by Cynthia Eden
She also wondered where Harrison was because no way should they have beat him. A dragon could fly one heck of a lot faster than a truck could drive. “You’re sure Jason Key is here? Harrison could be tracking him by scent.” She wasn’t sure how the whole dragon thing worked. “Maybe they’re a hundred miles away and we’re about to be screwed—”
Gray headed for the gate. “I can see Jason’s car. And Ward’s.”
Chills skated down her spine. “Ward?”
“Yeah, they’re all here.” He looked back at her. “Makes sense. When you’re under attack, you regroup.” A sigh. “And when you’ve been betrayed, you go and confront the asshole who’s lied to you.”
“So he was on the outskirts of town? When did he come back to Savannah?”
“When you and Harrison were taking that trip to wherever the hell you’re from, that’s when I got word that Jason Key was back in Savannah.” His lips twisted. “Though now that I think about it, the timing seems suspicious as hell.” He studied the cabin. “Starting to wonder if maybe he’s been here a whole lot longer. Not so sure that I can exactly trust what I’m being told these days.”
She glanced around, not liking this setup at all. It was so dark and the shadows stretched and danced everywhere. Walking into a cabin full of who knew how many hunters? Um, hard no.
A spider skittered across her tennis shoe, one she’d stolen on her way out of the hotel. It had been easy enough to do a little snatch and grab action at the hotel’s boutique before her mad dash of an exit.
The spider rushed across her shoe once more. Elise spared the spider a glance as her breath eased out. Such a big, fat, gorgeous spider.
Okay, so I have backup. Relief flooded through her.
But…
A scream cut through the night. A scream that had come from inside the cabin. She and Gray both took off running. She leapt over the fence faster than he did. Elise reached the cabin first. She wrenched open the old door—
Ward was on the floor, blood pooling from his body as he sprawled face down. His eyes were closed. His form far too still.
And the scream? It had come from Krista. Blood dripped down her neck. A man stood behind her. His left arm circled her waist while his right hand held a knife to her throat. The knife had already cut her once, obviously. The slice hadn’t been deep enough to kill, not far enough to stop her cries, but just enough…
To bring us running.
Krista’s eyes were wide and terrified and as for the man…
“I’m guessing you’re Jason Key.” Elise ran her gaze over him. “I thought you’d be bigger.”
He was a muscular, stocky man, not too tall, though. His black hair was sprinkled with gray, and his brown eyes blazed with fury. He had a rough, dangerous face, and some might have even termed him handsome.
Elise didn’t. He was soul ugly to her.
“I’m Key.” His lips twisted in a sneer. “And you’re the fey bitch who ruined Harrison’s life.”
She made a tut-tut sound. “You’re going to regret calling me that.”
“You’re about to die. I won’t regret shit.”
Elise shrugged. “We’ll see.” Her gaze darted to Ward. Gray crouched at his side and his fingers pressed against Ward’s throat. “Is he alive?”
Gray’s head whipped up. Fury hardened every inch of his expression. “Barely.” His gaze locked on Jason. “Why the hell would you attack him? He’s human.”
Elise laughed. “I don’t think he cares about whether his foes are human or supernatural. I’m suspecting that is way low on his priority list.”
“You know nothing about me,” Jason thundered. The knife was still at Krista’s throat. She stood statue-still.
“I know plenty. Like the fact that you used spells to hide your lies and deceit for years.” After a hard glare, Elise let her gaze dart to Gray once more.
Grimly, Gray told her, “If Ward doesn’t get help soon, he’s dead.”
Based on all the blood around him, Elise was surprised Ward hadn’t already died. “Get him out of here.”
Gray looped one of Ward’s arms around his neck—
“No!” Jason bellowed. The knife nicked Krista. She sucked in a quick breath. “No one leaves or I will slit her throat from ear to ear!”
“Will you now?” Elise smiled at him. She didn’t take her gaze off him, she wouldn’t risk that again, but she asked, “Gray, do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
Wow. That answer had been fast. How lovely. “Good. Then take Ward and leave. He won’t slit Krista’s throat.”
“I attacked Ward!” Spittle flew from Jason’s mouth. “I’ll kill anyone in my way!”
“Take Ward,” Elise ordered flatly. “Get him help. He doesn’t need to die here.”
“I don’t want to leave you alone.”
She felt a spider race up her arm. “I’m not alone. Go.”
Gray rushed out, hauling Ward with him. A moment later, she heard the sound of an engine and then the screech of tires.
“Funny.” Her head tilted as she kept her attention on Jason. “Krista’s neck hasn’t been sliced from ear to ear yet.”
He lowered the knife. Smirked at her. “Funny…you just let the only two men who might save your ass drive away.”
Krista laughed.
Laughed.
Elise rolled her eyes. “Did you really think I didn’t know Krista was on your side?”
That stopped the laughter.
“FYI, sunshine,” Elise said to Krista, “I so regret saving your life at the speakeasy. I won’t be making the same mistake again.”
“How did you know?” Jason demanded.
What? Was this freaking show and tell? Was she supposed to reveal all her secrets? But her dragon hadn’t appeared yet, and Elise was still thinking out her plan of attack so she decided to be a wee bit chatty. “Krista is kick ass. She’s been trained her whole life to be a hunter, and when her good buddy Ward is bleeding out on the floor, you expect me to believe that she’s just going to stand there and not try to get away from you? I mean, really, one hard elbow back and you would’ve dropped your hold on her. And, obviously, you wanted her to scream. Timed that a little too perfectly, didn’t you?” Elise shook her head. “If you wanted her silent, you would have sliced way deeper into her throat. The setup was obvious from the word go.”
His face darkened. “Then why did you let the two others leave?”
“Because I have no desire to kill them.” She lifted her knife. “But you two? Oh, you assholes are going down.”
Now Jason laughed. So insulting. Did he not get that she was dead serious?
Obviously, he didn’t. Jason mocked, “You’re a fey princess. A princess with no power. Yes, I know all about you. In fact, I suspect that once I carve out your heart, your brother will be incredibly grateful to me.”
“Don’t be so sure about that.”
“I bet he’ll give me even more magic than I already possess.”
“Oh, wow.” She widened her eyes. “You’re hyped up supernaturally. Got it. Am I supposed to be impressed?”
His lips thinned.
“Scared? Am I supposed to be scared?”
Krista had snatched out her own knife.
Elise winced. “Sorry. Can’t say I feel impressed or scared. But you know what I do feel?”
They waited.
She smiled. “Bored.”
“Kill her!” Jason shouted. “Kill her because when Harrison comes and he finds his dead mate, it will wreck him, the same way it wrecked his father! Then we can kill him! We can kill—”
“Not happening,” Elise snarled. “Beaux, get your little spider buddies and take out Krista. I’ll end Jason.”
Spiders swarmed from the darkness and rushed right for Krista. She screamed as they swarmed her. They flew over her body, and she flipped the fuck out.
“I hate spiders! No, no, no!” Krista screamed.
Seriously?
Krista swiped
with her knife, and the crazy hunter stabbed herself. Not once, but twice, three times and—
“Krista!” A wild, pained bellow from Jason. He seemed to lose his shit, too, as he ran for Krista, and he shoved the spiders off her. They were everywhere—on her body, in her hair, in her mouth.
The mouth part was just gross. Beaux and his spiders. He’d always had an affinity for them. Not only could he transform into one, but he could command any spiders who happened to be in his vicinity. She suspected he had a long-ago descendant who’d been a shifter. A spider shifter. She’d always told the guy he was special. It was wonderful to see how much stronger he was becoming.
Hopefully, he’d start believing that truth for himself.
“Baby, baby, look at me…” Jason crouched over Krista. His voice had gone tender. Worried…
Elise’s jaw dropped. “She’s your daughter. Like, you didn’t steal her from someone, the way you stole Harrison. She’s really yours.”
“She’s mine.” His head whipped toward Elise. “And they’ll stop attacking…when you’re dead!”
He lunged at her. She lunged right back at him. She brought up her knife, ready to carve out his black heart, but he—he swiped down with his knife in a lightning-fast move.
A move far too fast for her to see. He moved faster than the most powerful fey, faster than vampires, faster than should have been possible.
The knife cut deeply into her shoulder, sliding straight to bone, and her own weapon fell from her nerveless fingers.
It fell…and she realized…
Jason hadn’t been talking to her when he said “They’ll stop attacking…when you’re fucking dead.” Because though his knife had cut into her shoulder…he’d been aiming at…
At the big, dark spider that perched on her. At the spider that controlled the others. At her precious Beaux.
“No!” Elise screamed as pain ripped through her. Pain that was so strong and consuming because Beaux…Beaux wasn’t just some servant. Some guard. He wasn’t a follower. He wasn’t even simply a friend.
He was family.
Her family.
And no one messed with her family.
“No!” Elise tossed back her head as grief and rage ripped past everything and as it did, a bright, blue light shot from her fingertips. Beaux had transformed at her feet, shifting from a savaged spider into the form of a man who was bleeding and broken. The blue light poured from her fingers and surrounded him. Her wings stretched behind her, she felt them grow and quiver as she poured all that she had into Beaux. She wasn’t going to let death take him. Not happening. Not—
“That’s right. Drain all that magic out of you! Drain it until there’s nothing left!”
The blue light died away.
Beaux pulled in a shuddering breath.
Elise collapsed and her fragile wings covered her body.
“Th-the spiders are gone.” Krista’s voice. Weak. Thready.
A fucking hunter…scared of spiders. If Elise hadn’t been hanging on to consciousness by a teeny, tiny little thread, she would’ve laughed.
“Of course, they’re gone. I killed their ring master,” Jason boasted.
He was wrong. She’d seen Beaux take a breath. Hadn’t she? Elise wanted to look but couldn’t lift her head.
“And now she’s helpless. Such easy prey. We’ll start by slicing off her wings. Those will get us a hell of a lot on the black market. Then we’ll cut her open so that Harrison can find her.” He grabbed Elise’s head and wrenched it back. “Guess you didn’t really love Harrison after all, did you? You gave up all your power for another freaking fey instead of saving it for the dragon.”
“D-dumbass…” Her breath heaved. “Can l-love…more…” More than just one person. She could love Beaux as family. She could love Harrison as…
Everything.
Jason yanked the blade from her shoulder. She was too weak to even cry out. Honestly, she’d forgotten the blade was still in her. He grabbed one of her wings. “Not like you’ll need this much longer.”
Her wings were back. So the curse was gone? Broken? Did it even matter? He was about to slice her wings away, and she couldn’t even fight him. What she hated…she hated for Harrison to find her. She wanted him to remember her as she’d been. Not the horror she’d be when Jason was done with her.
“I-I think…I’m cut too deeply…” Krista’s choked voice. “Jason…Dad…help me.”
He didn’t let go of Elise’s wing. “Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute.” He smiled at Elise. “This is going to hurt.”
She closed her eyes. Not because she was afraid, but because she would be damned if she looked at him while he—
Fire. She could feel the heat coming from above. A hot blast that made her eyes fly open because if there was fire, there was Harrison. She wanted him to be the last thing she saw.
The top of the cabin ripped away and a dragon swept down, fire blowing from his giant, gaping mouth.
Chapter Nineteen
The bastard had his knife against Elise’s beautiful wing. A wing of the purest blue and the darkest gold. Silken. Fragile.
Elise sagged in Jason’s hold, her skin far too pale and her eyes circled by dark shadows. But she looked up at the dragon, and she smiled.
My mate. Mine.
Fire poured from his mouth. Fury churned from him as his wings flapped. He would rip and tear and—
“If the fire touches me, you will kill her, too.”
Harrison sucked in a frantic breath, heaving all of the fire back inside.
Jason smiled at him. Jason…the man who’d raised him. The man who’d trained him. The man who’d lied to him.
“That was a cute trick.” Jason kept the blade at her wing. “Now ditch the dragon body. If you’re going to fight me, do it as a man.”
He didn’t know how to change back. Rage was too strong. He touched down, his massive claws cutting into the wooden floor.
The scent of blood filled his nostrils. His gaze cut to the right. Krista sprawled on the floor. Her bloody hands pressed to her stomach.
There was a still body near Krista. A familiar figure. Beaux?
“Shift now, or I will slice her wing right off her body. Do you know how sensitive a fey’s wings are? Did your precious mate ever tell you that? Wings are the most sensitive parts of a fey’s body. The pain from me taking her wing will be like nothing you can imagine.”
He could imagine a fucking lot. Mostly ripping Jason’s head clear from his body. But Harrison couldn’t speak. Not as a dragon. He couldn’t say a damn word. Smoke drifted from his massive nostrils.
“Took you a little while to get here, son. I was starting to think you wouldn’t show.” The knife nicked her wing.
Elise screamed.
You will die. And I am not your son.
“Did you have trouble finding me? Bet you did.” A smug smile. “See…as soon as you crossed over into the fey realm, I knew the dragon would be breaking free. Had to, with all that magic surrounding you over there. So I got Krista and Razor to help me. They spread my scent all over town. That way, you’d be confused. Bet you went to a dozen different places before you found me here.”
He had, dammit. He’d lost valuable time.
“You haven’t shifted yet. I guess she doesn’t matter to you, huh?” Grating laughter. “Not like your father. He was ready to do anything for your mother.”
But his father hadn’t survived. Neither had his mother.
Jason smirked at Elise. “He doesn’t love you. Die knowing that, will you? You thought you’d tamed a dragon, that he’d be there to defend you against any threat, but he never loved you. He fucked you. Nothing more. When the chips were down, he wouldn’t even shift to save you.” He lifted his hand up high. “This is going to hurt.”
Harrison couldn’t breathe fire at the bastard. If he did—Elise could burn.
That was what Ardon had wanted. For him to burn Elise.
I won’t. Not ever.
> Elise stared at Harrison. She smiled. “I…love you.”
The dragon’s heart iced. I love you. He hadn’t told her that. And now, he couldn’t tell her how he felt. He had no voice.
“B-burn the bastard,” Elise urged him. “Burn him…”
The knife sliced downward. It moved so fast, and there wasn’t time to choose. There was only time to act. There was only time—
Harrison’s fingers closed around Jason’s wrist.
Jason gaped at him. “You…you shifted…that fast?”
Yes, he sure as hell had.
The knife clattered to the floor.
“Krista!” Jason screamed. “Attack him! Stab him!”
“Krista is a little busy right now,” Harrison snarled. “She bled out, and she’s dead on the floor.”
Jason blanched. “No, no, I—” His head whipped toward Krista. “Krista!”
“The dead can’t move, dumbass.”
Jason’s breath sawed in and out as he swung his stare back to Harrison. “She…she was always weak. Should’ve known she’d let me down.”
You’re the weak one. “You killed my mother.”
Jason’s eyes darted to the left. To the right. Found no escape.
“You murdered my father!”
“He was a monster!”
“So am I.” Harrison wrapped his fingers around Jason’s thick neck.
“I…raised you!” Jason gasped out.
“You tortured me. I remember…” Memories that Jason had used magic to block out. “You tried to whip away my wings.”
“I-I was making you human!”
“But I’m not.” Harrison could feel the fire rising within him. “I’m just like my father.” He leaned in close. “I. Am. A. Monster.”
“Don’t! Don’t kill—”
“You were going to cut off Elise’s wings.” Her beautiful wings. “You were dead when you touched her.”
“No, no—”
Ash. That was all that remained. In a blink, Jason was gone. Ash drifted in the air as Harrison spun away from him. He lunged for Elise. She’d slumped to the floor and wasn’t moving. He reached for her—
“Don’t touch her!”
Ardon appeared beside Elise, as if he’d just materialized from the shadows. He probably had.