The Blood King

by Abigail Owen

  Kasia shrugged. “It’s worth a try.”

  Brand stepped between Skylar and Kasia. “I said no.”

  Skylar lifted an eyebrow at him as if to say, “Like that would keep me away.”

  Based on his scowl, Brand got the message.

  Ladon crossed his arms and set his feet wide, a stance she was already recognizing as, “I’m the fucking king.”

  “What happens if this goes wrong?” he demanded.

  Skylar gave him a pointed look. She’d meant what she’d said. For Angelika, any risk to herself was moot. At the same time, out of the corner of her eye, she caught the way Kasia put her hand on Brand’s arm. Were they communicating with each other through that link of theirs?

  “Try going into the other room and back,” Ladon said. He glanced at Brand. “Agreed?”

  “Shit.” Brand shook his head. Obviously not happy. “Do it.”

  Skylar’s breath punched out of her as both men gave in, though just a little.

  Before he could change his mind, Skylar turned to Kasia. “When I shove you, try to grab my wrists and pull me with you.”

  Kasia set her feet and held up her hands. “Ready.”

  Brand clamped a hand on Skylar’s shoulder, bringing a harsh growl from Ladon, which the gold shifter ignored. “You’d better bring my mate back with you.”

  Rather than snap off a witty retort guaranteed to irk the man, Skylar caught the emotion in his eyes, tightening his jaw to the breaking point, almost like being punched in the face with it. This massive shifter who was both dragon and king, who had survived being rogue and years as a mercenary for hire, was terrified.

  Soul-deep terror—like falling into a bottomless chasm of blackness—emotion that could never be faked.

  The depth of that fear, and the fact that he even allowed her to see it, had Skylar rethinking her opinion of him.

  Eating her words, she covered his hand with hers. “I’ll keep her safe.”

  Leonine eyes stared at her hard for another couple of heartbeats before Brand nodded.

  Skylar turned back to her sister, who watched the byplay silently and now raised her eyebrows.

  “He really does love you,” Skylar said as she stepped in closer.

  “Duh.” Kasia grinned.

  Skylar let the snark slide. She sort of deserved it. “Ready?”

  Kasia smirked. “Already said I was.”

  “Maul. We’re going next door.” The hound would understand. Reaching for calm, Skylar called to the fire inside her.

  Flames sparked to life, manifesting on her skin and clothes. Whites and reds cast shadows over Kasia’s face as the fire flowed over Skylar and onto her sister in a flickering dance. She didn’t burn, rather, her fire was like wrapping herself in a sleeping bag in front of an open fire on a chilly night—comforting, friendly even.

  A shower of sparks, and Kasia did the same, her red hair lifting around her with the blaze.

  “Ready?” Skylar asked.

  Kasia nodded. “Bring it.”

  Skylar didn’t need to picture the destination exactly, more like she felt where she wanted them to go—a vague, imprecise method but it worked for her. “On three… One. Two. Three.”

  She shoved her sister at the shoulders. As Kasia disappeared from view, her hands wrapped around Skylar’s wrists, and the strangest tugging sensation pulled at her. A blink of familiar darkness and silence, like when their mother used to move them using this ability, pulling her through a portal between space and time. Unlike with their mother, though, it felt as though icy fingers reached out, grasping but not getting purchase of her. Suddenly they were standing in the next room and the sensation disappeared. The momentum of Skylar’s shove had Kasia stumbling back, taking Skylar with her, but they managed to stay upright.

  Skylar grinned. “It worked!”

  It had. Except that odd sensation… Skylar brushed it off. This was just a different way.

  In a blink, Maul appeared beside them and gave a gruff yip—his version, at least, which came off more like a snarl. Probably saying “good job.”

  Her sister grinned back. “We’ve gotta work on your need to shove, because it makes the landings a bit rough. The first time you did that to me, I ended up outside on the landing platform and tumbled over the edge.”

  Skylar grimaced. “Sorry about that. How Mom did this without even touching…” She shook her head.

  “We were in our second centuries before she mastered that trick,” Kasia reminded her.

  A nice thought, but not helpful. “We don’t have two hundred years to master our skills.”

  “Neither did she,” Kasia said. Then, as if she knew Skylar wouldn’t agree anyway, she switched subjects, a mischievous light entering her eyes.

  “Did it feel different to you?” Skylar asked.

  “Different?” Kasia frowned. “No. You?”

  Skylar just shrugged, and luckily, Kasia let it go.

  “Want to try to go farther?” Kasia asked.

  “What about Brand and Ladon?”

  “You mean overprotective and uber-overprotective?” Kasia waved a hand, casually dismissing their mates. “Better to tell them after the fact. Brand wasn’t happy about us just going next door.”

  Part of her wanted to say yes, but a bigger part pinched with guilt at not telling Ladon.

  What the hell?

  Days. It had only been days. This mating thing was getting to her more than she’d anticipated.

  Skylar shook her head. “Let’s go.”

  …

  Waiting like an asshole was not where Ladon expected to be right now.

  Not when most of his men were about to fly to a fight that would determine if this rebellion of his took a step forward or turned to ash in the wind.

  Brand stood like a silent fucking statue beside him, staring at the spot where their mates had been standing. Ten minutes.

  Where the hell were they? It shouldn’t take this long to come back from one room over.

  Panic was not a luxury he permitted himself. So the fact that the emotion was trying to slice its way into his heart served only to amp his growing anger.

  In a flash, the two women reappeared, stumbling into each other, and that knife of panic turned into relief, which was swiftly swept aside by a tide of anger.

  Without a word, he grabbed her hand and dragged Skylar out of the room and into the one next door.

  “What the fuck, Kasia?” he vaguely heard Brand say as they left.

  “Calm down, lizard man,” her sister’s reply followed.

  Ladon ignored them, still grappling with the fear that had reached inside him and hammered at his heart when she hadn’t returned immediately. Fear that had little to do with losing a phoenix. Fear with a personal edge to it that he wasn’t willing to examine too closely yet. The mating bond taking effect, perhaps. A potentially deadly distraction if he let it become one.

  For both of them.

  As soon as the door closed, he turned on Skylar. “You want to explain yourself?” he demanded.

  His mate didn’t even flinch. “It worked.”

  “It worked?” Was she fucking kidding him?

  With a huff, Skylar crossed her arms, pushing her breasts up. “Yes,” she said. “It worked. We made it to the room, then to the top of the mountain, then came back here.”

  “We expected you to come right back. Immediately,” he pointed out in what was a remarkably calm voice given how much he wanted to shake his mate right now.

  “You would’ve argued us out of it,” she said. Not a lick of remorse in the words or tone.

  “Aren’t mates supposed to discuss and…” He flung out an arm. “I don’t know, compromise, and be on the same page, and shit?”

  Skylar shrugged. “How would I know? Pytheios killed my father be
fore we were born. I never witnessed mates interact until Kasia.”

  Ladon opened his mouth to snap back at her, only something in her voice, a vulnerability in those incredible eyes had him pausing, looking closer in the half light. That soft spot inside her, a part of her he doubted she revealed very often, if ever, tugged at something inside him. Ladon chalked it up to seeing such a strong woman, one who seemingly felt no fear, hurting.

  He glanced away, rethinking his own response, then returned his gaze to her. “Good news. My parents showed me that mates work together. Not against each other or separate from each other. A team.”

  “A team…” she echoed slowly.

  Ladon gave in to the urge, stepped in to her, needing the physical contact, because dammit, she had scared him more than any fight he’d ever been in. “A team. A partnership. I thought that’s what we agreed on. We’ve been doing pretty well so far, given everything.”

  “We’ve been a little too occupied with taking the Gold Throne to do much partnering.”

  Ladon scowled, eye twitching in a slow tick. “Are you saying I’ve neglected you?”

  Skylar rolled her eyes, which only stoked his irritation more. “Of course not,” she said. “I can take care of myself.”

  He knew that what she meant had nothing to do with sex, but damned if that wasn’t what he pictured. “That’s my job.”

  “Listen here, Tarzan.” She poked him in the chest with the tip of her finger. “I can get on board with trying out this team idea. Only if you rein in that urge to go all ‘me dragon king, you lowly woman’ crap.”

  “Crap?” he barked. “You scared the shit out of me, disappearing like that.” Even now his heart clenched to the point of pain.

  Her eyes widened at those telling words. He fully expected her jaw to tighten stubbornly. But she bit her lip, the first show of doubt he’d ever seen from her. “You didn’t have to worry—”

  “I did.” His voice went quieter, and she flinched. Good. She needed to get this. “You’re my mate.”

  Impossibly, that was coming to mean more than just the phoenix being bound to him. The fates had sent him maybe the only woman alive as stubborn as he was. And as dedicated to what she believed in.

  Gods, even through his anger, he wanted to run his fingers over the silky skin of her face, bury his nose in her hair, and breathe her in. Now that he knew she was safe, and the anger was, if not fading, at least worked through, need was kicking in hard.

  She fidgeted again, a vulnerable sign he’d yet to see from her. “You should know I’m not the obedient mate type.”

  Ladon groaned. She was definitely not getting it. “It’s not about obedience, Skylar. Dammit.”

  She put her hands on her hips. “Then explain it to me.”

  “Would you have done that alone and left Kasia behind wondering?”

  She traced the back of a chair with one finger. “If I thought she’d stand in the way of what I knew to be the right decision…”

  “Fuck, you’re stubborn.”

  “You’ll learn to love me for it.” Skylar paused, eyes going wide as she realized what she’d said. “I mean, my sisters do. Not that…”

  Ladon’s lips gave a reluctant twitch. She was damn cute in a panic.

  Her lips twisted as she regarded him with something akin to regret. “I’m sorry,” she said. “For scaring you.”

  Shock immobilized him for a beat. Had he heard right? “What?”

  That earned him a glare for making her repeat it. “I said, I’m sorry,” she muttered through clenched teeth. “At least I came back. Kasia wanted to keep going.”

  And give him a fucking heart attack if they’d done that.

  “But I couldn’t.”

  Something in her expression sent a new kind of tension through him. “Why couldn’t you?”

  She wrinkled her nose, as though arguing with herself what to reveal. “Because of you.”

  Before he could process the implications of what she was admitting, a soft moan floated through the walls. Kasia. Brand had the right idea. Ladon shifted his gaze to the woman at his side, everything in him going hard in anticipation.

  Skylar lowered her lashes so he couldn’t discern her thoughts. Lips tilting slightly, she raised a hand and drew a pattern across his chest with the tip of her finger, her touch branding him, leaving a trail of fire in its wake, even through his clothing.

  “There is one area in which I wouldn’t mind trying that whole obedience thing out,” she murmured.

  The animal inside him roared his approval. “Is that so?”

  Already he was thinking of all the decadent, dirty things he wanted to do to and with her.

  She flirted outrageously with those eyes. “I’m not saying that our mating has been on my mind way too much these last few days, or that I’ve had to take care of myself more than a couple times just to alleviate the tension.”

  “You’re not saying that, huh?” Ladon put his hands in his pockets, faking any sort of relaxed pose while tension gripped him. “I have definitely not been constantly hard since then, either.”

  Her chuckle, full of sin in that husky voice of hers, shot straight to his dick, already straining against his zipper.

  The timing was shit, but if he was sending her to her death, then dammit…

  “Strip for me.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Blushing was not her thing, but if ever there was a time for it, being on the receiving end of a knowing look from her sister after she’d been up to all sorts of no good with her mate in the other room was it. Skylar lifted an eyebrow and Kasia’s smirk faded. After all, she and Brand had been pretty loud.

  “I don’t like this fuckery,” Brand said in his snarling way.

  “You’re not the only one,” Ladon muttered under his breath, though she caught it.

  She’d held back any mention of those icy fingers reaching for her in the dark silence of the in-between as she and Kasia teleported together. Kasia obviously wasn’t feeling it, so she wasn’t in danger. But their mates would never allow them to go if she revealed it.

  It would be fine. Worth the risk.

  Before Skylar could go back into her argument about the energy it took to teleport this way—for both her and Kasia—and needing to save that in case Angelika needed help, Ladon held up a hand. “I get it. We’ll wait for you here.”

  Skylar paused, mouth open, which pulled that small quirk of his lips from her new mate. The closest he got to amusement as far as she could tell. “I can be reasonable,” he said.

  Brand’s dubious snort didn’t give her much confidence in that statement.

  “Who knew someone called the ‘Blood King’ leans toward reasonable?” Skylar said drily. Except she already knew that about him. The dichotomy was…annoyingly intriguing.

  All she got was a grunt in return.

  “We’d better get going,” Kasia said.

  “If you need to contact us, get in touch with Hershel,” Brand said to Kasia.

  “Who’s Hershel?” Skylar asked. Not Kasia, but Ladon.

  “The ancient who practically raised Brand while he was hiding in a back system of caves in Ben Nevis. He lives near Manchester… And he’s a demon.”

  She had no trouble interpreting that tone. “Not happy about that?”

  Ladon’s lips flattened. “The fact that we might have to involve a demon at all only heaps onto the steaming pile of shit I’m dealing with here.”

  He took Skylar’s face in his hands, staring at her with that intent way he had. “You’d better fucking come back to me.”

  As if he cared. Really cared. Her heart pulled in tight before giving a hard thump.

  The level of her reluctance to leave him was…concerning. Too soon. Too much. And with no chance for her to sit back and figure it out.

  Time was
against them. Angelika, and whoever she was with, needed to be able to clear out before that red asshole showed his raggedy ass.

  She should step back. Go. Instead, the fear in his eyes held her fast. Fear. From the Blood King. Ladon struck her as a man who was never afraid, but he was now. For her. Skylar stepped in closer, speared her hands through his hair, and tugged his head down so she could kiss him. Gods he tasted good—like man, and dragon, and…hers.

  “Was that supposed to make me feel better?” he whispered against her lips.

  She hid a smile. “A little.”

  Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to step back. Then Skylar threw her arms wide, allowing her flames out to play, red glowing embers lifting into the air all around her.

  “Skylar.” Ladon’s gruff voice had her looking over her shoulder. “Stay safe…”

  An order, she had no doubt. But this time it didn’t rub her wrong. “You, too.” Her gut clenched on the realization that she meant it. “Don’t wait for us. Go take that throne.”

  His jaw hardened, but Ladon gave a single, sharp nod.

  I’d better see him again.

  The thought came unbidden, and dread dropped into her stomach like a weighted body in the ocean, sinking fast. She couldn’t be falling for her mate. Her stubborn, bossy as hell, dragon king mate. Her tenacious, principled, fighter. That was not the plan.

  Skylar shook it off and counted down, picturing the area Kasia described in the Pyrenees Mountains separating France and Spain. Specifically, the abandoned town where Angelika was staying.

  With a shove, she and Kasia disappeared into the nothing. Only this time, she could feel Kasia’s grip slipping, and those icy fingers dug deeper into her flesh.

  Blind and deaf, trying her damndest to not panic, Skylar tried to bend her wrists in a way that allowed her to hold on to her sister without accidentally twisting out of her grip. If Kasia lost her, and she couldn’t get herself out, she was screwed. She suspected it meant ending up in the in-between limbo. Forever. Fear scraped at her nerves like a cheese grater the longer it lasted.

  With a sudden bright light and rushing whoosh as sound returned, they reappeared, tumbling over each other to end up in a heap on stone floors so old they’d been worn smooth and uneven. Again, Kasia caught the brunt of it, the dull crack of her head against the stone making Skylar wince.