The Dragonlord, a good two heads taller than my already considerable height and half again as broad in the shoulders, took up the bench as if he owned the bar. The bar and everything around him.
“Kyas fucking Danshar. Christ, you Dragonlords and your super speed. I hate it when you do that.”
A big grin split the Suvia Kyan’s face, and his eyes sparkled.
Even with the glamour he used, one that showed him wearing a dark, pressed suit with a Rolex watch and made his golden eyes appear a dark grey, he looked completely out of place in a small-town tavern. He had a hat pulled low over his golden hair, hiding the one thing his magic couldn’t conceal. His golden, Windwielder dragonsign that would have gleamed right in the center of his forehead. “I should think you would be used to it by now, pup.”
“I told you not to call me that. Wait. Where the hell did you come from?” I glanced behind me again. Other than the fire doors, the only other door I saw was a wooden one that led to the storage room. I’d helped Ted carry boxes into that room, so I knew there was no exit to the tavern back there. “How did you get in here?”
“Trade secret,” Kyas said. A waitress stopped by the table, but he waved her off. He didn’t seem to notice the way her cheeks flushed looking at him.
I gestured to his appearance. “You know, that suit fits in here about as well as a Dragonwatch uniform, right? You look like a goddamned kingpin.”
“Did you call me all the way from the Sacred Ground to talk human fashions, Detective, or was there a reason for this visit?”
I nodded. “Kyas, I…” The old saying about a Dragonlord’s help always coming with a price bounced through my thoughts. I’d worked with Kyas on the job often enough that I knew he wasn’t like a lot of Dragonlords I’d met, leaping to trap humans in some underhanded deal at every turn. Still, he was what he was.
I tried again. “I need your help.”
“With?”
“I have…” Again, I stopped. I was about to ask a Dragonlord, and one who served on the Dragonwatch Guard, for help with a witch. If I had him pegged wrong and he found out what she was…
“A friend of mine is sick. I need you to heal her.”
With dragon’s magic. Stories abounded among those of the supernatural community who knew about the Suvia Kyan race. They said that dragon’s magic always carried a hidden curse, that if a Dragonlord used it on you, you became mystically linked to him. Depending on the version, you could even become his slave for life.
Kyas gave me a bored look and sat back against the wooden bench. “Hunter, I told you before. Windwielders aren’t nurses for every human ailment.”
“If you don’t help her, she’s going to die.” I can’t kill her.
“Humans die. I am bound by the laws of my people.” He stood up. “I’m sorry about your friend, Hunter. I am. But I cannot interfere in the natural course of human life.”
My fists clenched. “So, you’d let an innocent woman die because of some stupid human-hating law? Fuck, now I see why she doesn’t like you people.”
Kyas’s face became a stony expression, showing as much emotion as a rock. Why did I have the weird feeling he was uncomfortable? Did he read my love for her in my head? I still understood alarmingly little of Dragonlord culture, but I knew they didn’t believe in showing grief or emotional attachment, even in the face of death.
“I said I’m sorry, Hunter.” But his tone was without feeling. “I can’t help you.” He walked toward the door.
Desperate, I pushed to my feet. “I’ll pay any price.”
He stopped, the pause ominous somehow, like he was waiting for me to bite the hidden hook.
“If you’ll save Helena’s life, I’ll give you whatever you want. My soul, if I have to.”
Kyas spun around, and in a split-second he was toe to toe with me, his saucer-sized hands gripping my collar. “What was that name?”
I shoved his hands off, pushing him back. He barely stumbled, and I knew if I’d not been half werewolf, I’d never have gotten free. “Helena. Her name is Helena Griffin.”
When he spoke again, the voice of his dragon radiated through his actual voice. “Take me to her. Now.”
Chapter 14
Bombshell
The sound of my dad’s Blazer arriving and doors closing outside the containment cabin abruptly pulled me from nothingness. When I tried to open my eyes, blaring light stabbed at them, and the pain took me back under. How long was I out? I didn’t know, but the sounds of someone moving near me drove away the unconsciousness. I blinked, light flashed, I groaned, and turned my head away from the brightness. Steel cuffs still encircled my wrists, and my arms laid at my sides, over a blanket pulled up to my chest. Every inch of my body felt like it had been put through a meat grinder. I was too tired to breathe.
“Helena.” Hunter’s voice. I blinked slowly. His face swam into focus. A smile pulled at my lips.
“Hunter,” I croaked. “I’m alive. How?” Memories of pain and the feel of my bones breaking, of lava being poured into my veins filled my thoughts. I swore I remembered seeing a strange man in a black suit with golden eyes, someone who looked like…
But it couldn’t have been. I also remembered the feel of flames licking over my skin, searing pain, and yet I wasn’t in pain now. “Did I shift? Did I hurt anyone? How the hell am I alive and not a Demon Wolf?”
Hunter’s face turned white. Worry hammered off of him. Dread settled in my gut.
“Shit. What did I do? Did I kill someone?” I lifted my wrists. The cuffs on them weren’t linked by a chain. These were like the ones my father had used at that hotel when I was sixteen and had lost control of my magic. There’d be…what did he call it…a Tether, somewhere, disguised to look like an ordinary household object. A Tether, to keep me from leaving. “Oh, God, I killed someone, didn’t I?”
“No. Helena, there’s something I have to tell you.” Hunter lowered himself onto the bed beside me. “Listen, there was only one way to heal you. You were—”
The door to the cabin opened and then banged shut, cutting him off.
“All right, that’s enough. I’ll have a word with her now. Wait outside, Detective.”
The sound of that deep, baritone voice sent a familiar warmth through me, as if my veins had been injected with heat. I’d have known the voice anywhere, just as I had the last time I’d heard it ten years ago. Dragon’s magic hummed across my skin like an electrical current.
Confusion and a cold bite of fear coursed through me. I looked at Hunter, who stood and didn’t meet my eyes. Before I could demand to know what he’d done, the Dragonlord came to stand beside him, golden eyes alight with something I couldn’t read. The red cape of the Dragonwatch fell down his back, pinned to his shoulders by those dragon-shaped clasps, just as it had the last time I’d seen him when I was sixteen.
Kyas.
Kyas, who’d betrayed my father and I and fed us to the Dragonwatch.
I leaped up from the bed, anger and hatred dispelling my dizziness with adrenaline. “You,” I snarled.
“Hello, Helena.”
Hunter looked between us, gaze fixing on me. “Wait, you know him?”
Without answering him, I snatched Hunter’s pistol from the bedside table where he’d left it, cocked it, and aimed it at Kyas’ head. With dragonsteel cuffs cutting me off from my powers, I had to do something.
Kyas’s mouth, still gorgeous and kissable as ever, turned up in a hint of amusement. I hated that my head grew light with awareness of his masculinity.
No. I was in love with Hunter. This made no sense. Why didn’t I feel this way for him? For the man I wanted as my mate.
Kyas made a sweeping gesture with his hand, but I held the gun tighter in a two-handed grip, so that when his wind magic tugged on the gun, I kept it from flying out of my hands.
“Move a muscle, and I’ll blow your head off, you dragon-blooded bastard.”
“Helena, put the gun down,” Hunter said. “He’s here
to help.”
“No, let her point a weapon at me if it makes her feel better. I can catch a bullet before it hits me.” Kyas crossed his massive arms, not the least bit ruffled. Somehow, that made me angrier. “If you’re this angry with me, I’m glad Hunter had the sense to put those cuffs on you, otherwise you’d probably try to magic me through a wall.”
“Kyas, you’re not helping. Helena, calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down. Hunter, take these things off.” Keeping the gun trained on Kyas, I flicked my gaze down to the cuffs.
“I can’t.”
“Why the hell not?”
He crossed his arms, head down.
“Hunter,” I drawled slowly.
“He can’t, because I have the key.” Kyas held up his hand, the ornamented key to the cuffs between his fingers.
My heart sped up. I glared at Hunter. “Why does he have the fucking key?”
Hunter didn’t answer.
“Kyas.” I turned my glare on him. “Take them off.”
No.” He chuckled. Chuckled! Damn it, he was enjoying this.
“Helena, take it easy.” Hunter again. “He’s on our side. He healed you.”
“You had him heal me?” I rolled my eyes. “Dragon’s magic. Fantastic. What was his price, Hunter?”
Again, Hunter wouldn’t look at me. Dread knotted my gut. My father had told me about the way Dragonlord magic worked, that having it used on you tied you to the Dragonlord in unpleasant ways.
“What deal did you make with him, Kyas? His first born for saving my life?”
“If you know about the whole price thing, Helena, then you know any deals a Suvia Kyan makes is kept between him and the person with whom he makes it.”
Hunter shot him a glance like he wanted to say something. Instead, he looked at me again. “I know you have questions. We’ll answer—”
“Yes, I do. Starting with how the hell you know Kyas, and ending with why the hell you involved him in this.”
“There was no other way. I thought you would have died without his help.”
“He’s a fucking Dragonwatch Guardsman!”
“I see you’ve adopted your father’s lack of respect, as well as his foul mouth.” Kyas shook his head.
“I know,” Hunter answered me as if Kyas hadn’t spoken. He dropped his arms on a sigh. “I wouldn’t have called on him if I had another choice.”
“Don’t talk about my father,” I snapped at Kyas. “You have no right to talk about him as if you care after what you pulled.”
“What I pulled?” Kyas’s brows winged down. “Helena, where is Adam?”
“Like you don’t know.”
“I don’t,” he growled. “What. Happened.”
“So, you don’t know he was kidnapped by Dragonlords seven years ago? You know nothing about that?”
His brows lifted. “No.” God, he made the concern in his eyes look so genuine, I might have bought into it if I hadn’t remembered that those Dragonlords at Rishtar’s castle had found us because of him.
“I’ve been looking for my father since he went missing. But then you know that, don’t you?”
“Helena, he doesn’t. He—”
“Stay out of this, Hunter. You’ve done enough.”
Hunter’s jaw hardened. “Is it so bad that I’d do anything to protect you?”
At that, Kyas looked between us like he’d never seen us before. His gaze looked like he was trying to bore a hole through Hunter’s skull with his eyes. Then those gorgeous golden eyes were on me again. He lowered himself into the chair Hunter had been sitting in earlier. The movement caused his silvery breastplate to catch the light, the blue and gold sphinx there flashing metallically.
Wait. He’d been the man in the suit I’d seen. Now he was in a Dragonwatch uniform. Had he used magic to change? It wouldn’t be the first time I’d seen a Suvia Kyan do that.
“Do you know who took your father? Did you see them?”
“No.” Either he didn’t know, or he was the world’s best actor. He was also a Dragonlord, though, and who knew, with them?
Jesus, how had I ever been drawn to him? I was still drawn to him, even now. Every cell in my body tingled with awareness of him, as if his presence was an electrical field around me.
I put the gun down on the table. “There was a Dragonlord who claimed to know where he was, but I don’t know if he was telling the truth.”
“Do you know his name?”
“Hassik,” Hunter said before I could answer. I nodded.
Kyas knifed to his feet, big fist clenched. “Hassik Zale.” He spat the name like a curse.
“You know of him?” I asked.
“Yes. Helena, if Hassik has Adam, this is bigger than you think. I will help you find your father. We will find him, but if Hassik is behind this, we cannot do it alone.”
“Why? Who is he?”
“We’ll talk about that later. Suffice it to say, even I can’t take on Hassik alone. There are two associates of mine who can help us. I’ll need to take you to them. With the four of us, we’ll find Adam.”
“Five,” Hunter said. When Kyas looked at him, he gave a bitter laugh. “I’m not letting her go anywhere alone with you.”
Kyas crossed his arms. “If the Great Dragon wills it so, then you will come. If not, you won’t.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Just that—”
I whistled through my teeth. They both looked at me. “It doesn’t matter what it means. I don’t want your help, dragon. I’ll find him on my own.”
“Don’t be a fool, woman.”
“You betrayed me and my father, Kyas. I’d have to be a fool to want your help.”
Something flickered in his eyes, but the emotion was gone before I could place it. “You’re not going alone. You’ll get yourself captured and burned alive.”
Hunter gave a curt nod. “On that, I’m with Kyas.”
“Oh? And what price would you demand if you helped me, Dragonlord?”
“Helena,” Hunter drawled.
Kyas’s lips turned up. “Ah, yes. The evil Dragonlord price. We will talk of prices later, then. But you will accept my help. You have no choice. My associates and I are the only hope you have of finding your father alive and dealing with Hassik.”
“Like dealing with one Dragonpsawn isn’t enough. I’m not dealing with three. And I’m not paying your price.”
“Yes, you will, on both counts. Hunter, leave. I need a word with my woman.”
“Your what?” I hissed.
“What did you just say?” Hunter got in his face, and for all that Kyas was a good foot taller, the anger and possession pounding off of Hunter made him seem every bit as big as the Dragonlord. Love for Hunter and hatred for Kyas created a strange mixture inside me.
“Leave, now,” Kyas growled.
A low vibration came from Hunter’s chest. “I’m not leaving her alone with you, and she is not yours.”
“Oh? You think you can take her from me, pup?”
“Really? You wanna go there?”
“Don’t make me throw you out on your ass, boy.”
I only half heard them over the ringing in my ears. Or the pounding of my heart. His woman. My face felt hot.
“Excuse me. Kyas, I don’t know what kind of Suvia Kyan drug you’ve been smoking, but I am no one’s woman, least of all yours.”
When he looked at me, I didn’t like the way his eyes danced. “Yes, I suppose this wasn’t the best way for you to find out.”
New dread chewed a hole in me. “Find out what?”
“That you belong to me, of course. That we’re mates.”
Epilogue
The world was a cacophony of steel clanging against steel while fighters sparred below us. Annis Robar, my second in command, stood beside me on the high promenade that overlooked the huge practice floor. He said nothing, but I could feel his anticipation. He knew as well as I did, the time was almost at hand.
“When will they meet us, Pan?” Annis’s voice was a low, gravely rumble.
I glanced at the slightly shorter man beside me. Annis’s gauntlet-covered hand gripped the pommel of the sword at his hip. With his deep black hood pulled over his face as always, I could just make out the reason for the hood, the puckered scars that marred his cheek. Those scars covered one side of his face, a stark contrast to the other side, which women had once swooned over. Annis almost never looked anyone in the eye, and rarely showed his face.
“Four days at most. At last, we will see the Chosen one for ourselves.”
Annis looked at me then, dark brows raised above eyes that glowed Firewalker-red. Or rather, one dark brow had lifted; there was only shriveled skin where the other should have been.
“You know she’ll never agree to this. She’ll never accept any of it when we tell her the truth.”
I scowled at the insignia on the flag again. The destiny that I, as the head of the Warriors of the Shadow, would soon have to lay at her feet wasn’t something just anyone could handle. If she was lucky, she’d remember the woman she was when it was over, mourning the loss of the woman she had once been. If not...
“She’ll have to accept it, Annis. She’ll have to accept everything that comes with being what she is. The fate of all depends on it.”
Annis let out a low growl, one that sounded like begrudging agreement.
Looking down at the sparring fighters, I nodded, signaling Annis to address the crowd. He picked up the wooden staff leaning against the railing beside me and thumped it loudly on the tiled floor of the promenade. The sound echoed through the room.
As one, the fighters stopped and moved into standard formation, perfectly ordered rows that stretched back to the massive room’s doors. The Warriors looked almost identical, each dressed in the same uniform; formfitting black tunic and pants, black scarves covering their faces, leaving only their eyes showing.
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