“What?” Tyler questioned, looking down at her.
Busy unwinding the midnight colored cloth, she didn’t answer. She fingered the white trim, realizing even before they had time to talk the morning before, he had announced to the world she might be his.
Stepping back a pace, she wrapped the sash around her waist.
She looked up. Searching his face, she touched his cheek with the tips of her fingers. “You are mine.”
A smile bloomed, radiating from every point of his face. Curling strong arms around her, he said, “Yes, Chélah, yours forever.”
She tightened her arms around him, never wanting to let him go.
He tipped her face up, curling his fingers around the nape of her neck. Vivid blue eyes silently searched hers. His head slowly lowered, and he brushed his lips across hers, softly, tentatively seeking her approval. As always, asking before taking.
Standing on tiptoe, she eagerly accepted what he offered.
Pulling her tightly against his body, he deepened the kiss, devouring her mouth, scorching her skin.
She curled her hands in his hair, tugging him closer. The tingle she always felt when he touched her, seemed to roar out of control. She was on fire, burning with an intensity that startled her.
“Find me another elf!”
Tyler went rigid under her hands.
It took a second for Emma’s dazed mind to register the words. The girl’s stringent voice sounded nearby, less than a dozen feet away beyond the screen of thickly growing trees.
Tyler shifted into wér. Other than that, neither of them moved.
“Does it have to be an elf? Can’t we try one of the mortals?” Andrew said, questioning his companion, a companion that Emma belatedly recognized as Lily. “They’re all over the place. Nobody will report the abduction to the enforcers.”
“Can you see a mortal providing enough energy to be a blood slave? Anyway, we need a few more zombies protecting the cave. One smack of a hand and even a nymph could stop a mortal-made zombie,” Lily said harshly. “You know if anyone finds that brat, the enforcers will kill me.”
Emma’s hands fisted around Tyler’s arm, shivering.
“You’re my mate. I’ll never let that happen,” Andrew said forcefully; anger laced his words.
“The longer we draw this charade out, the better chance someone has of uncovering the truth,” she paused, adding in a deadly tone. “This afternoon, I plan to invite my dear mother riding and spike her water with nightshade.
“Sounds good,” Andrew said cautiously, “but you know how much Aunt Valerie hates horses. How’re you going to get her to agree?”
“She’s been harping at me, insisting we need some quality mother-daughter time,” Lily said in a snort. “She’ll agree. Once she drinks the nightshade, she’ll be knocked-out cold for hours. It will give plenty of time for her energy to be sucked dry, before I take her head.”
Andrew chuckled. Dark and menacingly, the sound bounced through the trees. “Kill her and Uncle Aaron dies instantly.”
“And that only leaves Tyler standing in the way of your rightful place as Black Wér-Dragon. We need him dead.”
“I’ll handle him, but don’t forget it’s not an absolute,” he grumbled. “There are half-a-dozen more contenders.”
“We’ve already been through this. None of them are suitable,” she insisted.
Something whizzed by Emma’s ear, making her jump. Her eyes darted to the right, just in time to see the little red haired pixie jerk to a stop in mid-air.
Emma’s heart lodged in her throat as Mari waved her hands in greeting, giggling with high-pitched delight.
“What was that?” Lily demanded.
Tyler motioned for the little pixie to be quiet, but it was too late.
Trees cracked, smashing to the ground. The forest around them shook as something huge suddenly appeared in the clearing beyond. Birds panicked, taking flight in a mass of wings and feathers. A deep growl rumbled through the trees as one or both dragons changed shape.
Mari’s eyes grew big, no doubt as big as Emma’s fear-filled ones.
The little pixie darted through the trees toward the erupting chaos, straight toward the growling dragon.
Tyler grabbed Emma, pushing her behind him.
“Hi, Guys,” Mari said in her high voice, rambling a mile-a-minute. “Lily, your dad sent me to find Tyler and Emma. Have you seen them? What are you doing out here? The enforcers said no minors allowed out of the city limits, because it’s not safe. I’m gonna tell!”
The little pixie’s voice grew faint. From the sound of it, the pixie must have darted in the opposite direction, trying to lead the dragons away.
“Get her! Don’t let her get away!” Lily screeched.
Andrew roared and took to the air, thundering away from the grove in a sweep of his wings.
Emma made a fervent promise to give the little pixie anything she wanted from that moment forward.
Leaning against Tyler’s back, she shivered. She didn’t need his quick glance telling her to stay behind him. No way was she going to take on either dragon.
He eased through the thick trees, motioning her forward.
Following close behind him, she stepped out of their secure hiding spot and into destruction.
Not seeing Lily or Andrew, she sighed in relief.
The area looked like a house-sized bowling ball had smashed through it, crushing smaller bushes and young trees. Larger trees had broken off, splintering as they crashed to the ground on either side of where Andrew had changed into dragon.
“I know I suggested it yesterday, but how can they be mates? He’s your cousin,” Emma said, feeling sick to her stomach.
“I have absolutely no clue. I’ve never heard of such a thing,” he said disgustedly. “We’ve got to get home and warn my mom.”
“I agree.” Emma nodded her head, quickly agreeing with him.
He moved away from her, preparing to shift.
She was too curious about Lily’s demands not to ask, “What did she mean by blood slave?”
“Blood slave, power slave, they’re both the same disgusting thing. A blood slave proves she is working with a wizard. No doubt Alex, the wizard they’re working with, has insisted on a constant flow of power.”
“That’s what the mesh collars in Lily’s closet were for,” she said, slowly nodding her head as she remembered the conversation. “I totally agree that we’ve got to stop her before she can do anything to your mom, but it is still early morning so I think we have some breathing room. Lily mentioned a cave. If Alex is forcing people to be blood slaves, we need to find them. If they’re nearby, would a few hours give you enough time to find them by scent?”
He tilted his head, giving her question due consideration. “It depends. Normally, I’d say no problem, but a wizard complicates everything. If the wizard has put up a mirage around the cave, the spell will camouflage the cave, and a strong spell will even control the smells around it.”
They began searching. It wasn’t easy. Caves, of every shape and size, riddled Arkansas.
An hour or so before noon, they stopped near the shroum field where she first encountered Mari and the vampire. The forest was part of Uncle Keith’s ranch, an area she was very familiar with as she and Kayla had explored every inch.
“This is where the zombie attacked me,” Tyler said thoughtfully. He growled, looking toward a distant group of trees. “I saw a dark haired girl over there by those trees. I thought she was either a witch or vampire. Now, I’m not so sure. I have a bad feeling it was Lily. If the girl was my sister, I think she’s in deeper with the Southerners than a single wizard.”
“There’s a large cave over there,” Emma said, pointing to the same group of trees.
He looked at her with a question in his eyes, and she shrugged. “Kayla and I have been all over this area. If we had been a little farther south last night, I would’ve known exactly where we were.”
“Okay, let’s
check it out.”
Forty feet away from the chunky blue trees with tiny pink flowers, Emma stopped and glowered at them. “I know there is a cave here. I swear Kayla and I have been in it a hundred times.”
The words were barely out of her mouth when Tyler tackled her, knocking her to the ground.
A roar passed overhead, sounding outraged that it missed them.
She jerked her head up in time to see someone, a really big someone, fly overhead and crash into the bushes. She didn’t have time to be frightened, not before Tyler went scaly in a big way.
One instant Tyler was huddled over her, the next she had a furious black dragon standing above her. Trees snapped and crashed to the ground. Panicked birds flew, crying their distress.
He roared, bellowing his anger into the air. Forelegs slammed down on either side of her, keeping her protected from attack.
His head snapped toward the struggling Tuathan.
The man stumbled to his feet. A snarl of fury covered his face. Torn clothes hung on his body. Dirty blond hair, matted with chunks of dirt and leaves, straggled down his head. A ragged wound slashed across his neck. It gaped wide, not bleeding. His grayish-green eyes looked dead, soulless.
She didn’t doubt the man was a zombie. Shivering with revulsion, she hoped there wasn’t more than one of the creatures.
The zombie lurched forward, reaching for them with dirt-encrusted hands.
Tyler’s neck arched and he spewed reddish-orange flame at the zombie, engulfing the dead man and the bushes behind him in fire.
The zombie’s clothes and hair burned off in an instant. Skin turned black and crispy. Still, the zombie struggled to reach them.
Tyler’s second flame hit it dead center. The zombie crumbled to the ground.
A second and third creature appeared from thin air, running out of the tangle of trees. She jerked back, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that they didn’t run from behind the trees; they simply appeared mid-air, running full tilt.
Tyler bellowed flame, torching the zombies and the trees.
One forearm wrapped around her, pulling her to his chest. His other arm, armed with deadly black claws, backhanded the burning zombies, throwing them far into the forest.
Against her back, his body rumbled with a fierce growl. His head snapped around, horns brushed high tree limbs as he searched for additional enemies.
She’d known he was dangerous, but seeing Tyler in action made her supremely glad he was on her side. He’d taken out three opponents in less time than it took her to build up a solid scream. Well, maybe not that fast, but it was a near estimate.
She pulled her gaze from where the burning bodies landed, and sucked in a fierce gasp of shock. Half of the small grove of trees looked normal. The other half looked like a chunk of reality had been torn out of existence. A patch of rocks appeared where the base of a tree should be. It looked like the tree started growing in mid-air, two feet above the boulder.
The cave’s entrance should’ve been immediately behind the knee-high boulder. Instead of the normal seven-foot entrance, there was an odd blue tree with white thorns and tiny pink flowers.
A breeze blew past, ruffling her hair. “Why aren’t the leaves moving?”
Tyler crouched lower, keeping her tucked-up close to his vibrating chest. He stayed in that tense position for several seconds. When he spoke, the words seemed pulled from him. “The tree is part of the mirage. We must be dealing with a young wizard, one who doesn’t have the power or ability to animate his mirage spell.”
He angled his head toward the gaping rip in reality, or rather the rip in the wizard’s mirage. “When I destroyed the spell’s lower anchor, the mirage became unstable. I can smell Lily inside.” He paused, shaking his head. “I can’t figure out why she’d trap herself inside such a small area. She’s not wér. There’s no way there is enough room for her to shift into dragon, not in a cave. She trapped herself.”
He reared back, spewing fire at the trees. The blue leaves didn’t catch fire. Instead, there was a soft popping sound and another portion of the mirage disappeared. Turning his head, he covered a wider area surrounding the cave. Two pops later, the cave entrance appeared.
Keeping his arm around her, he shifted into wér. “I’d rather you stayed up top while I hunt for Lily.” Before Emma had time to disagree, he added, “But with vampires and zombies roaming around, and Andrew unaccounted for, it’s not safe.”
“Good, because I’m not letting you go without me.”
He didn’t answer. A confused look entered his eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just can’t understand what I keep smelling.” He shook his head. “Lily’s trail going into the cave smells several days old.”
“But you just said you smelled her in the cave.”
“Yeah, I can smell her scent coming from the cave, and it smells rank. But the trail she left going into the cave should be fresh, hours old.” He held her carefully, seeming unsure of his next move.
She turned in his arms and took in his fierce stance. She knew he had to be going through all kinds of torture. Finding out his sister was not only consorting with the enemy, but planning to kill his parents had to be horrible.
Standing on tiptoe, she kissed his scaled chin, offering what comfort she could.
With a final shake of his head, he turned his attention to her. Leaning close, he slid a warm finger down the side of her neck. “Are you okay with going in the cave?”
Even faced with a treacherous family member, his first thought was for her.
Unable to stop herself, she brushed her heated palm over his cheek, before sliding her hand upward into his thick mane of hair. She grabbed the base of his horn and tugged him closer.
His eyes widened in surprise.
“I go wherever you go. Period,” she said emphatically. Knowing his sharp teeth was a hair’s width from her tender skin, she touched her lips to his, showing him how much she trusted him.
A tremor ran through the length of his body. Exhaling a sigh, he curled both arms around her. “You know, touching a guy’s horns is a major come on.”
“Then you better not let anyone ever touch your horns. They’re mine,” she said possessively with a twinkle in her eye as he teased the flesh of her back with gentle strokes, moving from her waist, up to her neck, and finally trailing down her bare arm.
Without a hint of warning, fire scorched her. The skin of her arm burned, sharp and intense, blazing fire touched her upper arm and flowed down to her wrist.
Tyler clamped his hand around her burning flesh.
The blaze strengthened, burning with a brilliant intensity. She cried out. An instant later, the intense burning calmed into a tingle of warmth. She glanced down, but his black-scaled hands covered her arm.
He shifted into human, looking arrogantly pleased over something. His eyes glanced into hers then studied her arm, stroking it tenderly.
She shifted, looking down at her arm. There was a flame-shaped tattoo trailing down its length, curling around her wrist, and across her palm. As she watched, the grayish flames came to life, flickering blue, black and silver.
Tyler chuckled, hugging her tightly to him. His laugh ruffled her hair. “You carry my mark, the mark of a mated Tuathan.”
A purple flickering blaze appeared and just as quickly disappeared. The blue flames never paused in their dance.
“They change colors and move,” she whispered in fascination. “How do they move like that?” Talk about a wild tattoo. Uncle Keith would croak. Or perhaps not, he might already have a similar mark of fire.
“The flames of a mate mark are mostly blue, reflecting the dorcha energy in your blood. The occasional odd color is a reflection of my emotions,” he said, smiling at her.
She grinned, returning his smile. Her eyes searched the length of his body, checking out what bare skin she could see. She didn’t go far. Her eyes grew big as her gaze latched onto the skin of his throat. At the bas
e of his neck, flowing upward from his right arm was a smattering of blue flames. As she watched, they grew larger and darker, trailing from the tip of his fingers on one hand, up his arm to the pulsing vein of his neck.
She touched his neck, feeling the warm, raised edge of the mate mark on his skin. The blue color was slightly warmer than his normal skin. Excitement and a burst of satisfaction filled her. She no longer needed to worry about some girl not realizing Tyler was hers.
The flames flickered with a ribbon of red, before returning to a spectrum of blues.
He chuckled. “Come on, let’s get this over with.” His body changed shaped, turning wér. Taking her hand in his, he headed toward the cave.
They entered cautiously, but nothing attacked them. Deeper in the cave something moved. She heard a moan then silence. Fear shivered up her spine.
Metal clinked.
He stopped moving. “It’s over, Lily. Give it up.”
“Ty?” Lily’s called, sounding hoarse. Chains clinked, rattling against each other. A dark head of hair appeared around a cluster of boulders. She crawled forward, stopping abruptly. “Is it really you?” A sob quivered through her voice.
The grime covered girl shuddered, and slumped forward in a dead faint.
Tyler bellowed in fury, jumping forward toward his sister who lay bound in chains.
“Lily?” he called softly, as if questioning what he was seeing. His hands trembled as he lifted the bedraggled girl in his arms.
“Um, Ty?” Emma asked, squatting beside him. Her world felt off kilter. Sure, it looked like the wizard turned on Lily, beating and then chaining her up. That didn’t change the facts. Lily had planned to kill his parents, Tyler, and Emma.
Tyler wasn’t acting like the person she knew. Made of steely willpower, he seemed more likely to hold a grudge for several centuries, not to forget his sister’s serious crimes in a matter of minutes. Chains or not, the girl was dangerous to everyone around her.
“This is my sister, Lily,” he said. Voice shaking, he tapped the girl’s face. The gentle touch didn’t wake the girl up.
“Yeah, I’m not dense. I’ve got a clear memory of her planning to kill all of us,” she reminded him none too gently, speaking in a voice rough with emotion.
Emma (Dark Fire) Page 20