by Ines Johnson
"I understand, it's just that-"
"And really I belonged to Kimber always. It was inevitable. Not that I used you or anything. But when you showed interest in me it helped Kimber to see that he and I were always meant to be together."
“I’m happy for you, but could I-"
"And oh my god, the makeup sex..." Cardi threw her head back. "Phenomenal."
Izem pursed his lips. There was an impatient crinkle to his eyes.
"I'm sorry,” said Cardi. “Was there something you were trying to say?"
"You still have my jacket. I was hoping to get it back."
His jacket? From their date. "Oh. Yeah. Sure."
She turned into the apartment and retrieved his jacket. Coming back to the door she handed it to him. Their fingers brushed. His were rough, but there was no spark between them.
"No hard feelings?" she asked.
"None,” he said, slipping the jacket on. “You taught me a lot about women. I think I'll be ready now for when the first batch of sacrifices arrive."
"First batch?"
"Didn't you hear? Kimber got the Valkyrie to consider bringing more sacrifices. So I might have another shot."
"Oh. Good for you."
"Thanks for everything Cardi. We can still be friends right?"
"Sure. Friends. Yeah. Bye."
Cardi shut the door. There hadn’t been a tear in his eyes. Not after she’d given him her first date. And her first kiss. That was a big deal. It deserved at least a pint of ice cream and a few tears. But Izem had looked fine.
Whatever.
There was another knock at the door. Great. What did he want this time? To make friendship bracelets?
Cardi opened the door. It was not Izem. It was not Ilia. She opened her mouth to scream for one of them. But her uninvited guest backhanded her and everything went black.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kimber flew hard and fast through the dark skies. He’d been a fool to trust Leona. He knew something was up when he’d talked to her after the Valkyrie left.
He’d waited impatiently in his rooms after he’d learned that Cardi had gone to quit her job and pack up her apartment. He couldn’t deny that that independent streak in her had been what he’d needed to see to finally wipe the scales from his eyes. Seeing her take charge of her life sparked the desire in him to take the reins of control from her.
Now that she was under his command, he had no plans to loosen his grip. If anything, their brief tryst earlier in her bed had proven her to be a whole new kind of handful.
Kimber needed to have his hands on her again, mastering her pleasure, capturing her cries of delight. But the sun had set and she still wasn’t within his grasp.
That’s when he’d taken matters into his own hands. He shifted and flew into town. Shifting back to male form, he threw open the doors of God’s Teet. He gave many of the female fairies a show with his stark nudity, but he didn’t care. He only had eyes for Cardi.
But she wasn’t there.
He spied Ilia chatting up a few fairies while tossing back a steaming cup of spirits. Kimber didn’t bother scolding his younger brother. Instead, he turned and stormed up the steps to the apartment.
It too was empty of Cardi. But not her things. Her suitcase lay open on the bed, along with all of her stuffed animals and trinkets. She wouldn’t leave without them. Especially not without her Madonna cassette tapes. And that’s when he smelled it.
Fur.
Kimber, Rhoyl, and Ilia landed in front of the lion’s den with a loud thud that shook the earth. Three cubs were out in front skinning a gazelle. They looked up at the dragon’s approach. Wide grins spread across their faces. Stupid cubs, he was out for blood.
“Where is she,” Kimber bellowed.
“She has a name,” said the cub coming into a defensive position, unaware that he was about to take the place of that bleeding gazelle.
“Where is my mate?”
The cub’s face crumbled. His fists lowered. “Your mate? Our mom isn’t your mate.”
“Mama,” called another cub, turning towards the den. “You mated a dragon?”
Leona appeared in the doorway. She stepped out slowly, her gaze alert.
“I’m not calling him dad.”
Leona smacked the cubs upside their head before turning to address Kimber. “What are you idiots doing here on my land?”
“Where’s Cardi?” Kimber’s voice was dangerously low, more growl than anything. The dragon was in control and he wanted blood.
Leona’s brows rose. “Lost your mate so soon after claiming her? Maybe she didn’t want you after all.”
The three cubs lined up behind their mother. It wasn’t cowardly. Leona was not only the queen of this jungle, she was also the strongest of her den.
She would not think twice about striking Kimber. Both man and beast abhorred the idea of hurting a female, even in self-defense.
But it didn’t have to go that far. Not yet. There was still another soul he could take his anger out on.
“Where’s Izem?”
“He went to town,” said one of the cubs.
“I came from town,” said Kimber. “I caught his scent in her rooms and she was gone. It looked like she was taken.”
“Cardinal? Taken?” Leona huffed. “I doubt that. And if she was, my boy wouldn’t kidnap her. Lions keep their word.”
Kimber bristled at that insinuation.
“He wouldn’t run off with your mate. He’s already planning for one of the next batches when the Valkyrie agree to our requests. All my boys are. We’ve brought down the largest gazelle.”
Kimber ignored the raw meat. He lifted his nose in the air for any scent of Cardi. He found none. He only smelled fur and blood. Maybe they were telling the truth. She wasn’t here.
But then the wind ticked his nose and he smelled her. She was coming closer. He whirled around and saw Izem. As the lion came closer, Kimber didn’t see Cardi. But her scent was on him. His dragon was through the air and on the cub in a blink.
“What did you do to her?” The dragon said through the man’s clenched teeth.
“To Cardi? Nothing. I just went to get my jacket back.”
“Where is she?” snarled Kimber.
“When I left her she was in her apartment packing.”
Slowly, Kimber retracted his claws and lifted his bulk off Izem. He knew the cub was telling the truth. So where was Cardi? If the lions hadn’t taken her then who? The bears? The wolves?
A war would be catastrophic to the peace and accords they’d just struck. But all bets were off now that his mate was missing.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The lyrics to Like a Prayer played through Cardi’s head. Life was indeed a mystery. She was alone, but she wasn't standing. She was lying down and her head ached.
Cardi opened her eyes to see not much. She was in a room. It was sparse, only the barest of comforts.
There was a bed made of splintering wood. The mattress had to be stuffed with straw. It smelled of piss and manure.
She sat up and immediately wished she hadn't. Wooziness made little birds fly around her head. Her stomach roiled, ready to get rid of the meal Elek had prepared for her the other night. With a deep breath, she was able to keep the meal down.
Looking around, she saw that the bed wasn’t the only creature comfort in the room. There was a small closet. There was one outfit. It couldn't be called white. It was colorless and dingy. Cardi always wore color. More than the predicament, she found herself in -Cardinapped in a one-star motel- that was what upset her most. That she was expected to wear a drab frock. Maybe she could shred the hem and the sleeves to make it look like fringe?
There was some food on a little table. A few blossoms and a sad slab of gray meat. At least it was cooked. Perhaps she could use the flowers to tie die the clothes.
No. Think. Focus on what truly mattered.
She'd been taken. She'd been kidnapped. She had no idea where she was. Looking
out the window she saw a familiar sight in the distance. She was in the Mountains of Gaia.
For the first time in years, real fear went through her.
A loud thudding grew closer and closer. Cardi scooted to the edge of the window. She could walk out onto a balcony, but there was no getting down from this height. The only way in or out was to fly. But Kimber would never think to look here. He would never suspect who had taken her. Because he was supposed to be dead.
The door opened and her one and only nightmare darkened the doorway.
Gneiss looked smaller than she remembered. She had been so young when she’d been deposited on his doorstep by Morrigan. He had seemed so large then. Her smart mouth had always been her best weapon. She cocked it now.
"Is this the only way you can get family to come to dinner? You kidnap them?"
Gneiss rolled his eyes at her. They were cold cream. There was no sight of the man. His beast was in complete control. His skin was more scales than flesh. His nails were dark and black, more claws than fingers. His face was bruised and disfigured from the fight he’d lost to his son, the fight that should’ve killed him. Yet here he was.
"One thing I was happy about that my son bested me to win you," said Gneiss, "I never had to put up with your mouth. You were the most talkative of sacrifices. Saying words with no meaning or purpose.”
“I beg to differ. I was the one with the most interesting things to say," said Cardi. Here she was, still writing checks her mouth couldn’t cash.
"The only interesting thing about you was your womb. Finally, after all these years, it has been put to use."
“Wait.” Cardi frowned. "You know Kimber and I boinked?”
He ignored her. “I assume it was your mouth that kept him from your bed all these years. But I see he has finally fulfilled his duty."
"That's so none of your business." Except for the fact that she'd told anybody who'd listen about her boinking today, but she did not want this beast to know. "Don't think you're getting any. He marked me. He claimed me. I'm his."
"I'm not interested in you,” he curled his lips in disgust. “I want what was rightfully mine."
Cardi could only stare. She truly had no idea what this mad dragon was going on about. And she didn’t care. She just wanted to get out of here and back to Kimber.
"The hatchlings."
"What hatch-" Her stomach roiled again. Oh, papa was preaching and she was sure as heck in trouble deep.
"I don't care how they got there. But they are the next generation. My children have all become soft, making deals with lions, bears, and wolves. But these dragons you now carry will be strong. They will rise to what dragons are meant to be; the kings of the Veil."
He wanted her babies. She was going to have babies. Kimber's babies. The hell was this monster getting them. Cardi had never been good at sharing and she wasn't about to start now.
“Eat your dinner and get some rest,” said Gneiss. “You’ll need to make those hatchlings strong. And you’ll need to gather strength for the birth. Fire in your blood or not, when they come, they still may rip you apart.”
Gneiss shut the door. He left the balcony open. She couldn't get down. Shouting would do nothing. She needed a prayer.
Wait… a prayer. She got down on her knees and pulled the straw mattress off the bed to find wood planks. Perfect.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kimber was spinning his wheels. He was also unraveling at his core. The forest around him was burning. The smell of singed fur and well-done gazelle permeated the air.
“Breathe through your nose,” said Ilia.
“That’s not working,” growled Leona. “The fire is coming out of his nose.”
There had been days in the last years where Kimber purposefully avoided Cardi. But he could always sense her presence. Now she felt truly gone from his life, from his world. He opened his mouth and roared, but only fire came out. No words.
"Maybe she simply left you," said Leona. Her voice was calm amidst the flames.
"There were signs of struggle," said Ilia. "She was taken."
"But if not by lions, wolves, or bears, then who?" That came from Konan.
His pack kept to the clearing away from the flames. They’d come after Leona had called to see if Cardi had ventured near their territory. She hadn’t.
The bears were all still asleep. But Turin had answered the crystal. He’d gone outside and sniffed the air, only to come back and assure them that Cardi hadn’t come near their caves.
So where had she gone? Kimber was prepared to tear the whole of the Veil apart to find her.
"Perhaps a fairy took her?" said one of the cubs.
"For what purpose?” said Konan. “A dragon would tear them to petal from petal.”
"Maybe for ransom?” said one of the wolves. “Everyone knows the dragons are paying in gems for women."
"If that were even possible they would've left a note asking for the money,” said Leona. “If not when they took her, then definitely by now. She's Cardi. She would be making demands by now."
Kimber nearly smiled at that. His Cardinal would not make her kidnapping a pleasant experience for whoever or whatever took her.
"Could it have been the Valkyrie?" asked Leona.
"Cardi is in good with the Valkyrie,” asaid Ilia. “She would've gone with them willingly."
“My boys are all here,” said Leona. “The wolves and bears are accounted for. There are no other dragons in the Veil."
Kimber's blood went cold. There was one more unmated dragon here. One Kimber didn’t talk about. That was a condition for letting his father live. He never wanted to hear from or see the old beast ever again.
But Gneiss was alive. Not exactly well, but he breathed. Cardi’s disappearance had his father’s name written all over it. But why now?
Now was time for him to come clean. He had no choice if he were going to get Cardi back.
"I know who has her."
All heads turned to him. Kimber would have to admit his shame in order to get back the woman he loved.
"It has to be my father."
"How?” said Konan. “Did he do that from the dead?"
The male had ripped out his own father’s throat when he’d challenged him for Alpha. Konan’s father’s boy had been disfigured. But unlike Gneiss, it had also been dismembered.
"He's not dead,” Kimber admitted, the flames finally died in his throat. “I showed mercy. I banished him to the outer regions.”
Wolves, lions, and even his brothers all looked at each other. Ilia turned his back on Kimber. Their father had left Ilia, the runt of his litter, to die. Yet Kimber had shown the unfeeling dragon mercy.
"What do you need us to do?" asked Konan?
Kimber hadn't expected anyone to agree to come with him to find her. Konan stuck out his hand and Kimber grasped it, squeezing tight with gratitude.
"We're behind you," said Izem. “Though Cardi’s not my mate, I still consider her my friend. I’ll join you. We all will.”
"You will not," said Leona.
"Our family made a pact, an alliance,” said Izem. “I will honor it."
Leona ground her molars. "But that land is vast. You could search for weeks, months even."
She was right about that. But Kimber would spend the rest of his life searching for Cardi. When he found his father he would rip him limb from limb this time. No mercy. And if he hurt her Kimber would burn the man slowly over a roaring fire whose flames came from his own mouth.
He itched to get started. But Leona was right. Where did he start?
Kimber turned to face the Mountains of Gaia. The range was off in the distance, but with a shifter’s keen sight he saw something out of the ordinary. The line of arbors was inhospitable. There was a ring of gloom around the mountaintop.
And one bright spot.
Kimber unfurled his wings and rose above the treetops. He squinted. Then his gaze widened.
"I know exactly where she is." He smile
d a real smile for the first time since he'd found her missing. His brilliant little human. Kimber was sure she was giving his father hell. Part of him wanted to leave her there a few more hours just to torture his father. His dragon rejected that idea because it was pure torture not being near her.
"She’s there," he pointed.
"How do you know?" asked Konan
"What is that?” said Izem. “Is that a burning cross?"
"Why would anyone have a burning cross in the Veil?" said Leona.
"It's Cardi," said Kimber. "She's sending up a prayer."
Chapter Twenty-Five
“It was cold.” That was her excuse and she was sticking with it.
Gneiss stood in the doorway of the now bed-less room glaring at Cardi. He took two booming steps towards her. Menace was in his mangled brow. His fists were clenched. He’d already knocked her out when he’d taken her. She didn’t doubt he’d do it again.
But she knew he wouldn’t kill her. Not when she harbored what he wanted most in this realm. That was her advantage and she would play to it.
Cardi put her hands over her belly and groaned. Gneiss’ advance immediately halted.
“I’m having cramps,” she wailed, sinking to her knees.
In truth, she was having cramps. But they weren’t the in-the-family-way type of cramps. They were the monthly curse type of cramps.
She didn’t discount that she could be pregnant. But as someone who had kept meticulous records of her schedule since she was the last girl to get it in middle school, Cardi knew her PMS symptoms back and forward. She was due for a visit from Aunt Flow any day now. Which meant that she was not preggers. When Gneiss found out she wasn’t pregnant with the whelps he wanted to brainwash and corrupt, then what would he do with her?
She knew what he’d do to her. He’d finish the job. And she didn’t mean kill her.
The thought of Gneiss over top of her rutting like a rabid dog made Cardi gag. Luckily, it only added to the act.
“What is it?” Gneiss snarled. “You’re not bleeding?”