by Dianna Love
A huge black beast raced down the stairs, yellow eyes glowing and lips pulled back to expose sharp fangs.
Storm burst into the room and roared so loudly the windows should be exploding.
Tzader dove down the stairs and around the corner right behind him.
Warlocks were yelling and throwing hits of power at the jaguar’s coat, striking him glancing blows.
Storm flew around the room, slapping sharp claws at anything standing that could bleed.
Tzader engaged the warlock Trey had fingered as the leader, who kicked and spun his hands like a ninja set on fast-forward. He hammered a kinetic blow at the warlock’s head before the Medb could release whatever he was spinning.
The guy flew backwards, slammed the wall, and came down on both feet, ready to fight.
Damn, that sucker was going to be tough to kill.
Evalle and Trey each engaged a warlock. Storm leaped onto the back of one and chomped down on a big shoulder. The warlock screamed.
If he had any idea of what Scáth Force could do, Tzader would link with Evalle and Trey, but they did not link unless they were certain they could defeat an enemy. Scáth Force were unknowns at this point.
Tzader kept tossing kinetic slugs, right, left, right, left.
Blood sprayed from the guy’s nose on the last one.
Lifting the warlock by the throat with kinetic force, Tzader had intended to slam him down.
The bastard’s black lips opened, and a torrent of purple smoke boiled in Tzader’s face, blinding him momentarily. He couldn’t let go unless he was ready to die.
Boot heels ran across the floor behind Tzader.
That had to be the one who’d planned to escape and bring back reinforcements. Just as Storm had said.
Listening to the footsteps, Tzader spun twice and threw the smoke-bomb warlock in the direction of the noise with every bit of kinetic power he possessed.
Bones cracked as bodies smacked together and hit a solid wall with a crunch that should mean dead.
Eyes burning from the acidic smoke, Tzader could barely make out the two warlocks as they scrambled to their feet. Both launched their bodies at him. Not nearly dead enough. This was taking too damn long.
Everyone and everything kept delaying his getting to Brina.
Screw it. He was done. I will not lose the woman I love.
Running toward them, Tzader lifted his hands and shoved his energy into a kinetic wall powered by all the frustration of the past week. The force slammed into the duo, driving them back into the concrete wall.
They hit so hard this time that both heads shattered like crushed eggs.
Tzader kept ramming them anyway. If not for the Medb, Brina would not have had to be locked away for years. Now he had to yank a dragon out of a throne shape, and he couldn’t even do that. He’d avoided accepting it, but that damn scale would run out of energy in less than an hour.
There was no way to reach her before that. Maybe not ever.
Someone grabbed an arm on each side of him.
Evalle said, “Tzader, they’re dead. We’re done.”
He shook with the adrenaline flooding him, but he dropped the connection and the bodies fell in two mangled heaps. Turning, he sucked in a deep breath, aware of Trey and Evalle watching him. “I’m fine. How are the witches?”
Trey said, “Those three at the end of the room are dead.”
Evalle ran up the stairs and came back just as quickly with an arm full of clothes. “Over here, Storm,” she called to the big cat still stalking the room, like a predator pissed off because his hunt had been cut short.
She dropped what he needed in a clean spot and used his coat to cover the young woman with the blank eyes. “This one’s got a pulse, but she’s cold and in bad shock.”
Tzader moved over to Mattie and started freeing her legs from the leather straps. Mattie made a noise. Tzader stepped up to face her. “Are you okay? Is anything broken or ... hurt?”
“I’m fine.” She sounded drunk, but he doubted she’d had a drop of alcohol. “My granddaughter.” She turned to the side and whimpered. “What did he do to her?”
“Are you Mattie?” Tzader asked, trying to engage her again.
Sniffling, the witch looked around. “Yes. Where is he?”
“They’re all dead.”
She tried to sit up and Tzader put his arm behind her fragile body. She said, “Those are Medb warlocks. They didn’t kidnap us.”
“What?”
Her words were still a little slurred, but new strength wound through her voice with each word. “That bastard. A disgusting, yellow-skinned wizard.”
Grendal? Please tell me I’m wrong. Tzader didn’t want to ask the next question, because he knew the answer would make him sick. “Did you see a young woman here by the name of Lanna?”
“Yes. His creepy assistant captured her sneaking around outside. She’s a sweet girl. When that slimeball questioned her, she said she’d used a bit of animal hair to find me. She said it loud so I would hear. She was letting me know my Oskar was safe. Look around you. This whole, horrible thing was about finding that girl. The wizard had offered to trade Queen Maeve five of us for Lanna, but then he found her first.”
Shit. Shit. Shit. Tzader turned to Storm, who had just pulled his shirt over his head, finished dressing. “Can you scent Lanna in here, Storm?”
“No, and I didn’t scent her outside either. The wizard must have cleaned her scent or replaced it. I could smell the strongest scent in here, and it’s the same odor I encountered twice a few months back. I didn’t recognize it last night at Mattie’s house,” he said, walking over to Tzader. “The trail was somehow concealed from that point, too, which was not normal.”
Tzader admitted, “I think Grendal’s the wizard behind all this.”
Evalle walked up. “It’s got to be him, Storm. He was involved in the beast games. You picked this scent at Mattie’s house that you recognized as being from the illegal beast fight in the mountains where we met Imogenia.” She cringed in Tzader’s direction. “That you don’t want to know about since you were Maistir at the time, so forget I mentioned that.”
“The least of my worries right now.” Tzader swallowed. “Grendal has Lanna. This was all set up just to capture her.”
Evalle said, “We heard. What are we going to do now?”
Tzader looked at his watch.
All he could think about was that the dragon scale Brina had was losing power by the second.
She’d be alone, and vulnerable to whatever Macha had in mind, none of which was in Brina’s best interest.
If Macha hadn’t done something already.
Brina’s last time in hologram form had him worried. The fact that she’d been failing to dream walk concerned him even more. He’d been refusing to focus on any of that because, if he did, he’d lose his ability to think clearly or to lead his team.
Mattie stared at her granddaughter and snuffled softly.
Tzader patted Mattie’s shoulder. “Our people will be here soon. We have druids who can help her.”
“We have Adrianna outside shielding some of our group, too,” Evalle said as she walked around Mattie’s table to stand next to Tzader.
Mattie turned her nose up. “I don’t need any Sterling witch to take care of my family.”
Ah, hell. Tzader didn’t want to put those two anywhere near each other. Adrianna’s patience had already been tested severely by Daegan.
When Trey came over, he explained that he was handpicking Beladors he could trust to transport the women, but he had to find the ones who were not already on duty with non-Beladors and give them time to access ambulances not presently in use. Trey asked Mattie questions about what had happened. Knowing him, he was also using telepathy concurrently to communicate and organize the medical support.
Evalle nudged Tzader with a shoulder.
He asked, “What?”
“Don’t give up hope,” she whispered. “We will save Brina.”
He gave her a sad smile, not even trying to deny where his mind had been. “I have to break a two-thousand-year-old curse to free a dragon and take him to Treoir. I have no way to get the dragon to Treoir. I also have to find Lanna before Grendal leaves the country with her, and Quinn is putting himself in danger right now trying to keep Maeve and Cathbad out of our way. Looking pretty bleak.”
He reached to free Mattie’s arm from the leather clasp.
Light flashed and a cloud of sparkles showered in one spot. When it cleared, a six-foot-two woman with rich mocha skin, eyes sparkling like sapphires, and auburn hair blanketing her shoulders stood glaring at everyone in the room.
Her gaze landed on Tzader’s hands still holding one last strap on Mattie’s arm.
The Amazon beauty’s frigid gaze went to Tzader’s face. She announced, “You die first.”
Chapter 32
Evalle shoved a kinetic force field in front of her, Mattie, and Tzader. In a flash, Storm and Trey showed up next to her and Tzader. Had Grendal set this as a trap, then sent someone back to the basement to wipe them all out?
The crazy sparkly woman pointed her finger and said, “Now you’re just pissing me off—”
Mattie called out, still sounding drugged. “Don’t harm them, Caron! They’re saving me.”
Evalle groaned. “Crap.” Now she recognized that face as the one in the photo at Mattie’s house The photo that had freakin’ looked up at her.
Caron pulled back her still-loaded finger and tapped her chin. “Mattie? What are you doing here?”
“Having tea. What the hell does it look like?”
“Your language could use a good scrubbing,” Caron muttered, then focused on Evalle and her group. “You were snooping around Mattie’s house.”
Caron knew? That was give-you-nightmares scary, and Evalle couldn’t deny the accusation. “I was trying to find out who’d kidnapped her.”
With no indication of whether she accepted that or not, Caron ordered, “Drop that ridiculous shield or I’ll turn it into a head wrap for all of you.”
Since they’d all heard that Caron was capable of leveling a city, Evalle lowered her shield. She asked Caron, “How’d you know she was here?”
“You talkin’ to me?” Caron replied in a voice pitched with an accent straight from a New York ’hood.
Trey snapped his fingers. “De Niro in Taxi Driver, right?”
“I should never have encouraged you to watch my movies,” Mattie grumbled. “Worst Robert De Niro impression ever.”
Evalle’s mouth dropped open. Mattie was just waking up from being obviously abused, they were surrounded by innocent women who, from the look of it, might never fully recover from the horror they’d suffered, and these two were sniping at each other about movies.
“Better than you crooning songs by that old fart, Sinatra, while you cook.”
Mattie gasped. “You are so disrespectful.”
“You are so right.”
Caron marched over to where Mattie was sitting completely upright now, with Tzader’s help. Mattie said, “Glad you’re here, but I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow. What brought you in early?”
“I got a message.”
Mattie studied Caron with lifted eyebrows. “Oh? From an old boyfriend?”
“From an old slug.” Caron glanced around her. “What are you doing in this place?”
Mattie gave Caron a short version of what Grendal had done.
“He’s mine,” Caron declared, leaving no room for discussion.
Evalle would like to watch Grendal go up against Caron. She had a hunch Grendal had picked his last fight. But she doubted Grendal would be traveling alone. Evidently Caron believed she could take on anything. Guess we’ll find out.
Tzader told Caron, “He has a young woman who is important to us. We need to find out what Grendal’s done with her before anyone kills him.”
Caron huffed. “Why is this my problem?”
Evalle started to speak, but Mattie beat her to it. “Because that young woman put her life at risk to find me, plus she’s the reason I’m not dead, and now we have a chance to save Sissy.”
Caron’s forehead creased in confusion. “Sissy? What’s wrong with her? Where is she?”
Mattie pointed to the next bed. Tzader stepped aside as Caron hurried around. Trey had found a blanket to better cover up Mattie’s granddaughter, who had yet to make a sound. When Caron pulled the cover back, she sucked in a breath at the vicious bruises, dried blood, and the glassy-eyed stare.
Caron released that breath in a vicious growl.
Emotion rasping her voice, Mattie said, “Grendal raped and tortured her because I wouldn’t help him find Lanna. I didn’t know where she was, but even if I’d known, we don’t sacrifice one life for another. What are we going to do?”
Caron tenderly stroked the young woman’s forehead, then brushed her eyelids closed. “Let me clear her memories and put her into a deep sleep to allow her body to begin healing. She’ll need at least a week in stasis, then we’ll figure it out.” Caron laid her hand back on the abused woman’s forehead and murmured soft words, which Evalle doubted she would recognize even if Caron had spoken louder.
Once the Fae woman had finished, she turned to Mattie. “I need to follow this wizard while the trail is fresh. Are you safe until I return?”
“Yes, but how will you find them so quickly? From what Grendal was saying, he and his bodyguard were leaving with Lanna and heading for an airport. They were using a vehicle. No way to follow a scent.”
Caron stared at her half sister for long seconds, then finally said, “Do you have anything the wizard touched?”
“Sissy’s shirt. He tore it off her.”
“Probably this one,” Trey said as he crossed the room and lifted a pink sweatshirt spotted with blood. “It was underneath her table when we came in.” He brought it to Caron, who nodded her acknowledgement and said, “I know someone who can find them with this.”
Mattie’s mouth fell open. “You think Deek will help?”
Caron shrugged. “If he refuses me, I’ll rip his tongue out.”
Evalle met Tzader’s gaze. Having a centaur and Fae battle would put the cherry on this day.
“Caron,” Mattie said in a tired voice.
“Oh, all right. I’ll try not to kill him before I get what I need. Satisfied?”
“Yes. Please find the girl. If there’s a choice between bringing Lanna back safely and killing Grendal, save the girl, because he plans something worse for her than he did to Sissy.”
Tzader interrupted. “Hold on. Depending on how long it takes you to get back, we may have to leave with the women. I have three people outside, a block away, who will be exposed if any Medb show up and the cloaking fails.”
Evalle ticked each threat off mentally. Queen Maeve, Cathbad, or the Scáth Force. Then there was Macha and VIPER.
“I don’t have time to waste,” Caron said. “You will protect these women with your life and stay here until I return.”
Tzader went from understanding to fierce in two seconds. “Now wait a minute.”
Caron lifted her arms and vanished.
“Shit!”
His outburst worried Evalle. “I’m not just sitting here.”
Mattie warned, “Please give her a chance to find Grendal and come back. If I know Caron, she’ll find them fast and return in a blink. She left Sissy and me only because I told her I trust you. As long as I’m right here with you when she returns, it will be fine. If not, well, let’s just say it would be dangerous to push her when she’s already on edge. She and Sissy are very close.”
Evalle suggested to Tzader, “All the women are stable right now. What if Trey and I bring the other three here?”
“That’s a much better idea than crossing Caron,” Mattie interjected. “She acts as if ice water runs through her veins, but the truth is she’s insanely protective of those she holds dear. Give her a chance to find this Grendal and your Lanna.”<
br />
Tzader had little choice, which showed on his face.
It wasn’t as though he could make it to Treoir without getting Tristan back up to speed anyway, and that wasn’t happening any time soon.
~*~
Evalle and Trey hurried to where Adrianna, Tristan, and the grouchy dragon waited in the park at the corner.
Adrianna was starting to tire from trying different approaches with the throne while maintaining the cloaking. Tristan had fallen asleep, and the dragon started in on Evalle and Trey the minute they entered the concealed area.
Daegan ordered, “What is taking you so long? How do you people get anything done?”
Tristan shook his head and stood up, listing to one side. He shoved a hand against the wall to support himself. His words were mangled. “We reshcued you, didn’t we? Why, I’m shtill not sure.”
Evalle heard the slur in Tristan’s speech and took a closer look.
Daegan scoffed, “Pat yourself on the back for a half-assed mission. Yes, I’m out of the tower, but locked in this form I’m a sitting target.”
“Detailsh, detailsh,” Tristan mumbled.
Evalle frowned at Tristan. “Can you walk a block under your own power?”
“Sure.”
She turned to the witch. “Adrianna, if you’ll keep us cloaked until we reach that next building, you’ll get a break.”
“Done.”
“Trey and I are going to carry the throne.”
Tristan slurred, “Not usin’ ki...neticsh?”
“We’re pretty wiped out and have to save what we have in case more Medb show up.” However, as a Belador, and especially as an Alterant-gryphon, she was far stronger than a human.
She tilted the throne back and caught his shoulders. Trey grabbed the bottom.
Daegan grumbled, “This is absurd.”
Evalle held her head back away from that fire-breathing snout. “We killed five of their elite Scáth Force, which means someone will come looking for them or the witches as soon as Cathbad and Queen Maeve leave the Tribunal meeting we set up to get them out of Tŵr Medb. One of our friends is keeping those two busy arguing a case, but there’s a limit to how much time anyone can drag out one of those meetings. Unless you want to remain right here in this form forever, work with us while we get the witches set.”