by Julia Mills
“I willingly participated in their black magic rituals, adding my dragon magic when I could and absorbing their black magic. Even though I did my best to convince them of my allegiance, and no matter how many rituals I participated in, they never completely trusted me. At least the torture stopped, but I was only allowed out of my cell for their rituals, and never alone or without at least a silver containment talisman.” He watched as she absentmindedly nodded her head.
“Of course their doubt was well founded. The whole time I was planning my escape, waiting for the day one of them let down their guard or I could find a weakness in their defenses. When I wasn’t planning my escape, I was planning revenge. I dreamt of the day I would come face to face with the brother that had left me without even a backward glance.
“So when I finally made my escape, the first thing I did was kill every single member of the coven. I blasted them with the same magic they had forced upon me.” He chuckled to himself, “They definitely were not prepared for the ‘monster’ they had created. The abilities I had gained from the infusion of black magic mixed with my dragon magic was like nothing anyone could have predicted. With that task completed, I set out to get revenge on Aidan and the others of our Force.
“I found that with all the absorbed black magic, I was able to hide my true identity. I used that to my advantage by aligning myself with a pack of hunters, another group of fanatic’s hell bent on the destruction of the dragon shifters. With all the information they collected, I was able to keep tabs on my brother. They have a very extensive network of spies in every walk of life that I found very useful. It took six years, but finally I had the perfect plan to kill them all, especially Aidan.
“But as I am sure you were told things did not go as planned. The hunters were unable to keep up their end of the bargain. They were weak, completely fallible; even though I filled them with as much magic as they could hold. The idiots failed to keep the Dragon Guard at bay, the Commander’s mate was injured, and I was captured,” he smiled an evil smile. “Of course I was able to escape. And it was beautiful watching both of my witless brothers standing around with their thumbs up their collective asses looking like the fools that they truly are. They had always discounted my abilities. I was after all, their younger brother. Like always, they gave up and headed back to their lair with their tails tucked between their legs, like the hapless losers they are.
“One of the downsides to using black magic is that it does not regenerate on its own like dragon magic. You can keep it as long as you don’t use it, but I was using it daily to hide my true self from the Dragon Guard, and the werepanthers, who had always been allies of the dragons.” He watched her eyebrows shoot up for just a second before she schooled her features again. He chuckled, “So you know about the werepanthers.” He paused again, thinking to himself, “Interesting. I’m surprised my useless brother introduced you to so much so soon. But I suppose all the action you’ve experienced did require him to be a little more forthcoming than is usually the ‘dragon shifter protocol’.” Grace could hear the unspoken air quotes when Andrew mentioned dragon shifter protocol.
“I spent the next six months aligning myself with another coven of wizards in an effort to refuel my store of black magic. It was the only sure way to ensure success this time around. Unfortunately, the useless wizards had formed another alliance with this criminal you mentioned. I was completely unaware any of that had taken place and they weren’t smart enough to see they were being double crossed. I assure you, I had no idea of their plan and definitely knew nothing about any young women.” He stopped speaking as a thought crossed his mind. “Although now that I think about it, those young women must have been part of the ritual we were to perform before the warehouse exploded. Well, well, well, those bastards were keeping serious secrets from me. Not that I should be surprised. It’s very hard to find people you can trust when dealing with patrons of the black arts, but even I didn’t expect them to get involved with some crime boss. Serves that pompous ass right; it’s apparent this ‘Auctioneer’ fellow never had any plans to let the wizards have the girls. He used them to provide cover from the authorities. Now the continual use of magic that I felt makes sense.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
He came out of his musings and she felt his focus on her once again. “Now you, my pretty little friend,” he smiled, his cold dead eyes never showing any real emotion, “Are an integral part of my plan. Ever since the first night I saw you enter the apartment where Aidan was staying, I knew. I knew you were his mate. Finally, all my efforts to make him pay were coming together and in an even bigger, better way than I could have hoped for. I followed you and planned to take you at your place of business, but those thugs got there first, and now I understand how and why that happened.” He continued to smile his dead smile, “Thank you for that bit of information, it will come in handy later.”
“I thought all was lost, but then you, your mate, and his band of merry men appeared at the warehouse. Of course, now I know that my suspicions were well founded. The wizard leader and his coven are not nearly as strong as they claim to be. If they were, there is no way that warehouse could have been located by anyone not associated with the wizards. Oh well, that is a worry for another time. For now, I feel our time here coming to an end. Your mate is closing in on our location and I must make sure everything is ready for his arrival.” He shifted in his seat, crossing his legs, appearing to get more comfortable, “But not before I give you a few minutes to ask any questions you may have.”
She stared right into his eyes, saying nothing and had to admit that she was amazed at the calm way he spoke to her. She had expected a ranting, raving lunatic but then this was his forum, she was a captive audience and he was able to give his prepared speech just the way he had always planned. It was a lot like all the criminals she had watched as they sat on the witness stand giving the testimony they had been coached to give by their attorney. One perfectly orchestrated speech meant to sway the judge and jury to believe in their innocence. And just like those same criminals, this lunatic had failed in his attempt to convince her of anything but the fact that he needed serious amounts of therapy. She absolutely refused to give him any indication of what she was thinking. He had been through a horrible ordeal, that she knew from the information Lance had shared with her and she was absolutely sure that Aidan had never truly given up on his brother. He had mourned his death and carried the guilt like a noose around his neck for every minute of those six years. She also knew that sharing any of that information with Andrew at this stage of the game would be a complete waste of time. He was just like all the fanatics he had aligned himself with over the years, he believed in his cause with a single-minded intensity.
As she watched him patiently sitting there waiting for her to speak, she thought of all the things she wanted to say, and then of all the things her experience told her she should ask him. He was warped, possibly beyond repair, but she could tell he was also very intelligent. If she could engage him, at least at some level, maybe she could stall him long enough for Aidan to come. After all, Andrew had said he could feel them getting closer, and Grace’s special intuition told her he was right. It also told her that he believed everything he was telling her. It was his version of the truth and no amount of healthy debate would sway his opinion.
She knew she had to play it exactly right or Andrew would blow a fuse; she just wished she knew what the right play was. The longer she stared at the man that had killed an entire coven of wizards, injured her best friend, kidnapped her, and planned to kill her mate, all the anger, pain, and fear she felt bubbled over. All thoughts of playing it safe and keeping the lunatic talking fled. She opened her mouth and what came out surprised even her, “Andrew, I am sorry for what you went through during your captivity, and I am sorry for the part you believe I played in that. And whether you want to believe it or not, I know that your brother spent every day for over six years letting the guilt he felt over that night eat away
at him.”
She watched as his left eye began to twitch as she spoke. It was the only indication that he even heard what she said. She figured she had nothing to lose, either Aidan would get there in time or she would be dead; either way she was sick and tired of having people think they could hurt her and get away with it. “You know, you just sat there and told me what a coward your brother was and is. That you know he is only going to let me down like he let you down. You made sure that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was completely responsible for what you went through at the hands of those wizards, but let’s be honest with each other here,” she paused, staring into his mismatched eyes, seeing a rising tide of emotions for the first time. “You should have scanned the area that night. You yourself said it was procedure to do so when you were flying. You should not have depended on your big brother to take care of you. After all, you were trained as a Dragon Guard warrior just like your brother and the others, correct?” She knew he wasn’t going to answer, there was no way he would give her the satisfaction. But what she did notice that renewed her resolve and let her know that her strategy, no matter how crazy it was, might actually be working, was the way his fists were suddenly clenched so tight his knuckles were white and he was breathing like he had just run a marathon. His perfectly planned veneer was cracking. All she had to do was keep after him for the real Andrew to appear. She just knew, and her spidey senses confirmed, that having the raving lunatic she was sure he truly was out in the open, was the only way she was going to survive long enough for her mate to find her.
“And even more than that, after you escaped why didn’t you return to your family? Why did you think the logical choice was to betray everything you had known for the better part of a hundred years and align yourself with not one, but both of your own kin’s worst enemies?” She knew she was poking the bear, placing extra emphasis every time she said ‘you’, but she needed to drive her point home. It may be the only chance she ever had. She chuckled in her mind as the most beautiful color of red she had ever seen began creeping up his neck, making its way to his face, confirming that she was pushing all the right buttons. She figured it could be considered sadistic that she found watching this man come undone a pleasure, but right now it was about survival, and she would do whatever it took to survive.
“What’s the matter, Andrew? Cat got your tongue?” She narrowed her eyes and pretended to think for a moment, a tactic she had used more than once to unnerve a witness on the stand. “You know what I think? I think you knew that you were at least partially to blame. I think you spent most of the time in that dungeon thinking of ways to blame anyone but yourself. I think you decided there was no way you could live knowing that you could have done something to prevent your capture, so you convinced yourself that you were the victim and took none of the blame.” He leaned forward unconsciously as she continued to pound away at him with her words, just another sign that she was getting to him. “I think you knew there was no way that your brother would have let that happen to you and even more than that, Andrew,” she paused, took a deep breath and plowed ahead, speaking as quickly as possible, “I think you were embarrassed. I think once you started participating in their rituals you thought there was no way your family would take you back and that was something you could not accept. I think you knew that the wizards had done something to keep you from communicating with your brothers and the others, and you could not accept that you had been wrong, that they might have been looking for you. I think you had spent your entire life letting your brothers, specifically Aidan, take care of you and your own laziness had now landed you in the middle of your worst nightmare and you had to find someone else to blame.”
She barely had the last word out of her mouth before the chair Andrew had just been sitting in sailed across the room. She flinched when it hit the wall, exploding into a mass of broken pieces and splinters. Next, the small bedside table and lamp went flying through the air, along with another chair she hadn’t even known was there. All the while, he was ranting and raving, face flaming, teeth bared, spittle flying. When there was nothing else to throw, he turned on Grace, “You think I’m embarrassed?” he roared. “You think Aidan took care of me?” he took a step in her direction and she worked hard not to shrink back. “You think I wanted to go back to the very people that had left me for dead?” he took another step towards her. “You think…” he stopped mid stride and spun towards the door, standing completely still, his breathing ragged and his shoulders bunched so tight his neck had practically disappeared. He seemed to be listening to something she could not hear. In the next second her senses went on high alert and he turned towards her again, but this time, she saw a small round pendant hanging from a chain in his hand. He was still seething, but in place of the rage she had seen on his face before, there was now an evil smile that made her gasp.
His voice was low and ominous as he spoke, “I’m so sorry our time together has come to an end, but even through my rusty senses, I know your mate is nearby, and I have other things to get ready to make sure I finally get my revenge. So this is where we part ways, Miss Grace Kensington.” And with that, he threw the pendant onto her stomach while saying something that she could only guess was Latin. She drew in a breath to tell him to go to hell, but before the words left her mouth, her world went black…again.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
He knew Grace was close, he could feel her with every fiber of his being. But all the false trails and misdirects had made getting to this point infuriating. He was on the brink of losing his mind. His dragon was straining to get free and find its mate. Both man and beast were frantic to have Grace safe with them where she belonged. He silenced everyone around him and stood perfectly still, reaching out with every sense he possessed. She was close, he knew it. He just needed to make sure he was heading in the right direction.
He closed his eyes and thought of the beautiful woman the Universe had made just for him, the blue of her eyes rivaling the blue of a summer sky, her haunting scent. His finger tips rubbed together of their own accord, searching for her silken ebony tresses. He thought of the feel of her porcelain skin as he touched and tasted every inch of her. He knew she was still alive, and he would find her and make it his life’s work to keep her safe from harm.
He knew Andrew was only using Grace to taunt him. The stupid son of a bitch was using the fact that he had taken the one person that meant more to Aidan than anyone else in the world, to make this situation so much worse. He doubted his end goal was to kill her, but he was afraid of what his younger brother was capable of in his attempts to punish him. He knew from the scent trails they had followed that Andrew was losing the taint of the black magic he had absorbed from the wizards; his dragon scent and characteristics were returning. Aidan had even tried to contact him through their mind speak, but apparently it was still not working.
Aidan continued to focus on Grace. He reached through the growing link they shared, trying with all his might to find her. He could feel his brethren and their allies lending their strength and support to his efforts. Just when he was about to give up, he heard what sounded like wood splintering and breaking. He listened more intently and heard it again. That time, there was a spike of what felt like pure adrenalin through the link he shared with Grace; all he had to do was follow the direction the sound had come from and the echo still left in his soul from his mate. He ran faster than he ever had in his life, pushing his enhanced speed to an all time high. The farther into the woods he ran, the more he opened his senses, searching for Grace, but also for any signs of his brother or traps that he was sure to have set. Aidan knew he was being lured into something and he was more than willing to run headlong into hell, if it meant getting Grace back safely.
As he crested the top of the ridge, he spotted a small cabin. He knew that was the place; his mate was in that small building. He sprinted down the hill, still searching for any traps that may keep him from reaching his mate, while directing their search party
to make a loose perimeter around the cabin. Grace was his first priority. He would leave his brother to the others.
He could see the front door and what appeared to be a single window in the structure as he barreled towards his destination. He was plotting his entrance when every one of his senses screamed it was a trap. Stopping dead in his tracks, he scanned the area. To his right, trying to remain hidden was just a trace of the bond, that up until about seven months ago, he was sure he would never feel again. Andrew was returning to a complete dragon shifter, just as nature had intended, but Aidan could not be sure that he hadn’t learned other more dangerous tricks. He did not know the man that now inhabited the body of the brother he had once considered his closest confidant.
He probed the best he could, not sure if Andrew was able to pick up on his intentions. He knew he was walking into a trap, but he would walk through the fires of hell to get to Grace. The trick was going to be getting to her alive. He was sure that his younger brother was bringing the fight to him; therefore it only stood to reason that Andrew did not want to hurt Grace anymore than he already had. Standing and waiting was killing him. He sent a message to Rayne along their unique and private connection, “Andrew is to my right, hiding behind a tree. Can you sense him?”
“No, but there is a blind spot where you indicated, so that must be him. Your connection with him was always stronger than the rest of us. I’ll swing around and come up behind him. You wanna hit him head on?” Aidan could hear his old friend holding back his anger, allowing him to take the lead.