Dreamwalker (Stormwalker #5) - Allyson James Page 0,49

and made me love Mick even more.

“I’m sorry, Micalerianicum,” Drake was saying as I wiped my eyes. “But they won’t allow that to happen.”

I jolted to alertness, pressing aside my warm ideas of how I’d show Mick how much I appreciated him. Drake was looking at the sky, and Mick jerked his head up to stare.

More downdrafts of wind rattled through the clearing. One of the dead trees shuddered and slowly toppled, the sound of its passing smothered by the whooshing of leathery wings.

Two dragons touched down, which again, I’d seen in my future. One was black; the other, pure white. The white one I’d seen only once. Her name was Aine, she was one-third of the Dragon Council, and she was a cold-hearted bitch.

The other was Bancroft, who lived in the dragon compound in Santa Fe and gave Drake orders. Drake wasn’t part of the council—he was Bancroft’s flunky.

I didn’t waste time wondering why Bancroft and Aine had come. Whatever their reason, it couldn’t be good. I didn’t like Drake’s words, or the sorrowful tone in which he spoke them.

I ran forward, screw trying to be secretive. The only thing that could take down a dragon, short of a god, was another dragon.

There were three dragons against Mick. He was good, but I didn’t like those odds.

The dragons were so busy drawing themselves up and being arrogant that they never saw me coming at them until Drake swung around. His dark eyes widened and a look of vast puzzlement came over his face.

“You aren’t supposed to be here,” he said in confusion.

I ignored him. “Stay the hell away from him!” I yelled at Aine and Bancroft. “Go crawl back into whatever volcano spawned you and leave us alone!”

Mick had spun as soon as he heard my voice. “Janet, what the fuck?”

I grabbed his hands and hung on. “They’ll kill you. If you protect me, they’ll condemn you to death. Go and let me deal with them.”

Mick looked at me like I’d gone crazy, and I couldn’t fault him. I hadn’t yet learned to tap the Beneath power in me—I could barely control the Stormwalker.

But the Beneath power was there. I could feel it stirring deep in my blood, eager to come out. Bancroft and Aine must have sensed it too, because they drew back, dragon heads ready to strike.

“Drake.” Mick snarled the word as he pushed me forcefully to him. “Protect her.”

He swung away from us and began running, making for the widest part of the clearing. I started after him, but Drake’s hand, wickedly strong, jerked me back.

“It’s his fight, Janet,” he said in a low voice. “And he’s highly trained.”

Mick had vanished behind a cloud of darkness and now rose as a dragon, black shot with red, like his aura. The other two dragons hadn’t attacked before Mick could change—they’d never dream of besting him unfairly.

Dragons, Mick had once told me, were all about honor. Me, they’d crush into a smear and not care. But then, I wasn’t dragon.

Is this what had happened while I’d waited, ignorant and worried, in the lakeside motel room, for Mick’s return? Had he fought two members of the Dragon Council and won his way free of them? Dragon issues were so strange that maybe he had to go through this fight before they’d agree that I was under Mick’s parole.

Why didn’t that feel right?

The black dragon and the white hit the air then split left and right to flank Mick and dive at him from two sides. Hot air pumped over Drake and me on the ground as fireballs shot out of all three dragons at once.

I gathered my strength. The storm on the edges of the mountains crackled pleasantly with electricity, and I drew all of it into me.

In this space and time, I hadn’t been in control of my magics. But the Janet who was dreaming had worked very hard in the ensuing years to conquer them.

I’d also learned how to touch the Beneath magic in me. Here, far from any vortex that contained my mother, I could draw on it without fear of awakening her. I balled my fists, reaching for the power Mick and others had taught me to tame.

I found it, the Beneath magic raw and waiting, gleefully willing me to bring it forth. I wrapped my senses around the storm, gathered lightning in my fingers, and wrapped it around a ball of Beneath magic.

Drake’s hand clamped down on my shoulder. “Janet, no! Let it play