Dragon Storm (10 page)

“I’d heard that about your kind, but I’ve only ever seen it once before today. I knew a snowcat named Tzu once.”

Josie recognized the name. “A great teacher among my grandfather’s people. He taught me forestry, and how to find and use medicinal plants.”

“You grew up in Tibet?” Cindy asked.

“Only for a few years. My mother was French Canadian. I’m only half snowcat.”

“Only half?” The Alpha male seemed truly surprised. “Then the Goddess is definitely smiling on you. I’ve never seen a smoother shift or felt more magic in the air—except for your dragon friend. Thanks for getting the barbeque off to a good start. I don’t know about you, but I’m famished. Will you three join us for dinner?”

“We’d be delighted.” This was going even better than Josie had hoped.

They were introduced to the other cougars, and then the men headed over to the barbeque pit to work on spitting the pig they intended to roast. Cindy took Josie over to the picnic tables where the women were setting things up much earlier than they’d originally planned, thanks to the dragons in their midst. They asked her a few questions about being snowcat, which she didn’t mind, and other questions about Darius and Connor, which she did mind. Apparently the ladies didn’t realize she was mated to both men, and some were eyeing them with a predatory gleam. Josie straightened them out as politely as possible, and after that they seemed to rub along better. At least on her end.

The picnic tables were on the side of the house with a gorgeous view of the gorge through the trees. The lush vegetation appealed to her senses. The fine mist that was habitual in this part of Oregon kept everything green and growing most of the time.

When Connor shifted to dragon form, Josie halted in her tracks, fearing something was wrong, but she shouldn’t have worried. The cats stood back and allowed him to roast the pig with just a few breaths of flame. It was clear he’d done this before. In dragon form, he stepped back to consider the roast as he worked on it, twirling the heavy spit in one giant clawed hand as if it was as light as a toothpick. He really was something to behold.

“Well would you look at that.” Cindy and the other women seemed as transfixed by the sight as Josie was.

“We’ve apparently got the dragon,” one of the other ladies commented. “Now all we need are the knights in shining armor.”

As the women laughed, no one heard Darius approach. Several of the women jumped when he spoke right behind them.

“There are many knights in my land, but few wear armor that shines. It is best to dull down any metal surfaces lest they make better targets for archers.”

“There really are knights?” Cindy was a little less obvious in her awe than the rest of the women, but then she was an Alpha female and leader of the rest. “I thought knights were supposed to slay dragons. Yet you sound like you admire them.”

Darius scowled. “I don’t know how it was when dragons roamed your world. In our land, knights partner with dragons. They live with them and fight alongside them.”

“Do you have a knight partner?”

Darius laughed but caught himself when some of the ladies bristled. “Your pardon, please.” Oh, he was charming when he tried. Heck, even when he didn’t, he could charm a female of any species with one hand tied behind his back, Josie thought. “Black dragons are like you—shapeshifters. We do not partner with knights. We lead both the humans and dragons.”

“There are other dragons? Ones that don’t shift?” Cindy seemed truly impressed by the idea, and Josie was enjoying hearing about their world, so different from hers.

“Many. Of every color of the rainbow. Most live within the borders of our land. Some, like the wild Ice Dragons, live where they choose, usually in the coldest places, and they go their own way.”

“That is amazing.” Cindy spoke for the rest of the women, who wore varying expressions of awe and rapt attention on their faces.

Until a big black dragon loomed up behind Darius. Connor had arrived, with the entire pig on the spit in his claws. Stewart was at his side, grinning from ear to ear.

“We dine early, thanks to our guest.”

The ladies rushed to finish laying out plates and utensils while Connor began slicing the pig with his razor sharp talons. Josie watched, amazed at how precisely he worked with such large…well…knives on the ends of his fingers. That’s what they amounted to. Sure, she had pretty sharp claws when she shifted, but they were at most a few inches long. Connor’s were over a half a foot—maybe longer—and they looked much sharper than her own claws ever were.

“Connor is showing off for your friends.” Darius sidled up beside her. “He wanted to impress them.”

“He’s doing an awfully good job.” She watched as the cougar men helped the dragon by holding up plates for the slices of pork.

Darius chuckled. “Good. We want to help in any way possible, and I’ll admit it’s hard to know what to do in this world. If we were home, we’d be able to handle everything. Here, we’re at a loss. It’s not a comfortable feeling.”

“I can imagine. But don’t worry. So far, everything’s under control. As long as we stay among shifters, you’ll probably be welcomed—or at least respected. Out among the non-magical population, you’re going to have to be very, very careful. Actually, you’re going to have to let me do most of the talking.”

Darius nodded gravely and it was the most serious she’d ever seen him. “We are familiar with covert operating in foreign lands. You are our guide, love. We will do our best not to increase your danger.”

They ate dinner and sat around outside until long after dark. It was the first time in a long time that Josie had enjoyed the company of a group of shifters. It was good to see the way this clan worked. The Alphas ruled the rest with a fair hand if she was any judge of character, and the rest of the clan—those who were present—seemed happy and relaxed in the presence of their leaders. It was a very good sign.

As the younger members of the clan were sent off to bed, the Alpha male came to speak with Josie.

“You and your friends are welcome to bunk here in the clan house for the night. My mate and I will arrange for transport and let you know what we can work out. I have some friends at PDX.” He named the international airport by its call letters. “I don’t think it’ll be too hard to get your friends out of the country. Shifters and other magical types often need to travel on the down-low, so we’ve done this kind of thing a few times before.”

Josie felt a weight lift off her shoulders. “Then I did the right thing in calling you. Thank you, Alpha. I can’t tell you what a relief that is to hear.”

“I hope that if and when you return, you’ll consider running with our clan from time to time.”

Josie understood what an honor the Alpha was bestowing with the invitation. She bowed her head in acknowledgement. “Thank you, Alpha. If I return here, I think I’d like that very much.”

Chapter Five

“Will you join us for a quick run before bed?” Cindy extended the invitation to Josie. It was only polite to agree to a quick run with her hosts, but she worried about what her mates might get up to while they were gone.

“I’d be honored,” Josie replied, then shot a worried glance at the twins, standing near the fire pit with Stewart and a few other men as the women finished clearing the tables. “Um…what about them?”

“Well, the clan owns this side of the gorge for about a mile either way. We only allow other shifters to live on our land, and we’re quite a ways from the city or even the suburbs up here. Still, we should check with Stewart and see what he thinks.”

After consulting the Alpha and talking it over with the twins, they arrived at the conclusion that as long as they stuck to cover, the moonless night would be enough concealment for a short flight. Josie wasn’t convinced, but the men outnumbered her. It seemed the cougars wanted to watch their new dragon friends fly, and nothing Josie said was going to stop it.

She couldn’t blame them really. It wasn’t every day a creature straight out of Arthurian legend showed up on your doorstep for a barbeque. If she wasn’t so worried about them being seen, she would have agreed wholeheartedly.

When the small group assembled by the back porch and the cougars started disrobing in preparation for shifting form, Josie politely turned her back and called on her snowcat. The twins followed suit, and the trio waited for their hosts to join them.

The cougars were a little smaller than Josie was in shifted form. They also blended into the forest night better than she did. The snowcat’s white fur sparkled against the dark greens and browns of the forest. Josie knew the snowcat’s natural habitat was high in the mountains of the Himalayas. Her patterned coat was meant to blend in with snow and gray rock. Plus, she, well, for lack of a better word, glowed.

The snowcat’s greater magic lent her a somewhat-ethereal glow that surrounded her like an aura and at times, made her seem almost translucent. Her grandfather had explained the phenomenon as residual magic leaking around the snowcat’s form. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was. She only knew it was part of the reason most other shifters thought of snowcats with an almost-godlike awe. That, and the fact that they were rare and seldom traveled beyond their village in the Himalayas.

The cougars surrounded her, watching her as if to see what she’d do. The dragons launched into the air and took everyone’s attention off Josie, for which she was grateful. In the tumult of two sets of dragon wings causing a small gale, she set off into the woods, alert for any scent trails that would allow her a small chase, though she wouldn’t hunt to kill this night. Her appetite had been satisfied by the delicious barbecue. No, this hunt would be for fun and as a test of skill only.

Josie knew she’d be easily seen in the dark forest. She wasn’t trying to lose the cougars. She just didn’t want them deferring to her. By taking off on her own, she’d made it clear that they could do the same or join her. It was up to them.

Stewart and Cindy did join her after a few minutes, where several scent trails converged. Josie was following a fox and after a few seconds of sniffing, it was clear the other two were on the same trail. With an eager lope, they set off together taking turns ranging to the side of the small game trail while one or the other would follow the scent.

About a hundred yards later, they saw the little red vixen. And more importantly, she saw them. The chase was on.

Darius and Connor flew carefully at first, following the collection of cougars and their brightly shining mate as they prowled through the trees.

“She’s not very good at blending in, is she? Why does she glow like that?”
Darius asked his brother in the privacy of their minds.

“Magic, I presume. Chances are, with a name like
snowcat,
her people are bred for colder climes. I bet she’d blend right in on a field of snow and ice. Those big paws would do well on such terrain.”

“Good point. Sad that she sticks out like a sore thumb here. This forest is too moist and rich. Too green and brown for her to blend in any way.”

They watched her catch a scent, then they followed as she began chasing a small red blur. That thing was fast, whatever it was. Josie and her cougar friends were even faster, for all their larger size. The twin dragons admired the skill and speed of the cats below as they ran their prey to ground with a triumphant howl.

The little red creature was allowed to run away, to live and be hunted perhaps, another day. The twins decided they liked the fact that the cougar shifters were able to refrain from killing something they didn’t need for sustenance. Killing for killing’s sake was never a good sign in people or animals.

As the group ranged back toward the house, Darius and Connor decided to stretch their wings a bit. They passed a small clearing where some of the cats had claimed a high perch on an outcropping of rock and Darius did some maneuvers to give them a bit of a show.

“Where are you going?”

“They can see us from there if we take a turn over the water.”
There was a wide river with little water traffic at this time of night.

“Josie will not like it if we are seen by others.”

“There is no moon, Con. No boats on the water near enough to see us, and only shifters on this side of the river. With their eyesight, they will be able to see us, but not much else will. They seem fascinated by dragons, so why not show them a little bit of what we can do. It’ll feel good to stretch our wings.”

As usual, Darius talked his brother into doing something against his better judgment. They winged away and swooped low over the water, skimming their talons across the murky surface, then rose in a practiced swoop and dove again heading the other way.

As they neared the clearing on the side of the gorge they could see the ghostly white shape of their mate in shifted form. She was surrounded by the other cats, watching them with gleaming eyes. With unspoken agreement, they headed toward the shore and the cover of the trees to shadow the cats’ path back to the house.

Darius and Connor shifted back to their human forms as they walked into the backyard area. The cougars were already there, in various states of furriness and undress. Josie waited, facing the woods, as if looking for them.

Darius walked up to her and bowed low. “You are magnificent on the hunt, my lady. It was a privilege to watch.”

“I’d imagine,” Stewart said as he joined them, tugging on the hem of his shirt as he approached, “she’d be even better in snow.”

A white shimmer surrounded her. Seconds later Josie appeared in human form, fully clothed with a smile on her face as she turned to their host. “I do enjoy the colder climates, and the snowcat likes the feel of snow under her paws. She’s a good climber and likes to test her agility on rocky slopes.”

“A bit of a daredevil, then?” Stewart asked with a lopsided grin.

“Just a bit,” Josie agreed as they began the trek toward the house as a group. The group of cougars had diminished in size. Connor assumed the rest would follow along later, either still on the hunt, or perhaps engaging in some activities best done in pairs.