The Dragon's Warlock - Linzi Baxter

1

Diem

Diem Logan glanced at the old mansion. She imagined how it looked fifty years ago, with kids playing in the front yard. Now the weeds were so high that she wasn’t sure anyone could walk through the unkempt yard without getting lost. Virginia creeper grew up the side of the home, covering the white paint. She climbed out of her rented car, and her heels crunched against the gravel driveway.

Gideon had promised to call and help her find her sister. Like an idiot, she’d waited by the phone for his call for four days. The call had never come. In the past, she would have ignored the man and gone on to her next plan, but she was out of options. And he owed her.

In his defense, Gideon hadn’t made her go to the bar where a group of men had kidnapped her. The men might have worked for Gideon, but the old warlock hadn’t been in control of his actions at the time. She’d hacked the council’s network and read the post-mission file he’d completed after Nyx broke the bracelet on his wrist. From the file, she’d learned that he didn’t remember much from the past hundred years.

But her inner beast demanded that Gideon help them. The dragon inside her was getting harder to control each day. She didn’t understand how to take charge of her dragon. The other shifters she’d met had been born with the animal inside of them. Not her. A mad scientist had put the dragon in her. She didn’t know if her sister was a dragon also—her sister whom she hadn’t seen in three months.

He’s ours, her inner beast roared as she glanced at the old wood door. This wasn’t the first time her dragon had roared in her head. She wished she could understand how to make it quiet. After she’d helped free Nyx and the council released her into the world, she’d tried to drown out the animal with alcohol, but no matter how much she drank, it didn’t help. The bar tab would grow, and she wouldn’t even feel tipsy.

Gideon didn’t want to help her. She could tell he’d been blowing her off when she asked him for his help in the bar. Her dragon was convinced he would come, but he didn’t. Now she stared up at the old house, wondering if this was the best idea.

She glanced back at her rented car. She had nothing. After Gideon had killed Kael and deemed her not a threat, she went to her small apartment, but the landlord had thrown her stuff away and rented out her place to someone else. The money the council had given her for compensation couldn’t replace the photos of her sister. She still couldn’t believe they’d put a price on turning her into a dragon. One hundred thousand dollars—that was what the council felt was the correct amount of money to give her.

The only thing holding her together was the need to find her sister, Kayda, but she didn’t even have a picture of her to show people. Kael's men had been good when they captured her and Kayda. They’d deleted all evidence of their existence from the internet. The iCloud account she’d stored all of her photos in had been wiped clean along with her Google drive. It was like Diem and Kayda had both vanished.

The large wood door opened before she could knock, revealing Gideon. He was a big man with short dark hair, and his black shirt strained against his biceps. Colorful tattoos covered his arms. He stood with his arms crossed. His eyes flashed bright green for a second.

Despite his frown, she climbed the last three steps. She’d given herself multiple pep talks before getting in her car and driving the hour it took to get to Gideon’s house hidden in the West Virginia mountains. Stay strong.

She squared her shoulders and walked into his house. He growled as she moved past him. Instead of scaring her, it made her dragon melt into a puddle. It was a good thing she had more control over her body than her dragon did when it came to wanting to press herself against Gideon.

The inside of his house was depressing. There were no pictures on the wall. The grand entryway was empty. She walked through his main room into the adjacent one. She’d spotted a bar from the door and needed a drink, so she proceeded to it, poured herself a glass of scotch, and downed the