by Vella Day
The ring! If she rubbed a finger over the stone’s surface he’d know she was in trouble. After twisting her wrists, she managed to slide her pinky over the stone. Hopefully, Birk could sense her despair.
From the way the vehicle was bumping around, they weren’t on a paved road. How long had she been out cold? If Birk were still battling Dorlack and his men, would he sense her pain and try to find her? Lily slumped as a wave of depression socked her.
Chapter Twenty-One
Nessa drove while Birk stayed in constant contact with Camden. Suddenly, his chest was on fire and a strong ache stabbed him.
“What is it?” Nessa asked, looking over at Birk.
“It’s Lily, thank god. She’s alive but in pain.”
“They just made a right turn,” Camden said. “Don’t worry. We’ll reach her.”
“What’s down that road?” Birk asked.
“Just some houses,” Camden said a moment later. “It doesn’t appear to have any warehouses or businesses.”
Nessa made a right turn onto a dirt road that appeared quite desolate. A few farms dotted the countryside, but no homes were in sight.
“The vehicle just stopped,” Camden said, sounding quite excited.
“Do you have an address?”
“Yes. It’s 12450 Haystack Road. It’s the last house on the left. It’s registered to a Phil Regales.”
The name didn’t sound familiar. “Thanks. We’ll take our chances.” Right now, Birk didn’t care who owned the place. He needed to save Lily.
Birk disconnected and turned to Nessa. “Pull over. We need a plan.”
Fifteen seconds later, Logan landed in his cloaked form, shifted, and jogged over to them. He hopped in the backseat. “What did you find out?”
Birk told him what Camden said. “I’m thinking we should scope out the place in our cloaked form. Moving around won’t be easy, nor will looking in the bottom floor windows, but it can be done. After we find Lily, we’ll shift back, and then break down the door. I might still be healing, but I can throw a pretty mean punch.”
“And if they are dragon shifters?” Logan asked.
“They won’t be shifting in the house.”
“Good point,” Logan said.
“How about you and Birk handle those inside, and I’ll survey the outside from above?” Nessa said. “If I’m attacked, I’ll be sure to let out a loud screech, and then you guys can help.”
Both he and Logan smiled. Nessa had the best dragon yell of the group. “Works for me,” Birk said. “Drive a little farther, but park about half mile from the end. We don’t need them to know they have company.”
With caution, his sister eased down the road. As much as Birk wanted her to floor it, she didn’t need to create a plume of dust and attract attention. No telling what kind of surveillance cameras were around or at the house.
Several homes appeared as she rounded a bend, as did a small lake that was surrounded by trees. The last home on the left was on a rather desolate piece of land that was backed up to the wooded area.
Nessa parked on the side and all three exited. He turned to her. “Good luck.”
“You too. I’ll keep cloaked for as long as I can.”
Birk hugged his sister. “Thank you.”
With that, she shifted and took off, disappearing into the air. What Birk really needed was the ability to cloak himself in his human form or have infrared vision to see inside the house.
“Let’s go,” Birk said. “I’ll take the right side, you take the left.”
“Got it,” Logan said.
“We’ll search first and then shift to regroup. We can meet by the wooded area where we can hide in the forest.”
“Perfect,” Logan said. Most of the time, Logan was more focused on his computer work, but when he was on a mission, he took on a whole different persona—tough, detailed, and determined.
“I’ll check to be sure the hood of their vehicle is still warm before we storm in, in case Camden’s tracking device isn’t accurate,” Birk said.
Logan chuckled. “Won’t they be surprised when we bust in?”
“I’m sure they will be.”
“Do you really think fighting them inside is the best way to take them down though? There could be others in there,” Logan said.
They’d trained in hand-to-hand combat as much as they had in fighting in their dragon form. “Considering my injured wing—yes.”
Logan nodded. “Let’s do this.”
They both shifted and cloaked themselves. A few seconds later, Birk landed. A gray SUV sat in the drive radiating heat. Gotcha!
Even though Logan was invisible, Birk could sense his location. Logan headed left and Birk went right. The house was a two-story brick home with only a bit of landscaping in front and no large trees to speak of nearby.
Because his eye level was close to fifteen feet, Birk began checking the top floor since those windows were easiest to look in. As he moved from one window to another, one of his wings began to flicker. Crap. They’d never save Lily if those inside stormed out now. He wasn’t ready for battle. One shifter he could handle, but multiple fighters? Probably not.
Concentrate, he demanded of his dragon. This is for Lily.
He couldn’t afford to lose focus now.
One of the windows on the east side had the shades lowered. Could that be where they were holding her? If only they had mated, they could communicate. Birk promised himself the first chance he had, he’d rectify that.
Using his claw, he tried to lift the sash, but the window was locked. Even if he broke the glass, he couldn’t crawl in when in his dragon form.
No guard was posted outside, and Birk didn’t spot any surveillance cameras. All the same, he needed to remain invisible for a little longer. Once he’d checked all of the rooms on the top floor, he went to the back and checked them out too. He then bent down and returned the way he came, looking in each window.
When he reached the front again, his muscles tensed. There in the living room stood a man and a woman in deep conversation. Even through the walls, he sensed a dragon shifter, but he couldn’t tell if one or both of them were.
One of the windows was slightly cracked, and he edged closer.
“What are you going to do with her?” the man asked.
The woman stabbed a hand through her short, black hair. “I’m going to find Kyle and tell him his sister has been kidnapped.”
She knew Kyle? How?
“How are you going to explain that you know?”
“I’ll tell him I found a woman by the side of the road. She was injured and begged me to help her.” The woman paced. “I’ll tell him that I took her to the hospital and then came out to the warehouse to find him. I’ll say Lily gave me a good description of Kyle. When he comes with me, I’ll kill him.”
The man shook his head. “What about that bodyguard of hers?”
“Don’t worry about him. When I attacked him on the roof, he had no idea I was even there. I put the rope ladder on the side so he would think I was some kind of demon. Trust me, he fell for it. Just you wait. It will be Kyle who will come rushing out to save his sister. That’s when I’ll cloak and attack him.”
“I don’t like it. Too much could go wrong. It would be a lot easier if you just kill Lily and leave her body on Kyle’s doorstep.”
She snapped her fingers. “Yes! After I saw Landry’s dead body and didn’t know who’d killed him, it drove me crazy. Fortunately, I was smart enough to watch Kyle’s bitch sister.”
“That’ll drive Kyle mad trying to figure out who killed her.” He laughed.
Holy shit! This was Landry Madison’s sister, and she was out for revenge.
Birk needed to move fast. He soared up and over to the other side of the house. Finding his brother was easy, but they’d have to be in their human form in order to communicate. Birk drew near enough to show Logan he needed to head to the wooded area. As soon as he shifted, he’d be exposed, but that couldn’t
be helped.
Once in his human form, Birk darted into the woods and squatted behind a large tree.
Logan joined him a few seconds later. “Did you see anything?” Logan asked.
“Yes. They have Lily and plan to kill her. We have to go now!”
“What about Nessa? We need to tell her.”
“There isn’t time. She can handle herself. We need to get Lily out first.”
Tension high, they both shifted back. A few seconds later, they landed in front of the house, and returned to their human form. Birk’s swift kick nearly crushed the door, and it banged open. They were immediately met by two sets of wide eyes.
“You!” the woman said.
Birk felt no need to comment. The man whipped out a gun from behind his back and waved it at them. He must not be a dragon shifter or he’d know that a bullet would be painful but not deadly.
Regardless, Birk held up his hands. “Just came for what’s mine.”
“And what’s that?” the tall brunette asked.
Like she didn’t know. “The woman you kidnapped. Lily Harper. We tracked her here.”
As if he’d said some trigger word, the woman turned and raced toward the back. He suspected she wanted to shift, hoping to stop them once they had Lily. Birk wasn’t worried. Nessa would take care of her. Landry’s sister might have been able to hide from him, but one of the Four Sisters had given both Nessa and Kyle the power to detect a person if they became invisible in their human form. It was how Kyle defeated this woman’s brother.
The man’s arm trembled as Logan approached him. “Put the gun down. We’re trained mercenaries.”
Birk almost laughed. He hadn’t heard that claim before.
“Stay with him while I find Lily,” Birk said. As he passed the man, the guy stepped back, swiveled, and fired at Logan. What the hell?
Birk spun around. Logan must have expected the move because he was on the ground a split second before the bullet reached him. Because Birk was standing next to the assailant, he did a roundhouse kick and knocked the gun from the man’s hand, and the weapon skittered across the floor.
Logan scooted forward and grabbed the gun. He stood and pointed it at the human. “Don’t move.”
Stupid man. How had he been assigned to grab Lily? Maybe he was the woman’s lover. A bullet would do some damage to him. “Tie him up or something,” Birk said as he ran upstairs.
Not bothering to ask the ass where Lily was, he rushed to the room with the shades. The door was locked, but that wasn’t going to stop Birk. With a quick shoulder shove, the crappy lock busted and the door swung open. Gagged and tied to the bed was his mate, and Birk had to tamp down his rage at seeing her like that. To think those assholes had their hands on her. He growled. She better not be harmed in any way, or he would definitely shoot that asshole downstairs.
Birk rushed over to Lily, her eyes wide with relief and fear. “Oh, baby. I’m here. Let me undo this gag.”
The moment he slipped it off, she sucked in a breath and nearly choked. “You found me!”
Tears trickled down her cheeks, and he wiped them away. “I did. The ring led me to you.”
“I’ll never take it off.”
“Good. Now let me see about getting you undone.”
A rope was wrapped around her waist that was tied to the bed. That came undone easily. The plastic ties around her wrists and ankles required him to partially shift a hand into a claw. Extending the talon, he sliced them off. As soon as Lily was finally free, he gathered her in his arms and kissed her forehead, her nose, and then her lips.
Birk had to get her out of there. “Can you walk?”
“I think so.” He helped her off the bed. Holding onto her, she took a few steps. “Some woman drugged me.”
“I believe Nessa is taking care of her as we speak.” He’d tell her who that woman was later.
Even though she said she could walk, Birk wrapped an arm around her waist for support. At the top of the stairs, he stopped. “You still have everything under control down there, Logan?” Birk called out.
“So far, so good.”
With care, he and Lily made their way down the steps. “What should we do with this guy?” Logan asked once they reached the living room.
“Take him in. He’ll be charged with kidnapping.” Birk faced the man. “I hope you aren’t afraid of heights.”
Logan could deal with this guy. Most likely Nessa would want to fly home as well, as it would be faster, assuming she sustained no injuries.
A loud shriek sounded, but it didn’t belong to his sister.
Lily looked up at him. “What was that?”
“I’ll hazard a guess that it was Nessa doing some damage to the woman who took you.”
“Good.”
They stepped outside and walked down the steps. A loud thud sounded in front of them, and a dragon appeared on the ground. Nessa showed up a second later and shifted. She loomed over the downed animal and partially shifted her hand. She then placed a talon on the dragon’s chest above the heart. “If you don’t want to die, shift into your human form.”
When the animal started to move, Nessa slightly punctured the soft shell of the dragon. A moment later, the woman appeared. “Why didn’t you kill me?”
“I want to see you rot in jail.”
The woman laughed. “I’ll just disappear.”
“That doesn’t mean you can escape. But I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that problem either.” She turned to Birk. “I’m going to take her to the Four Sisters, where I’m sure any one of them can remove all of her magical powers.”
For the first time since he found out Lily had been taken, Birk smiled. “What a brilliant solution.” He turned to the downed woman. “I’m sorry you lost your brother, but he attacked Lily’s brother first.”
Lily gasped. “That’s Landry Madison’s sister?”
The woman glanced over at Lily and then back at Birk. “He deserved it. Kyle should have been the one to die that day, not my brother.”
Lily took a wobbly step toward her, but Birk stopped her before she could kick the downed woman. “Take her away, Nessa.”
“My pleasure.” She shifted and lifted her up. Even if she became invisible, she’d still be in Nessa’s grasp.
“I can’t believe it. This was all about revenge then?” Lily asked.
“Yes, and I never gave a thought she’d be involved in the kidnapping mostly because I didn’t know Landry Madison even had a sister. I figured that Richard Dorlack had double-crossed Toma and somehow managed to nab you, but I was wrong.”
Lily sucked in a breath. “What happened to Dorlack? Or more importantly, how are you?”
Birk dragged a hand down her face. “Dorlack is dead, and my dragon is still healing me.” He wrapped an arm around her waist. “We can talk about what happened on the ride home. The car is about a half mile down the road. Walk or take a speed trip flying?”
A real smile captured her lips. “I’d love to fly.”
Birk’s heart sang. “Then fly it is.”
He shifted and then gently lifted her up. Because of the short distance, he kept low to the ground. At the car, he set Lily down and returned to his human form.
She climbed into the passenger seat and dropped her head back, almost as if she couldn’t believe she was safe. Birk piled into the car and looked over at her. From the way her coloring was improving, Lily would heal quickly. “You hungry?” he asked.
Lily rubbed her stomach. “No. I just want to go home and take a long, hot shower.”
“We can do that.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
In a way, Lily was glad she and Birk would have four hours together, so they could talk. She needed to come to grips with what had happened. Birk had already assured her that Dorlack was dead, and that Toma’s two daughters had been returned.
“What will happen to Toma?” she asked. “He burned down his warehouse to defraud our insurance company.”
; Birk nodded. “He’ll be punished. We’ll turn him over to the authorities and let them sort things out. I’m sure that he’ll be spending quite a bit of time in jail.”
“Good. He was a creep.”
Birk laughed but quickly sobered. He reached out and squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry, Lily. I never meant for any of this to happen.”
She twisted toward him, hating the guilt in his voice. “I know that. I still can’t believe that Kyle’s assistant had a sister. How did she find out about the switch?”
“She probably followed me to the gas station and then saw you slip out of Toma’s car.”
“Damn. If it hadn’t been for this ring, you never would have found me.”
He looked over at her. “I did, and that’s all that mattered.”
“How is Tory?”
Birk reached over while keeping an eye on the road. “When I left, everyone was having a one-on-one battle and winning, but more could have arrived after I left. We’ll find out when we get back home. Just relax, and try to get some rest.”
Lily almost chuckled. “I can’t rest until I know everyone is okay. Kyle was with the men fighting, wasn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll rest after I know my brother is safe.”
Because Birk was quiet, Lily watched the countryside speed by. An hour later, her stomach grumbled.
“I thought you said you weren’t hungry.”
She chuckled. “I guess I am.”
They were passing through a small town that contained a few eating spots. “How does the Yawning Cow Diner sound?” Birk nodded to a cute café. The awning out front was white with big black spots.
She laughed. “I love the name. I think it’s perfect.”
Birk pulled in front. He cut the engine, came around to her side, and helped her out. Her legs were a little weak, but otherwise, she believed she would recover quickly. A good meal would do wonders for her.
Inside the diner, Birk picked a booth near the back where he faced the entrance, which suited her fine. After they ordered and their drinks were delivered, Birk chugged back a good portion of his lemonade and then set the glass down. “I’ve been thinking.”