Elain, still gazing skyward, slowly nodded. “Yep.”
“But it’s easy,” Brodey insisted.
“I don’t care,” Elain said, her eyes never leaving the dragons.
“Brod,” Lina gently said, “give her some time. Seriously. Take my advice.”
Brodey grumbled, but he wrapped his arms around Elain’s waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. “I want to be the one to teach you, babe,” he softly said into her ear.
Now Elain understood why this was so important to him. Not so much what he said as what she felt from him, the protectiveness, the desire to be the one to usher her into this new phase of her life.
She turned in his arms and kissed him. “I promise I’ll let you be the one to do it,” she said. “Right now, Lina’s right. I’m too overwhelmed.”
There’s that damn word again.
She looked up as Jan’s shadow gracefully flowed over and past them. “Way too overwhelmed.”
Chapter Seven
Ain didn’t plan on staying long at the barns after lunch. “I need to go talk to Mark,” he said.
Cail frowned. “Why?”
“Seriously? With everything that’s happened, you ask me that?”
Cail shrugged. “What’s there to tell? Besides, what’s he going to do about it?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what to do. Part of me says we need to cancel the wedding and bug out to Maine for good.”
“You don’t mean that, do you?”
“I don’t know what I mean,” Ain said, running his fingers through his hair. “That’s the problem. Right now, I have no idea what to do. That’s why I want to go talk to Mark.”
“How about talking to me and Brodey?”
“Do you know what we should do?”
Cail stared at him. “Okay, fine. Fuck, you’re right. I have no clue either.”
“Exactly. I want an objective opinion.”
“Fine. Go.”
Ain climbed into his truck and took off. He tried to quiet his mind as he drove. Mark, also a wolf shifter, as well as a distant cousin of theirs, was currently the Clan representative in their area. An unofficial title that meant very little in the grand scheme of things. Several of the local shifters, including Ain, took turns doing the job, but Ain still wanted Mark’s opinion. They’d been friends up in Maine. Mark was one of the reasons they’d chosen to settle in Florida in the first place.
Mark Telford ran a beef production outfit, different from the Lyalls’ breeding stock operation. Mark looked up from his desk when Ain walked into his office. He smiled at first, his pleased expression quickly fading as he sized his friend up.
“Ain, what’s wrong?”
“Can we close the door?”
Mark nodded. Ain closed the office door behind him before taking a seat in front of Mark’s desk. “I don’t know where to start.”
Mark closed the lid on his laptop and sat back in his chair. “Start at the beginning.”
Ain snorted. “That’ll take a couple hundred years.”
“Then give me the short version.”
“I have to warn you, there’s a blood oath involved.”
Mark frowned. “No one does those anymore. Well, except maybe those bugshit-crazy Abernathys.”
He stared at Ain, who didn’t answer. “Oh, shit,” Mark finally said.
“If I tell you, you can’t go ratting us out to the Council. You have to promise.”
Mark leaned back in his chair. “Do you have good reason to go against it?”
Ain nodded. “I haven’t sworn to it. It’s one-sided, and old.”
“Oh, well, that’s different. And if it means giving a big fuck-you to the Abernathys, I’m in. So, what’s up?”
By the time Ain finished catching Mark up an hour later, his friend shook his head in disbelief. “That was the short version? I’d hate to see the unabridged one.”
“I warned you.”
“Yes, you did.” He chewed his lip as he thought. “Have you called Jocko and told him all this yet?”
“Nope. I wanted to get your opinion first. I don’t know what Jocko will do when I tell him. I won’t let Elain go to the Abernathys. None of us will. We’ll fight to the death for her.”
“My honest opinion is that the Abernathys are as crazy as a bunch of rabid Mississippi squirrels.”
“I know that. I meant I wanted your opinion on what to do about the situation.”
Mark shrugged. “I don’t know. Fight for your mate.”
“That’s obvious.”
“Wait for them to bring the fight to you. I don’t know what else to tell you. I’d personally be happy if Rodolfo Abernathy took a long dirt nap, because I strongly believe he’s the only thing holding that group of bozos together at this point.”
“They killed our parents.”
“You don’t know that for sure, Ain.”
“Maybe he didn’t do it personally, but I’m willing to bet he’s at the very least indirectly responsible. It’s a logical assumption.”
“Yes, it is. I don’t think you’re wrong. However, you need proof before you go declaring a grudge against them. I’m not going to tell you to do something that will start a Clan war. That’s just the kind of shit those assholes like. You’re going to have to go talk to Jocko. And Lacey.”
“We are. After the wedding.”
Mark shook his head. “Stuff is spiraling too fast. You have time before the wedding to get up there. I strongly suggest not putting it off. Especially if this guy that Lina and Elain are talking about has figured out who she is and where she is. You need the strength of the Clan behind you on this one. And even then, they might not back you up. You know that. Blood oaths are nothing to fuck around with. Especially with the Abernathys.”
Ain rubbed his face with his hands. “I didn’t need this crap right now.”
“Hey, you’ve got Lina and her guys here. Use them as backup. Take them with you. You’re surrounded by powerful shifters. No one will fuck with Lina and her men.”
“True.”
“You don’t look convinced.”
Ain studied Mark. “Maybe this guy is the same person who killed our parents. Part of me wants revenge, and part of me wants to get Elain as far away from the guy as possible.”
“The ancient conundrum. Either way, you still need to get her up to Lacey so she can tell you what you need to know about Elain.”
Ain let out a sigh. “I know. And I guess that’s the best thing to do.”
“Revenge can wait. It’s waited, what, twenty-seven years now?”
“Yep.”
Ain returned home later that afternoon to find Elain sitting alone at the kitchen table and apparently in a state of semi-shock, from the stunned look on her face.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She slowly looked at him. “Jan and Rick and Kael.”
He waited, but she didn’t continue. “Yes?”
“They’re…dragons.”
He smiled. “Yes.”
“Dragons!”
He nodded. “Yes. I know.”
“Did you hear what I said?”
He smirked. “Yes.”
“Did you understand what I just said?”
He grinned. “Yes, I did.”
She stood and grabbed him by the shirt. “Dragons! As in fire-breathing, flying, scaly dragons!”
“Well, technically I think only Rick is a fire-breathing—”
“You know what I mean!”
He engulfed her hands in his. “Honey,” he calmly said as he stroked the backs of her hands, “remember how you freaked out when we turned into wolves for you the first time?”
“But—” Her mouth snapped shut. “That’s different!”