Without tearing his gaze away from Fiona, Gabriel shook his head. “No. Rafe is helping him track the bastard ice dragon. Last update had them at the edge of the city.”
Dallas sat on the couch and leaned forward, his arms braced on his legs, uneasiness pitting in his gut. How hard was it to find one goddamn ice dragon? “Why would one be after Lily and her flower shop?”
Ice dragons had been created along with the fire-breathing dragons and, while they’d been rare, their physiology and genetic makeup had been close enough that they’d been the same race. Only ice dragons had been created cold, unfeeling. While they’d originally been as much protectors of the human race as fire-breathing dragons, their lack of empathy and compassion had wrought more devastation than protection until the dragons had finally been forced to run them all to ground and destroy them.
“Easy.” At the drawled voice, everyone turned to look toward the door where Dragan was leaning against the jamb. How the hell had he gotten in without any of them hearing? “Cage escaped whoever was holding him, and what better way to draw him back out than to go after his sister?”
Dallas lifted his lip in a sneer. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Dragan shrugged. “There have been rumors floating around today that Cage was spotted. I don’t believe in coincidences, so whatever is going on with Lily has to be linked.”
“It would make sense if Cage remembered anything.” Unless he was faking the memory loss. Temper and terror had never been a good combination in a dragon, and with his beast rising to the surface, it took everything Dallas possessed to keep from letting him free. He turned his burning gaze on Fiona. “I want answers. Now.”
“I’m giving him a small break. He isn’t responding well to me trying to get inside his head.” She shook her head and raised her hands, palms up. “The read and information I’m getting off him is shaky and unstable at best. He’s been tortured violently passed the point of sanity, repeatedly.” She blew out a breath, pity and worry in her eyes. “He isn’t able to differentiate between reality and hallucinations so I can’t give you a name. If he knows who took him and did this, it’s buried underneath daydreams and delusions. Quite honestly, he’s broken, and he’s damn dangerous. ”
Cage cleared his throat, his voice hoarse as if that too had been damaged. “I get it. I’m crazy.” He lifted madness-filled eyes to Dallas. “What happened in there? How did the two of you get separated?”
Dallas bared his teeth, more at the terror that started to claw at his veins than temper at his mate’s brother. “She shoved me out of the building the second the ice started to cover everything. I wasn’t expecting it, and she’s damn strong when she wants to be.”
Fiona smiled. Dallas scowled at her. “What?”
“You’re proud of her.”
“The hell I am!” he roared.
Broderick spoke up then. “Not for risking herself for you, but because she’s stronger than everyone gives her credit for.”
This time, he only snorted. “Of course she is. Did you think I would take a weak, timid mate?”
Gabriel cleared his throat. “Think about it, Dallas. She’s Lily. We all love her but when she’s scared, she bolts. She doesn’t fight back, and after what she’s been through, no one in their right mind would ever blame her. Whoever sent the ice dragon probably thought she’d bolt, and he’d be able to snag her effortlessly.”
“Then he’s an idiot,” Dallas snapped as he stopped prowling. “For Ryuu’s sake, she’s saved my life from all of you how many times over the last couple of days? She runs when she’s scared and overwhelmed, but she always stands and fights when it’s for someone she cares about.”
“And she cares about you.” At Cage’s deadly quiet voice, every eye in the room turned to focus on him as he focused on Dallas. “Now, whoever it is knows her weakness, and he can readjust his plans. She will protect you. He knows that now.”
Without warning, the king crossed the room and grabbed Dallas by the throat. He turned and threw him into the wall behind him, putting him through the drywall. Before his body could slump, Daniel had him by the throat again and off his feet, his body caging him against the wall. Pure, unadulterated rage brightened the king’s silver eyes, and Dallas accepted he’d never seen his king so close to killing one of them. “You irresponsible, hot-headed idiot. Do you know what you could have done? What you could have cost us if I hadn’t sent Luca to follow you? If he hadn’t been there to cover your ass and block you from human sight? If there was one single video or photograph, everything we’ve protected for the last three millennia would have been shot to fucking shit. We’d be hunted down, destroyed. All of us.” Daniel slammed his fist into Dallas’s face. “As of right now, you are suspended from active duty for the next month. Get your fucking shit together, or I’ll be forced to put you down.”
Dallas nodded. He’d expected this—hell, he’d expected worse.
Love is a weakness. His father’s words played on repeat in his head. He’d spent his entire two thousand years fighting against allowing any kind of weakness in. So no one could ever use something he cared about against him. But not once, in all of those years, had it ever occurred to him that someone would care about him so much that he would be the weakness used against them.
His gaze leveled with Adrian’s. “What are you saying? What does Porter know?”
“Whoever is doing this doesn’t want her dead. He wants her broken and punished, but not dead. There’s only one person who wants her that way.”
Dallas snarled. “I thought you killed that sick fuck Porter years ago.”
“It’s the only person who makes sense.” He shrugged. “It doesn’t have to be your death. He now knows that there isn’t anything she won’t do to keep you safe. Even if it means risking herself, or losing everything. You are her perfect weakness.”
The tension in the room slowly amped up. After a long moment, Broderick broke the silence by getting to his feet and clearing his throat. He slammed a fist into Dallas’s shoulder in a friendly gesture.
“Looks like you’re now in protective custody.” A rare grin spread across Broderick’s face as he cracked his knuckles and elbowed Dallas in the ribs. “Don’t worry, Destroyer, we’ll take care of all the heavy lifting for you on this one. You enjoy your little vacation and let the big boys do the work.”
Dallas turned his head slowly and snarled at him. “Do you want to die?”
Broderick only snorted as he went into the kitchen to grab his laptop. “If you’re brave enough to face Lily’s fury, take your best shot, but I should warn you”—he grinned—“your mate likes me, and she’d be upset if you killed me.”
The world shifted under his feet again with the realization that there was only one reason Lily would have done what she did earlier, and it wasn’t because he was her mate. Those were just words. She’d sacrificed herself by saving his life because she didn’t want to live without him, because she loved him.
Despite all reason and common sense, that perfect woman curled up under his blankets in his bed loved him and was willing to die for him.
He had never been so damn scared in his life. Or so goddamn happy.
Shit.
Fiona cleared her throat then. “Does anyone want to know the pieces I’ve managed to pick out of Adrian’s fractured brain?” When every eye in the room shot to her, she visibly braced herself. “A lot of what’s going on inside of him doesn’t make sense. Worst, most of it could be hallucination as easily as it could be real. It all feels the same to him, which is why he’s so messed up. What I do know is that there are two pieces of conversation that keep playing on repeat in his head. Whoever this Porter is, he’s definitely behind it. And most certainly not dead.”
Gabriel’s gaze narrowed on her face. “How is that possible? I was there when Adrian killed him.”
“A necromancer named Dexter.” This time it was Cage’s gaze that snapped to her, and she nodded slowly. “Porter’s men got
him to the necromancer after Adrian killed him. Dexter brought him back, along with some of Porter’s men. From the pieces I’ve picked out, Porter knew he wouldn’t get to Lily while she was under Adrian’s protection. So he was biding his time. Then when Adrian took Porter’s place at the head of the Hunters…”
Gabriel lifted a brow when her words trailed off. “It was too much. Not only did Cage take Porter’s toy—Lily—he did the ultimate sin and mated to a dragon.”
“Great. Fucking perfect.” Dallas rolled his head on his shoulders and swiped a hand under his bloody nose as he snarled in frustration. “Who the fuck is Dexter?”
Cage sighed, madness and defeat twisting his face. “Someone who wants me to suffer in the very depths of hell for the rest of eternity.”
Chapter 23
A JAGGED, HEART-STOPPING scream tore through the darkened apartment. The males didn’t hesitate, and Dallas had his long-bladed daggers in each hand when the sound shattered the stillness again, curling his blood.
Lily.
He broke through his bedroom door. Her scream jerked her upright on the bed, the sound tearing out of her from the very depths of her soul, over and over again. His blades dropped out of numb fingers, and he crashed onto the bed next to her.
“Lily!” He had to summon the strength to keep his hands from trembling as he gripped her face. The fury in him at the inhuman sounds she made went deeper than anything he’d ever experienced. “Lily, damn it, look at me!”
A savage dragon growl ripped through him before he could stop it, and in an instant, she leapt toward it, burrowing into him as if she wanted inside. “It’s okay, baby, you’re safe.” Dallas forced the words out calmly, though he couldn’t do anything about the vibrating snarls that kept rumbling through him. The other males stood in the doorway, weapons at the ready as she continued to sob into his chest.
He didn’t know what to do for her. Her tremors wracked the bed, and she felt so small and breakable in his arms he was afraid to hold her too tightly, afraid she would shatter on him. And more than anything in this world, Dallas did not want to be what caused her pain, ever.
Helpless, he ignored his hatred for her brother and looked at him. “What do I do?”
Cage looked unhinged and close to violence, but his voice was quiet. “Growl. As dark and violent and scary as you can go.”
Dallas didn’t question it. He curled himself around her and growled. His dragon was too close to the surface to keep the savageness out of the sound.
This was going to have to end. It didn’t take a genius to know what the nightmare was about. He didn’t know why this bastard was still alive, but his time was over. Lily deserved peace, and Dallas was not going to leave someone or something alive that was a threat not only to her life, but her soul as well.
The bastard may be aiming for him to get to her, but he’d apparently forgotten who he was dealing with. Dallas hadn’t gotten to be two thousand years old by playing nice.
And Porter had unleashed The Destroyer.
* * *
LILY RINSED HER face one more time, then carefully turned the water off and set the wash cloth on the towel rack next to the door. She used another cloth to dry out the bowl of the sink and hung that up too before she finally blew out a breath and raised her gaze to the mirror, knowing she couldn’t avoid it any longer.
There was no trace of the nightmare anywhere on her face. Her green eyes were clear, there was color in her cheeks, and her dark hair had been pulled back into a fun, sassy ponytail.
All in all, she looked…normal. Her insides were raw, but it would fade by the end of the day. It always did.
It surprised her that she wasn’t mortified Dallas had seen her in the grip of a nightmare. No one but Adrian had ever witnessed one, and it had been the last thing she’d ever wanted Dallas to see. She wanted him to see her as strong, capable, and in control of her life and her emotions, not a helpless, damaged child.
But for the first time, she understood why Adrian had told Seren everything about his past, even the things he’d never told her. There was a kind of courage and strength in knowing that someone knew the darkest parts of your soul and wanted you anyway.
He’d growled for her. When she’d fallen apart, he’d held her and growled for her for almost an hour until she’d felt stable and in control of herself enough to leave the safety of his arms.
Not that he’d looked stable—at all.
Rubbing the back of her hand over her nose, she moved back into the bedroom. Dallas was standing in front of the large, curtain-less window, looking out at the city and the ocean beyond the buildings.
He was still, his feet braced, but it was the tightness in his shoulders and the slow clenching and unclenching of his fists that told her how close to the breaking point he was.
She crossed the room and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head against his back.
Dallas wrapped his hand around hers, and it struck her then how much he needed her to touch him freely and openly. Even when he’d been sure he hated her, he’d never pushed her away or shrank from her affection.
* * *
DALLAS HAD FOUGHT against this moment so damn hard. Did he live by the advice he’d followed for the last two thousand years, or did he give in and give Lily what she needed? He didn’t know what the right thing to do was anymore. As much as he wanted to walk out the door and search until he found that sick fuck Porter and peel his skin from his body, it felt too much like running when he knew she had to still be shaken. Ryuu, he was shaken, and he hadn’t been the one caught in a nightmare.
Or maybe he was putting off leaving her.
“Love is a weakness,” he said abruptly, his voice quiet. She stiffened behind him, but he wrapped his hands tighter around hers to keep her from pulling away. “It makes a person do stupid things, it makes them vulnerable, and it muddies their thinking. One person should not be saved at the risk of many.”
“Dallas—”
He cut her off when he turned around and caught her face in his hands, making her look at him. He needed her to see what she did to him, and what he was fighting inside of himself to say these words. “I have lived with this knowledge for two thousand years. I had it beat into me—literally—from the time I was five years old, and my father forced any emotional attachment to him or my mother out of my head. I was given to the guards for training and refused entrance to the keep until my father was satisfied no emotion could get past my defenses.” He lifted a hand to brush the hair out of her face. “I never complained, because back then, his logic was sound. The world was harsher then in so many ways, and there was no room in my life for softness of any kind.
“But this isn’t that world anymore, Lil. I just forgot to move on with the time.”
“I don’t…” She searched his face for a long time, and then blew out a breath. “I don’t understand what you’re telling me, Dallas.”
This time, the fear that gripped him was from the knowledge he was handing her everything she would need to break him. To destroy him, body and soul. He shuddered out a breath. “I’m telling you that I’m an ass, woman, and it’s not your fault I went all Godzilla on that neighborhood earlier.”
Her nose wiggled. “Nope, still not sure I’m catching what you’re throwing. How isn’t it my fault?”
“Because I’m an idiot and refused to accept the obvious.”
She looked at him like he was nuts. “Which is?”
“I love you.”
Time stopped. Her tiny body was so still for so long he had a moment of panic she’d somehow been turned to stone in front of him. Or that he’d read her wrong, and she would never be able to love someone like him.
Her hands clenched into fists and she closed her eyes, her breathing suddenly ragged.
“Lil?”
She let out a quiet strangled sound. “Not yet,” she whispered, covering his mouth with her hand. “I’m in the middle of this awesome fantasy where you tell me you lov
e me, and it’s not because I’m broken and need you to love me—”
He pulled her hand away, then hauled her up to her toes and kissed her. Her eyes flew open and locked on his, and he felt the moment his uncaged emotion simply undid her. She hooked her arms around his neck and kissed his face.
When she finally pulled back to grin at him, he chuckled quietly and rested his head against hers. “This makes you happy?” He tugged lightly on a strand of her hair. “You don’t have to say it back—”
“I love you, Dallas. I am beyond in love with you, like until the end of all time in love with you.”
His body shuddered. He lowered his head and kissed her. “Good.” He blew out a breath because he knew this next part was going to piss her off. “Now I need you to go sit with your brother and the other males for a while, all right?”
She frowned at him. “You’re leaving? Where are you going?”
He kissed her again, then set her on her feet. “To find that sick fuck stepfather of yours so I can boil the skin off his bones.”
“Porter?” Her beautiful face went stark white, and he was worried she was going to puke. “He wants me, and he wants you dead.”
“I’m aware,” he snapped. “And I was more than content to sit this one out until the others tracked him down, but that’s not going to happen now. He’s going to die slowly, and by my hands. And then I’m going to find a healer capable of reanimating the dead so I can bring him back and do it all over again.”
“He’s sheer evil, Dallas. Are you taking someone with you?”
“No. I can handle him, and I’d feel better if all the males were here with you.”
“You’re mated, too,” she reminded him. The look she gave him was pure, mutinous female. “Don’t think for a second I will survive losing you.”
He walked around her, heading for his closet and the arsenal stashed in there. He grabbed the giant duffel bag and tossed it on the bed. “I’m not planning on letting you lose me. I wouldn’t have told you I loved you if I was.”
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