They’ve got her.
Where? Drake asked, panicked. There are about a million of them at the door.
A million?
Okay, maybe not, but I can’t see past the first five blocking the hallway. How the hell did they do this with so little blood?
They’ve been mixing after mixing, I’m guessing. How are we going to get Tara?
Drake growled. One second, he said. And then Quill heard a deafening crash from within the apartment. He got away from the wyvern holding him by slamming him into the building and then flew up to see what had happened. Drake was standing in front of the door, holding it, apparently having used it to knock the wyverns back.
Surprisingly, the wyverns didn’t come back for more. Or maybe unsurprisingly, since their mission was accomplished.
Drake snarled and put his fist through a wall, and Quill ran to him and gripped him by the shoulders. The glowing rage in Drake’s eyes was burning out of control, but as Quill held him, he saw the fire die down slightly, enough to allow them both to have rational thought.
“Can you feel where she is? You two are mated.”
Drake took a deep breath and nodded, letting it out. “I can. She’s headed north.”
“Okay,” Quill said. “Let’s go get her.”
“She doesn’t have a power yet,” he said. “She didn’t complete the ceremony with both of us.”
Quill nodded.
“When we get there, your top priority is to get her your blood,” Drake said. “I’ll take care of everything else. If there’s even a chance of giving her something that can protect her through this, I want you to take it. And then get the two of you out.”
“We’re doing this together,” Quill said uneasily.
Drake nodded, but it wasn’t convincing. “Yeah, we are.”
It felt odd, the first time the two of them would go on a mission completely united. It wasn’t that they hadn’t gone out before, but it had always felt incomplete, like Quill was just following Drake, with nothing to do when he was on a rampage of destruction. Or that Quill was just leaving to heal while Drake had to follow to save him.
This time they were united in purpose. They were going to get their mate back, whatever it took.
And heaven help whoever got in their way.
Drake ran for the window and jumped into the air. He twisted as he fell, looking up at Quill, and then transformed instantly and took flight. Quill saw the faint shimmer of the huge red dragon before it was cloaked and had to stop and admire the sheer size and strength of his partner.
He was glad he was going into such a dangerous situation with the red dragon.
We’re still mind-connected you know, Drake thought wryly. I can hear you.
Quill flinched. Right.
I’m flattered, Drake replied. And just so you know, I’m glad I’m going into this with the blue dragon, too. Those fucking wyvern bites are poisonous. Badly. But no matter what, Tara is first priority.
On that we definitely agree, Quill thought, jumping into the air and transforming behind him, making sure there was room for them in both of their dragon forms outside the building.
Get her your blood, Drake thought again.
I will, Quill replied.
They rose high in the air until they were far over the city. They couldn’t see the wyverns. They’d gone invisible with their mate, and the thought made Quill inconceivably angry.
But Drake snapped his gaze in a direction and motioned for Quill to follow.
Right behind you, Quill replied.
With me, Drake corrected
With you, he agreed, sensing for the first time how very important it was.
And in a few moments they would be with her, and everything would be all right again.
Hopefully.
* * *
It was the worst flight of Tara’s life. Even the confusing flight before, when she’d been rescued from drowning and had no idea what was going on, had been better than this.
She twisted in the grasp of the creature holding her, and it shrieked as she tried to dig her nails into his hard skin.
She didn’t know what she’d do if she got away, but she also knew she was the reason they came and, thus, very important to them, so they were unlikely to drop her or let her die.
And her dragons would be coming soon. She knew it. She just hated there was nothing she could do to contribute. She didn’t have any power yet—if she was even going to get one after completing the mating process with Quill.
They flew until they reached a building, a large, two-story warehouse that appeared as if it used to be a factory until abandoned. They landed in front of it, and the wyverns with her transformed into humans.
She looked among them, searching for her ex, but didn’t see him. She struggled as one put a hand over her mouth and an iron-strong arm around her waist and manhandled her toward the building. She bit the hand, and he growled and knocked her forward onto the ground, forcing the wind out of her.
Then he grabbed her again, this time throwing her over his shoulder as he walked to the door, escorted by the other men. They walked to an old service elevator as she gave up on pounding on his back. If she fought, they’d just hurt her and make it harder for her to take an opening, should she get one.
She’d escaped from a monster before, and she was hoping to do it again.
When the elevator stopped with a creaky lurch, the wire doors in front of her opened, and they stepped out into a room that seemed newly furnished and clean, despite the sparse, industrial feel of the building around them.
There was a large office with multiple desks, and at the front of the room, waiting behind the largest of them, was a tall man with dark hair and yellow eyes, nearly as tall as a dragon. And at his side was her ex, Tim.
She gasped as she was tossed forward and hit the ground in front of them, looking up.
At the sight of Tim’s leer, she nearly lost the contents of her stomach. Just being near him brought back all the fear. Feeling helpless, feeling stalked. And then the moment he’d captured her. Being tied, thinking she was going to die, but not before wishing she would die.
But she told herself to stay calm. It had saved her in the other situation, and she was hoping it would save her again.
“Well, well, well,” Tim said, stepping forward. He looked different. He still had lank hair, but it was shorter, cut so it didn’t hang over his face. His skin wasn’t quite as pale and wan. And he was standing a little straighter. His eyes also shone a bright green rather than a dull gray-blue.
There was a strength to him that hadn’t been there before. And something that seemed to amplify the evil within.
He hadn’t always seemed evil. When she’d first met him, he seemed almost charming. But it had all been a mask.
Now, the last of that mask was gone. He stood before her, full monster. His rat-like features drawn in a triumphant sneer.
“As you can see, I’ve changed a little since we last spoke. See, when you got in with dragons, it worked out better than I could have thought. I have shifter blood, but it wasn’t strong enough for me to shift. However, I was there that day at the river. I’d found you. And I knew of only one kind of shifter that could fly. So I found myself some help.”
She rolled her eyes, completely uninterested in his explanatory monologue, but he didn’t seem to care. Her feelings had never mattered to him.
“And I found out they just happened to be doing experiments. With blood they got from your mate, in fact. Of course, there wasn’t enough of it, but they found that once they made a wyvern, they could use that blood to make more. Though some are a little…” His eyes wandered to some of the wyverns that had come in a side door. “Inferior.”
She heard hisses, but they were ignored.
“Why am I here?” she asked.
The tall, dark-haired man next to Tim stepped forward. “I’ll take it from here,” he said. He was handsome in a cold, cruel kind of way, and from the size of hi
m, she knew he was probably also a shifter.
He knelt in front of her and touched her chin, and she tried to jerk away, but he caught her again and yanked her to face him with a growl. Then he grinned. “You see, we’re going to try something new. See what happens when a dragon-heart mates with a Wyvern. Or at least mixes blood. Do you have dragon blood in you already?” he asked.
She decided to lie. “No.”
His face tightened. “That’s too bad. But it does make it simpler in a way. We’ll know what an unmated dragon-heart does when mated to a wyvern.”
“I’m not mating him,” she said, hoping to make it seem like she’d go along with the plan, but not with him. “I’ll do it with anyone but him. Not him.” That was also a lie. She would die before accepting anyone other than her dragons, but she’d continue to lie if it gave her more time.
The man holding her frowned. “Why?”
“I think you know why. He’s weak and obsessed. I’ll agree to this if it’s anyone else.”
The man raked her with his eyes, lust burning there. “You’re a pretty one. I could do it.”
“You’re not a wyvern,” Tim snapped. “And you promised when I gave you the location of the dragons, it would be me.”
“Too bad,” the man said. “We don’t have a lot of time before the dragons show up. This will be easier if she isn’t resisting. Seems like she’s willing to trade up to a stronger partner.” He stroked her cheek, and she felt vaguely ill. She had the feeling he didn’t mind at all having an excuse to take her for himself. He seemed as hungry for the power she might give him as he was for her body.
“Someone bring me blood,” he said, putting out a hand.
She kept her eyes on Tim, waiting for what she knew was going to happen. He’d never let anyone mate her but him, and soon, they’d be fighting amongst themselves, giving her an opening, hopefully.
“She’s mine!” Tim shouted, running forward as Tara had hoped. She rolled backward as her captor was forced to turn and face a half-reptilian Tim, seemingly transformed by his own rage. Her captor shifted into a wolf, and the two rolled across the ground, locked in a battle to the death. She tried to run for a side door, but her way was blocked, and the two men fighting stopped and stood as they realized their quarry was escaping.
Tim knocked the wolf out of his way with a sweep of his tail and stalked toward her, growling ferociously. But just as he was about to reach her while she was pinned back against a group of wyverns holding her, she felt a whoosh of air as the large window across from them shattered.
In the shimmering air in front of her, she could feel her dragons had come.
10
Quill materialized first, with Drake right behind him. The room went silent and then became filled with murmurs as everyone in the room watched them.
Drake’s eyes flicked immediately to Tara, still held by the group of wyverns, and he let out a roar as he rushed forward.
“Ah, ah, ah,” a voice said as a wolf shifted into a dark-haired man who got to her first and held her against him.
The sight of anyone’s hands on his mate made Drake’s blood burn inside him. He was a protector, and every cell in his body screamed she was his to protect.
“Don’t come closer or I’ll let the wyverns bite her,” he said.
Drake stopped. Wyvern poison was devastating to dragons. It was probably why the wolves had been so insistent on creating them. And they’d done a good job of it, it seemed, unfortunately.
But he didn’t know what it would do to humans.
Quill. Get Tara.
I know.
In a minute, I’ll distract him. And then you get her out of here, do the blood exchange, and I’ll let you know when you can come back.
You can’t do this alone, Quill argued.
I can’t do it if I don’t know she’s safe. That you’re safe, he replied. Besides, I’m the red dragon. I can take it, right?
You know, I never realized how much I appreciated that before. It’s kind of nice knowing you’re a ball of steel.
Thanks, Drake retorted. And Quill? Make sure she’s safe. If I don’t…
You will.
If I don’t…
Okay.
All right. On three. One… two…
Drake let out a roar as he stomped hard on the ground in front of him, watching the concrete shatter in a line as the warehouse shook. The shock of the strength of it caught everyone off guard, including the wolf in front of him and the wyverns holding Tara. In that instant, Quill ducked in, grabbing her around the waist and running for the window.
As they ran, their enemies became aware of what was going on and roars broke out as they took chase.
Drake got between them and his mates and caught a wolf and a wyvern in each hand, whirling and tossing them into the wall. He caught anything that tried to stop Quill from getting Tara out, and in a few seconds, he saw them jump out through the hole in the window. With a screech from Quill’s dragon, he knew they were safe.
Now he just had to keep them that way.
“There are more in the basement,” the wolf in front of him snarled. He made a hand gesture to a wyvern who made as if to run, and Drake looked at the ground beneath him.
Then he stomped once again, thinking of his mate and summoning all his strength as he forced his foot through the concrete. The building creaked and groaned and little shattering noises sounded all around them before the ground gave out in one huge cracking sound.
He had a second to see the shocked looks on his adversaries’ faces before he had to brace himself for a fall. He put his hands over his head as he heard the shrieks of wyverns that had been crushed under the ceiling. The walls were still up, but they were on the ground floor surrounded by piles of rubble, no available exit. And he’d keep it that way. Give Quill time to get Tara away.
You okay? he asked Quill as the wolf leader screamed an order and the wyverns came on him at once. He transformed into his dragon, having space now in the warehouse, and they swarmed over him in huge numbers. As long as he could keep them from biting him.
He snarled and fought, shaking them off and spinning to throw them into walls.
We’re okay, thanks to you. Doing the exchange now. You?
Fine, he lied. The wolf hadn’t been lying. There were so many of them. Too many maybe. But he’d die if it meant giving his mates a better chance.
Don’t be a hero, Quill said.
Drake laughed. He finally understood how Quill must have felt when he was trying to fulfill his purpose and Drake, in his selfish worry for him, was trying to stop him.
Quill cared for people in general, and Drake should have understood that. Instead, he only just comprehended. He shrieked as sharp fangs sank into his back, and he whirled, shaking off the wyvern who had bit him, smashing him into the wall and killing him; they were fragile after all.
Drake could feel the poison moving through him.
You’re hurt. Let us in.
No, not until the wyverns are gone. You can’t. Did she get a power?
We don’t know yet, Quill replied. You’re hurt.
Just let me finish them, Drake said. Then it’ll be safe. He shut off the mind connection then. He had to finish these jackasses, and he couldn’t do it if Quill was in his mind, hearing him die.
He roared as he blew fire over the mass of them. He didn’t often use fire because it sapped his strength, but it didn’t matter anymore. If he didn’t finish them, when he fell, they’d take his mates.
He blew as hard as he could, bathing the room in flames. When he finished, not a single creature was standing. He felt the poison reach his heart as it thumped hard for what felt like the last time.
He fell forward, trying to use his mind to tell Quill he was sorry.
* * *
Quill bent forward in pain as Drake broke the connection. Damn him for going off and being a hero on his own.
Even if Quill himself had done it so many times, he hadn’t realized ju
st how it would feel to have someone you cared about putting themselves in danger without you there.
So many times he’d misunderstood Drake’s rage and controlling nature. And now when he finally grasped it, they could lose him.
But he couldn’t take Tara in, not with the wyverns. He’d promised to protect their mate. He had to let Drake make the sacrifice play.
But it was the most painful thing he’d ever experienced, and he felt soul-deep guilt for every time he’d let Drake feel this because of his own stupidity. From here on, they only went out together.
He heard the roar of dragon fire, and he and Tara looked up at the building. Quill was holding her in his arms as his heart pounded and he silently prayed Drake would be all right.
After all those times when the roles had been reversed, it was what he deserved—to be the one on the outside, worrying,.
He’d wanted Drake to need him, but not like this.
When the roar of the fire died down, he looked at Tara. “Are you ready to try going in? He was bitten.”
Her eyes widened. “What happens then?”
“If we don’t get to him, he dies,” Quill said, realizing for the first time just how valuable his ability was now that wyverns were a larger part of the world.
“Then let’s go,” she said.
“Do you have a power?” he asked.
“I don’t feel any different. I mean, I feel good, happy that it’s complete. But tired from what’s happened. But I don’t… I don’t think I have a power. What would it feel like?”
Quill sighed. “I don’t even know. All right, stay behind me. I think the fight is over. And I… I have to see him.”
She nodded and followed him as he ran to the building and found a side door he could yank open. He ran into the room and gasped at the sight in front of him. Charred bodies in uncountable numbers littered the floor. And in the middle of them was Drake, facedown in a pool of dragon blood.
Wyvern poison stopped dragons from restoring themselves, stopped their blood from clotting. It would take all of Quill’s focus to save his partner. Luckily, there didn’t seem to be anyone around. He darted to his partner and Tara followed.
Desired by Dragons: BBW Paranormal Romance (Dragons of New York Book 2) Page 9