by Julie Wetzel
A hard object slammed into his shoulder, knocking him off balance. He cursed to himself as he twisted to face his attacker. Surprise flashed through Noah. He knew his attacker! What is he doing here with that blackjack? Before Noah could voice his thoughts, the end of the metal rod came down and dropped him into unconsciousness.
***
Swirls of color shimmered behind Noah’s eyes as the pain in his head echoed out his heartbeat. What the hell happened? Shifting his head, he opened his mouth and breathed through the pain, praying the contents of his stomach would stay down. He pushed down the nausea and focused on things outside the ball of agony that made up his head and shoulders.
He was alive. That much he was sure of, but the fact that he couldn’t move much worried him. He shifted around and found that he was bound by the cuffs he had donned earlier. Pulling against them, he was pleased to see that one side was still loose. Relaxing, he cracked his eyes. Light stabbed into his head, and he squinted to block some of it out. The rich tones of a highly polished, wooden floor filled his field of vision. He blinked several times until things came into focus properly.
Turning his head just slightly gave him a view of the rest of the room. A table sat in the middle of what could have been a dining room, but the chairs were nowhere to be seen. Instead, three people stood around the table in long black robes. They swayed to the rhythm of some archaic chant that Noah couldn’t make out. The pulse of building magic filled the room and swelled as their voices grew in strength. The heaviness of the power added to the swirling in Noah’s stomach, and it was all he could do not to throw up. Whatever spell the mages were using stemmed from a branch of magic that Noah seldom touched. Blood magic.
Careful not to draw attention to himself, Noah slipped his hand free of the leather cuff. Thankfully, the mages were deep in their spell and didn’t notice as their prisoner bent his legs up and worked the buckles on his ankles free. Relaxing back into position, Noah slowly shifted so he could see what the men were doing. They were focused on something spread out on the table. Fear shot through Noah’s heart as he recognized the hem of the gown hanging over the edge of the table. Raven.
The mages’ chanting had reached a fervent pitch, and the power hummed along Noah’s spine. Whatever spell they were working was coming to a head, and he had but moments to do something before they completed their task. And blood magic was never used for anything good.
Focusing on the two men closest to him, Noah drew in some of the loose energy floating around the room. He shivered as the dark taint in the magic hit him. The spell being performed was strangely familiar, but Noah couldn’t place it. Pushing that from his mind, he wrapped the gathered magic to his needs and launched himself at the men. Grabbing them by the shoulders, he yanked them away from the table and let loose a bolt of electricity. The well-practiced spell slipped from him with ease and dropped the men with barely a crackle of sound.
The silver flash of a knife in motion caught Noah’s eye, and his heart dropped as he watched the third mage plunge the sharp point deep into Raven’s chest. Shock and overwhelming rage slammed into him, and he dropped the two men from his hands. An unholy sound ripped its way out of his chest as he launched himself over the table at the last man.
Surprised by the sudden attack, the mage ripped the dagger from Raven’s chest and stumbled backwards as Noah flew towards the man’s throat. He raised the knife to defend himself, but Noah ignored it. The tip of the blade caught Noah in the chest just over his heart, but the man was obviously not used to hand-to-hand combat. The blood-soaked dagger slipped from the man’s hand as Noah crashed into him, and the pair went down to the floor.
There was a sickening crunch of ribs breaking as Noah landed on the man’s chest. His hands were already around the mage’s throat, crushing the life from him. Unable to control the rage sweeping through him, Noah slammed the injured man’s head into the ground twice, crushing part of his skull.
Noah sat on the dead man for a moment, panting as fury burned within him. The sudden desire to mutilate the man’s body pounded at him. Ripping the dagger from his chest, he slammed it into the mage, pinning his body to the floor, but pushed the urge to do more damage away. There was something more important that needed his attention at the moment. Turning, he looked up to Raven laid out on the table. She looked as if she were asleep, but the blood flowing from the wound in her chest ruined the image.
Fear raced through him, and he scrambled up from the floor to her side. Pressing his hand over the cut, he tried to staunch the heavy flow of blood. His gut clenched as he felt the cut under his hand. The wound was deep and fell directly over her heart.
“Raven,” he called softly as he touched her cheek with his free hand. He had to wake her up. “Raven!” he said again as he patted her cheek. Pain squeezed at his heart as dread filled him. “Raven!” he cried loudly, desperate to get her to wake. He gave her a soft shake, hoping the movement would register in her mind.
She moaned softly and shifted her head.
A tiny spark of hope glimmered in the despair that was setting in. “Come on, lover,” he coaxed, trying to get her to wake.
A groan of pain came out as she moved.
“Be still, lover,” Noah soothed as he pressed on the wound. He whispered the one healing spell he knew. It slowed the bleeding, but it wasn’t nearly strong enough to repair the damage.
Raven let out a pained laugh as she reached up and covered his hand. “Nothing you can do can fix this, lover.”
“I can try, damn it!” Noah concentrated on the wound and willed it to heal. He was a powerful mage who could pick apart trap spells and hurl fire bolts all day long, but healing was not his forte. Knitting together flesh was one thing, but this wound went clear to her heart. The fact that she wasn’t dead already spoke volumes of her strength of will.
“Noah.”
The use of his name drew his attention from his work, and he looked up into her dark eyes. In the entire time he had been there, it was the first time his name had graced her lips.
She smiled at him. “Thank you.”
“No!” Noah turned his attention back to the wound and pressed on it harder, determined to save her. There was no way he was going to let her die on him. He could feel the spell that bound them together. It was still strong. If she were truly dying, that bond would be weakening. She gasped in pain as he worked, but he could feel her life slipping away under his fingers.
Reaching up, she touched his cheek, turning his face to look at her. The distant look in her eyes drove shards of ice deep into Noah’s heart. “I love you,” she whispered as she stroked his skin. “Save the dragon.” Drawing in one final breath, she shuddered as the life drained from her.
Noah caught her hand before it could slip away from his skin. Tears poured down his face as he clutched her hand in his. “No!” he screeched. Grabbing her limp body, he dragged it off the table and folded her into his lap on the floor. Her life was gone, but he could still feel power in her body. He held her to him, chanting every spell he could think of. Nothing helped.
Slowly, his rage subsided into despair. She was gone. Soul-deep pain like he had never known ripped through him. Throwing his head back, he screamed out his loss. True, he had only known her a few days, but those days had been intense. Tears slipped down his face as he held her, thinking of what could have been. He had accepted her bonding, but he never got to experience what it meant. His fingers rose to the buckle at the back of his neck. Without her, there was no reason for him to keep the spelled collar on.
“No!”
A voice rang through Noah, making him gasp. He clutched at his head as the world waved in and out of focus.
“Save me!”
Noah swallowed hard as he sat up and looked around for the source of the call.
“Save me!” it cried again.
Noah clutched his ringing head. “Where are you?” he called out.
“I am here. Save me.” The call came again, but th
is time it was a desperate whisper that continued to repeat in his head.
Something powerful needed his help. Closing his eyes, Noah pushed his emotions away and listened with his heart. In his calmer state, he found the trickle of power whispering to him and followed it to the woman in his arms. Opening his eyes, he looked down at her lifeless body. How can she be calling out? She’s dead.
“She is. I am not,” the voice answered him.
Noah studied her for a moment. There was definitely no life in her, but there was still power. “Who are you?”
“I was hers. We are bound. You are mine. Save me!”
Working this over in his mind, Noah thought about it. The only binding he could remember was the collar that bound him to Raven and her dragon. The epiphany rang through Noah’s soul. Her dragon!
“Yes,” the voice echoed through his head as if it were picking up his thoughts. “I was hers. We are bound. You are mine. Save me!”
“How?” Noah asked the dragon. A flash of knowledge slammed into his head, making him gasp. A spell. Very old and very powerful.
“Free me. Save me!”
Noah nodded as he started to draw the power he would need to work the spell. He now knew what the mages had been trying to do. The spell they had been using was a poorly managed version of the one the dragon had just given him. Placing his hand over the wound in Raven’s chest, he poured the power out and chanted the words. He wasn’t quite sure what they were, for they were in a language older than most could remember, but he knew what the spell would do. The dragon had shown him.
As the words flowed from him, the air around them shimmered with energy. The power trapped in Raven’s lifeless body condensed and crystalized under Noah’s fingers. After a few moments of concentration, he held a mass of diamond shards the size of a baseball. He rolled the ball over, careful not to cut himself on the razor-sharp edges. The center of the crystal pulsed with a reddish light. He knew what this was. A dragon heart.
Back in the days of old, dragon-heart stones were used to bond mates together. Unlike the sharing of a scale, a heart stone wouldn’t just give the mate the life of the dragon. It gave them part of the powers of the dragon. A heart stone was formed, and the bonded pair would use the crystal to divide the dragon’s power in half. But the spell was risky. If the human accepting the bond wasn’t strong enough in mind, the dragon would take over and run rampant through the country. It also took a powerful dragon to withstand being fractured. As time ran on and the dragons’ powers were divided, fewer and fewer dragons could stand the split. The art of sharing a scale came into practice, and heart stones fell out of use and onto the pages of mythology. Noah knew of the archaic custom because he’d come across it in an old text while they were researching Michael’s situation, but it had only been mentioned in passing. He’d found other references to heart stones scattered through several old vellum volumes—warnings of the dangers of the practice, but nothing on how it was done.
Noah stared at the heart in awe. It was beautiful, but he didn’t know if it would remain so. How long can a dragon survive in this form? He pondered this for a moment, but Raven’s dying words echoed through his brain, pushing him to act. Unwilling to risk losing the dragon, he squeezed the gem, slicing the diamond points deep into his palm. Rolling his hand over, he let his blood seep out onto the heart. The power of the dragon raced up his arm, slamming into his brain. A mighty roar shook his world.
“Mine!” the dragon roared as it claimed its new home.
Noah fought for control over the beast, but the dragon’s rage gave it an unnatural strength. The desire to destroy everything that had hurt Raven coursed through him. “No!” he cried out. Dropping the blood-covered heart, he wrapped his arms around Raven’s body, trying to hold on to himself, but the dragon was too strong. It ripped its way out of Noah’s body, taking Noah for a ride. The leather collar around his neck forced the dragon into a size smaller than it was used to, but this size was more than enough to do what it wanted for the moment. Noah’s consciousness dropped away as the creature pounced on the body of the man who had killed Raven and started ripping it to shreds.
***
“Raven!” Daniel called as he banged on the front door of her home. It was well after two o’clock, and Noah hadn’t checked in yet. “Where is he?” He jiggled the door handle and found it locked. “If you don’t answer in the next ten seconds, we’re coming in!” When no answer came, Daniel turned to the men standing behind him and stepped out of the way. “Break it down.”
The four men dressed in heavy SWAT outfits hefted the metal battering ram and swung it at the door. It cracked under the pressure. Drawing back the heavy, steel head, they swung it into the wood again. The latch broke loose, and the door banged open.
“Raven!” Daniel yelled as he stormed into the foyer. A feeling of wrongness hit him, stopping him in his tracks. “Find them!” he bellowed to the men following him through the door. His team spread out as he headed towards the stairs leading to the living space. Since he had been in Raven’s home before, he knew exactly where to look. Noah was most likely being held in Raven’s master bedroom.
Slamming into the room, Daniel paused to look around. The smell of dragon pheromones was heavy in the air, but the room held no signs of Raven or Noah.
The radio on Daniel’s shoulder crackled to life. “Commander.”
Daniel grabbed up the mic and snapped it on. “Did you find him?” Worry had settled into his heart.
“We found something,” the man answered back. “You had better come and see this.” There was a hint of horror in the man’s voice.
“On my way.” Clicking the radio into place, Daniel stormed back out of the bedroom, pondering their situations. What the hell is Raven up to, and where is Noah?
A small group of men were waiting at the bottom of the steps when Daniel came down. He looked at them expectantly.
One of the men held out his hand and pointed down the hall. “This way, sir.”
Daniel nodded and turned down the hall. The strong smell of blood quickened his steps. Fear for Noah’s health clawed at Daniel, and he reprimanded himself. He should never have let Noah go with that crazy woman. This could be worse than the last time she had claimed one of his men. At least then, his man had survived the encounter. A group of men stood in the doorway of what he knew was Raven’s dining room. “What is it?” he said as he came up and stopped behind them. They filled the doorway, making it impossible to see what was beyond.
One of the men turned around and looked at him. “Sir!” he said as he stepped back from the door.
Daniel looked at the man. His eyes were wide in shock, and he looked rather green. Turning to the room, he pushed his way through the remaining men and stopped as soon as he saw the carnage. It looked like a bomb had gone off.
The beautiful wooden table that Daniel knew had been in there was reduced to splinters. The wallpaper and curtains were rent with claw marks. What looked to be the remains of bodies were shredded all over everything. And right in the middle of the whole mess lay a black dragon glistening with blood.
But the blood and gore wasn’t what froze Daniel in his tracks. His eyes barely even noted them. It was the limp form the dragon hunkered down next to that held his attention. He stood there in shock as he studied the scene. He couldn’t see the face of the woman who lay untouched in the carnage, but the long strands of dark hair that curled around her body gave Daniel an idea who she was. Raven. Dread settled its claws into him. She was much too still to be alive.
Swallowing hard, he turned his attention to the dragon. Its scales were so black they almost shone purple in the light from the broken window. The only dragon he knew with that deep of a color was Raven herself. The dragon was small. Its body was barely the size of a medium dog. The creature practically lay on top of Raven’s body, with its face buried in her chest. The glitter of tear-shaped diamonds were scattered over everything.
Daniel brought his hand up to his f
ace and wiped it over his mouth as he took in the horror. The diamond tears of a dragon hurt like hell to cry. The only time he had ever seen a dragon cry was when it lost a mate, and that was usually only one or two. He had never known a dragon to cry this much. Besides, Raven didn’t have a mate. Pulling himself together, Daniel stepped into the room.
The dragon’s head popped up from where it had been resting on the woman’s body. Another tear fell to the floor with a soft click. The creature turned dark eyes towards Daniel and glared.
Daniel froze so as not to startle the dragon. “Hello,” he called softly to the creature.
The dragon growled at him and kneaded the floor with its claws. Long strips of wood curled away as the sharp talons rent the polished surface.
Kneeling down, Daniel offered his hand to the dragon. “We’re here to help.”
The dragon growled again and moved closer to Raven’s body. It was clear she had been something special to the creature.
“Tell me who you are,” Daniel said, trying to coax the dragon into talking as he inched closer to the pair.
The beast tensed as the distance between them narrowed. Finally, when it felt Daniel was too close, it launched itself at him.
Having practiced this before, Daniel was prepared for the attack and twisted to avoid the creature’s powerful jaws. He grabbed it by the front legs and wrenched it around to slam it on the ground next to him. Even though the thing was small, it thrashed violently under him. Two of the men standing in the doorway were on the dragon in a heartbeat. It took all three of them to wrestle the thing to the ground.