by Неизвестный
The dragon-shifter’s adepts crowded closer together, sending back a wave of power, but it wasn’t as strong as what they’d previously mustered.
As the horsemen drew up, Talon saw that some of them were soldiers, dressed much like Vandar’s troops.
The civilians stepped quickly into the circle, clasping hands with the Marshalls. There were moments of confusion when Talon felt the energy shifting around him as the newcomers got acclimated to the group. He could feel power jumping and coiling in the air.
Vandar’s adepts took advantage of the disconnection, hurling a new blast that sent agony screeching along his nerve endings.
Even as he fought the pain, the energy from the Marshall group stabilized. He felt it expand and shoot outward toward Vandar’s adepts.
The effect was almost instantaneous. They went down on their knees, gasping, some of them trying to crawl away to escape the punishment that their rivals had inflicted.
But the Marshall women and their new allies kept up the pressure until Vandar’s minions were immobilized. Most of them lay on their backs, gasping for breath. Some had gone absolutely still, and Talon wondered if they had survived the attack.
While the others hurried toward the slaves, he trotted to a spot behind a low outcropping of rock, where he slipped out of his backpack and quickly said the chant that changed him from wolf to man. After pulling on his shirt, pants, and shoes, he stepped back into the open and hurried toward his mate.
Kenna rushed forward, and he hugged her to him with a surge of gladness. She held him just as tightly as she asked, “Are you all right?”
“Yes. Are you?”
“Yes.”
They embraced for a long moment, and his hands ran over her as he assured himself that she was unharmed, but he knew they shouldn’t stand out here in the open. Looking up, he shaded his eyes with his hand as he scanned the sky, but he couldn’t spot the dragons. Had they killed each other, or were they simply out of sight?
“What now?” he asked.
The others had already closed in on Vandar’s adepts, but Kenna had waited for him. She gestured toward the slaves.
“They’re still dangerous. They will be, until we know Vandar is dead.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t—” She stopped suddenly and whirled toward the portal. Talon followed her gaze and went still. A man wearing a dark T-shirt and jeans stood at the entrance to the parallel universe with a gun in his hand.
“It’s him,” Kenna gasped. “The man with the gas can.”
The newcomer’s gaze snapped to her. “You! There’s something weird about you. Where are we?” he asked in a gravelly voice. “And why the fuck can’t I get out the way I came in?”
Talon and Kenna exchanged a glance. The portal was blocked? Probably by Vandar’s adepts—to keep anyone from getting out until he was ready.
Talon kept his focus on the gun. From the brief conversation, he knew this was the man who had been stalking him for weeks. Ross had said his name was Mitch Sutton. Talon wasn’t going to let him know he’d pegged him.
Instead, he simply asked, “What are you doing here?”
Sutton pointed the weapon at Talon’s chest. “I’ll ask the questions.” He gestured with his free hand. “Answer me, you bastard. What the fuck kind of place is this?”
“We’re in another universe.”
“Do you expect me to believe that?”
Talon turned his hands palms up. “Does this look like Pennsylvania?”
“Get me out of here. With the swag you stole from me.”
Talon processed that. The guy thought the box with the cash was here? Okay. Good.
From the corner of his eye, he saw the fixed expression on Kenna’s face. It was the look she got when she was doing something—mental.
“It was your money?” he asked, stalling for time.
“Fuckin’ right.”
“I’ll get you the cash, and I’ll open the doorway, if you let us go.”
“Deal. Where’s the dough?”
“In the cave.”
“Then get it!”
“Sure.”
Talon and Kenna passed the robber, heading for the cave. Just as they reached the entrance, Sutton cried out in surprise, scrabbling to keep his balance. Talon turned to see him lifting off the ground. Grabbing Kenna, Talon pushed her down, out of the line of fire.
But instead of shooting at them, the man flew backwards, his arms wheeling, then folding inward.
“No,” he screamed. “Stop.”
The gun discharged as he hit the ground, and he made a wheezing sound.
Talon rushed forward, crouching over Sutton.
Blood spread from a hole in the center of his shirt.
Kenna came up beside him.
“It looks like he’s been shot in the heart. Did you do that?” Talon asked.
She dragged in a breath and let it out. “I directed it, but I felt Rinna and Renata in the background, sending enough energy to me.”
The other two women approached them.
“Thank you,” Talon said.
“We saw you were in danger,” Rinna answered. “Is he one of Vandar’s slaves? Where did he get the gun?” she asked, pointing to the man lying dead on the ground.
“He’s from the other universe. He robbed a bank and buried the money,” Talon answered. “When I was out for a run in the woods, I found the stash and turned it in to the cops. Unfortunately, he’s been making trouble for me ever since.”
Talon gave a harsh laugh. “His mistake, stepping into Vandar’s territory.” He looked at Kenna. “You understand that’s why the soldiers were in there? Vandar had the adepts close the portal on this side, so no one could escape.”
She stared at him. “I didn’t think of that.”
“We’ll open it later,” Rinna said.
After a final look at Sutton, they turned away and walked back to the rest of the group.
Kenna lagged back. When they were alone again, she turned to Talon. “I . . . never killed before.”
“But you had the strength to do it.”
“It’s wrong.”
“Not when somebody is trying to kill you. Like the adepts.”
She nodded.
“Thanks to you, we’re rid of him. But there’s still work to do here.”
She nodded again, and they returned to the group.
Vandar’s adepts were lying on the ground. A few were dead. Most looked frightened.
The three leaders gave Kenna a murderous look. “You can’t win,” one of them growled.
“You’re wrong, Swee,” she answered, but Talon heard the edge of doubt in her voice.
“We’re holding them immobile,” Renata said. “Until we find out about the dragons.”
Talon looked up, shading his eyes. But he couldn’t see either of the beasts. “I’d like to know about them myself.” He turned to Kenna. “You’ve been in contact with Gallagher. Is he still alive?”
She went still, her vision turning inward. “I . . . don’t know.”
“But you were . . . connected to him. He said he could find you.”
She shook her head. “I lost track of him when we came here. I was focused on them,” she said, gesturing toward the slaves.
“Can you reach him?”
“I . . . don’t know.”
She closed her eyes, her hands clenching at her sides as she did something with her mind that he couldn’t even imagine.
Finally, she opened her eyes and looked at him. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. Maybe he’s dead. Or maybe he’s too focused on the fight.”
Talon nodded, wishing she could give him some information.
Ross joined the conversation. “Until we find out what happened with the dragons, somebody is going to have to keep the adepts under control.”
“Yeah,” Talon answered, feeling the tension among his cousins and their life mates. They all understood that if Gallagher lost t
he fight, their situation was precarious.
Kenna shuddered, and he knew she was thinking about the monster who had been her master for months.
But when she spoke, it wasn’t of Vandar. “There will be people hiding in the cave. They’ll be worried about what’s going on. Are they going to be punished? Killed?”
Talon sighed. “I guess we’ll have to go in after them.”
“It’s not one big open space,” Kenna said. “There are corridors and rooms.”
“Will the people in there have weapons?” Ross asked.
Kenna shook her head. “Vandar kept weapons away from everyone except the soldiers. But if the people are frightened, they could have gotten into the armory. Or they could have taken knives from the kitchen.”
Lance cleared his throat. Like Talon, he’d changed from wolf to human form. “It would be nice if we could tell them their master is dead.”
“Yes,” Kenna murmured.
They had just turned toward the cave when a flash of movement in the sky made them all look up. A dragon was flying toward them. A dragon with silver scales and a bleeding wound on his underside.
“Vandar,” Swee cried out, a look of triumph in his eyes. “I told you he would come back.”
Ross raised the machine gun he was carrying, sighting on the approaching beast.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
“NO ! WAIT,” KENNA cried out.
After tense seconds, Ross lowered his arm. But he kept the gun at the ready. For all the good it would do him, Kenna thought, remembering the last time the werewolves had tried to shoot the dragon.
The great beast continued toward them, but she saw it was faltering in its flight.
If it was Vandar, he would rain down fire on them and free his adepts.
If it was Gallagher, it looked like he was in serious trouble. Could he even land without injuring himself?
As the dragon drew closer, there was no blast of fire. Somehow the beast made a soft landing, then lay panting on the dark ground.
When Kenna darted forward, Talon tried to grab her, but she slipped from his grasp and ran to the monster, putting her hand on his huge head.
“Ramsay,” she cried. “It’s you, isn’t it?”
The creature’s whole body shook. It opened its mouth, but nothing came out besides a long moan.
Kenna knelt beside him. “Don’t try to talk.”
The dragon clacked its huge teeth together, its chest heaving.
Talon moved to her side. “I can’t talk when I’m in wolf form. I’m sure he can’t talk as a dragon.”
She nodded. “He’s in pain.”
“Yes.”
The great beast shuddered as it scraped at the cinders under its claws. Then, before their eyes, he began to shift his form. The scales, claws, and fangs disappeared. His body began to shrink into the form of a man. Moments later, Ramsay Gallagher lay panting on the ground. His skin was pale as paste, a huge gash swept across his middle, and one shoulder was burned.
“It looks like you were in a hell of a fight,” Talon muttered.
Ramsay’s eyes were out of focus, but when Talon gripped his arm, he met his eye.
“Is Vandar dead?”
“Yes,” Ramsay gasped out. “He’s to . . . the right . . . around the mountain.” His body was shaking now.
“Thank the Great Mother,” Kenna said. Turning to the adepts, she shouted in triumph, “This is the other dragon-shifter, Ramsay Gallagher. Vandar is dead.”
Without waiting for a reply, she knelt by the wounded shifter.
While Renata and Rinna stayed with the adepts to secure them with psychic restraint, the rest of the women joined the group around Ramsay.
After introducing herself and explaining that she had some healing powers, Zarah knelt and put her hands on the shifter’s head and shoulder, then drew in a quick breath. “He’s in bad shape. But I hope we can save him.”
Zarah unfolded several blankets she’d brought. After laying one beside him, they gently rolled him onto it, then covered him with another.
As she knelt beside him, Zarah lit a small lamp. Kenna had seen that before and knew it was a focus for the woman’s powers.
“Form a circle around him,” she murmured, “and we’ll see what we can do.”
Zarah’s lips moved as she stroked one hand on the dragon-shifter’s forehead.
Kenna felt a low hum of energy flowing around them that made her skin tingle.
“Great Mother, let him live,” she whispered. She had been terrified that Ramsay was like Vandar. Now she knew how different he was, and how much he had sacrificed for her and everyone else here. He had killed Vandar. Killed himself in a way. And she couldn’t imagine how horrible that would be.
Slowly, Ramsay’s skin color grew pinker, and his breathing became less labored.
He had looked near death. Now it seemed as if Zarah had worked a miracle. She pulled down the blanket enough to see his shoulder and the gash across his chest and belly. Both of them had begun to heal.
Gallagher looked down at his chest, then turned his head toward Zarah. “Thank you.”
She found his hand and clasped her fingers with his. “You fought him and won. That was . . . extraordinary.”
He answered with a small nod.
“And Vandar’s slaves are free,” Zarah added.
“You’d better take care of them.” He closed his eyes and drew into himself, and Kenna could see he didn’t want to talk about the fight with his other self. From the looks of him, it had been a battle that both dragons had known they must win to live.
Rinna stayed with Ramsay, and the others walked back to Vandar’s adepts, who were still lying on the ground, under the control of the men.
Kenna gave the leaders a hard look. “Swee, Wendon, Barthime. Your master is dead.”
The men glared at her.
“Why should I believe you?” Swee growled.
“Why should I lie?”
“You want him to be dead.”
“Don’t you?” She stared at him. “You were never harsh with me. I thought you were suffering under his control, the way I was.”
“I thought you were doing the master’s bidding.”
“You helped me memorize all those facts. Let me help you now.”
“You should have stayed in the other universe.”
“This may be more difficult than you imagine,” the dark-haired man who had led the horsemen said. “I’m Griffin,” he added. “Head of the Sun Acres council.”
“I’m . . . honored that you came to help us,” Kenna stammered, awed that the leader of a city had risked so much for them.
“You did me a favor. I knew there were problems in this area. I had heard people were being stolen from their cities. The beast could have attacked us.”
He raised his voice and spoke to the adepts. “I can help you get back to your cities. And if you were slaves before you were brought here, I can offer you a place as free men and women in Sun Acres.”
Most of them looked grateful.
Swee, Barthime, and Wendon still looked defiant, and she wondered if they could ever live in normal society.
When she heard a noise behind her, she turned and saw Ramsay staggering toward them, a blanket draped over his shoulder like a toga. It was clear he could barely stay on his feet, but he wasn’t letting Rinna help him walk. Instead, she trailed behind, ready to steady him if he stumbled.
He stopped a few feet from the adepts. “I am called Ramsay Gallagher. I am Vandar’s twin brother. We were separated for many years.”
Swee glared at him defiantly. “Then where were you? Why are you coming here now?”
“I was living in the alternate universe. The universe where you sent Kenna.”
The adept glanced at her, then back at the dragon-shifter.
“I sensed her presence,” Ramsay continued. “Because of her connection with Vandar, I think. When I came back here and met your master, I knew the two of us could never exist
in the same time line.”
“If you’re his brother, you could have killed him anytime. Why now?” Wendon challenged.
“At the beginning, we were very much alike. Over the years, we grew apart.”
Kenna listened to the explanation. It wasn’t strictly the truth, but it would do. Probably, the adept wouldn’t believe the real truth, anyway.
“Accept that he is dead,” Ramsay said, his voice wavering slightly.
“Bring me his body!”
Kenna glanced at Griffin. “Can we do that?”
“I don’t know. It depends on where he’s lying. Maybe we can bring his head.”
Knowing that Ramsay had done what he could, Kenna took his arm. “You were badly wounded when you fought him. You need to lie down. You should go into the cave where you can be comfortable.”
“I have no interest in his cave,” he shot back. “I want to get as far from his damn lair as I can.”
“Then maybe you could go back to the smaller cave where the portal is located.”
He thought for a moment, then nodded. “All right. And perhaps one of you can bring me some clothes.”
Ross handed him the pack he’d been carrying.
Gallagher took it and started back. Kenna would have gone with him, until she saw Talon give her a long look. She’d formed a very intimate relationship with the dragon-shifter when they’d melded their minds back in the mountain country. They had never been physically intimate, but they had been tied together in a way that nobody else could share.
Stopping, she turned to her mate. “He’s my friend. That’s all.”
Talon answered with a tight nod, then walked over to Ross and Griffin.
Kenna came back and joined the group. “Ramsay’s weak. And he doesn’t like having anyone see him at less than his best.”
“Too bad,” Talon muttered.
Kenna touched Talon’s arm. “Can we talk for a minute?”
He looked like he wanted to protest. Instead, he followed her a few yards away. “Don’t be jealous of him,” she said in a low voice.
“I’m not!”
“I would be, if I had watched you meld your mind with another woman.” She kept her gaze fixed on him. “The most important thing that ever happened to me was finding you and bonding with you. Ramsay will never come between us. I’m thinking that Zarah and the other women can help me break the link with him, but I can’t take the time to do it now. There are still too many of Vandar’s slaves that need to be found. They’ve got to be hiding in the cave.” She gave him an open look. “I don’t want to go in there by myself. Will you come with me?”