Page 72 of Hidden Fate

“Breaking news came on.” Rex smacked his lips like he’d tasted something bad.

Opal leaned against the hood of the truck and crossed her arms. “Next thing we knew,Peterwas on the screen.”

I leaned my head against Thorn’s shoulder and winced from the pain that flashed through my jaw. I’d almost forgotten that Cassidy had hurt me—it didn’t compare to the agony ripping through my heart. Although I knew Peter had neverlovedme, I’d hoped he wouldn’t cause more problems for us, especially with the twins involved.

“He informed the world that he got away from his kidnappers, but his beloved children and stepdaughter couldn’t break free.” Opal ran her fingers through the end of her ponytail. “A menacing man by the name of Thorn Wight still has them, and he needs everyone to watch for them since the police didn’t find them at the last known place they were being held. Then they showed a recent photo of Thorn they’d somehow obtained.”

Not only were Eva’s, Elliott’s, and my faces plastered all over news outlets for every human and supernatural to see, but Thorn’s was, too. It was a smart strategy. “We were being cautious, anyway, so it doesn’t change much.”

“Other than Peter being a bigger annoyance, which isn’t surprising. I only wish I’d punched him a few more times before he left.” Thorn exhaled, and his neck corded. “If I didn’t love Everly so much, I would’ve already killed him.”

“Oh.That’swhy he’s still alive.” Rex opened the truck’s back door. “We’ve been wondering. He’s worthless. Though he did allude to you traveling north and potentially leaving the country, so at least he’s splitting Drake’s focus to a larger area, and fewer warriors will be concentrated close by.”

The aroma of pizza drifting from the back seat had my stomach gurgling again. I could smell the sausage, pepperoni, and cheesy goodness that needed to be in my stomachright now. Although the news they’d revealed was less than stellar, it wasn’t detrimental. If we got out of the more immediate danger, we’d deal with the kidnapping charge.

Right now, we were hidden, so Peter’s public announcement didn’t change our strategy. “For Eva’s and Elliott’s sakes, I don’t want him dead. I know what it’s like not to have a living parent—it sucks. Better to have a self-centered one than none at all. He does stuff for them…occasionally.” Maybe not as much as I’d thought, but I didn’t want Thorn or me to be the reason he died. Regardless of his spitefulness, he was their family.

“Hey, I’m not one to judge.” Rex shrugged and reached into the back seat, snatching up ten pizza boxes. We’d put in a gigantic order for the twenty-seven of us, plus the twenty who would be here any second. One hundred pizzas should get us by until Spike brought more supplies.

We headed to the large clearing where everyone had been training. There was a sizable wire table with eight chairs. As we set out the food, the sound of wings beating overhead caught our attention.

Glancing skyward, I tapped into my dragon and spotted numerous dragons descending quickly toward us. My heartbeat picked up a notch. Though we knew Wyvern and the others were coming, I wasn’t sure what they looked like in their dragon form, so they could be friends or enemies.

Thorn’s trepidation washed over me, then disappeared as the group drew closer. He connected,Theron, Hydra, and Sol aren’t worried. It’s them.

My shoulders relaxed, and I noted the duffel bags hanging from their talons. Relieved that they were here, I turned my attention to organizing the pizzas into ten piles. Each of us would get one whole pizza, and I expected the men to eat at least half of another.

The twenty dragons landed within the tree line. They’d shift and join us soon. Saphira, Hydra, Theron, Sol, and Eva hurried to the thick stands of cypress and oak trees to wait on the new thunder while everyone else hurried to grab their food.

When everyone had gone through the line, Thorn and I grabbed a box each of our own and headed toward Theron and the others. We sat against a tree trunk just as Wyvern and his thunder members came out to join us.

As soon as Saphira saw him, she ran right into his arms. He picked her up and kissed her as if they’d always been together.

We watched as the new arrivals hugged their thunder members and met Eva. The group was mainly comprised of men and a few women who appeared to range in age from their twenties to fifties, all fit and muscular. They must have been selected to come here so they could fight alongside us, and that made me like Wyvern even more.

When the last people hugged, Thorn cleared his throat and smiled. “Please, come eat. Then it’s time to discuss what we’ll do for several days to prepare for the final battle with Drake while we heal as many injured dragons as possible.”

* * *

The next ninedays blurred together. We were on the go nonstop, breaking only for sleep. The fated-mate couples completed their bonds, which wasn’t surprising, given the looming threat. Why waste time not being connected when the end could be near, even if we didn’t want to admit it?

Spike kept us informed about what was going on with dragon politics since we didn’t have access to the internet. Drake appeared on the Dragonnet daily to inform the shifters that we were causing more chaos, trying to pit us against one another and reemphasizing that anyone helping traitors would face death. He didn’t allude to the uprising, giving the illusion of control.

But therewasdissent brewing. Thorn and I had been traveling nonstop, meeting shifters halfway between their thunders and where we were staying in various wooded areas while the warriors watched out for any threats while we were busy.

Thorn had healed over fifty dragon shifters, and word was spreading through the injured dragon network like wildfire. That number alone was three-quarters of the known healable injuries in the U.S. Additionally, he’d changed twenty humans who were in relationships with dragon shifters into dragons.

Even though Thorn couldn’t heal dragons who had sustained injuries while in human form, I was able to help with rehab exercises to alleviate some ailments, such as back and neck injuries from car wrecks or other accidents. One thing I’d discovered while working with shifters who couldn’t fully recover was that many of them had birth conditions from being born to a human whose body wasn’t strong enough to birth them. The result was often permanent injury, if not dying along with the mother.

Errol had heard rumors that dragons were taking humans as mates because our numbers were dwindling, which was how Drake had gotten the idea of having a human breeder. But in every situation we’d found, the dragon shifter said they’d felt an undeniable tug toward the human—like Thorn and I had to each other.

Between ten birth conditions and twenty humans that Thorn had changed, our group had developed a theory. Since dragons were dying out, their destined mates were being born human, and that was why dragons were finding connections with humans.

The same people who had started off wary about helping Thorn and me now supported us. Thorn had shown them the great man he was, giving people hope that there could be a better future if he ruled the dragons.

Uther and the queen had been in constant touch. Since Theron’s and Edna’s thunders had scattered and Drake’s people had found their safe houses, they believed Peter’s information was true. Five warriors had altered their search for us to the north, near the Canadian border, which made it easier for other dragon shifters to visit Thorn for healing, but even those five were heading home to protect Drake during the coronation.

We’d considered attacking ahead of time, but with only five warriors away, we’d determined it would be safer to keep training while Thorn and I helped as many dragon shifters as possible in case the future didn’t pan out like we hoped.

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