Page 102 of Devoted to the Dragon

She doesn’t have to tell me twice.

Chapter 48

Randi

Vandera squeezes my hand in a death grip as Knox pulls us into the blur of the shadows. Even though I’ve been shadow-walking with him for months, I’ll never get over the rush of the wind and swirling darkness. It’s as exhilarating as it is terrifying.

In what feels like no time, our trio emerges onto a rocky cliff by an angry, spitting sea. A wintery wind blusters, sending chills through me. The landscape is stark, the clouds grey, and the sea a dark, looming mass. Up ahead, at the edge of the cliffs above us, is a white lighthouse, blinding against the dull sky.

“This place looks haunted,” Knox says with a shiver. He looks around, letting his shadows expand. “The energy is bitter, choking with regret even out here.”

I can feel what he means, though I can’t see the magic. The land is full of sorrow, the place aching.

Stef and Vandera are convinced that a Blue Moon Thunder can restore the balance between shifters. They think we can heal the wolves if we combine all our magic. It only took a few months of Knox working with his crew and Stef’s clever mind to track down the kraken at this nature preserve on a secluded coast of the eastern shore.

I had hoped that my old friend had found a new life, but it looks as if he’s as isolated and alone as I feared.

Vandera closes her eyes and casts a protection spell around us. Despite the fear billowing from them, I’m not afraid.

“Let me go alone,” I insist, dropping their hands.

“No can do, baby. This place gives me the creeps, and Fennik will have my ass if I let you get hurt.” Knox reaches for me, his shadows capturing my wrists.

My dragon huffs in warning. I know he’s trying to protect me, but his presence will only make Bjorn more likely to resist. It needs to be me, and I need to do it alone.

Vandera sighs. “She’s right. He won’t trust us, and we need his help.”

Knox cuts his eyes at Vandera. “Traitor,” he says sarcastically before looking me over. I let him feel my certainty in the bond, and he finally relents, dropping his shadows. “Be careful and know that we’re coming in if I feel the slightest hiccup in the bond.”

I nod, accepting the compromise, then I dart up the steep path cut into the rock before they can think of another reason to stop me. When I emerge at the top of the cliff, Bjorn is leaning against his porch railing, an axe thrown over his shoulder.

He looks as I remember. Bjorn is a huge Viking, his long hair wild around him and his body covered in black tattooed runes. Though he stands before me, this is hardly a man. The kraken’s face is a hardened mask, broken and soulless.

“Why have you come? You know I want nothing to do with those serpents you harbor on my shore.”

My heart breaks at the hollowness in his voice. I know what it’s like to be where he is. “Bjorn, my old friend, I’ve come for your help.”

“You’ve come to the wrong place then.” He turns from the porch and strides into the house in one smooth move.

I don’t bother asking to come in. I simply follow him. The house is sparse. He lives like a man who will not settle down.

“The wolves are dying, Bjorn. Their magic is broken. All we need from you is enough magic for a Thunder Moon Circle.”

Bjorn stomps from wherever he is in the house, his big body full of controlled rage. “No.”

I’m not intimidated.“A drop of your poison should do. I know you’re hurting, and I’m sorry for that?—”

He roars, the sound deafening as he tosses a table into the wall, the wood shattering into splintering pieces. He won’t hurt me, and we both know it, but that doesn’t stop his pain.

“You’re welcome to come home with me, but whether you’re ready or not, shifters need your help. Give me this, help me fight to restore the balance in our magic so that our people don’t come to another end. I promise I will ask nothing else of you.”

The angry Viking balls his hands into fists and cuts his eyes at me. “A vial of poison and you’ll leave?”

“I promise, Bjorn.”

He sighs, and it carries the weight of the world. “Fine.”

Epilogue: Fennik

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