by Donna Grant
What trail? He turned in a circle, not seeing anything. Then he caught a whiff of something he knew all too well. The sweet, coppery smell of blood.
He jerked his head in its direction and hurried into the office. When he saw the drops of blood, he knew they were Gianna’s. And just as the Dark had told him, there was a trail—of blood.
Hands clenched into fists, he followed the drops to a wall. Since he knew Gianna couldn’t walk through walls, it had to be a hidden door. Frustration mounted as he took precious minutes to find the latch, which turned out to be a painting he needed to tilt to the side.
When the door slid open, he looked into the dark, narrow passage where his enemies lay in wait for him. Many of the old homes in Venice had such secret tunnels. He didn’t hesitate to enter and follow the blood. His steps were measured, slow. There were five different offshoots of the main passage, but the trail didn’t deviate. By the slope of the floor, he was descending beneath the palazzo.
After what felt like an eternity, the tunnel ended before a door. No one had stopped him. No one had been waiting for him. But that would surely change now. He could hear voices on the other side of the wooden door. As soon as he detected the Irish accents, he peeled back his lips and kicked the door in.
The wood splintered as the two male Dark jerked in surprise. Sebastian strode through the busted door and grabbed the nearest Fae, slamming his head into the stone wall.
Sebastian ducked an orb of magic thrown by the second Fae. Then he rushed the Dark with a growl, wrapping his hands around the male’s throat and squeezing it until the spinal column snapped.
He ripped the hearts out of both Dark just to be sure they were dead. His bloodlust tempered with the demise of such evil creatures and allowed the band around his heart to ease some. He took a deep breath and picked up the trail of blood again.
No doubt more Dark would attack him, but he was ready. Mikkel was doing his best to make it difficult for him to find Gianna. Why? Mikkel was the one who wanted him. If the bastard hoped to throw him off by making him trudge through the narrow passage, he was going to be in for a surprise.
Sebastian moved through the low-ceilinged rooms, each one growing larger and larger as the ground steadily inclined. He was being taken back to the surface. To what, though? Obviously it was a trap. But to what end?
He clenched his teeth together. Mikkel was bringing him someplace private, somewhere humans wouldn’t stumble upon them. And that was bad news for Gianna.
As Sebastian walked, the drops of blood became redder, fresher, signaling he was getting close. Finally, he passed through one last doorway and found himself in the middle of a large room stacked with crates.
His gaze landed on Mikkel, who had Gianna pulled back against him, his fingers wrapped around her throat tightly. Rage swelled within him at the way Mikkel was handling her. The dripping of the blood from a cut on her finger only enraged him more.
“I’m here,” he stated.
“You’ve got to be fucking joking,” Mikkel spat in a British accent. “What are you doing here, Sebastian?”
If there had been any last doubt about who Mikkel was, it was gone. But it was his surprise that shocked Sebastian. Just who had he thought was coming? “I’m looking for you.”
“Me?” Mikkel asked with a bark of laughter. “You mean Ulrik.”
Sebastian shook his head. “I mean you.”
It was the narrowing of Mikkel’s gaze that alerted Sebastian his statement didn’t sit well. Mikkel’s surprise meant only one thing—he’d made sure to keep his identity from the Kings. Any dragon would’ve been drawn to Dreagan because of the magic there, but not Mikkel. The fact he stayed away was telling. And troubling. Mikkel had to be dealt with—now.
Sebastian wanted to demand that Mikkel release Gianna, but he didn’t. To do so would let Mikkel know how much she meant to him. No matter how much Sebastian wanted to kill him, he had to get Gianna away safely.
“Why don’t we get on with this?” Sebastian asked. “You called me here for a reason.”
Mikkel’s face hardened in anger. “Where’s Ulrik? Tell him to come out.”
Now, wasn’t that an interesting development? Sebastian had come to Venice to prove that Mikkel was the one the Kings should be after, not Ulrik. And Mikkel had all but admitted he was acting alone by his words.
“Where’s Ulrik?” Mikkel shouted.
Sebastian shrugged and looked around. “How am I supposed to know?”
Mikkel laughed harshly. “I knew Ulrik would never be able to stand against Con. No’ before when he was King. No’ now.”
The Scots brogue came out loud and clear as Mikkel raged, when he’d been so careful with his British accent before. Sebastian filed that away for later. “You think I’m here with Ulrik?”
“Of course,” Mikkel said, spittle flying. “No’ that it matters. I’ve got something special planned for all of you.”
Gianna elbowed Mikkel in the side and attempted to get away. He yanked her back by the bun, causing her to cry out in pain.
Sebastian watched it all helplessly, silently raging and planning all kinds of agony for Mikkel. Before Gianna’s attempted escape, Mikkel’s attention had been on him. Now he was focused on her. Exactly what Sebastian hadn’t wanted.
“What about her?” Mikkel asked as he tugged hard on her hair.
Gianna’s face pinched with discomfort and she grabbed his hand in an effort to minimize the pain.
Sebastian kept his gaze off Gianna, though it was one of the hardest things he’d ever done. “What about her? She’s only a mortal.”
“You don’t expect me to believe that, do you?” Mikkel asked with a raised brow. “All of you Dragon Kings love to tell the women you bring to your beds who you are.”
“That’s no’ true.”
Mikkel looked between him and Gianna before he began laughing. “Ah, so you kept it from her. How fascinating. Why?”
“It’s no’ her business,” Sebastian stated.
Mikkel wrenched her head back and peered into her face. “Did you hear that? That means you weren’t important enough.”
Sebastian noted his English accent was back in place. “It means she didna need to be involved.”
“But you did involve her.” Mikkel looked at him. “You’re the one who is responsible for this. For her knowing...everything.”
Sebastian had known it would come to this. “This is between us.”
“I’m afraid not. This is so much bigger than us.” He walked to the left, half-dragging Gianna behind him.
Sebastian watched as she twisted an ankle trying to keep up with Mikkel. Strands of her hair loosened from her bun and fell about her, green eyes silently cried out for him to help. More than anything he wanted to get her from Mikkel’s grasp, but to attempt it would most likely bring about her death. So he remained still, watching them.
“Why no’ bring a human into it?” Mikkel asked, his voice raised as the brogue returned. He viciously slung Gianna against a stack of crates and released his hold on her. “The mortals were there to begin with. I think it’s fitting one be with us now.”
Sebastian took a slow step toward them. “Enough.”
“No’ nearly.” Mikkel bent and put his face next to Gianna’s in her position on the floor. “Did you know your lover is immortal? A Dragon King?”
Gianna looked from Mikkel to him, but Sebastian didn’t reply. There was nothing to say.
Mikkel laughed and straightened. “Let me give you a brief history lesson, Gianna. This realm was ours. We dragons called this planet home for millions of years before you showed up.”
Sebastian winced at the way her face lost all color.
“We had a chance to wipe you out,” he continued. “But the King of Dragon Kings chose no’ to.”
“It wasna just Con,” Sebastian stated.
Mikkel nodded, pressing his lips together. He clapped his hands once and went down on his haunches to be even with Gianna. �
�Listen close, mortal, there’s going to be a test at the end. Every dragon clan had a King. The strongest, most powerful of that clan.” He then pointed to Sebastian. “He is such a dragon.”
Sebastian was fast losing patience. “Mikkel—”
“But even the Dragon Kings need to be controlled,” Mikkel said over him. “A King of Kings. That is Constantine. You see, he and my nephew were as close as brothers. When the mortals arrived, all of the Kings were able to shift into human form to talk to them.”
“To make peace,” Sebastian interjected.
Mikkel gave a loud snort. “When we should’ve showed them who ruled, no’ moved dragons away from lands they’d had for centuries just so the fucking humans could settle.”
“You didna like that, did you?” he guessed.
Mikkel swung his head to him. “No one did.”
“But you had to listen to your King. You had to listen to Ulrik.”
“He should never have been King!” Mikkel exploded as he stood.
And that’s when the truth hit Sebastian with the force of a meteor. “You instigated the war.”
Mikkel’s smile was slow and vile. “Bravo, King. I’m almost sad you’re going to have to die.”
Chapter Sixteen
Dreagan
Con’s head jerked up from the papers he was looking over at his desk as Ryder threw open the door to his office. The look of shock and consternation on Ryder’s face had Con softly setting down his Montblanc pen as he prepared himself for whatever news was about to be dropped.
“What is it?” he asked.
Ryder walked into the office and stopped before the desk. He held out a mobile phone. Con frowned as he looked from Ryder to the device.
“Read it,” Ryder urged.
Con took the mobile and read over Sebastian’s text twice. Con slowly got to his feet as the hot coals of anger flared to life. “Thirteen words? ‘He has Gianna. He wants me. I’m going to take care of this.’ Who is Sebastian talking about?”
Ryder shrugged. “It could be Ulrik. It could be Mikkel.”
“Dammit,” Con said and tossed Ryder the phone before he crushed it in his fury. “When did that come through?”
“Just now.”
“Which means Bast sent it right before he went to meet whoever it is.”
Ryder lifted a brow and nodded. “That’s what I’d do if I wanted to keep everyone out of it.”
“Me as well,” Con admitted grudgingly.
“It’s out of our hands now.”
And that’s what pissed Con off the most. “Patience isna something I possess, especially in this instance. Find Lily and Denae. See which one wants to fly me back to Venice.”
“You could go yourself.”
After he’d grounded all the dragons, Con wasn’t going to shift and fly to Venice in his true form when none of the others could. Though it killed his soul each time he had to fly in the damn helicopters or planes.
“But you willna,” Ryder said into the silence.
Con walked around his desk. “I want to leave in the next fifteen minutes.”
“There’s no time for that.”
He halted and looked at Ryder. “What do you mean?”
“It’ll take hours to get to Venice. Hours you can no’ allow to pass. You can make it there in less than half the time.”
Con knew it was true, but still he hesitated. As the minutes ticked by, he thought of Ulrik fighting Sebastian. Did Ulrik know Bast had gone to Venice to help him? The idea of Ulrik killing Sebasatian was what finally made Con’s decision.
“Find Bast. I want to know exactly where he is by the time I reach Venice,” Con said as he strode from his office to find Arian.
Using the secret door from the conservatory into the mountain attached to the manor, Con found Arian. He motioned Arian with him as he quickly relayed what was going on while they made their way to the back entrance to the mountain.
“I need a storm stretching from here to Italy,” Con said as he removed his gold dragon-head cuff links before shrugging out of his jacket and taking off his dress shirt. His shoes and slacks were next.
Arian gave a nod as he used his power to create a storm. “Let me come with you.”
“No’ this time,” Con said as thunder rumbled around them, shaking the ground. A moment later, lightning crashed.
Con shifted and allowed himself a moment to bask in the glory of being in his true form. The weeks he’d prohibited any shifting had had a profound effect on everyone—including him. The anxiety that had gripped him lessened now. He took a deep breath and stretched his wings.
It was all he could do not to barrel from the mountain and into the air, that’s how strong his craving was to fly. And though he wouldn’t admit it to anyone, he understood and accepted Ulrik’s anger at not being able to shift.
He shoved those thoughts aside and walked to the large opening. He looked at the sky as fat raindrops began to fall. Then he spread his wings and jumped into the air. The first rush of wind over his wings made his heart catch and race with delight. He flew toward the clouds, enjoying every second.
But this exhilaration shouldn’t be his alone. He looked down at Dreagan to see the other Kings standing outside watching. He didn’t need to look at their faces to know they ached to take to the skies, that they longed to feel the wind around them.
He opened the link to all of them and said, “Resume patrols around the perimeter of Dreagan. It’s time we took back our land.”
No sooner had his words ended than each of the Kings shifted and began flying. He circled back once to see all of his brethren where they belonged—in the sky.
* * * *
Gianna shivered uncontrollably. The cold was sinking into her skin, but it was the brutality in Mikkel’s voice that froze her. There was no doubt in her mind that he intended to kill Sebastian. As crazy as the things Mikkel was saying were, she wasn’t going to stand by and watch her lover die.
“You’re wrong,” she blurted out.
Mikkel’s head slowly turned to her as he raised a brow. “I’m wrong?”
“Yes.”
He faced her and asked politely, “Which part?”
“All of it.” She glanced at Sebastian to see him shaking his head, as if telling her to stop.
Mikkel began to laugh, softly at first, but then the sound grew louder. “Oh, that never gets old. You mortals think you know everything. In fact, you know nothing. You’re like the spoiled, entitled, selfish brats I see all around me.”
“There are no dragons,” she insisted.
“There are two standing right before you.” Mikkel’s tone held a cruel edge to it as his gold eyes glowed with an intense light. “We walk around in these forms to blend in with you. But we’ve magic and powers you can’t begin to fathom.”
She lifted her chin. “Show me.”
Mikkel swung his head to Sebastian. “Yes, why don’t you show her, Sebastian? Too afraid she might run away screaming? That’s what they all do.”
“No’ all,” Sebastian stated.
Mikkel shrugged indifferently. “Most of them. There are a few who won’t, whether from curiosity or stupidity, I can’t say.” He threw out his hands and smiled widely. “I know what will liven things up. Why don’t we have more friends join our little party?”
Gianna must have hit her head earlier, because suddenly there were four more men in the room with them. They looked menacing, their attention on Sebastian. They each appeared similar, being clad in all black with various lengths of their black hair shot through with silver. Though their look was curious, there was an ominous cloud that hung over them.
Tension filled the air. The four men stood rigid, expectant. Sebastian, on the other hand, looked as if he would be happy to rip their heads off. As the seconds passed, the strain of impending battle stifled the air until it fairly vibrated with fury.
Mikkel squatted beside her, a gleeful smile in place. “Do you know who they are?”
; “How would I?” She glanced at him, noting that he didn’t seem affected by any of what she was witnessing. Perhaps that was because he was instigating all of it. The bastard.
“This is part of your lesson, so listen carefully,” he warned as he leaned close. “Those are Fae. Dark Fae, to be exact. You can always tell a Dark because of the silver in their black hair as well as their red eyes.” He wrinkled his nose and said offhandedly, “There are Light Fae as well, but they aren’t nearly as fun.”
She swallowed in alarm as she watched a swirling iridescent ball form in one of the men’s hands. She blinked rapidly, hoping it was just a trick of the light or her eyes, but there was no denying what she was seeing. It made her reevaluate her thoughts on everything Mikkel was telling her—and how Sebastian had fought not to share anything with her before.
“What’s that?” she asked softly. If she was going to watch this, then she wanted to know what she was looking at. And prepare herself both mentally and physically.
“Magic.” Mikkel smiled and said, “If you hadn’t already slept with Sebastian, I’d show you just what the Dark do to mortals. They would look at you, and you’d be on your knees stripping out of your clothes, begging them to take you. Human souls are what they feed on, and each time they have sex, they drain mortals like you of their souls. You’d die with a smile on your face, feeling nothing but pleasure. But having sex with a Dragon King seems to negate the effect the Dark have on humans.”
She jerked away from him, disgusted at his words. She wanted to tell him he was a liar, but something stopped her. Perhaps it was the orbs that were forming in the other three men’s hands. Perhaps it was the glimpse of red eyes that she got. Or it could be that she’d always known Sebastian was different from other men.
“Don’t be like other mortals,” Mikkel said. “Accept what’s before you. The Fae are here. So are the Dragon Kings.”
One of the men—Fae—lifted a ball to throw at Sebastian. It was four against one. Four with magic, and even if Sebastian had it as well, he was outnumbered. She thought fast, trying to come up with a way to pause everything. And then it hit her.