The Assassin

Chapter 4: Ishir

After leaving the mountain that Zephyr threw me off of, I followed her for awhile, then, her lament stopped. I tried searching for her, but I couldn’t find her.

I went back to searching for Ancalagon and finding the laboratory dragons. I’ve been searching everywhere, in constant contact with Avani and Cedric, and none of us has a clue where they’ve taken him.

In a group meeting, Kenna mentions that we might be looking in the wrong place and it makes sense. Ancalagon isn’t where we expect him to be, so we need to switch where and how we are looking for him.

I head back to the city, back to the penthouse. As soon as I walk inside, I smell her scent of freshly fallen snow. Zephyr has been here. I follow her scent to my room, seeing that some of my clothes are missing. Then I follow it to Tana’s room, seeing that several more of Tana’s clothes are missing and some of Kenna’s shoes.

I make a note of the sizes that she’s taken from their rooms before going to shower off the wilderness and the stress of constantly searching for my mate, her son, and the laboratory-created dragons. It’s what I do, but usually, I’m not so emotionally invested. And I’ve been putting off my work, which I somehow need to make time for.

When I get out of the shower, I order clothing for Zephyr. If she’s coming here, there’s a reason, even if it’s only a place for her to regroup and get her bearings. But it makes me wonder if there’s a reason she’s chosen to come to the city. She’s less like Tana, who actually worked in the city for five years, and more like Avani, who can’t stand the city and would rather live in the forest. I have a glimmer of hope that the reason is me.

After ordering Zephyr clothing and shoes, I go to the kitchen, finding the refrigerator empty. I order delivery and then call Avani.

“Ishir, do you have news?”

“No, I was hoping you did.”

“Nothing. How is this possible, Ishir? I’m going crazy trying to find my son! I met with Zephyr, and she hasn’t found any leads either.”

“Where did you meet with Zephyr?” I ask him, trying to piece together the timeframe of where she’s been and when.

“A couple of days ago. She was out in the forest. Why?” he asks me.

“Just curious,” I say, deciding not to tell him that she’s been here at the penthouse. I want to know why she’s here first before I say anything.

“Are there any other facilities that I can search?” Avani asks.

“I thought you were heading home for a few days,” I say to him.

“Yeah, I need to, but if there’s another one …”

“I need to look again, see which ones are left. I’ll meet you in a few days; we can search them together. I have some things I need to check on here anyway. I’ll call you and let you know where and when to meet.”

“Sounds good.”

“And Avani? Get some sleep. You sound exhausted,” I tell him, knowing I need to take my own advice. We’re all running ourselves ragged, trying to find Ancalagon.

The next day, I go through my requests, happy that it’s not full of missing shifters like it has been in the recent past when they were building the arenas. However, there is one shifter that stands out, and I move it to the top of the list. As a rule, shifters don’t go ‘missing’. If they’re missing, it usually means something happened to them, like a hunter got to them, or maybe the kid who took Ancalagon is starting to collect shifters as well.

This shifter is an owl shifter, so the person is most likely intelligent and a predator, but not an apex predator. It’s possible that he was actually shot by a real hunter, not a supernatural hunter, but I’ll search for him anyway.

Zephyr’s clothing arrives, and I leave it out for her, with a note telling her to take anything of mine that she wants and if she needs anything else to let me know. I tell her I’ll be gone for a while searching for Ancalagon, so if she needs a place to stay, she’s welcome to stay in my room.

I’ve been around dragons for years, and I’ve seen Tana and now Avani with their mates. Even before they were claimed, the pull to their mates was strong. I’m hoping that Zephyr will use this place as a central point for her searches and that being around my scent will calm her. Tana rarely comes here anymore, preferring to stay at home with her family unless she is out helping to search for Ancalagon.

As I pass her clothing on the table, I decide to scent it. Maybe that will make her feel more comfortable. I know it will make me feel more comfortable knowing that my mate smells like me when she’s out in the city.

I go through the list of laboratories that are left from the list that the scientist gave me. We’ve almost exhausted the list, and we need to think of different ways to find Ancalagon.

I call Avani again.

“Meet me tomorrow,” I tell him and give him the coordinates. “I’ll be there mid-morning. And Avani, these are the last of them. After this, we need to come up with a new plan.”

“I’ve been thinking about that. I’ll talk to you about it when we get together,” he says.

I decide to truly scent the new clothing I bought for my mate, so I put the clothing into my bed and after rolling around on all of them, I sleep with them. The next morning, I fold them up and put them back on the table with the note before locking up and heading out to meet Avani.

Once I’m out of the city, I shift, lifting my nose in the air. I’m almost positive I caught Zephyr’s scent, but it’s gone almost as quickly as it came. I take off, knowing I need to meet up with Avani.

As I’m running, I think about the owl shifter, thinking about where I can begin my search for a nocturnal predator. The forest is the natural option, so while we’re out here hunting for Ancalagon, I’m going to see if I can find this owl shifter, Owen. Owen the owl. I do a mental eye roll on that one.

I’m nearly to the meeting spot when I hear the whoosh of dragon wings above me. I look just in time to see Avani’s green scales glinting in the sun before he flies over me and lands, shifting gracefully. I race up to him and shift, nodding at him.

“Avani, how are Merethyl, Gaia, and your unborn son?” I ask him.

“Better than I am. They’re good. I feel like my daughter is growing up, and I’m missing it,” he says, and I hear the regret in his voice.

“You are, so let’s find Ancalagon and get everyone back home where they belong,” I say to him.

We check out the first laboratory; it’s empty, but there are still some documents left behind. I find a working computer and send the documents to myself to review later before stepping out. Avani does his dragon thing, calling to the earth, and the underground laboratory implodes and collapses in on itself. He uses his element and covers it up so the humans with their drones and satellites won’t come looking to see what this strange-looking area is in the middle of nowhere.

“Where’s the next one?” he asks. I tell him, and he grimaces. “You know I can’t carry you without Mere’s permission,” he tells me.

I know this. Once a dragon is claimed, they give their free will to their riders, even if those riders don’t want it. Both Cedric and Merethyl have told Tana and Avani that they don’t want them to give up their free will, but it’s the way of the dragon. When they finally submit to being claimed, they give themselves up completely to their riders. In the recent past, that hasn’t been a bad thing because their riders were also their mates. However, historically, there have been times when it was terrible, fraught with problems, and caused chaos in the world.

“I know, it’s no problem. You’ll beat me there, but you can look around and make sure the place is empty while I catch up,” I tell him.

“See you in a bit,” he says, leaping up into the air and shifting.

I leap forward, shifting into my tiger form and racing to the next coordinates. It’s a couple of hours later, and I’m almost there when I hear Avani calling me. “Ishir!”

I turn, following his scent, when I smell the other, lighter scent near him — the scent of blood, an owl shifter’s blood, lingering in the air. I race up to him, seeing him crouching on the ground. I shift and come up behind him. He turns, looking at me over his shoulder.

“What do you make of this?” he asks me.

When I can finally see, I’m surprised at what I’m looking at. The owl shifter is there, in his human form, lying on the ground, his head separated from his body.

“I think we just found Owen the owl,” I say to Avani.