by Lila Felix
She sounded like she really believed them, at the time anyway. Which was all well and good if it weren’t for the fact that she tried to kill me an hour ago, or had it been longer? Crap, I didn’t even really know what day it was. The darkness and odd silence kept my senses from working properly.
“And you listened?” I scootched a tiny bit closer, cussing to myself as the pain shot down my spine this time. When I got out of here, I was going to need more than a few aspirin.
“You know my parents. They’re actually much worse than you’ve seen, as hard as that is for you to believe.” I bumped into her arms as she spoke and I felt her fingers grappling at my wrists. She was at least working on freeing me like she promised. That was when it hit me. Why was I, the injured one, the one moving? Before I could ask, she continued with her answer, which was probably more important at the moment. I hoped. If not, I could be making a huge mistake. “I had no choice, and after all, what harm could there be in becoming your friend. And then I did. I did become you’re friend.”
“Which is why you tried to kill me.” I only sort of, kind of teased. For some reason, I wasn’t scared of Rhi in the moment. She felt almost as much of a victim as I was, which my brain knew was complete and utter bullshit, but there it was.
“To be fair, it wasn’t really me.”
“Bullshit.” Although it didn’t sound like complete bullshit. How freaking powerful were her parents?
“Bulltrue.” Her fingers kept working at my wrist as she spoke and odd pauses seemed to occur when they were unable to do what she was asking. “My parents are powerful and I know you believe me on the witch thing because you haven’t even pretended not to.”
My wrists snapped free and I automatically went to rub them. They were going to hurt later, but for now, the freedom surpassed the feeling of rawness on them.
“True,” I conceded as I made quick work of her knots. Unlike mine, hers were in front and… crap, they didn’t start that way. She didn’t come to me because she brought her bound hands to the front and knowing her shoulder issues, that meant she probably dislocated it along the way. I worked as gently as I could, cringing the few times she let a grunt out. “Here. Don’t make me regret this.” The warning wasn’t needed.
“I won’t, I promise.” I pulled to sit up and helped her do the same. I still didn’t know where we were or how we were getting out, but having our hands free felt like a huge victory. “So my parents took control over my body when I refused to help them.”
“Help them do what exactly?” I would deal with the whole your parents can possess people like freaking zombies thing later.
“Kidnap you.”
“Why would they want to… Knox.” At that moment, all too much became clear. They wanted Knox. Somehow they, like my Gran, knew he was to be mine or in this case not mine. Stinks. This was worse than I thought and I was thinking pretty freaking grimly. “They know.”
“They do. They knew before I even met you.” She took a deep breath. “You are a mate to a dragon and not just any dragon, the Alpha. It gives you power in their eyes.”
“I have no power. We are not even together. He dumped me.” Out of all of this, that was the part that hurt the worst. He dumped me. Which in the scheme of things really shouldn’t seem that important. I had a best friend who was a plant in an evil plan which I still had no full comprehension of, I was in an accident which was more of a kidnapping plot than a true accident, and I was trapped someplace dark with the person who hit me, yet my heart was still hung up on Knox. I was a cluster to be sure.
“That’s not possible.” She gave me a push to rise and I did before she tugged on my pant leg with what I knew was her good arm. She needed help up, and for all the regrets it might lead to later, I helped her up. It took her significantly longer than it should’ve, telling me her injuries were far worse than I guessed. I had been there when she dislocated her shoulder before. It stunk, but nothing like this. What kind of parents were they who could leave their child like that. “If he rejects you, he will go into Mate Craze.”
“Mate Craze?” I wrapped her good arm around my shoulder, knowing she was going to need it.
“That can wait, the important thing is we need to get to the clearing without my parents knowing so we can save Knox.”
“But I’m the one kidnapped.” I looked around hoping for a glimpse of light and was overwhelmed with relief to see a sliver of light to the left. I began to lead Rhi there one hobble at a time. I would know more once I got out, but from her hobble I guessed her ankle was hurt badly. Not good, especially if we needed to get someplace and fast.
“And they only needed you for your blood apparently. You living was of no consequence to them.”
And things just got worse.
“My blood?” I wasn’t really asking. I didn’t want to know. Did they already have my blood? Was that why my head pounded so or were they going to drain me later. Nope. That was not going to be a thing. I was Kallie, mate to Knox or would be mate to Knox, and I wasn’t going down without a fight. He needed me and that was more important than all things, including my homicidal roomie.
“Your blood. They used it to mask themselves. They are up at the clearing now, waiting for Knox to show. He won’t see them, he’ll see us. He will try to save you, and as he does, they will put him down.” She spoke the words so fast I could barely make them out.
“Why? Why would they do that?” I spoke more to myself than her. Their reasons were irrelevant. They were out to hurt my mate. Mine. Whether he accepted me or not made no difference in the fact he was mine and I was going to save him from the evil I brought to his door.
A few more hobbles later and we met a door which was thankfully easy to open. I reached for the wall hoping to find a light switch, which I found easily enough. The light was almost blinding and I felt my eyes clamping shut again. A few moments, which felt like hours, my eyes adjusted enough so I could look around the room, or more accurately, the hallway, which lead to a stairwell. Looking to my side, I took in Rhi. She was in worse shape than I thought. I wasn’t sure how much of it was from the accident and how much was from her parents, but she was a hot mess. She had two black eyes, her arm fell limply to her side and her right leg was covered in blood. This was not good, especially not with a staircase in front of us.
“Treasure,” she answered and it took me a moment to remember the question. Treasure. They wanted Knox for his treasure.
“It always comes down to treasure,” I mumbled as we made our way to the staircase.
17
Knox
“Just tell me what you want. Stop fucking around and tell me. You can have anything.”
I would-I would give anything to take her down from there. Turn my fingers to talons and cut her bonds. She didn’t deserve whatever in the hell this was. In the back of my head, I wished she’d never come here.
“Oh come now, Alpha. There’s only a handful of reasons that I would want your mate. Let’s play a guessing game, shall we? You guess correctly and I will refrain from slitting her throat while you watch.”
I lunged at her, but stopped myself.
“You want me dead.”
She rolled her eyes and let out a cackle that was unadulterated evil.
“Yes, I want you dead. So does your brother. His lust for your title and your power is so thick in the air, I can grasp it with my bare hands. He’s wanted it all his life. Oh? You already knew that, didn’t you? Big brother has been jealous of you since birth. You were all the things he admired about your father, all the things he wasn’t. But it’s so petty in the scheme of things. There’s so much more than your death that I want.”
I looked over to Kallie and watched her choke against the thick rope that was around her neck. She was bleeding so much I couldn’t tell which wound would need the most attention.
“Come now, another guess. I’m enjoying this.”
“Well, there’s not much left but the root of everything that corrupts. You
want our clan’s treasure.”
Turning my attention back to Kallie, I sniffed the air. If she was dying, the sourness would permeate the air and sting my nose. There was no such smell, which either meant she wasn’t hurt or something else entirely was going on. There was no denying that my mate was hurt, so there must’ve been something else.
“Yes or no?” I pressed further.
“Yes and no, little dragon.”
My dragon paced like a caged tiger inside my skin. He and I were on the same level, wishing we could get to get Kallie and fly her the hell out of here, away from all of this. But she was hurt and we didn’t know if we would cause more damage, and then there was the chance that the real animal in the scenario would get to her first.
“For the love of Odin, just tell me what the fuck you want and let’s get this done.”
“We need your blood spilled and we need your treasure. Simple as that.”
I squinted. “What do you need my blood for?”
“Come now, you don’t expect us to give up all of our secrets, do you? Well, I could tell you. After all, when this is over, you won’t be able to tell anyone anyway. You will be too dead to be able to breathe.”
I thought of Kallie and nothing else in the moment. If I gave myself for her, what would stop them from killing her once I was gone. She knew too much. Once I was gone, there would be nothing stopping them from killing her just for sport and no one to stop them from doing it. I had to do something, whether or not I’d turned her away. She was still my mate and I’d give my own life in place of hers in a heartbeat.
“The only way you can bleed me is in my dragon form. My skin is too thick for any knife you have. I have to turn.”
I was bluffing, of course. I had human-like skin just like anyone else. I was betting on the fact that Rhi wasn’t as knowledgeable about dragons as she thought.
“Is that true? I’m not so sure. I guess it would make sense.”
Got her. She was overthinking now, distracted by the difference between what she wanted and knowing that I would swallow her down in one gulp the second I turned to dragon.
Her skin turned to pallor. She had no choice and she knew it. I’d trapped her between a hard place and my dragon’s teeth.
“Okay, but know this, Alpha, if you do anything to me, I will make sure she dies. One word spoken and the spell I’ve already put on her will take effect. Her very skin will fall from her bones before she burns alive.”
Connecting with the beast inside, I called him forward, willing to allow this wretched being to cut into us in order to save our mate, yet he would not come. He refused to heed the call.
Not right. Not our mate.
The Mate Craze must’ve altered his thinking or lack of thinking. Clearly, Kallie was right in front of us.
Scent. Not ours. Not ours.
The last words were shouted into my consciousness, the roar of his gruff voice reverberated in my chest. It was louder and stronger than even when he proclaimed to me the first time that Kallie was our mate.
Something was very wrong.
“Kallie, can you speak to me?” I asked her while stalling Rhi.
“I’m here!” From my left, coming into the clearing from the forest, Kallie and Rhi. Wait.
“Kallie?” I looked back and forth between the Kallie who was tied up and the Kallie who had just entered the forest with a second Rhi. Some shit was going down and I had to take a step back and allow my dragon to figure it out.
Mate.
Somehow my beast forced my eyes to the left where the latest Kallie had appeared. I could smell her now, not like the blood and stench I’d smelled on the other Kallie. I was so stupid. It was all a façade and there I was about to transform into my other form and allow them to take my blood. Dragon’s blood, along with our treasure, would’ve funded a family for tens of generations.
“Kallie, don’t move. Who is this?” I demanded, now afraid for the real Kallie. Though she was bleeding from several places on her face and arms, it was not near to the degree that the fake Kallie was. I’d been tricked.
“I’m sorry, Knox. I didn’t know. I mean, I knew, but they forced me. I would never hurt Kallie.”
“Shut up, Rhi.” Kallie and I both spoke at the same time.
“Who are you? Reveal yourself now before I turn and chew you both up.”
Before my eyes, in a matter of seconds, were two older people, but the woman noticeably looked like Rhi and I assumed the male, the one who had so well played my mate, was her father.
“What is to stop me from swallowing you alive right this second?” I steadied myself against the onslaught of the transition. As much as my dragon was fiercely against turning before, now he was ready to come out and play, and by play, he meant to kill.
The woman strolled forward, but I could smell the fear coming off her. “Come on, Knox. What kind of witches would we be if we didn’t do a little treasure searching, especially when the circumstances lent themselves so beautifully to our plan? Our daughter was the best friend to a dragon hunter’s ancestor, who was the mate of the most powerful dragon Alpha in this part of the country. It was so easy. Plus, your big brother, oh, his jealously practically spilled out of his pores when we met him for the first time. We just slid right in and he gave us the information we needed. He didn’t mean to, of course, but his envy gave us the door we needed to penetrate his thoughts. It was like we were meant to have the treasure all along.”
“My brother,” I gasped at the knowledge. I knew there was some contention between us long ago, but I had thought it was long gone. Apparently, I was wrong.
“So you see, little Alpha, it’s better if you just hand it over. We have the upper hand.”
I laughed, no longer afraid. “You have no upper hand. Kallie is alive and well. I believe I’m the one with the upper hand now.”
The witch’s saccharine laugh pierced my ears. “So foolish. Just because she appears to be fine, doesn’t mean she is. In a few minutes the effects of our taking on her form will weaken her into a coma. She will be comatose and you will be back in the throngs of the Mate Craze. There is nothing you can do. We already know the location of the treasure. All we need is some of your blood to unlock the cavern.”
“You mean you think you know where it is.”
“Your brother told us. We simply plucked it from his mind not less than twenty-four hours ago.”
I smiled and looked at Kallie. “My brother doesn’t know the real location. My father was the one who didn’t trust my brother. He never did trust him. He made me promise to tell everyone a different location to the real treasure. It is guarded by the spirit of Odin’s ravens in a place that can only be accessed by a dragon. Now, who is foolish?”
In an instant, Rhi’s mother reached out with bony knuckled fingers and her eyes became bloodshot as she spoke. “You.” My veins were the first to pulse with her power. Her poison flowed through me while my heart began to arrest. I faintly remember dropping to my knees while her voice and power throbbed between my temples.
“Die now, dragon. There are other ways to find your treasure.”
She was right. In the event of my death, Samson would find, in my will, the location of the real treasure, and it would be theirs in an instant.
I looked to Kallie who was screaming or crying, maybe both. I watched as she reached out to me and instantly everything became a blank.
The next thing I heard was her yelling, beating on my chest.
“Knox. Don’t you dare! I swear if you don’t wake up right this instant, I will kill you myself. Rhi, do something! What kind of a witch are you? Do something. It’s the least you can do.”
I heard her far away, but the more she spoke, the closer she became. In my silent state, I begged her to keep calling to me, keep calling to us.
“Knox. Look, Rhi. His eyes are fluttering. I think he’s waking up. Well don’t just stand there, do something. No, I don’t care. I’m fine. I’m fine!”
Wake
up. Mate. Pain. Blood.
Sometimes I wished the damned beast would speak in full sentences.
“I’m here. What’s wrong?” I tried to sit up as fast as I could, and in so doing almost passed out again from the amount of pain radiating in my head and chest. I opened my eyes to see Kallie in front of me. Her arms were around her chest, holding herself together.
“You’re hurt. How badly? Let’s get you to the hospital.” I got up, but it was already too late. In keeping me alive, Kallie had sacrificed her own well being once again. “No. Damn it.”
“It’s okay. I wanted to save you. I needed to save you. That’s what I wanted to do. I know you didn’t want me to, but I had to. I couldn’t let you die.”
She collapsed then. Her hair splayed out in a million directions while her body, once full of life, flopped to the ground before I could catch her.
“Do something!” I screamed at Rhi who looked to be almost as distraught as I was. Her hands were shaking, but no matter what she tried, my mate’s body was losing steam second by second.
“You have to. Do it. You know what you have to do. There’s no other choice. She will die if you don’t. Now, Knox!”
Looking down at Kallie’s form, there was only one choice to save her life, but I didn’t want it to happen this way. There were few humans who survived the change, but I knew that my mate was strong and well. If anyone could survive it, it would be her.
“She will hate me.”
“But she will be alive.”
“She will leave me.”
“But she will be alive.”
“She will be alive.”
I repeated those words like a mantra, over and over while I conjured my bravery to do the unthinkable. I would have to change her to a dragon just like me. Her scales would be the same as mine-the teal and red of an Alpha born.
“I love you, Kallie. I do this out of love.” In seconds I was changed into a dragon and hovering over the human that I called my own.
Mine. Ours. Dragon.