Page 19 of The Dragon's Mate

“You should have left the fox to die,” Ryul said. “Theproblems of other shifters are not our concern.”

“Perhaps they should be.” The soft-spoken reply came fromthe blonde dragoness sitting next to Cadmus. The streaks in her hair were adark red and the flecks of red in her golden pupils almost looked like blood.“Avoiding other paranormals is a mistake, one we need to rectify.”

“Not tonight, Leia,” the dragon next to her sighed. “It isalready late, and this is not the time for yet another discussion on why we shouldbe joining forces with other paranormals. Dragons have survived for thousandsof years on their own and will continue to do so for another thousand years.Why is that so difficult for you to understand?”

Leia glared at the dark-haired shifter. “Why is it so difficultfor you to understand that the old ways are dying. If we do not make changesnow, our kind will not live to see another thousand years. You know as well asI do that fewer and fewer hatchlings are born each year. If we are to survive,we must adapt, Oben.”

“Muddying the gene pool with other shifters is not the wayto adapt,” the dragoness on the other side of Oben said. “If you believeallowing dragons to mate with a bear or a lion will not weaken our clans, thenyou are a bigger fool than I thought.”

“Hold your tongue, Collette,” Ryul said. “We are not hereto discuss our hatchling problem.”

Collette glared at him but fell silent as Ryul turned hisgaze to Kaida. “What you have done was incredibly foolish and you have riskedthe entire clan’s safety.”

“The fox shifter knows he must keep our secret,” Kaida said.

“He knew you were a dragon?” Walter said.

“He did.”

“Not surprising,” Leia replied. “Our scent gives us away tomost shifters. Even the ones who believe us extinct.”

“Which is the exact reason why we avoid other shifters andhumans,” Oben said.

Leia snorted, a tiny bit of flame shooting out from hernostrils. “Humans cannot smell a damn thing. I could stand right next to oneand they would have no clue what I am.”

“It does not mean we should invite them into our home.” Ryulglared at Kaida. “As a yearling, your friendship with the grizzly shifter wastolerated because you were young and foolish. But you are an adult now. Anadult who brought not only a shifter, but two humans into our sacred space. Notonly does one of them work for the human authorities, but they are the childrenof Senator Matthews.”

Kaida’s stomach dropped. She glanced behind her at Javeewho mouthed, ‘I’m sorry’. She turned back to face the council. She didn’t blamethe dragoness for giving the information on Bren and Tyler to the council – it washer job after all – but what were the odds that the human she rescued would bethe son of the Senator who was doing everything in his power to subjugateshifters?

“Well?” Ryul said. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

She took a deep breath, the weight of the stares of most ofher clan burrowing into the back of her skull. “The humans have no idea of ourtrue nature. They believe we are bear shifters.”

“So, that makes it better?” Collette said. “We should feelsafer that humans know where our clan is because they believe us to be bears?”

“Many humans know where our clan is,” Kaida said. “We maylive in the woods, we may keep to ourselves, but there are humans and shiftersin the city who know of us. How many times have hunters stumbled upon us? Theytoo, believe we are bear shifters. There is no reason that this may change.”

“There is a difference between humans who stumble into ourhome and humans who are invited,” Ryul said.

“They are only yearlings and they were being beaten by otherhumans. I could not leave them to their fate,” Kaida said.

“You could have, and you should have,” Ryul said, soundingso much like Drago, that Kaida glanced over her shoulder at the redheadeddragon. He was staring at her with a combination of smugness and anger, andshe resisted the urge to give him the finger. Acting like a yearling would nothelp her case with the council.

“The humans are below us,” Ryul continued, “and yourcompassion toward them is weakness on your part.”

“Compassion is never weakness,” Walter said.

Ryul shook his head. “It is when it will get you banished.”

Her clan gasped behind her and Kaida fought to keep the fearfrom her face. She knew they would bring up banishment, of course she did, butto hear the actual words coming out of an elder’s mouth brought tingles ofpanic down her spine.

“There will be no talk of banishment.” Cadmus’s low voicesoothed her panic.

Ryul turned to Cadmus. “She brought humans into the clan,high elder. If they discover we are dragons, banishment is -”

“Ifthey discover we are dragons,” Cadmus said.“They believe us to be bears, remember? Humans are not the brightest species inthe world. As long as we keep our flame to ourselves when the humans return,they will not suspect our true nature.”

“When the humans return?” Ryul sputtered. “They are notreturning to the clan, Cadmus.”

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