never called to her again after Birch Haven. And she told me I was better off never knowing his name.”
I let the silence settle between us for a moment. Then, “Archer, maybe she’s right. Whatever is on that drive doesn’t matter. It doesn’t have anything to do with who you are. Your father had nothing to do with raising you. He wasn’t there when you found your wolf for the first time. You are your own man.”
“I could have accepted that,” he said. “But whoever he was, the Ring plans to use it against me. So I have to believe my father is still alive somewhere. Whether he’s been in my life or not, when the time comes, he’ll be able to call to me. That’s how it works with wolves. I can’t let that happen. I need to know what they know.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Phaedra,” he said. “It’s more than just me at risk now. You know what you are to me. What we are to each other. We haven’t spoken it aloud. But you know, you’re a shifter’s daughter. I don’t know how it works with...my God...dragons...but…”
I smiled. “It works pretty much the same way. Dragons have fated mates too. Partners they can’t live without. Who make them stronger together than they are apart.”
There. I said it. Fated mates. Archer was right. I felt everything that he did. It was different for me, perhaps, than it would be if I had been purely human. But the magic flowing through my veins would grow stronger if Archer claimed me. So would my heart.
“If they can use whoever my father is against me,” Archer said. “They can use him against you too. So we have to get out of here. Tonight. Now.”
I pulled my hands away from him. “Archer, I saw something in Krall when I hit him with that Dragonfire spell. Something I know I wasn’t supposed to.”
A muscle jumped in Archer’s jaw. “Phaedra…”
“Listen,” I said. “I haven’t changed my mind. As long as these men don’t know my real power, they can’t hurt me. I can only hurt them. And I want to. I need to. Rose couldn't do it. Your mother couldn’t do it. But I can. You and I are fated. I know it. But me, this place, this time? It feels just as fated. It’s me. I’m the one. I can do something.”
“They’ll hurt you,” he said. “The more you use your magic, the greater the risk of them recognizing it. You got lucky tonight. That’s all. I can’t trust that will ever work again.”
“Well then you have to trust me. I know my own power.”
He shook his head. “A dragon. How has he survived all this time?”
I hesitated. Then, I decided to trust Archer with the last secret I kept. “He hasn’t done it alone. My father, Finn, he has four brothers. And...my grandmother.”
He did a double take. “Six. You’re telling me you’re related to six full-blooded dragons. And they’re alive. They’re out there?”
“Yes,” I said. “And we were heavily targeted during the shifter attacks seventeen years ago. Their properties in Chicago were firebombed. During the last great Shifter War a thousand years ago, every dragon but my grandmother was hunted, killed or captured. Every ounce of Dragonsteel you’ve ever seen was harvested from an unwilling dragon. So, I know how you feel. About your mother, I mean. And now we know it was the Ring behind it all. It’s always been the Ring. Only this time, they’ve convinced humans we’re the bad guys. The ones to be feared. This has all happened before. And if we don’t do something now, it will happen again.”
He let out a growl. “You’re just one witch,” he said. “Granted, you’re the fiercest one I’ve ever seen. And you’re mine. But you can’t take down the Ring all by yourself.”
I took his hands again. “Archer, I’m not trying to take down the whole Ring. But if I can weaken their hold in this one little corner of the world. That’s how it’s done. That’s how it’s always been done. It’s how your mother was freed. The Battle of Birch Haven was just that. One battle in a larger war. But without it, the wolves of Mammoth Forest never would have been able to take out the Kentucky Chief Pack. If they hadn’t, who knows where you’d be today. More than likely, you would have been subjugated. You’d be doing the bidding of some awful Tyrannous Alpha. Maybe even forced