The Protector (Fire's Edge #4) - Abigail Owen Page 0,57
to stare at his mother, and had to be telling her something, because Sera’s smile disappeared a second later.
Before either of them could move, the sound of running feet slapping the rock surface of the cavern had all of them turning to find Aidan racing inside, not even attempting to be stealthy. A warning all by itself. Only he didn’t say a word, shooting past them, farther down the tunnel. Then he stopped and the shimmering around his body, so much more than what his son had just produced, warned them of his shift.
As soon as the first part of him was dragon, he was communicating. “Someone is coming.”
“From the back entrance or the front?” Lyndi asked.
“Front, but I’m not taking any chances.”
He turned his head, almost at the end of his shift, the top of his spikes forming as he did, almost scraping the ceiling in this smaller section of the tunnel, and bent a significant look on Sera and Blake. “Hide.”
“Get topside,” Lyndi ordered her boys as she too shifted. The room blurred a bit before her as her perspective changed and grew.
“You should hide, too,” she told Aidan. “Let me take care of it.”
His stare was conflicted. “I can’t just leave you—”
“I’m supposed to be here, you’re not. Your mate and child are what’s important. I can handle myself.” No matter what her boys…or Levi…thought.
If he was human, she’d swear Aidan’s face would’ve drooped with relief. Harder to tell with a dragon. Without another word, he shifted back, though the process took a minute. Once he was small enough, Lyndi stepped in front of him, her focus entirely on the tunnel. Long and only large enough for a single dragon to fly so far, whoever it was would have to stop and crawl soon. Levi’s ridged head would be knocking off stalactites in the section where she stood.
But no one came. Not that she relaxed. Instead, she decided to check farther down the tunnel.
Levi’s voice sounded in Lyndi’s head before she could do more than take a step forward. “Tineen is here. No others that I can detect.”
Shit. Had he followed Sera and Aidan? The timing was too suspect, except they’d been here almost twenty-four hours. Night was no doubt falling by now, turning the golds and pinks and purples of dusk to navy and black.
“Is anyone else coming?” she asked.
“Not that I can sense, but I can’t say for sure.”
He must’ve been on patrol outside then.
“What do we do?”
“We’re going to have to risk getting Aidan and Sera out now.” Levi’s voice rang decisive and strong.
“I agree,” Aidan said aloud from just behind her. “We can’t be found here.”
“Position yourselves at the tunnel exit,” Levi instructed. “As soon as I give the signal, go.”
No time to deal with the shock that wanted to freeze her mind and steal her thoughts. Lyndi directed her thoughts not to Levi but to her boys. “I have an idea. I need the younger boys back down here. Fast. All of them.”
…
Levi hovered in the air where he’d remained on patrol. He struggled to hold his dragon back as the leader of the Alaz team landed below him near the training center and shifted even as he walked inside, the shimmer of the motion trailing behind him like a dark cape. His timing couldn’t be an accident. He had to be here for Aidan and Sera.
Drake, not Finn, had come topside to meet the man. “What are you doing here?” Drake demanded.
Levi held in a snort of grim laughter.
Finn might have been more diplomatic. He played the game. Drake didn’t even acknowledge the board let alone the rules. Still, of all the people they didn’t trust, Tineen was now highest on the list after what they’d learned between Shula’s group and now the attack on Aidan and his family. Dragon shifters weren’t exactly high on forgiveness, which meant even if Tineen wasn’t gunning for them after what happened in Yosemite, he would still happily push them off the plank if he got the chance.
“I come with news.” The man sounded calm, reasonable. Levi’s dragon slashed his tail in the air, and the human side was inclined to agree. That calm hid something else. What fucking news?
Drake grunted as he waved the man inside. “Let’s tell the Alliance you’ve arrived before you share your…news.”
Smart. Make sure the Alliance sanctioned this visit.
“No need.” Tineen’s voice floated out the open door to the training room. “I’ll contact them when I return to my territory.”