Wicked After Dark: 20 Steamy Paranormal Tales of Dragons, Vampires, Werewolves, Shifters, Witches, Angels, Demons, Fey, and More

by Mina Carter

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Rayne forced a calm he didn’t feel into his body, and more importantly, his mind. It was not the time for hasty decisions. Hasty decisions led to mistakes. Mistakes led to Kyndel getting hurt.

  Unacceptable.

  “And exactly how do you plan to do that when your leader is dead and we have your magician at the end of a sword?”

  The man holding his mate laughed and jerked Kyndel’s head back a little farther, exposing more of her precious neck. The knife went deeper into her skin. A millimeter farther and he would spill her blood. Rayne was quickly losing control. His dragon pushed to get out. Both needed to save their mate.

  “You have not killed my leader. I am not a hunter. And the one you hold is but my apprentice. I am beholden to no one, Rayne MacLendon. I am your worst nightmare.”

  With that proclamation, he pushed Kyndel from under the shadow of the cave entrance into the bright moonlight, still holding tight to her hair, knife at her throat.

  Leaning forward, the man holding his mate placed his mask covered mouth against Kyndel’s ear. “Now, beautiful mate of the illustrious Rayne MacLendon, very slowly raise your hands straight up and over your head. Remove my head covering. My hands seem to be a bit full at the moment.” He chuckled at the end while Rayne dreamt of breaking his neck.

  Kyndel didn’t move immediately. Once again, he jerked her hair. She gasped in pain. Rayne jumped forward, but Kyndel met his eyes and shook her head, letting him know not to lose his temper just yet.

  He watched as she raised her hands and removed the ski mask as instructed. All the Guardsmen, even those in dragon form, were absolutely still. Shocked by what had just been revealed.

  “Andrew,” the name slipped from Rayne’s lips.

  Two silver dragons dropped from the sky, transforming back to men while they descended, landing on either side of Rayne.

  “It’s just not possible,” Aidan was mumbling and walking forward like he was in a trance.

  “Oh, yes, brother, it is possible. The head you saw thrown into the fire that night was not mine. The wizards captured and restrained me with a combination of black magic and blood of the original mage. What you saw was sleight of hand. You were so gullible. You believed it. You gave up on me. Ran like the coward you are. The wizards held me for months with no food. Wouldn’t allow me to transform. Tried to take every drop of dragon magic from me.

  “When I realized you weren’t coming for me, I plotted my revenge against them. When they thought I was weak, they brought me out of the dungeon. I let them believe they had succeeded in my brainwashing. After I learned all their secrets, including how to hide what I am from everyone, even another Guardsman, I killed the whole coven.

  “Then I set out to find the hunters and join their ranks. I knew it was the only way to get close enough to kill you. The useless zealots were my cover. Even with all I learned from the wizards, I feared if you all focused on me at the same time, you would be able to figure out who I was, especially big guy there.” He pointed to Royce, still in dragon form.

  “Why don’t you join the party as a man, Royce? I’m getting a stiff neck looking all the way up there to make sure you are not plotting anything.”

  Finally, Aidan spoke. “But why didn’t you mindspeak to me? I left that canyon devastated at the loss of my younger brother. I‘ve spent every moment of every day reliving what went wrong. How those wizards were able to get the drop on us. I haven’t had one moment’s peace since the second I saw what I thought was your head land in that fire. Why would you not come back to the clan when you escaped the wizards? Why would you join with our mortal enemies?”

  “Because, dear brother,” Andrew spat the words like they were poison, “you gave up on me. You didn’t even try to find me. When we were surrounded by those wizards, you ran and left me to be captured. Even before they threw the head of that farmer into the fire, you had already decided I was dead. You gave up on me! YOU ARE A COWARD!”

  Andrew looked deranged after his outburst. Until that moment, Rayne thought there might be a chance of reasoning with him, but now he was sure nothing was left of the man they knew all those years before. There would be no talking him down.

  “But what do you hope to accomplish by killing Rayne’s mate?” Aidan sounded like he was talking to a wild animal, trying to calm him, to make him see reason. Rayne just wanted to kill him.

  “I was hoping you’d found yours when I saw you sitting on that rock in the park and this bitch had her hand on your arm, but then I saw the great and powerful Commander haul her off, and heard the sounds of their pleasure. I realized she was his and not yours. Unfortunately, plans were already in motion, so I made a revision. I decided then to kill his mate, which will drive him mad. He’ll unleash his wrath on all in his path and you’ll have to watch. I’ll make sure he saves you for last so that you may feel every one of your brethren fall, because after all, dear brother, you caused all of this.

  “We could have waited another day to go hunting. There were enough food stores to last, but you had to fly that night. What was so important, brother dear? Tell your faithful Guardsmen what couldn’t wait. What was more important than your younger brother’s life?”

  Aidan closed his eyes and shuddered as if in pain. Rayne feared for his brethren’s sanity. Finally, he spoke. “I wanted to see the woman from my dreams, the one my dragon and I had scented on our flight over the city the night before. I knew she would be leaving the gym and couldn’t resist looking at her raven hair, blue eyes, and curvy figure one more time. I wanted to see if I could glimpse her smile.” His words faded as he spoke, so that when he finished, they were barely audible.

  “So, for a look at some piece of ass, you allowed your brother to be captured and tortured? You gave up and walked away? Tell me, brother, did you tell your precious Guardsmen what happened? Did you bring them back to the site? DID YOU EVEN TRY TO FIND ME?”

  Continuing like he hadn’t asked a question, Andrew growled, “Don’t bother answering. It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to hear your excuses or apologies. You are a coward and a failure. You will go to your grave knowing you could’ve saved me. For that, Rayne’s mate must die and you must watch.”

  Looking at his other brethren, Rayne saw that Aaron looked as mad as he felt. The Commander couldn’t tell which brother he wanted to beat the hell out of first. There were definitely some secrets revealed here today that would have to be dealt with, but right now he had to get his mate out of the hands of the madman holding her. He prayed to the Universe that she would forgive him all his mistakes. He was starting to lose count of the number of times she had been in danger in the twenty-four hours since he’d found her. He had to get everyone’s head back in the game and bring this stand off to an end.

  Just as he was about to move forward, he caught sight of Devon perched on the edge of the opening to the cave, directly above Andrew and Kyndel. Rayne didn’t give a damn how his brethren had gotten up there without anyone noticing, just that he had. Now there was hope, and that was all Rayne needed. He couldn’t use mindspeak for fear Andrew might still be able to tune in. He would have to rely on the rest of his men to pay attention. The second Devon made a move, they would all have to act to save Kyndel and keep Andrew from getting away.

  In the blink of an eye, everything changed. Andrew pulled Kyndel’s head back prepared to pull the knife across her neck. Devon looked at Royce and winked. Andrew was so focused on making sure Rayne was watching him, he had no idea what was happening right over his head.

  Devon launched himself at Andrew’s back. Royce threw his considerable girth at Andrew’s side. The knife fell. Devon hit Andrew while he was still reeling from Royce’s hit. What no one had planned for was the force of Royce hitting Andrew in the side, coupled with his hand in Kyndel’s hair, would throw her into the air. She landed with a crunch against the rocks.

  Rayne rushed to her side. He ran his hands over her body, feeling for any broken bones or ser
ious injuries. Afraid to pick her up and hold her against his body as he longed to do because of the blow to her head, he placed one hand on her forehead and the other under her head. His fingers found the warm stickiness of blood.

  “Royce, get your ass over here. Let the others handle that lunatic. Kyndel is hurt!”

  Royce was immediately at his side. “Commander, you have to move back for me to take a look at the wound.”

  Rayne moved around to the other side of his mate, never losing touch with her. He was staying by her side. He would be there when she opened those beautiful eyes. He would be the first thing she saw.

  She has to be ok.

  She’d threatened to kick his ass if he died when they first met. Now, he was going to punish her for making him worry. But first, she had to wake up.

  “Is she going to be ok, Royce?”

  “Yes, I believe she will be fine. I will wrap her wound. The bleeding has slowed, but we need to get her to the lair. The Healer will be able to stitch her up and make sure everything else is okay. The laceration is not that large or deep. It looks worse than it is because head wounds bleed a lot.”

  Royce had barely finished explaining before Rayne was issuing orders. “Lance, I need you and Devon to construct a makeshift stretcher that I can use to fly Kyndel back to the lair. We have blankets and ties in the med kit. Do what you have to do. I want to take off in less than ten minutes.

  “Aidan and Aaron, is the traitor secure?”

  He had to make sure they were seeing their brother’s crimes and not the young boy they had raised. It may be harsh, but it would benefit them in the end, because Andrew would be judged by the Tribunal for his crimes against dragon kin, and more importantly, against his Kyndel.

  “Yes, Commander, he is secure. I’ll carry him in my talon and Aidan will fly beside,” Aaron answered.

  Looking over his shoulder, Rayne saw that Aidan was still in shock. Rayne had been the first to see Aidan the night they’d lost Andrew. The younger twin had been inconsolable. Rayne had taken him to the healers who had finally sedated him.

  It had taken weeks before Aidan would speak, and even longer before he let his dragon come forth. They still took turns checking on him. Aidan had told the absolute truth when he said he lived with the loss of his brother every day. Gone was the happy go lucky trickster that played pranks on all of them, alongside Lance. What was left was a hollow shell of the man they had all known for almost a century.

  Rayne looked at his Force, the men he was the closest to, closer than any blood relatives could ever be, and was thankful they were with him. They’d been through too many battles to count, had nursed each other’s wounds, and buried their dead together for almost a hundred years. These men had been there when his father had fallen and had helped care for his mother until she ultimately followed his father to the Heavens. They were all wounded from tonight’s battle, and even though they were already healing physically, they were at the ready to assist him in caring for his injured mate. He would forever be indebted to these men.

  Lance jerked him from his thoughts when he yelled, “I have the gurney ready, Commander.”

  “Good, let’s get her in it.”

  Lance, Royce, and Rayne worked for what seemed like an eternity getting Kyndel strapped in and secured. There could be no mistakes. Royce gave her an injection of some herbs he’d said were safe for her. They would keep her asleep while in flight. It wouldn’t be good for her first glimpse of her mate in dragon form to be while she was strapped to a gurney, flying high in the sky.

  “I will call my dragon forth. Lance and Royce, secure the straps of the stretcher around my third and fourth toe. That way, once I take flight, I can wrap my talons around her like a cage.”

  Rayne looked at Kyndel, hurt and bleeding… wrapped like a mummy to a makeshift backboard. He felt a pain in his heart a hundred times worse than any pain from any battle wound he’d ever received.

  “She will be okay, Rayne. In a day or two, she’ll be right back to her sassy self.” Lance squeezed his shoulder.

  Rayne turned and walked as far from his mate as possible. He called forth his dragon. Lance and Royce were right there with Kyndel. Rayne lifted his paw and his brethren secured his beautiful mate for their trip to the lair.

  She would be all right, she had to be all right. He would accept nothing less.

  With that last thought, he took to the air, leaving his men to dispose of the bodies and bring the traitor home.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Lance and Royce burnt all the dead bodies and readied themselves to return home. Lance worried over the toll he saw this ordeal was taking on Aidan. The man hadn’t been the same since he thought Andrew was dead, and now, to know his younger brother had betrayed them all, took away whatever life was left in him. He looked lost and broken, not something that would bode well for the man or his dragon.

  Striding towards Aaron and Aidan, Lance could feel the anger rolling off Aaron. It almost overrode the pain coming from Aidan. “You guys all set for the trip back?”

  “Yes,” Aaron snarled through gritted teeth. Lance tensed at the fury in his brethren’s voice, but really couldn’t blame the guy.

  “Anything I can do to help?” Lance put his hand on Aaron’s shoulder and squeezed, showing him he was there if he needed him.

  Aaron shrugged off his hand and glared. “This is my mess to clean up. Butt out.”

  “Look, Aar, I know this sucks.” Lance tried to use his nickname from their childhood to lessen the hostility. “We’re all here for you. You guys don’t have to go through this alone.”

  “I said I’ll take care of it,” he barked. “They’re my brothers. No matter how fucked up they may be, they’re my problem, no one else’s. Now, for once, do what the Commander told you to do. I don’t need or want your help.”

  Lance knew Aaron was just lashing out, but damn that stung. He walked towards Royce, who was waiting to transform. “You know he’s just pissed because it’s easier than all the other things he could be feeling right now,” Royce offered, always the most clearheaded of the bunch.

  “Yeah, I know,” Lance chuckled sarcastically. “Who would‘ve thought I’d be the touchy-feely one this time? Isn’t that your job, big guy?”

  “Whatever, asshole.” Royce slugged him in the arm. At least they could act like things were going to be okay. But Lance knew this was just the beginning of the shit storm.

  With everything loaded, Lance and Royce went to the farthest edge, called forth their dragons, and took flight. Lance trusted that Aaron would make sure he and his brothers got back to the lair, but the Universe only knew what would happen after that.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Andrew knew they were taking him to the lair. He would face charges of treason before the Tribunal, be found guilty, and beheaded. It was a foregone conclusion… one he was not going to let happen. He hadn’t survived years of torture at the hands of the wizards, then years of hiding with the hunters to be put to death by the people that failed him.

  Aaron wouldn’t even look at him. The fury rolling off his older brother was enough to suffocate anyone within a mile radius. Andrew saw pure hatred in Aaron’s eyes as he secured Andrew’s arms and legs with silver chains, the only thing that could contain a dragon shifter.

  Then there was Aidan, who resembled a zombie… eyes glazed over, blank stare, no recognition of what was going on around him. Andrew felt no remorse. It was the least of what the coward deserved. For weeks, he’d laid in that dungeon, sure his brothers and brethren would come for him. He was sure Aidan would know he was alive. They’d always been the closest, had shared a bond since his birth—but no one came.

  He remembered it like it was yesterday,

  For months he was starved, beaten and bloody, his dragon clawing to get out. He called out in mindspeak until his head throbbed and his vision blurred. Finally, with no other choice, he gave into the madness. With all hope lost, he planned his survival and plotted hi
s revenge.

  First, he convinced the wizards they had broken him. Made them believe he would do whatever they wanted. A master at deception, Andrew fooled them completely. In their quest for power, the wizards were so focused on the spell to combine his power with the blood of the original mage, they paid little attention to him except to keep him clothed in silver chainmail to subdue his magic. The searing pain was a small price to pay to be privy to their plans and learn magic he never knew existed.

  Showing no resistance, playing the perfect victim, caused the wizards to lower their guard around him. Eventually, it appeared they had forgotten who he really was. One day, a younger wizard, who’d been sent to bring his food and prepare him for another siphoning ritual, actually sat down and started to talk to him. They each talked about their upbringing and what was going on at the moment. The young wizard relaxed. Andrew felt the magic they all cloaked themselves in as protection against his dragon magic slip away. That one moment of trusting naivety cost the young man and those of his coven their lives.

  He shed the chainmail, donned the dead practitioner’s robe, and ran. Well versed in their practices, Andrew was able to make his way to the ritual already in progress. He recited the verses from memory while his dragon magic strengthened since shedding the silver chainmail. It flowed through him, fed by his anger and need for revenge.

  It came time in their ceremony for the siphoning. The older wizards looked for the protégé. The leader headed for the door to the man’s quarters. Andrew threw off the dead wizard’s robe, unleashed his dragon magic fueled by hatred and rage, and tainted by the black magic of the wizards’ rituals, and prepared to exact his revenge.

  Turning their magic against them, he watched as the skin melted from their bodies. Their muscles slid from their bones. They screamed in agony, begging for mercy, and all the while Andrew stood and watched. He relished their screams. They fed the hatred in his soul. Everything noble and chivalrous he’d once been was gone.