Edna flying at us out of nowhere, nothing seemed off.

“She’s heading back, so we’re about to find out.” Cassidy faced the direction Edna had disappeared into the woods.

Silence descended.

Edna stepped into the yard, and my jaw almost dropped at her appearance. The same smoky gray eyes took in our entire group as she smiled warmly. Her hair was a caramel brown that hit a few inches past her shoulders, and she was only a few inches taller than me, coming in around six feet. The impression I’d gotten from the dragon was nothing like the kind woman standing before us.

She tugged her cyan button-down shirt over her jeans. “I’m so sorry I alarmed you. I’d planned on you all staying with Mindy and me, but the closer you got, the more restless I felt, so I went for a flight. Then I doubted my decision, but you guys were already close. The best option was to bring you here, a backup location I have for Mindy and a few of the older members in case…”

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