Krissy
Another three weeks past before Kylie's mystery shifter responded and agreed to make the journey to Tucson. Garrett suggested we use Eclipse for the meet.
As we walked into the club, I put into practice the heightened senses that had slowly been emerging since the day Jase and I had met. Broad daylight outside failed to touch the dimly lit space, but I had no trouble seeing the large male frames gathered at one of the tables. Garrett stood speaking softly to two men I didn't recognize. My nose picked up the faint smell of smoke along with the familiarity of wolf. Smoking wasn't allowed in the club but it wasn't really the unpleasantness of cigarettes that I was detecting. It was more like…brimstone.
As I got a closer look at the two strangers, I was unable to determine their shifter halves by their markings. Their tattoos were mostly covered by their shirts. One man, younger than the other, sported part of his tattoo peaking out around his neck. It was some kind of reptilian tail. Perhaps they were alligators or crocodiles? The younger man's blonde hair was long like Jase's and his eyes were a beautiful hue of amber.
"Jason Knight. Dr. Krystal Ann Scott. This is Edgar and his father Arturo Penn." Garrett introduced, formally.
As I reached out my hand to Arturo, who had equally long white hair, I met his eyes—shocked to find them a milky blue-grey. He was blind!
I did my best to keep the surprise out of my voice, moving to shake Edgar's hand as I spoke. "Thank you for meeting with us."
"Your panther friend can be quite persuasive." Arturo replied with amusement in his tone.
Jase chuckled as he shook both father and son's hands, showing no hint of reaction to Arturo's lack of vision. "Kylie gets things done."
The edge of Edgar's mouth twitched in a brief smirk. "Indeed."
I was clearly the odd woman out as I seated myself at the table with four hulking shifter men closing the circle around me. Whether he sensed my awkwardness or simply made the gesture out of habit, Jase, sitting next to me, reached under the table to rest a hand on my leg.
Or maybe it was a gesture of possession, as Edgar sat to the other side of me.
Garrett, sitting on Jase's other side, broached the subject at hand.
"We realize this entire situation is rather strange. I think it's clear Krissy is shifter, but one we've never encountered previously."
"And nothing we've tried has triggered a shift." I piped up. "I've developed most other common abilities…and one or two new ones."
Arturo nodded. "Yes, Garrett filled us in regarding your unprecedented senses involving your…patients."
In spite of myself, I blushed. Some of the wolves found it amusing to suggest I open my veterinary practice to the pack. I usually replied the same way, offering to neuter them free of charge, which usually ended the hazing.
"One question Garrett could not answer for us," Arturo continued, "do you happen to have a distinctive birthmark centred just above your hairline?"
My hand automatically reached up to touch the top of my head. I nodded before remembering Arturo couldn't see me. "Y-yes. How did—it's a sort of diamond shape. Or so the sisters told me. I can't really tell through my hair. I forget it's there most of the time."
Father and son nodded at the same time. Arturo turned in his son's direction and briefly reached out to touch Edgar's arm.
"Meeting you now, we understand what Garrett meant about your scent." Edgar added, emphasizing the last word by lifting his chin.
I leaned a little towards Jase at the comment. Edgar wasn't insulting me, exactly. As it turned out, my shifter side smelled…well…good. Like, really good. Maybe too good. That wasn't even the most troubling part. The problem came in where every shifter smelled something completely different! Garrett swore he could smell Amber's perfume every time I was nearby. Kylie thought I smelled like fresh baked bread! All pleasant things, but totally bizarre!
Admittedly, when Jase described what it was for him, it was fortunate we were home alone. His words were something akin to the most romantic poem I'd ever heard.
Cheesy? Maybe a little. Still dropped my panties!
"Do I even want to know?" I asked, snapping myself back to the present.
"How your beastly side smells to a dragon? Probably not." Edgar's smirk was wide this time.
I blinked.
Another beat passed as his admission sank in and then my jaw dropped.
DRAGON?!
The inked tail snaked around Edgar's neck didn't belong to an everyday reptile. I still had no clue what they were going to tell us about my animal, but now I was finding out there were dragons?!
I looked at Jase and Garrett incredulously. How had it not come up on the list of possibilities during our search that dragon shifters existed?
"Sadly, you are no dragon, my dear." Arturo affirmed.
I looked into the elder's eyes, though he couldn't meet mine. "Then what? Please, sir, please say you know!"
The elder dragon's face turned sympathetic.
"I apologize for all the suspense, my dear. We could only be sure of our identification through meeting you."
Jase took a bracing grip of my hand. "But you are sure?"
Arturo leaned slightly over the table, closer to me, wearing a wry smile. "You are a unicorn, Dr. Scott."
Jase nearly choked on whatever response he was fighting to withhold. He was either about to laugh, curse or some combination of the two.
Garrett went completely still, save for the furrow that spread across his forehead. You could practically hear the wheels in his head start to turn.
My body went numb, that single word echoing through my ears.
Unicorn.
Unicorn?
Jase's eyes darted between Arturo and myself for a moment before he gathered himself enough to respond to the revelation. "I realize I'm saying this to a pair of dragons, but unicorns are just a myth…aren't they?"
Edgar responded first. "More like legendary."
Three pairs of eyes stared at him blankly.
"What my son is failing to say is until today, we thought the last of the unicorns had died out many years ago. It appears as though there is at least one more."
"Doesn't that make you a lucky wolf?" Edgar directed at Jase with a salacious grin.
A growl vibrated Jase's chest, the hand that still lay on my thigh tensed. My numbness starting to dissipate, I quickly reached over to softly pat his forearm reassuringly.
Bowling through the tension, Garrett cut in. "How is it possible none of us have heard unicorn shifters existed, even in passing?"
"They're probably not the only ones you've never heard of." Edgar added.
Jase scowled. "But conveniently, you just so happen to?"
"A dragon's lifespan is slightly greater than most creatures. It helps in keeping better records of history." Arturo explained.
I found my voice. "Slightly? Just how old are you, Arturo?"
His back straightened with pride. "I just celebrated a hundred and fifty-six years this spring."
I was floored. He looked no more than half that!
"Sadly my father's eyesight hasn't faired as well as the rest of him." Edgar pointed out.
Stating the obvious.
Arturo shrugged. "I manage well enough."
"Wait, go back to the part about other shifters!" I nearly shouted it. "What are we missing here?"
Arturo seemed to settle in his seat like he was getting ready for a lengthy story. The rest of us braced ourselves accordingly.
"Shifters have been around for eons, longer than humans. It might even be possible that humans were born of the same ancestors."
"Like the defectives." Garrett interjected. When I frowned at him he elaborated. "Shifters that never shift."
I bristled. I was NOT defective!
As if sensing my frustration Arturo added, "There's more than transformation that makes a shifter, my dear. As you've clearly established with your other gifts…and your fortitude."
Jase squeezed my leg once more and I smiled gratefully back.
Edgar sharply cleared his throat and Arturo continued.
"Most thriving shifters today are apex predators but as recently as fifteen hundred years ago, more shifters existed that were less predator and more…well, prey. It was in the unicorns nature to look out for the more docile clans. When the unicorns fled, it wasn't long before their charges were wiped out."
"Whoa, wait! FLED?! Fled where? Why?!" My head was starting to spin.
"Shifters lived in far greater numbers then and humans were a far more superstitious lot. In some parts of the old world, shifters were equal parts feared and revered, to the point that a number of shifters were in positions of power. Some shifter clans felt shifters belonged in ALL positions of power. Others, unicorns at the forefront, felt keeping their nature a secret and adapting a peaceful coexistence was best. Shifters starting feuding amongst themselves. Humans discovered the derision. Supposedly it was the unicorns doing."
"What?!" My voice came out barely above a whisper.
"There's no way to know for sure it was them. Whomever it was, I can only imagine it was in attempt to prevent in-fighting and broker peace. Instead it led to slaughter."
"That! Right there! How could a loss of that magnitude not be widely known to shifters today?" Garrett implored.
"Many of the survivors were orphans, too young to understand. I suppose most that would remember fought to forget. Those whom were able scattered to the four winds. Shifter clans kept to their own for generations after."
"Some still do to this day." Jase muttered.
I studied my wolf in that moment. His demeanour had changed. Something troubled him.
Before I could ask, Jase jerked to his feet, sending his chair screeching across the floor behind him. Without a word he stormed towards the patio door and disappeared outside.
I uttered a quick apology to the dragons and followed.
On the patio I found Jase pacing the length of the fence.
"Jase! What on Earth was that about?!"
He continued to pace without answering. I marched across the space to square off with my lover. If he didn't stop, I would be flat on my ass in the next second.
Thankfully, he froze, though at the first instant when he met my gaze, his eyes flashed his wolfy yellow-green.
Perhaps my animal had not manifested, but whatever shifter power I did have, I willed into my voice as I simply declared, "Spill."
Jase deflated a little then. He broke eye contact before speaking. "What if it's happening again?"
I didn't understand. "What if what is happening again?"
"A mass extinction or whatever the fuck we're supposed to call it."
"Jase, why would you—"
"My entire family and pack was massacred! The Harvester—Santiago—whoever he is, is trying to create some race of super shifters. What if he's planning a war? And I've dragged you into the middle of it, just in time."
A little more forcefully than was necessary I grabbed the sides of Jase's face to get him to look me in the eye. "You haven't once dragged me anywhere. Carried me over your shoulder once or twice, sure."
I smirked coquettishly until he cracked a smile in return.
"I'm here, with you, because I want to be. Because I need to be. Didn't know it, but I was already a shifter before I met you. You helped me discover pieces of myself that were missing. Now I'm a goddamn unicorn! How fucking magical is that?!"
That roused a laugh, releasing the remaining tension from his body. Seizing the moment, I pulled my wolf down for a kiss. It was tender and chaste.
When Jase broke the kiss, he leaned back just far enough to gaze at my face, like he was dedicating every freckle to memory. He reached up to tuck a loose piece of my hair behind my ear.
"What spell did you weave to bring us together so swiftly, Sweetness?" He mused, landing another kiss at my temple.
"Perhaps I have one more story you'd like to hear?" Came Arturo's voice.
We turned in unison to find the elder dragon had found his way outside, solo.
"Forgive me for overhearing your last remark, but I may have an answer. If you'll indulge an old man in his penchant for recounting history."
Jase and I exchanged quizzical expressions. I supposed we ought to take advantage of any insight the dragon could offer while he was in Tucson.
I shrugged at Jase and he nodded back.
"At this point, we value any input." Jase said to Arturo and I helped to guide the elder to a patio chair.
Jase pulled up two more chairs for us as Arturo settled himself and gathered his thoughts. Perhaps it was his way of creating dramatic effect, because Arturo leaned in once again as he spoke. "Are you familiar with the stories of King Arthur and his knights?"
My brow wrinkled. I had not expected a fairytale. "Only what I've seen in movies."
"My mother had a volume of children's stories she read to us when I was a boy." Jase divulged. I could see pain flash across his face at the memory and offered comfort with my hand on his forearm.
"Garrett told me your family and pack were red wolves." Arturo acknowledged. "Your mother's choice in stories may have been deliberate. You see, although many human historians debate their existence, in truth, Arthur and the knights did exist and they were shifters."
As the dragon paused to allow us to let the idea sink in, something like shock spread across Jase's face.
"Fates be damned…Arturo Penn…Arthur Pendragon! You're suggesting you're related to King Arthur himself?!"
Arturo seemed impressed Jase put the pieces together. "He was my five times great grandfather."
"Hold on," I interjected as I found a few pieces of my own. "If Arthur was real, then all the stories suggest he would have been alive in the age of that mass shifter extinction. He and the knights fought, didn't they?"
Arturo nodded slowly. "They did."
"Well if he was already king, he must have wanted to keep his throne."
"I understand where your thoughts are headed Dr. Scott, but I promise you, he sided with the unicorns in wishing to keep the peace. He and the knights agreed with his queen."
My mouth fell open. "His…queen. You're saying Guinevere was a unicorn shifter like me?"
"Indeed. She was known as the White Queen for a reason."
"And the stories of Lancelot and their great betrayal?" Jase queried.
"Ah," Arturo chuckled at that. "Actually Guinevere and Arthur were never truly married. It was more of a gesture of strength in unity. They and all of the knights were alphas in their clans."
"There are female alphas?" I was pleasantly surprised.
"Perhaps it's rare but yes." Arturo smiled at me. "I think if you had a herd you'd have the potential to lead it."
I turned to Jase and offered him a sly grin which he quickly ignored.
"Lancelot." He prodded instead.
Anticipating the question, Arturo simply replied. "He was the last of the dire wolves."
So a wolf and a unicorn loved each other before.
I had to take a steadying breath. "Arturo, are you suggesting Jase and I are descended from Lancelot and Guinevere?"
"Unfortunately I cannot say for sure." He professed. "But you might be interested to know when Guinevere fled, her last known whereabouts before vanishing, were the highlands of Scotland."
Noticing this tidbit didn't flip a switch in my brain, Jase enlightened me. "Your last name, Sweetness. One of your ancestors could have adapted it in the New World, based on where they migrated from."
"Or maybe from how they once lived, Mr. Knight?" I teased.
Jase wrapped a strong arm around my shoulders.
"From the memories Arthur passed down through the family, there's no evidence of Lancelot and Guinevere ever finding each other in the aftermath of the slaughter. Though before he disbanded the surviving knights back to their clans they all swore an oath to protect her with their own lives, should she re-emerge."
Astonished, I asked. "She meant as much to them?"
Arturo's replying smile was whimsical. "The expression 'to know her is to love her' comes to mind."
"This might explain why that cougar marked you all those years ago." Jase mused, "Maybe even moon-mad he realized what you were and did the only thing he could to protect you."
Arturo nodded thoughtfully. "Sir Safir was the last of the Sabre-toothed Cats. He survived and voyaged to the New World. Perhaps his descendants became cougars who may have kept the memories alive."
A silence fell over the three of us, Jase and I inwardly chewing on the mouthful of revelation we'd received and Arturo quietly allowing us to do so.
A clarity regarding some of my recent dreams emerged.
"Maybe this is a foolish question to pose to someone who'll probably live to see their two-hundredth birthday, but do you believe in reincarnation?"
Arturo laughed openly. "Dear girl, as someone who can transform into a mythical lizard, it would be foolish of me to dismiss it." Storytelling seemingly over, Arturo rose to his feet. "Lost loves reborn or descendants fulfilling a centuries old desire? Either or both could be true. Or perhaps your beastly halves merely found what they needed in one another. It's up to the two of you to decide where the truth resides. I can merely share my family's stories."
I had one final question for the sage dragon. "Arturo…do you think I'll ever manage to shift?"
His expression saddened. "I have hope that you will, but I honestly do not know. I fear perhaps only another unicorn may be able to help you in that matter. I pray you are not the last."