“Vampires?” I tipped my glass of red wine in herdirection.
She snorted. “Nope.”
“Gargoyles?”
Nadine’s body was convulsing slightly in an effort to contain her laughter. “Gargoyles?”
I shrugged. “They could be athing.”
Logan had simply told me that a land of Fae creatures used to exist, so my imagination was the limit. And as an artist, I had a wild imagination. I used to illustrate fairies in high school. I drew them with big wide eyes and gossamerwings.
Nadine shook her head, her black hair falling around her. She had fair skin, bright blue eyes, and her nose was sharp, giving her beauty uniqueness. But the tattoos covering her arms and legs made her look fierce. This was a woman you didn’t want tocross.
“No gargoyles. Just the earthbound, their hunters, animal shifters, sorcerers and skyborn. We’re all pretty much descended from the same magicalsoup.”
Right. Earthbound were druids and skyborn were dragons—I at least had that much. Had no idea about the magical soup comment, but thought I would leave it forlater.
I nodded. “Okay, well, what powers do the hunters have? I mean, are they just regularhumans?”
Nadine took a long swig from her beer. “No, they’re not. Hunters are druids in training. They fight in a pack, and that pack is tied to one druid. That druid, depending how powerful, can empower his hunters with certain gifts. Once a hunter advances to a certain level, the druid initiates them and they become an apprentice druid. The hunters we encountered going after you were a part of a pack that was linked to a pretty weak druid. You werelucky.”
I let out a breath. “So … all druids arebad?”
Nadine stopped chugging her beer and met my eyes. “They didn’t used to be, but the most powerful of their kind turned to darkness.” She lowered her voice. “His name is Ardan and he is a master druid. They are all connected, so each druid pulls power from his master, which leads all the way up to Ardan.Therefore…”
I nodded in understanding. “Spoil one and spoil themall?”
Nadine nodded. “Now the earthbound are power hungry and they will stop at nothing to have all of the skyborn magic left on thisEarth.”
I frowned. “How? How do they get themagic?”
Nadine brought up her left index finger and ran it across herneck.
“Oh. So … they kill us and … siphon our magic?” I guessed. I hadn’t thought anyone was listening, until now. A warm, possessive hand landed on myshoulder.
“They try.” Logan’s voice tickled my ear, sending my dragon into a frenzy inside of me.Freaking hormonal dragon.Chill out.“But now there’s two of us and I won’t let thathappen.”
His body heat pressed against my skin, making my dragon tighten within me, but his words had me on edge. “So, hypothetically, if the druids were to kill us both and drain ourmagic…?”
Now the entire room was quiet. Keegan, the alpha, slightly taller than Logan, stepped out from behind the pool table. His sandy-blond hair was cut in a short military style and his presence commanded attention. I had instinctively known he was the alpha earlier, before he had even introduced himself assuch.
“Then humanity goes extinct as well,” he said, “and the druids and hunters rule the Earth, taking what’s left of the shifters and sorcerers as theirslaves.”
“Jesus.” I involuntarily shuddered and I saw Cooper make the Catholic sign of the cross over his chest.Oops.“What do you mean ‘what’s left’ of the shifters and sorcerers?” I askedKeegan.
He looked solemn. “Shifters are half human. If humanity dies, then so does our humanity. We would be stuck in our animalforms.”
I gasped. That sounded awful. “And thesorcerers?”
Logan raked his hands through his hair. “We assume the ones who aren’t pure blooded would become …monsters.”
My eyes widened and I turned back to Nadine. “So, Logan has been keeping the entirety of humanity alive byhimself?”
Nadine rolled her eyes. “Careful, sweetheart, his ego doesn’t need a boost.” She winked at Logan and he smiled sheepishly ather.
They had history together, I could tell. Or maybe they were dating. Last dragon on Earth, tatted-up hottie? He was definitely taken. My dragon shuddered within me at the thought; she didn’t like it one bit. These new feelings were weird; I didn’t know what to think of them. Were they my thoughts or hers? Were weone?
“Dragons have powerful magic. Even one can hold enough magic for all of humanity. We are bound to them,” Logan told me. “But withtwo…”
