Blaze

by Donna Grant

  “You’re not going anywhere, mate,” Henry said and took one of Anson’s arms and pulled it around his shoulders as he helped him up.

  With Henry’s help, he got to his feet. He made his legs move even as he struggled to remain upright. “I have to get to Devon.”

  “You won’t do anyone any good in your present condition. You might be immortal, but it takes you longer to heal from the Darks’ magic.”

  Henry pushed him against one of the buildings and quickly took off his jacket before draping it over Anson’s front. It was all he could do to stay upright, so he didn’t question Henry.

  “That’ll cover most of your chest while you heal. Now, stay here,” Henry ordered. “I’m going to get us a ride.”

  “Blood.”

  Henry frowned then looked down at himself. He wiped his face on the sleeves of his shirt to remove a large portion of the blood as he sprinted away.

  Anson closed his eyes as Henry ran off. “Kinsey,” he said. “Please doona lose Devon.”

  “I won’t,” she promised, her voice low through the earpiece.

  Esther then said, “More Dark could show up.”

  “Aye.” They most likely would—with more reinforcements.

  “I’m sorry,” Kinsey said. “I should’ve seen them approach you.”

  His eyes opened when he heard the screech of tires as a dark gray Mercedes CLS pulled up alongside him. He pushed off the building, and half fell inside the passenger seat of the car.

  “You can make it up to me by telling us where Devon is,” Anson said.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Devon was drowning in a pit of panic, shock, and—worst of all—fear. She’d honestly believed she could make it through. How … stupid.

  Just when she thought she’d stopped being so foolish, she was right back in that boat again. And it well and truly sucked.

  The first time her pride had taken a hit because she’d thought herself smart and experienced. This second time, however, she could lose her life.

  As she sat in the conference room and stared into the cruel, blue eyes of Stanley Upton, she began to shake. His sneer was enough to make her wish to turn away. Somehow she kept her gaze locked with his.

  “How did you do it?” Upton asked. The pleasantries were over. Now, they were going in for the kill.

  Devon blinked. “Do what?”

  “How did you bring a Dragon King to London?”

  Was this a dream? She prayed it was because she felt as if she’d fallen down a rabbit hole much like Alice. And quite frankly, she wasn’t having any fun.

  She pinched her arm in the hopes that it would jerk her out of this nightmare. But it was just her luck that nothing happened.

  “Dragon King?” she asked in confusion.

  Didn’t these people know that dragons weren’t real? She might have recently discovered that she worked for an immoral company, but she hadn’t known they were also as daft as a loon.

  Harriett laughed as she drummed her long, red nails on the white table. “She doesn’t know.”

  “I think you’re right,” Upton said, his glee at the news making his eyes bulge. “How fascinating. We’ll get to see a proper reaction.”

  These people were stark raving mad. And Devon wanted away from them as quickly as possible. It was time she made her exit. Unfortunately, it would be her last time at Kyvor. She wasn’t going to chance another such meeting.

  “It’s been a long day,” she said and scooted back her chair.

  Harriett reacted instantly by shoving the seat forward so that the table slammed into Devon’s midsection. She grunted as she leaned back and put her hand over the area hit.

  Devon turned her head and glared at Harriett. “What the bloody hell was that?”

  “You’re not going anywhere,” Harriet stated, her lips pinched in a cruel line.

  Devon’s gaze moved to each person in the conference room until she reached Stanley Upton. Her initial assessment had been correct—she was caught in a web.

  And just like those poor insects, the more she fought, the more tangled she became. The spiders were coming in for the kill.

  Upton set a mobile phone on the table and hit the record button. “I want to know everything about Anson.”

  Her stomach plummeted to her feet like a rock. How did they know about him? Kinsey had warned her that Kyvor’s interest in Dreagan was extreme.

  Devon might have done some stupid things for her career, but she wasn’t going to give up anything about Anson to these crazy people no matter what they threatened.

  “I don’t know anyone named Anson,” she said.

  Upton’s hand came slamming down on the table with a loud thud. “Don’t lie to me!”

  She jumped at his bellow. There was no reason for her to pretend to be afraid because it was the only emotion within her at the moment.

  “I can see being polite isn’t going to get us anywhere.” Upton shoved back his chair and stood. He paced the long length of the windows facing London.

  “I can’t tell you what I don’t know,” Devon stated.

  Harriett ignored her and spoke to Upton. “Perhaps she doesn’t know his name. I could see him using another in an effort to keep us from learning who he was.”

  Stanley halted and turned his head to Devon. “The man outside the building this morning who ran toward you. What do you know of him?”

  “Nothing.” She should’ve known Kyvor would see him. Anson had been right next to the building. Dammit.

  Stanley leaned his arms atop the chair he was standing behind. “He looked at you. You looked right at him. Shall I show you?”

  Her attention went to the opposite end of the room and the large television screen that had flared to life. It showed where several cameras had picked up the event that morning. No longer could she deny that she hadn’t seen Anson. But that didn’t mean she had to admit to knowing him.

  “Oh, him,” she said with a nod. She swallowed, hoping to quell some of her distress. “I do recall that. He’s gorgeous, but I don’t know him.”

  “He’s a Dragon King,” Harriett announced in a biting tone.

  Devon looked at her and frowned. “Is that a new band or something?”

  “You know exactly who he is, you bitch,” Harriett said, her eyes narrowing in hatred.

  With brows raised, Devon shook her head and shrugged. “I don’t listen to the radio anymore. Mostly, it’s just playlists from my mobile. If these Dragon Kings are a new band, I had no idea.”

  While Harriett seethed in rage, Upton merely smiled. A chill went down Devon’s spine.

  “You’re good,” Stanley said to her. His lips twisted. “Not good enough, though. We’ve been monitoring everything you do on the computers here. You’ve done an interesting amount of research on Dreagan today.”

  She’d been prepared for this from the first moment she keyed Dreagan’s name into the computer. “Of course. I looked up many of Scotland and Ireland’s distilleries that we’ve done work for in order to find out what our new client might need.”

  “Wouldn’t you give that to one of your employees?” Harriett asked, pinning Devon with a shrewd look.

  Devon lifted one shoulder and kept her hands clasped in her lap in an effort to show that she wasn’t upset. “For the important clients, I do a lot of the initial work myself. After that, I pair closely with whatever team I put in charge of the project. It’s how I’ve always done my job.”

  “Perhaps.” Upton walked back to his chair and sat. “It isn’t a coincidence about Dreagan.”

  Devon tucked her hair behind her ear. “They’re one of the most well-known distilleries in the world. Everyone wants to sell their Scotch, but they’re also known for being very selective about who carries their whisky. Every distillery wants to do the kind of business Dreagan does.”

  “All that is true. How does that factor in to any cyber or security system we install?” Stanley asked.

  “If I know what was sold to Dr
eagan, I can easily sell that to Blair Athol, as well as all our other clients in the same business.”

  Devon wanted to yell “ha!” afterward for being so calm as well as quick-thinking, but she kept it inside.

  Upton stared at her for several moments. “As I’ve said, you’re good. Tell me, Devon, do you know what Dreagan means in the Gaelic language?”

  “No.” And she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

  “Dragon. Even their logo boasts two dragons.”

  She knew about the logo but declined to advertise that fact. “The owners must like dragons.”

  “Because they are dragons, you stupid girl,” Harriett snapped.

  Upton laughed and leaned back in his chair. “She really doesn’t know.”

  “Or she’s a good liar,” Harriett replied.

  Stanley shook his head at Harriet. “She doesn’t know, just as I suspected. Yet there’s no denying she knows Anson.”

  “She’s right here,” Devon retorted. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t want any part of this.”

  “It’s too late for that,” Harriett stated.

  Upton gave a nonchalant shrug. “Harriet’s right. You’ll be leaving Kyvor, but it’ll be with me.”

  “Thank you for the offer, but I have an appointment in half an hour,” Devon said.

  “You’re going to miss it. And it wasn’t an offer.” Stanley’s smile widened. “You see, Devon. You’re going to give us what we’ve been trying to acquire for some time. We put a lot of time and money into you. I should’ve known you’d help us capture a Dragon King. You practically dumped what we wanted right into our laps.”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “Not your call.” Upton motioned to the guards.

  Devon watched as they rose and walked straight to her. The two men grabbed her arms and yanked her to her feet. She was led out of the room behind Stanley with Harriett following.

  Out of the conference room, she looked around, hoping someone might help her—not that she was sure anyone would. But everyone had left the building.

  Her gaze caught one of the cameras. Were Kinsey and Esther still watching her? Would they alert Anson that she was in trouble? Had they heard everything in the conference room?

  She was escorted to a private elevator used only by the top executives. Every time she turned a corner, she hoped that Anson would be there, and each time, she was disappointed.

  Then, the back door was opened, and she was roughly hauled outside. The cold hit her like being doused with ice water, but it was nothing compared to glancing over and seeing Anson.

  Her excitement quickly evaporated when she spotted him fighting three men with another lying still on the ground. Her mouth fell open as a huge iridescent orb was thrown at Anson. His face contorted in pain.

  She was shoved into the car, and though she tried to turn around to see through the back window, they kept her facing forward.

  The car drove away, but all she could see each time she blinked were the red eyes of the men fighting Anson. And no matter how many times she tried, the image wouldn’t go away.

  With everything that had happened over the last couple of days, perhaps it was her imagination playing tricks. All the talk of dragons and Dragon Kings and magic must’ve had some kind of effect on her brain that turned everything into some fantastical element.

  It was the silence inside the car that reminded her that she wasn’t there by choice. Anson hadn’t saved her. In fact, he was fighting for his life. The only one who could help now was her, and she wasn’t even sure what to do.

  Devon didn’t need to see Harriett’s smug smile or Upton’s confident expression to know that they would do whatever they wanted. Would it mean using hypnosis to alter her mind? Or death?

  After what felt like an eternity, the car finally slowed. She looked out the window to see that they were pulling up to a warehouse. They drove up a short ramp and through a large doorway right into the building.

  None of this looked hopeful for her to walk away unscathed. The dread that filled her was so intense that she found it difficult to pull air into her lungs.

  The car came to a stop, and the doors opened. Then she was roughly pulled out of the car. As she was dragged toward the right side of the warehouse, she saw two more vehicles where men draped in weapons hurriedly exited and took up positions in various places around the building.

  Was this for Anson? She hoped not. Even if he could get away from the men he’d been fighting, he’d never find her.

  That meant that all of this was for the Dragon King Upton and Harriett wanted. She didn’t bother to tell them that they’d be waiting for eternity for such a creature. They’d find out soon enough.

  Still, they had kidnapped her. It wasn’t likely that either of them would allow her to leave. Any hope of an escape diminished at the sight of all the men with guns stationed everywhere.

  Her only chance was if Kinsey had tracked them and was even now calling the authorities. Devon strained her ears to listen for sirens, but she heard nothing but Upton barking orders to the soldiers.

  Devon was rushed into a small room where she was thrown inside. She fell to her hands and knees, scraping both on the rough, frigid concrete.

  It was the sound of a lock being clicked in place that got her to her feet. She rushed to the door and tried to open it. When it didn’t budge, she fought the urge to slam her fists against the slab because it wouldn’t do any good.

  She wrapped her arms around herself and moved back to the far corner. How long would she have to wait before she found out why she’d been brought to the warehouse?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Rome, Italy

  For the past two hours, Rhi had sat on a bench outside of the Pantheon watching tourists ooh and ahh at the attractions. From their attire alone, she could pinpoint where each of them lived. It was always a fun way to take her mind off things that infuriated her.

  Since she didn’t want to start glowing and blow up the world, it was exactly where she needed to be.

  She didn’t veil herself. Part of the appeal was to be in the mix of things with the sightseers. She wanted to hear them, but also be a part of the scenery.

  A laugh bubbled up inside her when an older woman on the plump side saw her husband ogle a female in a flowy skirt and skimpy shirt that walked past.

  Rhi’s smile died when her gaze landed on Inen standing across the way. She didn’t want to talk to the captain of the Queen’s Guard. Their last words hadn’t exactly been pleasant. Then there was the fact that Inen couldn’t see what Usaeil was turning into.

  Unperturbed, he strode through the crowd toward her. Rhi stayed seated, mainly because it was such a shock to see him in the human world. Inen preferred the Light Castle to mingling with the mortals. He called them trouble.

  And she had to admit, the humans were certainly that.

  “Rhi,” Inen said as he came to stand before her.

  She used her hand to block the sun from her eyes as she looked up at him. Then she noticed everyone staring at them. Neither had used glamour, and it was drawing more and more attention.

  “I’d like a word,” he continued.

  She dropped her hand and stood, letting him see her annoyance as she glanced around. “Not here. Too many watchers.” He waited without moving. With a sigh, she rolled her eyes. “Fine. Follow me.”

  The mortals parted, their gazes locked on the two Light Fae. If it wouldn’t cause such a scene, Rhi would veil herself. She didn’t slow or speak until they reached more deserted streets.

  Before she could say anything, Inen said, “There’s a problem.”

  Only one thing would send him into the human world. Usaeil. Rhi halted and kicked at a pebble. She’d told herself she wasn’t going to get involved. It was better if she left it all behind. Usaeil wouldn’t listen to reason, and the Light Fae were oblivious of any of the danger.

  Except that was a lie. The Light knew something was amiss. T
he problem was, they blamed the wrong group. They thought the Reapers were after them when that wasn’t the case at all.

  She’d kept her knowledge of the Reapers to herself. After Death had gone to such lengths to erase her memories of everything to do with the Reapers, Rhi thought it better if she pretended she still knew nothing.

  That was proving to be more difficult than she’d anticipated. First, because she knew her silent watcher who had been following her for months was a Reaper. Yet, she’d gotten rid of him.

  Sort of.

  The Reaper didn’t get close to her anymore, but he still managed to find her. Just as he stood off in the distance, watching her now.

  “Did you hear me?”

  She looked up at Inen. “Yes.”

  “That’s all you have to say?” he demanded, his face contorted with anger.

  Rhi blew out a breath. “You didn’t want my help earlier.”

  “That was before Usaeil went crazy.”

  “There are a lot of reasons that could be happening. Tell me what you think it is.” She certainly wasn’t going to open her mouth about anything if Inen didn’t already know—which meant she’d stay quiet about Con and Usaeil’s affair.

  Inen ran a hand through his shoulder-length black hair. His silver gaze briefly looked around before he faced her. “Usaeil hasn’t been to the castle in months. It’s the longest she’s been gone.”

  “I know. I was recently there.”

  “Why didn’t you come see me?”

  She raised a brow. “Why would I? I’m no longer part of the Queen’s Guard.”

  “I keep forgetting that,” he mumbled. He shook his head slowly. “Usaeil isn’t the same queen.”

  “She hasn’t been for a long time. You’re just now seeing it. What happened?”

  He moved to stand beside her and leaned his back against the building. “She wouldn’t answer any of my calls for her to return to Ireland and our people. So I went to find her.”

  Rhi smiled at his initiative. Inen was acting like a Fae more concerned with their people than the queen. It was about damn time. “And?”