Dragon Song Read online

  Two squeezes.

  Okay, that was good, wasn’t it? Unless he was paralyzed. “Can you move your toes?”

  She watched his good foot, her eyes widening when she saw the sharp black toenails. They looked more like claws, but at least they moved. So he wasn’t paralyzed. “Okay, good, let’s see if we can get you sitting up.” Faith leaned over, noticing his skin was way too hot as she helped him up. He must have a fever, which wasn’t good. She needed to get down the mountain and call for help. It would be dark by the time she led paramedics back here.

  The boy was panting hard by the time she got him leaning against the boulder he’d been crammed up against. Her fingers brushed something along his spine that felt a little like warm leather, but she ignored it. Maybe he was wearing a backpack. It probably helped to protect him when he hit the rocks. “Can you open your eyes?”

  He nodded, his eyelashes starting to flutter.

  “Oh my gosh,” Faith said, leaning back. His eyes were a strange turquoise color, not a color she’d ever seen on a person before. And they didn’t look like contacts either. She and her friends used to play around with colored contacts, but you could always tell they were fake. Faith swallowed nervously, seeing fear in his eyes. Apparently, he was just as afraid of her as she was of him.

  “You want some water?”

  He nodded, his throat creaking as he swallowed. Faith helped hold the bottle to his mouth, trying not to flinch when he reached up with his good hand to help guide her. “Easy,” she said when he started to guzzle. “You’ll make yourself sick.” She pulled the bottle back, blowing softly through her lips when the boy started choking.

  “Can you tell me your name?” Faith asked.

  “Aeson,” he replied, his croaky voice barely heard.

  “Jason?” Faith said, thinking she might have misunderstood.

  He shook his head, his gaze moving back to the water bottle in her hand. “Aeson,” he said again, a little louder this time.

  “Sorry,” she said. “You want to try a little more water?”

  He nodded.

  “Okay.” Faith leaned in, lifting the bottle to his fanged mouth, not quite so nervous this time. He wasn’t really putting out any dangerous vibes. Axel refused to come closer, though at least the shepherd had finally stopped his soft growling.

  Aeson didn’t seem so desperate this time, swallowing more normally instead of gulping.

  “Do you know what happened to you?”

  He nodded, glancing toward the sky. “Fell.”

  “You mean you fell down the bank? It’s pretty steep, all right. What happened to your clothes?”

  He glanced over at the steep bank she had slid down, shaking his head. Did that mean he hadn’t fallen, or he didn’t know where his clothes were?

  “Do you know where your parents are?”

  This time he refused to answer, looking away, his jaws clenched.

  Okay, that was weird. Maybe he had abusive parents or something. Maybe they’d left him out here. Or maybe he’d run away. She almost snorted, certainly understanding how one could be mad at parents. Faith wasn’t too happy with her own right now.

  “Do you want me to try to splint your leg before I go get help? I’m sure it’s broken, but I don’t see a bone sticking out. I think I can just splint it for now. It’ll do until the paramedics can get here.”

  He shook his head, long dark hair swishing around his angular face. “No. You can’t … tell anyone … about me.”

  “What? Are you crazy? You’ll die out here by yourself.” Though his deep voice remained croaky, she could tell he had an accent she’d never heard before.

  “You stay … with me. Please.”

  Faith’s mouth dropped open as she glanced toward the sky. Judging by the sun, it was a little past noon. Her mother would start getting worried if she didn’t show up before dinner. They’d send out a search party. “I can’t stay for long. Why don’t you want me to go for help? Are you in trouble?”

  He shook his head, then groaned in pain as he shifted around, exposing part of his back.

  “Oh, my God,” Faith said, jumping to her feet as she slapped a hand over her mouth. She stared between his back and those turquoise-colored eyes, not sure what to think. “You have wings. Are they real?”

  Faith shivered. Could he be some type of mythical fairy or something?

  CHAPTER 3

  Aeson could barely breathe through the pain. He’d been a fool to attempt to shift to his serpent form alone. Only the males of their kind could shift, and they were only able to do so after entering adolescence, which happened around age fifteen. After he’d managed to shift once with his sire’s help, he foolishly tried to do so again yesterday, alone, but he’d been unable to hold his serpent form.

  And the fall had almost killed him.

  Though Aeson had wings in his human form, they were still too weak to carry his weight. They managed to help slow his fall, but not stop it. Aeson had tried to aim for the top of the mountain, but he’d hit too close to the edge of a steep bank and went over, rolling head over heels until he came up hard against this rock face. Feeling his ankle and wrist break, he’d lost consciousness shortly after.

  A sense of danger brought him up from the soothing darkness, a deep growl making his skin crawl. Damaged so severely, there would be little he could do to defend himself against a predator. He hurt for his parents, knowing they would suffer greatly without him. Compatible mates were difficult to find for his kind, and children were an even rarer blessing. His whole clan mourned whenever one was lost.

  He breathed in as deeply as his bruised ribs allowed, picking up the sweet scent of a human female. She smelled of warm sunshine and the pine forest she’d obviously walked through. He groaned when she touched his bruised shoulder, but he couldn’t find the strength to open his eyes. It wasn’t until she helped him drink that he found the strength to look at her.

  “Hey there,” she said softly. “You scared me. I thought you were dead when I first spotted you.”

  The young girl reminded him of another female back at his clan. She was pretty now with her dark auburn hair, but he could tell she would be beautiful once she grew into her tall, slender frame, her mouth a bit too wide on an oval face, her green eyes overlarge, though he admitted it could be fear causing the wide-eyed look. His kind might fear humans, but Aeson would never harm one, not unless they attacked him or one of his kin first.

  He sighed, knowing his parents were going to kill him … if he even survived. An unknown at this point. It was forbidden for his kind to interact with humans, at least with those who didn’t already know about them.

  “Can you try to sit up?” she asked. “It’ll be easier to drink the water. I think you might be dehydrated. Once I get you fixed up as best I can, I’ll go for help”

  The female said something else, but he only focused on her last sentence. Panic set in at the thought of her bringing more humans into this. They would lock him away, experiment on him. He’d heard the horror stories his whole life. Human governments already knew about serpents. They even had some of their kind trapped in holding cells.

  Aeson’s clan kept moving to more and more desolate spots, hoping to avoid capture, but the world was quickly closing in on them. Pretty soon there would be nowhere else to go, and their males couldn’t pass for human. He supposed they were lucky the serpent genes had been diluted over the years with human blood. His bronze skin didn’t carry the colored scales of some of their older males. Fangs could be filed down, but he couldn’t hide the wings, or the horns beginning to develop in his forehead.

  “You can’t bring anyone else here. Not safe.”

  “Why?” she asked, shaking her head. “Your leg is broke. And I think your wrist is too. You need medical care.”

  “No.” Given no choice, Aeson turned, exposing his wings, which had been tucked in tight against his back. Thankfully, he’d had sense enough to tuck them away before he hit the ground or the fragile m
embranes would have torn.

  “You got wings!” she said, slapping a hand over her mouth as she scooted back. “What the hell are you?”

  “Don’t be afraid,” he said quickly, seeing the panic growing in her eyes. The big shepherd jumped up, growling, ready to protect his mistress. “I would never hurt you.” Aeson sighed, motioning down his broken body. “Even if I were so inclined, I’m hardly in a shape to move.”

  “Okay,” she said, releasing a held breath, her gaze still locked on his wings. “You startled me. It’s just, I don’t even know how this is possible.” She lifted her hand toward his wings but stopped just short of touching.

  Aeson leaned back against the boulder, tired to the bone. “Now you understand why I can’t let you go for help.”

  “Um, yeah, I guess so. But how am I supposed to just leave you here? Your leg is broken, and your wrist. You could have internal injuries too. My dad’s a doctor. Maybe—” She stopped abruptly, biting at her lip.

  Aeson narrowed his eyes. “Maybe what?”

  “Um, my dad is not actually enlisted, but he works for the military. We just recently moved here from Portland.” She looked around, raising both hands. “Moved out here to no-man's-land. Dad’s got a medical degree, but I think he mostly works on new vaccines to protect our soldiers from chemical warfare.” She shrugged. “I don’t really know what he does.”

  Aeson didn’t like the sounds of this. If the military became involved, his clan would be doomed. There was no way they could fight modern weapons. One of Aeson’s uncles had gone missing early last fall. Maybe this female’s sire moving here wasn’t a coincidence. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone about me, not even your sire.”

  “My what? You mean my father? Look, I can’t stay here with you. If I don’t get home soon, my parents will worry, and this whole mountain will be covered with people looking for me. If you don’t want me to bring help, what do you want? Is there any way for me to reach your parents?”

  “No.” They would kill him themselves if he gave a strange human directions to their clan. “Can you help me splint my wrist and ankle before you go? We tend to heal fast. I’ll be ready to travel in a couple of days. Shifting will help me heal, but I’m not quite strong enough to manage it.” Plus, he wasn’t sure it was a good idea to try to fly. He’d have to walk home … and hope he didn’t run into any other humans along the way.

  “Shifting?”

  “Into my serpent form.”

  “Ew, you turn into a snake?” she asked, looking slightly horrified by the notion.

  Aeson chuckled. “No, we turn into a dragon, but my kind have always called them serpents.”

  “Oh, wow, that’s cool, I guess. I’d probably think you were off your rocker if I couldn’t see your wings for myself.” She bit at her lower lip, studying his face. “You have fangs too, and are those horns?”

  He nodded.

  “Is that how we got all the legends about dragons, from your people?”

  “Probably. We learned the hard way hundreds of years ago that it was better to keep our presence a secret, which is why you can’t bring anyone else up here.”

  “Yeah, I understand.” She pushed to her feet and looked around the barren ground. “Not much here to use for a splint. I’ll walk down to that tree line and see what I can find.” She passed him over a bottle of water. “Here you go. I’ll leave everything I brought with me here. Me and Axel will be fine until we get home. Are you hungry? I have a couple of Power Bars in my pack. I’ll bring you something better in the morning.”

  Aeson blinked, surprised she planned to come back. “I am hungry, yes.” It took a lot of energy to heal, and he hadn’t eaten anything since late yesterday afternoon.

  “Here you go,” she said, reaching into her bag and passing him an oblong piece of paper. She flinched a little when he reached out, but she didn’t pull back. “Sorry, I’ve just never seen anyone with claws like yours before.”

  Aeson sniffed the package, picking up a scent he didn’t recognize. He lifted it to his mouth but stopped when her eyes widened.

  “No, don’t eat the wrapper!” She motioned for him to give the package back and he watched as she tore the end off, squeezing out a flat yellow slab. “There you go. They don’t taste that great, but it’s better than nothing, I guess. This one is peanut butter flavor.” She glanced around again, scowling. “You want me to build you a fire before I go? I can try to carry some wood back. It gets cold up here at night.”

  “No, I’ll be fine.” He touched the odd silver blanket she’d draped over him. “This will suffice. Serpents tend to run hotter than humans.” Or at least that’s what he’d been told. Humans lived with his clan, but he rarely interacted with them.

  “Okay. Well, you can keep my jacket too. I’ve got another one at home.”

  “Thank you,” he said, tipping his head toward her, offering a show of respect. So far, this female had been only thoughtful and caring, nothing like what he’d expected of a human. “I won’t forget your kindness.”

  “Okay then, come on, Axel, let’s go find a couple straight sticks to use for splints.”

  Before she could leave, Aeson asked, “May I know your name, female?”

  She chuckled, her cheeks turning a becoming pink color. “Well, it’s definitely not female. Faith. Faith Wilson. Do you have a last name, Aeson?”

  “No. We have a clan name, but it’s probably better if I don’t tell you.” Safer for her.

  “Okay, no problem. Anyway, I’ll leave my bag here. There’s another Power Bar or two if you want. More water too.” She hesitated, biting at her lower lip. “I have a sweatshirt in the bag, but I’m not sure it’ll fit over your wings. You can try if you want.”

  “Thank you, Faith,” Aeson leaned his head against the boulder and closed his eyes. He’d never felt so tired before and knew his body was working hard to heal his many injuries. He was lucky Faith had come along or he might not have survived. As it was, he would need to convince her to straighten his wrist and ankle, the bones already starting to fuse in the wrong position.

  Sighing, Aeson brought the strange bar to his mouth and bit off a large chunk, wrinkling his nose at the bizarre flavor. Still, his stomach appreciated the nourishment, even as he fought not to spit it back out.

  CHAPTER 4

  Faith found Aeson sleeping when she returned. It had been a real pain trying to climb back up the hill. She’d skinned her elbow and forearm pretty good when her foot slid out from under her. Good thing it hadn’t been quite as steep as the top half or she might not have made it.

  Part of Faith wanted to let Aeson sleep. He looked so peaceful compared to when she’d first found him. She studied his forehead and the nubs of his horns, still struggling to believe there were real dragons in the world. How cool would that be to have wings, to be able to fly? She wondered if his dragon side would be strong enough to carry her, take her for a ride.

  Faith chuckled, taking in his bruised and broken body. He’d have to get a little better at this flying business before she let him try.

  Kneeling, Faith reached out to shake his shoulder. “Aeson? It’s getting late and I really need to get home. Can you tell me what you want me to do to set your bones?”

  He groaned, opening those gorgeous turquoise eyes. “Help me sit up,” he said, reaching out with his good hand, those black taloned fingers trembling.

  Faith didn’t hesitate to take his hand, cringing inside when he groaned in pain. She suspected he was hurt a lot worse than he wanted to let on. “You okay?” she asked, seeing sweat break out over his face.

  “I will be,” he murmured. He pulled the blanket up, exposing his swollen foot and ankle, his skin black and blue. “Can you help me straighten it? You’ll need to set the bone before you splint it.”

  “Sure, I guess,” she said, taking a gentle hold of his foot. “Now what?”

  “The break is just above my ankle. I need you to set the bone. You’ll have to rotate my foot up. Th
e bone has already started to heal, so you’ll have to re-break it.”

  “Are you out of your mind! I can’t re-break your leg.”

  “It won’t be difficult. The bone has barely begun to heal. If you don’t reset it now, my sire will need to re-break it later. It will be far worse for me then, as the bone will be completely fused. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to walk on it as is. Please, Faith, you can do this.”

  “God, I can’t believe this. Okay, talk me through it.”

  Aeson grabbed hold of his thigh, just above his knee, his angular features pinched with pain. Faith noticed his eyebrows had a slight bluish cast when the sun hit them just right, almost like scales. “Grab my foot and rotate it up. Have your splint ready so you can attach it right away.” He hesitated. “Don’t pay any attention to me if I scream or pass out. This is necessary.”

  Grumbling under her breath, Faith nodded, then reached in her bag for a wad of thin rope. She used her pocketknife to cut several long strings. Setting the ropes and splint by her side, she took hold of Aeson’s swollen foot, looking up into his pained face. “You ready?”

  He nodded, his lips pressed into a hard line.

  Faith clenched her own jaws as she began to rotate his foot up. Aeson gasped when it got stuck, but he yelled, “No!” when she stopped. “Keep going.”

  She gasped herself when she looked up, seeing his pupils had elongated, his weird eyes looking more like a reptile’s than a human’s now. She barely stopped herself from letting go of his foot.

  “Please, Faith, my serpent side won’t hurt you.”

  “Okay,” she whispered, giving a harder push. She almost threw up when the bone made a grating sound. She could feel it beneath her fingers. She glanced up at Aedan, but he’d passed out, his freaky eyes closed now, his chin resting on his chest.