The vehicles stopped, and the land went quiet. All the wildlife was silent or gone. They’d sensed the predators among them, as well as the tension in the air. It was chilly, but Luther didn’t feel the cold. He’d grown up in a much colder clime, plus, his dragon side kept his body temperature regulated at all times.
Luther raised his head and sniffed the air to locate Tarrant and Nic. He couldn’t scent his father. He grinned. The old bastard was as wily as ever.
He’d missed his family. Now he wanted to expand his family to include Victoria. He dug his fingers into the rock so hard some of it started to crumble. He swore under his breath and forced his attention back to the task at hand. He could not, would not underestimate Evan Caine.
He heard the shuffle of footsteps and knew men were emptying from the vehicles and deploying around the area. There was no talking. They were trying to be stealthy. But thanks to Nic and his paranoia, their presence had already been detected. Nic didn’t rely on his drakon senses alone, but also on technology, proving he was a smart man, adapting with the times.
A lone vehicle started slowly down the dirt road toward the house. Either the person inside was arrogant or had a death wish.
Luther’s head began to throb. What the hell? He stumbled to one side before righting himself.
The vehicle rolled into sight. Luther bet it was armor-plated and bulletproof. It was also covered in a shiny metal and covered in archaic symbols. The same symbols that had been carved into the cell walls where they’d kept his father. Luther would bet anything the symbols were being electrified somehow.
Caine, the bastard, was brilliant.
“You might as well come out.” Caine’s voice came over a speaker system in the vehicle. There was no doubt he was inside. “It was easy to find you,” he went on, as though having a conversation. “There’s a tracker inside Katherine. It’s also electrified, so if you don’t give yourself up, I can kill her remotely if I choose.”
Sweat rolled down Luther’s face. He was more grateful than ever for Tarrant’s paranoia and him insisting they all be scanned. And he was doubly thankful to Victoria for removing that thing from his mother. If they hadn’t found it, Caine would have them over a barrel right now.
It was bad enough he had that vehicle, which was a weapon in its own right.
“Come now.” A hatch in the top of the vehicle opened, and Caine actually stuck his head out. The man was out of his mind. “You’re beasts, not men. You can’t win. Not against me.”
Luther made a decision he hoped he didn’t live to regret. He resisted the pull of his dragon side and walked naked out from behind the boulders to face Caine. His only hope was to get close enough to take out the man before he shot him with whatever drug they’d used to subdue his father.
His goal was to provide a distraction to allow the other three men to kill the rest of Caine’s people. He strolled out in front of the vehicle as though he didn’t have a care in the world. Caine gasped, and Luther could see the avarice gleaming in his gaze. He thought he had a drakon.
…
“What is Luther doing?” Victoria couldn’t believe her eyes. He was walking out from behind cover to confront Caine on his own. And he was naked, not in his dragon form.
“Distraction,” Oscar replied. “The symbols on the vehicle have to be making them all weaker. This Knight is smarter than the rest.”
What went unspoken was that wasn’t good for them.
Katherine was rubbing the back of her neck, a look of pure horror on her face. “Caine would have used me to trap Sergei. Again. And my son.”
Victoria wished there was something she could say or do to comfort Katherine, but there was nothing. She was profoundly grateful they didn’t have to worry about Caine using the device he’d planted in Katherine to kill her.
She risked raising herself up enough so she could open the window. She needed to be able to hear everything that was going on out there, and not just snippets from the window Oscar had smashed out.
Oscar glared at her. “Get down.”
She hunkered back down again as voices drifted in. She peeked out and watched intently.
Luther tipped his head to one side and studied his opponent. “I’m here. What do you plan to do next?” The question sounded so calm and controlled. Victoria was anything but. Her heart was racing, and her palms sweating. She wiped her hands on her thighs and slowly pulled the gun from the holster. She wanted to be ready in case she needed to defend herself or the others.
She honestly didn’t think it would come to that, not with four drakons outside, but she’d learned it was always better to be prepared.
Caine raised his hand, showing a remote of some kind. “I’ll kill Katherine if Sergei doesn’t show himself. I know he’s here somewhere.”
Luther only smiled. He was trying to piss Caine off. On purpose, she realized. They hadn’t spent long in his company, but Luther had noticed the same thing she had. Caine didn’t like it when things didn’t go according to his plans. He was quick to anger. And that led to mistakes.
Even understanding Luther’s plan didn’t help her relax. He was still out there facing down Caine on his own. She had no idea how the symbols were hurting him, but they had to be. She felt nothing, but all the drakons would.
She was afraid to blink. Almost afraid to breathe. Luther had to survive. They had to have a chance to explore what was between them.
“If you kill her, you lose all your leverage against us,” Luther pointed out.
Caine’s smile slowly disappeared. Temper sparked. “You will do as I say.”
Luther crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t think so.”
Caine brought his other hand up, and quicker than Victoria thought possible, he shot Luther with a dart.
But Luther seemed to have been expecting it and ducked.
…
Luther was a split second too slow. He avoided a direct hit, but the dart grazed his shoulder as he went down.
He hoped to hell his plan was working. He had no idea what the other drakons were up to. He couldn’t sense them and concentrate on Caine at the same time. Not with those damn symbols weakening him.
If he survived this. No, scratch that. When he survived this, he was going to start researching those symbols. There had to be a way to counter them. Maybe with tattoos inscribed on the other half of his body. Definitely something to consider.
On his knees, he pulled every ounce of strength he had inside him and shifted. The familiar plate-like scales slammed over his skin, his body grew in size, his wings exploded from his back. He stretched his legs and arms and lowered his flat, wedge-shaped head.
Caine was crowing in glee, believing the dart had struck home and the drug had forced Luther to shift.
Luther knew he’d only get one chance. He was an air drakon, and he pulled on every bit of power in his body. He sucked air into his lungs and released it. The powerful blast hit the vehicle, rocking it and knocking Caine to the side. The gun slid out of his hand when he was forced to steady himself to keep from falling.
“What the hell?” Caine yelled.
Luther was already taking a second breath, this one deeper. He knew he could cause a lot of damage if only he was at full power.
He roared, channeling all his anger, all the rage he’d bottled up over these past twenty years. Like a volcano exploding, fire erupted from deep in his belly. But it wasn’t just fire. It was also a tsunami of air that washed over the vehicle. Caine ducked back inside, but that didn’t stop the heavily armored vehicle from being shoved back about fifteen feet.
He saw Caine moving and knew he had to finish this. He was running out of strength. Between the symbols and the slight dose of whatever was in that dart, Luther was weakening with each passing second.
But he couldn’t give up. Victoria was inside the house. And he knew that Caine would either kill her or capture here. Either way, Luther could not allow that to happen.
He inhaled deeper than
he ever had before. His lungs burned. The weight of his large body was too much for his legs to hold, and he sat down hard but kept his head raised.
Luther’s bellow shook the ground beneath him, sending shockwaves outward. Cracks formed in the dirt and radiated in all directions. One crack went beneath one of the tires of the SUV. The weight was too much, and the ground gave way and the vehicle lurched to one side.
But this time he wasn’t alone. His father rose up from the right, shifting as he did. He gave a primal roar and added to the wind and flames shooting toward Caine. They were both feeling the effects of the symbols, but they were powerful together.
Flames shot over the vehicle and inside the open hatch. Screams echoed in the air, but neither Luther nor his father stopped.
One of the doors opened, and Caine stumbled out. His back was on fire, and he rolled around in the dirt to extinguish it. The wind shoved him back until he brought up solid against some rocks. He was still screaming. Luther wasn’t sure if it was from pain or anger.
Finally out of breath, Luther slumped forward and shifted back. He was on his hands and knees in the dirt. He heard his name being called but couldn’t manage to raise his head.
Then he smelled Victoria’s sweet scent and felt her warm hands on his skin. “Luther, are you okay?”
She put her arms around him and hugged him. Wait, what is she doing out here? It isn’t safe. Not yet.
He surged to his feet as adrenaline and the primal need to protect his mate powered him. “You need to go inside.” Where is Oscar? I’ll kill him.
“I’m not going anywhere.” She scowled at him, and he was enthralled. She was beautiful when she was mad. “Luther?”
“I’m okay.” Except he wasn’t. That damn drug was still in his system, and he’d only gotten a tiny dose. It gave him a small taste of what his father had gone through all these years. As the vehicle burned and the symbols began to melt, Luther felt somewhat better.
“Caine.” Luther struggled to his feet. This wasn’t done. Not until Caine was dead.
“Lean on me.” Victoria slid beneath his arm and helped steady him. She was one of a kind—beautiful, intelligent, loyal, determined, giving, and sexy as hell. There was no other woman like her. And he’d never love another.
He tucked her close, the better to protect her. If she thought she was helping him, that was fine by him, because he knew it would make her happy. And that was all he wanted in life.
He saw his mother and father embracing as he trudged toward Caine. The man had burns on a portion of his body, his arm was hanging at a strange angle, and his breathing was labored, but he wasn’t dead yet.
“It’s over. You lost,” he pointed out, needing to drive the point home. This man had robbed his parents and him of years of their lives. And he’d stolen his father’s blood for his own gain.
“I never lose.” The words were gasped out, but there was no mistaking them.
“How do you figure that?” Victoria asked him. “You’re dying, and we’re free.”
Caine raised his uninjured hand triumphantly to show them the remote clutched in his fingers. “Not all of you will live,” he muttered before he pressed the button. Caine looked toward Sergei and Katherine who’d come up alongside them. When nothing happened, he pressed it again. “No.”
Luther leaned down so their faces were almost touching. “We found the chip and removed it. You can’t hurt her or my father. Not ever again.”
Caine tipped his head back and screamed, using the last of his breath to vent his anger. His eyes rolled back in his head, and his body went limp.
Tarrant and Nic, both dressed and in human form, strode toward them. “It’s done,” Nic told them. “The rest of the men are dead and disposed of.”
Luther knew they’d used drakon fire to dispose of the bodies. It burned hot and fast and would destroy all trace of the men.
“I got some identification off of a couple and took pictures of all of them.” Tarrant looked down at Caine and shook his head. “It will help me track all known associates, which will hopefully give us more members of the Knights.”
Luther was grateful for all their help. He rolled his shoulders and held out his hand. “Thank you. For everything.” Without them, his mother might be dead, and they might not have been able to defeat Caine and his men. Nic and Tarrant had been far enough away from Caine’s vehicle and those damn symbols that they hadn’t been as affected.
“What now?”
Nic looked around the area and whistled under his breath. Luther followed his gaze and winced at the damage. The ground had several trenches that hadn’t been there before. Rock formations had cracked or come tumbling down, and a lot of trees had been uprooted.
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
Nic laughed. “Not the first time, but hopefully the last. We can’t depend on this as a safe place any longer. I don’t know if Caine told anyone else about his plans or where he was going. Knights are usually secretive, but we can’t take that chance. We’ll get rid of the vehicles and Caine and tidy up the place best as we can. You need to get out of here.”
“That is a lot of vehicles to handle. You’ll need some help.” It felt wrong for someone else to clean up his mess.
Nic shook his head. “Fire drakon,” he told Luther. “It’s no trouble for me to take care of clean up.” His expression softened when he looked at Victoria. “You have other priorities.”
Nic was right. A fire drakon’s fire burned even hotter and longer than a normal drakon, and Nic wouldn’t find it nearly as draining to use his power. Nothing was more important than getting Victoria and his mother to safety. But there was something more to be said.
“We’re stronger together.” He wouldn’t have been able to defeat Caine on his own, not without his father. And they might not have been able to do it if Nic and Tarrant hadn’t dealt with all the other men. Luther had no idea how many there’d been, but there’d most likely been dozens of armed men.
“We are.”
“What about containment?” Victoria asked. When they all looked at her, she squared her shoulders. “They were expecting to remove two drakons from here. Where are the men and the trucks needed to do that?”
“Damn good question.” Oscar stepped up and handed Victoria the keys to the vehicle they’d used to get here. “Take these and get out of here. I’ll take one of the SUVs down the road if any of them are still functional.” He glanced at Nic and got a nod. “I’ll find out what’s going on.”
“You can’t handle it on your own,” Luther pointed out. Oscar was exceptional, but he was human, only one man.
“He won’t be on his own,” Nic reminded him. “You need to get out of here.” He rattled off a phone number. “If you want to talk or need anything, call that number.” Luther memorized it and knew his father was doing the same.
“Thank you.” Victoria slipped away from him, went to Oscar, and hugged him. “For everything.”
Oscar closed his eyes and hugged her back. “Anytime.”
Luther resisted the urge to rip her away from the other man, even though he knew there was nothing sexual about the embrace. They all owed Oscar.
Luther went up to him, and Oscar released Victoria and took a step back. He was obviously familiar with overbearing drakons and how they felt about their mates. Luther held out his hand. “Thank you.” They shook and then Oscar turned away and started to walk down the road with Nic beside him.
“Leave as fast as you can,” Tarrant reminded them. “And call when you’re settled. Because you’re right. We are stronger together. That is something my brothers and I have always known.”
Victoria caught Luther’s hand in hers as they watched Tarrant, Nic, and Oscar walk away. “Brothers? There are more of them?”
Luther chuckled at the combination of wonder and worry in her voice. “Seems like it.” He was feeling more himself by the second as the drug worked through his system. “I need to get dressed, and we need to get out of he
re.”
“It won’t take long to gather the few things Oscar bought us as well as our old clothes. We need to make sure we take everything we might need.” She started to move away, but he pulled her back.
“I love you, Victoria.” Before she could say anything, he kissed her. It was quick and passionate. He walked off to get the sweatpants he’d stashed without waiting for her reply. Maybe it was cowardly, but he didn’t care.
They needed to get out of here. And he needed time to recover from this battle. Once he was back at full strength, he’d put all his effort in convincing Victoria to stay with him.
Forever.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Twenty-four hours later, Victoria was still reeling from Luther’s declaration. He’d told her he loved her and then walked away. Since then, there’d been no time and certainly not enough privacy to talk.
They’d driven nonstop, the men switching off as drivers until they’d reached California. There, Luther and his father had both accessed money and alternate identities. Apparently, that was something drakons did in the modern age. They had stashes all over the country where they lived. It was a smart thing to do, but it had to take a hell of a lot of planning, preparation, and money to make it happen.
From there, they’d switched vehicles, gotten some food, and driven up the coast. They were currently in Oregon. Victoria was sick and tired of being in a moving vehicle, even if it was one large enough for her to stretch out in and sleep. And she’d done a lot of sleeping. She was worn out from the fighting, running, and all the tension.
They’d finally stopped at a home in an isolated area. Victoria honestly wasn’t quite sure where they were, and she didn’t care as long as it meant she could get a shower and lie down on a real bed. She knew she should be hungry, but food just didn’t appeal to her right now. Not with her stomach in knots.
He’d told her he loved her. What did that mean, exactly?
“Victoria.” Her car door was open, and Luther was waiting for her.
“Yes. Sorry.” She scrambled out of the back seat and almost groaned when she straightened. She was stiff and sore after sitting for so long. She’d done her best to stretch every hour, but it just wasn’t the same.
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