by Amelia Jade
“No,” Kase whispered, standing at the door now. “That’s not true.”
“You nearly killed someone because you had a hallucination, Kase. You can’t deny that.”
“I didn’t mean to.” He was breathing faster now, his brain trying to formulate thoughts, to speak his argument. To state his case. “It was an accident. I…”
Coltaine shook his head. “You waited too long, Kase. It’s too late now.”
“NO!” he roared, slamming on the door as the light in the room spiked, blurring the edges of his vision. “It’s not too late. It can’t be too late! Let me out of here!”
Fists of quicksilver slammed into the door as he rained blows down on it, lifting his hands high again and again. The metal quivered and buckled, but it was nearly six inches thick and extended many feet into the walls on either side. It would take him ages to get through it.
“Kase, that’s enough. Snap out of it,” Coltaine urged, sounding worried.
“Let me see her!” he howled, throwing himself against the door with all his might.
“I guess I wasn’t wrong after all,” Coltaine sighed.
Kase barely heard him, and certainly didn’t process the words. He saw Coltaine stick his hand through the window, and went after it. The light came with him. He was leading the charge against the darkness. This was his fight, he would win it, and his mate would forgive him and all would be right in the world. Nothing could stop him now.
He charged wildly, noting that the arm had become black, absorbing all the light.
“THEY’RE HERE!” he bellowed, nearing the door. The Outsiders had come. It was his job to kill them!
Light burst from the arm. Yellow-orange light that quickly condensed into a ball a moment before Kase could take the arm off with the quicksilver axe that had appeared in his hand at some point.
Then the ball exploded. Fire filled the cell, flinging him back against the far wall. He hit it with more force than he’d ever experienced. Bone broke, and then a moment later the fire washed over him. Kase screamed out and tried to shield himself with quicksilver, but the light went out and he fell into darkness.
He was still screaming when it consumed him.
Chapter Eighteen
Michelle
Her trip home went off track when she walked past the restaurant.
The sudden growling of her stomach made it very clear that she needed to stop. A glass of wine and a huge plate of pasta later and her emotions felt dulled. She wasn’t better, or over, but they were in the background now. Like pain that started out sharp, but faded into something manageable. Right now, her hurt was manageable.
So it was that she arrived home, only to find her door ajar. She’d not been home, but her neighbor loved Max and had agreed to take care of him until she came back. Had her dog somehow managed to get out of the house? Nervously she approached, phone out ready to dial the police.
“That’s not good.” Not only was her door open, but it was broken. The hinge on the frame was ripped free and she could see where someone had used a boot to kick it in.
Her finger hit the call button and she quickly notified the police that she had come home and it looked like her place had been broken into. They advised her to stay out until they got there. Figuring that was smart, she went over to Mrs. Narrie’s place.
“Michelle!” Darlene exclaimed, wrapping her in a hug. “You’re back. Max will be so—”
Max, a German shepherd, came rushing down the hallway and flung himself against Michelle. He would have taken her knees out from under her if she wasn’t ready for it. “Hey, boy,” she said, scratching him behind the ear where he liked it most.
Immediately her overgrown adult-aged puppy sat down, his tail thumping against the floor as it went back and forth. A happy doggy smile on his face, jaw hanging open just a bit, he stared up at Michelle.
“Have you been a good boy?” she asked, crouching down. He obliged with a kiss.
“He’s been excellent, as always. So well behaved and friendly. You really did a wonderful job raising him.”
“Thank you, Darlene. He did most of the training himself, though. He’s just a good dog.”
Max shook and spun in circles a few times, tail wagging happily. “Yes, I’m talking about you.” Then she sobered.
“What’s wrong?” Mrs. Narrie asked, taking on a more motherly air now instead of a friend or neighbor.
“Did you hear any sounds from my place?” Michelle asked. “Anything unusual.”
“No, how come?”
Michelle looked back across the lawn between them. “Someone broke in. The door was kicked in. The police are on their way; I haven’t gone in yet, but I can’t figure out why they would do that.”
Darlene gasped. “Broke in? Oh my! Thank goodness. Max did bark at something last night—which was a little unusual, come to think of it, but he didn’t keep at it for long.”
“That must’ve been them.” She shrugged. “I have nothing worth stealing. I don’t understand why.”
The police arrived just then, and she spent the next twenty minutes answering questions while they confirmed her house was empty, and that she hadn’t been up to anything illegal. After that, they asked her to come inside and see if anything was missing, but after a quick search she couldn’t see that they’d taken anything.
“They were obviously looking for something,” the one officer said. “You’re sure you don’t know what?”
She shook her head. “Sorry, officer, I honestly don’t. To my knowledge I don’t have anything worth stealing. Nor do I have any enemies or anything. I’m just a scientist.” She shrugged helplessly.
An idea came to her, but she didn’t voice it. Could the man from the park be behind this? He’d not been too happy when she turned down his offer. Still, that seemed far-fetched that he would then come and ransack her house and take nothing. No, she was just dreaming up crazy ideas.
“It’s going to be a bit while we process the scene,” the officer in charge, Phillip, said politely. “Do you have anywhere else you can stay tonight?”
She saw Mrs. Narrie’s ready to volunteer, but another idea struck her. She wanted to go elsewhere. Somewhere she’d feel safe, at least. Being near her home wasn’t that.
“I do.” She turned to Darlene. “Do you mind looking after Max for a little longer? A few days, at most.”
“Of course. The sweet puppy, he basically looks after himself.”
Max’s tongue fell out as he looked around at everyone, tail still wagging.
“Thank you. I…I need to go make a call, though.”
She hugged Max goodbye, told him to be a good boy. He licked her cheek and then settled in at Darlene’s side, content to be spoiled with extra treats for a few more days.
The police arranged for a cab, and once it arrived, she called Kase. He didn’t answer. “Come on, please answer.” Seeing him wasn’t something she wanted to do just now, but if there was anything he was good at, it was making her feel safe.
When he continued to not answer, she sighed. “Fine, if you’re going to be like that.” Giving the driver directions, they eventually found the building where she’d last seen him. To her relief, his truck was still outside. It grated on her to be coming back to him like this, but after the encounter in the park and then her house, Michelle wasn’t sure where else to turn.
Maybe she would get some answers while she was at it, but she’d be fine if they didn’t speak either.
The door was still unlocked, and so she walked right in. The desk was empty, and she could hear no signs of life down the three hallways that branched off from the entryway.
“Hello?” she called tentatively.
There was no reply, her voice echoing down the empty hallways.
“Dammit, Kase, I know you’re in here,” she snapped, picking the hallway straight ahead, figuring that the important stuff would be at the center of the building and not along the sides.
She passed several empty of
fices before coming to a closed and locked door. Angrily, she shook on it, then banged it several times with a fist until her hand hurt.
“Open the damn door!”
Someone spoke from behind her. “Can I help you?”
Michelle almost managed to keep herself from freaking out, but she turned a little too fast. “You,” she said, recognizing the hulking figure at the end of the hallway. “Where is Kase?”
“He’s been taken elsewhere,” the man said.
“Right. Well, take me there.”
“Pardon?”
Michelle started walking toward him. “Take. Me. To. Him. Please.” She added the last bit as thunderclouds formed over the stranger’s eyes. Evidently, he wasn’t used to people addressing him this way. Well, too bad.
“No.”
She stopped. “Pardon?”
“I. Said. No,” he repeated, mimicking her punctuated delivery perfectly.
Forcing down the spike of frustration, she tried another angle. “Then please tell me where he is.”
“Why?”
“I need to see him. Someone broke into my place, and someone else approached me at the park today, and I think if I’d have been alone they would’ve tried to take me with them. I…” She sighed. This man had been there; he knew there were “things” between her and Kase. “I don’t know where else to go. I’ll feel safe with Kase, even if I’m still mad at him.”
“Interesting.” The big man turned away, disappearing from view.
Michelle hurried to keep up with him. “Will you tell me where he is?”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why the hell not?”
“It’s a secret location. You do understand what that means, right?”
“I’m not an imbecile. There must be some way you can help me out. I have to see him.”
The giant considered her words, staring thoughtfully as he tapped his chin. “This ought to be interesting. Come on, we’ll take his truck. That way he’ll have a vehicle if they let him out.”
“Thank you!” she said, heading for the door as he stepped into an office to grab a few things.
Ten minutes later, he finally came outside.
“Let’s get a move on,” she urged, tapping her foot.
“I’m sorry, but this was the only way,” he said, drawing close.
“What do you—HEY!” she shouted as he pulled a thick black hood over her head, obscuring her vision.
“In you get.” With a minimum of manhandling, he picked her up and put her in the car, ignoring her struggles to get away.
“You can’t do this to me! HELP!” she shouted, scrabbling to find the door handle.
“Listen, do you want to go see him or not? This is the way it has to be. I’m not going to hurt you. My wife would kill me.”
She paused. “You have a wife?”
“I do. If she knew I’d hurt you in any way…ooh, I’d be in a world of pain. This is just so you don’t see where we’re going.”
“You could’ve said that, you know. Instead of acting like you were kidnapping me,” she said sourly, crossing her arms. “I’m not unreasonable.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. But…hold on.”
She frowned at the very obvious change in focus in his voice. The door opened and she heard him—Jerrik, that was his name!—get out.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
The truck rocked heavily up onto its side. Michelle shrieked, thinking they were going to tip over—but then with sudden slowness, the truck came back down, bouncing violently until it stopped.
“What the hell was that, Jerrik?” she shouted.
There was only silence.
Nervously, she reached for the bottom of the hood.
Chapter Nineteen
Kase
When he came around, his fury was as hot as the fire Coltaine had burned him with. The combination of the quicksilver armor he’d partially managed to call forth, and the time he’d spent unconscious—several hours, judging by the fresh skin on his arms and legs—had served to help him recover from the blast.
His mind back in place, he attacked the door logically this time. Metal grew brittle as it grew colder. With that theory in mind, he’d coated the entire inside of the door in a layer of quicksilver and was constantly reapplying it to ensure it stayed at a sub-zero temperature. They were nearing the point where it was time to test his theory.
With a calmness that belied the raging temper inside him, Kase called forth a weapon from his powers. Instead of his normal axe, however, he went with something different. A pickaxe flowed, formed and hardened in seconds. He’d never conjured such a weapon before, so it took most of his concentration for several seconds.
He used his free hand to wipe away the coating on the door near the lock, so that his weapon would strike pure metal. Ready to go, he hauled back on the pickaxe and prepared to deliver a mighty blow.
“Whatcha doin?” Coltaine asked, suddenly appearing in the hole.
“Breaking out,” he growled, and swung with all his strength.
“Okay.” Coltaine stepped back.
Pulling the door open as he went.
Kase yelped as his pickaxe suddenly had nothing to impact upon. He spun, stumbled, and fell through the door with a crash, ripping open some of the newly healed skin in the process.
“There. You’re free,” the elder dragon said. This time he was definitely smirking.
“I don’t understand,” he said, getting to his feet, trying to spot the trap.
“The circumstances have changed. Come on.” Coltaine didn’t wait, heading down the hallway toward the ramp that led out of the prison block.
Confused, but not ready to waste a second chance, Kase raced after the head Magistrate. “What happened?” he asked, falling in step.
“Something has happened.”
Gritting his teeth, Kase forced himself to speak calmly. “Can you provide the details and how this involves me, please?”
“A Magistrate is missing.”
Kase whistled. “That’s unusual, to say the least. But I’m not your guy, Coltaine. I’ve been here the entire time. Heck, until recently I was unconscious. I’m innocent!”
“I know. It’s Jerrik. He was on his way here with Michelle. Her house was broken into and she came to him looking for you for help.”
Kase sucked in his breath. “We need to go. Now.”
“Why do you think we’re going this way?” Coltaine looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.
“Right.”
They hurried to the surface. Kase wanted so badly to take flight and search out his mate, but he hadn’t the first clue where to look. Pushing the urges from his dragon down, he asked Coltaine where they were heading.
“The last place we knew them to be. Jerrik’s office. It’s a fairly straightforward route there, so we’ll want to see in case they lost control of the vehicle or something.”
The Enclave kept a number of vehicles at its disposal, and Coltaine took them to one now, a sleek black luxury SUV with heavily tinted windows.
Before either of them could get in, their cellphones started ringing. Both of them.
“That can’t be good,” Kase muttered, taking his out and staring at Coltaine, who had done the same.
In unison they answered.
“Coltaine. Kase.”
The two dragons looked at each other in confusion. Were they on the same call? He gestured at Coltaine to speak, letting the elder dragon take the lead. Sometimes youth had its privileges.
“Who is this?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
Coltaine narrowed his eyes. “What do you want?”
“Now that,” the mystery voice said, “is a much better question.”
Kase was beyond baffled at this point. Maybe he’d get used to it, but he doubted it.
“First,” the caller said, “Let us deal with the impending death of one of your Magistrates.”
Coltaine’s eyes took on a shade of r
ed. “What are you talking about?”
Kase had to fight down the urge to step back from the crimson dragon. For as long as he’d known the man, Coltaine had exuded calm and peace, only acting when necessary, and even then his actions were executed with purposeful precision. This was the first time he’d seen him mad, and it was a terrifying sight to behold.
“Jerrik of course. Let’s not pretend like we have no idea what we’re talking about.”
“That would be a lot easier if we actually had a clue what we were talking about,” Kase snapped, unable to hold himself back.
“Then I shall explain it, perhaps in terms that you can understand. It’s really quite simple. I have Jerrik and Michelle. Two of them. Two of you. Are you following so far?”
Twin growls of rage answered the question well enough.
“Right. Now this is how it’s going to go. Coltaine.” The voice paused. “Coltaine, are you listening?”
“I am.” The elder’s eyes were now glowing with fire. Kase pitied anyone who got in his way.
“Good. There is a train. The coordinates will be on your phone. You’ll find Jerrik on it. Don’t worry, he is quite safe. For now. But you had better get to him soon. The bridge is out ahead, you see, and the train appears to have lost its breaks.”
Coltaine growled.
“Better go.”
“I’m sorry,” he said to Kase, getting in the car. “I have to do this.”
Kase inclined his head. “I know. Go.”
Coltaine checked his phone, nodded, and the SUV took off with a throaty roar that would have done a dragon proud.
“Now that leaves us with you, Kase.”
“Where is Michelle?”
“She is safe.”
“Like Jerrik is safe?”
“No, much safer. Don’t worry, you’ll see her soon. After all, you’re coming to meet her.”
“And you?”
“Well of course me. That’s the entire point of this. I’m not inherently cruel. I just want something. Something you have. You’re going to bring it to me, if you want her to continue to be unharmed. Do we have a deal?”