by Abigail Owen
Now that Kasia was safely on the ground, he wouldn’t screw up again. No way was he going to lose this. No way was Uther going to get to her.
Only Brand’s flying skills—he was big, but had taught himself to turn on a dime—had saved him the first time, allowing him to soar away before hitting the ground, though it had been a close thing. Barely in time to get to Kasia and save her. Fire and bile mixed in a noxious cocktail inside him. He didn’t think he’d ever get over trying to reach her before she hit the ground, but he couldn’t think about that.
Now he pretended like he hadn’t seen the flash, still acting as though he were scouring the skies for any sign.
Ready. Waiting.
He gathered flame and fury in his belly. This asshole was dead.
The attack came from the side. Using his maneuverability, Brand sliced below the figure barreling at him through the air. At the same time, he flipped onto his back and managed to drag the lethal spikes of his tail along his opponent’s underside, missing the belly, but striking a hind leg.
A low grunt of pain told him he’d hit his target. Now for the fire. Dragons might be impervious, but only when their scales were intact. Any wound was a weakness to be exploited.
Tucking and tumbling away faster than the amber dragon could pivot and dive, Brand put some distance between them, then stretched out his wings and swooped upward, all the while keeping his sights locked on his enemy.
No hiding anymore, fucker.
The dragon, rather than running, dove, thinking he was taking advantage of a tactical mistake Brand was making in coming up at him from below. Again, Brand waited until the heat from his adversary warmed his scales, then he changed the angle of his approach just slightly, going for that back leg.
He let loose a torrent of angry fire tinged with sparkling gold, the flames curling back in on themselves even as they shot from his maw and fought the wind. Brand’s aim was true. Even as the amber dragon passed overhead and struck at Brand’s back with teeth and talons, he howled in pain. The fire found Uther’s weaker, exposed flesh, eating at the meat underneath, melting his leg from the inside.
Brand knew the slashing wound hadn’t been big enough or deep enough for the fire to do damage that would be debilitating—or permanent, for that matter—but it would slow the fucker down.
Taking a lead from Brand’s move a moment ago, Uther shot downward, using his plummeting momentum to drop away quickly. Brand knew exactly where the other dragon was headed. Cursing a stream of profanity in his head, Brand tucked his wings in, angling in a stoop that had him gaining. He couldn’t let the other dragon get to the mountaintop in the distance first.
A dragon in the air was dangerous. One who commanded a peak was lethal if you tried to attack him. With no ground at the same level to find purchase on, Brand would be forced to fight from the air, presenting his softer belly to the dragon below as they brawled. He wouldn’t be able to land, because he’d end up below the dragon, forced to scramble up the rock to get to the fight, in range of a swinging, spiked tail.
Tactically, the smart move would be to clear off, not engage. But if he did that, then he couldn’t get Kasia out of there without putting her directly in the path of the brute lying in wait.
Only neither of them reached their destination. The distinctive roar of another dragon thundered through the air. Afraid his amber adversary had been holding on until reinforcements could arrive, Brand spun toward the source of the sound.
Smoke-tinged breath punched from his body at the sight of a band of blue dragons. Though still far off, they converged on his position. Ladon had to have sent them, or possibly brought them himself, though how he knew or found them was a mystery.
Relief didn’t exactly flood Brand, because the outside possibility that they were here to take Kasia away from him was still in play. Ladon may not know the full story and think that Brand was trying to keep Kasia for himself, but at least he wasn’t contending with that amber fucker alone anymore.
Turning back to search for the dragon he’d wounded, he found not a trace of him. The older, wiser dragon had taken advantage of Brand’s distraction and disappeared.
Brand roared his frustration. He’d lost his shot at taking out the one man he hated more than any other dragon shifter.
X
Kasia watched the entire fight between the two dragons from the ground, despite Hershel tugging at her the entire time, trying to drag her inside.
“I’ll go inside if Brand loses,” she finally snapped at him, jerking her wrist from his grip.
“You’re injured.”
Kasia looked down at her hands, but was too numb to truly absorb what she saw. Man, that spike had sliced deep. She must be in shock, because the pain wasn’t getting through. Either that, or that spike had severed nerves so cleanly she couldn’t feel the pain yet.
Good. Then she could deal with it later.
“In a minute.” She returned her gaze to the sky.
“Stubborn female,” Hershel muttered. He ripped off pieces of his shirt and bound her wounds, at least stemming the bleeding.
She didn’t pay him much attention, too busy watching the midair fight and trying to keep her breakfast in her stomach. At least he’d stopped trying to drag her away. No way in hell was she hiding inside while Brand was in the air, fighting to save her.
“Hershel. Give the phoenix to the dragon.”
She jerked her gaze to the woods around the house to find them surrounded by a handful of the creatures from the bar, four or five she could see. She had no doubt others lurked about. Shivers cascaded down her spine at the vampire’s glowing red eyes. He’d been the one to speak. Baldy was nowhere to be seen.
Fear and adrenaline spiked yet again, but she set her feet. The worst thing she could do was show that fear. Not to these guys.
She glanced at Hershel, whose mouth flattened in a grim line. “She belongs to one of those dragons, and not the dark gold one.”
“With what he’s paying us for her, we won’t need to worry about money for a century,” the vampire hissed.
The creature tensed and sniffed the air, then zeroed in on Kasia. Had he smelled her blood? He pulled his lips back in a snarl of a grin, and Kasia stepped closer to Hershel.
Given their long lives, supernaturals were frequently concerned about supporting themselves over time. A century was a good chunk. Hershel, however, didn’t so much as twitch. “You know the consequences if you go against me on this. I’m telling you to let it go.”
Though the lion shifter and the falcon sitting in the tree shared an uneasy glance, none left. “We have people of our own to consider,” the vampire said. “And she’s worth a gold mine. You can’t ask us to ignore that.”
A clash of sound reverberated from above, and they all glanced up at the fight going on overhead.
“I’ve promised her my protection. I’ll give you one last chance to clear out.” Hershel’s warning made her shiver even more than the vampire’s red eyes. He’d meant that.
The group before them shifted. The lion and the falcon left. Smart men. But everyone else stayed.
“Dammit,” Hershel muttered under his breath. Then louder. “You had your chance.”
With a wave of his hand every creature before them doubled over, screaming in agony. Bile rose up her throat as, one by one, they each dried up, as though the water was being leached from their systems—like watching them decompose in fast forward. Then skin shriveled to expose bone, then turned black, and each body slowly became ash, the fine dust blowing away in the wind. Reminding her of her mother.
“Holy shit,” she muttered. She glanced at Hershel, who remained grim, but his back was straight.
“Hope I didn’t scare you,” he said.
He’d killed some of his people. For her. “Thank you,” she murmured.
Another roar ripped through
the air. Above them, the other dragon flew away, seemingly in disgrace, one back leg held at an awkward angle. Had Brand injured it? They’d missed a good chunk of the fight dealing with issues on the ground.
Brand moved to follow the damaged dragon, but paused, arching that long neck to look at something.
Kasia frantically searched the sky, but saw nothing. “What’s happening?”
Then she winced as the nerves in that hand finally woke up and screamed in protest. She let him go and cradled that hand, blood leaving her head with the agony of it.
Before she could do more than whimper, Brand turned and dove in their direction. He didn’t stop until he threw out his wings, slowing to land outside Hershel’s home. “Get on.”
“But—”
She cut Hershel off with a shake of her head and scrambled up Brand’s back using only her wrists for balance. “What’s happening?” she asked Brand.
He didn’t answer her.
“Stay inside until we’re long gone,” he told Hershel, letting her overhear.
Then they took to the air.
Given her last experience, evidenced by the blood staining the tip of his spike—her blood—she wasn’t exactly thrilled to be back up here, but she didn’t see any other choice. Kasia ignored the pain in her throbbing hands and wrapped herself around him with a death grip.
What if that other gold dragon returned?
She didn’t have time to ask as they launched into the sky, quickly leaving the earth behind. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, ten dragons, most smaller and leaner than Brand, and all various shades of blue—from pale sky to a deep navy—suddenly appeared in the air on either side of them. Each of the shifters took up a position, two below, two above, and three on both sides spaced out in protective formation.
Brand let loose a low growl of warning, practically twitching beneath her in agitation. The blue dragons around them shifted, giving him a bit more space.
“Brand?” she prodded.
He didn’t answer for a long second, body still quivering. He’d said he had trouble controlling himself in this form, especially when he was angry.
“Brand? Please don’t flip out on me. I can’t handle another fall.”
That seemed to snap him out of it. His chest heaved beneath her, but the quivering stopped, almost like he’d forced himself to relax. “I’m okay,” he finally answered.
Good. Because one of them needed to be, and she really wasn’t.
“I smell blood that’s not mine,” he rumbled.
“I cut myself, but I’ll be fine.” Total lie.
Her hands were raw, but the more important thing was getting to Ladon and safety first. She’d handle the pain and pray to all things good and holy that she’d have full function, but at least her wounds weren’t life threatening.
Not wanting the others to hear, but still needing to talk to Brand, she tried projecting her voice, doubting it would work, but worth the attempt. She stared at the back of Brand’s spiky head, focusing her thoughts, trying to aim them. “Can you hear me?”
He bobbled in the air, and she gripped the spike with what would’ve been white-knuckled fear if she could use her hands.
“How the hell did you do that? Only shifters are able to do that.”
Holy shit, it worked. The emotion in his voice alone told her how unusual that was. Again, she focused on sending her thoughts to him. “I focused on your head. Did any of the others hear?”
A long silence greeted her question. “I don’t think so,” he finally said.
“Good.” She was starting to shake—shock, and pain, and the deep cold at this altitude all combining to bombard her system. Shouldn’t she be going numb by now? Numb would be nice. Maybe if she could distract herself long enough, she could muscle through this whole freezing and pain thing.
“I think I’ve heard you before,” Brand said.
That confession layered on the shock. “You have?”
“Did you whisper my name when you were falling?”
“After screaming it? Yes. You heard that?”
“I heard the whisper.” A dark edge crept into his deeper tones. She couldn’t quite put her finger on the emotion behind it.
“Let’s not test that out again.” She might not ever get over the plummeting through the air thing. In fact, Kasia suspected nightmares were in store for her tonight.
“Yeah,” he agreed. Again, some harder emotion swirled, and the muscles under her shifted, not from the steady beat of his wings, more like he was tense.
“Who was that gold dragon?” She asked the question that had been burning in her mind.
“I can’t be positive.”
Now that emotion she had no trouble identifying. Pure rage. “I’m not buying it. Who was he?”
“Uther Hagan.”
For the second time that day, Kasia had to fight to keep her breakfast inside her stomach. “He helped kill my father.”
Brand’s muscles tightened beneath her. “Your father? Zilant Amon?”
That’s right. She’d mentioned her last name to Hershel. Figured Brand had caught that. “The King of the White Dragon Clan. Yes.”
Brand was silent for a long pause, and her shaking worsened while she waited. “Uther killed a lot of people,” he finally said.
That statement went deeper than generalities. “People you loved?”
Silence.
Not like she’d expected an answer. Brand didn’t ever vocalize anything to do with emotions. She’d figured that out on day one. With a sigh, she leaned her forehead against his spike, eyes closed, suddenly exhausted in a way that had nothing to do with their nighttime activities or her visions.
“My entire family,” came the sudden, low reply.
Kasia sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh, Brand.”
Again, his muscles shifted under her. “Don’t go all mushy on me.”
She huffed a tired laugh. “I’ll tell you what…if I decide to mate Ladon, when I’m queen, I’ll make sure we take that asshat Uther out first.”
“He’s the King of the Gold Clan, so that might be tough.”
Of course. Because you reward your coconspirators by putting them in power, which Pytheios had obviously done.
“With a phoenix in your corner? Cakewalk,” she teased.
Though she secretly doubted her presence would do anything. Her mother hadn’t even been able to keep her mate alive, let alone bring luck, or whatever, to the clans. How lucky could a phoenix be if that was possible?
Another long silence. Had she tapped out Brand’s emotional threshold? Time to change the subject, because if she shook any harder, she’d shake herself right off his back. Her jaw ached with the effort of keeping her teeth from chattering. “How’d the blue dragons find us?”
Periodically, each of the creatures surrounding them would crane their necks to look over. At her? At Brand? Checking for attackers?
“According to Asher, that big navy dragon ahead of us who’s missing part of his tail, Ladon got a tip from inside Pytheios’s organization.”
Brand was talking to the other dragons? Wait. Pytheios knew her location? And the wolves had found her. Who else? Please let my sisters still be safe. Gods, she wished she could contact them, check on them. At least she knew Angelika was still safely with the wolves.
For now.
“What will happen to Hershel? And the club?” she asked next.
“Hershel will sort it out.”
She’d have to take that at face value, she guessed. Brand didn’t seem concerned and, after Hershel’s demonstration, she knew he could handle himself.
“Why are you jiggling around up there?”
Now he notices? “Because it’s freezing.”
And if I let myself think about falling again, or how badly my hands hurt, I might start screaming
and never stop.
Hysteria lurked close to the surface, under control for now, but not by much.
“I can help with that.” The strangest sound emanated from beneath her, like sucking and swirling winds. Then Brand’s scales started to glow underneath her, lit from the inside as he stoked his own fire and heated up. Her ass thawed first, followed by the rest of her.
“Thank you.” The paralyzing fear and her hands were two things he could do nothing about, but at least the shaking had stopped.
“Brand? What happens now?”
Long pause. “We get you to your king.”
That statement and the ice coating every syllable of Brand’s words threatened to chill her to the bone. Regardless of the warmth he provided, her shiver competed with the altitude, shock, and a fear of flying that was now ten times worse than before. Dragon was not her favorite mode of transportation.
“Not my king yet.” Even with every creature on the planet hunting her, she still refused to be pushed into a mating. Yes, it appeared to be the safest, and maybe only, recourse to keep her and her sisters safe, but mating was for life, and phoenixes lived forever. No way was she making that decision lightly.
“As far as I’m concerned, he is,” Brand said.
Kasia swallowed. Words could cut deeper than dragon spikes, it seemed. He had to know she wasn’t happy about the prospect. Why had he suddenly shut her out, slamming up barriers between them like that?
After that, she shut up, clung to that damn spike, and waited while they flew. Below, the earth gradually changed into craggy mountains, with fewer trees and more rocks. Every so often the dragon guard surrounding them would change positions, swapping out. Periodically, one or two would drop back. Patrolling? Watching out for Uther?
Suddenly, the dragon in the lead trumpeted—a blast of sound almost like a siren’s call.