He shook his head.
“Not sure but I think I heard your mother calling for help. I’m going on ahead.”
And with that, he put on an astonishing burst of speed that left Lucia panting behind him. She was grateful he was so protective of her family but at the same time, her heart was crying out with fear inside her.
“Please,” she prayed, though she wasn’t sure who she was praying to. “Please, oh please—not my mom or my kids! Let them be okay! Please!”
When she finally reached the open door of her apartment, she saw that chaos reigned inside.
Lady was lying on her side, whining weakly, obviously injured, and Luci’s mom was clutching an arm which might be broken. The twins were holding hands and crying on one corner and Frannie…
Luci’s eyes flew around the living room desperately.
“Frannie!” she exclaimed and looked at her mother. “Mami, where’s Frannie? Where’s my little girl?”
“Oh, Lucia!” Her mother broke down crying. “That hijo de puta, Tony took her!” she wailed. “I’m so sorry, mija—I tried to stop him but he had a baseball bat! He hit Lady when she tried to keep Frannie safe and he hit me too.” She nodded at her arm.
“Where did they go? How long as it been?” Raze demanded.
“I don’t know where they went—out of the building I think.” Luci’s mom shook her head. “And it’s only been five minutes or so—if you hurry you might catch him!”
“I’m going!” Raze turned to her. “You stay here—it might be dangerous.”
“No!” Luci exclaimed. “Frannie is my baby! I’m going with you.” She looked at her mom. “Will you be okay?”
“Go—go, mija.” Her mom jerked her chin at the door. “Get the baby back. She was scared to death when he grabbed her.” Her wrinkled face dissolved into tears. “Madre de Dios, what are we going to do?”
“We’re going to get her back,” Raze growled. “Come on, Lucia.” And he grabbed her hand and dragged her down the hallway.
Thirty-One
Raze could smell the little girl’s scent clearly—it was a familiar one to him, though now it was laced with fear. She was clearly terrified of her biological father and no wonder! A male who would hurt an animal and an elderly female and kidnap a child was out of control.
He had to find her before it was too late.
Once out on the street, the scent became a little less clear because it was mixed with so many others. Raze spent a moment with his nose lifted to the air, sorting the different smells to find the ones he wanted—Frannie’s sweet little girl smell and the sour stink of the angry, crazy male who had snatched her.
“Where is she? Can you find her?” Luci asked anxiously. Raze wished his mate would have stayed inside with her mother and the twins but he understood why she couldn’t. First and foremost she was a mother and he could feel her terror at the thought that her disgusting ex-mate had stolen her daughter away.
As he thought that, he finally caught Frannie’s scent again.
“This way!” he exclaimed and ran down the sidewalk as fast as he could.
He skidded to a stop in front of the alley where he had first found the kittens—that fateful night when he had met Lucia. Was it only a month ago? And now he smelled the two scents he was tracking coming from the dark, dirty space.
“Is she in here?” Luci demanded, running up behind him, panting. “Frannie!” she called, not waiting for an answer. “Frannie, mija! Where are you?”
“Mami?” Frannie’s voice was high and scared.
“Get back!” another voice shouted—a louder, male voice. It must be Luci’s ex-mate, Raze thought. Peering into the darkness, he saw the two of them standing near the end of the dead-end alley.
The male had wild eyes and disheveled dark hair. In one hand he had a wooden bat and with the other, he was gripping the little girl’s arm so tightly it looked like he might be in danger of breaking her wrist.
He must have seen them coming and dragged her down here, not knowing it was a dead end, Raze thought. And now he looked desperate enough to do anything.
“Mami!” Frannie cried again, a thin, wavering desperate sound that made Raze’s heart fist in his chest.
Mine! he thought angrily. She’s mine—they all are! Mine to care for and protect and this male thinks he can come in and hurt one of them? One of my family? I don’t think so!
“Don’t you mean ours?” the voice of his Drake spoke up inside his head. Raze felt it spread his wings, a roiling sense of menace radiating from it like black smoke.
His first impulse was to reign his other half in. But then he heard a voice that
was neither the Drake’s, nor Lucia’s speaking in his ear.
“Release your other half, Warrior,” it said in a clear, authoritative tone. “For this very moment was your desire to have a Drake within you granted. Release him and let him help you save your new family.”
“Goddess?” Raze asked hoarsely. He looked at Lucia, who nodded at him.
“I heard her too,” she sent through their link. “Do what she says but first let me talk to them.”
“I’m ready when you are,” Raze growled.
“Tony, let her go.” Lucia lifted her voice. “You only have one chance—let her go now and you might be okay.”
“You think I’m scared of that big freak you’re shacking up with?” Tony’s face was twisted into an ugly sneer. “I already called ICE on your mom! They’re gonna come get her within the hour and then let’s see who gets to keep the kids!”
“Let her go,” Raze’s voice was already more than half roar. It shook the shadows that filled the alley and reverberated with echoes of his Drake, which was stirring strongly within him.
Tony flinched but only tightened his grip on Frannie’s arm until she cried out,
“Please, Daddy—you’re hurting me!”
This was more than Raze could stand. He opened the gate between himself and the Drake and felt himself begin to change as his other half came out for the first time.
Lucia seemed to know exactly what he was doing.
“Listen, mija,” she called to Frannie. “In just a minute you’re going to see a dragon—just like in your story books. Remember the one where the dragon and the princess are friends?”
“Y-yes.” Frannie’s voice shook with tears. “And the dragon comes and rescues the princess when the mean knight tries to take her away?”
“That’s right, mija.” Lucia nodded firmly. “So when you see the dragon, I want you to know that he’s friendly and he loves you, just like the dragon loves the princess in your storybook. So don’t be afraid, okay? Because he’s here to rescue you.”
“Yes, Mami.” Frannie sniffled. “But Daddy is hurting my arm.”
“He won’t be for long,” Raze said.
And then he changed.
Thirty-Two
Lucia watched in awe as the change happened right in front of her eyes.
First, Raze’s arms and legs lengthened and thickened. Then his neck grew longer, and his face pressed up and outward—his mouth becoming the massive jaws of a predator.
After that, the big Kindred burst out of his clothes—his trousers and boots incinerating to ashes as he shifted forms. Gleaming emerald scales flowed over his body, which was growing along with the rest of him—scales which showed the golden glow of flames between their edges.
Giant webbed wings burst from his back, vast and black as they stirred the air in the alley into whirling dust devils. Finally, a long, lashing tail sprouted, whipping angrily from left to right.
To Luci, her new mate’s Drake was magnificent! But even his transformation took only half her attention—the other half was firmly centered on her daughter.
Tony had been watching Raze change too and now he was standing there, bug-eyed and slack-jawed, as though he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Luci’s heart leapt when she saw that in his confusion, he had loosened his grip on Frannie’s arm.
/> “Frannie!” she cried and held out her arms. “Come to Mami, now!”
In one quick pull, Frannie yanked free of Tony’s hand.
“Hey!” He made a snatch for her but Frannie was too quick. Darting around a dumpster, she pelted right for Luci.
Luci caught her daughter in her arms and held her tight, fighting not to sob with relief.
“Oh, mija!” she whispered, squeezing Frannie to her. “Oh thank the Holy Virgin you’re all right!”
“Daddy grabbed me, Mami.” Frannie’s big brown eyes were wide. “He hurt Abuela and Lady when they tried to stop him and he grabbed me away!” She held out her arm. “And he hurt my wrist!”
“Oh, my poor baby!” Gently, Frannie kissed her daughter’s wrist, which did look swollen, as though maybe Tony had twisted it too hard and given her a hairline fracture. “I promise he won’t ever hurt you again,” she swore.
“Mami,” Frannie asked. “Is the dragon going to punish Daddy now for being mean?”
At her words, Raze’s Drake swung its huge head towards them and looked Luci in the eyes.
“Go now,” Luci heard it say, its deep voice reverberating inside her head. “Take the girl away for a short time. She should not witness this.”
“Yes, mija,” Luci said, speaking to her daughter even as she locked eyes with the Drake. “Yes, he’s going to punish Daddy. But right now we’re going to go check on Abuela and Lady.”
As she turned to leave, she saw Tony’s white face from the corner of her eye.
“What are you?” Her ex’s voice was faint with fear as he stared up at the Drake. “Just what in the hell are you?”
The Drake roared—a sound that seemed to shake the buildings on either side of him. And in his roar, Luci heard the words,
“You hurt those I love. I AM YOUR DOOM.”
Putting a hand over Frannie’s face to keep her daughter from seeing what was coming next, she hurried away. Once she might have had sympathy for Tony, but after years or terrorizing her and their children and after the way he had hurt Lady and her mom, she had no sympathy left.
Let Raze’s Drake do what it wanted to with him—it would only be what he deserved.
Thirty-Three
“We’ll have to go to the Emergency Room,” Luci said, looking at all the injuries.
Her mom and Frannie both appeared to have fractured wrists and poor Lady was still crying on the floor of the apartment. Luci had examined her as best she could and it seemed like the dog had some broken bones as well.
“And we need to bring poor Lady to the Emergency Vet, too. Dios—where will we get the money?” she muttered under her breath.
But it had to be done. She had to take care of the people she loved, even though she had no idea how she was going to pay for it. Maybe she could work some extra shifts—
“Relax, sweetheart. You’re not alone anymore—I can help you deal with this.”
At the sound of Raze’s voice coming through their new link, Luci felt a surge of relief. Of course! In all the confusion, she’d almost forgotten they were bonded. Raze loved her—he would help her bear this burden. He would help her pay for the medical care her family needed.
“I can do better than that,” Raze’s voice came from just outside the apartment door. “I can heal them myself—or my Drake can.”
Luci ran to let him in.
“Raze!” She threw her arms around the big Kindred’s neck and he lifted her off the floor and held her tight for a moment.
“Sorry I wasn’t here sooner. I had to go back to my domicile for some new clothes.”
“Raze, Raze!” The twins suddenly stopped crying and ran to him. Frannie came too, smiling through her tears of pain.
“You saved me,” she said, putting her unhurt arm around his neck as he bent down to see the kids. “You turned into a dragon and saved me. Thank you, Daddy-Raze.”
“Yes, I did and I’ll always protect you, Frannie,” Raze told her. “Because your mother and I are going to stay together forever now. Is that okay with you?”
“Yay!” Frannie and the twins erupted into shouts of joy. The twins danced around like crazy and Frannie said,
“We missed you!”
“I missed you too,” Raze told her gently. “I love you and your brothers and your mom and your Abuela and I want you all to be my family now. Would that be okay?”
Frannie nodded solemnly.
“Yes—that would be perfect,” she said. “Just perfect, Daddy Raze.”
“Good.” Raze smiled at her. “Well, the first thing I want to do is to heal your arm. Or at least, I want to let my Drake—my dragon—heal it. Do you think you can let him do that?”
“Dios!” Luci exclaimed, feeling slightly nervous. “Raze, do you think there’s room in here for him? And how can he heal Frannie?”
“I can take a smaller form than the one I displayed outside,” she heard the Drake answer before Raze could say anything. “And my breath is capable of making the healing warmth—if I breathe on them, I will be able to heal their injuries.”
“Even Lady?” Luci looked down at her dog with concern. Her mom had told her how brave Lady had been—rushing Tony and biting him to try and keep him from taking Frannie.
“I can heal all of my family,” the Drake sent with such certainty that she didn’t question anymore.
“All right,” she told him. “But let me prepare them first. My mom is going to be a lot more scared than Frannie was, I bet.”
“Scared of what, mija?” Her mom looked up from her place on the couch where she was clutching her obviously broken arm. Tony had gone after her with the bat too, that hijo de puta!
“Don’t worry, Lucia—he will never hurt any of you again. I made certain of that.”
There was a finality in the Drake’s mental tone that let Luci know her ex was never going to be bothering anyone ever again. For a moment she felt sorrow—not for the loss of Tony—who definitely wasn’t worth it—but for the loss of the years she had spent with him.
“But you got the twins and Frannie out of it,” Raze reminded her through their link. “Don’t mourn for the past, sweetheart—look towards the future.”
“You’re right,” Luci sent back. “I love you, Raze.”
“And I love you, but right now we need to get your mom and Frannie and Lady all healed up.”
“Scared of what?” Luci’s mom repeated and Luci realized she had never answered her question.
“Mira, Mami,” she said, going to sit by her mom on the couch. “You know Raze here is a Kindred, right?”
“Of course I know that.” her mom frowned. “Why would I be scared of him for that?”
“That’s not the scary part,” Luci told her. “Well, really, none of it is scary when you really understand it. See—”
“Daddy Raze can turn into a dragon,” Frannie piped up, speaking to her grandmother. “It’s true, Abuela—I saw it happen! He turns into a big green dragon and he can breathe fire and smoke and everything!”
“Only this time my Drake would like to use his healing warmth on you,” Raze explained. “If you would allow it, Abuelita.” He nodded respectfully at Luci’s mom who stared back at him disbelievingly.
“I don’t understand,” she said at last, looking at Luci. “What in the world is he talking about, mija?”
“Just watch,” Luci told her. “And please, Mami, don’t be afraid. Nothing is going to hurt you.”
She went to sit on the couch between her mom and Frannie and put an arm around both of them. Then she nodded at Raze.
“Okay—do it.”
“Do wha—?” her mom started to ask, but the words died on her lips as Raze began to change again.
This time the transformation was on a smaller scale, though no less dramatic for all of that. They all watched in awe as her new mate became a dragon. This time, though, he was the size of a large dog—a Great Dane maybe, Luci thought. The Drake was still plenty big in the tiny, tight confines of her living roo
m, but he wasn’t nearly the size of a house, which he had been down in the alley when he dealt with Tony.
Luci wondered briefly exactly how he had dealt with her ex. She hoped he hadn’t eaten him. Not that Tony didn’t deserve to be eaten by a hungry dragon, but the thought of chunks of him digesting in the stomach of the man she loved was awful. Also, if he had left anything behind for the police to find, there might be awkward questions…
“Don’t worry.” The Drake regarded her with glowing golden eyes as it spoke to her through the link she shared with him and Raze. I did not consume him—that would not have been appropriate. I incinerated him. There is nothing left but ash, which has already blown away in the wind.”
“Oh, uh, thank you,” Luci sent. The thought of Tony being burned to ashes was kind of disconcerting, but it was still better than him being eaten.
“Madre de Dios!” Her mother’s voice cut through Luci’s thoughts and she realized her mom was trembling.
“It’s okay, Mami,” she said quickly, squeezing her mom’s shoulder. “That’s just Raze’s Drake—he’s here to help.”
“Help? How can such a creature help” her mother demanded in a shaky voice.
“He’s going to help because he’s my dragon!” Frannie jumped off the couch and went directly to the Drake. She threw her good arm around his neck, the same way she would have hugged Lady, and pressed her face to his long, scaly neck.
The Drake nuzzled her back gently, putting one forearm around her carefully to return the hug.
“Dios!” Luci’s mother exclaimed. “Get her away! That thing is going to hurt her!”
“No, he’s not, Mami,” Luci said patiently. “The Drake is the other half of Raze and you know Raze would never hurt Frannie or the twins.”
Speaking of the twins, they were standing beside the couch watching the Drake with wide, curious eyes, but neither one of them seemed frightened. Even Lady only gave one weak, inquiring bark. It was clear to Luci that her mom was the only one who was scared and they would have to offer her a demonstration to prove that the Drake meant no harm.
Dark and Light: A Kindred Tales DUET Novel. Contains: Saved by the Drake AND Captured by the Kru'ell One Page 12