Dragon Oracle Urban Fantasy Boxed Set (Dragon Oracle Complete Series: Books 1 - 9)

by Jada Fisher

  He let out a shuddering breath, closing his eyes for a moment as he drew in deeply through his nose then out through his mouth. Without thinking, my hands went to his waist, holding him there, my thumbs stroking along his ribs to hopefully give him some sort of comfort.

  “I know that times are getting more and more dangerous, but I need you to promise me to be careful. Not to be reckless. So often you seem to treat yourself like some sort of acceptable price to pay for our safety, but you’re not. Do you understand that? Your purpose isn’t to be some grand sacrifice.”

  I chewed at my lip, wanting to argue with him but knowing that I had no right considering that I had already literally sacrificed my life for all of them. At that point, I had been so sure that it was the only way, and I was still pretty certain. But maybe…maybe some of the other things I had done had alternate routes. Maybe I didn’t need to drown myself in a tub. Maybe I didn’t need to race ahead of the dragons in a jeep to get to the city.

  Maybe I could tap into my seer-ness a bit more from time to time for visions and guidance rather than just using it as some on-call mega cannon that I used for whatever ridiculous task I wanted of it.

  “Okay,” I whispered eventually. “No more recklessness. I can’t promise I’ll be safe, but I’ll be careful.”

  He let out the faintest of chuckles, tipping my head up toward his. “I look forward to the day when the most exciting thing we have to worry about is if Mal is going to set another toaster on fire.”

  “She really doesn’t seem to understand how they work, does she?” I answered back shakily, my vision full of Bronn’s face.

  And then he was kissing me again. Sweet and gentle and full of so much that it was hard to process. He was scared, that much was clear. I couldn’t imagine what it was like to be him. To have feelings for a girl who he’d had to watch die. For a girl who was at the center of a fight between his people and his cousin’s people. At least the guy I was into could burst into a giant dragon whenever he was in danger.

  I closed my eyes and sank into his hold, letting myself seize the comfort of the moment. The elation that came from physical touch with someone I cherished. With someone who had been through hell and back with me. And when the kiss ended, we still held each other, rocking slightly from foot to foot, bathed in the slight light of a half-moon and all the stars around it.

  The quiet felt like another world, another realm. Like I had whisked us away to somewhere with no war or prejudice or terrible things about to happen.

  If only the feeling could last. But as the minutes ticked by, we both knew we needed to rest. We had an intense, uncomfortable, and most likely painful plan to put into action, and it wasn’t certain that we all would make it through to the other side.

  So, hand in hand, we silently went back inside, to what could be our last night all together. But as he dropped me off at my room, pressing one more kiss to my forehead, I just kept repeating the mantra over and over again.

  Calculated risk, not reckless.

  7

  Good Plans Laid to Waste

  Suddenly, hands grabbed me, yanking me out of bed and throwing me over a shoulder before I could so much as blink. I tried to let out a cry, but a thick wad of fabric was shoved into my mouth none-too-gently and then we were already moving.

  I looked around wildly, my vision trying to clear. It was still the dead of night, the lights in the house all turned low and almost everyone silent in their sleep.

  A surge of adrenaline hit me, and finally things started to come into focus in sharp relief. It had been a full day since my promise to Bronn. We had been busy with putting the last steps of our plan into motion and making sure we had dotted all our ‘i’s and crossed all our ‘t’s. I felt like my head had just barely hit the pillow and yet obviously at least a couple of hours had passed.

  I kicked out and tried to shout something into the gag, but all that came out was a muffled whine. I looked around wildly for the guards, only to find that we were taking a narrow way down to the ground floor, one I wasn’t familiar with. A servant’s hall, maybe? Why didn’t we have guards in the servant’s hall?

  I didn’t know, and that felt like something a seer should know. Shifting as wildly as I could, I tried to take in my surroundings, to see if there was someone I could latch onto for help.

  But there weren’t any familiar faces. In fact, aside from the four men that had ripped me from my room, I only saw a couple of the help, who scampered right back into the shadows once I spotted them.

  Why weren’t they helping? Were they too scared? Did they think I was being taken away on orders of the prince? Or were they… Were they infiltrators just like Baelfyre had been?

  “Would you stop wiggling?” the man holding me hissed, his fingers biting into my sides to secure a better grip. Naturally, I didn’t listen, but that didn’t stop me from still getting carted down a set of stairs and out into the night.

  I made another panicked sound, trying to get any sort of volume out, but it was all caught up in my gag. Panic truly started to kick in, so I thrashed with all I had.

  Once more, my weight and solidness worked to my advantage and I was able to buck out of his grip. But unfortunately, that meant I slammed into the ground with considerable force, knocking the air completely out of my lungs.

  I groaned, but the barely audible sound didn’t make it very far, drowned out by all the cursing of the men over me.

  “Would you be careful? He won’t want her all marked up before she even gets there.”

  “She’s heavy! You try holding her!”

  “You’re a dragon. She’s basically a human. Pathetic.”

  I could feel the tension mounting between the two, and I was all ready to use that to my advantage and slip away, but a foot landed on my middle, pinning me to the ground, and I heard the sound of hands hitting something solid above me.

  “Morons. Just open the door and help me get her into the car.”

  The foot let up and I tried to launch myself to my knees, only to have hands grip my arms again, hauling me up and practically throwing me forward.

  I found myself sliding across a seat, definitely giving myself a friction burn on my cheek and belly where my camisole had scrunched up. I tried to reach forward for the door handle in front of me, planning to just tumble out the other side of the car, but then someone grabbed my hand and yanked it behind my back.

  My other hand soon joined it and I felt them being bound behind me, my shoulders pulled tight from the tension. My legs were shoved forward, slamming my head into the other door, and then I heard the one I was shoved through slammed shut behind me.

  I tried to sit up, pushing myself to my knees, but then the front doors were opening and closing, and we were taking off.

  The sheer force of it had me slamming into the back of the front seats and then I slid awkwardly into the footwell, my hands pinned so that one of my legs and hip was in the well while the other half of me was leaning awkwardly into the cushions, barely able to breathe.

  I couldn’t believe it. After everything I had gone through, I was being kidnapped. Regular, old-fashioned kidnapped.

  How embarrassing.

  Closing my eyes, I tried to call a shield around myself, or maybe around the back half of the car. Like I could root it to the earth and make the front half take off on its own. But every time I almost had a hand on the energy within me, we’d hit a pothole or some other road debris, and I would be jolted or slammed into something, so I’d have to start all over again.

  We were going fast. Real fast. Which had to mean highway. But almost all the highways had been damaged in the fight, including the bridge that I had stood on to create the city’s shield.

  I kept my eyes closed, just trying to pay attention to the motions. I wasn’t sure how that could help me, but I needed to do something to be proactive.

  And then it happened. One minute, we were racing along, and the next, we went even faster, until suddenly, I could feel that all
four of our wheels were off the ground.

  Oh.

  Oh no.

  I remembered acutely what it was like to get air in a car, and also the corresponding part where we would slam back into the gr—

  We hit and hit hard. I bounced up, definitely getting whiplash, before crashing right back down. I bounced a few times, my entire body protesting, until finally the inertia got a little bit of chill and I came to a stop on the seat.

  At least I wasn’t stuck in the well anymore.

  But I also knew exactly where we were going. If we were leaping over that gap in the bridge, it meant we were leaving the city. And if we left the city…

  I shuddered at the thought, nausea rising. I had never had car sickness before, but I was pretty sure that I was suddenly developing it. Thankfully, I didn’t have time to end up actually ralphing, because we slammed to a stop and then I was being hauled out of the car.

  My head was spinning, and my legs kept on crossing in front of each other, I was so mixed up from being tossed around the back seat like a sack of potatoes. The two people holding me basically had to drag me, I was such a mess, but I didn’t care that I was making it difficult for them.

  Mostly because I could feel exactly how close we were to the edge of the shield, and I knew I did not want to cross that line.

  “Huh, I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself. You actually got her.”

  I knew that voice, and it was enough to make me shake the sense back into my head. Vision straightening, I looked up to see Baelfyre and a group of other men all surrounding him just outside of my shield.

  “Do me a favor and take that gag from her mouth. She is so entertaining when she gets a bit mouthy.”

  The piece of cloth was untied from behind my head then ripped from my mouth. Drool dribbled down my chin, my hands still bound and unable to wipe it away. I knew I was a mess, lips swollen, chin slick with spittle and eyes probably red from everything that had happened, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to cower in front of the jerk, no matter how bound or vulnerable I was.

  “Of course it’s you,” I hissed, teeth bared.

  He laughed, and it was that same smarmy sound that made me want to turn him inside out and shake him around in a pile of salt then dunk him in vinegar. “I wish I could take credit for this, but it’s actually your side that reached out to me, wanting to make good on that deal we offered and your little princeling so foolishly refused.”

  “And that deal holds true, right?” the calm one of the kidnappers asked. “We give you this oracle, you give us time to go back to the old country. Rejoin our forces there.”

  “Yes, yes, we will maintain our side of the bargain. After all, everyone knows a promise over a seer is a binding one.” He chuckled again. “You know, I was so certain that this was a trap. That my cousin would suddenly burst from the trees and try to rain chaos down on us for daring to threaten his precious little pet. But it’s really just you here, isn’t it?”

  “He’s going to find me,” I hissed, trying to jerk out of the hands holding me but having no luck. “You have to know that. There’s no way you’re getting away with this.”

  “I don’t know, sweetheart. We’ve gotten you this far, haven’t we? Now, hand her over gentleman, and we can all go about our days and enjoy the temporary peace you have purchased your entire clan.”

  The two holding me shuffled closer to the shield, and I fought them with all I had. I kicked, I threw myself backward, I dug my heels in. I screamed, as long and as loud as my sore throat would let me.

  But it was like being dragged toward the inevitable. Bit by bit, the ground between us faded until finally, with one strong shove, I was through the shield and into the arms of two more dragons—of the anti-humanist variety.

  “Huh, it really seems like I’ll be eating crow when I next see our prince.” Baelfyre approached me. “But I think it’ll be worth it just to see the two of you meet. He has heard so much about you, darling.”

  He winked at me—because of course he would—then snapped his fingers. The next thing I knew, I was shoved to the ground and trussed up like a hog. My ankles were bound together, and my wrists were attached to that same bond. My face was pressed into the dirt, so I couldn’t see a thing, but I could hear the now-familiar sounds of dragons shifting all around me.

  A few moments later, large claws wrapped around my form, not seeming to care if they scratched me as they secured a hold and lifted me from the ground.

  And then we were flying, rising into the cold night air, goosebumps raising along my skin as the chill set into my bones. It bit into me, pinpricks along all my skin, only made that much worse by the knowledge that I was one hundred percent in the hands of the enemy.

  Despite everything we had done, all our precautions, the dark dragons finally had a hold on me. And as we flew through the air, their great wings taking me to their stronghold where their prince was no doubt waiting for me, I couldn’t help but feel like that grip was going to crush me.

  I just had to hold on a little bit.

  After all, I’d survived worse.

  …hadn’t I?

  Actually, once I began to think about it, I realized that the last time I had tangled with this prince and his kin, I had died. Rather violently. Eaten alive by crystal, consumed so I could sever their realm from the chains that connected all that was and would be.

  Yeah, that whole being crushed thing was seeming more and more likely.

  8

  Unpleasant Introductions

  I was unceremoniously dropped onto what felt like cobblestone, bouncing several times and rolling forward. I came to a jarring stop as my side connected with a foot, and once more, I had the wind knocked out of me.

  I wheezed and tried to crane my neck to look upwards, but I couldn’t with how I was bound. I could only breathe heavily and stare at the ground my face was pressed into.

  “What’s this, Baelfyre? Did they really manage to get the girl to you?”

  That voice sent chills down my spine. Even though it had been months, maybe even a year, since I had last heard him speak, one didn’t forget the voice of someone who had led you to your death.

  It was the prince. Not the same one I had met in the other realm, but similar enough that I could feel that same cold menace radiating from him.

  “Yes, Your Majesty. It seems I was wrong. Apparently, little Bronn’s hold on his own people is even more tenuous than I thought.”

  “Pathetic. But to our benefit, I suppose. Roll her over. I want to see the face of the girl who’s given us so much trouble.”

  I felt more hands roughly grip me—I was so tired of being manhandled!—and rolled over as he asked. I had to blink at the illumination all around me, and it took several moments for me to realize I was on the roof of a building. A very tall building judging by how cold it was and how the wind whipped around us.

  I blinked rapidly, my eyes tearing up at the assault, before they cleared to land on the man standing over me.

  He was startlingly similar to the other one I had met, except his golden hair was cut relatively short and he was dressed in stylish, modern clothes. A pair of what I recognized as designer glasses sat on his strong, roman nose and a single earring hung from one of his ears.

  “Ah, there she is. Funny, I almost expected her to look…”

  “Different?” Baelfyre supplied.

  “More important, I suppose. But looks can be deceiving, can’t they?”

  He crouched, bringing his smiling face closer to mine but still towering over me. He was gloating, all surefire and cocky, and I wanted nothing more than to plant a boot right in his face.

  Too bad I wasn’t wearing any shoes at all.

  “It’s so nice to finally meet you, Seer. I think you’ll find we have some lovely little surprises waiting for one of your kind, but those will have to wait.” He reached down, his finger sliding along the edge of my face and then along my cheek, stopping to flick the end of my
nose. I reacted as quickly as I could, my teeth latching onto his finger and biting down as hard as I could.

  He let out a curse and jerked his hand back, but I held on tightly, my jaw popping in protest. The next thing I knew, a too-strong hand slapped the side of my face, sending me rolling to my side.

  “You insufferable little—” His words were cut off as I was slapped again, and my head truly started to spin. I was righted, only to be hauled onto my feet by more grunts. They cut my ankles free but kept my wrists still bound behind me, where they were utterly useless.

  “Get her to her new quarters and wash the stink of that weakling off of her,” he hissed, his eyes glinting at me before he turned on his heel and headed out.

  The fingers holding me dragged me after him, but slower, at a more respectful distance. I didn’t fight them, knowing I needed to save my energy for what was to come.

  Because I didn’t need to be a seer to know that I was in store for a whole lot of horrible before things got good again.

  I was thrown hard into another room, hitting the wall and sliding to the ground. I tried to push myself up, but before I could even get my center of gravity where I needed it to be, a blast of ice-cold, pounding water crashed into me so hard I was driven right back into the wall.

  I tried to draw in a sharp breath, but the water pressure was so intense that I couldn’t. Blearily, I realized that they were probably using a sort of fire hose on me, soaking me from head to toe and repeatedly forcing me against the partition.

  The onslaught seemed to last forever, and when it finally cut off, I felt like I was about to pass out. I fell forward, slamming right down onto my front, and I couldn’t stop the whimpers from escaping my throat.