Battle Bond: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series (Death Before Dragons Book 2)

by Lindsay Buroker

  The urge to investigate it came to me with startling intensity. I would find something in there. I was sure of it.

  I started to tell Zav that I would be right back, but he was busy trying to disarm that ward. I shouldn’t disturb him.

  I frowned because that thought seemed to come from somewhere else. It wasn’t like me—I had no problem disturbing Zav with my big mouth. But I found myself climbing back onto the walkway without warning him, my feet turning down that side path and toward the alcove and the door.

  My heart thudded in my chest, far faster than made sense given my minimal exertion. It was afraid. And I was too. But for some reason, my feet kept walking, leading me to that open door and the dark chamber beyond. I tried to stop myself—the hand gripping Chopper shook from my effort—but I couldn’t.

  This was similar to the time that Zav’s compulsion had almost driven me to fling myself into that chamber of dark elves in order to get his artifact. Dob was here, and he was using his magic on me. That was the only thing that made sense.

  Even knowing that, I couldn’t break the hold. It was too strong. He was too strong. Chopper’s protection wasn’t enough. Dob was either more powerful than Zav—I’d feared that all along—or Zav had intentionally made his compulsion less strong. Maybe Zav hadn’t been truly trying to get me killed. This guy was another story.

  I entered the lightless chamber. Soundlessly, the door shut behind me. And locked.

  As my treasonous legs took me deep into the dark chamber, farther and farther from Zav, I envisioned myself ending up gouged and disemboweled and strung up next to the goblins. I tightened my grip on Chopper, hoping I could overcome the compulsion for a few seconds when I needed to and attack the bastard.

  Laughter rang in my mind. My hand lifted against my wishes and sheathed Chopper in the back scabbard.

  A yellow light started glowing nearby, gleaming off whitewashed walls. I squinted, pain lancing through my head because the night-vision charm amplified the existing light so much. Thankfully, the charm detected the illumination level and turned itself off. As I blinked at blurry spots in my vision, Dob came into view.

  This time, he wasn’t a dragon. A male elf with flowing silver hair, wearing a green V-neck tunic and loose gray trousers, strolled toward me, a smug smile on his handsome face. Despite the guise, there was no doubt this was Dob. He had the same silver-blue eyes he’d had as a dragon, and that black onyx stone gleamed from the flesh below his collarbones. As my memory had suggested, it didn’t hang on a necklace but appeared embedded. Too bad. Maybe I could have found a way to knock off a necklace.

  Not that I could move a finger. I was rooted to the cement floor, Chopper put away and Fezzik in its holster. My fingers were a scant inch from the gun’s grip, but they might as well have been a mile away.

  Dob stopped in front of me and smirked as he looked me up and down. “He doesn’t know you’re gone.”

  My mouth wouldn’t move to answer him, so I thought my words, figuring he was as telepathic as Zav. How’d you detect me through my charm?

  I have useful trinkets of my own. He touched his throat, then slid his fingers down to the black onyx. This close to him, I sensed a hint of his aura, but I couldn’t sense the stone at all. It had to be what was cloaking him. And unlike some dragons, I’m not too proud to use external assistance to defeat my enemies.

  Dob prowled around me, his gaze probing.

  The first time I’d been in Greemaw’s valley, Zav had done something similar, but Zav’s gaze had been professionally assessing. Dob touched me a few times, and his eyes held sexual interest. He lifted the hem of my duster, checking out my ass, brushing his fingers against me, cupping me. I didn’t let myself shiver in horror or flinch away, not that my body could have moved anyway.

  Apparently, some dragons weren’t so superior that they weren’t interested in having sex with humans. Though I would have much preferred it if Dob didn’t have that interest, especially when I couldn’t do anything to defend myself.

  Frustration boiled up in me, but I couldn’t even grind my teeth. I wasn’t used to feeling helpless. Being hit on, sure, that happened, but I’d always been strong enough and fast enough to handle myself. This gave me a lot of sympathy for all those people who weren’t. And it filled me with rage.

  Dob stopped in front of me again. “Zavryd’nokquetal has claimed you as a mate, yes?”

  No, I thought.

  “No?” He twitched a finger.

  I found I could move my mouth and tongue enough to speak but little more. “He’s made it clear humans are vermin and he’s not interested in me.”

  “No?” Dob’s eyes crinkled with laughter. “I find this difficult to believe. He likes elves just fine, or he did once. I suppose that didn’t end well for him, though he’s still alive, so what is there to complain about? He screwed one of their princesses for a while. Of course, he was cavorting around in elven form then. These days, he’s rounded his ears and put on some more muscle to blend in with the locals. He should have the same urges as any human male while he’s in that form.”

  Why was Dob acting like he had all the time in the world to discuss this with me? Even if my cloaking charm was working against me—if I hadn’t activated it, Zav would have sensed me being pulled away—Zav would eventually glance back, find me missing, and come looking for me. Any second now, he would charge in here.

  Dob leaned in, brushing his knuckles down the side of my face. “I think even an elf would find you worth mounting.”

  I spat at him. Before I could be pleased that my muscles worked well enough to manage the act, my spittle struck some invisible barrier and never hit his face. Damn it.

  “So feisty too. Truly, I do not believe he has not claimed you. I am certain he wants to.” Dob’s fingers drifted down to stroke my breast.

  Such rage filled me that it blurred my vision. First, the panther shifters and now this. What was it, bag a half-elf month?

  “I bet you’re wrong about a lot of things, asshole.”

  His eyes flared with silvery light. Oh, how I wanted to whip out Chopper and slam the blade between them. I willed my arm to move, to let me reach up and grab the hilt. Zav had implied I had power. Why couldn’t I use it for something useful, like braining this murderer?

  Smirking again, Dob lifted his hand and pressed it against my left temple. A new fear charged into my mind. Zav had done that when he’d compelled me to want to get that artifact for him. What would Dob try to make me do?

  “Provide a distraction for me, will you, sexy elfling? I do not know why he brought you here, but since I’m positive he feels something for you, I will use that to my advantage. This will be even better than leaving wounded people in his way for his annoying noble self to heal.”

  Images popped into my mind, images that were not of my own making. I saw myself striding out there and seducing Zav, having sex with him on the walkway while Dob did… Dob did not show me what he planned to do. Bite Zav’s head off while he was in the throes of passion?

  I couldn’t believe this idiot thought that would work. He would have been better off putting me in danger, not that I was going to speak and give him that idea.

  “I will be curious to see if you are telling the truth—it’s interesting that I can’t read any of your thoughts except those you vocalize in your mind to me—or if it’s clear that you and he have rutted like animals before.” Dob tilted his head. “After he’s dead, you’ll come with me. I believe you’ll find this encounter too brief to be satisfying, but I’ll make sure you don’t go away longing.”

  He gripped my shoulder and turned me toward the door. “Ah, but that won’t quite do.”

  He unbuckled Chopper’s harness. Fresh horror filled me. I’d have an even harder time breaking his compulsion without the magical protection the blade lent me. Not that it was helping right now anyway… Asking it to stave off a dragon was too much.

  After Dob pulled off the harness, he tugged off my duster. My
limbs moved enough to let him do so, but they still wouldn’t respond to orders from my own brain. I felt like a doll being manhandled. He dropped the duster on the floor, then surprised me by putting the sword harness back on me.

  “He would be suspicious if you returned without your weapons.”

  Right, because me walking up and kissing him wouldn’t be at all suspicious.

  Dob prowled around to my front again, eyed my chest, and lifted a finger. A long claw—or was that a dragon’s talon?—sprouted from it like a macabre press-on nail for Halloween. He sliced it down the front of my shirt. Not the whole way, but enough to show my bra and the tops of my breasts.

  “I do not get paid enough for this bullshit,” I growled, refusing to show any fear.

  “Ah, that’s enough talking.” He patted my cheek, the claw clipping my ear and drawing blood. “I don’t want you doing anything but kissing that righteous bastard.”

  A warm drop of blood ran down the side of my face. He smiled, leaned in, and licked it off. My stomach roiled. What would happen if it tried to vomit while none of my muscles were working?

  “No clues to let him know you’re anything but the eager concubine he’s been working with all day.”

  At least it was clear Dob hadn’t been spying on us all day. Eager concubines didn’t promise to shove swords in their masters’ butts.

  He circled behind me again, swatted me on the ass, and whispered, “Go to him,” in my ear.

  Where will you be? I wanted to ask it out loud, but as he’d promised, I couldn’t move my lips again.

  Poised to take advantage of his distraction. He chuckled into my mind.

  My legs started moving, taking me toward the locked door. As it unlocked and swung open, I saw bodies wedged behind an equipment console. They hadn’t been visible to me when I’d been walking in. My heart sank even further. They wore the uniforms of the staff. Dob had killed everybody here, aside from the few he’d left alive to distract Zav.

  And I was going out to distract him further. I shouted obscenities in my mind. Zav had warned me this could happen if I didn’t let him put a mental compulsion of his own on me. I’d been too proud to even consider it. Now that choice might get us both killed.

  24

  The door opened, and I walked back into the main room. The cool air stirred gooseflesh on my bare arms and made me wish I’d chosen a sweater to wear under my duster, not a tank top. I couldn’t sense Dob behind me, but then I’d barely sensed his aura when he’d been standing in front of me, shredding my shirt.

  On the other side of the walkway, Zav knelt, a hand on the shoulder of one of two people lying on the floor beneath him. They wore grimy, damp exercise clothes. A puddle and a trail of water showed a spot where the third person might have been hauled up before walking—or running—out. I chose to believe that rather than that the third person had been lost to the current.

  The grate was open—no, Zav had torn it off and tossed it across the water channel—so I could tell nobody was left in the canal. I sensed him using his magic, healing the two men. Had Zav noticed I was gone? He must have.

  He glanced back at me as I approached and frowned. “Where did you go? You shouldn’t have wandered off in here.”

  Wandered off? He thought I’d decided to roam of my own accord?

  One of my usual sarcastic responses rose to mind, but what came out was, “I thought I saw something. I checked on it. I don’t think he’s here anymore.” My tongue felt thick in my mouth, but the words came out sounding normal to my own ears, and my shoulder twitched in a shrug.

  Zav’s first glance had been quick and dismissive, but he looked longer the second time. “What happened to your clothes?”

  His gaze didn’t linger on my chest the way Dob’s had, but even the brief perusal sent a flush of hot desire through me. When his violet eyes met mine, that heat turned molten. My hips swayed as I drew closer.

  As if I ever walked like that. Would my puppeteer move my limbs for me for all of this?

  “I got hot,” I said.

  One of the people sat up, but I barely noticed anything except Zav. A strong carnal desire coursed through me, urging me to get closer, to wrap my body around his.

  Zav? I thought, my mind the only thing I was in control of. Can you hear me?

  He was scrutinizing me, but he didn’t give any indication that he heard the words. Was Dob blocking my thoughts somehow?

  “What’s going on?” the man asked, rubbing his shoulder and staring at me in confusion.

  The guy next to him groaned and rolled to his hands and knees, more out of it than his colleague.

  “You should be healed enough to get out of here now,” Zav told them without looking away from me. “Go the way the woman did and do not look back.”

  His voice rang with power, power that sent a shiver of desire through me, and the two men, though confused, hurried obediently away.

  “Any chance you’re hot?” I smiled and stepped close enough to Zav to rest a hand on his chest. “I’ve never seen you without that robe on, and I’m terribly curious what’s under it.”

  That cheesy line made me want to gag. Zav! I shouted in my mind. Listen to me. Can’t you hear my thoughts? Dob is in the other room. Maybe he’s in here by now, sneaking up behind you.

  “Are you?” He arched an eyebrow and let his gaze dip to my half-bared chest. He slid an arm around my back and pulled me closer, then gazed into my eyes.

  Dob wasn’t right, was he? That Zav was actually attracted to me? It was ridiculous.

  Zav leaned closer, his forehead resting against mine. I see his compulsion on you, he spoke into my mind.

  Thank his scaly ancestors! My hand caressed his chest through his robe. I sure hoped he could tell Dob was making me do that and that I didn’t want this. It was irritating as hell that his gaze and his hand on the small of my back were turning me on. I was going to blame Dob for that, too, not the long, long time I’d gone without male companionship.

  I can break it, Zav added, but as soon as I do, he’ll know.

  Can you hear my thoughts?

  From the way he was peering into my eyes, as if seeking an answer there, I assumed not. Great, how was I supposed to tell him he was in danger right now? I envisioned Dob sneaking around behind him with some giant dragon-slaying weapon. Or would he simply shift into his regular form and snap down with massive fangs and break Zav’s human neck?

  I assume he wants to catch me off guard and take advantage of my distraction. Zav rubbed my back through my thin shirt, fingers trailing up my spine.

  Pretending to be into it, as Dob expected?

  My body responded with embarrassing enthusiasm, and I leaned into him, aroused by the tingle of power washing over me, by his roaming hands, by his gaze locked onto mine.

  I still can’t sense him. Zav lifted his other hand to my face, fingers gentle and caressing where Dob’s had been cold and cruel. Play along for a minute, and we’ll see if I can make him think I’m more distracted than I am.

  Play along? I wished it were a game, that I had control over my body and that I wasn’t doing this, that I wasn’t mashing my breasts to his chest and lifting my lips to his for a kiss achingly full of longing and desire. The raw power that raced over my skin lit my nerves on fire, and I struggled to remember what was going on, to think of the danger and not of his hand on my ass, his lips nibbling at mine. My ragged breaths echoed in my ears between our kisses.

  I hoped Zav believed I was only responding this way because of Dob, that I wasn’t this pathetically into him. That I wasn’t groping him through his robe, wondering where the seam was so I could touch real flesh and lean, sculpted muscle. That I wasn’t pressing against him, tempted to wrap both legs around—

  My brain snapped like a rubber band, and Dob’s influence vanished in an instant.

  Zav whirled away from me, leaped across the canal, and crashed into Dob. He was still in his elven form, and he’d been approaching with a glowing white swo
rd I hadn’t seen. I’d been too busy being horny.

  Snarling, I yanked out Chopper and Fezzik as Zav flung up his hands and Dob was hurled twenty feet. He crashed into a tank hard enough to dent it and tear one of the bolts from the floor. The impact would have broken a man’s back, but Dob bounced off, landed on his feet in a crouch, and pointed his sword at Zav.

  Already chasing after him, Zav dove to the side as a beam of white energy poured forth from the sword. It shot past him, just missing his shoulder, and slammed into the catwalk near me like a missile. The catwalk blew, shrapnel pelting me in the back as I whirled away. Pieces dug through my thin tank top—and my flesh—but I gritted my teeth, refusing to cry out. I would not distract Zav.

  As Zav flung a magical attack at Dob, I took aim with Fezzik. In his dragon form, those special bullets would never pierce his hide, but maybe he would be more vulnerable as an elf.

  All three bullets slammed into his chest, but they bounced off as if they’d hit titanium.

  Dob leered across the water at me. Don’t worry, little elfling. I’m not offended. I’m still going to screw you later.

  I fired again, aiming for his glowing silver-blue eyes. Maybe Nin’s magical rounds would have better luck.

  But an invisible shield protected Dob now. Even my magical bullets bounced off. One slammed into a tank full of liquid, and the stuff dribbled out onto the floor.

  Zav and Dob hurled waves of pure energy at each other at the same time. I sensed the tremendous power even though the attacks were invisible to the eye.

  Zav crouched low, bracing himself as if against a hurricane. The blast of power riffled through his hair and batted at his robe, but it didn’t knock him over. When Zav’s attack struck Dob, it hurled him all the way to the wall. He crashed against the cement, snaps sounding and cracks zigzagging up to the ceiling.

  Dob snarled, shook his head like a dog, elven hair flying, and between one blink and the next changed into his dragon form. He sprang into the air and rushed at Zav, but Zav must have sensed him changing, for he did the same. The black dragon was ready for the silver’s charge.