by Jill Haven
“I speak frankly and honestly. Bishop is one of the most reliable, loyal and strong men I have ever known. He is a worthy mate for your nephew, and you would be lucky to have him associated with your clan.”
“A unique opinion. Are they mated?” Vince asked, smugly aware of the answer.
Humiliation flashed over Carlisle’s face; I gave a subtle negative grunt to pass him the answer.
“Not as yet.”
“Then I see that your brute has no claim over my nephew, and I’m free to find my kin an alpha who is more fitting to our… tastes. It confuses me as to why you’d risk the tenuous alliance between our clans for the animalistic desires of this oaf.”
“I trust you will not punish me nor my clan for backing the case of a friend in love.”
“Love!” Vince roared with laughter and threw his head back. Sparks and smoke bellowed from his lungs and sparkled in the air as he retreated into his stronghold, and the sound echoed off the stones until he disappeared from view.
Carlisle wrapped an arm around my shoulder and gently urged me to turn back to the gates. The oil lamp lights that shone behind the door of the stronghold were so close… I could smell the bitter fuel, and the faintest hint of lilac and honey…
As the door closed behind Vince, the lamps were swallowed up into darkness. And so too was the hope in my heart. All gone. Not even my friend at the height of his power could sway this fate. I was destined to be alone. It was over.
Slam, slap, click. With the final lock in place, the barracks were secured. The lights were out, the weapons were stowed, and the security system was set to its highest sensitivity though there was no chance of anyone getting in through the reinforced steel and iron that created something of a shell around the entire building. I could leave it without concern of being raided, robbed, or looted.
I had never fallen in love easily. Big and oafish from the time I hatched, I had been treated as an asset of strength and grew to see myself that way, also. My youth was spent in combat training, though I couldn’t remember a time when I wasn’t also sent out to the battlefield by my superiors. By the time I was old enough to have any interest in romance, my face was already a mess of scars, my manners were rough, and my position in society as a brute was widely accepted. I was not an eligible mate. My early attempts at courtship were met with immediate rejections and occasional humiliation. I wasn’t a fool, and I wasn’t as insensitive as I seemed. It hurt to yearn for affection, and so I did all that I could to stop myself from growing attached.
But two centuries ago, give or take some decades, I had fallen in love with the son of a dragon who controlled the central plains and a decent portion of the Great Lakes. The omega, of a name I’d never repeat, had caught my eye in a tavern where I was celebrating after a bloody battle above the lake, where I’d felled two full-sized beasts into the waters below. I’d been hired by the omega’s father to protect the land from Ice Dragons coming in from the Far North, seeking riches from the crops that grew in the center of the continent.
The omega didn’t look away when he saw my scars, and he didn’t flinch at my touch. Instead, he sought me out, begged me to stay and continue to work for his father so we could be together. We spent two months of our summer romance by lake-diving and lovemaking in corn fields. Until his father found out.
I was successful in protecting his land, of course. The two dragons I’d killed that night were two of the last who attempted to make moves on his lands. But that didn’t mean I would be rewarded with a treasure as beautiful as his son.
I was driven away by the entire clan, in a nighttime raid on the cabin in which I was staying. Human forms and dragons alike descended on me in the dark of night. The omega’s father himself slashed my face with a machete and left the scar that ran across my nose to this day. But worse than the banishment, worse than losing my first shot at romance, was what it did to my love. A century later, I learned that he had taken his own life; drowned in the lakes that we used to dive.
Not again.
Now I hauled a pack over my shoulder and drew in the smell of the dead of night. The hoodie that Evan had been wearing while he’d been mine smacked of his scent and overpowered all other aromas. I drew it tighter around my shoulders and closed my eyes against the onslaught of memories that plagued me. His smile when he looked up from a meal and caught my eye; the smoothness of the curve of his back when I pressed against him from behind; the tone of his voice when he whispered his affections late at night, on the brink of sleep.
But it was done. There was no way around it, or through it; my standing in this world was as a mercenary. I had been a fool to think that I could rise from my rank and court someone so royal… so perfect. If I fed the anger in my heart, I could rip apart the entire stronghold and flee with him. I could take him where I was going. But that wasn’t the life he wanted, nor the life he deserved. The truth was awful, and almost unbearable. Vince was right; Evan deserved more than I had to give.
With a heavy heart and a Jeep loaded with tools of the trade, I drove into the dark of night with one destination in mind: A new life.
The Enforcement Council was pleased to hear from me and invited me to meet with them in Pennsylvania.
“We’ll forward you more details of our location as you approach,” the husky voice on the other end of the line croaked as I drove over the Ohio state line, and veered east. “It’s a matter of security.”
A series of coordinates delivered through multiple messages took me through the wilds of the Allegheny National Forest and hooked me back southwards to Pittsburg. Being on the road was good for me. With every passing mile, the burning in my belly tempered and the throbbing in my chest became more of a quiver. Where there was once an aching for Evan’s touch, now yawned a gaping hole. Emptiness was a feeling I was familiar with; I could work with it far more effectively than lust, or worse, love.
Clear-headed and determined to start anew, I followed the directions to a large estate on the very edge of Pittsburg, set back from the road and enclosed by large gates and primly pruned privet hedges. The wrought iron gates swung open on my approach and I rolled up the long gravel drive through arbors of willows and oaks with rambling woods to either side. Up ahead, a spire stuck up through the tree line. A copper dragon sculpture, green with age, clung to the spire’s rod and snarled at the incoming traffic. A nice touch.
The house itself was a rambling old manor with turrets, multiple wings, and a quaint circular drive. My Jeep was the only vehicle in sight.
Two elders waited for me at the bottom of the stairs that led to the porch, dressed in identical black suits. Their faces were etched with wrinkles and creases of a depth that I wasn’t used to seeing on our kind. They were at least as old as the mansion; perhaps as old as time.
With a single nod and not a word, they led me up the stairs to the door and escorted me inside. Their scent was old—like smoke that had clung to clothes for years after a fire—but covered in deeper, nuanced fragrances of frankincense, sandalwood, myrrh and bloodstone. As I crossed the threshold of the house, a hint of sulfur caught in the back of my throat, and I suddenly felt a tinge of fear. What was I walking into? The Enforcement Council was made up of the oldest known dragons alive, and with age came power: physical strength, magical abilities, and political sway.
Was I stepping into a trap? Was my death awaiting me? What if Vince had pulled strings to get me here? Did he have that kind of reach? Surely not… But I still hesitated when my escorts motioned to a double-door of rich mahogany, with two metal egg-shaped handles that were inlaid with blue and purple rivulets of gemstones to give the eggs a veined, dragon-like appearance. Nerves bit in my gut. The elders stood back and I considered turning tail, cutting my losses, and going to find a different job that didn’t nag at my instincts so much. But the two of them soon took up position behind me and I had nowhere to go but forward.
A huge dining room opened up before me. A long, thin table ran down its center around which
sat seven elder dragons in their human forms, all more ancient than the two who had led me in. They turned to face me at once, as though moving as a single being. Their eyes flashed, pure dragon, and my knees quivered from the intensity of their gaze. There was no going back now. I steadied my breath and stepped inside as the doors closed behind me.
The Enforcement Council was quick to cut to the chase as to why they were seeking out my services. My suspicions had been correct—there were dragon hunters in the U.S. and had been for over fifty years. In that time, their activities had been quiet—even the Council itself wasn’t able to confirm whether many of the deaths suspected to be at the hands of the hunters were such. But it was clear that the hunters were becoming more active; perhaps cockier. More dragons were dying in mysterious circumstances all across the country.
“The Exposure Law is even more important now than ever before,” crowed a council member who wore a brooch of a silver dagger pinned to the collar of a crimson-red blouse. They had not told me their names, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to ask for anything they didn’t offer.
“What we propose to you, young Bishop Cane, is a twofold operation.”
“Track down and warn every clan in the country, no matter how remote.”
“Tell them to be on alert for hunters.”
“Clan punishments for profound violations of the Exposure Law need to be taken seriously. We cannot afford to be lax. The importance of the Exposure Law must be enforced.”
“And of course, the second job…”
“You want me to hunt down the hunters.” I spoke for the first time and a smile spread across their faces in a terrifying unison.
“Yes, Bishop Cane.”
I scratched my neck. “Can I take a team?”
“You can do as you see fit, lest it not compromise the privacy of the council.”
“I’d do nothing to put you in danger.”
The group laughed with raspy cackles that sounded like the crackles of a bonfire. “No need to fear for our safety, young one. Privacy is all we ask.”
“You will have access to all resources needed for your work.”
“Anything you need.”
“And so, Bishop Cane… Do you renounce all other roles, and accept this position?”
A hefty question. I had no family, no mate, no place I called home. But I did have a team, and Ace and Ten would be chomping at the bit to hunt down dragon killers. I wanted to be with Evan, but if all I could do was ensure his safety by wiping out the killers who might otherwise pray on him one day… then so be it.
“As a dragon sentinel, it would be my highest honor.” I dropped to my knee and lowered my head. With a signing of a pen and a prick of my blood on the contract, my fate was sealed.
The Enforcement Council were not prone to hyperbole, and they were good on their word. Within a week, they had bankrolled a townhouse for me to live in with a large storage unit beneath, packed with the latest gadgets and weaponry, and had flown in my mercenaries.
Ace whistled as he strutted around the storage space that was now looking eerily like the barracks would have if I’d had a bunch of billionaires backing me when I’d set it up… and a taste for the finer things.
Ten picked up a crossbow and admired it from every angle. “This is hydraulic?”
“Yes, it’s auto-cocking.”
Ace scoffed with a cheeky laugh and Ten gave him a grin, while I pointedly ignored the innuendo and continued to clean the rifle that was laid out on the bench—a weapon we were far more likely to use than the crossbow. Humans, no matter how stealthy they were, were a lot easier to kill than dragons.
“How’d it go with that Georgia peach?” Ten put the crossbow back in its rack and started packing a bag with ammo. Ace continued to stroll around the space with his hands shoved deeply in his back pockets, as if he could barely stop himself from touching all the new toys.
“He was a lot less skittish than he’d been during our first meeting. Gave him my number. He’ll call if there’s any trouble down his way.” He turned to me and cocked his head so that the remaining blond locks of his absurd half-shaved head fell over most of his face. “So this is it, huh? A brand-new life?”
“That’s correct.”
“We could break him out, you know.”
I tensed and kept my eyes on the barrel that I was polishing.
“And then what?” Ten came to my side. “They run forever? Exiled?”
“Hm. I’d be happy to live in the middle of nowhere with my fated mate…” Ace wandered off to tug at a grey tarp that was thrown over a jet ski at the far side of the unit, while Ten slapped my arm in solidarity, picked up the cleaning rod, and helped me with what was important now: getting ready to hunt some hunters. After a long silence, he leaned close to me and asked gently, “You miss him?”
“More than anything.”
“These new toys help to soothe the pain?”
“Not in the slightest.” I sighed, grabbed the pieces of the gun, and slotted them back together with practiced precision. The click-click-clack of metal on metal made Ten smile—we didn’t always get to play with firearms, but when we did, it was fun. Yet, it did nothing for me. And in the emptiness that was swallowing up my heart, I had a stark realization… Maybe nothing would make me happy ever again.
14
Evan
“Go away,” I growled into my pillow. My uncle knocked again, just as he had every single day for the past three weeks, but louder this time. The door shook on its hinges, but the metal slip lock on the inside of the door held tight.
I rolled onto my back, took a deep breath, and mustered up all the energy I could to shout, “Go away.”
“Evan! You’re acting like a spoiled child. Let me in.”
My stomach clenched and a wave of sickness wobbled through me, while my heart ached like an open wound. There was an emptiness behind my breastbone, a hollow well that had no bottom, into which I was plunging. Aside from this existential despair as I flew into the chasmous abyss, the only other emotion I had was an aching need to leave the stronghold and find Bishop. I knew that he’d left the area, and I knew that he done so reluctantly; some things you just know, by how much your stomach lurches and how much your heart hurts.
But it was now impossible to escape and find him. Oh, how I’d tried. My uncle had posted guards at my door day and night. They were real guards, guards that were almost as big as Bishop and certainly more endowed with hand-to-hand combat skills than my fortnight of apprenticeship he had equipped me with. Also, they carried swords. Very sharp swords.
Even if I had a decent escape plan, which I had so far failed to create, I was unsure that I’d be able to execute it given the lovesickness that was coursing through me. I allowed my aunts into my room, and they worried for me dearly, kept me in wet towels and hot tea that settled the nausea and stabilized the dizziness for a time. But my uncle, whose fault all of this was, just made me feel worse and so I did not allow him anywhere near me and certainly not in my quarters. I hadn’t seen him since the first day I’d marched back into the stronghold like a naive and trusting fool, and I had no intention of seeing him ever again. And it was driving him mad.
“Evan, I’m demanding—I’m commanding you to open this door.”
“Go away.”
“Get out here right now.”
“Go away.”
“Well, obviously I made the right decision keeping you here. If you’re still so immature that you’d lock yourself in a room out of protest, then I don’t see why you ever thought you were wise enough to choose a mate for yourself.”
I pulled my pillow over my face and prayed for a swift, merciful death.
“Evan! There’s an alpha here who wants to meet you. He’s traveled a long way and—”
That was it. I threw open the bolt and stood before my shocked and then smugly pleased uncle. I was strong with fiery anger, until I had to steady myself on the doorframe while the room spun.
“Fuck
off!” I spat. Vince gasped and flinched like he’d been slapped, and I was about to grin in the very same smug fashion that he loved to employ, but a wave of nausea hit me and all I could do was swallow down the bile. I pushed through it and hissed through gritted teeth. “Tell the alpha to fuck off, too. I already have a lover that I want to mate with.”
I stepped back and was about to slam the door in my uncle’s face in what I thought was a daring and quite impressive act of rebellion, when he grabbed my wrist. My training with Bishop might not have been enough to break me out of the stronghold, but it had certainly trained my reflexes well enough to react without thinking. From a simple shove landed at the right angle, I freed myself from his grip and Vince landed on his buttocks, skidded across the floor until he came to stop against the stone wall, and let out an impressed laugh.
“My gods, Ev.” He laughed again as he got up, while I rubbed my chest where a new wave of lovesickness was beginning to bloom. “I’m impressed.”
“Impressed?”
He sighed and wiped down the front of his shirt as he looked me over with an expression that I could only describe as… affectionate.
“I have missed you, nephew.” I was stunned, and he took advantage of the moment to pull me into a hug. “You have more personal power, and certainly more will than I gave you credit for. I love you; you know that. And everything I do, I do to try and help you. But… I’ll try to make this right for you, somehow. Even if it means sending away this perfectly eligible leader whose clan we could use the alliance of…”
He pulled back and his face fell. A furrow cracked over his brow and his eyes squinted.
“What? What’s wrong?” I touched my face, sure that he’d seen something peculiar on my skin that had disgusted him.
“You didn’t tell me that you had laid with him.” His voice was barely a hiss, but it cut straight through me like a slap.