Charred Hope (#3, Heart of Fire) Read online

  “Almost. If you knew what you were doing, you’d do some serious damage,” he responded. “I think it’s safe to say we cracked the code.”

  “Oh, god,” she said, ducking her face to hide it from the chilly wind. “That was awful.”

  “It’s not awful. Your gift is amazing,” he corrected. “C’mon. Give me a few more minutes before you give up on being a shifting queen.”

  She didn’t answer but concentrated once more on her ability to locate others. They Protector senses were stronger. She was able to identify Mason faster and …

  There were others, like blips on a radar screen. They were everywhere.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I can sense them. Well, some of them. Maybe close ones?”

  “Awesome. Who you got?”

  “I’m really hungry, Mason.”

  “Shifting does that. It’s really taxing on the body. You get used to the hunger, too.”

  She rolled her eyes, beginning to understand why Chace was always in a foul mood if he was always hungry. She sighed and tried to identify whose signatures she was picking up.

  “I think the people at your compound,” she said. “There are like twelve of them. I can’t tell who they are yet. There are another six east of here.”

  “Where?”

  She pointed vaguely over her head. “East. As far as your people are, I think.”

  “What else?”

  “There are more …” She puzzled over the sensations, like small bursts of warm and cool in her thoughts. “I don’t know. But there are more. In the mountains.”

  “Two kinds of creatures like mountains: dragons and griffins.” The concern in Mason’s voice made her look up.

  “I can’t tell what they are,” she admitted.

  “Can you tell where they are?”

  “Not far.” She shrugged.

  “Hmmm.” He was pensive for a moment. “There’s a chance that everyone you can locate, can also sense you.”

  “Oh, god, I’m so tired!” she said and drew a deep breath. “Are we stuck here until night fall?”

  “Or later. When you piss off a woman like Freyja, there’s no telling when she intends to come back.”

  “What’s her deal anyway?”

  “I imagine there’s some jealousy involved. She dated Chace for a while.”

  “For reals?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So I stole her man and I can shift into a dragon bigger than her?” Skylar started to smile despite her exhaustion. “That makes me happy. The minute I’m close enough to steal her magic, I’m so kicking her ass.”

  “Nice. You don’t want to find Dillon or defend the shifters. You want to put the smack down on Chace’s ex.” Mason shook his head.

  “The dragon that took away my family? You can deal with Dillon. You made that mess,” she snapped.

  “The shifters need a Protector, someone who can keep people like Dillon and Freyja from hurting the community.”

  She ignored him. Even if he was right, she couldn’t help thinking she’d love taking care of Freyja a little too much.

  “My only question is this: do I need to be touching a shifter to steal its magic?” she mused aloud.

  “Why don’t we try it a few times?” he suggested.

  She flinched, recalling the pain.

  “You’ve always been the bravest person I’ve known, Skylar. Don’t chicken out now. It’s exhausting and painful, but if you can get it down where you can shift out of instinct, you will be so far ahead of everyone you run across,” Mason said.

  She nodded. Her thoughts went to her mother, and she wondered again why Ginger had never learned to shift. Did Gavin keep it from her, or did he not know? She felt guilty thinking badly of him, if he didn’t know, and even worse knowing her mother could’ve survived, if she had learned to shift in time.

  Maybe she was too busy with me to try.

  Guilt raced through her at the idea she’d somehow prevented her mother from escaping or hiding. The more she learned about who she was, the murkier the circumstances around her mother’s disappearance became. Did any one person know what actually happened that day six years ago, when Caleb came to get her?

  Chapter Five

  “You’re sure about this?” Chace paused to steady his breathing. Leaning back in his harness, he eyeballed Gunner, who was a much slower climber than he was. Shortly after midnight, Gunner had sprung out of his seat with the wild claim that he knew where Skylar was.

  “I can’t explain it,” Gunner said with a grunt. “Just bam! I could pick her up. And you.”

  If Cabin hadn’t acted on his friend’s words, Chace might’ve doubted it was possible. “Dragon daddy said the shifters could sense the Protector and her dragon. It just seems odd that it kicked I like that.”

  “Yeah, well, it works.”

  “Why now?”

  “Like I have any idea.”

  Chace smiled. He tried to imagine Gunner working as a doctor in a hospital with his abrupt, surly bedside manner. After being a patient to the panther shifter that had no mercy on someone in pain, he didn’t think Gunner had lasted long in that line of work.

  Or maybe it was just me he treats like that. Like cabin throwing all my clothes on the floor again this morning. He had a lot to make amends for. Thank god, the people he cared most about were willing to give him a second chance, even if it was rough to earn back their trust.

  They climbed in silence. Chace’s muscles burned from exertion, his head aching from dehydration. He’d thought to bring canteens but not place them where he could reach them easily. The result: he wasn’t about to fall a few thousand feet to his death to grab a sip of water.

  Spotting a break in the rocky ascent, he maneuvered his body slowly towards the cave. They both needed a brief rest after their ten hours scaling this peak, and he was too thirsty not to stop for water.

  “I am … so sick … of climbing mountains,” he breathed, hauling himself over the edge of a shallow, tall cave big enough for him and Gunner.

  “You hate it?” Gunner grunted in return, his head popping up over the edge. “What about me?”

  I need to fly again. Chace tugged free a couple of protein bars. He waited until Gunner had settled on the other side before tossing one to him. They ate quietly and caught their breath. Chace’s attention went to the sky outside the small cave.

  “You sure about this?” he asked.

  “I wouldn’t be climbing a damn mountain if not,” came the panther shifter’s disgruntled response.

  “You can sense her. Why can’t I?” Chace grumbled. It was more than his frustration about his stymied magic. It was the knowledge that the shifters were able to sense Skylar – and he wasn’t. He was cut off from her completely, despite the cabin using magic to bring them to the foothills of the mountains where Gunner’s shifter GPS told them to go.

  “Something will work out,” Gunner said. “It has to at this point. You were too powerful, and Gavin is gone. My magic returned soon after.”

  Chace said nothing, knowing his magic wasn’t responding for a different reason. He had to earn it back after callously giving it up. The cabin had returned, but he was still unable to reach the shifter fire locked deep within him. One of the women in his life had forgiven him. The other hadn’t yet.

  What would it take? Watching everyone he cared about die?

  “How much farther do you think it is?” he asked restlessly.

  “Not far. Feels like she’s right on top of us.”

  The bellow from some large creature bounced around the mountains. Chace and Gunner froze, the panther shifter tilting his head.

  “Smells like a cat,” Gunner said. “Big one. Lion.”

  “As long as it’s not a griffin,” Chace said. He leaned out of the cave and looked up. The sound had come from an unseen ledge near the peak of the mountain they were scaling. “Is that where we’re headed?”

  “Yep.”

  Chace considered how big the creature was tha
t made such a sound then shrugged. “You can speak cat. We’ll be fine.”

  Gunner said nothing.

  After a few more minutes, they replaced their packs and began the last part of their ten-hour ascension.

  Chace went first, gripping handholds with tired fingers. He felt himself fall into the zone, the rhythm of his movement calming his thoughts. Hand, foot, foot, hand. The grey rock before his eyes was streaked with white, black and peach, and he followed the crisscrossing veins of color with some interest.

  Gunner was quiet as he climbed a few feet away, the two of them connected by a thick blue rope.

  I have no idea what I did to deserve a friend like this. Chace thought, aware of how much felines hated heights and mountains.

  A shadow crossed over them.

  “Think we got company,” Gunner said quietly.

  Chace looked from the rock wall to the sky above. With his precarious balance, he wasn’t able to lean back enough to see what it was. “Can’t see it. Can you smell what it is?”

  “Feathers,” Gunner growled.

  “You gotta be more specific.”

  Another shadow fell over them. A second roar followed it from the great cat on the peak above.

  Chace balanced himself and risked bending back farther than usual to get a good look at the sky.

  “Shit,” he muttered. “Griffins. Small ones, though. Not Dillon.”

  “They can sense your girl like I can.”

  “What the hell is she doing up here? I have to assume the cat is Mason.”

  “No way he came up here voluntarily.”

  Chace frowned and quickened his climb as much as he dared, uncertain what it meant that Mason and Skylar were stuck on a ledge at the top of a mountain. How did they get there and more importantly, why?

  The griffins were circling the peak, unconcerned with the two humans scaling the cliff wall. The lion above gave out an occasional roar of warning, while Chace worked on moving faster.

  When he was a couple of meters from the ledge, he glanced up and looked back.

  The massive head of a black lioness was hanging over the edge, her shoulders hunkered and massive paws gripping the edge. Her piercing stare was a beautiful, familiar blue.

  “Um, Gun?” Chace called. “Is this an issue?”

  The lion’s ears flickered back then forward again, and she gave a throaty growl.

  “Friendly,” Gunner said. “Cats don’t purr when they want to kick your ass.”

  “You sure that’s a purr?”

  “Yeah.”

  The cat disappeared, and seconds later, he heard her roar again. One of the griffins had ventured close to the peak and flew away quickly at the lion’s warning.

  Chace continued to climb, not convinced the lioness was welcoming them to the peak. He reached the top and pulled himself up.

  A huge black claw swiped at him, snagging his backpack and yanking him onto the ledge. Before he could react, she’d pulled the backpack free and tossed it. The lioness pounced on it, leaving Chace alone.

  What the hell? He rose, unable to take his eyes off the beast.

  He’d never seen any feline this size – even Mason. Bigger than a Clydesdale with a powerful, lean body, the lioness’s claws were longer than his fingers and her paws the size of his head.

  “She’s hungry,” Mason said from behind him.

  Chace turned.

  Mason was smiling. He nodded towards the edge, and Chace glanced over to see Gunner’s hands appearing over it. He strode to his friend and offered his hand. Gunner took it, and Chace hauled him over the edge.

  The lioness was trying unsuccessfully to open the backpack. She gripped it with her paws then tried to bite it open, only for the backpack to slide through her paws. With a frustrated yowl, she grabbed it with powerful jaws and flung it towards Mason.

  “Is she uh … clumsy?” Gunner asked.

  “Not clumsy.” Mason knelt beside the backpack. He unzipped it and grabbed a few protein bars. “She can take on the shape but has to learn the motor skills, like a cub.”

  Chace watched, not realizing the silent feline had crept up to him until her hot breath was on the back of his neck. He went rigid, uncertain what to think of the massive cat.

  She nudged him, the simple move enough to push him a few steps.

  “Remember what I told you? Gently,” Mason warned. “No claws.”

  “Why is she staring at me?” Chace asked, not wanting to imagine what those claws would do to him. He’d spent enough time almost dying on the beach to know he didn’t want anything to do with being shredded by a she-cat.

  The lioness pawed the air between them with a growl.

  “You can try it,” Mason answered the question only he understood. “Gently.”

  One moment Chace was on his feet facing the great beast. The next, she’d wrapped her front two legs around him and threw him to the ground then sat on him.

  Stunned, he wasn’t able to move beneath the weight of the lion.

  With a playful nip in the air, she planted her paws on either side of his head and licked him from neck to the top of his forehead.

  “Omigod!” he said with a grunt, grimacing at the feel of her rough tongue. “This is so gross!”

  “Aww, she likes you!” Gunner said.

  “Here, Sky.” Mason called. “Food.”

  The lioness launched off him and trotted to Mason, who dangled the protein bars he’d unwrapped in the space in front of him.

  “Did you say Sky?” Chace demanded, sitting. He wiped the spit off his face.

  Mason tossed protein bars into the air. Chace watched the lioness leap a good five meters into the air to catch them.

  “In related news, we figured out what her power is as a Protector,” Mason said. “She can use the magic of the nearest shifter to change into something big enough to kick that shifter’s ass.”

  Chace stared at him, digesting the words slowly. He looked again at the lioness, and he suddenly understood why her blue eyes were so familiar. Exchanging a look with Gunner, he approached the great cat.

  “Sky?” he asked doubtfully.

  She faced him, ears flickering back and forth.

  “We’ve been up here since last night,” Mason said with a sigh. He dug out the canteen from Chace’s backpack. “I think she got tired of shifting. We were practicing but didn’t expect to get stuck here or for them to show up.” He motioned to the sky.

  Skylar’s ears flattened back, and she bared her teeth at the griffins.

  “Or maybe she’s living up to her role and protecting you,” Chace suggested. “So you’re saying she can shift into anything?”

  “We think so.”

  “If I’m here, can she turn into a panther?” Gunner asked.

  Skylar’s attention rested on them again. She looked curiously at Gunner then closed her eyes.

  “I can’t believe it’s her,” Chace said in a hushed voice. “Are you sure?”

  “Definitely,” Mason replied.

  “How’d you get up here?”

  Mason’s features became shuttered. He didn’t respond.

  Damn cats.

  Skylar growled. Chace stepped away from her, recognizing the tremor of magic in the air that indicated she was getting ready to shift. She stretched out on her belly. Her body began to change and the skin beneath her fur ripple. Her thick fur turned from black to brown to tawny while her head grew narrower and her nose elongated. Her size shrank and her body grew lankier, leaner, until she resembled a large panther rather than a lion.

  When finished, she let out a long, pain-filled grumble then lay still for a moment.

  “Holy shit,” Chace murmured, kneeling beside her. He rested a hand on her head. “You really are a shifter queen.” A smile spread across his face, and he petted her ears then trailed his fingers down her long snout.

  She was gazing at him steadily. Her tail flickered, and she twisted.

  “No, Sky,” Mason said.

  “Wha
t’s wrong?” Chace asked, confused.

  Skylar sat then stood and began chasing her tail.

  “I remember that,” Gunner said with a loud laugh. “When you first learn to shift, your tail really just … drives you crazy. It has a mind of its own.”

  Chace watched Skylar chase her tail in circles for a moment. Abruptly, she leapt into the air, surpassing Gunner’s ten-foot vertical, a large paw with claws extended.

  She tagged a griffin’s wing. It gave squawk of pain before staggering away into the sky. Feathers floated to the ground, and she sat, tail flickering behind her as she glared up at the two circling griffins.

  “Can you change into something that can fly?” Gunner asked Skylar.

  She leveled a look at Chace.

  “Don’t look at me,” he half-joked. “I got nothing. Can you shift into a human?”

  Skylar hunkered down to the ground. Her growl turned softer, and she closed her eyes once again.

  “Clothes.” Mason tossed a folded set to Chace then turned around.

  Chace set them down beside her. He almost didn’t turn away, wanting to see every inch of her gorgeous golden skin, then decided not to mess with a panther. He turned away as well, listening to the sounds of her body breaking a part to reform itself. A thrill went through him at the idea she was one of them, along with the sense of amazement that she could shift into anything. If Mason were right about her turning into a bigger version of any shifter, how large of a dragon would she become around him?

  If I could get my magic back. He clenched his teeth together, once again plagued by the doubt he’d felt the past few days. What if it never returns?

  The sounds of a shifter changing shape ceased, and he heard the brush of clothing against skin as Skylar got dressed. It took every ounce of his will power not to turn around, knowing her naked skin was so close to him.

  “More griffins,” Mason said, eyes on the sky.

  “I almost got one,” Sky said. “I need more protein bars.”

  Chace faced her to find her gazing up at him. She looked exhausted from shifting, but her blue eyes shone brightly.

  “Hey,” she murmured.

  “Hey.” He resisted the urge to take her into his arms, to feel her skin and know she was safe and well.