Marked Prince - Michelle M. Pillow Page 0,36

her eyes tight. “No, there are two of them—a man and a woman. They’re carrying something dangerous. It is making one of them nervous.”

“When?” Salena asked.

Fiora tried to look at the way the sunlight fell on the ground in her vision, and then opened her eyes and hurried to the broken glass door. “Soon, maybe. Or this time of day in the future. I…” She closed her eyes again. “I’m not sure. How long will it take to repair this door?”

“It’ll be done today,” Yusef said.

“Then they’re coming today,” Fiora answered, pointing in the direction from which she knew they’d appear. “They’ll be hiding in the trees.”

When she turned, all of the dragon-shifters’ eyes had shifted, and they stared at the door with their heads tilted, listening. Grace had risen from the couch. Grier had his arm in front of Salena to block her movements. Yusef stood beside his wife. Jaxx had moved closer to her and motioned for her to step back.

Olena whispered, “Salena, Fiora, you’re with me. Upstairs.”

“Go,” Grier urged Salena.

Fiora glanced at Jaxx. There was so much fear inside her, and she knew that it wasn’t all her own, but she couldn’t pinpoint the source. He nodded that she should follow Olena. Fiora wasn’t looking for his permission.

Olena rushed up the stairs to the walkway along the second level. Fiora was slower to follow as she tried to focus on the future of whoever was coming toward the house. The center of the room was open so that Fiora could see the shifters from above. She heard a gentle tap as Olena pressed a scanner, then the sliding of a door.

Fiora clung to the rail, staring at the broken door. Salena tried to pull her arm, but she jerked away and refused to move. Apprehension grew. She felt the worry of those below, but also the excitement of a fight. The primal thump of heartbeats sounded in her ears like drums.

“Fiora,” Salena whispered, tugging at her arm.

“Stop touching me.” Fiora shook her sister off, trying to concentrate past the emotions.

The sound of the cleaning droid rolled across the floor. Yusef’s body shifted into the form of an upright man-dragon as he moved past his son, touching Jaxx on the shoulder. He looked like a cross between a full dragon and a man, as if his body stopped halfway.

Jaxx also shifted into a man-dragon rather than a flying one and followed his father from the house. Fiora leaned over the rail to try to watch him. Grace darted after them, shifting into a woman-dragon as she ran. Grier glanced up at them before joining the others.

“They’re not flying?” Fiora asked.

“Only the youngest generation can fly,” Olena answered. “We call what you just saw a half shift.”

As the dragons moved away from where she stood, the impressions from the woods deepen. Sending them changed the future and the couple no longer made it to the house. A man held a jagged piece of glowing metal. Cloth wrapped one end to create a hilt. Suddenly the landscape blurred as the man surged forward.

She felt pressure on her hand as the blade found a target. She caught a surprised expression as the warm sensation of blood against her skin felt so real, she jerked back and flung her hands in the air to get away from it.

Fiora tripped. As the vision faded, she felt herself falling toward the stairs. Salena grabbed her arm to stop the fall.

Fiora didn’t think as she tore from her sister’s grasp. She ran down the stairs, knowing she’d sent one of the dragons to their death. If she’d have kept her mouth shut, they wouldn’t be in harm’s way now.

11

The feel of Fiora against his mouth wouldn’t leave him. It stayed with Jaxx as he moved stealthily through the trees like a blessing upon his lips. He felt himself being pulled back to her if only to be in her presence.

Fiora had said danger was coming, and they’d listened. He trusted her without thought or hesitation. Though, he could hardly credit that sensation as otherworldly when everything she said was the truth.

Each step took him farther away from her, and he was glad she was in the safety of the house.

The familiar sounds of their footsteps were like signatures marking the members of his family. They kept pace through the trees. To his right, he heard his father. Grace approached on his left. Grier followed behind.

Jaxx focused his hearing, listening to the trees. He heard the