Bloodline World Seven Book Bundle: 7 Books from the Bloodline Awakened Series and Scarlet Dragon Saga

by J. P. Rice

  Sounded familiar. “I can relate to that.”

  “I know. I witnessed your malice first hand,” he reminded me. “That blank look in your eyes told the whole story. When you were being dragged away to the pen, I could see that you had no clue what had happened. Still no excuse, but I could tell those actions weren’t your own.”

  I tried to relate to him. “Most people consider me a danger to society, so I’ve dealt with the same stigmas as a werewolf. They think the world would be a better place without old Junipher. Hell, you probably do to. As the years fly by, it gets harder and harder to defend myself. I’m a ticking time bomb. I’m trying to control it.”

  “But then you get the urges,” he said wide eyed and nodding.

  “Exactly.”

  “And you have no idea where they are coming from or how to control them?” Justinian asked rhetorically.

  I said, “I suppose we may be a lot more similar than we are different. And all it took was a five-minute chat. When we return, if you want to start your life in New York, I’ll make sure you get there safely. I can’t guarantee anything after that, though.”

  “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t want to live constantly looking over my shoulder. With my luck, I’ll be in a museum looking at a priceless painting, and boom. A silver bullet in the back of the head. The end of Justinian,” he stated dramatically.

  I realized I wasn’t getting to sleep and sat up. “I understand that too. Well, when we get back, I’ll let you return to your pack, then.”

  “But I don’t want to go back to them either.” He stopped poking the fire, smiled goofily and stared off to the side. “I want to find a wife of my own. Start my own family. I don’t want to be known as Octavius’s forty-seventh son. I want to forge my own identity and starting my own pack would go a long way toward that.”

  “But I’ve seen Caesar out with other women who don’t belong to the pack.”

  “It’s like you’re married to the pack, but you can have girlfriends on the side. Sow your wild oats. I don’t want that shallow physical release any more than I want to have intercourse with my sibling. I want something deep and meaningful,” Justinian revealed.

  “We are more alike than I’d ever imagined. I had that deep and meaningful relationship you speak of.” I paused for a second and debated how much to tell him. Fook it.

  I made sure the Morrigan was still asleep, and continued, “I loved it more than anything. And now it’s gone. I willingly took dark blood into my body just for a chance to get that feeling back. I did cruel things I never would have dreamt of on the quest to find my husband and feel whole again.”

  “I know a bit of your story. Octavius says you should forget about him and find yourself a new man.”

  “Octavius can kiss my ripe ass,” I snapped. I tried to relax. “Sorry. Well, what do you think?”

  He smirked, and the firelight pooled in the whites of his eyes. “As you can tell, I’m a dreamer. Not to sound crass, but I wouldn’t give up unless I saw the dead body.”

  “Everyone thinks I’m crazy for not giving up,” I told him.

  “Oh, I didn’t say that you weren’t crazy.” He chuckled awkwardly. “I just said you shouldn’t give up. If that’s the life you want, fight for it and never give up. I don’t want to sound out of line, but it seems like you’ve given up if you are on this journey.”

  Had I given up? The process had ground me to a pulp over the years. Turned a loving person into a lunatic. I’d been to the peak of Mount Madness and beyond. For what? More heartache and sorrow? How much more could I take?

  I explained, “The problem is that I haven’t a clue as to where he could be. I’ve traveled the world several times over on the hunt for my man. A woman can only walk so far before her legs get tired. But if that call should come, I’ll take off instantly. Without question.”

  “I can respect that.”

  I said hesitantly, “I’m going to open up to you only if you promise not to say anything.”

  Justinian turned to me and we locked eyes. “I was under the assumption all this was going to be kept under wraps. Both sides.” He wagged his finger back and forth.

  “Agreed. Just wanted to make sure.”

  “Understood,” he said, still maintaining eye contact.

  I made sure the Morrigan was still sleeping. I whispered, “The hardest part is seeing a happy couple in love. Or seeing a family and realizing that I’ll never have that happiness. I had a simple dream. A husband and kids. No fame or fortune. Just a family to call my own. You have your pack. I’ve never had one of those.”

  “Wow,” he exclaimed, blinking rapidly.

  “What? It’s true.”

  Justinian shook his head, eyes wide. “No, not that. It’s just before this trip, you’d killed my best friend and kidnapped me. You were a monster in my eyes. But after talking to you for a little bit, you’re not a monster. You’re a wounded animal. Scarred from a life you never wanted. Trapped in a corner and ready to lash out. A lot like me.”

  I said, “I never wanted any of the magic that’s inside me now. I convinced myself I needed it to find my husband. Then it snowballed out of control. Before I realized it, I was in the middle of an avalanche. Helpless to fight against it, I went with the flow. It swept me away, turning me into something different during the downhill slide. By the time the avalanche had finally stopped and I dusted off all the snow, I stared at a person I didn’t even recognize.”

  “There is always a chance at redemption,” he stated in a deeper voice.

  I exhaled audibly though my nose, hoping his words would come true. “Yes. That’s the unfamiliar path I’ve been traveling on lately. Seems to be paved with bumps and bruises so far.”

  “I’m sure it will get smoother if you keep going. Doing the right thing always seems harder than taking the easy way out. And as I say that, I realize why they call it the easy way out. For me, the easy way would be to stay with the pack and accept all the bullshit they are spoon-feeding us. You may have inspired me to take another look at my future,” he said and winked.

  I would have to let him know to ditch the sleazy wink. Later, though. I joked, “Hell, if there was a werewolf in London, there could be one in New York City.”

  He smiled and nodded. “Nice Warren Zevon reference. Although I like ‘Lawyers, Guns and Money’ myself.”

  I stared at him in disbelief. “I fookin’ love you.”

  “Excuse me?” he asked, taken aback.

  “Sorry.” I waved my hands in front of my chest. “Didn’t mean that amorously. It’s just that I’ve been making awesome pop culture references that none of my other friends seem to understand. So it’s refreshing to talk to a like mind.”

  “I would have never thought we’d have anything in common. Seems crazy that I hated you up until about twenty minutes ago.”

  “If you give me some time, I’m sure you’ll come to hate me again,” I joked. “I’ve never been a huge fan of wolves either. Toxic masculinity on steroids and cocaine. But in this line of work, I deal with that all the time. I hardly ever get a chance to work with another woman, let alone two.”

  “I know we are tracking after a dagger that speaks, but what is the bigger picture I seem to be missing?” he asked, squinting in confusion. His proper pronunciation and avoidance of contractions reminded me of Owen.

  I told him the story about the death cards and how Gareth fit into the puzzle. As I revealed the details to Justinian, it reminded me of how much work still lay ahead of us. First things first, we needed to find out if Dolphus’s tunnel led to the Goblin Queen’s castle.

  Chapter 14

  Next morning, as we crawled on our bellies in the tight tunnel to get to the Goblin Queen’s castle, my stomach churned. I hated being away from home and not knowing what was happening with the death cards. We hadn’t been gone long, but I knew supernaturals could unleash mayhem at any moment.

  I considered calling in my favor from Zeus for seven of his best me
n. I could send out a supernatural squad to hunt down the death card culprits. That plan would only be necessary if we failed on this mission, which I went back to focusing on. Nice to have in the back pocket though.

  We had been burrowing through the tunnel for about twenty minutes. Dolphus said it would take about a half hour, but I had the feeling his small body could travel faster through the enclosed path that I had to tuck my shoulders tight to my body to get through. We hadn’t thought about the body size difference until we’d entered the hole.

  Fire flamed underneath my fingertips, lighting up the path just enough for me to see a foot in front of me. Titania was in front with the Morrigan behind her. I could see the soles of the Morrigan’s boots less than a foot ahead. Justinian was crawling behind me, and every so often, he would bump my boot when I slowed down.

  I couldn’t blame him for being eager to get out of there. He wasn’t claustrophobic, but his wide shoulders probably barely fit through the hole. My biggest worry was about the prospective escape.

  Most of the goblins from the swamp grew to bigger sizes than all the other ones in Sleepy Willow. Sunlight was the number one factor that stunted their growth, and as Dolphus had pointed out, the trees covered the castle and surrounding forest. Most of them were between five and seven feet tall, but there were some monstrosities in the bunch that rivaled orcs or giants.

  Being cut off from the rest of society meant that the goblins were dumb. I concentrated on figuring out a way to use that against them. With only four people, the goblins would outnumber us greatly, so we would have to outsmart them. I tried to go over a few scenarios in my head, but the possibilities were endless.

  I’d never seen the castle, so we had no idea what we were in for. Did the tree branch still lead directly to the balcony? I shifted my thoughts to possible stakeout missions so we could find out where they were hiding the knife. Titania could prove invaluable in that effort. Since we had no clue of the knife’s location, we didn’t have the option of going straight into the castle. But my little dragonfly friend could sneak in.

  My heart palpitated at the notion that someone was playing us for fools. Several sources had confirmed the rumor about Gareth going to the castle, but it could be a smoke screen to get us off the trail. I didn’t want to believe it and chased those thoughts away. No negativity now.

  Besides, I had renewed hope in my heart from my conversation with Justinian. The fire for finding my husband had dwindled to a few glowing coals, but he had stoked the coals and ignited the flames again. I considered using my resources from Zeus to help me on that endeavor.

  The Morrigan yelled back in a muffled tone, “Titania says we’re here. She’s going to check it out.”

  I repeated the message to Justinian, and a few moments later, the Morrigan was moving again. As I crawled forward, a dull light started as just a pinprick. It expanded with each corresponding elbow forward until I stood up, my head popping out of the tunnel and into a shaded forest.

  I squeezed myself through and helped Justinian plow his way out. The young wolf greedily sucked in the fresher air. Fresher because there was a certain stench lingering in the air that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

  “Stinky ass goblins,” Titania exclaimed. “I’ll take a quick trip around to make sure no guards are snooping.” She zipped off into the distance.

  I tilted my head to the sky. The heavily camouflaged canopy above choked out the sunlight, creating a dusky forest landscape. The goblins also had tremendous vision in darker settings, which only helped them keep intruders away. Now I understood why nobody had tried to storm the Queen’s castle. Apparently, we were one crazy quaternion.

  We covered up the opening of the tunnel as quietly as possible. Titania returned and hovered in front of us.

  She said, “There are a few goblins around, but they aren’t very concerned with their watch duties. Wait til you see the size of these suckers. No lie. One of them is bigger than a cyclops.”

  Titania had an odd habit of saying ‘no lie’ a lot. I wondered why she had to stress that she wasn’t lying, and it made me doubt she was telling the truth. Probably just a little quirk, but it had always struck me as an odd phrase.

  We decided to scope out the area. None of us had been here before, and I wanted to find this tree branch that led up to a castle balcony.

  With Titania guiding the way ten feet ahead, we hiked down the hill toward the castle. We needed to develop a plan to get Gareth. I’d tried to get Titania to go ahead by herself, but she wanted backup in case she got in any trouble.

  My chest tightened as the castle came into view. The dark strong hold with four corner towers sat on top of a grassy mound, with the woods less than fifty feet away. Towering walls made of stacked black stone blocks comprised the square castle. Oversized windows were scattered haphazardly across the walls. Noticeably missing were the crenelations for archers and parapets teeming with guards.

  I surmised that since no army had ever raided the castle, the goblins didn’t need siege weapons or any long-range weapons for that matter. I’d never seen a castle appear this unprotected before. Their complacency could work to our advantage.

  I studied the branches of the trees and searched for the one that led up to the castle.

  As we moved carefully down the hillside, I noticed a large group had gathered in a stone courtyard in front of the castle. As we continued moving silently, the scene came into focus. I saw a dwarf standing on a wine barrel with a noose around his neck. The rope hung from a branch on the maple tree that grew out of the stone courtyard.

  My mind immediately went to the winter rose. How were they defying nature? The tree made much more sense because I didn’t know how deep the stone went, but it still mystified me. I shook it off and continued down the hill.

  We dipped into a dense area of the woods and the courtyard disappeared. I searched for branches that led up to the castle, but still came up empty. In my haste to find a way into the castle, I’d forgotten to keep watch around me.

  My head swiveled around, searching for any of the goblin guards. I only found trees, dirt and bushes as we arrived at another sparse area.

  I turned my attention back to the courtyard. A giant goblin was poking the dwarf with a stick and trying to make the dwarf fall off the barrel and hang himself.

  I didn’t want to watch the dwarf’s demise and scanned the rest of the courtyard. A rustling of leaves caught my attention and my neck jerked to the right. I reached out with both hands and tapped the Morrigan and Justinian. With Titania hovering right next to me, I blew gently on her abdomen to get her attention.

  They turned to me and I pointed toward the tall goblin coming our way. We moved quietly to the left and went behind a bush almost as tall as me. I could barely see the goblin through the dense shrub, but I heard him kicking the leaves and muttering under his breath.

  Dressed in a shirt and pants made from rough spun hemp, the goblin kept scratching his shoulders. His green neck and arms had avenues of black varicose veins intersecting with each other. His thick black hair looked like a blind man had cut it with a knife. The big goblin wore a nose ring and earrings made from bone. His friends in the courtyard were dressed the same and wearing similar jewelry.

  He walked right past us, not even slowing down, but still talking to himself. Dolphus’s assessment that the goblins didn’t take the forest security seriously seemed accurate. It made me wonder about the dwarf on the barrel.

  If the goblins had caught him in the forest, it would certainly ramp up security, but this guard didn’t seem to care at all. It led me to believe that they had captured the dwarf in the swamp. The forest would be swarming with guards if they had caught the dwarf in the woods. Right?

  Another thought entered my mind and made my stomach turn. The goblins had the reputation of going out into Sleepy Willow and snatching children to bring back and eat. The dwarf was only a small step away from a child and would be easier to abduct than a grown sidhe. Caught u
p in the adventure, I’d nearly forgotten about that aspect. In fact, I’d been trying to avoid thinking about it.

  My head was swimming with possibilities as we continued down the hill to get closer to the castle. I focused on the courtyard, and the dwarf dancing on the barrel, contorting his body and trying to avoid being poked by the goblin. The giant goblin hit the dwarf in the midsection with the point of the stick. The solid strike knocked the dwarf back. He waved his arms around, trying to catch his balance, but the goblin poked him again, sending the small man off the barrel.

  His faced turned bright red and his little legs flailed around, trying to get back onto the barrel, the toes of his worn-out boots barely scraping the wood. The goblins erupted in pleasure, pointing and laughing at the unlucky dwarf.

  The dwarf gagged as spittle and drool flooded from his mouth, collecting in the corners, then pouring down onto the leather shirt covering his chest. His spasmodic movements slowed and then came to a stop, his head slumped down with his chin against his chest. A slight breeze spun the body around, almost like a grotesque display for the screaming goblins.

  The guard put two fingers in her mouth and whistled loud enough for us to hear easily from fifty yards away. In a blur of green, the goblins closed in on the dwarf, ripping him to pieces. Then the goblins devoured the flesh of the dwarf, ripping away large chunks with their fangs and chewing it greedily.

  Soon after, their mouths were framed in blood, the strong burgundy color clashing vividly with the bright green goblin skin, sinking into the recesses of their wrinkled cheeks.

  I realized we had a much bigger mission on our hands now. We could grab the knife and get out without disturbing the queen or her goblin horde. But what about everyone else?

  I forced myself to watch the goblins use their claws to cut the flesh off the bones of the dwarf and stuff it into their mouths. Standing right here. Right now. How could I allow this to keep happening?

  To repair my damaged soul, I couldn’t let people suffer, especially if I was in a prime position to help. I planned to keep the idea to myself for now. The Morrigan was extremely selfish and saw death—no matter the degree of cruelty—as necessary for life. Titania and Justinian probably would jump on board, but if not, I’d go alone.