Zak cast me an unreadable look, then climbed out the other door. He’d barely said a word on the drive from the airport, his silence borderline hostile. As Makiko exited from the passenger seat, I hauled my weary butt out of the car, dragging the backpack with me.
Light brightened as the house’s front door opened. Aaron’s familiar silhouette leaned on the jamb, observing the new arrivals. We hadn’t been able to warn him that we were back, or what had happened while we were gone. Kai had ditched our burner phone in LA to better cover our tracks—especially since Zak’s vine-monster spell meant the precinct incident would make international mythic news.
Part of me hoped Aaron would keep his cool when he found out what was going on, but another part really wanted him to explode. A few fireballs to Makiko’s face would make me feel so much better.
She pushed to the front of our small group and strode up the walkway. Aaron watched her approach, then stepped back. She marched through the door, stopped to remove her tall leather boots, then resumed her bold entrance.
Kai didn’t bother to take his shoes off, but he lived here, so whatever. I left mine on too, just in case I needed to kick a certain someone in her pretty little kneecaps. We all piled into the living room, and my gaze swept hungrily across the space, searching.
Ezra stood in front of the sofa, his feet set and hands hanging loose at his sides in readiness. His gaze flicked across Kai and Makiko before giving me a swift once-over, checking that I was unharmed.
Aaron retreated to Ezra’s side, the pair of mages facing Kai and Makiko, and I was reminded of a different tense encounter in this room, where Aaron and Ezra had also faced off with Kai and a suspicious stranger.
I glanced around, realizing Zak hadn’t come inside with us.
“Kaisuke,” Makiko commanded sharply. “Get your things. You have five minutes.”
I rolled my eyes. Why politely remove her boots if she was going to act like that as soon as she was inside?
Aaron’s cautious expression hardened. “Who are you?”
“Makiko Miura. You would be Aaron Sinclair.” His name came out of her mouth in a sneer, and I wondered if she blamed him for Kai’s defection from his family—and her life.
Aaron’s disbelieving stare shot from her to Kai and back. “Makiko?”
“Kaisuke is coming with me. You may say goodbye if you’d like. You will not see him again.”
Aaron’s hands formed instant fists and sparks leaped from his fingers.
Kai stepped around Makiko, crossed to his best friend, and grasped his shoulder. “Miura-sama, may I handle this, please?”
Her lips thinned. Pivoting on her heel, she strode back to the entryway—which put her two steps away from me. I considered joining Kai, who was speaking to Aaron and Ezra in a rapid murmur, then tossed Kai’s backpack onto the recliner, regretting my decision to pack up my artifacts so I wouldn’t lose any on the jet. Getting the Queen out now would be like announcing my intent to attack.
“You knew him eight years ago,” I told Makiko quietly. “But you don’t know him now.”
She ignored me.
“What?” Aaron yelled. “That’s bullshit! No way in hell are you—”
Kai cut him off, his voice a low, urgent rumble.
I stepped closer to her. “You have no idea what he wants, what he cares about, or what he’s like.”
Her breath rushed between her lips, then she pushed her shoulders back. “That’s what you’re failing to understand. What he wants and what he cares about are selfish distractions. The interests of our families must always take priority.”
“Why should he do a damn thing they want when they treat him like—”
She leaned toward me. “A Yamada heir who puts himself first has no place in the family. I will make Kaisuke valuable to his family, indispensable to them, not only because that’s what’s best for me and my family, but because that’s the only way he can survive.”
Whirling away from me, she raised her voice. “Kaisuke, I’ve changed my mind. If you want anything from this house, I’ll send someone to get it. We’re leaving.”
Aaron’s head snapped around. “If you think you can just—”
“Now, Kaisuke!”
Kai muttered one more thing to Aaron, then squeezed Ezra’s shoulder. Three best friends, as close as brothers. They’d fought together, grown together, suffered and survived together.
Now Aaron and Ezra had to watch Kai walk away from them, and not even Ezra could hide the pain on his face.
Kai plucked his phone off the end table, where it waited beside mine—our tech alibis—
then strode over to me and Makiko. He swept me off my feet in a hug, his cheek pressed to mine.
“I’m counting on you, Tori,” he whispered. “Keep them under control. Keep them safe.”
I clamped my arms around him. “This isn’t over.”
He gripped me harder, his forehead dropping to my shoulder. “Please, Tori.”
My eyes stung, and I sucked in a trembling breath. He held on a moment longer, then released me. I dashed my hand across my wet eyes as he stepped past me. Makiko zipped up her boots, and she and Kai walked out of the house. The screen door banged shut behind them.
I stared across the room at Aaron and Ezra, our shared anguish reverberating in the space between us.
Aaron’s expression crumpled—then he bared his teeth. “No. No fucking way.”
Flames rippled over his fingers, singeing his sweater’s sleeves. He stormed forward, furious strides eating up the room.
Heart cramming itself into my throat, I stepped into his path. “Aaron, please wait—”
“No, Tori.” His eyes sparked like blue fire. “Kai is letting this happen—but I won’t.”
My mouth opened, but panic threaded through my grief and helplessness. I didn’t try to stop him as he swept past me. He hit the front door at a jog.
“Makiko!” he roared.
Ezra grabbed my hand, racing for the door after Aaron. We ran out onto the steps as Aaron reached the bottom, fire blazing over his clenched fists.
Kai had already disappeared into the car, and only Makiko, standing beside the open passenger door, turned to face the oncoming pyromage. A silver rod from her belt was in her hand, and with a flick of her wrist, she snapped it sideways.
The rod opened into a gleaming metal fan, each featherlike panel inscribed with runes.
“Hyah!” she shouted ferociously, sweeping it sideways through the air.
Dirt and leaves blew skyward. The howling gust lifted Aaron off the ground and flung him across the yard. He smashed into me and Ezra, knocking us backward. We crumpled in a heap on the front stoop.
A car door slammed. The engine revved.
“No!” Aaron snarled, shoving himself up.
The black sedan accelerated up the street. Its taillights flashed around the corner, then it was gone.
Ezra’s arms were around me, one hand shielding the back of my head from an impact with the stoop. Aaron’s heavy weight lifted off us. As I slowly sat up, he strode down the steps, breathing hard. I blinked sluggishly in the silence, not quite able to believe it.
Kai was gone. He’d left. He’d gone with Makiko, allowing her to steal him away from us.
“You’re a dramatic bunch.”
My head jerked toward the voice that had rumbled from the shadows. Zak leaned against the house beside the living room window, one side of his face lit by the interior lights.
“What—” Aaron gasped. “You! What the hell are you doing here?”
I pretended not to notice how the air around Ezra chilled warningly. Pushing to my feet, I dusted my clothes off.
“I thought you’d left,” I told the druid.
“Am I supposed to walk home?”
My teeth clenched. “Could you not be an asshole for once? This all happened because Kai and I went to LA to save you.”
“Kai went to LA?” Aaron tore his glare off the druid. “That’s the
seat of Yamada power!”
My shoulders slumped and I wrapped my arms around myself. “I didn’t know that. He didn’t tell me. He said it was fine …”
Ezra placed his hand on the small of my back, his gentle touch grounding me against a tide of guilt and regret. As tears welled in my eyes and spilled down my cheeks, Aaron pulled me into his arms, the same way Kai had moments ago. Ezra shifted closer, standing right behind me, offering silent support.
“It’s not your fault.” Aaron cradled me against his chest as I sniffed back tears. “Kai never told you anything about—
An electronic ring jolted through me.
Aaron and I broke apart, and he shoved his hand in his pocket. He yanked out his phone, the screen lit with an incoming call.
He slapped the phone to his face. “Kai, are you—” He broke off, forehead scrunching. “Oh, Shane. Sorry, I … Look, I’m in the middle of someth—” Another pause, and I could vaguely hear a male voice speaking rapidly. Aaron’s eyes widened. “They’re under attack? What does that even … Shit. Okay, I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes … Fine, ten minutes.”
He ended the call with a curse. “That was Shane. A group of rogues is laying siege to the Pandora Knights guild—”
“What?” I gasped.
“—and it’s a goddamn warzone. Shane’s on his way to pick me up so we can get over there.”
“He’s on his way?” My panicked stare jumped to the extremely wanted rogue standing in plain sight. “But—but—but this is a really bad time!”
Zak pushed off the wall. “I wasn’t planning to stick around anyway.”
“Oh yeah?” I stepped away from Aaron and Ezra as the druid walked onto the lawn. “I’m still waiting for you to thank us for saving your ungrateful ass.”
“I didn’t ask you to save me.”
A high-pitched hiss escaped my clenched teeth. I stomped up to him and stopped almost on his toes. “Well, we did save you, and now you owe us. And I’m calling in my favor immediately.”
He tilted his head back, gazing at the dark sky. “I agree that I owe you, but it’ll have to wait. I have more important things to worry about than Kai’s family drama.”
“Too freaking bad.” I grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked hard, trying to force him to look at me. “Zak!”
He pushed me backward. “Get out of the way.”
“Out of the way of what?” I growled, tightening my grip on his shirt. “You—”
“Tori, move—”
Wind blasted over us.
Debris flew everywhere, my hair whipped across my face—and something boomed like a parachute catching the wind. A solid force slammed me into Zak. The world spun, I was being crushed around the middle, the wind was roaring in my ears—
And the ground disappeared from beneath my feet.
Monstrous black wings, dusted with blue and purple stars, swept down, propelling us higher. Shimmering galaxies swirled in waves, and it took my bewildered brain a moment to recognize the shape.
A dragon.
The huge winged reptile soared upward. Below us, Aaron and Ezra were specks, their pale faces tilted upward as the dragon carried me into the night sky.
Chapter Ten
“Echo!” Zak shouted over the roaring wind. “You weren’t supposed to bring her!”
I gasped for breath, crushed against Zak, the dragon’s huge clawed hand encircling us both. The air was so cold it hurt.
“That doesn’t mean—I know, but take her back!”
Another sweep of giant wings. The city lights, far below, shimmered and rippled, losing solidity as though we were underwater—a terrifying distortion I remembered from my one and only dragon flight before this.
“Z-z-zak,” I chattered. “What the h-hell is g-g-going on?”
He started to speak but the wind whipped his words away. Leaning close, he put his mouth to my ear, his breath hot on my chilled skin. “I called him to take me home, and since you were standing with me, he decided you were coming too.”
“B-b-but—”
“He won’t go back. You’re coming along for the ride now.”
The world eddied and shimmered around us, obscuring my view of the ground and warping the passage of time. I had no idea if seconds or hours were passing, aware only of the icy wind and Zak’s body heat. That, and the crushing grip of the dragon’s foot, but like hell I was going to ask Echo to loosen his hold on the shrimpy, wingless humans. Echo was enough of a dickhead to take that as permission to drop us. He and Zak were a matched pair of dickish jerks.
My stomach swooped as the dragon began to descend. His shimmering black wings surged up and down in a sedate rhythm, and the rippling world began to steady.
The darkness resolved into a star-dusted sky, the waxing moon peeking out from behind thin clouds. Its silvery light reflected off snow-capped mountains, the white peaks seeming to glow. They jutted into the sky all around us, stretching as far as I could see.
Echo soared over a ridge, then tilted his wings to sweep into a dark valley. I squeezed my eyes shut, unable to watch as the ground rushed toward us. Our plummet abruptly slowed, the wind whipping over me, then a jolt and a thud as we landed.
I cracked my eyes open.
Echo lowered me and Zak, and my feet met wonderfully solid ground. His thick, scaled digits uncurled and I staggered backward, limbs numb. Zak caught my arms and pulled me upright.
Echo’s huge body, luminescent with soft swirls of blue and purple light, cast an eerie glow over the thin dusting of snow, but neither the snow nor the darkness could hide the charred, lifeless earth that surrounded us.
Zak’s hands tightened, squeezing hard.
A soft whoosh of wings much smaller than the dragon’s broke the silence. A black eagle glided out of the darkness on outspread wings. Shadows spiraled around Lallakai as she swept to Zak’s side, and her human form appeared, her bare feet touching down with soundless grace.
“My druid,” she breathed throatily, enveloping Zak in a tight embrace
I stepped back, pulling away from his hands. Lallakai purred delightedly at her consort’s return, her full bosom pressed against his arm and a hand splayed against his chest. Her crystalline eyes cut across me, her gaze lacking either gratitude or warmth.
Zak didn’t seem to notice her. He was staring into the distance, his face tight.
I turned. The gentle hill slanted down toward the base of the valley where the house, gardens, and stable formed the three points of a sprawling triangle beside the winding creek.
The house was a crumbling, blackened ruin. The barn was a burnt shell. The garden was gone—along with every tree, every plant, every blade of grass. Everything was black, scorched … dead.
With the scuff of slow steps, Zak walked past me. I wasn’t sure he saw me any more than he’d noticed Lallakai’s arrival. Her expression sobered as she followed him, a respectful two steps behind. Despite his sleeveless shirt, he seemed unaware of the cold as he trekked down the slope toward the ruins of his home.
I watched him go, my heart aching.
Light erupted in a colorful swirl behind me. Wisps of mist and magic circled the massive dragon crouched on the hillside. The rippling distortion spread outward, then sucked back in, and with a shower of azure sparks, it disappeared.
Echo turned his midnight eyes on me, his smooth, androgynous features as indecipherable as his reptilian face had been. Exotic robes draped his slim humanoid frame, and his raven hair, streaked with blue and purple, hung over his shoulder in a thin braid that fell to his waist. Black wings, shimmering with stars, rose off his back and a long dragon tail rested on the ground behind him.
In my totally unbiased opinion, he was way more beautiful than Lallakai.
“Brazen one,” he said softly, the words accented by his otherworldly voice. “We meet again.”
“Hi,” I mumbled. “Why did you bring me here? I don’t think Zak wants company.”
The dragon fae studied me. “Come, h
uman child.”
“Where?”
He glided into motion, following Zak’s footprints in the snow. The druid wasn’t moving quickly. He was only halfway to the house’s wreckage.
I fell into step beside the wyldfae, scarcely able to comprehend his existence. Rows of tiny horns in the same pattern as on his reptilian head poked out of his hair. His ears looked just like Legolas’s.
His eyes turned to me, and I forgot all about make-believe elves and movie makeup tricks. His stare pulled me in, black holes of mystery, unearthly wisdom, and unfathomable power. Fear tingled in my fingers and toes. As we drew nearer to Zak and Lallakai, I rubbed my hands together to banish the feeling. Was it the cold? An icy wind was blowing through the valley in half-hearted spurts, tugging at my hair.
I’d thought Zak was heading toward the burnt-out husk of his house, but he angled in a different direction. With ever-slowing steps, he approached the barn.
Ten paces away, he stopped. Lallakai waited behind him, her hands folded patiently in front of her. For a full minute, he stood there, then he forced himself forward again. He walked to the wide threshold, the shattered door lying on the floor inside. He placed a hand against the charred frame, his head bowed. He didn’t enter. Just reaching the building had taken all his resolve.
Deep, icy horror crystalized inside me. The barn. His horses. They weren’t … they couldn’t be … inside?
A memory, soft and brightly lit like a pleasant dream: Zak striding into the green pasture beneath the cheerful summer sun, whistling for his horses. Their perked ears and bouncy trots as they came to greet him. His gentle hands patting their shoulders and stroking their noses as he carefully checked each horse’s health before leading one to the barn to be groomed and saddled.
My throat closed and my eyes burned. One palm on the doorframe, head and shoulders bent with grief, Zak stood motionless. Steeling myself, I took a step toward him.
Cool hands touched my shoulders, halting me. Echo’s breath stirred my hair.
“To your eyes, he stands alone.” He leaned down, his head above my shoulder, silky strands of his hair brushing against my cheek. “Do you wish to see what my eyes can reveal?”
Druid Vices and a Vodka: The Guild Codex: Spellbound / Six Page 9