One of them gestured toward me. I spun on my heel and joined a different line just before a family of 5s nearly swallowed me. Somehow I went through the process of purchasing my ticket and then escaping toward the crowd moving toward the terminal that would lead to Turin.
I was almost there when I was grabbed by the arm. I whirled to meet fiery orange eyes. Dragon! An 8 blazed above his head as he yanked me close. I opened my mouth to call for help, anything to cause a scene that would let me slip away. Then, there was movement to my right. There was a sting on my neck and I choked as my voice vanished. And, then, I was pulled away from the wall and back into the crowd.
My body was numb, and I couldn’t speak a word or make a sound. The dragon kept hold of me, forcing me to walk. I was trapped inside my own body, walking through the bustling station, framed on either side by a man. And, no one noticed a thing. They moved around us without ever noticing that I was trapped and being held against my will. I couldn’t cry out for help as I was marched toward a different terminal and then into a train compartment. I had already been rendered speechless by the drug they’d administered or I would have scoffed when the second man took a hood out of his jacket. He slipped it over my head blocking out all light and sound.
* * *
Mathias
My head jerked to the left as a sharp sting bit into my right cheek. Opening my eyes, I blearily looked around. Khalid stood over me, his arm drawn back for another strike. I hit the floor with his next strike, still feeling sluggish from something . . . The cheating blackguards had drugged me again.
The chains didn’t tighten around my chest . . . I placed my hand flat against the floor and pushed myself upright once more. I stared uncomprehendingly at the manacles around my wrists and the lengths of chain before I looked at Khalid. The dragon’s scarred visage only enhanced his sneer as he hissed, “Pathetic and weak. Just as I always said.”
“Are you still sore about the time I stopped you from killing that entire village?” I mumbled.
His eyes flashed to fiery orange and a hint of scales rippled across his throat. “They were the enemy.”
“The enemy was a specific war lord and his guard. The rest, they were women, children, and elders too old to stand against warriors. They were innocents.”
“No one is truly innocent,” Khalid retorted, “and you left me in the hands of the dragon king’s soldiers.”
“After you refused to listen when I told you to pull back,” I mumbled, still struggling to clear the fog from my thoughts. “You were in the middle of a killing spree. You deserved to face justice.”
Khalid’s smirk was almost sinister as he grabbed a fistful of hair and yanked my head back before asking, “Is that how you feel? Now she is lost to you?”
I stared at him, mind struggling to follow his words. We had been discussing the past. Now, however, he was discussing . . . Lauren . . . My lungs squeezed together as though they had forgotten how to function as a voice in the back of my head screamed a denial. Somehow I managed to breathe a single word. “Liar.”
The dragon bared his teeth in a vicious mockery of a smile. “Tell yourself that all you want, Mathias. It won’t change that the woman and the spawn she carried are dead because you didn’t run when you had the chance.”
I roared as I scrambled to my feet, trying to bring my hands up. The chains rattled and then yanked taut just before I could wrap my hands around the dragon’s throat. I strained against them while Khalid laughed. Then he punched me in the gut followed by a blow to my jaw, the force knocking me back to the ground.
“I would give anything to unlock those chains and have a proper fight with you, Myrmidon,” he hissed, dropping into a crouch in front of me. Speaking above my strained groans, his gaze glinted with a mix of fire and the eagerness of a predator. “Unfortunately, Soslan has decided to keep you alive for a little while longer. The moment he decides you are no longer worth keeping, however, I will be the first in line to carry out your execution.”
Giving my head a little shake, I eyed Khalid as I gathered my hands beneath me. “I’m honored, I suppose. I hear the line for people wanting my head could be quite long. Or unflatteringly short if you’re at the head of it.”
Then, before the dragon could react, I lunged at him. He was too close for the chains to hold me back this time. I let out a hoarse yell as I tackled him and then started punching him about the head and face. Shock must have slowed his reaction since I landed a good three or four blows before he roared, the sound vibrating through the room. Then he swiped at me, knocking me off. I let out another shout just as he slammed his shoulder into my stomach, lifting my feet off the floor and slamming me against the back wall.
Air rushed from my lungs with the force of the strike, but I ignored the discomfort. Instead, I gathered the chain into a loose hold and then beat him across his back and shoulders with it. Struggling for leverage as he dug his claws into my side and upper thigh, I managed to brace a foot against his leg. I struck him across the shoulders with the looped chain and at the same time I shoved with all my might against his leg, sending Khalid stumbling back. His hands had shifted so they were covered with scales and tipped with claws that now dripped blood. More scales coated his throat though he hadn’t fully shifted and his teeth looked sharper as he bared them.
He started toward me only to stop as a voice snapped, “Enough!”
Khalid halted and slowly lowered his bloodied claws as he turned to face the new intruder. If he had stopped a little closer to me, I would have throttled him. All desire to strangle the dragon I suspected had killed Lauren faded when I caught sight of the visitor. A tall man, a scant inch shorter than my own six foot two, with dark olive skin and carefully groomed curly brown hair touched with wings of grey stepped inside followed by three other people. But my attention was riveted to the man alone as ice crashed through my veins, layering my view. Guilty. Of such heinous crimes that guilt seemed to form a dripping miasma around him. He was the guilty one, the one whose crimes against innocents demanded his blood shed for true untampered justice. This was the one truly responsible for what had happened. Soslan the Nephilim, a proud and foolish name, and one that wouldn’t keep me from tearing him apart if he came close enough.
Soslan’s light brown eyes considered me for a moment before he turned a frown on Khalid. “I told you to watch him and to begin questioning him. I did not give you permission to maul him as of yet.”
“No, my lord. However, he attacked me and I was forced to defend myself,” Khalid said with only a hint of breathlessness to his words. “As you see, I haven’t touched his vocal cords. He can still answer questions.”
“Ah but you have interfered with his willingness to do so,” Soslan murmured as he paced a little closer. Then, he waved to one of his lackeys. The man raised a small gun and shot me.
I flinched as the dart struck just below my collarbone and then I felt my body shutting down despite the icy desire for vengeance and justice. To extract the price of a life from Soslan’s filthy pelt. My legs gave out first and I sank to the ground, unable to stay upright or raise my arms while Soslan paced closer. “This drug won’t knock you out, my stubborn friend. It merely immobilizes you although you can still speak. Perhaps, there is something you would like to say?”
I cursed him and his ancestors for the crime of having him.
Soslan smirked. “Creative although admittedly that wasn’t quite what I was hoping to hear.”
“You get nothing from me,” I rasped as I slouched back against the wall.
“They always say that,” Soslan mused and nudged my knee with the toe of his shoe. I couldn’t react even to tense or flinch away from the touch. A cruel smile curved his thin lips as he added lightly, “Yet, I always get something out of them. I fear, Mathias, that you will be no different than the rest. Although, perhaps, we can loosen your tongue with a reminder of how much Weard prides itself about knowing its employees. Can only trust the men we know, wasn’t it?”<
br />
There was movement behind and then Khalid stalked over to the other two hunters. He reached between them and hauled a woman forward, not caring that she nearly tripped in her bright pink heels from the force he used. She wasn’t someone I knew, and I would have remembered her. She was short, around Lauren’s height of just over five feet without the heels, and curvy. She wore a dress covered in splashes of vibrant pink and had a white daisy tucked behind her right ear, which stood out all the more with her long bubblegum pink hair. I most definitely would have remembered crossing paths with her before now.
Soslan clicked his tongue and admonished in a long suffering tone, “Gently, Khalid. I grow tired of having to summon healers for weak but useful paranormals simply because you shifters are not exerting any sort of control over your brutishness. Now, Miss Robb, would you be so kind as to share Weard’s information about the man known as Mathias?”
Robb . . . I was fairly certain I knew the name, but it was too foggy. And to be honest, I didn’t care. Not with Lauren . . . gone.
Miss Robb’s wide eyes only grew in size as she looked from the hunters around her to me and then finally to Soslan. Her voice was breathy when she finally stuttered out, “S-Sir, it’s not that I don’t want to help you. It’s just that, well, isn’t he the Mathias, the hunter who has completed every hunt he’s ever been assigned? W-why do you need him in, uh, chains? That is, I mean, w-why do you need m-me again, Sir?”
I watched helpless as Khalid drew his still shifted hand back to strike the woman. Yet, the thought of seeing another weaker paranormal injured out of spite turned my stomach. It was not just. I rasped, “Leave her alone.”
Soslan raised a hand and Khalid paused mid-strike as his master clicked his tongue once more, sounding almost congenial. “Let’s not be hasty, Khalid. Defiance is punished of course. However, there are times when those who do not understand should voice their confusion and so be presented with an opportunity for correction.” His voice softened dangerously as he approached the woman and added, “You weren’t attempting to defy me, were you, Didi?”
The color drained out of her face, leaving her pink lipstick stark against her skin. Her brown eyes darted from him to Khalid and then finally to me. The air of prey rolled off her to such an extent it was a miracle none of the shifters were attacking. “I . . . I . . . N-no. No, sir, I would never defy my boss. I just didn’t understand w-why you need me. I’m just a Lore keeper, that is, and really I don’t know why I am here,” her voice grew smaller as she trailed off.
Soslan showed a mouthful of teeth as he took Didi by the hand and led her closer to me. She shuddered when he brushed her long hair back behind her shoulder and then dropped his free hand to the small of her back. He leaned in close, his eyes on me, while he replied, “I had you summoned because you are the living memory of our Fugitive Task Force unit. You collect, present, and retain information on every fugitive who has ever crossed your desk. Isn’t that so?”
She was still pale and trembling as she darted a glance at him and then turned to me as she nodded. “Y-yes, sir.”
“And, you were so very helpful in Florida a few months ago, bringing us new intel about Argus Security’s personnel not to mention the security protocols surrounding the embassies in Saint Augustine.” Somehow she blanched further at the mention of Argus Security or was it the security protocols . . . I couldn’t be certain, not with the cloying fog covering my thoughts. Soslan either didn’t notice or, most likely, didn’t care as he continued, “You are a very talented Lore keeper, very valuable to me, and now I want you to put that formidable mind of yours to work on this man. He’s not a hunter anymore. He betrayed us all and he is a captured fugitive, which means you will now learn everything you can about him.”
Her voice sounded faint and shaky as she licked her lips. Her eyes flicked between Soslan and myself before she managed to speak again. “Sir, I’m . . . I’m not an investigator. I’m the Lore keeper, I provide background and technical support to our field operatives, but I don’t . . . interview fugitives post-capture.”
Soslan tightened his grip on her hand and wrapped his other arm around her shoulders, squeezing her close. His voice remained low and soft, a stalking predator closing in on the kill. “Didi Robb, you will make yourself useful to me and interview this man or there will be consequences. Khalid enjoys handing out consequences even more than Reubens, and I hear you had a few run ins with Reubens.”
She stiffened at the mention of Reubens and then whimpered. “Understood, sir. I can interview him.” She squirmed, fingertips turning purple beneath white and pink striped nails as he continued squeezing her hand. She drew in a sharp breath. “Sir, please!”
“Let her go!” I snapped.
Soslan held her tight for another long moment before he abruptly released her. He made a show of straightening his suit jacket and adjusting his tie. Then, he offered a thin smile. “There now. We are all on the same page and everyone understands their appointed role.”
Didi’s wide gaze fell on me, and she cleared her throat while shifting her weight. “Shouldn’t he have a healer come tend him? He’s bleeding everywhere.”
“Slowly,” Khalid intoned with a vicious grin as he held up a bloodied claw.
Soslan clicked his tongue, a sound that made me want to rip the blasted thing from his mouth, and then heaved an aggrieved sigh. “I thought I told you to stop poisoning your claws. It kills them too quickly.”
“This one won’t kill him for a day or two. It will slowly eat him alive from the inside,” the dragon responded with an annoying amount of pride. His eyes gleamed at the thought of my slow death.
I would rather they killed me now. I wouldn’t be separated from Lauren. Closing my eyes, I reached for the ice beneath the fog and paralysis. I needed the cold. I needed the benefit of a frozen heart over the weakness caused by a bleeding one. I didn’t deserve the reprieve from pain and guilt, but how I craved even a temporary respite from the weight of my failure.
“Your name is Wynn Mathias.”
My eyes snapped open at the intrusive sound.
Didi Robb stood a few feet away, Khalid and Soslan even further back despite the small size of the holding cell. Despite their presence, I found myself focused on the woman in splashes of pink. She took a deep breath before she continued in almost a torrent of words, “You’ve gone by Mathias as long as you’ve been with Weard citing your past in the military. You served two stints before being recruited, and then another four stints of active duty combined with your work for Weard. You were read into Weard Enterprises by Royal Carith, British dragon, first cousin to the Carith and Krall twins out of Jackson, Mississippi. He vouched for you until two days after you vanished with the subject of your last hunt. Then, he was found to be guilty of in-company espionage by aiding and abetting in the escape of a wanted fugitive from Weard. He fled the States before you did and vanished, suspected to have been helped by his clan. You were raised British but your paranormal species was unknown, speculated to be one of the Unseelie Fae with your aptitude for the hunt and killing the fugitives too dangerous to take alive. You are fluent in ten languages for both norm and paranormal. Your aptitude tests were off the charts for hand to hand combat, knife fighting, and sword fighting. You also tested extremely well as a sniper, but that wasn’t your area of expertise. You have contacts among the dragons and some of the Fae, but no known friends or family beyond Royal Carith. Known safe houses include London, Edinburgh, New York, Paris, and Lisbon. Others unconfirmed include the Cayman Islands, the Bermuda Triangle, Texas, possibly Mississippi due to your association with Royal Carith, and Greece.”
She stopped abruptly, chest heaving, and then she turned to face Khalid and Soslan once more. Her hands twisted together before she plucked at a charm bracelet on her left wrist. Her voice was small when she spoke again. “That’s all we know about him. It’s not much compared to what’s known about other hunters at Weard. The only thing new is your information that he’s Myrmid
on.”
Soslan offered another thin smile. “That shall change shortly, my dear.” His gaze fixed on me and hardened perceptibly. “Mathias, you have two hours to give Miss Robb every scrap of information about your time on the run with Lauren Hope. If you do not cooperate . . .” He trailed off and then shrugged, “Suffice it to say that there will be grave consequences for your defiance.”
* * *
Chapter Four
Mathias
I walked into the bedroom of the safe house and dropped our go bag on the end of the bed before hurrying back into the main room. Lauren was pulling off her head shawl, slowly folding it as she looked around. There wasn’t much to this safe house, but I had kept it stocked due to its location in the Mediterranean.
Stopping in front of her, I carefully caught her face between my hands and guided her to look up. I searched her dark eyes for any hint that she wasn’t feeling well. She looked a little peaky beneath her creamy tan complexion. “All right, love?”
The smile that curved her lips eased some of my tension even before she answered. “I’m fine. Just a little tired.”
I touched my lips to her forehead and then wrapped her in a hug. “I noticed you didn’t sleep much on the way here.” Pulling back, I smiled as I unzipped her jacket and then slipped it off her shoulders. I dropped it on the couch behind her. “There, now the little stowaway can breathe too. Take your boots off. I’ll make you some tea. Ginger or mint?”
Lauren just shook her head, still smiling. “I can’t believe you’re still calling the baby a stowaway.”
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