Asylum

by Kit Bladegrave

  Asylum

  Dragon Reign

  Kit Bladegrave

  Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Visions Excerpt

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Afterword

  Dedication

  Thank you to the readers!

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  Asylum

  Tristan’s a wolf shifter practically held prisoner by his position as king of his lands. He’s helped the dragon shifters defeat evil, but isn’t even allowed to roam his lands freely. Now his friends Kate and Craig, the Vindicar and the Demon King are missing, and their psychic link, Forrest can’t feel them.

  Tristan is on a mission to find them, until a mysterious redhead crosses his path.

  Sabella’s in an asylum, physically held prisoner by the doctors and mentally held hostage by her visions. She keeps seeing a woman named Kate and a man whose face scares her being held prisoners.

  She also sees a wolf. A wolf that calms her restless soul and is a balm to her tormented spirit.

  1

  Tristan

  Mud seeped up between my toes as I stared out along the river, rushing down its banks. Crisp, morning air filled my nose, along with the scent I’d waited for all morning. Sitting in the predawn darkness, waiting.

  Not far, leaves crunched underfoot, and I slowly shifted my massive body, crouching lower on my front legs as I waited patiently for my prey to appear.

  Closer, so much closer now.

  I tried not to think of anything else except the hunt before me.

  The moment I returned to the castle, Boris would be waiting to give me a lecture on sneaking out again during such precarious times. Being king and alpha was not always enjoyable, hardly ever really. And being less than a hundred years old made it even harder. I was still seen as a child by many, despite having helped defeat the enemy over six months ago. None of that mattered. I was a pup and my advisors, as well as my second, would continue to treat me as such.

  Hence, sneaking out to enjoy a few carefree hours, letting my wolf free to roam the river lands and find my own breakfast.

  They rarely gave me privacy to get out to hunt anymore, not since this new threat had yet to show its face again putting us all on edge. There’d been no sightings, no rumors, nothing since that shadow rose up out of Cassius’ corpse. I wanted to believe it was a good thing, but that was a fool’s hope. A war was coming, worse than the last, and it was going to drag us all down, push us further than we ever wanted to go. My parents had always said the time of peace wouldn’t last for long. I hated to admit they’d been right after all.

  The buck stepped out of the shadows, and I lifted my nose, readying myself to attack, when the sound of more rushing steps met my ears, and I caught the scent of Boris and the rest of my guard.

  A growl rose from my chest as the buck’s head lifted suddenly and it took off back into the trees.

  “My king,” Boris bellowed after shifting back to his human form.

  I considered hiding among the tall grasses for a few minutes and watching them frantically search for me, but the tone of his voice told me something was wrong. With a grunt, I shifted back, rising high above the grass and waved my arm over my head.

  “Here, Boris, right here. What is it?” I asked, disgruntled as he and the others rushed toward me. “Did you need to bring the entire guard with you?”

  All ten men and women surrounded me immediately, and if I’d still been in wolf form, my hackles would’ve raised. Boris grabbed my arm and pulled me into the trees, the guard following, until we were well out of sight. Sweat beaded his brow, and his eyes landed everywhere, watching. Always alert.

  “Tell me what this is about,” I demanded.

  “We have word from Boshen and Gregornath,” Boris told me in his deep, rumbling baritone. “We have trouble, and we need to get you back to the castle straightaway.”

  “Craig and Forrest? Are they alright,” I asked.

  Boris started to guide me through the trees again.

  “Boris, answer me.”

  He hesitated but shook his head. “Not here. We will be faster if we run.”

  I glared at him fiercely, informing him this conversation was far from over, but shifted, landing on my front legs and shook out my dark red and brown waves of fur. My guard did the same, and together, we sprinted for the castle. I sniffed the air as I ran, but there was nothing to help explain what might’ve happened.

  With each step, my worry grew until I was growling and snapping my jaws at the wind rushing past my face. As we neared the castle gates, I spied more soldiers than normal atop the wall, and the moment we were through, the gate was shut and sealed behind us.

  I barely shifted back when Boris ushered me inside, not stopping until we were in the council chamber and we were not alone.

  “Forrest?”

  If I was considered a pup amongst my kind, he was still a baby in dragon years, and yet he, like me, was stuck with the mantle of king. The past few months had worn on him though, and he no longer appeared the young, excited prince I remembered. Now, he looked like a man about to drown in a tidal wave of fear. I reached for his arm and pulled him into a brotherly hug before setting him back on his feet.

  Figures moved behind him, and I glanced up to catch his guard pacing by the far wall, peering out the windows every so often, as if afraid of an attack.

  “Why are you here? I assumed you would be busy rebuilding still.” I motioned for him to join me at the table.

  He did so and held his head in his hands, muttering incoherently under his breath.

  “Someone better explain now before I start biting fingers off,” I snarled.

  Boris stood at attention along with the rest of my guard.

  “Don’t blame them,” Forrest said as he straightened and looked me dead in the eye. “I’m the one who told them to wait to tell you here instead.”

  “Tell me what?” I asked, emphasizing each word with a growl.

  “Craig and Kate… they’re missing.”

  I couldn’t have heard him right, but he didn’t say anything else.

  “That’s not possible.”

  “Exactly what I said, but neither of them can be found. Luca said he saw Craig go into his chambers that night and stood outside to guard his door, as always,” Forrest explained roughly. “When he went in to wake him before changing his shift with another guard, the room was empty. They’ve been searching for days, but no sign of him, or what happened. There wasn’t even sign of a struggle.”

  “And Kate?”

  He shrugged, and I saw a flicker of pain slither across his eyes before he answered. “She was at her new home in the Darrah lands. Same story. They saw her enter, but then she just vanished. Like she wasn’t even there.”

  I glanced past Forrest to see Boris speaking quietly with the dragon guards. “And you? Have you seen an
ything strange?”

  “Nothing. I have sent word to Drake as well, and Lucy. Whatever took Craig and Kate, I have a feeling it’s not finished.” He rubbed his hands over his tired-looking face and smiled bitterly. “Here I prayed that the shadow was only that, a shadow that we’d never see again.”

  “We need to find them.”

  “Sire,” Boris stated loudly

  I glared at him.

  He continued, undeterred, “I respect your wish to jump into action for your allies, but we know nothing about this… this new threat and if it’s coming after monarchs, the last thing you should do is leave.”

  “Why? Clearly, it has no regards for guards or walls,” I argued. “I will be no safer here than out on the road.”

  He opened his mouth to counter, but I stood and rested my hands flat on the table.

  “I will not be kept locked away like a child. I am King of Torolf, Alpha of this pack, and I am leaving to help seek out Craig and Kate. We will double the guard at the castle, ensure our people are safe, and then I will leave.”

  Boris’ lips thinned in annoyance, but he bowed his head. “As you wish, sire.”

  “Good. Forrest, if you wish to remain here until we are ready to depart, I will have accommodations made, and we can set out in the morning.”

  “Thank you, that would be most appreciated. The past few days have been long, and I have not exactly slept soundly since.” He sighed.

  I led him from the room to join me for a drink in a more private part of the castle.

  We walked through the ancient stone halls, our guards trailing behind until we reached my chambers. I waved them off, and we entered, after which, I closed the door soundly behind us.

  “Now then, do you have any good news to deliver or just this?” I asked with a quirked brow as I poured out two glasses of ale. “You have not taken a queen yet. A dragon such as yourself should have them lining up to wed you.”

  He sneered, sinking into an armchair by the hearth, holding only burning embers now. “Oh, they are, but I’m afraid none of them are quite who I dreamt of having by my side.”

  “No? They’re not good enough for you… or they’re not Kate?”

  “Both maybe?” he said as I sat across from him. “I’m happy for her and Craig. Really, I am. It’s just… she’s a fiery woman, and strong. One day I might find those same qualities in another, but I doubt she’ll be wearing heels and a gown,” he added with a laugh before his eyes darkened. “Tristan, I can’t sense them.”

  I lowered my glass from my mouth without taking a sip. “Neither of them?”

  He shook his head. “Nothing, not even a whisper. It’s been less since we defeated Cassius, but I knew where they were, knew they were safe, but now it’s like we were never connected at all. I feel empty without their presence, hollow. It’s unnerving.”

  I refused to say the words aloud, the same ones I saw were clearly on his mind. They were already dead. Whatever took them killed them, and all we’d find was bodies. But it just wasn’t possible. Kate was the Vindicar. I’d seen her power, seen her with Craig and Forrest as they fought. Whatever stole them away would not kill them easily.

  “We’ll find them; I swear to you, we will,” I told him firmly.

  “I don’t even know where to begin,” he whispered. “There is nothing left behind, no trail to follow. How do you track someone when they simply vanish into thin air?”

  “My kind are trackers by nature,” I reminded him. “If there’s a trail to follow, I’ll find it.”

  “And then what?”

  I gulped down my ale and set the empty glass on the table. “Then we get them back and hopefully get some damned insight into whatever’s doing this. I’m tired of not having answers. If this thing wants a war, then I say we show it exactly what it’s up against.”

  He lifted his glass in a toast, then took a long swallow. “Lucy and Greyson have been researching around the clock for anything on a shadow with fiery eyes.”

  “And?”

  “And nothing. They’re still working on figuring out what Cassius did all those centuries ago to awaken the darkness in the first place. Killing so many seemed to have unleashed it, but where was it before then?” His harsh tone was enough to indicate this was still a touchy subject for him.

  I felt for him. I could barely handle my own life, let alone coming to grips with a past life that had suffered and died trying to save the world. There were ghosts in Forrest’s eyes that shouldn’t be there, but he’d told me before how Malcolm’s memories were always with him. He dreamt about those days, which only made it harder for him to get over Kate and move on, since he repeatedly saw Celandine in his sleep. Perhaps remaining a bachelor king was for the best, for both of us. There was enough to worry about without some woman driving one insane day in and day out.

  “If you need anything, just let one of the guards outside your door know,” I told him as I found my feet.

  “I can help you prepare,” he suggested, but I was already shaking my head.

  “You need rest, especially if we’re to begin the hunt tomorrow morning. Sleep, Forrest. I’ll send someone to wake you for dinner.”

  He rose and made for the door, thanking me again before one of my servants offered to lead him to his rooms for the duration of his stay. Several of my own guards accompanied them, an added precaution to ensure no harm came to the Dragon King while under my roof.

  “I do not like it,” Boris said the second Forrest turned the corner.

  “You don’t have to,” I muttered with a growl. “You think I do?”

  “Running about the realms will only draw attention to yourself,” he argued hotly. “As your military commander, I do suggest you reconsider this course of action and—”

  “And do what?” I whirled around, furious, feeling the wolf wanting to break free, but I held myself back as everyone in the hall froze around me. “To let others take risks that their own king isn’t willing to take himself? The Demon King and the Vindicar are missing. It is the duty of every monarch to lend aid in finding them, Boris. I will not sit idly by, twiddling my thumbs in this dank, depressing castle waiting for them to be found when I can do something about it. We’ve sat still for far too long,” I added, pivoting on my heel and storming off down the hall. “Too damned long.”

  Since the battle with Cassius, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking what could’ve happened if we paid attention to the goings-on in our realm, as well as the others. Would we have seen the signs sooner? Realized Raghnall had been possessed? So many chances to save more lives, but we missed them all because we’d been too caught up in our own problems, afraid to look outside Torolf.

  No longer.

  Peace had most certainly ended, and if it was a war this darkness wanted, then it was a war it would get.

  Taking two of ours had been its first move.

  I grinned darkly, thinking of the havoc I would bestow upon him the second we found his hiding place.

  My inner wolf howled with excitement at the idea of a new hunt and fresh blood.

  Soon, very soon the beast would be unleashed.

  2

  Sabella

  Rain pattered the window hard as the storm raged on through the night. Each drop of water slamming and exploding into the glass.

  I watched, fascinated, pressing my hand to that glass. It was cold, so cold, just like how I felt all the time now. Cold and darkness. It crept into my mind over and over again until it was all I could see. Lightning lit up the sky, and the massive thunderheads rolled in from the east. Or west, I couldn’t keep it straight anymore.

  Hadn’t for a while now actually. Everything was fuzzy, like I could reach out and feel that fuzz along the edge of my thoughts, but then there was nothing there at all. Just endless voices and visions and dreams, nightmares that never ended.

  A door opened behind me, but I refused to turn away from the glass.

  “Sabella, time for your morning meds,” Nurse Beth said as she
entered my room.

  “No pills today,” I whispered, intently staring at the water dripping down the glass.

  It gathered with more drops along the way, growing larger and larger, until it slipped out of sight. If only I could be like that, just dripping away from this life. I wondered what it would be like.

  “We’ve talked about this,” she insisted gently. “You have to listen to Dr. Tim more, or he’s not going to let you have the room with the window.”

  I growled in annoyance. “He won’t take it away from me.”

  “He won’t if you do as instructed. The pills make you better, remember?” She rattled the paper cup.

  I turned to watch her approach.

  She held it out to me with a plastic cup of water. “Don’t make it difficult.”

  “I told you, that wasn’t my fault.”

  She sighed heavily and held out the cups again for me to take. “Sabella, you know you can’t always blame your actions on the voices in your head. You were making such good progress, remember? What changed?”

  I rested my forehead to the window, turning my back on her. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  They never did. They never listened to me, not anymore. In the beginning, things were different. I was different. I saw things, but I knew the difference between reality and the dreams. For as long as I could remember, this home on the hill had been my sanctuary. Where I was safe. Where I knew I could always find my way back to who I was… or at least who they told me I was.