Warrior's Rise (12 page)

She let out a sigh of relief. She’d already lost her mother and father in a Supporo attack. The last thing she wanted was her careless brother to be carted into some human government testing facility.

“Anyway,” he continued, “I did some research on this Rory guy and I managed to find out some
very
interesting facts.”

She arched an eyebrow.

He smiled. “Apparently the guy shacked up with some human for awhile. Never married her, but had two children with her. This woman’s name was Mary Savage. Obviously, her children would have her last name since Rory had never married her. I’ll give you one guess as to what his son’s name was.”

She swallowed and felt her face pale as her mouth went dry. “Logan…” she whispered.

Tiyenen gave a smug nod. “I told you there was something about him. Your criminal counselor is half Alveda d’Kai.”

She blinked rapidly. How was that even possible? Of all the places the judge had decided to send him for his sentence, he’d sent him to a camp run by an Avari fairy? That was insane… Some twisted part of it made sense, though. Logan’s aggression, his dominance and severe alpha personality. They were traits of the Alveda d’Kai males as well as human males. The poor man had gotten a double dose of testosterone in the worst form.

The way he had reacted to Cyrcinus’ attack suddenly made sense as well. She had smelled the dragon warrior blood in him. The part of Logan that was Alveda d’Kai had reacted to her attack out of pure instinct. It had been dormant up until now. He wouldn’t be able to put the dragon warrior part of himself back to sleep now that it had been awakened.

“That’s not all, Willow,” Tiyenen said.

She looked up at her brother. “There’s more?” she croaked. She almost dreaded what else he had to say.

“Rory ran out on his family because he met and fell head over heels for an Avari fairy who lived in the human world. He got her pregnant and then abandoned the human family he had to marry this Avari woman. Apparently he disappeared so amazingly the courts couldn’t even find him to make him pay child support.”

Willow snorted in disgust.

“No kidding,” Tiyenen said. “I can’t believe the man came from Alveda d’Kai parents. Anyway, he had a son with this Avari woman. His name was Darien.”

Willow felt like someone had socked her in the stomach. She drew in a wheezing breath and looked up at her brother. “Darien Rivers?” she squeaked.

“Neither does Logan…” She let out a slow breath, trying to process all of the unbelievable information her brother had just dumped on her. “They’re brothers… That’s insane.” She frowned and looked up at Tiyenen. “How did you find all of this out?”

He gave a devil’s grin. “I have my ways.”

She didn’t want to know. It was best if she didn’t. She mulled over what she’d just come to find out. Darien and Logan were half-brothers. Darien was an Alveda d’Kai/Avari mix. Logan was half human, which would be why he didn’t have any special powers. Darien would once he came of age, however… She gasped. Cyrcinus knew that Logan was half dragon warrior, but she didn’t know about Darien…yet. She would soon. Darien would be eighteen in… Her stomach plummeted into her feet. “He’s eighteen tomorrow,” she whispered. “Oh my gosh.”

That would be a fun bit of information to give to Logan.
By the way, you don’t believe in anything mythical, but guess what? Your evil father who ran out on you was a yellow-bellied dragon warrior who abandoned his people. You’re half of the thing you don’t believe in! Oh, and you have a brother…who happens to also be one of the kids you’re in charge of… The one who socked you in the gut, as a matter of fact.
She wanted to groan aloud. If this wasn’t so serious, she would laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.

“Willow,” Tiyenen persisted. “You have to. You can’t leave them in the dark. Being a teenager is hard enough. You want this Darien kid to suddenly have powers and not know why?”

She shook her head. “No, of course not. And now that Logan’s Alveda d’Kai instincts have awakened, he’ll be all messed up too.” She let out a growling sigh. “This is a disaster.” She huffed. “Let me go, T. I have to go. They need to be warned before something awful happens!” She yanked her arm away. “I’ll be in touch.” She ran towards the door.

“Be careful!” he called after her.

She ran as fast as she could through the Avari village and forest. There was a foreboding dread weighing heavily on her chest. She had to get to Logan and Darien before Cyrcinus did. They were both completely clueless as to what they were while she knew exactly…

* * * *

Logan was surprised that Lucy was by herself when he went to the kids’ cabin. Usually the five of them ran in a pack. He gave a slight frown as she opened the door. “You in here all alone?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I wasn’t feeling too good. Something I ate upset my stomach, I think. Everyone else went to go do some live action role playing with the younger kids.”

“Oh…” He scratched at the back of his head, feeling stupid. What was he even doing? This was dumb.

Lucy arched an eyebrow. “Did you need something?”

“Uh…” He sighed in defeat. Okay, she wasn’t going to think he was stupid. She loved this stuff. He had to get over the feeling that, if he showed any interest in fantasy, or anything out of the ordinary, he was going to be thought of as geeky or stupid. No one here was going to think he was geeky and stupid. They were all eccentric and thought he’d been the biggest loser of all when he was being normal. He needed to figure out what that dream meant and Lucy may have the answers. He had to learn how to put his pride and insecurities aside on this one. “I was actually wondering if I could ask you some stuff about those dragon warrior guys you like so much.”

Her eyes lit up. “Sure! Come on in! I’m not doing anything but lying around anyway and that gets real old real fast.” She stepped aside and motioned him in the room.

He smiled at her enthusiasm and went in, still feeling stupid, but trying to ignore it.

Lucy flopped down onto her bed and looked up at him expectantly. “What do you want to know?”

He frowned and tried to remember what she had been saying that day he’d flown off the handle and called them all freaks. “You said, in that legend, that there were two warring tribes of fairy or something, right?”

“Oh. Well, the war actually was started
because
of an Alveda d’Kai warrior. You see, the Avari were a race of fairies without really any special gifts or abilities. They were gentle people, nature-loving and peaceful. The Supporo were more dominant in nature and they thought of the Avari as lower than them because they could do things that the Avari couldn’t.”

He met her eyes, then started to pace again as he digested the information. “Like?”

“They could alter their appearance. Not like shape-shifters, but they could change the color of their hair or their eyes at will. Small things like that. They had highly developed senses. They could also dream walk.”

“Anyway, they thought of themselves as superior to the Avari and used the Avari as slaves for centuries. The Alveda d’Kai were allies of the Supporo at that time, guardians and protectors of the race. That’s how things were for ages until the queen of the Supporo wanted one of the dragon warriors as a mate. Naturally, she wanted the one who was the strongest.”

Lucy shook her head. “Not good at all. The queen was enraged at the thought that an Alveda d’Kai warrior would choose an Avari slave over a queen and she had the warrior’s lover killed. The warrior was furious. Being as he was one of the strongest and highest ranking warriors of his race, he persuaded the rest of his clan to turn against the Supporo and liberate the Avari. The Supporo were strong, but couldn’t stand against such a powerful force. The Alveda d’Kai freed the Avari and turned their allegiance to them. The Supporo queen swore she’d have vengeance and the war raged on for generations.”

He frowned and sat down on the edge of one of the beds. He met her eyes with purpose. “Why did you draw that symbol on my back last night?”

She raised both of her eyebrows. “Um… Because I like it? Are you okay?”

He waved his hand. “I’m fine. I just…” He sighed. “You really just drew it on there because you like it? Come on, Lucy. You’re like a creepy psychic. I think you have a deeper reason behind everything that you do.”

A faint blush crept into her cheeks and she looked down. “Well… I don’t know. I guess I just feel like, if the Alveda d’Kai did exist, you could be one of them.”

He frowned. “Why do you say that?”

She shrugged her shoulders, then hunched them self-consciously. “Because you’re strong and aggressive… You seem like a warrior to me. You and Darien both.”

He studied her for a minute, then a small smile touched his lips and he went to sit next to her. “Hey.” He put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a playful shake. “I’m not trying to badger you and I’m not going to call you a weirdo or anything. I really am just curious.”

She glanced up at him and gave a meager smile.

He smiled. “I’m flattered that you would see good in me when all I’ve been is a jerk. You have an amazing amount of character, Lucy.”

Her smile was shy. “I can see past all the crap. I always can.”

“That’s a remarkable gift.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze and grinned. “I’m gonna go see if Willow is back yet. Do you need anything?”

He rolled his eyes. “Great, just what I need.” He said it in a teasing tone and smirked, causing her to giggle again. He waved and left the cabin, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he made his way back to Willow’s. Something weird was going on. Something weird inside his body. He wanted to talk to her about that dream of his some more because, as interesting as Lucy’s facts had been, they hadn’t helped him one iota.

He stopped short as he approached and saw a tall, gorgeous woman peering into Willow’s window. He blinked and made sure he closed his mouth so he didn’t start drooling. She could have been a model. Regal, long legs in a short, black skirt, chestnut-colored hair pulled up in a clip. He cleared his throat. “Can I help you?” he questioned.

She turned at his voice and flashed a killer smile. “I was looking for Willow Avaris. Is she here?”

He licked his lips as desire flared to life inside of him. Holy cow, she was perfect. A ten, for sure. Full, pouty lips, creamy skin. He met her eyes and his heart faltered and stuttered in a way that made him gasp for breath. It caused him momentary concern because it didn’t feel like a good heart-stopping moment. On the contrary, adrenaline suddenly surged through his body like he was about to fight for his life. He tried to shake it off, because it made absolutely no sense, but his heart continued to thunder in his chest. He cleared his throat. “No, she’s not here. Who are you?” He winced as his head started to hurt again.

She smiled. “Oh, I’m her sister.”

He frowned. Willow had a sister? Dang, did she have more than one? Because if they were all this hot, he was moving in. Forcing his body to obey him, he shoved the strange fight or flight feeling down and sauntered up to the brunette beauty. He grinned. “She had to run an errand. Said she’d be back tonight. I’m one of the counselors here. If you want, I can show you around.” He bit his bottom lip in that way that always got him what he wanted… Well, except when he was with Willow. He shrugged. “You know, keep you company until she gets back.”

The woman grinned and pressed closer to him. “Well, I could think of worse things to do with my time.” She looked up at him from under her lashes. “I’ve never seen my sister’s camp before. I’d like a tour… Especially of your cabin.”

His body flamed. It burned. It chased away every other bizarre thing he’d been feeling and he drew in a deep breath, relishing the rush. This feeling, he could deal with. It was an old friend. Desire and lust he could handle. He reached up to touch a strand of her hair. “I think that can be arranged.” He met her eyes and smiled. Dang, he still had it. Thank goodness. Willow had almost convinced him that he really was about as appealing as a banana slug. “I’m Logan,” he said. “What’s your name, gorgeous?”