by Julia Mills
The clang of metal made her blood run cold as she jumped in front of Angus, who also stood at the ready, a split second before four armored figures pushed through the brush and brambles at the tree line. The crest of the Fiach Dubh shone brightly on the battered steel. Aggression, anger, and hate filled the air, along with a familiar scent, one that made Olivia’s growls turn to snarls.
“Do you smell that?”
“Yes,” Angus’ answer was immediate. “It is the same men I have been with for quite some time, but how do you recognize it?
The man in the lead, shouted through the guard on his helmet, cutting off Olivia’s response. “Well, look what we have here. A she-wolf and an escaped dragon.” His voice was rough. His Gaelic accent thick. His malicious intent clear.
“These men are not what they appear,” she growled, once again interrupted.
“Looks like it’s our lucky day.”
She knew the leader was talking in hopes of distracting both Olivia and her mate, but this was not her first fight and no one threatened her mate. Lowering her head, preparing to charge, Olivia finished her thought from before, “They are more than Ravens, these bastards are wolves hiding behind black magic and they’re out for blood.”
Chapter Eleven
As the four men circled the couple, Olivia kept a close eye on the two to her right while she left the others to her mate. The Ravens kept their faces hidden behind the metal shields of their helmets, continuing the charade that they were merely Fiach Dubh and for the time being that suited the auburn she-wolf’s purpose. The less the enemy was aware of what the couple knew, the better for the two lovers to use it against them when the time was right.
The leader continued to give away not only his plans but also how nervous he truly was as he prattled on while leaving the acrid scent of anxiety in his wake. “Did you think you would get away, dragon?” He banged his broadsword against the leg of his armor. “Did you think you could escape your fate?”
The rest of the scoundrels joined in, the sound of metal clashing against metal ringing throughout the forest. It was a tactic many enemies had used over the years. They somehow believed it took away from the wolf’s keen sense of hearing, but they were only fooling themselves, for it actually made the she-wolf focus more on her target.
“Are you ready, my love? I am sorry I did not…”
“Stop…stop that right now,” Olivia ordered. “Partners, that’s what you said and that’s what we’ll be.”
“The words were easier when I was talking about life and love. This…”
“This is reality and we will deal with it just like we’re gonna deal with everything, together.” She let a chuckle flow with her words. “Now, yes, I’m ready. These wolves need to die for what they did to you.”
“Not without us,” Ellie’s voice burst through her mind just as her white wolf burst through the trees, followed by another white wolf Olivia immediately recognized as Barbara and two black wolves she knew to be Caleb and Tristan.
“Looks like trouble just finds you two,” Barbara laughed, then to her husband, “Do you know these rogues?”
“Not from their scent,” he growled, his voice rough with the need to protect his mate, his daughter, and his territory.
“Let’s unmask these bastards,” Caleb snarled.
With the Wolfe Pack joining the fight, the Ravens stopped banging their swords and backed up a few paces but didn’t retreat. They were there to prove something and Olivia hoped it was to die because her she-wolf wanted blood for the torment her mate had endured.
“Lookie there, more puppies to skin,” the leader growled an instant before the Ravens attacked.
Swords swinging, the armor-clad men rushed into the circle, trying to herd the wolves close together and failing miserably as Tristan and Caleb took the frontal assault while the females ran between the men biting and clawing in between the gaps of their armor. Olivia aimed for the ankle, latching on with her powerful jaws and ripping both tendon and muscle from the man’s bones.
He fell forward. His helmet flew to the side revealing his neck. In a flash, Barbara was on the bastard, ripping out his throat and spitting his flesh in the puddle of his own blood.
The agonizing moan of a wolf in pain cut through the sounds of battle. Olivia saw Ellie go down a split second before Caleb flew at the man he was fighting, hit him square in the chest and ran over his body while it fell to the ground.
While Caleb pulled Ellie into the forest, Barbara jumped on the back of the man who’d dared to hurt her daughter, biting and scratching until the front and back torso pieces of his armor fell to the ground. Running in circles, slashing at the air with his sword, the Raven pulled off his helmet and grabbed for the white wolf’s front paws.
Letting go before he could grab her, the female Alpha hit the ground on all fours and took a step back, baring her teeth and snarling as the Raven spun around swinging his blade like a mad man. She stood side-by-side with Tristan’s huge black wolf, ready to pounce as the men they were battling threw down their swords and began to transform.
“This party needs some fire,” Angus bellowed. “Jump back!” He called to the black and white wolves.
The second the two were out of range, magic filled the air as just like before, the Guardsman’s skin became iridescent and the head of his dragon rode high over his own. Opening its enormous jaws, the air became thick with mysticism as pure white dragon fire flew from its jowls creating a circle around the men as they continued to call forth their wolves.
Once on all fours, the wolves pretending to be Fiach Dubh howled at the flames that singed their fur and drove them to stand tail-to-tail with no way of escape. Olivia wondered if there were more coming, but focused on the two in the ring of fire as she asked, “Now, how do we get them out of there?”
“Let ‘em burn.” Came Ellie’s angry reply, making the auburn she-wolf glad her friend was well enough to speak.
“I want to talk to them. We have to know where they came from and how many more there are.” Tristan growled. “Then they die for treason and trespassing.”
“I have an idea,” Angus replied, stepping closer to the flames.
Once again, the life-force of his dragon opened his enormous jaws but this time it spewed a thin continuous cloud of smoke directly at the rogues. The sounds of the wolves hacking and their barked coughs grew louder the thicker the dragon smoke became until Olivia heard two bodies slamming to the ground.
Angus’ dragon immediately began to inhale, pulling the smoke and the fire back into his mouth. Once the air was clear and the fire gone, the dragon closed his mouth and simply faded back into the Guardsman.
“Cool trick.” Olivia beamed with pride as her mate answered, “Just my contribution to justice.”
Following Tristan’s lead, Olivia and Barbara returned to human form and followed their mates towards the fallen wolves, who had transformed back in their unconscious state. Standing next to Angus, Olivia grinned as he put his arm around her shoulders, pulled her close to his side and kissed her on the top of the head, asking, “Are you sure you’re alright?”
“I’m just fine.” She cuddled into her mate, loving that their first battle together had been a victory.
“Good.” He slid his finger under her chin and lifted her face to his before kissing her long, slowly, and deeply. She could feel both man and dragon let go of their tension and fear.
Ending their kiss to spend an extra moment gazing into one another’s eyes, the couple chuckled as Tristan teased, “Are you two lovebirds done, yet?”
Smacking him on the arm, Barbara chuckled, “Give the kids a break. They’re new at this mate thing. Besides, we were just doing the same thing.”
The group laughed as they looked down at the rogues. Olivia saw the crest with the raven tattooed on their forearms with the words Fiach Dubh under it.
“These rogues are from the old Ravenswood Pack. I was sure they died out at least fifty or sixty years ago. There
was a huge battle for territory up north and they were never heard from again.” Tristan growled. “We need to get them back to the house and see what they know.” He looked at Angus. “With us finding you on our land, these assholes dressed in that armor,” he pointed at the pieces of steel strewn about the clearing, “and these tattoos,” he kicked the arm of the one closest to him. “Something really bad has been going on right under my nose and that will not stand.”
Caleb appeared with an almost healed Ellie in his arms as Tristan asked, “How long will they be out from the smoke, Angus?”
“We’ve got about an hour,” the Guardsman answered, giving Olivia one more quick kiss before taking his arm from around her shoulder and stepping forward. Once the unconscious rogue was draped across his shoulders and Tristan had done the same with the other, the wolves and the Guardsman sped through the forest until they reached a barn located halfway between the cabin where Olivia and Angus were staying and Barbara and Tristan’s house. Inside, the Alpha and the Guardsman secured the rogues to the two thickest columns in the middle of the barn with thick rope before dousing them with buckets of cold water until they were sputtering and screaming that they were awake.
Pulling up a chair and turning it backward, Tristan straddled the seat then sat intimidatingly close to the man he’d carried through the woods while Angus stood in front of the other. Olivia watched with rapt attention as her mate uncrossed his arms from his chest, spread his feet shoulder width apart and in the blink of an eye threw a punch into the stomach of the rogue that had the bastard wheezing and gasping for air.
Tristan nodded towards the Guardsman’s prisoner and then to the man he was beside said, “My friend, Angus, doesn’t like you two very much. He thinks I should just let him fry you both with that fancy fire of his then peel the burnt flesh from your bones.”
The stench of fear and desperation burnt Olivia’s nose as the rogues fought their restraints and tried to look at one another to no avail. They were trussed up like hogs on a spit and placed so there was no way they could make eye contact or communicate in any way.
As the men continued to tear at their flesh while trying to loosen their ropes, Tristan stood, kicked his chair out of the way and punched the man he was interrogating in the stomach. As the rogues head fell forward, the Alpha grabbed a handful of his hair and flung his head back until Olivia heard the crack of bone against wood. Tristan then growled through gritted teeth, “How many more?”
The rogue’s head hung to the side, his unfocused eyes blinked repeatedly but he still had the audacity to say, “Eat shit, dog.”
Three more punches to the stomach and one to the jaw had left the rogue unconscious and hanging from his ropes. Turning to Angus, the Alpha said, “Maybe he’ll tell you something. This guy’s taking a nap.” An evil grin curled Tristan’s lips as he hit the man one more time then walked over and leaned against the railing next to his wife and nodded to the Guardsman.
Turning her attention to her mate, Olivia watched as Angus walked a slow circle around the rogue he was about to question. The spike in the rogue’s fear filled the barn with the sickeningly sweet stench of rotten fruit, making her eyes water.
Stopping squarely in front of one of the men responsible for his imprisonment and torture, the dragon, who stood a whole head taller than the rogue wolf, leaned down until their noses almost touched and through gritted teeth snarled, “Tell me what I want to know and I will make your death a quick one. Fuck with me and I will make it take days. The choice is yours.”
Olivia barely took a breath, couldn’t look away, was totally enraptured by the raw power she felt swirling within her mate. He was absolutely the most formidable warrior she’d ever encountered and just the thought that he was all hers had her pulse racing and her body wishing all this was over and they were alone.
“I-I-I…” the rogue stammered. “I d-d-don’t know anyth-thing. I-I-I’m new t-t-to the p-p-pack.”
“Liar!” Angus bellowed, punching the man in one jaw and then the other with a quick one-two then squeezing his chin between the iron grip of his thumb and forefinger until the man winced in pain. “The ink on your arm, that disgraceful abomination, is at least a year, if not two, old.” He leaned forward and inhaled, letting fire dance in the depths of his violet eyes and growled, “And I recognize your scent. You were the one who burnt my feet and packed the wounds with silver.”
He flung the rogue’s head to the side, took a step back and simply let the fury roll off of him as he stared at the pitiful excuse for a wolf. Olivia held her breath as the wolf lifted his head. She was stunned to see the evil grimace decorated by the blood that ran from his broken nose and battered lip. Even more so was her shock when he spat, “You worthless piece of dragon shit. You were hardly worth what those fucking monks made us pay for you and we never did get any of your magic. You were…”
The next words died on his lips as Angus’ fist punched through the rogue’s chest, twisted to the left and reappeared holding the wolf’s heart as blood dripped on his borrowed boots. Her dragon’s chest heaved with anger, frustration and unspent fury as he spun around and with a mighty roar threw the crimson organ through the air where it landed with an awful splat against the far wall.
No one spoke. No one moved. For all Olivia knew, no one even breathed until Tristan walked over to Angus, laid his hand on his shoulder and said, “Do you feel better?”
Long seconds ticked by. Olivia wanted nothing more than to rush to Angus’ side but knew he had to deal with this in his own way. It was he who had suffered for almost a century and he who would have to be the one to come to terms with it. All she could do was pour as much love and support into the bond they shared as she could.
When Angus finally spoke, his voice sounded distant, almost dreamlike as he said, “I don’t know. All I am sure of is that the world is a safer place because he is dead.” Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, he added with a nod, “Now, let’s wake that one up and get the answers you need.”
Patting him on the back, Tristan concurred, “Sounds like a plan.”
As soon as the only remaining rogue was awake and the Alpha showed him the heartless corpse of his friend hanging on the opposite pole, the man sang like a canary… or maybe it was a raven. He told them that the Ravenswood pack had come from members of the original Fiach Dubh. The monks turned sorcerers had raped several she-wolves and then stolen the babies after their birth and raised them in the ways of the old sect in a way to carry on their legacy of death and destruction.
The battle that Tristan believed to have destroyed the Ravenswood wolves was staged so that they could disappear into the tunnels they had built under the old chapel. Timing had been crucial since the others of their coven were returning after forty years with Angus, whom they’d purchased from the wizards who had bespelled him and his Force.
When the last pair of monks were close to death, they demanded the Ravenswood wolves give them a hundred pieces of silver to keep Angus and told them that if he was driven mad enough with pain and torture, his dragon would manifest and they would then be able to syphon his magic. Neither Olivia nor Angus could believe how stupid the rogues had been or that he had spent all those years in captivity over a stupid legend created by fools. After they learned all they could from the rogue, Tristan kindly relieved him of his head and Angus burnt the two bodies with his dragon fire.
Ellie and Caleb returned to the Wolfe’s home to let the Wolfe brothers and their mates know what had happened while Olivia, Angus, Barbara and Tristan went to the old chapel to find and destroy the tunnels. With the detailed instructions from the rogue, it didn’t take long to locate the underground labyrinth. Everyone but Angus stood about a hundred yards away as the Guardsman used his dragon fire and destroyed the chapel and its tunnels. When the fire had died down, he then used his deep red flames to purify the tainted earth.
The four of them stood watching the smoldering earth as the first rays of the sun peeked over the m
ountains. Angus pulled Olivia to his chest, laid his lips to hers and kissed her with a fiery passion that left both woman and wolf breathless. Pulling back, he looked deep into her eyes and murmured, “I think it’s time we go home, mo ghrá, don’t you? A little peace and quiet is just what the dragon ordered.”
“Absolutely, I am with you all the way, mo a mhuirnín.”
Chapter Twelve
After a good night’s sleep that lasted a day and a half, in the arms of her mate Olivia was ready to head east to introduce her mate to the other important man in her life, Marrok. When they finally made it to Barbara and Tristan’s to tell them their plans of leaving at nightfall, the whole Wolfe family was assembled and the table full of the Alpha female’s wonderful cooking, as well as lots more of Ellie’s amazing oatmeal cookies.
With their bellies full and the sun setting over the mountains, Olivia and Angus spent the next two hours thanking their hosts and saying goodbye. Finally, when the sky was dark enough to provide cover for a massive red dragon carrying his wolf mate, Angus and Olivia, along with the Wolfe family, made their way to the clearing.
Olivia stood back after Angus had given her another of his toe-curling kisses, and watched her mate make his way to the center of the valley with magic filling the air. Holding her breath, in awe of Angus’ power, she thanked the Heavens for her wonderful mate as from one heartbeat to the next the sexy man she loved with all her heart became the fierce dragon who also held a piece of her soul.
Seeing him in full life, not only essence, was nothing less than amazing. His scales, their captivating crimson glittering in the light of the moon, were more vivid, more enchanting… more real. His elliptical pupils shone bright in the glow of his violet eyes as he watched her approach.