The Dragon Hunters' Temptation

by Jasmine Wylder

  Hyrr growled but at Jord’s glance, he ducked his head.

  “I… suppose…” Antonio sounded about as happy about it as Hyrr felt. “That might be the best idea after all.”

  Hyrr came forward, scowling. “I’ll do it. But you’d better not puke over my scales.”

  Antonio gave him an affronted look. “I have jumped out of plans more times than I can count. I doubt that riding on the back of a dragon is going to make me sick.”

  “We’ll see,” Hyrr muttered, then started calling his fires forward. He didn’t like leaving Jord behind, but his leader was pressing him hard through the bond. And Hyrr would obey.

  Chapter Nine

  Watn

  Hazel clung to his back. Her warmth and weight against his scales reminded him of why this mission was so important. The bond between him and Jord kept pulsing, reminding him that their leader was injured and therefore vulnerable. It didn’t matter that Hyrr had remained back with him. They were vulnerable, and if more humans found them? Humans that hated dragons? Humans with guns?

  But his first priority was to get Hazel away safe. To get her back to where she would be protected and be able to tell her superiors what happened. Then he could return for Jord and Hyrr, bring them back as well.

  A hard wind blew from the east and Watn adjusted his flight so Hazel wouldn’t get blown off him. Vindr ducked under his belly and came up on his other side to help block the window. Just as Watn sent a pulse of gratitude toward his friend, there was a loud bang; like thunder or the crack of a gun.

  In the next second, white light tinged with red and orange exploded at him. It threw him onto his back, flipping him over. He felt Hazel’s grip tighten, but it was no good. His heart leapt to his throat as his fires roared. Then she was gone. Pain sprang up along his chest and abdomen. He twisted, searching for Hazel. Before he could spot her, there was another explosion, this one right above him. The burning heat tore through the delicate membrane of his wings and he plummeted.

  Terror rushed through him and he let out a cry of fear. His head snapped this way and that—there! Hazel spun through the air, her arms and legs spread wide, her hair whipping around her face.

  The last thing he saw before he plummeted into the trees was Vindr diving for her.

  He hit hard. The bond jangled and skipped, stuttering with his heartbeat. He tasted blood in his mouth and his fires flared, trying to move through his veins and begin the healing. Smoke leaked from the wounds in his torso. Great, sharp plates of metal stuck out through his body. He reached to pluck one out, but his hand shook and he didn’t have the strength.

  Watn growled. If he didn’t get the shrapnel out, his fires would burn away trying to seal wounds that couldn’t be sealed.

  But as he reached to try again, there was another blast. He jerked up—pain lanced through him and everything went dark.

  ***

  Blood dripped from his fingers. It pooled on the ground around him, smelling tangy and bitter.

  Watn stared through the dark spears of trees. Above him, a moon hung in the night sky, bathing everything in a silvery light. It was the sort of night that he liked to lie in a hammock, not sleeping, just meditating on what it meant to be alive, who he was, both as a person and a Hunter, and what he really wanted out of life.

  He no longer felt the pain—that was a bad sign, he knew, but it came as a relief anyway. His mind was oddly centered, oddly clear. He could feel the life draining from his body, felt his fires slowly dim. That somehow didn’t matter. On nights like this, he always knew that one day he was going to die. Everybody died. He wasn’t afraid of dying. He wished it didn’t have to come so soon, but he wasn’t afraid.

  The bond between him and the others pulsed, hot and cold and worry and anger and everything else burning between them. They would have sensed the moment he and Vindr were attacked. The moment the stabbing pain ripped through his body, tore his wings and ended with him laying broken in a heap on the forest floor.

  But he was at peace because he had sensed something coming back through the bond; Vindr and Hazel and made it out of the attack unharmed. So, everything else—who the attackers were, how he had been blasted out of the sky—was inconsequential. Just so long as they had made it away safely. He’d done that much, letting them get away. He could handle death. It wasn’t so frightening…

  The thing that worried him most, he mused, was what the other guys would do once the bond threading him to them had been severed by death. The four of them had been together for so long. They’d shared in so much heartache, so much happiness, so much loss, and so much confusion. It had always been the four of them. It was going to be hard on all of them. Mostly on Hyrr. He might not like talking about his feelings, but in some ways, Watn thought that Hyrr felt them the most keenly of their group.

  He and Hyrr were closer to each other than to the others, too. That wasn’t to say their bond was stronger, just that they had the most similar personalities. It was going to hit Hyrr hard, losing his best friend…

  And Hazel…

  A smile spread over Watn’s lips as he thought about her. She was a spitfire. The most intense woman he’d ever met. Even with her inexperience handling more than one man at once, she had thrown herself into their lovemaking like a pro. It was more than just that she took it all physically, which Watn was honestly surprised she was able to do. Sure, she had complained a bit about being sore afterward but when they tried to apologize, she wasn’t about to let them.

  “It’s a good kind of hurt,” she had said, “I never realized what that meant before but I do now.”

  He loved being with her. He loved watching her take her pleasure from the others. If there was anything he would have changed, it was that Jord would have joined them. Sure, he had prepared her for the rest of them, but in the end… he had missed out. And since he had missed out, they all had. Watn wished that they had been able to be the five of them just once…

  And then a twinge of pain filled him. Not his injuries, the shrapnel still stuck in his body, but because of the years he could have spent with Hazel and the others if it wasn’t for death creeping up on him.

  He would have loved that. To go one year and then two, and then a century and more with her at the center of their group. To watch her belly swell with their children, to grow old with her and the others. The five of them, five elements combining to make an even greater whole. That would have been wonderful.

  I’m not ready to give that up.

  Watn growled softly. He ground his teeth together and pushed himself to his elbows. The pain, which had gone numb from him lying there for so long, came crashing back. White-hot agony poured through him. The darkness swirled away into splashes of white. Sweat beaded on his forehead. A cry burst from his throat.

  But he didn’t let it stop him. His heart beat wildly and his lungs felt oddly flat, but he managed to push himself to his hands and knees. Everything was churning, bits of forest and sky and dark and light. His stomach rebelled and blood spurted from some injury. Then the darkness crashed back into him. He hit the ground and knew no more.

  ***

  When his eyes opened for the second time—at least, he thought it was the second time—there was a cool breeze on his face. He was drenched from head to toe with blood and sweat. The scent of smoke had blown away and his fires were nothing more than a smoldering pile of coals in his belly.

  The bond between him and the others pulsed weakly. Watn’s breath gurgled in his throat as he reached out, trying to hold onto it for as long as he could. He wasn’t alone as long as he could feel that. There was distress in the bond, significant distress. He couldn’t tell if it was all related to him or if something else equally terrible had happened.

  He hoped it was just him.

  Blood trickled down his throat, pooling in his lungs. It hardly mattered. So long as he didn’t try to breathe, he wouldn’t cough. Then the pain wouldn’t come back. It was back to its hideout, the precious numbness returned to h
im at last. The moon was back where it belonged, her silver light dancing through the swaying trees.

  If there was one thing he had left to give to the Hunters, it was that they shouldn’t be afraid to embrace Hazel. That was what it boiled down to, all their previous rules about always sharing a woman, never keeping her more than three months. They all feared that it could never work with the four of them. They all feared that having a mate was simply not in the cards for them. They couldn’t still keep fearing… and they couldn’t deny themselves the warmth that Hazel would bring just because he wasn’t with them.

  As he felt along the bond to each of the other hunters, he tried to press that to them. Tried to give them encouragement to embrace Hazel, to give themselves to her without reservation.

  He thought he felt an answering pulse. His breath gurgled again. A bright, white light fell over his face, and the moon disappeared.

  Chapter Ten

  Vindr

  The thread connecting him to Watn was so frayed that Vindr had to stop and close his eyes to feel it there, beating between them. The faintest of pulses came through it, but he couldn’t tell what Watn was trying to tell him. Whether at this point it was even conscious. He wanted to slam his fist into the wall, but there was no time for that.

  Instead, he reached out behind himself blindly, groping for Hazel’s hand. It slid into his without him having to ask. Her fingers were like ice.

  Vindr brought himself to a stop, turning toward her. The orange light from the distant streetlights bathed her complexion, making her look like an amber statue. He realized it was because she was so pale and pulled her a little closer.

  “We’re going to be alright.” He hadn’t told her about Watn and he wasn’t going to now. Not when she was already so frightened. “As soon as we get back to Byrelmore.”

  After she had been thrown from Watn’s back, Vindr had caught Hazel mid-air. He’d felt the impact of Watn on the forest floor, but also knew what he had to do. He wouldn’t have been able to carry both Watn and Hazel out of there, and Watn wouldn’t want Hazel put in danger for his sake. So, hating himself for leaving Watn behind, Vindr had clutched Hazel to his chest and took off, flying as hard and fast as he could.

  There had been several more explosions, one of which tore a gaping wound in his left wing, but Vindr had gotten them both out of there alive. Now, though… he was too tired to continue flying, especially with his torn wing. They’d landed just outside a large city and were currently creeping through it. Vindr’s plan had been to find some public spot where they could call Indulf and Hazel’s superiors.

  That was before the men in dark sedans started to sweep the streets. Before one of them took a few shots at him and Hazel.

  Hazel gasped and pressed herself to the wall of the alley. Vindr joined her, his heart pounding as he looked the same way she had. But it was just a passing cab. Covered in blood, Vindr somehow doubted that the cab would stop for them.

  “We’re not going to get to Byrelmore like this,” Hazel whispered. She pressed a trembling hand to her face. “We have to call the police.”

  “We can’t.” There was no telling if, like the FBI agents, the police would turn on them. “We just have to keep going. Sooner or later we’ll find a vehicle.”

  “I don’t know how to hotwire a car. Do you?” She gave him a pointed glare.

  Vindr managed a smile at that. “Yeah, actually I do. Jord is good at making sure we have the information we need in case of emergencies. Don’t be afraid, I am going to get you back to safety.”

  Hazel visibly shuddered. “You haven’t mentioned Watn for a while.”

  It took some doing, but Vindr kept himself from flinching. His expression was utterly smooth as he tugged her a little further down the alley, so she could see his face. He hoped that it would make the lie more convincing. Because he had to lie… It was bad enough that his attention was divided, especially with the tension from Jord’s bond, and trying to signal to Hyrr where they were. The last thing he needed was Hazel to be so upset that she couldn’t run if she needed to.

  “Listen.” He put his hands on her shoulders and stared down at her. “Watn is fine. He was hurt a little in the explosions, but he’s survived. You don’t have to be worried about him. Got it? By now Jord is going to be able to fly again, and he’ll be going to get Watn and get him help.”

  Hazel stared at him, hope and disbelief warring on her face.

  He kissed her, as a distraction, then took her hand again and led her from the alley. His heart crashed into his ribs over and over again as they darted across the deserted road and into the hidden doorway of a shop across the street. His hands were starting to shake from exertion. He needed a place to rest, even for a few minutes…

  “Do you have bobby pins?”

  Silently, Hazel pulled a few from her hair and handed them to him. Vindr smiled in relief and straightened them so he could pick the lock. It took a few minutes to accomplish. By the time he was done and was able to usher Hazel in, he felt about ready to collapse. Vindr shut and locked the door behind them, then tugged Hazel to the floor, so they would stay out of sight of the windows.

  Her fingers brushed his wrist. “Are you alright?”

  He gave her a crooked grin. “Don’t worry about me. I just need a little rest and I’ll be back in the air.”

  She nodded slowly. Then, without warning, tears started to pool in her eyes. Vindr blinked, surprised. He stared at her uncertainly for a few minutes as she wiped her eyes with shaking hands. He wanted to comfort her, but why was she even crying? He didn’t know what to do.

  “I'm sorry,” Hazel murmured, turning her face away.

  “Don't be.” Vindr reached out to take her hand in his. She was still ice cold. “I understand you're scared, but I promise I will look after you.”

  “I know.” She shook her head. “That's not why I'm crying.”

  Vindr was silent, staring at her uncertainly.

  Hazel looked up. Her lip trembled and more tears poured over her lower lids. “You lied.”

  “Lied?” he repeated.

  A sob choked her and she pressed a hand over her mouth. More tears. “About… about Watn.”

  Oh. His stomach dropped. Vindr opened his mouth, trying to think of anything he could say to reassure her. Nothing came out. As he slowly came to grips with her knowing everything he was trying to hide, questions poured into his mind. The first and foremost, however, was the one that came out.

  “How do you know?”

  “I can feel it. Here.” She touched her chest. “He's dying. I know he is and there isn't anything I can do to stop it. It's my fault...”

  “No.” He pulled her into his arms as they lay on the floor. It was carpeted and stunk of the many feet that had been walking over it during the day. He hadn’t even bothered to check what sort of store it was. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, wanting to comfort her. “It’s not your fault. Even if you hadn’t asked us to come help protect you, we would have been there in a heartbeat. We care. All of us. Watn might be in rough shape, but he’s tough.”

  The bond between them had stretched to a breaking point, but it was holding. They still had time. They still had hope.

  “Dragons are strong,” Vindr continued, almost more to himself than Hazel at this point. “He’s going to pull through. Just you wait and see.”

  Hazel buried her face in his arms.

  “And even if he doesn’t…” He hated saying the words, but they were necessary to say. “Even if he doesn’t, he would want you to be safe first and foremost.”

  “He needs to be okay,” Hazel sobbed. “I don’t know if…”

  Vindr’s heart lurched.

  “I don’t know if I’d be able to be with any of you… if I’m not able to be with all of you. And if Watn…”

  She trailed off, but her meaning was clear. Vindr’s fires blew low. His heart started to pound and bile crept up his throat. No. No, no, no, no, NO! The thought of losing her… it tore
at his guts just as much as the thought of Watn dying. His lungs locked up as he tried desperately not to imagine what it would be like… Watn dying, leaving just the three of them.

  And then Hazel not being able to stand the sight of them without mourning Watn. Of not being able to comfort her or receive her comfort in return. It was more than he could take.

  “Hazel,” he said. His voice was rough and he swallowed. “Look at me.”

  She shook her head.

  Gently, tenderly, he cupped her face in his hands and turned her toward him. Her face glistened with tears and her nose dribbled. He didn’t care, and kissed her deeply, wanting to give her all the emotion he had to give. His worries. His fears. But at the same time… the sheer determination to get her back to safety. Hazel leaned into the kiss, even as shivers shook her body.

  When Vindr pulled back, he pressed his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. “I know this is terrifying for you. I know you’re worried about Watn and you’re thinking what if he doesn’t make it.”

  Hazel nodded, choking. “I don’t want him to die alone.”

  “He won’t.”

  “But he’s out there all alone, injured.”

  Vindr took her hand and pressed it to his chest. “He’s not alone. That’s what this bond is. None of us are ever alone. Not truly alone. I can feel his pain. I can feel him holding on. I can feel his thoughts… and he’s thinking of you.” The faint pulses that Vindr hadn’t been able to decipher now became clear. “He loves you, Hazel. And so does Jord, and Hyrr… and… and me. I love you.”

  Hazel stared at him uncertainly, even as her fingers pressed deeper into his chest. He could almost feel her emotions, a beaded light stringing them together the way it strung him together with the other Hunters.

  “I love you, too,” she whispered. “All four of you. I want to be able to tell Watn that.”

  Vindr wrapped his arms around her again and concentrated on the bond between him and Watn. He tried to absorb everything that was Hazel; her scent, her red hair, her soft skin, the taste of strawberries; he gently sent it to Watn, threading in the message.