I had more brains than that.
“Farrow, you know what you have to do,” I ordered him.
His eyes closed.
“I love her,” he croaked.
It was only after I saw his mouth not move that I realized that he hadn’t spoken aloud, but in my head.
Do it. You’re about to have your dragon taken by the Purists before you’ve even had him, and my woman is unprotected out there.
He closed his eyes, grabbed the knife, and pushed her away from him in the same breath.
She went flying, and it was only the pocket of air that I used to cushion her fall that saved her from having her head bashed in by the wood paneling across the bedroom.
He swallowed thickly as he moved slowly from the bed, eyes stricken.
He gazed down at the unconscious woman for long moments before he grabbed his jeans off the floor of the bedroom, grabbed his boots, wallet and keys, and left the bedroom.
We all stayed silent while we made our way down the stairs.
Not even Nikolai said a thing, which surprised me, seeing as he was the first one to say something at inappropriate times.
I’d nearly made it to the last step when pain at which I’d never felt before tore through me.
I gasped and fell to my knees, hands clutching my head at the sudden explosion of pain.
“Keifer!” Nikolai and Farrow cried at the same time.
The next thing to follow the pain was Declan’s roar of outrage, followed by the very building shaking around us.
Glass broke. Stone crunched. Wood groaned.
All because of Declan’s fury.
It was all contained in one roar.
One single moment of time had everyone within a square mile screaming in pain at the sheer power in that roar.
That’s when I found my feet and started running.
With my brothers stumbling at my back, I ran outside to find the whole world in utter chaos.
The skies were filled with dragons that weren’t supposed to be seen.
All of them fighting for their lives.
“What the hell,” Farrow breathed. “What the hell?”
I concurred.
I didn’t know what the hell either.
But I’d sure as fuck find out.
As soon as I found my mate.
The moment I rounded the corner into the alley, I saw my worst nightmare.
Blythe was on the dirty, dank ground of the alleyway on her side, bleeding from a gash along the top of her head.
Declan was standing over her protectively, ropes and chains around his neck and wings, keeping him from going anywhere.
Purists in the very truck I’d seen in the photograph were shooting crossbows at Declan, focusing on him instead of the other dragons.
Not that they had a need to.
There were other trucks, too.
Tons of them.
All of the same caliber as the truck in front of me.
And in the center of it all was an armored vehicle, and at the helm was none other than Joseph himself.
And I could feel an ungodly amount of power and energy emanating from that truck.
“You feel that?” Nikolai asked as we both started sprinting down the alleyway.
“Yeah,” I panted, gathering as much energy as I could around me. “Take care of it.”
Nikolai leapt up and disappeared from my view.
He was fine, though.
I knew it like I knew I was about to cut the throats of every single one of the men threatening my woman.
Nikolai passed down in front of me sharply and cut every single one of the ropes and chains holding Declan down with a sword he’d produced from a scabbard on Perdita’s back.
And Declan went wild.
With nothing hindering him from protecting Blythe, he turned in the direction of those trying to kill him, took two running steps on huge, taloned feet and took to the air, knowing I was there now to protect Blythe.
Fire engulfed the area and men started to scream as the fire consumed them, burning them until there was nothing left but bone and ash.
Smoke started to fill the alleyway, and I made it to Blythe’s side in time for Farrow to land at my side, mounted on his newly bonded dragon’s back.
“Let me take her home,” he called to me.
I was torn.
But it was Farrow’s honest words that swayed my mind.
“I know I have no right being here. I haven’t trained nor fought in a battle like this, but you have. Your people need you,” he said, holding his hands out for Blythe’s limp form.
I looked down at Blythe’s dirt streaked face and the gash that was healing on her head, and knew he was right.
“I want updates every three minutes, no exceptions, even when you get home. Do you understand?” I commanded.
Farrow nodded, and I handed him the most precious gift he would ever hold.
“Take her,” I rasped.
He did, curling her into his arms, nodding once, and taking off into thin air.
Just like I’d taught him.
At least the boy retained something, I thought.
You taught him well enough, boy. Come on up, it’s time for some fun.
Declan landed on wet concrete at my side, and I mounted him as I took one more long, good look at the blood staining the alley Blythe had very recently occupied.
And I roared.
“Dragon riders! Unite!”
Time seemed to stand still as those three words ripped through each of my blood bonded brothers.
Rage, pain, disappointment, hope, sacrifice, love, and encouragement filled me from each one of them, and I gave it back in kind, sharing my energy with them just as they’d done with me.
With all that on my mind, Declan surged off the ground and raced to where the only unoccupied truck hauling a cage sat, trying to shoot dragons out of the sky.
My brothers.
My friends.
Declan, go low and take out the tire, turn it on its side so he won’t be able to use that large hook launcher anymore.
Declan’s body tensed and suddenly we were plunging down towards the earth at an incredible rate of speed.
The wind ripped through my hair, taking my ball cap with it as we surged forward, only to come to a sudden halt when Declan spread his wings, indicating that we were within striking distance.
The moment the truck flipped, I superheated the remaining gun that had a man stationed at it, shooting at anything that got close enough.
His hands ripped from the gun, leaving hunks of his skin behind.
The man shrieked in pain as the nerves in his hands started to convulse, and I smiled, heating the gun even more until there was nothing left of it but smoldering metal that soon ignited the bullets that were laying at his feet on the floor.
Declan pulled away just as the explosion filled the sky like a painting back drop of the setting sun.
BOOM!
The explosion rocked the two trucks beside it, and I turned to focus on the van that my brother was fighting.
Fighting and losing.
Whatever was in that van wouldn’t be stopped by magic.
It’d have to be stopped by brute force.
Something my brother had already figured out.
Declan, let me off. Head towards the van from the opposite side but stay out of sight, I ordered.
I can’t. Whatever he has isn’t allowing us to cloak. I can stay high in the clouds, though. That should prove to be enough cover until you need me.
I nodded and took a running leap off into the street, weaving in between the stopped cars that had stunned drivers at the wheel.
This fighting wasn’t done.
We never wanted to scare the population.
Sure, we employed the best hackers in the entire world, but no matter how hard we tried, this would never be undone, and Joseph knew it.
Because why else would he have come with so much force not caring who saw?
All previous battles had been fought in the shadows of the darkest of nights.
No one had been the wiser of the war between the Purists and Dragon Riders.
Now, though, it was over.
The rose glasses had been shattered, and tomorrow a new world would be sitting before us.
Tonight, though, all bets were off.
As I used the hood of a little Porsche Cayenne as a slip and slide, I arrowed in on the van, running up the side of it and launching myself at the top of the box.
I caught it easily, hefting myself up and over the back until I was standing on the roof.
What’s the weakness? I asked my brother.
Bulletproof glass, reinforced metal sides. Something inside of it keeping me from doing anything structurally with the composition. It’s like he’s in a lead proof box.
I smiled. The problem with reinforcing the sides with steel was that where the two pieces of steel met, there was always a weakness.
And as I caught the axe that was tossed down to me from my brother who’d come up with the same response, I started to hammer into the weakness until there were the smallest of holes.
Now.
Declan swooped down and caught ahold of the gap with his talons, then promptly ripped the roof off the van like a sardine can.
“Hallo there, Joseph,” I said in a faintly tinged English accent.
Joseph smiled, and then the little red dot I caught sight of on his chest suddenly exploded.
Everything shattered as I was thrown from the vehicle by the force of the explosion.
Time seemed to stand still as I felt myself moving through the air.
I watched as horror registered on Nikolai and Jean Luc’s faces.
Watched as Declan turned, leaping from the road where he was thrown, trying to get to me.
But he didn’t make it.
I felt the impact of the brick building hit me like a million pounds of iron.
My shoulders and head took the brunt of the collision, followed shortly by my back and hips.
I felt bones break.
Blood spurt.
The breath left me.
But nothing hurt.
Nothing.
And then I realized that nothing hurt because my body was in shock.
I watched as the ground rose up to meet me as I fell forward onto my face.
But then something weird happened. My angel spoke to me, and suddenly everything was okay.
You’ll live because you’re needed. I love you.
I started to get feeling back.
Bones started to heal.
Spurting wounds closed over.
And breath entered my lungs.
I was able to take my first full breath in long minutes, and it was glorious.
What wasn’t glorious was the pain.
But the pain was manageable.
Pain meant I was alive.
“Keifer!” Nikolai screamed.
Something’s wrong.
Farrow.
Why was Farrow here?
He was supposed to be taking care of Blythe.
What’s wrong, I croaked.
She’s convulsing.
She was fine, talking to me and everything. Then her entire body started to convulse and she screamed. Her back bowed up out of my arms, and I think she’s stopped breathing. I’m not sure, but she feels like she has. And I’m still over a mile from the sanctuary.
My heart froze in my chest as I realized just what she’d done.
She’d given me her life.
All because I was about to die.
And I remembered what she’d said during the clouded haze of pain.
You’ll live because you’re needed. I love you.
NO! You can’t leave me!
I hadn’t realized I’d said that aloud until Nikolai’s face was in front of mine.
“What is it, Keifer? Tell me! What do you see that I don’t?” Nikolai asked urgently, looking around like there was a threat looming that nobody else could see.
My eyes took in my surroundings.
All the cages were gone.
Self-destructed with the van Joseph was in.
They were all back to normal.
The dragons were gone, and all that was left were my brothers. Blood and blood bound alike.
“Keifer!” Nikolai called once again. “I don’t see it!”
That’s because the threat wasn’t here. It was in my heart.
***
Two hours later
The Darcy Manor
It took me nearly two hours to get everyone back.
It would’ve taken me significantly longer had I not commandeered a tractor trailer to carry all of our wounded dragons.
I’d gotten word from my sister, within minutes of Blythe arriving at the hospital, that she was breathing and was, in fact, in excellent condition. And the baby had a strong heartbeat.
Blythe was in a coma, though.
They weren’t sure if the coma was something reflexive from expending so much energy or what, but they’d know more in the coming days.
For now, though, I was bringing all my men home.
They wouldn’t be going to their own homes.
Not anymore.
I’d be informing them of this later on this evening.
For now, I was just gathering all of my people in the same place so we could talk about what had just transpired.
And do some damage control.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you drive an eighteen-wheeler before,” Jean Luc said, laughing. “Common work and all that shit shouldn’t be done by the King.”
I flipped him off.
I was fairly sure he had a broken arm.
And possibly a broken leg.
Another thing we wouldn’t know until we got our more significantly wounded taken care of.
Regular hospitals weren’t an option right now.
Not with the media uproar, as well as the warrants on all of our heads.
We’d be arrested on sight, and that wasn’t something that I was willing to go through as of right now.
It’d take a lot of time that I just didn’t have right this moment.
“I used to drive a truck like this when I was eighteen. Used to drive them across the country. That’s where I learned the value of the dollar, and then came back to work with my father when I turned twenty-one,” I informed him.
Vassago Motors had been my father’s. He’d started the company when we were little more than small children, needing a monetary outlet that wouldn’t draw the attention of the Feds.
He’d done well with it, and it now was a huge conglomerate that supported us instead of just being an outlet for us to run our money through to make sure it came out clean and untraceable.
“That’s cool. Can’t believe it’s never come up before, though,” he whispered tiredly.
No, I couldn’t either.
Jean Luc and the rest of The Dragon’s Warriors were a huge part of my life, and I made it a point to let them into it. They knew quite a bit about me, as I did about them.
That was how you made a successful brotherhood.
You made sure that the people that would always have your back had a reason to have it. That they knew the person that they’d give their lives for, was worthy.
“Heard anything from your woman?” Jean Luc asked after a long moment.
I glanced over at him, and moved my eyes back to the road. “Not yet. But we’ll be there in less than twenty minutes. I guess I’ll know more then.”
I’d been hoping for better news over the past two hours, but none had come.
In fact, any news had been scarce from Darcy Manor.
Everyone there was busy making sure that the wounded that were taken
there were taken care of.
One of those being my mate.
Exactly twenty minutes later, I was walking into the infirmary, flabbergasted by what I saw.
Each and every bed was being utilized.
Conscious. Unconscious.
Minor injuries. Grave injuries.
They varied from person-to-person and bed-to-bed.
“Holy shit,” Nikolai breathed. “This is a nightmare.”
I agreed wholeheartedly.
Now what were we going to do about it?
“Where’s my mate?” I asked the first nurse I saw.
The nurse, I think her name was Alba, smiled and pointed to the room beyond the one we were in. “The less serious injuries are in there through that door. She’s in the very back corner behind a blue curtain.”
I was walking away before she’d even finished.
I realized it was rude, but I couldn’t help it.
The last memories I had of her were of Farrow taking her home and seeing her limp, unconscious body draped in his arms.
Then came his alarming update about her having a seizure, and I just couldn’t quite work out polite conversation at that moment in time.
I passed my sister on the way, patting her shoulder as I went.
She gave me a fleeting smile and went back to the stitches she was sewing into Ian’s arm.
Ian nodded at me, and I did the same back to him as I continued past.
I finally arrived at the curtained off area and opened it partially to pass through.
And my breath left my chest in a soft whoosh.
Not because she was hurt…or because there was anything gruesome showing…but because she looked so serene. So beautiful.
Blythe’s hair was spread out on the sheet below her like a hair commercial. All soft, flowing, and bouncy.
There was no sight of blood or anything on her, which meant someone had cleaned her up…most likely my sister.
She was dressed as well, wearing one of my t-shirts, a Vassago Motors one in navy blue.
My sister was probably responsible for that as well, because that was only possible if someone had gone to my quarters to get it.
She had a white hospital blanket covering her lower half, and the soft swell of her abdomen was evident, even now, making my heart turn.
Monitors beeped silently behind her, one for her heart, one for the baby’s heartbeat and another for the IV line that was going into a vein at her wrist.
I Like Big Dragons and I Cannot Lie (The I Like Big Dragons Series) Page 17