The Blood King

by Abigail Owen

  But she’d managed to stow away on a plane in Lukla, which had involved stuffing herself into a mail sack. She really should’ve mated a black dragon, because damn she was good at sneaking. Turned out, that plane had taken a northerly path up through China, over mostly desert. Not a direct route. Hopefully also not the way Pytheios would expect her to go.

  She kept that heading now, for several reasons, crossing into Russia in the small spot between Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Her mother had taught her Russian well, wanting her to have that part of her father’s white dragon heritage. She blended in better there. While still precarious in general, the culture for human women wasn’t as problematic in the region as it could be in western Asia. Also, if dragons caught her, she’d rather it be her father’s clan. She could attempt to convince them, as she had the two men who’d sworn her loyalty.

  What felt like eons later, now in the dark, she was still flying.

  Stops for fuel had required her finding a map at the next stop that could show her small airfields she could get in and out of, sometimes stealing another plane already fueled rather than taking the time to top hers off and getting out before they caught her. She’d been going nonstop now for around forty hours, by her estimation, but who the fuck knew given time zones and the level of her exhaustion.

  Not to mention hunger. She was starting to tremble with it.

  Skylar gave her head a shake, widening her eyes to focus on her instruments. At least she’d made it over the border to Russia without incident. If she’d had Meira with her, they could’ve hacked the computer systems, making her flight legit and this trip loads easier. Instead, she’d flown low to the ground. Beyond stupid to try in the dark. Still, she’d managed to snag a skydiving rig, rather than a pilot’s emergency chute, at her last stop. More uncomfortable to sit in, which she sort of hoped would keep her awake, but she’d have more control over it if she had to use it.

  The panel in front of her started to blur, and Skylar sat forward, taking another deep breath, blinking rapidly. Just a little longer and she could rest.

  Sleep.

  Gods, the word dragged at her mind as much as the exhaustion did her body. Just a little nap. Close her eyes for a second.

  Just a second.

  Just a…

  “Don’t leave me. I’m nothing without you.”

  Skylar jerked awake with a snorting cough as she inhaled too hard. Adrenaline flooded her veins, giving her an extra spike of alertness. But catching herself nodding off wasn’t what kicked off that little fit. Ladon’s voice had done that.

  She’d heard her mate again.

  He’d sounded…beaten down, defeated, and almost as exhausted as her. And those weren’t descriptions she expected when it came to him.

  “Ladon?” She felt a tad ridiculous calling out to him like this, but she knew what she’d heard. Clearer than in the tower.

  No answer.

  Skylar focused, picturing her mate’s face—that thick black hair, the scar making him appear so harsh, and those blue eyes that were anything but when they looked at her. “Ladon?” she reached out with her mind.

  “Skylar?” This time disbelief edged his tones. “Can you hear me?”

  “I can hear you.” Tears of relief stung her eyes even as shock that this was happening at all pinballed through her. Was this nightmare almost over? Or was she hallucinating now?

  “Thank the gods. Are you safe?” He sounded so…worried. Not like her in-control mate at all.

  “For now. I’m still flying. Did Maul make it?”

  “Yes. I left him with Fallon.”

  Another surge of relief had her breathing harder to keep her emotions in check, her hands gripping the yoke. “What about Airk?”

  “We have him.”

  She couldn’t quite pinpoint the emotion underlying those words. Not anger exactly, but something. “You didn’t kill him, did you?”

  “No.”

  Good. Airk was safe.

  “Where are you?” he asked next.

  “Approximately a hundred kilometers from Aleysk, Russia, headed northwest through Russia toward Norway.”

  “Thank fuck for that.”

  “What?”

  “Gorgon was already almost to Turkey, so he took the more southerly route to intercept you if you went that way.”

  Which put the black king too far south to help her. Her mind remained sluggish, like wading through deep mud that sucked at her, and she couldn’t figure out why that was a good thing. “Am I missing something?”

  “I went north. I’m somewhere over Nizhny, maybe 2400 kilometers from your location.”

  Quick math put that around 1500 miles. Skylar gripped the yoke so violently, she bobbled the plane. He was close. So much closer than she’d imagined. Almost close enough to feel him, close enough to touch. Yet still so far. What were the odds they’d reach each other before a dragon found her or humans shot her out of the sky?

  They couldn’t worry about that, though. “What’s the plan?”

  She could almost feel the rumble of his chuckle, the shake of his body. “That’s my mate.”

  The small glow of pride at those words couldn’t be helped. Not that he probably meant them as more than a pat on the back, but she’d take it.

  Am I turning into one of those pathetic people whose entire identity is tied up in her partner? That was fast. Skylar rolled her eyes at herself, then realized that Ladon might have caught the thoughts, except she wasn’t directing them at him.

  “I’m trying for another four hours before I have to stop to rest,” he said.

  Her rib cage loosened up, letting her breathe again. He hadn’t caught it.

  His words registered. Dragons, if they pushed it, could go a max of approximately two hundred miles before needing a decent sleep. If she was right in her guess about the distance he’d come already, Ladon was already running on an empty tank. Concern for her mate poked at her like a dagger to the heart, but she managed to regain her tenuous hold of control and think. Four hours, at the speeds blue dragons could fly, put him roughly four hundred miles closer to her.

  “I’ll go as long as I can.”

  She might have to stop one more time to refuel, having already identified two private airstrips as possible locations—ones that were shared by überwealthy residents in a neighborhood at the edge of a city. The runway was accessible to each resident, all of whom had a plane hangar attached to their homes. Fly in, fly out.

  The rich were the rich, no matter where you went or what you were.

  “When’s the last time you slept?” Ladon asked.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Sky?” The low rumble of command was unmistakable, even through their link.

  “Not since we got out of Everest.”

  “Shit, love. You’ll kill yourself if you keep going.”

  She would not react to the endearment. “I’ll sleep when we’re safe.”

  “If you crash, I’ll wring your neck.”

  Skylar chuckled at that. “Back at you, Tarzan.”

  “I’m not kidding.” He growled this time.

  Skylar playfully yawned before it dawned on her that he couldn’t see. Plus, the fake yawn turned into a real one. A big one that stretched her jaw to the limit and made her eyes water.

  “You need to stop.”

  He was right. “Can’t. Not yet.” She blew out a frustrated breath. “Talk to me.”

  “I thought I was.”

  “No. I mean keep it up. Keep me going.”

  “Uh. I’m not much of a talker.”

  “No shit.”

  “What do you want to talk about?”

  “Anything.” Just hearing his voice was keeping her going at this point, giving her a second wind.

  “Now that’s a proposition.”

  S
kylar laughed, then lowered her voice. “Anything.”

  “I’m holding you to that when I see you, woman.”

  “I’ll hold you to it myself.”

  He was quiet a long moment, and Skylar laughed. “Figures. I bet you were a contrary kid. The moment you have to talk you can’t find anything to say—”

  “I’m glad you’re my mate.”

  That shut her up in a damn hurry.

  “And…” he continued. “I think you feel the same way.”

  Well, as topics went, this one was certainly the most interesting he could’ve picked. All that fatigue disappeared for a moment. “What makes you think that?”

  “You mean besides the fact that I can feel you? Like you’re inside me, part of me?”

  Skylar bit her lip, her body heating up at his words, flushing at the idea. “I can feel you, too.”

  Holy cow, even her mental voice went all husky, despite having nothing to do with vocal cords. Could he hear that?

  Ladon groaned. “Don’t hold back, Sky. Not anymore.”

  He didn’t say please, but she felt it just the same. “What do you want from me?” She whispered the words even as she thought them.

  “Don’t run from me. When all this is over. Stay.”

  “I never—”

  “Don’t lie, Sky. As soon as you thought Kasia was safe, you were going to…what do the Americans say? Jump?”

  She gave a soft smile. “Bounce.”

  “Yeah. Don’t do that.”

  Skylar shook her head with a grin. He sounded like she mattered even more than he’d already told her.

  “Sky…promise me you’ll stay.”

  “What if I can’t? What if I’m not built for ruling a kingdom at your side?”

  A derisive snort preceded a sensation…his emotions…

  She blinked as realization struck. “You don’t want to be king?”

  “Never did.”

  “Then why?”

  “No one else with the proper bloodlines”—he spat the last word—“would confront Thanatos. Not that there’s much royal blood in me. A few drops at best.”

  He’d taken the position for his people. Skylar waited for something—shock maybe, or surprise, or something like that—but none came. Because she’d already figured that out about him. He wasn’t the type to accept the restrictions his position would place on him, let alone have patience for the politics, unless the other choice was watching people he cared about suffer.

  Then again, she wasn’t built for politics, either. “I’d make a horrible queen,” she said.

  “You’re smart, driven, honest, and you care about others. Explain to me which part of that isn’t meant to be a queen?”

  “I can be too honest, and I’m stubborn.”

  “You don’t need to tell me that.”

  She would’ve smiled at the frustration in his tone if she wasn’t trying to have a moment. “I’m serious.”

  “I know.” The words came through gruff. She could picture the intense light in his eyes as he watched her in that total way of his. That possessive way of his.

  Skylar shivered.

  “You are my mirror image, Skylar Ormarr, my match. I’m not asking you to stay queen, though it comes as a package deal. I’m asking you to stay with me. With me, Sky. Your mate.”

  Every part of her stilled before her heart kicked into a tripping rhythm. Her lips parted, but she closed them, having, for once in her life, no clue what to say in response. Maybe because she was too chickenshit to hope he meant what she wanted him to mean.

  “Sky?”

  For the first time since meeting her mate, Ladon sounded…hesitant, unsure of himself even.

  Before she could reply, he broke in. “Fuck, Sky. I hate having this conversation with you so far away. Say something.”

  She smiled. “What do you mean by stay with you?”

  “I mean I’ll walk away from the throne. My people are liberated and now have allies. Asher can step up to lead. If being queen is going to make you run, then I can fix it.”

  Holy shit. He’d do that for her? Skylar couldn’t wipe a ridiculous grin from her lips. At the same time, every part of her knew that wasn’t the right choice. “Don’t do that.”

  A pause greeted her comment. “Don’t do what?”

  “Don’t walk away from the throne. It’s part of who you are.”

  “You are a bigger part of who I am now.”

  That was the closest to a declaration of the heart she’d probably ever get from the rough man she’d mated. “Well, Tarzan…I guess I’ll have to stay.”

  “What are you saying?”

  Skylar smiled to herself, though she knew he couldn’t see it. “I’m saying I want you, Ladon Ormarr.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  If he hadn’t been pushing himself to the very brink of his physical abilities, no way could he have slept while Skylar was still out there. Hell, he’d been reluctant to cut off the connection allowing them to communicate, even for something as basic as rest. At least the white dragons were still in the air, thanks to their longer distance abilities. They’d be taking a break about now, but he’d made sure Skylar knew to watch for them.

  What if he couldn’t reach her again?

  They’d formed a plan, but no way was Pytheios or his lackeys not somewhere behind her. What if that bastard caught up or sent a squadron of dragon shifters after her? They’d been damn lucky so far, but what if that ran out?

  Vulnerability did not sit well with Ladon.

  Obnoxious beeping roused him from a dreamless slumber, and in a heartbeat, he was wide awake. He’d slept in his dragon form, curled up in the shadows of towering pine trees beside a still pond. His fire, closer to the surface in this form, kept him comfortably warm despite the freezing temperatures, though no snow or ice covered the ground.

  Not bothering to uncurl, Ladon took a moment to shift, forcing himself to go slower than last time, his body receding into itself in a silent slide as the pine trees seemed to grow taller above him and the ground came up at him. Moments later, he lay in a field of dried grass crushed flat by his larger form. He’d set the alarm on his watch to wake him. He needed to turn it off, or it would be a beacon to anyone and anything tracking him.

  Ladon hit the button to shut it up as he got to his feet.

  “Skylar?”

  No answer.

  She’d flown another half hour after he’d landed to rest. Still, they’d agreed to wake at the same time. Please don’t let that connection be broken. What if it had been a fluke?

  Maybe he needed to be in dragon form.

  Again, he forced himself to allow the shift to happen at its maddeningly slow pace. Lean bulk replaced his smaller form, his neck elongating, the spikes protruding, teeth and nails growing and sharpening to deadly weapons. Such a quick time between transitions, and his senses still enhanced, sharpening, the colors around him brighter, the sounds more brilliant in his ears, like he’d gone into a tunnel and emerged into the light.

  Ladon waited, growling low in his throat, for the full scope of his dragon to be realized before reaching out to Skylar again.

  “Talk to me, Sky.”

  Again, no answer, but something was different. He could feel her—the softness of her, and the hard, inside him. She was okay. Asleep maybe.

  Gods he hoped he was fucking right, because who the hell knew? Feelings were not his strong suit. No one warned him that mates came with feelings.

  Extending his wings out the forty feet from his body, Ladon gave a hard push, lifting into the air. Gaining speed, he barely cleared the tops of the trees, the needles slapping against his talons. Clear skies today meant he’d blend better, not having to be as careful about where he flew.

  He should be so exhausted that his control over flight, his abil
ity to shoot through the skies, was impaired. But at the end of another few hours, his mate waited for him, closing the distance between them.

  Behind her, who knew what was coming, but damned if she’d face it on her own.

  Two hours in, he’d caught up with the white dragons as they roused from their own rest. They hadn’t seen her, either, and panic was eating at his insides as though someone had poured acid down his throat. He searched the skies with every sense at his disposal, checking out every plane that flew into his notice. They shouldn’t be close yet.

  “Ladon.”

  He might’ve lost a hundred feet in a drop when her voice hit him. “Sky, what the fuck?”

  “I overslept two hours, I’m sorry. Just getting started now.”

  That was so much better than every other alternative his mind had come up with, Ladon didn’t care about the time lost.

  “Ladon?”

  “Are you on your way?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s all that matters.”

  She was quiet a moment. “You were wigging out.” Quiet delight came through in every syllable.

  “I don’t wig.”

  “Of course not.” But he had no trouble interpreting the self-satisfied laughter in her voice.

  Ladon grunted, then jerked his wings a bit too hard as her husky chuckle skated through him.

  To conserve energy, they kept their conversation to a minimum. Flying at each other meant they were closing the gap as fast as they could. Hours later, Ladon’s tension turned suffocating with every passing second he hadn’t found her.

  Where are you?

  A flash of silver caught his eye before the buzz of an engine reached him. Fear and dread and hope blended in a nauseating mix with the fire in his belly. That had to be her.

  “Flank her,” he ordered the two white dragons on either side of him. Just in case.

  “I can see you,” he said to Skylar.

  …

  Skylar searched the sky, but her mate was too far away, not to mention the camouflage his belly scales provided, reflecting whatever was below him. “Are you sure?”

  “Dip your wings.”

  She tipped the yoke and righted it.