Lion Conquers All by Krystal Shannan

28

CONNIE

“Wait. We are not going to talk about her crush on the deputy. That man is head over heels in love with you. There are betting pools everywhere guessing when you two will actually get together.” Sarah came away from the window and sat on the couch. “Can we please talk about the man that turned into a lion in your living room?”

Naomi cracked her neck, sipped her coffee, and kept rocking in her chair. “What about him?”

“He turned into a lion.”

“Mmmhmmm. That’s kinda the deal with us. Lions, tigers, and bears, oh my. That’s how the saying goes.” Naomi gave Sarah a devil-may-care grin and turned back to capture Connie’s gaze.

Connie swallowed.

“And dragons.” Sarah’s voice was quiet, but firm. There was less panic, but still lingering concern.

“Yes.” Naomi looked over at Sarah Roberts again. “You saw Col, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t see him actually change, but we were close enough in the car to see a dragon rise above the trees.”

Naomi nodded, opened her mouth to speak, and then stopped. She tilted her head to the side like she was listening to something. “He’s on his way. He has the children.”

Connie straightened in her seat. “Why didn’t they text?”

“They’re men and they were in a hurry.” She shrugged and put her mug on the side table. “Outside.” She got up and gestured to everyone there to follow.

They did. The storm had all but calmed now. A few flakes still swirled in the air, but the sun was coming through the clouds. It wouldn’t be long now before the sky was pristine and clear and visibility would stretch for miles.

Col’s black dragon swooped down from the remaining cloud cover. Sarah made a muffled gasp into her hands but stood her ground next to Connie. The urge to run and hide was high, Connie would’ve been lying if she’d claimed to feel any differently. She’d known Col was a dragon, but seeing him in this form, this close…

It was a lot. And this wasn’t her first time.

He landed softly. Much more gentle than she’d assumed such a huge animal could. He was bigger than the cabin they were standing in front of. His teeth alone were bigger than her body.

Naomi walked forward. Right up to his face and he buried his snout against her outstretched body.

“You found them, my love.” She rubbed between his flaring nostrils. “The others worked hard to get us packed. If we have to leave, we are ready.”

Col pulled his head away and nodded slightly. The movement was slow and filled with a tangible sadness. The dragon extended a front foot and opened his claw.

Two foil wrapped bodies slid to the ground.

Sarah yelped and ran forward, not caring any longer about Col’s massively intimidating form. She knelt next to the children. Connie walked forward with her and knelt on the gravel of the driveway too. The foil was some kind of thermal blanket or sleeping bag and was likely the only reason they had survived in the storm without dying of hypothermia.

Connie put a hand on Sarah’s shoulder. She had her face against her son’s chest. She was sobbing. “We need to get the kids inside.”

Connie looked around for the two women who had helped Raj. They stood off to the side, next to Katherine. They were most familiar with the woman who ran the Community Center since they were still living in the rebuilt bunker beneath it. Not a lot of empty real estate existed in Mystery. People couldn’t move into town without making plans ahead of time.

“Mira, Dyna, can you help? Or did you use all your energy on Raj?” She wasn’t sure how their magick worked, but she knew the ladies were different from the Reyleans. And they were the kids’ best chance. SAR could fly them out to a hospital, but that would still take a lot of time and these kids were in a semi-popsicle state already. Probably also dehydrated.

Kann and Ryder stepped forward and picked up the kids. Sarah clung to Sam the whole way into the cabin. Connie stayed with Gretchen. Her dad didn’t even know she was here yet. And she wasn’t sure if the Reyleans planned to bring him out.

That was just one more person to add to the growing list of people who knew what they were. No matter how much clout Sarah and her family had with the town. More was not merrier in this situation.

They already had Liam’s cousin flipping out.

Sarah was handling it reasonably well.

“Put them upstairs in the guest rooms.” Naomi pointed up the stairs and the guys moved swiftly. “I’ll warm the rooms and then turn on the heaters to keep the chill out of the air.”

Connie grabbed her bag from where she’d dropped it at the base of the stairs and followed Ryder, who was carrying Gretchen.

She helped him get her tucked into the spare room bed in the room next to the nursery room. She grabbed a thermometer from her bag and ran it over Gretchen’s head. She was warming up already. Connie pulled out her stethoscope and checked breath sounds and the girl’s heart. Prodded and poked, looking for any hidden injuries.

Nothing.

Ryder stood, expectantly waiting. “She’s doing well. Just cold. I can’t find anything wrong with her per say. I’m sure she needs fluids, but I’m hoping that—”

“We can help with dehydration and anything that might be wrong.” Dyna entered the room and walked to the bedside.

“I’m going to go check on Sam. Thank you.” Connie said, grabbing her bag up again. She left the woman and Ryder and hurried across the hall to the other guest room. These cabins were massive. There were six bedrooms upstairs and Naomi and Col were only using one right now for their kids to sleep in and one other as a playroom.

Mira was standing at the edge of the room looking impatient. Sam was in the bed. The room was warm and toasty courtesy of Naomi. The human-turned-dragon-shifter passed Connie on her way across the hall to let her inner dragon fire warm the other guest room.

“How did she do that?” Sarah had her son’s hand in hers, but she was staring at Naomi’s retreating form.

Connie pursed her lips and moved to the bedside. “She’s a dragon too, remember. Having an inner fire or whatever they call it is super handy in Alaska. They don’t really get cold, and they can share their heat.

Sarah’s mouth opened like she was going to speak.

“How are the children?” A deep voice rumbled from the doorway—Col.

“So far, not as bad as I was preparing for.”

“Good.”

Connie pulled out her thermometer again and ran it over Sam’s head. Still a little under but getting closer to normal. She prodded a little, checking for injuries. His arm was swollen, and he moved suddenly when she touched it.

Further inspection revealed a nasty break. The skin was discolored and that section of his arm was twice the size it should’ve been.

“Mira.” Connie motioned to the woman standing silently at the wall. “Please can you help?”

Mira nodded and approached. “I would be happy to help as long as the mother approves.”

“Who are you? Or should I ask what are you?” Sarah took a deep breath and rubbed on her son’s good arm. “How can you help my boy?” She looked up at Connie. “Shouldn’t you be calling SAR from town. Have them come get them and fly them to Fairbanks?”

Connie shook her head. “There’s a better way. Mira is a healer from where Col and his people come from.”

“I can help. It will look unusual to you, but I promise it’s perfectly safe for your son. I do need you to release him and give me a little space.

“I’m going to go check on the female child.” Col spoke and then left the room.

Connie didn’t know whether to stay or go, but Sarah made the choice for her by grabbing her hand and squeezing it hard enough Connie had to bite back a wince. She patted the worried mother’s hand. “It’s going to be okay. These ladies are very powerful.”

“I trust you. You’re the closest thing we have to a doctor in this town. If you say I need to trust them. I can do that.” Sarah’s grip on Connie’s hand loosened slightly.

Mira placed her hands over Sam’s body, not touching, just hovering over the blankets that’d been tucked around him. A soft white light started to glow in her palms. Her eyes closed, but Connie could see they were also glowing bright behind the thin skin of her eyelids.

Sarah’s hand squeezed hard again. The woman was holding her breath. Connie was too. She’d never actually seen one of the women heal someone. Not up close like this.

The light grew and expanded from Mira’s palms, reaching toward Sam’s body. And she stood there like she was feeding the light into him. Mira’s lips moved like she was speaking, but Connie couldn’t hear any words.

His broken arm lay above the blanket and Connie gasped for a breath. She could see the swelling going down. The discoloration was fading. A few moments later Sam’s broken arm looked as perfect as his other.

Mira’s lips stopped moving.

The light faded or retreated into her palms.

The light behind her eyelids faded as well.

Then Mira opened her eyes and turned to face Connie and Sarah. “He will be well. Give him some time, but he should wake soon.”

Sarah flung herself at the woman and wrapped her in a tight hug. “Thank you. I can’t. I don’t know what you did but thank you for helping my son.”

“You’re very welcome, Sarah. I’m glad I was here.” Mira patted the sobbing mother on the back. “He will be fine. I promise. The magick will make sure of it. I also healed the scar tissue he had on his heart. He shouldn’t have pain from that any longer.”

Sarah pulled away from Mira and stared at her. Silence hung between them for a moment. “How? How could you know about that? He had open heart surgery to repair a valve when he was an infant.”

Mira smiled and put a hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “The magick can heal all wounds, old and new. It reaches into every fiber of the being, and it shows me everything so I can make sure to push enough energy into the healing process. Sit with him. He will be disoriented when he wakes and thirsty. Connie was correct about him being dehydrated.”

“Thank you.” Sarah repeated, moving to her son’s side. “I need to call my husband.”

“Mrs. Roberts, I’ve already sent Ryder into town to collect him and Gretchen’s father and let the SAR know we have the children, and they are well and do not need to be transported to the hospital.” Col was back in the doorway.

Sarah got up from the bedside and walked to Col. Then she threw her arms around the enormous man’s waist and sobbed. “Thank you. I don’t. I can’t. I know we never would’ve gotten him back without you.”

Col’s eyes bulged for a moment, then he wrapped his arms around the woman and rubbed her back. “You are welcome.” He took hold of her shoulders and peeled the woman free of his body. “Be with your son, Mrs. Roberts.”

Sarah wiped her face and nodded, choking back a sob. “Don’t leave. Mystery is your home. I’ll make sure it stays that way. I promise. Please don’t go. Your wife said you were packing to leave.” Sarah shook her head. “We owe you everything.”

Connie held her breath. Please stay. Please stay. Please stay. She’d never wanted anything so badly in her life. She knew if Col left. They would all go. Every last one of them, including the man she’d fallen in love with.

“We won’t leave, yet.”

The breath Connie had been holding gushed out with her relief. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Col’s words were a promise that she had a chance with Aarav. Maybe.

His text had said he would kiss her.

Her mind kept racing with what ifs.

What if she had ruined it? What if he’d changed her mind after seeing her lose her shit? After seeing how she lived. How fear ruled her whole life.

How could any sane person choose her?

“Connie!” Her heart stopped in her chest. Completely. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move.

He was here. She wasn’t ready…or was she?

What was he going to say?