After a few minutes of the worst turbulence Rhia had ever experienced, and they were landing. As the doors slid open, a dozen dragonkin were running out to meet them. Ian tried shouting over all the noise to inform them about their two patients, but a male with glowing turquoise eyes cut him off. "We are aware of our hatchlings, faeling." He acknowledged Ian with a nod.

Ian visibly shrank away from the ancient, powerful creatures, adverting his gaze and climbing back into the chopper. Etienne's grip on her hand forced Rhia out of the helicopter with the gurney and back into the rain. The leading male wrapped his hands around both of theirs, looked directly into the younger man's eyes. "Let her go, Etienne." He breathed.

While his voice was soft and low, and there was so much power Rhia felt it rather than heard it over the crashing storm and blades of the helicopter beating the air into submission. A sharp ringing started in her ears. Etienne's response was not so gentle. She felt his voice break through her mind as he tried to make the magical connection with his fellow kin. "No."

The ringing intensified. She tried stretching her jaw to get her ears to pop but to no avail. The elder turned to her, his glowing blue eyes drilling into her very soul. "Keep up." Was all he said before they started pushing the gurney towards the building.

She had to perform an awkward jog to match the dragonkin's fast pace. Etienne was keeping her arm bent at a weird angle as well, not giving her the space she needed to walk properly. The physicians, or healers, or whatever they were, pushed the bed through a pair of heavy metallic doors that reminded Rhia of industrial freezers. Those doors led to a small passage to another set of identically heavy doors, which led to an empty room.

There was a loud clunk of the wheels being locked in place. The leading dragonkin placed his hands on either side of Etienne's head. He met Rhia's eyes again as the other healing kin placed their hands on his body as well. "We will use our magic to heal him." He told her calmly. "You may feel strange."

"I've been around healing magic." She assured him. "I can handle it."

The strangest thing about dragonkin, in Rhia's limited experience in dealing with them, was how she couldn't predict their actions based on the actions of the other races. Had she said that to an elf, fae, or even a dwarf, they would have rolled their eyes in disgust and proclaimed that their magic was different and superior, even though it all felt the same to her. She was prepared to politely accept their warning and continue on to feel the weird tingling, discomfort, nausea, and general anxiety of the shedding magic.

But they did not do that. The healer continued to stare into her eyes, the intensity of it starting to make her knees feel weak. "Do not resist passing out." He finally told her, before turning his attention back to his patient.

The room got very still, every dragonkin closing their eyes to concentrate. Even Etienne had gone still and quiet, no longer letting out little gasps of pain. Rhia looked around at them trying to keep her heartrate down. There were no eye-witness accounts of dragons performing their healing magic. This was the opportunity of a lifetime... and she really didn't want to be here anymore.

All thoughts of getting out, in fact, every thought in her head, was wiped the moment they started the healing process. The air became thick and it got hard to breathe. The ringing in her ears suddenly increased until it felt like her head was being split open with a thousand frozen buzzsaws. She sucked in a gasp, grabbing her head with her free hand and slumping against the bed.

"He's fighting us."

She heard a jumble of voices in her head. A scream rang through the small room. None of it made sense. She tried to pull her hand from Etienne's vice-like grip. Her legs gave out from under her and she collapsed.

"It's not Etienne. It's her."

The screaming she was hearing was her own.

"Get her out of here!"

A dragonkin appeared in front of her, taking her face gently in her hands. Somehow the pain got even worse. It was indescribable.

"Let her go, Etienne. You are hurting her."

She didn't notice when Etienne finally released her hand. She didn't notice when the female kin used her supernatural speed and strength to drag her through the two heavy doors and back into the hallway until the pain started to subside. The dragonkin helped her into a chair and crouched in front of her. She pulled out a penlight and took Rhia's chin gently. She tried to sit still but still flinched. "What the hell was that?" she groaned.

"We did try to warn you." The female said with only a hint of condescension in her voice.

"I don't think the typical reaction to your magic is one's head trying to explode."

"Our magic is far older than typical."

Rhia couldn't help but glare at the female. She looked around at the heavy doors. "Is Etienne going to be okay?" she asked.

"His injuries are not life threatening now that he is in our care."

Rhia nodded and leaned back against the wall. She was exhausted, soaking wet, and freezing. All she wanted was a hot shower and a pair of strong vampire arms around her while she slept. She tugged her phone out of her pocket and swiped to unlock it. Nothing happened. "Goddamnit," she sighed. "I just got this thing."

The dragonkin actually laughed and held out her hand. "We will replace it for you. It is the least we could do for helping our hatchlings."

"Etienne is one big-ass hatchling." She chuckled and handed over the device. "Do you have a phone I could borrow?"

The female nodded and helped Rhia stand. She led her down a hallway to what would have been a nurse's station in a human hospital, but with only a single empty chair, computer, and a phone. "Take all the time you need." The female said. "I'll go see what I can do about this."

She took off down the hall and Rhia punched in the numbers. He answered on the second ring. "Nolan Wes." He sounded distracted, like he was concentrating hard on something.

"I don't know how it's possible for you to sound sexier every time we talk."

Nolan didn't speak again for another minute. "Why are you calling from the dragonkin compound?" he asked slowly.

"What? How do you know?"

"They have their own area code. What are you doing out there?"

"There were a couple of kids mixed up in the accident. I kind of missed the helicopter ride home. Is there any way I could convince you to come get me?"

"Oh, I don't know, Rhia." His voice was teasing. "What do I get out of this?"

"I am in the middle of a hospital filled with the creatures with super-hearing. You're just going to have to wait and find out."

"Yeah, fair enough. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Rhia went to hang up the phone, and a rich, silky voice came from behind her. "Phoenix?"

She turned and felt her whole body go rigid with fear. The largest man she had ever seen stood a few meters away. He towered over her at nearly seven feet tall, and the span of his shoulders were twice that of hers. His shirt barely contained the massive muscles of his chest and arms. His skin was the colour of dark bronze and his hair, pulled back in a knot at the back of his head, looked like spun gold. His eyes were a stunning amber with flecks of bright blue and green around the slit pupils. This was no ordinary dragonkin. This was one of the actual fucking dragons. And he was staring at her with a mix of raw emotions.

"S-sorry," she stammered. "I think you have me confused with someone else."

He stepped towards her, covering a third of the space between them in a single step. She took an automatic step back but had nowhere to go without climbing over the desk behind her. He tilted his head to get a better look at her. A mix of fear and curiosity flooded her senses. Of the few dragonkin she had seen and spoken too, most of them were stoic, bordering on emotionless. This enormous golden man, on the other hand, looked at her like he couldn't believe his eyes. Disbelief, elation, then disappointment so powerful she actually felt like she might cry.

"Of course." He said softly, blinking a few times as if to clear his eyes. "I apologize. You just look so much like someone I used to know." Not knowing what to say, Rhia just nodded. He cleared his throat and held out his hand for her to shake. A very human gesture he was doing for her sake. "Allow me to introduce myself; I am Quin Drakos."

Rhia's jaw dropped to the floor. She knew it had to be either Quintiles or Ares, but there had still been some small part of her desperately denying the obvious. "The dragon king." Her voice wavered and her knees went watery. She grabbed the counter for support. "I don't know whether I should bow or run away."

He stared at her for a second before laughing. "No, you are definitely not Phoenix." He muttered before stepping towards her again, continuing to hold out his hand. "No need to bow or run. A handshake and a name would suffice."

She held out a shaking hand. "R-Rhia..."

Her hand looked like a child's compared to his. It was huge and warm and... familiar. It almost felt like she was shaking Maddox's hand. But that was ridiculous... it had to be some kind of potent relaxing power. There was no other way she would be feeling so comfortable around this powerful creature older than sin.

A fresh intensity flared to life in his gaze. "That wouldn't happen to be short for Rhiannon, would it?" he asked slowly.

She pulled back, wrapping her arms around herself. "Yeah," she narrowed her eyes at him. "How did you know?"

"Wild guess." The light in his eyes danced with an unrecognizable emotion... something like... triumph. "My kin are telling me you were vital in saving the life of two of our hatchlings."

She shrugged. "I was just doing my job... do I call you your highness or..."

"Quin is just fine."

"Yeah," she drew out the word. "That is just... too weird. I'm going to call you Mr. Drakos. I was just doing my job, Mr. Drakos. My partner, half a dozen firefighters, and a whole helicopter crew were there as well."

"But you stayed."

She laughed nervously. "Etienne didn't exactly give me a choice."

"Rhiannon," he said patiently, testing her name on his tongue. "Our young are more precious to us than all the valuables in the world. To those who harm them, we kill without question. To those who protect them, we honour for eternity. Etienne would have died without your care. It may have just been your job, but I believe that something... much stronger brought you to us." He withdrew a card from his back pocket and held it out for her. "If you need anything, do not hesitate to call. We are in your debt."

"I'm afraid, if you knew anything about my family you would withdraw your offer."

"Nothing would make me happier than to hear all about it." He moved his hand to hand the card to the dragonkin female rejoining them. "It was wonderful to meet you Rhia. Take care of yourself."

With that he turned away and disappeared down the hall. The female turned to Rhia and handed her a box and the card. "Your ride is here." She said, her voice just as emotionless as it had been before. "I suppose I should be more surprised that you know Nolan Wes of all people."

"Do you know Nolan?"

She blinked once. "We are the kin of Quintiles Drakos. Of course, we know him."

The female turned and led her through several hallways and down a set of stairs to the front reception area. Nolan was speaking to a pair of male kin, smiling and laughing like they'd known each other for eons. For all she knew, he had. God he was hot. His blue eyes found hers and he walked towards them. "Hey, you." He called. "What kind of trouble did you find?"

"Me?" she joked. "Trouble? Never!"

He rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around her shoulders before looking to the female kin. "Hey, Soph." he reached out to shake her hand. "It's been a while."

"Yes, it has, Nolan." She smiled a true, genuine smile, and took his hand. "You should come by more often. We miss you."

He stiffened, completely aware of Rhia staring at him. "I'll... make an effort Sophie."

He tugged Rhia gently towards the doors and she let him take her through the parking lot to his car. She didn't speak for a full ten minutes. "I didn't think I would have more questions now than when you first told me how old you were." She said quietly.

"What did Sophie tell you?" he asked after a minute.

"It wasn't just her. I... I met Quintiles Drakos."

The look Nolan gave her told her that she was about twenty minutes away from several more mind-blowing realizations.

~