Dragon's Lover, Part Three: A Dragon Shifter Romance

by Carina Wilder

  But before he could examine the crevice carefully, a sound grabbed his attention.

  “We’ll be taking that from you, then,” the voice called out from behind him, throwing him off balance. Shoving the Relic into the waist of his jeans, he grasped the carved stone edge of the window frame and turned his head to look into the courtyard behind him. A pallid, high cheek-boned man stood in front of the row of benches no more than fifteen feet away. A Forsaken. The enemy.

  “Fuck again,” Aegis snarled. Keep it away from him, his Dragon commanded inside his mind. “You won’t be taking anything from me,” he shouted.

  “I beg to differ,” the man said, taking a step forward. Aegis didn’t waste a moment, leaping to the ground below the window. Before the other man knew what had happened, the blue-black Dragon was arching his great neck over him, huffing smoke through nostrils that glowed red-orange with radiant heat. His long pupils narrowed with rage, focused purely on the enemy before him, and so he didn’t notice the quarter circle of stone that had fallen when he’d transformed, hitting the grass under him.

  The Forsaken lunged for it, clearly intending to slip under the déor’s belly and snatch the piece away. Aegis realized his intention just in time to thrust a spear of white hot flame at the ground in front of the man, igniting everything around it. The Forsaken stopped in his tracks, thinking better of his plan to challenge a Kindred’s fire.

  Aegis tried to reach for the Relic, to pick it up first with his immense talons then with his teeth, but it was too small for a Dragon to gather up. So once again, the Forsaken tried to take advantage by darting around him, determined to acquire the priceless piece of rock.

  Another fiery dart shot out of the Dragon’s mouth, this one hitting the Relic square in its centre. Almost immediately its surface glowed with a devastating orange heat. The stone, powerful as it was, withstood the impact of the Dragon’s fiery assault. Reacting quickly, Aegis shifted, reaching a long arm down to earth to snatch it up. Grabbing it in his fist, he let out a piercing cry as his hand wrapped around the scalding surface. The hideous sound of sizzling flesh met his ears but he persevered, clenching it protectively in his palm. This is for Ashlyn, he growled. Ignore the pain.

  Instinctively he opened his hand and looked down. His skin smoked where the Relic had branded the mark of flame in his palm. For the briefest moment a smile pulled the corners of his lips upwards. He had the mark at last; his bond with Ashlyn was complete. Now he had only to survive the next minute of his life so that he could find her.

  He looked up again, searching for the Forsaken, but somehow the man had disappeared. Bastards moved so damned quickly.

  Then three words pierced the air behind him.

  “Do it now!”

  A loud crack echoed through the courtyard, and the Aegis’s body crumpled to the ground like a bag of sand.

  Far Away

  As they flew north, Ashlyn stared down at Mardoc’s Dragon form. He was enormous, larger than Aegis’s déor though less slender and elegant. When she’d first climbed onto his back, she’d felt more like she was easing into a strange, moveable recliner than onto a living creature. His flight came in lumbering waves, not at all the elegance that she’d come to expect from one of his kind. His charms, it seemed, were beginning to wear thin.

  The occasional car meandered along narrow country roads far below them, their drivers entirely oblivious to the Dragon soaring through the clouds above. Thatch-roofed houses and ancient trees dotted the sea of snow-covered fields that unfolded in what should have been a pleasant tapestry. As she glanced down, Ashlyn told herself she should have been enjoying the ride; after all, she was heading to her new mate’s home. A little while earlier she’d been enthralled by the idea, excited to get to spend time with the handsome, mysterious Mardoc.

  So why was this feeling of uneasy fear settling into her gut now? What the hell had changed in a matter of minutes?

  Questions wound their way through her head, her anguished mind trying desperately to piece together everything that had led her to this strange, disembodied moment in time. With each gust of cool air that struck her face, so did a new memory, a new revelation. The more she considered what was happening, the less she could figure out why or how Mardoc had persuaded her to come with him. How the hell had she agreed to be taken away from London, from Aegis, from all the hope for a future with the only man she cared about?

  What the fuck had this strange man done to her?

  She recalled the odd look in his eyes when he’d stared at her, the almost hypnotic energy that had forced its way inside her, convincing her by some strange miracle that Aegis meant nothing to her.

  How could this have happened?

  It didn’t matter. She was at the Dragon shifter’s mercy now, at least until they arrived at their destination, which was apparently very, very far from London. Why would a Guild member choose to live so damn far away from their meeting place, anyway?

  Holy crud, nothing was making sense anymore.

  Remember, Ashlyn, she told herself, trying to soothe her frayed nerves. You agreed to this. You’re just going to get to know him a little and if you’re not happy, he promised he’d let you go on your way. Don’t panic.

  Yet.

  She looked down at him, studying the pattern of scales on his neck. She’d noticed his colour when he’d shifted: a sort of dull yellow shade, though it might have been the cloud cover above that had robbed him of any brightness or luminescence. Whatever the case, he lacked the beauty or splendour of her lover’s shifted form.

  Mardoc was a beast, and Aegis was beautiful.

  With every passing minute recollections began to open themselves like petals of a blooming flower inside her; memories of Aegis’s fingers on her skin, of his voice, his eyes. How he made her feel, how she’d never been so happy as she had in her time with him.

  How—or why—had she let it all slip her mind when Mardoc had spoken to her with that oddly persuasive voice of his?

  The answer was in the question, of course. He’d tricked her, and she’d succumbed like a fool.

  She closed her eyes against the thought, trying with all her strength to retain her humanity. To remind herself what she’d wanted most in the world that morning. The whole reason she’d gone to St. Dunstan’s was to find the Relic, to ensure that nothing stood between her and Aegis. He loved her, she knew it…and she loved him.

  She wanted to scream, to unleash her frustration at her surreal plight. Trapped in the sky, high above land. Far away from everything that mattered in the world.

  Too bad I wouldn’t survive a fall to earth, she thought as her eyes took in the landscape below. If there was any chance of it, I’d leap down and sprint back towards London as fast as my legs would carry me.

  * * *

  They’d flown for over an hour when she heard the low, rumbling Dragon’s voice inside her mind once again.

  “In the distance you can see my small abode,” he was saying. Something about his voice inside her felt jarring and invasive now, and she wanted to banish it from her mind. Aegis would have been welcome there. But Mardoc’s words were a violation of everything inside her; he shouldn’t be in there, where another man belonged. He had no right to delve into her soul like this.

  Leaning forward to scan the landscape, she tried to suppress the shudder that wanted so badly to overtake her body. Act polite and charmed, she told herself. Don’t let him know that you’re onto him.

  All she could see under the cover of cloud ahead was a tall hill. On its top was what looked like a large grey mansion…or was it a castle? Pointed turrets stood like sentinels at its corners, signalling wealth and nobility. Nothing but barren hillside and the odd shrub surrounded the place on all sides. Oh, shit. Soon she would truly be isolated. So far from Aegis that he may as well no longer exist, and if Mardoc started his mind tricks again, he might even manage to convince her of it. She was well and truly screwed, and the worst of it was that her own weakness had put her i
n this position.

  “Ah, I see it,” she replied, trying hard to seem excited. “It’s…impressive.”

  The Dragon began his descent towards a courtyard beyond the large building’s stone façade. As they approached, the grounds began to take on the look of a prison rather than an impressive palace, its grey walls stark and lifeless. What should have been lush green foliage in its gardens had curdled to brown-grey nothingness. Barren didn’t begin to describe the wilderness around it.

  Scattered through the courtyard were a few strange, pale figures who darted off into the shadows as the Dragon’s shadow appeared overhead. Oh my God, were those Forsaken? What the hell would such creatures be doing in a Guild member’s domain? Once again a cold, tense hand wrapped itself around Ashlyn’s stomach, clenching, assuring her that her fear was justified.

  “Prepare yourself, Ashlyn”, a voice commanded from some place deep inside her. This time it wasn’t Mardoc’s low rumbling voice, but the one she’d heard so often from within the far reaches of her being. That familiar feminine force that had told her to resist his charms. A sort of inner strength that had accompanied her on and off all her life. Relief flooded through her to have her longtime companion show itself once again, even if she’d always associated it with the possibility of madness.

  “Prepare myself for what?” she asked silently.

  “For the battle ahead. Be ready to fight him with your mind as well as your other weapons.”

  She looked down at her boot, eyeing the small hilt of the Dragon bone blade that accompanied her everywhere. Something told her that her dagger wouldn’t be sufficient to fight the shifter off, even if she chose to use it. If Mardoc was able to convince her to forget Aegis, surely he could convince her to drop a blade to the ground.

  Hopeless. She was completely hopeless.

  When the Dragon’s scaled feet collided with the frozen earth Ashlyn leapt off, her chest heaving with deep breaths as panic overtook her body. High, dark grey walls now surrounded her on all sides, like the courtyard of some desolate prison. One solitary door led into the huge house, and the strange figures she’d seen a moment before seemed to have disappeared entirely. Had she only imagined them? The horrifying truth was that there was no way to know.

  Wonderful. For the second time in a week she’d lost all faith in her own damned mind. She reached a hand up to her face to feel her cheek.

  No fever, at least. Good news Ashlyn! You’re not sick. You’re just nuts.

  “I’ll guide you inside and show you to your room,” Mardoc said when he’d shifted, his eyes fixed on the house rather than on her. All attempts to be warm and charming had subsided. He was all business now, and apparently he didn’t give a rat’s ass if she found him alluring or not. “You’ll find clean clothing there, and anything else you might need.” He walked ahead of her, seemingly indifferent to whether or not she chose to follow.

  “I…thank you,” she replied. At her most stubborn she would have asked him why the hell he had women’s clothes lying around for her to wear, but this wasn’t the time to challenge the man who planned to make her some sort of enslaved bride. He had every advantage over her, not to mention that he could no doubt snap her in half like a twig if she made him angry.

  Or worse.

  “You will eat with me in an hour,” he added, guiding her towards the door and pulling it open to usher her inside. “A servant will fetch you.”

  His voice had retained its smooth rhythm, but there was something new in it as well: a dominance that made her blood run cold. What should have sounded like an invitation had come out as an icy command. It was how she imagined villainous, misogynistic husbands spoke to their wives in fairy tales just before killing them and serving them up to dinner guests.

  “All right,” she replied, trying her damnedest to conceal the tremor in her voice. Shit, this was bad. Really, really bad. She should never have come to this godforsaken place.

  Her eyes darted around, eyeing the darkening clouds over the top of the stark walls just before she slipped in through the door.

  Well, it was official: she was no longer in England.

  She was in hell.

  The Game is On

  Aegis awoke with a throbbing drumbeat invading the deepest reaches of his skull. With his left hand he reached for the place where the blow had struck, finding an enormous goose egg under his hair. His eyes moved about the room, trying to focus on anything that might tell him where he was and what had occurred.

  Okay, well, he was lying in a bed—a white bed, in a white room. The ceiling above was lapping in waves of dim light. So he was in Lumen’s flat. Well, that was better than finding himself dead at the hands of a couple of…

  “Shit!” he all but yelled when he remembered what had happened, the searing pain in his right palm a grim reminder of the plonker—or was it plonkers—who’d tried to stop him getting the Relic. Oh God, had they taken it for themselves?

  Flinging his legs over the edge of the bed, he threw himself into an upright position even as the spins overtook him. As quickly as he’d gotten up, his body careened back down onto the bed, his head bouncing hard against the mattress.

  “Ow,” he groaned.

  “Not so fast,” a deep male voice said from a far corner of the room. “You’re in no shape to go running all over creation, even if it is to chase after your rightful mate.”

  Aegis turned his head slowly towards the opposite end of the room. His Alpha sat in a plain wooden chair, tucked away next to the dresser. How long had he been there?

  “What’s happened?” he asked, dragging himself back towards the pillow that was propped up against the headboard. “How did I get here?”

  “I had a bad feeling after you left the warehouse, so I told the others to take our prisoner to the Heath while I flew back here to check on my lovely Neko and our unborn child. Oh, and you as well, I suppose. She told me what had happened, about Ashlyn heading to St. Dunstan’s. So I called on Minach and Lyre to meet me there in case you needed help.” Lumen rose from his seat and meandered towards the bed. “When we arrived, a couple of Forsaken were preparing to drink your blood, by all appearances. They’d given you a pretty solid whack on the noggin. You should have stayed in Dragon form, Aegis, even if the Relic was in danger of being stolen.”

  “Shit,” said Aegis, rubbing his head again. It seemed that he’d lost all vocabulary other than two curse words. “Shit, shit, fuckity shit.”

  “There is one piece of good news,” Lumen offered as he reached up for something on top of the dresser. When he picked it up, Aegis could see that a blackened object occupied his palm, a quarter circle of stone with a flame carved into its surface. “They didn’t manage to get this. And for bonus points, the bastards are now safely ensconced under the Heath with our rather unstable friend Damien, from the warehouse this morning.”

  Aegis looked down at his right palm, the blistering, painful skin a reminder of what had happened when he’d grabbed the Relic to keep it from the Forsaken.

  “So, we saved a piece of rock but lost my lover. Hardly seems like a favourable exchange.”

  “I realize it’s not ideal, particularly for you.”

  “Where is she?” Aegis asked softly, more to himself than Lumen. “Christ, where has Ashlyn gone?”

  His Alpha shook his head, his pale eyes intense with a deep, underlying concern. “I don’t know yet,” he said, “but we’ll find her. I wanted to speak to Tryst to see if her Sight could help us, but it seems she made herself scarce after the meeting.”

  “Tryst said things had gone fuzzy, like something’s keeping her powers at bay,” Aegis replied. “Though that’s strange, isn’t it? It should be the opposite, especially now that we’ve got three Relics in our possession. They’ve empowered us, made us stronger. She’s the only one who seems to be losing out.”

  “Yes,” said Lumen, crossing his arms over his chest, “Which strikes me as unlikely. Something’s going on with her, and I don’t like it
one bit.”

  “Well, we’ll have to proceed without her help, I suppose,” said Aegis. He was rubbing his head again. “Listen, the two who wanted to do me in—could I speak to them? I expect they could tell me where to find Ashlyn, though I may have to throw a persuasive tactic their way.”

  “Ah, torturing prisoners with Dragons’ threats. Now you’re thinking,” Lumen replied with a wry smile.

  “Not torturing. Just interrogating,” Aegis said, though he’d have been perfectly content to rip their heads off. “They might be able to give us something, tell us where the head fucker’s hideout might be.”

  “You’re quite right. But you’re not really in any shape to travel, my friend.”

  Aegis shot him a look of pure irritation mixed with a hefty serving of impatience. “I’m fine,” he growled. “The only thing hurting me is being kept away from Ashlyn. Every minute that he has her is a minute lost.”

  Lumen narrowed his eyes for a moment as though assessing his friend’s physical state. “Fine, you stubborn arse. I suppose you are a mighty Dragon shifter, so it’s not likely you suffered a concussion or anything so serious. Let me say good-bye to Neko, then you and I can head to the Heath and see what we can find out.”

  * * *

  Situated in a series of stone corridors and large, echoing chambers deep under Hampstead Heath, the Guild headquarters had never been intended for use as a prison so much as a meeting place for its members. But behind one large iron door tucked into the end of a long hallway was a long series of dark, seldom used cells that served as a temporary hold for any hostile forces who’d managed to penetrate the underground fortress.