by Lolita Lopez
Rising to his feet, Mad carefully tucked Ivy behind him and boxed her into the corner of the cell. He shifted his weight from foot to foot and clenched his fists, readying his meaty hands for whatever hell he might need to unleash. To protect her, he would need to shift to his dragon form. She probably thought she knew what to expect after seeing such winged creatures in her dreams, but it would be a shock to see it in the flesh. He prayed she would hold it together.
“Mad?” Ivy placed a trembling hand to his lower back. “Be careful. There are more of them tonight. I can feel them.”
Her scared voice made his gut clench. Every fiber of his being screamed for him to shift, fight, and steal her away from here, but he knew the odds of making it out in good enough shape to fly away with her were very low. It was the reason he had allowed himself to be taken captive and thrown in this cell with her instead of waiting to make sure the Brotherhood had received his message.
There had been a dozen guards that night he had stormed the prison. It would have been futile to attempt to break her out on his own, but he hadn’t been able to walk away from her to wait for backup. His fear that she wouldn’t survive another night alone had forced his hand and gotten them into this mess.
“Stay back, little bit.” He reached behind himself and gave her hip a gentle pat. “Whatever happens, do not get involved.”
“But—”
He glanced over his shoulder and pinned her in place with a look. “No.”
She nodded meekly. “All right.”
Never wanting her to be afraid of him, he ran his palm along her arm. “I don’t mean to be curt with you. Never fear me, Ivy.”
She reached for his hand, but their fingers never touched. The door at the end of the hall opened with a noisy bang, and she jumped. He pushed her back and squared his shoulders. Stretching his neck, he embraced that primal power within him and initiated the shift.
Before the first scale appeared on his human skin, one of the Knights stepped into view and rapidly fired four tranquilizer darts. Without his dragon hide to protect him, Mad couldn’t simply shrug off the sharp, long needles. They stabbed deep into his muscles and spilled their poison into his blood.
It wasn’t the first time he had been subjected to their tranquilizers, but this was a new recipe. As he yanked them from his body, the drugs were already taking effect. He blinked rapidly and swallowed hard as his stomach churned and his throat tightened. Swaying on his feet, he tried to fight the darkness threatening to engulf him but he couldn’t. With Ivy’s shriek of terror ringing in his ears, Mad fell forward, bouncing hard when he hit the ground, and passed out cold.
Almost immediately, he was thrown into a swirling, hazy vat that threatened to drown him. It was a dream world he couldn’t control. Maybe it wasn’t a dream at all. Falling and falling, his stomach swooping and his heart racing, Mad realized he had entered that strange mind space he typically shared with Ivy. With her incredible gift and innate power, she constructed such beautifully vivid dreams. Without her there to guide him, he was totally lost and completely at the mercy of this wild and violent psychic space.
A burst of energy rocked him. While his physical body remained under the control of the sedatives and paralyzing agents, his dream body—and his dragon—were finally set free. He rolled his shoulders and embraced the painful spasms of the shift. His wings exploded from his back, the cartilage snapping and the heavy membranes stretched between them catching some lift.
His descent slowed, and he arced to the left while scanning the foggy, inky skyline. As if someone twisted a dimmer switch, the darkness surrounding him began to brighten. He flipped onto his back and watched with awe as a half-moon suddenly appeared. Thousands of brilliant, twinkling stars began to dot the night sky. He flapped his wings and shifted his weight until he was mostly upright. Buildings and rooftops came into view. In his long life, he had visited many cities but none of them looked like the one he was quickly approaching. Where the hell am I?
Eyes narrowing, he recognized famous pieces of architecture from all around the world. It occurred to him that this was one of Ivy’s constructed worlds and not simply a snapshot from a memory. Flying between buildings, he swept down the empty streets in search of her. Where are you?
Almost instantly, Ivy’s sweet voice pinged his thoughts. Go to the library. Wait for me. Don’t try to leave.
Used to being the one giving orders, he nonetheless did as her ghostly voice bade. He found the library rather easily and somehow managed to fit his massive dragon form through the ornately carved wooden door. He stepped into a bibliophile’s dream world with stacks that stretched as far as the eye could see on four different floors. There were ladders, staircases, reading nooks, and comfy chairs. Unable to help himself, he breathed in the scent of paper, ink, and leather and marveled at Ivy’s ability to make everything so real.
The doors unexpectedly locked behind him. Whirling on them, he grasped the handles but not even his superhuman strength would make them budge. The windows began to disappear, and a sensation of claustrophobia gripped him. Outside the library, a wild storm kicked up, the wind and rain battering the masonry with such force that he worried the make-believe walls might fall in on him. Ivy had locked him inside this building she had created for a reason. To protect me.
It hit him quite suddenly that the drugs they had pumped into his body were meant to weaken the mental walls he had erected to keep sensitive information safe. Under the influence of the poisons circulating through his system, he would be vulnerable to mining by that horrid Seer. With Ivy’s deep connection to him, she was the perfect conduit for exploring his mind and getting to his secrets. He knew the locations of all the Brotherhood safe houses, the communes where their people lived, and the unique dragon breeds who were at the greatest risk of extinction.
And Ivy must have known that. It was the reason she had immediately connected with him as soon as he had gone unconscious. By sheer force, his future mate had tossed him into their shared dream space and then brought him here to this well-guarded spot.
But what were they doing to her while he was hiding in here? His chest ached. It felt as if a painful vise squeezed the air from his lungs. Judging by the storm raging outside, the Seer was assailing Ivy with her full might. Were they hurting her badly? Was she crying out for him, begging for him to save her?
The minutes ticked by like hours. Stuck in this altered reality, he couldn’t be sure if the clock on the far wall was correct. How long did five minutes in a dream world last in real life? One hour? Five?
The worry ate at him, gnawing at his gut and leaving him on the verge of a panic attack. She might have put him away in this library to contain him and his secrets, but the connection they shared couldn’t be totally stopped. Her fear and anxiety spilled over him.
“Ivy.” Her name echoed in the cavernous library. “Let me help you.”
She didn’t answer him immediately, but when she did, he could tell she was weakening. “Soon.”
One word spoken with such pain coloring her voice. He flexed his wings and let loose a deep rumble of irritation. How much longer until the sedatives wore off and he had complete control of his physical body again? That had to be why she was dragging this out and taking so long to let him free.
“Mad.”
He spun around the moment the proximity of her voice registered. She slumped against a bookshelf and held on to the wooden edge with a white-knuckled grip. “Ivy!”
With one long leap, he crossed the distance between them and gathered her up in his arms. She weighed a fraction of what she did in real life, her dream presence so faint that she hardly existed at all in this world she had created for them. Careful of his talons, he swept his scaled fingertips down her face. “Let me wake, Ivy. It’s time.”
She exhaled a shuddery breath and finally nodded. “Be careful. She’s stronger tonight and very angry.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m older and more powerful than her. My body
is quickly metabolizing the drugs.” He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead in silent gratitude for the way she had sacrificed her own comfort and safety to protect him. If he had his way, this would be the very last time she was ever put in this position. “Wake me, Ivy. Wake me now.”
Her feather-light body disintegrated right before his eyes. She faded to nothingness and disappeared from the library. A quiver of panic slashed at his chest, but he calmed himself with the knowledge that she was incredibly skilled at navigating the journey between reality and this dream world. Rising tall, he focused on the sensation of waking and regaining consciousness. The moment the Seer felt him stir, she would pounce on him and try to pry into his most secret thoughts. He had to be ready for her.
Layer by layer, the heavy sleepiness was drawn back and Mad surfaced from the dream like a deep-sea diver making a slow ascent. With a ragged inhale, he came out of his drugged sleep. Groggy and disoriented, he blinked rapidly and breathed hard. Painfully bright lights blinded him, and he flinched, shutting his eyes tightly. He tried to move but couldn’t. Heavy manacles bound him to a cold metal slab, probably the same one Ivy had described during her first day in captivity.
A second after he felt the chains and cuffs holding him in place, he became aware of Ivy’s smaller body on top of his. No longer stuck in that dream world, he was fully human—and totally naked. There was nothing between his hot slick body and hers. The Knights had stripped them both and tied them together on top of this slab, forcing their bodies into intimate contact. He had an extremely bad feeling about what that sicko Seer and her crew of Knight minions were trying to accomplish.
“Ivy?” His whisper sounded unbelievably loud in the quiet furnace of a room. When she didn’t stir, he pressed his cheek against hers and nuzzled her gently. “Wake up, little bit.”
“Beast…”
The nickname inspired a smile, but it quickly vanished when he scented her blood. Lifting his head, he spotted the thin streams of it running from her nose and ears. Guilt slashed at him, and fear for her health left him cold. “Oh, sugar…”
“They’re coming.”
His stomach clenched as he imagined the worst. “The Knights?”
“Your brothers.” She inhaled a shaky breath. “The dragons.”
His senses dulled by the drugs the Knights had shot into him, Mad couldn’t lock onto the invisible signals of his kind. Even so, he didn’t doubt Ivy. She was so incredibly special and so very talented. If she said his brothers were coming, they were coming.
He nuzzled her again and found comfort in the way she pressed against his chest, her bare breasts warm against his skin. “Just hang on, Ivy. We’ll be safe soon.”
Within seconds his brothers were close enough that not even the drugs still coursing through his system could block them out. He counted the pings on his mental radar—one, two, three, four—and hastily identified them. Niko, Griff, Ignatius, and Stig had come to their rescue. Finally, he thought with a great deal of frustration. What in the hell had kept them away for so long?
That was a question that would have to wait. Right now, he was more worried about Ivy’s injuries than monitoring the movement of his friends through the prison. Ivy flinched and gasped a few times. He realized she was watching or feeling the battle happening in the abandoned prison.
Griffin’s familiar pulse appeared in the hallway. One good kick was all it took for his cousin to send the cell door flying into the room. Mad lifted his head and was just barely able to make out the sight of Griff crouching down and turning to the side to fit through the doorway. One look at the table, and his cousin stopped dead in his tracks. Mad could only imagine what their precarious position looked like.
Stig followed hot on Griffin’s heels. Even in his dragon form, there was no masking his shock. Realizing both men had a perfect view of his mate’s naked curves, he snarled angrily and shouted, “Quit staring and unlatch me. She’s hurt, and she needs help. Now!”
Griff hurried toward them and gripped the chains binding Mad’s wrists in his fearsome hands. With two hard jerks, he shattered the links. Mad immediately wrapped his arms around Ivy’s smaller, fragile body and sat up, cradling her tight to his chest. “Sweetheart?” He pushed the damp strands of her hair from her face and ran his thumb through the slick blood dripping from her nose. “Ivy?”
But she wouldn’t rouse.
Griff made quick work of breaking the manacles around his ankles while Stig searched the adjoining cells for intel. His cousin placed a vicious-looking hand on his bare shoulder and gave it a squeeze, the very tips of those black talons scratching his skin. In his dragon form, Griff couldn’t speak very well because their throat anatomy was totally changed. He didn’t have to say any words to convey his message. Mad read it loud and clear.
“Is she alive?” Niko, fully human now, raced into the cell, his bronzed and heavily tattooed skin splattered with blood from the kills he had made. Ignatius came into the room behind him but remained in his shifted form. Blood dripping down his scaled chest and from the fangs protruding from his mouth.
“Yes,” Mad finally answered. “Barely, but we have to get her out of here. She’s starving and dehydrated.” He showed the blood trickling out of her ears. “And then there’s this.”
Niko placed a hand on the back of her head and closed his eyes. With one touch, he could assess a patient. “She’ll heal. It’s not fatal. It’s common in those gifted with the sight.”
The mention of her gift made him think of that horrid old cow who had tormented Ivy for weeks. “What about the Seer?”
Niko shook his head. “She escaped when we arrived. We’ll find her. We’ll finish this.” The ancient Greek tapped his arm and showed a great deal of concern. “Can you walk?”
“I’m fine.” What he didn’t want to admit was that he was overwhelmed by the urge to punch every male in the room for even looking at Ivy. If one of his brothers attempted to carry her, he would probably shift and lose total control. “I’ve got her.”
“Yes, I see that.” Niko sounded suspiciously relieved. He hesitated a moment before asking, “Is she your mate?”
Mad carefully placed her on the table so he could shift without harming her. Whatever doubts he had harbored about the blood magic between them making their bond false had fled within moments of meeting her. Even now, his heart raced and a comforting warmth spread through his body, the heat of it making his toes tingle. “Yes.”
“So you’ve claimed her then?” In their world, only an act of completed intercourse could seal the mate bond.
He frowned at the alchemist. “Are you serious? Have you seen this shithole we’ve been stuck in for the last two weeks? She’s been here longer than that. When it’s time for me to take her as my mate, it will be done properly—and on her terms.”
Stretching his aching neck, Mad embraced that primal part of him and unleashed his dragon. Wings folded, he bent down, scooped Ivy up and held her close. Surrounded by his brothers, he left the prison and leaped into the dark night, taking flight and heading for the nearby airfield where Niko had a private jet waiting for them.
Something about his short conversation with Ivy’s tribe mate and elder unsettled him. Suddenly he feared that his brothers hadn’t simply been delayed in finding them. The idea that Niko and Ignatius’s desires might mirror those of the Knights sent a chill down his spine. Even as he ran Ivy out of that prison, he feared she was now in far more danger than he had ever imagined.
Chapter Six
Ivy’s eyes fluttered open. Her vision came into focus but she blinked with confusion as she stared at a coffered ceiling. After weeks of waking up to the dirty, cracked ceiling of her prison cell, the gleaming and beautifully carved wooden panels above her were something of a shock. Am I hallucinating?
A ridiculously loud snore ripped through the stillness. A slow smile curved her mouth. It was a sound she had come to appreciate, and one that instantly set her at ease. Very carefully, she rolled onto
her side and discovered the relaxed and ever so handsome face of her Beast. Content to simply stare at the hard angle of his jaw, she breathed in the clean scent of him and tried to make sense of her jumbled thoughts.
Flashes of memories teased her. After Mad had been tranquilized, she had desperately tried to protect him and the secrets he carried. The Seer had been surprisingly powerful that night, or perhaps she had simply been too weak to fight her. That evil hag had been so intent on forcing her to connect with Mad, but Ivy had done everything possible to keep him contained behind a wall the Mind Miner couldn’t penetrate.
And it had pissed off the Knight’s psychic weapon so badly. Ivy didn’t think she had ever experienced pain like that. The unceasing mental assault felt like thousands of red-hot needles were piercing her brain, jamming in deep and wiggling around until she just wanted to die. Even so, she had soldiered on, certain Mad would have done the same thing for her if the roles had been reversed.
Despite being locked away in that dreamscape she had created for him, Ivy had been able to feel Mad’s guilt and worry. With all the drugs pumping through his system, he could have died from an overdose or been seriously injured, but she was his only concern. Me.
“Yes. You.” His gruff voice surprised her. When his dark eyelashes finally parted, his green eyes were damned near sparkling with mischief. “Your thoughts are loud this morning.”
Her belly swooped at the sight of his playful grin. “Wait. You can hear me?”
“It started when we were flying away from the prison.” Mad placed his big hand against her cheek and ran his thumb along her skin, the very touch of him making her tingle in all the right places. “I’m told it happens when mates share a powerful psychic connection. I suppose the trauma of that night had something to do with awakening it.”
