Sami stopped walking. It was Hellfire. He frowned. Even though he was still a little distance away, his exceptional hearing made it sound as if he was right there with them.
“Helly, no. We have a plan,” Brimstone said, his voice raised a little in exasperation.
“I don’t think our plan is going to work. We need to have a backup plan,” Hellfire hissed.
“Yeah, but, you can’t do that. Sami’s our friend. You can’t throw him to the enemy like that. You have no idea of the things they do to those they capture. If they get ahold of him—” Brimstone pleaded with his sister.
“I know, and I’m sorry for anything they might do. Do you think I want to do this?” she asked.
Sami felt his heart shriveling up. He’d been wrong about her and now he knew she wouldn’t hesitate to do it. She was just that cold.
“Brim, I-I had the dream again,” Hellfire said, her voice much quieter now.
Sami scowled as he thought about how he had to wake her from a nightmare this morning. He also caught a faint whiff of fear in her voice.
Brimstone sighed. “Look, I know your dreams usually come true, but maybe this one won’t, or maybe you got it wrong. Please, Helly, you can’t do this to him.”
“Brimstone, Nix is in there. We have to get her out, no matter what it takes. And, for the record, I don’t care what happens to me, but …” Her voice trailed off.
“Helly—” Brimstone started to speak but Hellfire shut him up.
“Enough, please.”
His heart turning to stone, Sami circled wide around the camp, and then made some noise as he approached from the other side. Brimstone and Hellfire were already sitting around the tiny fire again and neither of them looked at him.
Isoul and Julie asked him and Hinah a couple questions, then they ate some more of the food Hinah had brought. A little later, they all found a spot and tried to get some sleep. Both Hinah and Julie shifted into their wolf form and curled up.
Once again, he’d been betrayal by someone he should have been able to trust above all others. It burned through his soul and Sami wanted to kick himself for believing in Hellfire and even more, for letting his guard down.
He lay awake long after he assumed everyone else slept, listening to the night creatures and thinking about everything. After about an hour, he was debating on sitting up and taking a walk, when movement caught his attention. It was Isoul silently rising to his feet. With a glance around the guy turned and left the camp.
I knew he wasn’t trustworthy!
Sami climbed to his feet and careful not to make a sound, followed the guy. About a hundred yards away, Isoul in a small clearing. Sami was about to confront the guy when Isoul turned and looked straight at Sami. Although a little nervous, he wasn’t in the least surprised to find Sami behind him.
“What—?” Sami started to question him until he felt Isoul’s magic. He stared in shock as the man he knew to be Ilyium—the enemy, a mortal druid—shifted into a bronze dragon.
I knew I scented dragon …
Why wouldn’t Isoul tell them what he was? Then he frowned, for unlike all the other dragons Sami had ever seen, Isoul was a lot smaller.
Must be his human genes …
“Yes, I am half Ilyium, half Dracones,” Isoul said telepathically, startling Sami.
He winced as he realized Isoul had heard his thoughts. He wasn’t usually so careless. In fact, he usually kept his shields up really tight.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Sami asked.
“I apologize. I am deep undercover with the Ilyium. I can’t let just anyone in on my secret. But please, come with me. I have someone for you to meet,” Isoul said.
Chapter Nineteen
Thundrace
SAMI WATCHED ISOUL SHOOT into the sky, then after shifting into his own dragon and pulling his power around him, he took to the sky as well.
“You decided to let me in on your secret now? Why?” Sami asked.
“I don’t trust just anyone with my secret, but I could see that you were doubting me,” Isoul said, going even higher into the chilly atmosphere.
“So, where are we going?” Sami asked as they flew above snow-capped mountains, under millions of twinkling stars. The sky had finally turned completely black as the suns and moons dropped from view to the south.
“To my Clan. I’d like you to meet my Thundrace.”
Thundrace—a word he hadn’t heard in a long time. A group of Dracones was called a Clan, and the Thundrace was the leader. If the leader was male, that is. If the leader was female, she was called the Thundrece.
“My Thundrace is also my father and I believe you may know him,” Isoul said and began his decent.
Amid the rocky outcropping, Sami could make out caves and a central fire pit up on the craggy mountain.
“Who is your father?” Sami asked, following him down to the ground.
Isoul just nodded behind Sami. With a frown, Sami turned to see a large, stocky man silhouetted by the fire, striding toward them.
“I’m his father,” the man said.
His voice sounded familiar but it wasn’t until Sami had shifted and could see his brilliant bronze hair and long braided beard that he recognized the man in front of him.
“You are Tierney’s uncle,” Sami said, unable to remember his name.
“Yes, Samarias. I’m her uncle Rhodan Dark Azi, but you can call me Rhodan,” he said, his turquoise eyes twinkling.
Sami glanced at Isoul. “So, you, you’re Tierney’s cousin. But you said you are part Ilyium?”
Rhodan clamped a hand on his son’s shoulder. “That he is and I loved his mother very much.”
Sami blinked in surprise. This was the first time he’d ever heard of any Dracones getting together with the enemy in a romantic sense.
Isoul looked up at his father who stood a few inches taller than he did. “I’m worried about Everheart.”
“Why, what is going on?” Rhodan asked, suddenly serious as he stared at his son.
“Well, you know we are going in to rescue the Phoenix girl,” Isoul said.
Rhodan nodded. “You told me. I figured you’d pull your brother out at the same time.”
Isoul nodded. “I plan to. I’ve wanted to get him out of there before, but he kept refusing. He always says he’s fine.”
Sami frowned, wondering what was going on.
“I know,” Rhodan said with sadness in his eyes as he listened to his son speak.
“I don’t get it, who are we talking about here?” Sami asked.
Isoul sighed. “My brother, Everheart. He was also undercover. The Ilyium found out he’d been passing on information. Now, he’s in the fortress where Nix is. I’ve offered to try and get him out. I told him I’d talk to Lewta about helping, but he refused to let me. Now he won’t talk to me at all,” Isoul said, meaning he’d been communicating telepathically with his brother until Everheart cut him off.
Suddenly Sami understood Isoul’s willingness to help and could see how his brother’s imprisonment weighed on the guy.
Isoul glanced at his father. “Now that we are going in, I have to get him out. I can’t just leave him there.”
“Yes, I haven’t been able to rest with him in there either,” Rhodan said.
“I only hope that he’s just being stubborn and refusing to talk to me, that there isn’t anything else going on,” Isoul said.
Rhodan pursed his lips.
“How long has he been in there?” Sami asked.
“Too long,” Rhodan said, and as he turned away, Sami noticed how bright his eyes shone.
“Six months,” Isoul said. Sami frowned and started to say something when Isoul continued speaking. “I know you’re wondering why he wants to stay there, but he says that since his cover is blown, being a prisoner is the only way he has left to learn anything useful.”
Isoul sighed. “Personally, I think he’s trying to punish himself, because honestly, he’s not going to learn much from a cell
.”
Rhodan, looking sad, shook his head and led them back to the fire. “What do you need?” he asked them.
“I know you haven’t spoken in a bit, but I was hoping you’d try to contact him. See if he heard anything about why they may have changed things up.”
“How?” Rhodan asked, suddenly at full attention.
“Well, we were watching and they had other guards come out and keep an eye on things during the change.”
“And that was when you were planning to go in?” Rhodan asked.
“It was. Now I’m going to go in while Sami and the other two Phoenixes attack the guards up on the parapet from the air. Then I’ll lower the wards,” Isoul said.
Rhodan frowned. “I will try, your brother and I haven’t spoken in a while,” he said and walked away from the fire. He returned with a deep scowl on his face. “Ever says the Ilyium suspect something will happen with the upcoming eclipse, so they’ve tightened security and will continue to tighten it, the closer to the eclipse we get. There will be no down time between shifts at all. I told him you were coming in.” Rhodan sighed deeply. “He is still refusing to leave.”
There was grim determination on Rhodan’s face. “I don’t care what he wants. Get him out of there.”
Isoul didn’t say anything and Sami thought about all he’d learned. They still didn’t even know if they could attack from the air with the wards up. The idea of tightened security meant … his heart sank. Even if Isoul got in without a hitch, the place would be crawling with the enemy.
Sami’s thoughts turned to Hellfire’s plan to betray him by giving him up to their enemy. He’d promised to get her sister back and so he would. He’d just beat her to it.
They sat around the fire for a little while, talking. Sami caught Rhodan up on how Tierney was, how she’d mated with Jax, and finally on Zander and Jax’s recent capture, and rescue.
“Demon spawn,” Rhodan swore when Sami told him about how the Ilyium had hurt Zander.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help,” Rhodan said squeezing Sami’s shoulder. “And what about you? Do you have a mate waiting back home for you?”
Sami sighed. “I … sort of. I have someone back home—” He was about to tell him about Goldy when Isoul interrupted.
“I thought that you and Hellfire—?” he said, clearly confused.
A stab of pain filled Sami but he just shook his head. “No, we’re not.”
Eyes wide, Isoul took a deep breath. “Oh, sorry. I just thought you and her seemed—”
Rhodan interrupted. “But you do have someone waiting for you?”
Sami swallowed deeply. “Yes. Her name is Goldy. Goldenthorn. You would know her mother, Summerthorn. Goldy is one of the Genesis Dracones.”
“Of course we know Summer. What Dracones doesn’t? So, you and this Goldy?” Rhodan asked with raised brows.
Sami nodded. “Yeah. Somehow, I think maybe because she’s made of magic because she recently … while we both went through our Awakening … ah, she became pregnant,” Sami said, heat rising in his face.
“Pregnant?” Rhodan’s eyes widened and he grinned at Sami. “Congratulations. Good job.”
More heat filled his face. Good job? Sami didn’t know about his doing a good job or not.
Then Rhodan glanced at Isoul and smirked. “You gonna tell him, or should I?”
Isoul grinned. “It wasn’t her magic, Samarias. The curse has been broken. Dracones males can now procreate.”
Earlier embarrassment forgotten, Sami frowned at the two of them. “What do you mean? How is that possible? It was said that the two missing Ilyium children would need to be returned to this realm for the curse to be broken.”
Rhodan slapped Sami on the back. “And so they have been.”
“Father,” Isoul hushed him as he glanced around.
“No one is listening. Besides, it’s not really a secret in the Dracones world anymore,” Rhodan said.
Isoul looked at Sami. “Caro and Elan have both returned, just recently too.”
“How are they alive? They were Ilyium, and mortal. The demon realm took them over a thousand years ago,” Sami said, confused. The twin witches should have been long dead.
Isoul smiled at Sami. “That is correct. But one hundred of our years is only one in the demon realm. They are both twenty-three and have returned to Tartaria once again.”
“So then shouldn’t the Ilyium’s need to kill us also be over?” Sami asked.
Rhodan and Isoul both sighed, and together shook their heads. “It should be but alas, it is not,” Rhodan said.
“Seems they like hunting and killing too much to stop,” Isoul added.
Sami contemplated all he had just learned. Finally, he sighed. “I need a favor from both of you,” he said.
“Anything,” Rhodan said.
“I’m sure that Drakayeh will help, but if he refuses or can’t—” Sami didn’t know what would happen if Hellfire managed to talk Nix out of helping the wolves. “No matter what happens to me, can you make sure that my friends get back through the portal to Earth?”
“I can do that. But what are you planning?” Rhodan asked with a raised eyebrow.
Sami looked at Isoul. “First off, we don’t really know if you’ll be able to get inside. Secondly, we’re hoping our attack from the air will work, but the place is warded. Do you really think, with dragons in this world, that their wards won’t protect them from the air? Thirdly …” Sami glanced at Rhodan. “Do you have anyone who can help?”
Rhodan shook his head. “I am not sure. I will ask but my people, while they’ve accepted my wife and children being Ilyium and part Ilyium, aren’t eager to get into another war with the Ilyium.”
Sami nodded and turned back to Isoul. “So, let’s say they won’t help. We only have a handful of us, and there will be over fifty guards inside, maybe more, and then there is your cover being blown if you go in and break prisoners out, so …”
Isoul frowned then his eyes grew wide as he figured out where Sami was going with this. “No, you can’t—”
“I can. I made a promise to get their sister back,” Sami said. Besides, the ache in his chest at the thought of Hellfire wanting to turn him over to the Ilyium burned hot. He thought of Goldy waiting back home for him. What good would he be to her, or his child, if he remained so consumed with another. They’d both be better off without him.
Isoul shook his head. “Maybe you did, but this is a terrible plan. Do you have any idea what the Ilyium will do to you?”
Sami nodded. He knew all too well what they would do, but he no longer cared. Goldy and his baby would be safe back home, and his friends, along with his soul mate, would have her sister back and be safe as well.
“Do you think the Ilyium will accept me as a trade for Nix and your brother?” Sami asked.
Isoul took a deep breath and frowned. “For the Phoenix, I’m sure they would. Especially if you are willing. As for Everheart, they won’t want to release him, he knows too much, but as far as I’m aware, they have no idea he’s half Dracones.”
Isoul paused to think about it. “He’s too weak now, but when he was first captured, if he’d used his power and shifted, Ever would have been able to escape.” He frowned. “Other than my brother, I don’t think the Ilyium have ever been able to keep a Dracones captive. We’re too powerful.”
“That’s some commitment to the cause,” Sami said in awe of Isoul’s brother.
Isoul sighed. “He wasn’t always, but the loss of someone he loved changed him. If …” He glanced at his father. “If a Dracones demanded they hand Everheart over as payment for some perceived wrong, they might be willing, thinking that Everheart will end up dead for sure if they handed him over.”
Sami nodded and thought about how the Ilyium on Earth were using drugs to keep the Fallen and any dragons they caught from using their power and fighting back, or escaping. Thank the gods they didn’t have those drugs here.
Isoul thought about
it and nodded, warming up to the idea. “As much as they hate the Dracones, the Ilyium have longed to strengthen their race, hoping to add abilities and power by mixing our bloodlines. But you do know that you will have to be a willing participant, right?”
Sami nodded. He did, unfortunately.
Isoul sighed. “This is a very bad idea.”
“I agree,” Rhodan added.
“I know,” Sami said. “But it’s the only one that might get Nix and your son out.”
No one said anything for a moment, then Isoul stood. “You should think on this a little more. In the meantime, we should get back.”
“I’ve already thought about it,” Sami said and stood as well. Then he extended his hand to Rhodan who waved his hand away, and pulled Sami in for a hug. “You are a good male, Samarias. Your mother would be proud of you. Try not to get killed.”
Sami snorted and said goodbye.
Rhodan turned to Isoul. “I will be there, demanding Everheart,” he said.
Isoul nodded. “I will bring Sami in, say he came to me, I’ll broker the deal and lead Ever out to you.”
Rhodan nodded, and after hugging his father, Isoul and Sami shifted and took to the sky.
“Are you sure about this?” Isoul asked as they climbed higher.
“It is the only way I can see of getting Nix and your brother back without anyone getting hurt,” Sami said.
“Did something happen, with, you know, the Phoenix?” Isoul asked.
Sami didn’t answer as Hellfire’s words replayed in his mind.
“I know it’s your life, but I hate what we are about to do. Just so you know,” Isoul said.
Sami didn’t say anything. He thought about how disappointed Hellfire was going to be that she wouldn’t be the one to turn him over to their enemy. At least, she wouldn’t have to feel guilty later at having betrayed him. Still, his heart was heavy. Even though she wouldn’t get the chance now, the thought of how she planned to betray him bit deep. Turning his thoughts to something else, Sami thought about his trip to Razukeen last night.
“Isoul, you are close to the Ilyium community, right?” Sami asked.
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