by Abigail Owen
Unbidden, an image of Kasia popped into Brand’s head. Yeah. He would have no trouble killing this guy. Instead, he grinned and made a lewd gesture, giving Stocky and his buddies a good laugh.
In like Flynn, he approached. “I’m Bjorg.”
“Erling,” Stocky said with a nod. He indicated his companions. “Magni. Sigrun.”
Brand nodded at each in turn. “Brock didn’t tell me much. Only to find you.”
“We’ll fit you into the plan,” Erling said.
“What is the plan?”
Erling narrowed his eyes. “Eager to fight?”
Careful. “More like I have something to prove.” Again, that edge of truth.
That had Erling nodding, suddenly the sage leader. “Brock’s a hard man. Would you like advice?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t try to impress him. He hates flatterers.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Erling eyed him closely. Had his sarcasm leaked out? “Let’s get on with it,” the shifter finally said.
He pulled out a phone, and they gathered around the device to look over a schematic of the Blue Clan’s city in the Ben Nevis mountain.
Fuck. They have most of the security measures mapped out. They seemed to be missing only the far interior of the structure. Most evident was the vulnerability laid out by the hollowed-out atrium. If their enemies breached any of the layers of doors to get to that section of the mountain, he and his newfound people were royally screwed. That could only mean Kasia’s vision had to be imminent if they were that close.
“Tonight is recon only. Do not get caught,” Erling said.
“Yes, boss,” one of the guys—Magni?—replied.
“We need to determine access points here and here.” Erling indicated the spots.
Good. They were still figuring out how to get through security measures at the first layer of doors. Which begged the question, how did they know the rest? Inside info?
Chante, or whoever the insider was, would be up to Ladon and Asher to figure out. Time to flip the switch. Brand snagged the phone from Erling’s hand. “Thanks for that.”
He tucked the device in his back pocket as he backed up.
Erling didn’t even pause to do the typical “You betrayed us” line. He rushed Brand, slamming into him, shoulder connecting with stomach, and flipping Brand over.
The back of his head smacked into solid stone, and black and white spots burst into his field of vision. Even as he couldn’t see, Brand used their combined momentum to roll them over so he came out on top.
He got in three or four solid punches before the other two grabbed him by the arms and dragged him off Erling. Blood coated the man’s face, whether from his mouth or Brand’s knuckles was questionable, but Brand didn’t give a fuck either way.
Erling pulled out a wicked-looking knife.
Most dragons didn’t bother with weapons, their animal forms more than enough and impervious to puny knives or guns, but the smart ones kept something on them for times like these, when you fought human.
Erling was smarter than he’d given the guy credit for.
“Any time, fellas.” He shifted his nails to talons and signaled the waiting blue shifters watching from their vantage point above.
But no hint of a dragon showed up. Which meant they were waiting to see how he handled himself in a fight. Again.
Bastards. He’d get this done on his own.
Brand waited for Erling to move closer, then struck. Whipping out his tail, he knocked the knife from the man’s hands. In less time than it took for all three of the shifters to react with exclamations of shock, he used his tail to wham each of their heads into the rock. They crumpled to the ground, out cold.
Asher was the first to reach him, flying in on silent wings, then shifting just as quietly. Brand pulled Erling’s phone out of his pocket and threw it at Ladon’s Beta as Reid and Wyot joined them.
“I’ll leave the cleanup to you, ladies.”
He didn’t wait for a response as he shifted and took to the air. While he hadn’t expected to be welcomed with open arms, being constantly shunned, made to prove himself, and tested had gotten old weeks ago.
He should take Kasia and find another way.
A thought that had been building inside him—one he’d managed to lock away—looked better with each passing day.
She hadn’t chosen yet. Ladon was getting restless, but she’d put it off. A selfish part of Brand wanted her reason to be because of him.
You’re just tired, he told himself.
Throwing away years of planning and maneuvering when he was so close because his new clan were jerks was senseless. Falling for a woman so off-limits and doing what he wanted with her would not only cancel his plans, but likely end one of the few friendships he had, not to mention end his life. Even the idea was plain idiotic.
He’d get some solid sleep. His shift guarding Kasia didn’t start until noon.
…
Eight hours later, Brand couldn’t say he was any less twitchy about the entire situation, but he’d committed, for the thousandth time since arriving, to stick with the plan. Rather than go out on his balcony and fly down, as the part of him eager to see Kasia urged him to do, Brand forced himself to walk the slower route, spiraling down through the human-sized tunnels.
Being away from her was getting strangely uncomfortable the more time they spent apart—like a muscle stretched beyond its limits. She was more relaxed with her other guards now. Maybe he should ask to be taken out of the lineup.
“Nice one!” Arden’s exclamation reached Brand all the way down the last bit of tunnel leading to the training room.
“I think I finally got it,” Kasia’s reply floated back to him.
He came out of the tunnel to find Kasia standing in the center of the room, completely on fire, and grinning from ear to ear.
Regret punched through him. Had she had a vision without him there?
Brand pushed that feeling down, stuffing it inside with all the other inappropriate feelings he had about Kasia, and stepped up beside Reid. Maul, who’d lain down beside Ladon’s Viceroy of War, lifted his head.
The shifter stood, arms crossed, watching over both women. “Brand,” he acknowledged.
“Dickhead,” Brand acknowledged back.
Instead of a growl or ignoring him, Reid actually chuckled. “I deserved that, I guess.”
Brand didn’t respond.
But Reid didn’t let it go. He turned to face him. “Seriously. You’ve more than proved yourself. You’re all right in my book, and I’d fight beside you any day.”
He held out a hand.
Brand glanced at the hand, then back at Reid’s face, but could detect no sign of insincerity.
He clasped Reid’s hand. “About damn time.”
He got a grin in response. “I think you’ll find the rest of the team feels the same way.” Then he glanced over at Kasia, who’d stopped burning and was talking quietly with Arden. “You got her?”
The man meant as a bodyguard, but suddenly every thought Brand had had about flying away with her reared their ugly heads and laughed in his face. “Yeah.”
Reid nodded and left.
“Are you on duty now?” A feminine voice brought his attention down to the two women in the room. Only the question came from Arden, not Kasia.
Brand nodded, then glanced at his watch. “Time to get ready to meet with the Black Clan.”
Kasia barely looked at him as the three of them walked back to her room, Maul padding along behind. Instead, she chatted with Arden. “That last time was the farthest.”
“You cleared the entire room,” Arden agreed.
“What are you talking about?” Brand asked.
The women exchanged a glance. “Kasia’s been working
on her teleporting,” Arden explained.
He glanced at Kasia, who shrugged. “It’s coming along. Maul showed me how he does it. That helped.”
So she’d work on it with Reid and Arden, even the damn dog, but not him? “Good. You’ll need it to get away from an attack.”
“Yeah.”
He definitely had to get off bodyguard detail, because all he wanted to do was grab her and kiss her. Not an option.
Arden paused at her door, a floor under theirs. “I’ll see you guys down there? I hear the Captain of Gorgon’s guard, Samael Veles, is hot.” She waggled her eyebrows.
King Gorgon of the Black Clan had sent his captain in his place today. For what, Brand had yet to determine. Ladon’s best guess was Gorgon wanted confirmation of the phoenix. Ladon probably would’ve liked the meeting better if he were already mated to Kasia.
He walked Kasia the rest of the way to her room in uneasy silence. Could she feel the tension between them, too? Did she want…
Brand forcefully cut off the thought.
He glanced at the hellhound. “You should stay here.” Then he moved his gaze to Kasia. “Knock on my door when you’re ready.”
“Fine,” she said. Then closed her door in his face with a final-sounding thunk. Shutting him out.
That was the way it had to be, but that didn’t make it suck any less.
To pass the time, he went to his room and flipped on his laptop, reading through the dry translations that he’d been pouring through for weeks when sleep eluded him and he had way too much time on his hands.
“What’s that?”
Brand swallowed a snarl as he spun to face Kasia, who was coming in through his balcony door.
“What the hell, Kasia? I could’ve taken your head off.”
“I wasn’t exactly subtle coming over. I figured you’d smell me.” She crossed the room to look over his shoulder and frowned as she read the words. “What has you so focused? Are you…researching phoenixes?”
Brand hid his discomfort behind his own questions. “How’d you get over here?” He refused to let his gaze linger on the red dress she’d changed into—the way it hugged her curves, the cleavage on display thanks to the deep V of the dress, how much leg was on display, despite the ankle boots.
“I teleported,” she casually tossed off.
Brand grabbed her hand and tugged her to a stop. “You what? What if you missed?”
“I didn’t.”
Her casual attitude was not helping that protective instinct inside him from rearing its ugly head. “You could be a splat on the ground, and I wouldn’t even know it.”
Kasia gave him the patient look that reminded him of his mother from long ago, then reached up and patted his cheek. “I’ve been practicing. I’m much better.”
He snatched her hand away. “I’m not laughing.”
Her calm faded in the face of a fierce frown. “I wasn’t joking. I’m terrified of heights. I wouldn’t hop around out there if I weren’t 110 percent confident I’d make it.”
The rumbling growl of his dragon close to the surface dropped a decibel or two. Brand stared at her but got only total confidence back. Not even a hint of doubt.
“After the meeting with the Black Clan, I want you to show me.”
Kasia rolled her eyes. “Fine. Now, mother hen, what’s this all about?” She waved at his computer screen.
He still didn’t want to talk about it. “Why are you so dressed up?”
She blinked and glanced down at her outfit. “I was told meetings with other clans are more on the formal side.”
“I’m surprised Ladon would risk showing you exist before he’s finalized your mating.”
Her lips pinched. “I told him I wanted to be there. Not a pawn, remember?” She looked pointedly at the computer and raised her eyebrows.
She wasn’t going to let this go, apparently. “Research.”
“I can see that. Why?” Brand stayed silent, and she sighed. “Why am I not surprised that you don’t want to share?”
“We should go. You’ll want to be down there before the delegation from the Black Clan arrives.”
Before he could stop her, she picked up a stack of pages he’d printed out and flipped through them. He watched each page carefully, tension coiling inside him as she got nearer the bottom of the stack.
Then she paused.
Her mouth fell open slightly, and she cocked her head as she studied the document closer. “What is this?” The words came out softly, more a whisper, but he caught them.
“I’m not finished with it.” He went to take the pile of papers from her hands, but she stepped back.
“You looked up the Amon and Hanyu insignias?” She glanced up finally, searching his face. “Why?”
Brand clamped his lips over the answer and looked away.
“Brand?” His name on her lips brought his gaze back to her. “Why?”
He couldn’t look away. “You said your mother never knew what her mating mark would look like.”
Confusion darkened her eyes as her pupils dilated. “Okay?”
Brand leaned over to tap the keyboard a few times, bringing up a screen. “I was going to give this to you when I finished.” As a mating present. Or at least that had been the excuse in his head.
He stood back so she could see. Kasia pulled her gaze from him to the computer and sucked in a small breath. “Is that…?”
“I combined the two marks, so you could see what it might have looked like.”
Kasia stared at the image on his screen for a long time. Long enough that Brand shifted on his feet. He wished she’d say something.
“You did this for me?”
“As a mating gift.” For her mating to Ladon. He should have said to Ladon, because the way it came out sounded like he’d meant the gift one mate gave another.
She raised her head and stared at him, seemingly searching his face. Brand stared back, unwavering and giving nothing of himself away. Except that if she looked at him like that much longer—as though he were someone worthy—he wouldn’t be able to hold himself back.
“I don’t know what to say,” she murmured.
She didn’t look away. Neither did he.
“This must’ve taken you hours.”
He could’ve shrugged it off or tossed out some sarcastic comment about her making a big deal out of nothing. But he didn’t.
He was tired of forcing up walls between them, forcing a distance that didn’t feel natural. The process was exhausting. Every instinct that had been dragging at him to claim her rose within him. To hell with dragon shifters and taking down his family’s killers and any bullshit about High Kings.
Brand leaned forward, heart pounding as she reciprocated, closing the distance, her heart beating in time to his, music to his ears.
“Kasia, I—”
The boom of an explosion preceded the reverberations that rocked the very foundation of the mountain.
Brand and Kasia jerked back. Her eyes went wide, as dread swirled in his gut.
Fuck.
Together, they ran for the balcony, looking over into the atrium. Another explosion rocked them, and black smoke rose as the second steel door, the one leading from the training room to the heart of the mountain where the busy shops stood below them, was blasted away. A glittering of golden scales appeared in the billows of smoke as screams arose from the ground.
Kasia scrambled over the balcony to the perch, but Brand dragged her back, holding her against his chest. “Where are you going?”
She pushed against him. “I can help them.”
“And I’m supposed to keep you safe.”
Stubborn fury gave her eyes an almost dead look. “Then I guess you’ll just have to follow me down there.”
In two seconds flat, she went up in flames a
nd disappeared, leaving him holding an armful of nothing.
Fuck me.
Brand vaulted the railing, shifting as he traversed the perch. As soon as his wings were formed, he dropped off the edge, letting the rest of his shift finish up as he dropped. Forget circling down, he tucked his wings in and rocketed to the chaos below, zipping past dragons, both gold and blue, in his need to find Kasia.
Billowing smoke obscured his vision, so he had to slow his descent earlier than he would’ve liked, circling until he reached the ground. The heavy scent obscured any way to track her by smell, which meant he’d have to see her. What had she been wearing?
Red. Red dress.
Brand scanned the ground. Some of his people had shifted, but many hadn’t. Those who weren’t fighters most likely. In their human forms, they were weaker. Why weren’t they shifting for protection?
A flash of red caught his attention. There she was, inside the Italian restaurant. Only he blinked and she was gone, along with the owner of the shop. She was helping people get out?
A familiar snarl sounded close by. Swinging his head around, Brand located Maul, happily ripping into the delicate wing membranes of a gold dragon who screamed in agony.
“Maul. Find Kasia.”
The dog let go of his victim and disappeared.
Another explosion shattered through the cacophony of chaotic sound.
“You won’t take me alive.” A small woman ran out of the smoke, straight at him, brandishing an ax, of all things.
Brand braced himself, not wanting to hurt a person who was part of his new clan, but who obviously mistook him for another gold dragon attacker.
Kasia suddenly appeared between him and the fierce woman. “That’s Brand, Mrs. McGovern.”
The woman paused, glared suspiciously at Brand, then lowered her weapon.
“Let me get you out of here.” Kasia offered her hand.
“Kasia—”
“Not now,” she snapped. Dammit. She was already gone.
Maul popped in and flashed an image of her—in the red dress, which meant he’d seen her.
“She’s come and gone. Stay here. We’ll pin her down together.”