Valentine (The Dragon Kings Book 3) (5 page)

H
AZEL FORGOT WHERE she was. Space and time disappeared. This kiss was better than any she’d ever experienced. He tasted sweet like the sugar cookies at Christmas time. The wheels touched the ground, and Hazel broke the kiss but didn’t move her face away from Val’s. He rested his forehead on hers. She wondered if it was as good for him as it was for her. There was something about him that she couldn’t explain. She felt that if she stayed with him forever, she’d never have to worry about anything ever again.

Her ankle burned, and she jerked away. That was weird. It felt like a jellyfish brushed up against her skin.

“This has been fun,” she said, pulling away, not wanting to let on how much that kiss rattled her. She had to focus on her brother and couldn’t let anyone distract her. She rubbed at her ankle. The burning subsided.

He gave her a half smile, and she nearly reached up and kissed him again. What the hell was wrong with her?

“That’s one way to put it,” Val said, his lips pursed.

He seemed like he wanted to ask her something, and she hoped against hope that it was for her number. She’d told him they couldn’t see each other after the flight, but she wanted nothing more than to kiss him again.

“Penny for your thoughts?” she asked, looking past him to the dark sky out his window.

He shook his head and clenched his fists.

The flight attendant opened the door, and Hazel grabbed her bag from under the seat in front of her. She hesitated for a half second, almost asking for his number.

“Maybe I’ll see you around,” Val said, without looking at her. Maybe the kiss hadn’t been as good for him as it had been for her. Rejection stung. Ah well. She shouldn’t be thinking about him anyway.

“Maybe,” she said, ignoring her racing heart as she escaped down the jetway. A tinge of sadness pricked her heart. Even in the jetway the frigid air of Idaho was already seeping into her bones. She felt a sense of loss. But maybe it was just the cold. She took a deep breath. She couldn’t think like this. She had another boy to find.

As long as he hadn’t already frozen to death.

H
AZEL’S DAD MET her as she walked into the area with the baggage carousels. People swarmed around them as he gave her a big hug. He smelled of sweat and pine, much like he always did, but when she pulled away, she saw the weariness on his face. He’d always been pretty laid back. It was rare to see him stressed out.

“Where are Mom and Aspen?” she asked, shrugging off her backpack and handing it to him.

“Out looking.” He took the backpack, and she rolled her carry-on.

“Of course.” Hazel’s stomach twisted as she followed him to the door. His shoulders slouched, and his gait was slower than normal.

Hazel gasped when they stepped outside. The icy air hit her, burning her lungs. Rowan wouldn’t survive in weather like this. Her dad threw the suitcase in the bed of the truck, and Hazel climbed up in, hissing when her legs hit the cold leather. Her wimpy sweats were no match for the sub-zero temps. She’d need to dig out her winter gear when they got home.

“What do they think happened?” Hazel asked when her dad shut his door.

“Honestly, no one is sure.” He ran his hand through his hair. “He’d been doing so well. He was making friends and going out.”

“Rowan?” Her brother had been a loner since they were young children. Her parents had worried about it, but she always just accepted that Rowan never left home. He’d helped her cover up her sneaking out on more than one occasion. Now she felt awful for taking advantage of him. But if his behavior had changed recently, maybe that meant they were looking at his disappearance wrong.

“Do you think his new friends had anything to do with it?” Hazel wondered what had changed in his life.

“No. They were all Aspen’s friends. In the last few months they’ve been inseparable.”

“Aspen and Rowan?” Now that was news. The last time she’d talked to Aspen she’d been lamenting the loss of Tori because of her new boyfriend. Hazel didn’t like Tori anyway. Hazel should’ve kept up with Aspen more, but between school and hitting the waves, she didn’t talk to her family very often.

“Surprised? So were we. But it was nice seeing him happy.” Dad paused for a few seconds. “I’m afraid I’ll never see that smile again.” His voice cracked.

Hazel reached over and grasped his hand. “We’ll find him. I’m sure of it.”

He turned on the windshield wipers as wet snow began to fall. “There have been several deaths over the last few months. That dragon. Even Aspen has admitted it’s a possibility. Sis, I’m afraid he’s dead.”

“No way. Look, even if Rowan has been acting differently the last few months, he wouldn’t go out in the woods. That’s not like him at all.”

“The dragon isn’t just eating hikers. He got one boy just off the road. The military has come in. There’s talk of taking out the dragons. Aspen is furious.”

Hazel shook her head. Only Aspen would be more worried about the dragons than she was about her brother. Dragons were always Aspen’s downfall. Hazel hated to think her sister was out fighting for dragon rights instead of looking for Rowan.

The rest of the drive went by in silence. Hazel didn’t want to think about Rowan, so she stared out the window and thought of Val. The kiss. By the time they got home, it was nearly ten. Her mom’s truck was in the driveway, but Aspen’s jeep was missing.

She hugged her mom, who squeezed her tight. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Me too.”

There were dark lines under her mother’s eyes. Her dad sat down on the couch and hung his head. They both looked utterly exhausted.

“Have they been searching at night?” Hazel asked, sitting next to her mom.

“The first couple of nights we did. But between the cold and the dark, it’s nearly impossible. We have a better shot at finding him in the daylight. Besides, we need to rest. Not that we’ve been sleeping well.”

“Of course not. I’m going to go shower and hit the sack so I can get an early start tomorrow. I’d like to visit with Aspen first. Where is she?” Hazel wanted to find out what Aspen knew. She was smarter than all of them put together. If anyone knew about Rowan’s disappearance, Aspen did.

“She spends most nights at Sid’s. She and Rowan had been staying there before he disappeared because the park was shut down. I think it’s easier for her to stay there than to come home.”

Hazel’s chest tightened. “Did she know I was coming?”

“Yeah. She said she would see you in the morning.”

Hazel felt absurdly annoyed. It should be fine that she waited until morning to see Aspen, but maybe she was just feeling off because she wanted her whole family together.

Hazel half expected Rowan to be waiting on her bed when she opened the door. When he used to cover her ass when she snuck out, he never threatened to tell their mom and dad, but he did have a price. He wanted her to tell him stories of her adventures. So he was always waiting for her when she got home, and she’d regale him with her exploits. He was a fantastic listener, and they’d often lay awake for hours laughing at the trouble she could get in. She’d offered to take him with a few times, but he always turned her down. He said it was safer to live through her.

Now he was out on his own adventure. Hazel hoped he was having the time of his life. She imagined him off with his own friends, road tripping to Washington or something. She wanted him to be doing something stupid because that meant he wasn’t dead.

She dumped her bag in her room and dug out a pair of thick sweats from her dresser. Then she opened another drawer and pulled out her long underwear. She’d hoped she would never have to wear those again. But she was glad her parents left her room intact even though she didn’t come that often.

In the bathroom she stripped down quickly and stepped into the shower, hoping the hot water would warm her up. After she shampooed her hair, she grabbed her razor out of habit. When she leaned down to run the razor over her left calf, she saw a flash of black on her ankle.

What the hell?

She stretched out her foot. An intricate black tattoo encircled her ankle. She had a dolphin tattoo on her shoulder, but that was on purpose. This was new.

She turned off the water, her razor forgotten. She dressed quickly, her sweatshirt sticking to her wet skin, sat on the edge of the tub, rested her leg on her knee, and studied the beautiful tattoo. The pattern was a mixture of crisscrosses and loops, a couple of inches wide. In the middle of the loops were several words in a strange language. There was only one word she could read, and it made her blood run cold.

Valentine.

V
AL LOOKED UP at the enormous house and hesitated. Most of the humans in his area had small homes. This looked like it could house a hundred humans. It made him feel incredibly insignificant, which only added to his nerves.

He was about to meet Obsidian. The dragon king. Though Val knew he was a king as well, that reality hadn’t quite hit him yet. He wondered if he’d ever feel like a real king, since he would always be the second king. He’d defer to Obsidian.

He wiped his palms on his jeans and knocked on the door. He couldn’t stay out there much longer without his eyelids freezing together. He missed Hawaii already. Though he did like watching the snow fall. At home he would sometimes fly up to the tall peaks and play in the snow.

Obsidian opened the door. Even as a human, he looked kingly. He was tall with dark hair and piercing blue eyes.

Obsidian smiled wide and waved him inside. “Come on in.”

Val dragged his suitcase into the house and gave Obsidian a small bow.

“Hello, Your Majesty.”

Obsidian clapped him on the back and let out a laugh. “I should say the same thing to you. No need for formalities here or anywhere else for that matter. You’re a king. You bow to no one. Also, call me Sid. Everyone else does.”

Val took a deep breath and moved farther into the house as Sid shut the door behind him. Sid took his coat and hung it on a rack by the door that held several wool coats and had boots scattered around underneath it.

“Do you ever get used to it?” Val asked.

“What?” Obsidian replied, staring him straight in the eyes. It was difficult not be intimidated.

“Being king?” Val looked past Sid to the massive stairway that took up most of the foyer.

Sid shook his head. “Not yet. But I wasn’t expecting to be a king either.”

“But I thought all kings were trained.” Val scratched at his chin. He was not expecting Sid to be like this. He wasn’t sure what he expected, but not someone who openly admitted they didn’t know what they were doing.

“Oh, I was. But I never thought it’d actually happen to me. But let’s talk about that later. I’ll let you get settled in for the night. We’ll start training tomorrow. Did you have a nice flight?”

“I did, thank you.” He should tell Obsidian about Hazel and the man who tried to kill him, but he was still a little unsure of his place.

They walked into a kitchen where a pretty blonde girl stood by the counter. She looked at him with bright green eyes that were eerily similar to Hazel’s.

“Meet my queen,” Obsidian said with a grin. He pulled her close and kissed her neck. She wiggled out of his grip and stuck her hand out. “Hi! I’m Aspen.”