Page 54 of The Dragon Shifters' Enemy
The four of them went over to where she sat at one of the camp tables.Illarion was still looking over her shoulder.Mei’s delicate features were illuminated by the laptop’s screen.
“Not very security minded of them not to password protect that machine,” Jahara tsked.
Mei tipped her head back and let out a girlish laugh that was somehow unnerving.“As if apasswordcould keep me out.”
“Are you like a--a hacker, Mei?”Caden asked.
“Like a hacker?Yes, I am.”Mei smiled at him.
“You’ve been alive so long yet all of you have adapted. I mean more than adapted.Jahara, your territory resembles a scifi novel. Mei, you have Iron Men. That’s pretty amazing,” Caden said as he ran a hand through the back of his hair.
“Are you saying we’re theoldsand should be using chisels and stone tablets?”Jahara’s lips twitched.
“Y-yeah,” Caden let out a laugh.“Maybe a little. I mean the world moves so much faster than it did when you guys were born.It’s even faster now than when I was a kid.Things must seem unrecognizable to you now.”
“One has to adapt to survive,” Mei said without looking up from the computer.
“Do you ever just feel like you want to retreat from the world?”Caden asked.
“Of course!”Tez shook his head emphatically.“In a way, revealing ourselves to the humans was exactly what some of us needed.Valerius, for one.Hiding up in the mountains.Not speaking to anyone.It wasn’t good for him.”
Caden glanced over at the Black Dragon King.He and Esme were in deep discussion over a journal they’d found. He felt a warm mental caress from Valerius.Caden reached back for him and it was like they were mentally holding hands.Caden looked back at Mei, feeling calmer and safer than ever. Valerius was with him.Nothing could hurt him.
“Hiding who one is, who one truly is, grates,” Illarion stated, which was one of the truest things that Caden had ever heard from him.“Now we rule because we are out in the open and our true nature is revealed.We should have done it ages ago.The world would not have gotten into such a mess if we had.”
And that, too, is an Illarion truth,Caden thought mirthlessly.
“You said you found something to connect Humans First with the Faith, Mei?”Caden asked.
“I am making educated guesses from what I am seeing here.It will take some time to go through everything.But these fools made lists,” Mei said with a rather cruel smile on her lips, “of the Shifter types they wanted to be.”
“What?!”Caden’s eyes widened.“Humans First… uh, theyhateShifters.”
“No, they don’t.They hate feeling powerless,” Jahara contradicted.“Despite the use of the wordshostsandparasitesto describe a human and its Spirit, they are jealous and fearful that they will never experience such a joining.And many of them will not.”
“They want what they cannot have.A Spirit can only give itself over.A human cannot simply take one,” Anwar agreed.
“That would be horrible if they could!”Tez blinked rapidly.“Like slavery!Eldoron is very displeased!”
Caden thought of the eager Spirits that had lined the route to High Reach when Anwar had arrived.They had desperately wanted to join with humans.Would they turn away a chance to do so?Would they consider it enslavement?Or a chance to finally enjoy the material world?
“Yes, well, they thought that they had gotten around that,” Mei said as she clicked around on the laptop.“Someone promised them that they could become Shifters, and not just any Shifters, but ones theywantedto be.”
“Seriously?”Caden’s eyebrows rose.
“Yes, they’ve even assigned hierarchies of Shifters.Dragons on the top of course,” Mei chuckled.“It appears that they assigned the levels by their idea of perceived physical strength with Werewolves, Lion, Tiger and Bear Shifters as directly under us.Chione will be annoyed as Sphinxes are third tier! Unicorn Shifters are way on the bottom.I suppose these bigots assumed one had to be avirginto be one of those and virginity is not something they would want to admit still having.”
“What did Jasper want to be?”Caden asked.“A Dragon, I suppose.”
“His name is not on here, but I think this is his computer so he didn’t need to write down his choice,” Mei answered.“None on this list chose Dragon, or perhaps they were not allowed to do so. They were, after all, thefollowersnot the leaders.”
“Is… is Landry’s name there?”Caden asked after a long moment.
“Even if her name is there, Caden, it could only mean that she went along with them,” Jahara pointed out and touched his nearest arm.“It doesn’t mean she was truly loyal to them.”
“I know, but I’m curious,” Caden admitted, but he was glad of Jahara’s possible explanation.He hadn’t thought of that.
Mei’s lips curled into a genuine smile.“She is.She wanted to be a Fox Shifter.”
