by Abigail Owen
Brand currently sported a massive black eye that had faded to a spectacular shade of green in the half hour she’d been down here. Courtesy of a night patrol, he’d said, then he’d shut up.
“Has Ladon said anything about it?” Arden interrupted her thoughts again.
“About what?” Kasia murmured.
“About the King of the Black Clan coming to visit. During your private dinners, has he said anything?”
Oh, yeah. The last few meetings had focused on King Gorgon’s imminent arrival. Kasia shrugged. “Just that he’d asked for an audience to discuss possible partnerships. I don’t think Ladon trusts him, but you know your brother. He doesn’t really speculate.”
“True.”
Thanks to her meetings with Ladon, she was more than aware that these two weeks under the mountain, while relatively peaceful for her, hadn’t been easy on everyone. Warriors went out in groups of five or more due to the increase in attacks, just as Ladon had predicted.
But who had given Brand the shiner? One of the resentful blue dragons? Or had he been in a skirmish while on patrol?
Kasia shook him out of her thoughts and focused on her moves and her breathing, but it didn’t help. Tension refused to leave her body. Soon, Ladon would expect a final answer from her.
Logically, she knew her answer had to be yes. He’d proven himself to be harsh but fair as a king and surprisingly supportive of her need to be involved. His heart, his purpose, was entirely for his people. She could get on board with that. And, as the true High King, he could finally bring down her parents’ killer.
But her heart and her body were drawn to the rugged, bruised giant in the corner.
At some unseen, unheard signal, the warm-up ended, and the shifters broke into groups.
Arden, the only one who dared to spar with Kasia—the men all spouting crap about not wanting to hurt her—turned to her with a grin. Everyone paired off and went at it.
“What do you want to work on today?” Arden asked.
“Don’t you want to work with one of the men?” Dragons were stronger and faster than she was, which meant Arden had to hold back when they worked out together.
A shake of her head was Arden’s only answer. She flicked her black braid, so like Skylar’s, off her shoulder and brought her hands up.
“Come on, phoenix. Let’s go.”
Before Kasia could agree or bring her hands up, Arden landed a punch, right in the breadbasket.
Kasia doubled over with a muffled oomph and tried not to look like a wuss as she struggled to suck air back into her lungs.
“Keep your guard up,” Arden said, completely unapologetic.
Kasia straightened and jumped back from the next punch. She managed to get her arms up and tapped Arden’s shoulder, though her strike hardly moved the dragon shifter. Then she ducked under Arden’s counterpunch and blocked a kick.
“Good. Faster.”
Kasia gritted her teeth. “I don’t move faster.”
“You can. Anticipate the attack and move.”
They circled each other, both striking and blocking and ducking. Arden was still holding back, but Kasia knew she was getting better. They’d agreed to work on her defensive skills the most, since she’d never be stronger than her opponent. Better to protect herself and maybe surprise them long enough for her to get away.
Even then, her chances were slim. Still, better to be prepared.
Seeing an opening, Kasia maneuvered into a front kick, jab, roundhouse combo and for once, connected hard with Arden’s face.
The men around them stopped as they heard the crack, and blood gushed from Arden’s nose.
Arden held up both hands to her face. “Good shot!”
Before Arden could answer, Reid strode over. “You should’ve gotten the hell out of the way.”
Kasia had to step to the side to see around Reid as his larger form dwarfed her friend’s smaller body.
Arden glared at him over the tops of her hands. “If you’re so worried about me getting hurt, then you train with her,” she snapped.
Reid ignored that comment. “Let me see.”
He tried to tug her wrists, but Arden only smacked his hand away then put hers back to her nose.
He glowered at her. “If it’s broken, you don’t want it healing crooked and messing up that pretty face.”
Something in Arden’s eyes shifted, almost like defeat. She lowered her hands. “Fine.”
Reid took her by the chin, tipping her face this way and that. Thanks to a dragon’s accelerated healing, the bleeding had already stopped. “Looks straight to me,” he finally murmured.
Was it just Kasia, or had the temperature in the room turned up a notch?
Reid let Arden go. “Better have Fallon look at it.”
She pulled her shoulders back. “Kasia and I aren’t done. I’ll go later.”
His jaw worked like he was holding back what he really wanted to say. “Suit yourself.”
As he walked away, rejoining his sparring partner, Arden glared at his back.
“Are you okay?” Kasia stepped up closer to ask.
Like Reid had a moment ago, she got a glare for her trouble. “Don’t you ever worry about your opponent. He or she is the enemy.”
Kasia laughed. “You sure you don’t want me to garner up some phoenix tears and heal that for you?”
Arden gave a bloody grin. “Better. Besides, you’d have to mean it for those crocodile tears to work.”
True.
“You going to tell me the story there?” she asked softly, flicking a glance in Reid’s direction.
Arden shrugged even as she had to drag her gaze away from Reid. “Nothing to tell. Female-born dragons are in a tough position. Too small to fight, at least according to all the big, bad males tromping around here. And sterile, so destined not to mate. Most remain at home, taking care of parents, or helping their brothers’ mates take care of children, but”—Arden visibly shook herself out of her mood—“I refuse to play by the gender rules.”
“Good for you.” Kasia totally understood her friend’s need to prove herself, though her heart broke at the same time. Arden was so obviously in love with Reid. And Kasia’s vision of them together suggested that, in the future at least, he might feel the same.
“Let’s keep going,” Arden said.
Kasia didn’t see the punch Arden shot at her, the attack coming closer to dragon speed than she’d seen yet, but she felt it, felt Arden’s intent before it happened, and sheer instinct took over. Kasia disappeared and reappeared about ten feet back, knocking into Reid.
The shifter swore. “What the fuck?”
He had his hand drawn back to hit before he recognized his “attacker.” Then lowered his hand.
Well, damn. There went that secret. A quick check showed Brand out of his corner, feet planted, hands on his lean hips, with a glare that threatened to singe her from across the room.
“You’ve been holding out on us.” Arden sounded delighted as she rushed over.
“Yes, she has.” Asher joined them. The Beta’s face was arranged in his usual glower, but now she could tell the difference between his resting face and truly pissed.
Kasia sighed and shrugged. “Not really. I’m not good at the teleporting thing. I can go only short distances”—though that was improving—“and I can’t control it well. I usually don’t land in the spot I intended.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Asher demanded, obviously not impressed with her no big deal act.
His tone had her tipping up her chin. “You didn’t ask.”
He glanced across the room at Brand. “Did you know?”
Brand shook his head, jaw tight.
“I didn’t tell him, either.” Kasia mimicked Brand’s posture, putting her hands on her hips, and addressed Asher. “And
the why is self-evident, I would think. Dragon shifters betrayed my family and killed my parents. I spent my entire life running from your kind. Do you think trust comes easily just because you think you’re the good guys? Everyone thinks they’re the good guys. Even the bad guys.”
Several of the dragons around her growled, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught Brand moving, making his way to her.
But Asher merely cocked his head. “You don’t think we’re the good guys?”
The fight went out of her, and she dropped her hands to her sides. “You might be when it comes to dragons, but you’re all still myopically focused on yourselves. You don’t let anyone in. No one but dragons is worthy, and even then, only your clan. You think I don’t see that in your faces? In the way you all avoid me?”
More of the warriors had gathered around her, but Kasia didn’t stop. She was on a roll now.
She flung her arm at Brand. “Hell, you don’t even let one of your own in when he’s proved himself and your king has recognized him. And why? Because he isn’t born of your clan? Because he was rogue? If I were you, I’d want someone with those survival skills on my side.”
Brand’s lips went flat, and he shook his head at her. She got the message. Don’t bring me into this.
So she brought it back to her. “Other than what I could potentially bring you as the phoenix, have any of you, other than Arden, bothered to get to know me as a person? Perhaps I have something to contribute, beyond luck. Maybe you should make sure I want to save your precious clan, rather than expecting me to.”
She took a breath to deliver another set of home truths and gasped.
With no warning, pain started at the back of her neck and rushed down her spine arrowing out to the rest of her. Dammit.
But I can still see. What the hell?
“You’re right,” Asher said.
That caught her attention. “I am?”
“Yes—”
Before he could go on, another slash of shuddering agony poured through her. Kasia bit down on her lip so hard, attempting to hold in a moan, that she drew blood. She put her hands on her knees, bent over and breathing in and out as the sensations lanced through her.
“Kas? You okay?” She registered Arden’s concern but didn’t answer.
As the moment ebbed, she raised her head, seeking the one person who knew what was coming. Brand no longer stood among the men with his arms crossed. Tightening at the corner of his mouth was the only indication that he might have felt the pain, too. He watched her with the same intentness he’d shown when they’d made love.
As if in direct response to that hot gaze, a burst of pure need washed through her, swamping the pain, swirling with it inside her. At the same time, everything went dark, leaving her vulnerable in a room full of dragon shifters.
“Brand,” she whispered. Then with a groan she couldn’t keep contained, Kasia fell to her knees.
She was vaguely aware of Arden’s urgent voice calling her name before strong arms wrapped around her middle, pulling her against a hard chest.
“Breathe, princess. I’ve got you.” The words, murmured against her ear, had her shivering, and the painful edge eased.
Brand wrapped his wings around them, accompanied by that feeling of being folded into a world of their own making. Ostensibly, he’d done it to contain her explosion, but maybe also to hide the fact he had to touch the king’s future mate from the prying eyes of Ladon’s warriors.
Brand kissed her neck, and that simple touch set her off. She opened her mouth, but before a sound passed her lips, fire erupted from inside her and shattered outward. Kasia’s head slammed back against Brand’s shoulder, and a scream followed the flames out of her throat.
“Holy shit,” Brand swore.
All she could hear was the rush of the blaze all around her. Then the vision took over—the images moving too fast for her to see everything, a blur before her eyes that hurt her head more, only a few scenes pausing long enough to recognize anything.
Arden screaming.
Brand yelling something before running out onto her balcony and shifting.
The flash of golden scales stained with blood coming out of one of the royal suites inside the blue dragon city of Ben Nevis.
Chante meeting with men she didn’t recognize. Men with golden eyes.
A gray sky filled with gold and green dragons.
A massive black dog, limping over a mountainside, trailing blood behind an injured leg.
Kasia came back into her body feeling like she’d dropped ten stories to land with a thud. Brand, meanwhile, had buried his face in her neck as he waited out the storm, murmuring meaningless words meant to soothe. Her body vibrated with the need to turn in his arms, but shifters waited for them outside the cocoon of his wings.
Unfortunately, or perhaps for the best, a familiar lethargy seeped through her bones and muscles. Her tank—how she’d started picturing the reserves of her powers—was down to fumes after that one.
Brand leaned back to search her face, his gaze almost concerned. “All right?” The most words he’d said to her in two weeks.
“Ouch,” she croaked around her charred throat.
“That was…forceful.”
She put a hand to her head. “I…”
“Need to see the king?”
There went reality, butting its ugly head in again. An unaccustomed heat surged into her cheeks. Hopefully the darker light cast by his wings and the lingering smoke from her flames hid that from him.
His gaze dropped from her eyes to her mouth and lingered.
“Just one taste. One kiss. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Kasia sucked in a sharp breath. Was that his thought or hers? She was pretty damn sure that had been Brand’s voice just then, and granted, he was partially dragon at the moment, but no way would he have projected that particular thought on purpose. How had she heard that?
“Brand.” Ladon’s voice cracked through the room like the blast from a shotgun.
Inside their little bubble, Kasia jumped, and Brand’s arms tightened around her, even as his expression spasmed with guilt.
Brand loosened his grip and folded back his wings. The smoke drifted away on the soft breeze blowing in from the opening to the outside. The sight that greeted them was chaos. Warriors weren’t gathered around them waiting to see what the hell happened to the phoenix. Instead, they were scattering, purpose etched into the serious lines of their faces, their moves efficient as some shifted and flew outside and others headed back toward the cavern with the concourse of shops and apartments to usher people to safety.
Oh my god. Did my vision about the green and gold dragons already begin? Other than the wolves, nothing had come to happen that fast before.
Ladon pointed to the door that led back to the residence. “Get Kasia out of here,” he yelled at Brand. “Arden, go with them.”
“I’m coming with you,” Arden called after her brother. She was already starting her shift.
Kasia’s soon-to-be-mate ignored his sister. He sprinted to the edge of the cave and leaped into the air, his body plummeting out of sight. Kasia barely squeaked her shock before a sleek dragon a striking shade of indigo shot upward. Arden, Asher, Reid, and several other warriors followed behind.
Brand, still holding her, jumped to his feet and ran the opposite direction, while at the same time, a heavy metal barricade lowered over the entrance to the cave, shutting out the light. She bobbed up and down as he sprinted through a tunnel that would take them the long way to the residential halls, but avoid the main thoroughfare of the city.
Kasia pushed at his shoulders ineffectually. “Put me down.”
His grip didn’t budge, and he kept going.
“I can run on my own,” she insisted.
However, the exhaustion from her vision was alrea
dy starting to ooze through her body, belying her words.
She stopped struggling and crossed her arms. They made it back to her room in record time. Meanwhile, he’d kept his wings partially shifted, folded behind his back.
“Can you hear them?” she asked.
He moved to the window, peeping through a slit in the curtain. “Yes.”
“What’s happening? Is it Pytheios? Uther?”
“No.”
“A different dragon clan?”
“No. It’s not dragons.”
Something else? They wouldn’t be protecting her like this if they didn’t think a threat was real. Dread dropped a chunk of ice into the center of the frustration that had been heating her up till this moment. But that one vision of the injured animal…
“Is it a dog?” she asked slowly, afraid of the answer.
Brand whipped his head around, and his gaze snapped down to her. “What did you see?”
That answered that. Panic made her frantic as she pushed against him trying to get to the balcony. “Get me out there. Now.”
Brand’s jaw went so hard, she was surprised his teeth weren’t cracking. “No.”
Kasia struggled against him in earnest, kicking and flailing and twisting, trying to reach the door. “You don’t understand. I have to get out there.”
Brand grunted as he took a knee to the gut. “Stop it.”
“I said… Let. Me. Go.” She managed to twist to face him and slammed both hands into his chest.
A blast of fire spewed from her palms, giving her shove an extra kiloton of oomph. Her head rang as she flew through the air in a mass of twisted limbs before she hit a rock wall with a painful crack. She dropped to the ground with an equally painful thud.
Kasia shook the stars from her eyes as she forced herself to stay lucid. Holy shit. That was new. Both she and Brand ended up on the ground separated by about twenty feet of her room. But she didn’t have time to think about it. She had to get outside.
She jumped to her feet and sprinted for the balcony. Despite having nothing left in the tank, especially after that blast of fire, she’d try to teleport herself down there and hope she didn’t misjudge the distance and miss one of the dragon perches on the way down.
