As their breathing quieted, they sat on the old dusty sofa locked together. Joey sat with her head on Drake's shoulder for as long as she could. As much as she loved the closeness, she needed to move. He kissed the side of her neck when she stirred and pulled away.
"I can't feel my lower body anymore." Her feet were numb from sitting on her knees over his lap.
He chuckled. "I can't feel my legs." He stretched them out when she stood up. "But I didn't want to be the one to encourage you to move."
"I didn't want to move either." She slowly straightened her legs and waited until the blood rushed to her feet. She adjusted her jeans and rebuttoned her shirt. Once their clothes were back in place, she looked around. "What now? We can't stay here."
"No, they're looking for you. Two of them were on horseback and have probably reached the cabin by now."
Her heart sank. "I'm sorry, Drake. Your whole family has been dragged into this."
"About that." His expression tensed as he looked up at her. "What exactly isthis?"
She didn't like the change in his tone. "What do you mean?"
"You said you dragged us into this. Define this."
She stretched her legs again. "This being Percy's warped world. It's funny because I've tried to get other people involved to put an end to him, but I always backed off when I met a bit of resistance. I knew eventually I'd find the right person that could help, and all I've done is put you and your family in the middle of chaos."
"We've been there before, but I think you're leaving out a few details, and I'm hoping that it's by mistake and not by design."
She tilted her head at him. "I don't understand." A thought occurred to her, and she snapped her fingers. "Before I forget. I didn't have a chance to tell you before you got hurt. When the fire started, before you got hurt, I went to get Percy. He was standing in his trailer with a couple others, but they weren't... they were..." She suddenly wasn't sure how to describe them.
"They were what?" Drake prodded.
"Like, almost dragon-ish, but they weren't dragons." She paced back and forth. "I've thought about it all the way up here. I couldn't tell there was anything different about Percy. No dual identity like with you. I can't figure it out, or why I couldn't see it. But there was definitely something there."
She thought she saw relief in his eyes when he looked at her again. "Wyverns. Or some sub-species. That's what he is. What they are. Not all of the goons, but some of them."
"You know?"
He gave a nod. "I was hoping you'd tell me."
"Why wouldn't I?"
Her temper flared when he told her what Percy had said, but she managed to stay quiet until he finished. When he quit talking, she just stared at him. Her feelings were hurt, and she really just wanted to walk away for a minute, but under the circumstances, that wasn't a luxury she could afford to do.
Finally, he fidgeted. "What?"
"You actually believed him?" She shook her head. "I can't believe you thought I would set you up." It hurt her heart much more than she wanted to admit. She had just made love to a man who didn't trust her.
"We haven't really had a chance to discuss it."
"You're right. We haven't. But you made assumptions."
"I'm here, aren't I? If I had truly believed him, would I have bothered coming after you?" He reached for her hand. "But the pendant, the fact that you knew I was a dragon. The man knew how to spin a believable tale."
She conceded the point that he wouldn't have followed her, but a little common sense went a long way. "Believable on some points, yes. But would I have led him here to the ranch? I didn't know you. I may be able to see your dragon side, but I can't detect you from miles away. It's not like you put out pheromones that I can track. It was a coincidence that I met you. And the bigger overall question is why would I? And what does Percy want with you?"
Drake stood and pulled her into an embrace. "I'm sorry. I never should have listened to him or come at you in such an accusing way." He kissed the top of her head. "It'll never happen again. And to answer your question, I don't know. I know wyverns are nasty ass creatures, and sometimes they just harass others for the sheer hell of it. Maybe they sniffed us out or heard about us being dragons, although I'm not sure how that would happen."
“It all keeps coming back to this pendant. And I have no idea why.”
“We all keep coming back to your pendant. It means something that you have it, but I have no idea what that is.” He desperately wanted to know, but only time would tell if the pendant was at the crux of the situation.
"You know," Joey responded, "I've been trying to remember everything my dad ever said about my so-called gift. It's not like he was proud of me or happy that I had it. I think there may have been one other person in my family that had it. My uncle, my dad's brother, I think had this particular gift, but he and Dad absolutely despised each other so I never really knew him. I just happened to hear my parents talking one day about it."
Drake sighed. "We may have to do some digging on your uncle if we're going to figure out what the hell Percy wants. The only experience I have with a see'er is my sister-in-law's boss, who used her to get to us, but we had to destroy Malcolm in order to get him to stop. He was a threat to everyone. I don't see that happening with you."
