by Chloe Cole
He turned to face his enemy, letting every ounce of determination bleed into his words.
“You can go back and bring the Council a message on my behalf. This woman is my one true mate. And they can have her when they send someone strong enough to kill me and take her from me.” His dragon, all fire and rage, hungry for blood, almost willed the man to do just that. Etienne took a step closer to Taya, shielding her with his body.
The assassin shook his head and blew out a regretful sigh that, for all Etienne knew, was genuine.
“I’m not a diplomat, dragon. I’m a mercenary. If word got around, who would hire me? I have a family to feed and people I love too. But tomorrow is a new day, yes?” He shrugged, not even sparing a second glance to his fallen colleagues before throwing his arms wide and exploding into the form of an eagle before soaring out the door.
Etienne roared, body tensed, ready to follow. Hunt him down. End it now. But Mina laid a hand on his arm and squeezed.
“Let him go. He’s long gone, and your arm is too shredded to fly right now.” She jerked her head toward Taya, who stood just a few feet away, pale and trembling. “Besides, we need you here.”
The pain in his arm was nothing compared to the knife to the heart as the woman he loved stared at him through haunted eyes.
He moved toward her and cupped her face with his hand. “It’s going to be okay, Taya. You did amazing. Perfect. We have to keep it together for just a little bit longer and then we’ll come up with a plan, all right?”
She blinked up at him and nodded dully.
He made a mental vow that he would fix this mess and find a way to keep Taya safe.
Or he would die trying.
Chapter Twenty-One
For the next two hours, Taya managed to do exactly as Etienne asked and held it together. He disposed of the bodies and cleaned up while Mina called Drake and Willa and filled them in on what happened.
By the time the other dragon shifter and his wife got there, Taya had finally stopped shaking, but like an old rag doll, she was starting to come apart at the seams.
The four of them took seats in front of the fireplace as Etienne paced holes in the rug, it almost seemed like a bad dream. The boarded up skylights were the last reminder of the violence that had occurred. Even Etienne’s arm was healed. It was like it had never happened.
Except for the fact that it had. And she was the cause of it.
All of it.
Her stomach pitched as guilt threatened to strangle her.
As long as she stayed, every one of them would be in danger. Four lives, at risk, because of her.
“What about a meeting?” Willa was saying to Etienne, her pretty, round face pinched with concern. “You, Drake and Mina can head to France together, and have a face-to-face with the Council. Explain why these laws just don’t apply anymore,” she said to Etienne.
He let out a low laugh as Drake slid his arm around his wife. “If only it were so simple,” Drake said.
Etienne nodded his agreement and halted his pacing to face them with a growl.
“The older-than-dirt fuckers. I don’t know how wolves here handle this type of thing, but trust me when I say that the Council isn’t going to wheel and deal on this. It would seem like weakness on their part and, more than anything, they want to maintain a perception of control or they risk losing their power.”
Willa gnawed on her bottom lip and slumped in her seat. “No, I get it. Some of the packs here are just as backwards. I’m half convinced they don’t even believe in most of what they preach anymore. It’s all just one big pissing contest.”
All went quiet but for the crackle of the fire as a sense of hopelessness seemed to settle over the room.
Etienne’s silky baritone finally broke the silence a few minutes later. “Now that the threat of the rogue wolves has been diffused and we don’t have to worry about them hurting anyone else, I’m thinking it might be best if Taya and I left.”
Drake and Willa protested even as Mina shot to her feet.
“Not an option. The packs here might be willing to let that happen, but you know the Council isn’t just going to let you ride off into the sunset,” Mina said softly. He glared at her but she refused to back down. “If you’re not going to play ball and produce an heir for them, they’re going to make sure you never live another happy day. That’s what they do, Etienne. Believe me, I’ve seen it often enough.”
When she noted the Valkyrie’s expression, Taya couldn’t help but wonder if Mina had been the victim of the Council herself at some point.
“I don’t need their permission to be happy. All I need is Taya,” Etienne said, crossing the room to stand before her.
She looked up at him, her heart squeezing at the love she saw in his eyes.
“Do you trust me to protect you?” he murmured, taking her hand in his and pulling her to stand with him.
“I do,” she said without hesitation. No matter how hopeless it all felt, that much was true and she needed him to know it, to believe it more than ever.
“Then we leave at first light.”
He wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck, his scent enveloping her, a comfort even now…even knowing that, despite his words, nothing was okay.
Nothing would ever be okay again.
Because she refused to be the reason that Etienne spent the foreseeable future as a pariah with a target on his back. Which meant she had to leave. The sooner the better.
The ramifications of that overwhelmed her and she blinked back a hot rush of tears. Luckily, the others were distracted as the shifters debated the best possible countries to disappear in.
When the conversation finally died down, Etienne leaned toward her and gently tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
“You look exhausted. Let’s go to bed and get a few hours rest. We have time before they rally a second crew and tomorrow is going to be a long day of travel.”
Drake chimed in his agreement and waved them off.
“Yeah, get some sleep. We’ll stay too, just in case you need us. Then, we’ll see you off in the morning.”
She couldn’t bring herself to do more than nod. As heartsick as she felt about hurting Etienne and for her own despair, it was compounded by the fact that she was deceiving these people, after all they’d done for her.
Which is exactly why you need to leave, she reminded herself firmly.
They’d already done more than enough.
When Etienne led her down the hallway, she pressed close, soaking in his strength and warmth, wishing she could take just a tiny bit with her to sustain her. And when they undressed and climbed into bed, he pulled her close, but his touch was one of comfort this time instead of lust.
Strange how his hands could excite her in one moment and soothe her in the next. She would miss that. So much. And even when his breathing slowed and his muscles went slack, she stayed—stroking his stomach with one hand, pressing her breasts to his chest—far longer than she should have.
An hour passed, and another, before she finally worked up the strength to slip away. She moved around the room on quick, silent feet, gathering a few items before turning back toward the bed.
She laid the note she’d written on her still-warm pillow and straightened.
As much as she wanted to spend just a few more hours wrapped in his arms, she knew it was now or never. If she was going to go, she had to do it before her resolve turned to dust and while everyone’s guard was down.
She stared at him for a long moment, etching his features onto her brain. Then, she turned and padded silently to the door.
She paused at the threshold and pushed it open as quietly as possible. Etienne shifted beneath the blankets, rustling the covers before settling back in with a sigh.
She stepped out into the hallway and listened carefully, straining to hear even the slightest sound. All she could make out was what she assumed was Drake snoring in the guest bedroom. She veered in the opposite direction, t
oward the front door on shaking legs.
There was no question about it. She was terrified. She had no plan beyond getting out of the house and down the mountain. Beyond that, the future was a dark and bleak landscape of uncertainty and loneliness.
She tamped down the rush of self-pity and tried to think of something…anything but Etienne, lest she give in and turn right back around the way she’d come.
When she reached the door, she disengaged the locks as quietly as possible, flinching as the mechanism tumbled. She stood there, frozen for a long moment, waiting for the shout of voices or the stomping of feet, but the house remained still. She swung the door open and stepped out onto the porch.
The night was cool and dark, the moon shrouded by clouds, a mere suggestion in the inky sky. She shivered and pulled the sweatshirt she’d stolen more tightly around her shoulders.
It smelled warm and woodsy, like Etienne, and she didn’t fight the shaft of pain that sliced through her.
Maybe some day, if she got through this, it would fade. Maybe some day, she would be able to think of him and not feel like someone was trying to squeeze her insides out.
She picked her way down the stairs and headed toward the winding road that led down the side of the mountain. The wind howled and the hair on the back of her neck stood.
The last time she’d walked someplace in the dark, she’d wound up nearly getting eaten by a pair of wolf shifters. There was no reason to expect this to go any better than that, and she paused, reaching down to her waistband to palm the blade she’d stuffed there just in case.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Taya’s heart nearly pounded out of her chest as she choked back a scream. She wheeled around to see Mina leaning against the trunk of a tree just a few yards away.
Shit.
She wet her lips, brain floundering to come up with a feasible lie, but the other woman shoved off and stepped closer. Close enough to see the knowing expression on her face by the light of the moon as the cloud cover passed.
“They’ll find you in no time without one of us there to protect you. You won’t survive a week without him.”
The truth of those words sent a shudder of dread through Taya, but she shoved it back.
If there were another option, she’d take it. She didn’t have a death wish, but she’d rather risk death than live with the knowledge that she’d cost Etienne his life.
“So what do you suggest, then?” she asked, momentarily furious at the Valkyrie for making an already impossible situation more difficult. “Even if we defy the odds and manage to evade them for a while, what then?” Taya let out a laugh that was anything but funny and her voice broke as she met the other woman’s gaze in the moonlight. “We’ll spend the next fifty years on the run. You said it yourself. They’ll never stop. We’ll just be moving targets. And what of Etienne? He’ll have no sons. No daughters. No one to carry on his magnificent line.” The anger drained from her, leaving her feeling hollow and shaken. “And then, when he’s given up everything for me, I’ll grow old and weak and die on him. What would that do to him mentally, Mina? To lose me after a lifetime together?”
The Valkyrie looked away, but not before Taya saw the truth of her words reflected in her eyes.
“I can feel it every time we touch, curling around me already. A bond. A tie that grows stronger every second we spend together. He would be broken, wouldn’t he?”
She swallowed a sob and shook her head slowly.
“I won’t be the cause of any of that. I won’t put him through it. Not when he still has a chance to be happy someday and have a family. I’m nothing but an anvil around his neck. All of your necks, and I won’t drag any of you down more than I already have. He saved my life that night in the woods and I will be forever grateful even if tonight is my last, because it allowed me a taste of what it was like to be truly loved. You said Valkyries are compelled to do the right thing. Do me one last kindness, and let me do the right thing this time,” she pleaded. “Let me go.”
She turned, tears streaming down her face, blinding her as she crunched her way down the gravel.
“Wait.”
Mina’s murmured plea fell on deaf ears as Taya broke into a run, as if she could actually escape the shifter if she wanted to.
“Taya, wait!”
One moment, she was in motion, the next, she was in mid-air at a dead stop. Mina’s hand clenched her shirt in one fist as the Valkyrie held her aloft, her blue eyes blazing.
“There is something we can do,” Mina said, her voice so soft, Taya had to strain to hear it.
Her heart began to pound as she tried not to let hope overwhelm her. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I have a plan.” Mina’s jaw went tight with determination. “Come with me.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“That was your Uncle Rene. I guess it’s official,” Drake said, as he tossed his cell phone on the dining room table between them. “They’ve agreed to let you off the hook for the deaths of the assassins and the rogue wolves if you agree to a meeting about securing a proper mate.”
The words meant nothing to him, and Etienne didn’t bother to respond. He didn’t care about absolution. In fact, he would burn down all of Europe if it would bring Taya back.
“Did he say anything else?”
“No,” Drake said with a grim shake of his head. “The Council claims they’ve been unable to locate Taya thus far.”
Etienne let out a low hiss, the relief giving him a momentary respite from the near-constant agony.
Taya.
It had been three days since he’d awoken to find her gone. She’d vanished without a trace. The only thing that had kept him from losing his mind completely was the fact that it seemed as if the Council had been as unsuccessful as he had in finding her. The thought that never stopped roiling around in his mind resurfaced with a vengeance.
What if the Council was lying?
What if she was dead?
Surely, he would have felt it. Surely, his dragon would know if its mate was no longer walking this earth.
The ache in his chest was too much to bear and he took a slug from the rocks glass of scotch clutched in his hand.
“And Mina? Has Rene heard from her?”
“No,” Drake said. “Not a word.”
“Fucking Mina.” His words were slurred, but he wasn’t sure if it was from the excess of drink or from deliriousness. He hadn’t slept a wink since that night. The last night he’d held Taya in his arms.
When he’d realized she was gone, he’d nearly lost his mind. Raging at Drake and Willa, tearing the house apart for some sign that they’d been tricked. That more assassins had gotten in while they slept, but there was nothing.
That was when he saw the folded little slip of paper sticking out from beneath her pillow.
Etienne-
I can’t let you or the people who love you risk your own lives to protect mine.
Please forgive me.
-Taya
He let out a snarl and squeezed his eyes closed, wishing he knew where to channel all the wild, directionless rage and energy that still coursed through him.
He’d spent the past three days and nights scouring every square inch of the mountain, and although he’d caught her scent down the walkway, it trailed off quickly and he’d never caught it again.
Either she’d been picked up in a vehicle of some sort, or Mina had taken her. As angry as that betrayal would make him, at least if she was with the Valkyrie, Taya had some chance of surviving.
But why hadn’t she contacted him, then? If only to let him know Taya was safe.
“Etienne, I know this is the last thing you want to consider right now, but maybe they’d be willing to negotiate with you,” Willa said softly.
He met her gaze, nearly undone by the sympathy in her red-rimmed eyes. She and Drake had been his saving grace the past few days, when he’d been on the brink of insanity. It was for that reason that he
didn’t shut her down instantly, and tell her that he would just as soon cut off his own arm as meet with those bastards.
“They’re still looking for Taya because of what she knows, but if you agree to a meeting about a mate, just maybe they would consider calling the search off and letting her go. Especially if she lays low.”
“No,” he said, swallowing past the grit in his throat. “They can’t be trusted. I would never know whether or not they’d held up their end of the bargain.”
He didn’t feel the need to add that the thought of finding another mate made him physically ill.
“You need to at least consider it,” Drake said, his tone brusque as he leaned on the table with both hands and held Etienne’s gaze. “You’re being a stubborn prick because you’re hurting, but if there is even a ten percent chance that Taya can live a life that doesn’t include being hunted by these sons a bitches, what choice do you really have?”
There was no question that the other dragon was right. And maybe once he could think straight, Etienne would thank him for the tough love. But right now, it was all he could do not to rip his throat out.
He tossed the last of his drink back and slammed the glass onto the tabletop hard enough that it shattered in his hand. He stared at the blood coursing down his wrist dispassionately before shoving himself to his feet.
“I’m going out. Don’t wait up.”
He cut a path toward the front door and shoved through it with his shoulder. The sun was setting, and the sky was painted purple and orange, but it could’ve been coated in ash for all he noticed.
He strode to the edge of the rocky cliff and stared over the ledge into the abyss. How many times had he looked down? How many times had he soared to the bottom just in case Taya had turned her ankle on a rock and slipped?
How was he ever going to live the rest of his life not knowing where she was? If she was safe? If she was happy?
“Ah, god,” he groaned, the acid in his stomach coursing up his throat. He leapt wildly from the cliff and closed his eyes, relishing the free-fall. The sense that, if he chose to, he could end it all here and the pain would stop.
