Day of the Dragon

by Katie MacAlister

  Hunter, taken off guard, was catapulted backward, straight through the wall in an explosion of electricity. The noise was deafening, reverberating painfully in Archer’s ears as he jerked the sword up. He peered through the hole, saw the prone form of Hunter in the room beyond, and spun on his heel, striding past an openmouthed Ioan.

  “THAISA!” he bellowed, returning to human form before leaving the room.

  “Archer?” The voice was muffled but he turned and raced down the balcony that overhung the central hall, trying door after door until he came to one that was locked.

  “Get back!” he yelled, and sent a fireball into the door. It cracked and sagged. He shoved it open, his heart coming to life again with the sight of Thaisa and Bree sitting together on a bed, their hands bound behind them with plastic ties.

  Instantly, he was overcome with the need to claim her, to breathe in her scent, to stroke his hands down her curves and bury himself in her heat. He wanted to drive away what surely were horrible memories of the abduction and planned on doing so just as soon as he could get her alone. He knew her, however. She would likely shriek with joy at the sight of him there to rescue her. He paused at the door to allow her to shriek, and possibly fling herself on him, overcome with the power of her emotions.

  “What are you doing here?” Thaisa asked, not at all looking like a woman who had just been rescued from a lethal circumstance. She didn’t shriek. She didn’t even leap to her feet with cries of gratitude. “Is that a bow slung over your shoulder?”

  “We are going to have a talk about the proper way to greet me when I rescue you from certain death,” he said, stalking forward. He pulled a dagger from its sheath and cut her ties while Ioan hurried over to do the same for Bree.

  “Certain death? What certain death?” she asked, looking confused.

  “Where are your expressions of gratitude? Where are the kisses pressed to my face saying without words just how thrilled you are that I have saved you from the clutches of my brother? You’re not even crying, are you?” he asked Thaisa, pulling her to her feet and burying his face in the crook of her neck. She smelled heavenly, like the freshest of lavender pressed in the warmth of the sun. The scent cut through him with the accuracy of a razor, but he welcomed its pain. It meant she was alive, whole, unharmed, and still his. “Why are you not even now trying to entice me to kiss you, and touch your breasts, while you rub your hips against me to show me how grateful you are to see me again?”

  An interesting parade of emotions flitted across her lovely face, everything from surprise to amusement to irritation. He couldn’t keep from brushing a thumb across a lightly freckled cheek, gratitude filling him that he was in time. His flower would continue to bloom.

  But only for him.

  “I’m not crying because there’s nothing to cry about, although I am glad to have the zip ties off my hands. I’m not going to entice you to kiss me since I see you’re very likely to do that yourself.” Her eyes were dewy with rising passion as he let his thumb rub over her lower lip. Her delectable, sweetly curved lower lip. He loved that lip almost as much as he loved her obstinate little chin.

  “Yay, rescue time,” Bree said. “Hi, Archer Dragon. Hi, other dragon whose name I don’t know.”

  “I’m Ioan,” his tribesman said, bowing.

  Thaisa gave a little start while rubbing her wrists, looking at Bree as if she’d never seen her before. “You know all about this, don’t you?”

  Bree tipped her head to the side, blinking innocently. “Hmm?”

  Thaisa looked thoughtful for a few seconds. “No, you couldn’t know. Only I know about this, and I don’t even understand it.”

  “Come, mate,” Archer said, holding out his hand for her. “You are upset by the abduction. We will return home, and I will kiss your breasts and thighs and woman’s parts until you squirm beneath me, demanding my fire.”

  “The problem is the mother…who in it is the mother?” she murmured to herself, then looked up, his words penetrating her thoughts. A delightful little blush made her cheeks rosy. “Archer! Yes, we can do all of that, especially if you do the thing with your fingers again, but now is really not the place or time to discuss such things.”

  “No, it is not,” a voice said from the door. The mortal who had been with Hunter strolled into the room just like he owned it.

  “Who are you?” Archer asked, moving between Thaisa and the man.

  “That’s my boss, Edgar,” she said, moving to his side. “An annoying man who evidently promised to sell Hunter not only your manuscript, but also me to translate it. The bastard.”

  Archer tried to shove her behind him, but she just bit him on the shoulder blade and moved to his side again. He contented himself by pulling her up tight against him.

  “You are the dragon she gave my manuscript to?” The man stopped in front of him, his expression sour. “I can’t believe you’d have the bad taste to screw that hot mess, but I suppose to each his own.”

  Archer glanced at Thaisa. “Why is this obnoxious man here?”

  Thaisa glared at the man. “I told you—he sold me to Hunter so he could use me as a trade for your manuscript. He said he came along to see he wasn’t done out of what was due him. He’s a hat of asses.”

  “Many asses,” Bree said, moving to the other side of Archer. She smiled at Ioan, who looked startled, then pleased.

  “You weren’t supposed to come until we sent you the ransom note,” Edgar snapped, looking put out.

  Archer had the worst urge to run him through with his sword, but he took pride in the fact that in all his long years, he had killed only one mortal in anger and that was a man who had been brutally tormenting a dog. Archer did not tolerate people who mistreated creatures who could not fight back.

  “He wants the manuscript,” Thaisa reminded him.

  “He can’t have it.”

  “I told him that, too, but he seems to think he has some power over us.”

  “He is incorrect.” Archer dismissed the mortal, turning to give Thaisa a gentle push toward the door. “We will leave now, flower.”

  “I don’t think so,” Edgar said, raising his voice. “Naamah, I summon thee.”

  “You didn’t really have to summon me,” a demon drawled, strolling in through the open doorway. “I was right outside the door. Where you told me to wait, I should point out. I don’t know if this fulfills your demand I make a grand entrance, but it’s what you’re getting. I have other people to serve tonight, you know.”

  Edgar’s eyes narrowed on the demon, who rolled his eyes and said with great exaggeration, “What is it you seek from me, oh great and mighty master of demons?”

  “See thee that dragon there?” Edgar commanded, pointing a finger at Archer. “Kill him!”

  “What?” Thaisa shrieked, and would have lunged at the mortal but Archer shoved her behind him, gesturing for Ioan to protect Bree.

  “Oooh! A fight!” Bree said. “This is going to be awesome!”

  “Are you insane?” Thaisa yelled.

  Archer kept his eyes on the demon, who, with another roll of his eyes, took a few steps into the room.

  “There is no way Archer fighting a demon is going to be awesome,” Thaisa continued. “It’s pure horrible. Wait, did Edgar command my demon? Can he do that?”

  “Archer is a dragon hunter,” Bree said in a soothing tone. “The first one, actually. I think. Hey, Archer Dragon, are you the eldest, or was Smokey the first one out of Mom?”

  “Bree!” Thaisa squawked. Archer narrowed his eyes on the demon, who had been carefully removing his suit coat, sliding off his tie, and rolling up his shirtsleeves.

  The mortal Edgar sidled around behind the demon, pausing in the doorway before marching through it. “Get on with it! I don’t have all night, and I have to see what happened to the men I left on guard just in case that dragon you killed didn’t leave orders to have his people pay me.”

  “Naamah,” Thaisa said in an acid tone, clearly upset a
t the demon. That she had so little fear both amused and horrified Archer. But what really had him sending her pointed looks—looks she ignored—was the way she repeatedly moved to stand next to him with her hands on her hips, glaring at the demon. “I command thee by the powers granted to me by the Demonitica to ignore Edgar and listen to me instead.”

  “Sorry, sweet cheeks,” Naamah said with a smirk. “You didn’t summon me properly, and the other one did.”

  “Do not speak to the demon,” Archer commanded. “He will confuse you with lies.”

  “He already tried that,” Thaisa replied with a pointed look at the demon. “In the end, I didn’t believe him.”

  The demon made a face at her. “Ah, but it gave you a few bad moments, didn’t it? What do you expect to do with that?” He gestured to the sword that Archer pulled from his back. “That élan vital has no espirit. Therefore, it has no power against me.”

  “True,” Archer said, sliding the sword back and whipping around the bow, releasing an arrow just as the demon lunged, his fingers lengthening into claws. The arrow stuck in the demon’s shoulder but didn’t slow him down. He leaped on Archer, his mouth suddenly filled with wickedly sharp needlelike teeth, snapping at his neck.

  “Get them back!” Archer yelled at Ioan, who grabbed both women and shoved them farther into the room.

  Archer had a glimpse of Thaisa’s face, her eyes wide with fear. The sight of her, his glorious mate, being frightened was enough to kick his fury into high gear. Fire whipped through him, generating the electrical charge that snaked down his hands. He spun, slamming the body of the bow into the demon’s head, which sent him flying backward. Archer had an arrow nocked and released before the demon hit the wall. Second and third arrows slammed into the demon’s chest immediately after.

  “God’s gallstones!” Thaisa gasped in wonder. The demon tried to rise, but Archer pumped three more arrows into his chest, pinning him to the wall.

  The demon snarled an oath before going limp.

  “See? Awesome,” he heard Bree say. “Although I’ve never heard of a dragon hunter using a bow.”

  “That’s because I’m not a dragon hunter.”

  “Really? You have the sword, dude,” Bree said. “I kinda think you are.”

  He glanced at the women, checking to be sure they were all right. Thaisa’s face was filled with amazement as she looked from him, to the demon, and back to him, the light of admiration in her eyes making him feel damned heroic.

  “What…what happened to Naamah?”

  “The demon’s form has been destroyed. He was sent back to his master.”

  “Oh. Good. That was beyond incredible, Archer,” she said, moving over to him, her hands fluttering across his chest as if she was making sure he wasn’t harmed. “You were like something out of the movies. It was seriously outstanding. You’re more superhero than the superheroes.”

  He leaned down and said softly, “If you keep looking at me like that, I will take you to the nearest bed and bury myself in you until you scream my name in ecstasy. Three times. Possibly four if I can survive your lustful demands upon my poor body.”

  “Oh, yes, please,” she answered just as softly.

  He was just about to answer her when a voice called from outside the room. Miles appeared in the doorway, clutching a few sheets of lined paper in one hand. “Hunter? There’s a couple of unconscious dragons in the other room. You in here? What happened? I didn’t think I’d make it here before Archer, but he must have gotten stuck in traffic. Why did you take the woman? I told you I’d find the transcription she made, and I have—”

  Miles’s gaze turned into the room, the words drying on his lips.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I COULDN’T BELIEVE WHAT I WAS SEEING. MILES HAD betrayed Archer?

  I shook my head with the shock of it all. Oh, I’d warned Archer that I was suspicious of his cousin, but to see proof of that suspicion, to be staring right at the face of the man whose betrayal would no doubt cut Archer to the quick…I couldn’t stand it.

  “You bastard!” I yelled, and would have leaped forward to do who-knew-what to him had Archer not caught me around the waist. “You utter and complete rat bastard!”

  Miles stood before us, his hands limp at his sides, his face frozen, but his gaze moved from me to Archer and then to Ioan.

  Archer tensed, and I knew he was about to attack his cousin.

  “No, Archer, no!” I said, and plastered myself across his chest to stop him. His eyes were filled with confusion. I took his face in my hands, pleading with him. “Don’t attack Miles. I know you want to. I know that he betrayed you, and I know I said that he was acting weird, but that’s no reason to kill him! Not when there’s been so much death already.”

  Archer slid a gaze over toward Ioan. “Ah.” He cleared his throat and added in a voice of pure menace, “Release me, mate. He has betrayed us to our enemies.”

  Oddly, his fire seemed to subside rather than kick up. I half expected it to explode around us in an inferno of hurt and rage, but Archer’s control must have been ironclad. I released his face and gave him a smile to let him know how proud of him I was that he could fight what must be an almost overwhelming urge to smite Miles on the spot.

  “He betrayed me, flesh of his flesh,” Archer continued, his voice ringing with righteous indignation. “He betrayed the tribe. He has bound himself to those who would destroy us.”

  Iron control or not, if he continued on, he’d end up doing something that he’d regret for the rest of his life.

  “My love,” I said softly, my hands on his chest now, stroking him slowly and carefully like one would a wounded animal, being careful to keep myself between him and the still-frozen Miles. “I know you’re hurt. I know you want to punish him for what he’s done, but you must not do this.”

  Archer stood immovable, all the hard lines of him crying for my caresses to ease his pain. I kept my hands flat on the swells of his pectorals, my fingers gently stroking.

  “Why?” he asked, breathing hard, his eyes glittering like snow on a blue gem. The words fell from his lips like jagged little shards of glass. “Why should he not pay the price of his betrayal?”

  Bree giggled.

  I shot her an outraged look, mouthing, What the hell? to her. She just giggled again, and whispered, “It’s just so awesome.”

  I glared at her for a moment before whispering back, “You really need to get a sense of decorum.”

  “And miss this? I haven’t seen such a good show in forever.”

  “Don’t listen to her,” I told Archer. “She’s on drugs or something. You can’t attack Miles because he is your family.”

  “He is no kin of mine,” Archer said, all but spitting out the words.

  “Archer—” Miles spoke at last and took a step forward, his face twisted with some emotion. Guilt? Pain? I couldn’t decide which it was, but there was no anger in his eyes, no sense of triumph. I had a flash of intuition that what I had guessed about him was very, very wrong, and knew at that moment that I had misled Archer with my hasty conclusions. With a look at Ioan, Miles squared his shoulders and said, “I— This looks bad, I know, but I have a reason for being here.”

  “Is it treasure?” Archer asked, his voice gritty. My fingers continued to stroke his chest despite the fact that he appeared quite calm. “Power? What? What did he offer you to turn against us, your own tribe?”

  “Nothing—he didn’t offer me anything, because I have not turned from you. From the storm dragons.”

  Archer turned away, disgust written all over his handsome face. “It matters not. From this moment, you are no longer a storm dragon.”

  Miles staggered to the side a step, just as if he’d taken a blow. I thought for sure he would plead, to try to explain why he was there, clearly about to hand over what he thought was the transcript to Hunter, but instead he just stood there for a moment, his eyes on Archer. His gaze slid to me, then to Ioan, after which he made an abrupt little b
ow, then turned and walked out of the room.

  “Archer—” I started to say, confused. Why did I feel like nothing I saw was real? Why wasn’t Archer’s fire threatening to burn down the place?

  “No. We have no time for this.” He took my hands from his chest and collected up the arrows left after the demon’s body had dissolved into nothing. I wanted to ask him about that, figuring that must be a thing with demons since no one expressed any surprise but decided now was not the time to ask distracting questions.

  “We really do need to talk,” I told him when he gestured for me.

  “No, we don’t.” His jaw was set, but his control was amazing since I didn’t sense more than just a faint heat of his dragon fire.

  I made a frustrating gesture, recognizing the obstinate mood he was in. “Dammit, you annoying man! Yes, we do!”

  “This is neither the time nor the place for a discussion,” he snapped, marching over to me until his toes touched mine, the heat from his chest bathing me in a warmth that melted all my bones. “Not now, flower! Not when I’ve defeated my brother and endured the betrayal of the one person I trusted above all others.”

  “Oh, man,” Bree murmured to Ioan, who stood next to her. “He’s very good at this, but Zizi’s tasseled nipples, he did not just say that, did he?”

  “He did, but he is upset,” Ioan said softly. “He has been betrayed. We all have. We must have vengeance, just as Archer avenged himself upon the master of the shadow dragons.”

  “Hmm.” She looked at Ioan with her head tipped to the side and moved a few steps away from him.

  “The only person you trusted, Archer?” For a moment, I felt as if someone had slashed through me with the big herking sword he had strapped to his back, wondering how I could bind myself to a man who didn’t trust me with his heart, but the knowledge of what pain he must be suffering from Miles’s betrayal did much to soften the harsh words that wanted to burst out. “Really?”