I glanced at Gareth and found his smile was slightly smug. His beautiful blue eyes caught and held mine for a brief moment. It was enough to send the color into my cheeks and I dropped my eyes again to Kit’s body, curled contentedly against me. At my side Owen moved closer, resting his head on my thigh. Kit grumbled softly but shifted his body, giving him more room in my lap.
Adara’s voice was like chalk on a blackboard as she demanded in a high pitched whine. “Enough!”
Gareth sighed. In the chair next to me Jace leaned forward and glanced down the table at the Asian beauty, who presently looked like she’d enjoy scratching someone’s eyes out. I thought about it for a moment and realized that someone was probably me. With her long blood red nails, it looked to me like she could really give it a go, too. Note to self, say out of claw range. Hey, I could sympathize. It wasn’t all that long ago I’d been virginal and frustrated. But was it my fault she thought her powers came from her virginal status while mine came from having sex… often?
I tried not to sigh, thinking I should have just grabbed Kit instead of pushing lust in his direction. I was pretty sure it hadn’t spread that far down the table but given the looks on Alan and Bodark’s faces, they must have at least caught the tail end. Dten and Eldal didn’t look affected so either they weren’t interested or the two of them had been out of my range. Actually that was great news! The last time I’d tried that it had leveled an entire roomful of men! Of course I’d been angry at the time.
Gareth sighed softly and answered Alan’s question. “The problem has been dealt with.” Murmurs erupted around the table and out of the corner of my eye I watched Belinda lean in and whisper something in Valentine’s ear. I slammed my shield shut realizing it was still down, and watched in satisfaction as she nearly fell to the floor from the pain. Marcus was watching me closely and I noticed his eyes widen slightly and the small smile that lifted his lips before he carefully wiped his face of emotion. I wondered if he could learn to shield like I did. Then I wondered how Belinda would enjoy that.
She wouldn’t, a strange voice whispered across my mind and I jerked, causing Owen to growl slightly. Kit tilted his head and focused one eye on me as if to say, ‘what was that for?’ Heads turned in my direction but I ignored them. Jace reached for my hand and slipped his fingers through mine, his dark green eyes curious.
Down the table Belinda turned and glared at Marcus, her eyes narrowed. I realized Marcus wasn’t shielded and she must have heard his comment. I wanted to ask Jace but was afraid, given the company we were in, that someone, likely several someones, might hear me. In company like this you needed to speak a separate language. The thought hadn’t left my mind when I turned to Amras and asked him softly in perfect Elvish, “Did you just hear someone say ‘She wouldn’t?”
He seemed shocked, probably because he didn’t know I could speak my native tongue. I could actually, but only because Mi had taught it to me, not my Mother. I figured we should be safe enough. Elvish was not an easy language and Mi had told me that Elves were not in the habit of sharing their knowledge with just any outsider. Amras responded with a pleased smile, “I assume you do not mean out loud?”
I nodded and he frowned, shaking his head as he glanced at Cursed, who didn’t look at all happy. “No, My Lady,” he replied tightly. “I did not hear anything. In fact with you shielded it is as if you are not here.” Cursed did not seem to appreciate the notion that I might be ‘hearing’ things he couldn’t. But then as a previous royal guard of Faerie and now my guard, he tended to have little humor over things he couldn’t defend against.
“Can you ask Jace if he heard anything? If I drop my shield I am worried they will hear me down the table. I think you should be able to ask him without their notice.”
Behind us Gareth was listening to Adara and Milos, who were discussing imports and human to non-human cargo ratios. I wasn’t really listening and I suspected Gareth and Jace were more curious about my conversation than who was smuggling whom or what into the country.
Amras nodded and stepped back. He didn’t need to look at Jace to speak with him. Beside me Jace tilted his head slightly, listening I suspected. His lips narrowed and he glanced at me under his brows, finally nodding.
“Ask him if he can speak to Marcus without Belinda hearing him, please,” I replied to Amras. Behind me I heard him draw in air, and then Jace’s fingers were clenching the chair arm, his knuckles slowly turning white.
“I’m not sure how to interpret that,” I told Amras. This three way conversation was tedious. It would be so much easier if Gareth and Jace would just let me kill Belinda! Valentine didn’t seem to bother me all that much, which was surprising since I had despised Vampires for so long.
Down the table Marcus made a strangled sound, followed immediately by coughing. My eyes flicked down the table expecting to find Belinda had yanked his leash again. Instead I found her frowning and looking at him strangely. The frown lines between her brows likely caused by my shields. Too bad I couldn’t figure out a way to make them louder.
“He said absolutely not,” Amras replied.
“My Lady,” Cursed added. “Be very careful. These are not all humans we are dealing with here. If you must have him…” he told me and his voice sounded angry. I didn’t need to turn around to tell his aura was probably a sickly yellow-green. “Kit or Owen can fetch him later, once they have left this place.”
Owen whined softly so that I glanced at him in surprise. “You speak Elvish?” I asked, and had to smile when he rolled his dark brown eyes up at me and stuck out his pink tongue. “Hmmm.”
Cursed was probably right. Even though it nearly made me weep to do so, I’d have to let him go, or risk causing an all out war with the vampires. I couldn’t do that to Gareth and Jace. I leaned back in my chair and lowered my eyes, watching the three at the other end of the table. When Belinda turned back to Valentine I looked directly at Marcus, waiting until I knew his eyes met mine, and let the one question I had whisper across my mind. “Do you wish to be rescued? If so you must give me a sign.”
Chapter 2
Marcus’ light brown eyes held mine as his hands reached for the leather strap around his neck. He grasped the collar in his fingers and yanked it free, causing a loud popping noise as the snaps gave at the back. My eyes widened in horror when I caught sight of the torn flesh that had been hidden beneath the wide band. Belinda turned to him but he was already on his feet, his chair tipping over behind him as he lunged for her, his fingers going around her neck while she screamed. Their motions flipped her out of her chair. Eldal and Dten tried to shove back their own, cursing as they struggled to get their short legs down to the floor so they could push themselves away.
The rest of the room watched in shock as Marcus slammed her head against the floor repeatedly while she clawed at him and tried to get him off of her. At the other end of the table Valentine pushed his chair back then leaned forward, his arms resting on his thighs as he watched the pair avidly. Jace and Gareth both rose to their feet but instead of moving to intercede, Gareth slid his arm along the top of my chair and Jace moved so close his coat brushed my arm.
Across the table from us, Bodark and Alan glanced between the pair rolling around on the floor and myself. Perhaps they had seen the look I’d given him just before his outburst. Or perhaps they were still recovering from the desire I’d sent their way and just couldn’t bare to take their eyes off me.
Marcus was obviously the stronger of the two, but not by much and it appeared his strength was waning fast, likely due to his unhealthy appearance. He must have realized he was losing the struggle because he redoubled his efforts and slammed his knee into her ribs. Across the room I heard bones snap and Belinda scream again, which then turned into a muffled roar as she began shifting beneath him.
Aside from Gareth and Jace, I’d never seen another dragon shift. Unlike the three of us, Belinda’s shift was neither graceful nor fast. Where we could go from human to dragon and back a
gain in a blink of an eye, it took Belinda nearly a minute to shift into something that was so misshapen it was almost unrecognizable. Her head was wide and lumpy with horns sticking almost straight out to the sides. Her scales were twisted and so red they almost looked black. Kit jumped onto the table from my lap and stared at the thing in mute horror. I wasn’t feeling too good about it myself.
Gareth cursed under his breath then nearly yanked me out of the chair and into his arms when Marcus shifted. His shift was every bit as smooth as my own, and he slipped from human to a fire engine red Dragon just like that. Inside me Goldy sat up and blinked, her golden eyes whirling slowly as she took in his delicately veined wings, long pointed snout and the sharp spikes and ridges running down his spine. His back legs were thickly muscled, his second set of horns nice and straight and very sharp. On either side of his head were several blood red protuberances, which stood up nearly a foot and looked like feathers, or maybe the sails on a swordfish. The two of them rolled around on the floor snapping and clawing at each other while the rest of us looked on, neither interfering nor commenting.
Gareth wrapped his arms around me and I responded in kind, feeling my heart beat against his ribs. Jace slipped up to my other side and leaned down to ask, “Your doing?”
I bit my lip and shrugged while he rolled his eyes and kissed my cheek. Across the table Alan raised an eyebrow and gave me a look that made me squirm in Gareth’s arms. Bodark just grinned and then chuckled softly as he turned back to watch the fight. I fear I was no longer looking like the unaffected Elf that I was supposed to be.
On our side of the table Angel gave a high pitched yip and pushed back while her two guards flanked her to either side, their eyes hungrily watching the fight. I had to wonder if they were hoping for leftovers, then nearly gagged at the image.
Adara and Miles looked worried but neither moved from their chairs nor pushed back from the table. Perhaps they believed their power would protect them if necessary.
“That is enough,” Valentine called softly, then made a motion with his hand and reached for something hanging around his neck. There was blood on the wall and carpet, the sharp musky scent of it filling the room. With a snap of his fingers both Belinda and Marcus were suddenly back in human form. I stilled in Gareth’s arms, my breath catching in my throat. What was this?
On the table Kit hissed. Next to my ear Jace swore, and Gareth’s arms tightened around my body in surprise.
Valentine watched the pair avidly waiting, I think, to see who would crawl to their feet first. Marcus just barely made it and I was horrified to see the welts and cuts upon him. He should have healed when he shifted and I made a surprised sound low in my throat which caused him to glance sharply at me. She isn’t the problem, you fool! His mind blazed through mine and I felt both Jace and Gareth stiffen next to me.
Apparently Valentine either didn’t hear him or chose to ignore him as he let out a high pitched laugh. “Put it on,” he told Belinda sharply, indicating the collar lying on the floor near the overturned chairs. The three of us watched in disbelief as Belinda made no protest, just simply snapped the collar around her throat and handed the end of the leash to Marcus, who took it with a grimace, righted his chair, and then pulled it back to the table so he could sit.
“Marcus…” Valentine growled, and Marcus bared his teeth but gave Belinda a sharp yank which caused her to fall back to her hands and knees. His eyes dropped to the table as we all waited for Belinda to crawl to her chair and climb onto it.
I felt the blood drain from my face and pressed my hand to my stomach. Meanwhile Goldy circled in her cave and curled into a very tight ball, her gold eyes whirling in agitation and looking as worried and sick as I suddenly felt.
Nick and several of our men slipped into the room and spread out around us. Owen moved farther away from the table and directly into the path between me and Valentine. The hair on his ruff and back standing straight up on either side of his bejeweled collar, which shifted so the jewels were no longer in random patterns. I blinked and Owen wasn’t wearing a jeweled collar at all, but one that was surrounded in tiny silver crosses. His growl was one low continuous rumble as he fastened his dark brown eyes on Valentine, watching his every move. His posture fairly screamed ‘stay back’, and there was no way he was letting Valentine near the three of us. Whatever he’d done to Belinda and Marcus to control them was not going to happen to us.
“Kids will be kids,” Valentine told us in an amused voice, as he turned back to the table and stretched his legs under it. His eyes flicked to Owen and narrowed slightly but he continued to smile and glanced down the table at us. I couldn’t help thinking he looked very much at home at the head of our table and that I needed to take back my earlier thought. Valentine bothered me a lot!
On the table Kit’s head swung back and forth between Marcus and Valentine, his little tongue flicking out. I could see he was highly agitated but was shocked when he launched himself into the air and straight at Valentine’s head.
“Kit!” I cried sharply.
“Hush,” Gareth whispered next to my ear when I would have called him back. I took a breath realizing he was right. We needed to know what we were dealing with here and Kit had the best chance of getting answers for us. I won’t say I was calm, but I managed to not say anything more as Kit flapped the twenty feet or so to the other end of the table, then nearly stood on his wing tip as he circled Valentine, who was now watching him through narrowed eyes.
An ugly look tightened Valentine’s delicate features and his arm was suddenly over his head, his fingers clenching empty air as Kit first evaded then hissed at him, flicking his tail as if in insult. Valentine lowered his hand as he glared angrily at Kit, already winging toward Marcus. Judging by Kit’s flight pattern, I could tell it was more than a fly by he was interested in.
Put out your arm, put out your arm, put out your arm! I chanted in my mind, and then sighed when Marcus held out his forearm above the table at shoulder height. Kit took the hint and came in fast, his little claws puncturing Marcus who winced but took both the blow of his weight and the scratches without comment. In her chair next to them Belinda leaned forward a strange look on her face. Marcus growled at her and she eased back into the chair, her fingers digging into the arms. She sat there favoring her side and I had to wonder if she too hadn’t healed during shift.
Milos muttered and leaned forward, while Kit dipped his head and ran his tongue over the tiny cuts he’d just inflicted on Marcus. When he raised his snout I could see traces of blood on him. His head turned around and he caught my eye just before he launched himself back into the air and sailed to our end of the table. Beside me Jace presented his forearm and Kit wasted no time in landing. Once on his arm, Jace brushed back my waist length red-gold hair with his other hand and lowered Kit so he could make the short hop back to my shoulder. Seconds later he had his head buried at my nape, his warm body pressed into the side of my neck. I expected him to speak but surprisingly he remained quiet. I had to wonder just how bad it was if it had managed to silence Kit.
While I was sitting there worrying, Nick, who is Gareth and Jace’s second in command, moved to Jace and whispered something in his ear. “Bring him in,” Jace growled, then turned his green eyes to Gareth. Gareth looked at him curiously but released me when Jace held my chair so I could be reseated. Whispers broke out around the room when a short dark haired man was dragged into the room by two of our guards. Angel’s men moved out of the way as they pulled him into the room and stopped just behind Adara’s chair.
The man’s face was battered and bleeding. One of his eyes was swollen. He turned the other one me and spat on the floor in my direction. To the right of me Cursed took a step forward and growled low. Owen, still halfway between Valentine and me, flicked his eyes but didn’t budge. Kit poked his head out from under my hair but made no other move. Gareth sat back down in his chair at the head of the table, content for the moment to allow Jace to deal with this newest proble
m.
“Ricky, I must admit I’m surprised to see you again. Though not I suspect, as surprised as you are to be standing here. You must tell us how you managed to regain your memory and find your way back to us so quickly,” Jace spoke softly, his voice like velvet covered steel. He’d turned his chair around and was leaning on the back of the leather and he appeared calm enough for the moment. Around the room people shifted in their seats and low comments filled the air.
Ricky’s eyes swept the room hesitating briefly just down the table on my side. I’m fairly certain no one in the room missed the fact that his eyes widened slightly. “Go to hell,” he told Jace abruptly and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Hmmm… I thought you might say something like that,” Jace responded with a smile. It wasn’t a happy smile or even a tolerant smile but something much darker. Jace made a high pitched grating noise that sent a shiver up my spine and caused all of the Were folks around the table to curse under their breaths. Ricky dropped his arms and actually struggled while two of Nick’s men held him between them. His struggles must have caused him to sweat because the scent of hyena wafted toward me across the ten or so feet separating us.
A muscular little man just over two feet tall appeared in the air in front of Jace. His name is Snick and he is an elemental, a lower Demon, or gnome if you prefer. He’s got dark brown hair, was wearing a black one piece that covered him from neck to ankles and had his arms crossed over his chest. He glanced around the room and tilted his head up at Jace, patiently waiting for instructions. Snick’s job was to take care of things, something he was very good at.
Dragon Rage Page 2