by Tate James
“Sounds rather altruistic of you,” Vali commented. “What do you gain from this? It’s my understanding that the nature of dragons is to be greedy, so please excuse me if this question seems rude.”
The old dragon grinned then, and I sucked in a sharp breath of fear at the sight.
“Her clan owes me something. That’s all you need know. Andreea will give you more specifics on where to find the girl. Now leave me; I require sleep.” The dismissal was followed by a rumbling roar which left no room for questions or negotiations.
Quickly, both Vali and Cole shifted back down to human form and tugged their clothes back on under Big Silver’s menacing gaze. Just as we began to hurry out of the cave, Wesley nudged me and pointed to something behind the horde of gold that Big Silver sat on top of.
It took me a moment to work out what he was pointing to, but when I did, I gasped.
“He’s chained?” I hissed to Wes as we followed the guys out of the cave with Bunica at the lead. “Why do you think?”
He shrugged back to me, twisting his lips as he contemplated reasons. “I don’t know,” he said quietly. “But it begs the question... who chained him up?”
“Ugh, good point,” I cast a glance over my shoulder at the enormous reptile whose beady eyes followed us. “Makes me wonder about this something that he is owed. His freedom, perhaps?”
Wes shrugged, tucking my hand into his. “Maybe? I doubt it was another dragon that chained him, though.”
I nodded my agreement, chewing the inside of my lip as we exited the cave. “You make a good point there.”
“I always make good points, sweetheart,” he grinned, tossing me a sexy wink that set my heart pounding and my cheeks flushing. Adorable, sexy bastard that he was.
19
The girl that we needed to “rescue” was one Lady Ioana Kiritescu who was set to marry the son of an Italian Fortune Five Hundred listee.
The wedding was tomorrow.
“This seems dodgy as fuck,” I muttered as we travelled via rail to where the rehearsal dinner party was being held in the Italian countryside. “This isn’t the freaking Middle Ages. If she didn’t want to marry the guy, she simply wouldn’t. I bet we are going to turn up there and find she is entirely under her own free will and will more than likely call the local police or some shit on us for gatecrashing.”
“Probably,” Cole agreed, shifting me from the seat to his lap and wrapping his arms around me.
“Be that as it may,” River scolded, “this is the task that was set, and if we want the amulet shard...”
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “I know, I know. Play along with what Big Silver wants. Even if he is a shady fucker himself. But all I’m saying is, what if she doesn’t want to be rescued? Are we really forcing her to leave with us?”
There was a long pause among my travel companions, but it was Vali who answered me.
“We will wait and judge the situation when we get there. Wesley, how are you going on those invitations?” Vali turned his attention over to Wes, who was working on his laptop across the aisle from us.
“Pretty good,” he murmured, not taking his attention off the screen for even a moment. “I have hacked the security system at Diego Russo’s villa and located three guests who roughly fit your physical descriptions. I’m just voiding their invitation barcodes and recoding it to the ones I will print for you.” The security on this party was next level, but we had the best on our side. “I have also organized costumes for you. The designer will be getting on board at the next stop to fit you. Anything less than perfect will stick out like a giant red flag, and we’re way better than that.” Wes glanced up and flashed me a smile. “Wait until you see what you’re going as.”
“Better not be anything stupid,” Cole warned him, and Wes covered a smile with his hand.
“Wesley, what have you done?” I asked him suspiciously, and he just shrugged.
“It’s a fancy-dress party catering to the richest fuckers in all of Europe. I promise you they’re not stupid costumes. Besides, the next stop should be coming up in less than five minutes, so you’ll see for yourselves soon enough.” He turned back to his computer and started tapping away again, ending our conversation.
It really was less than five minutes before our train pulled in for a quick stop at a station, collecting our costume designer, before continuing on. We had rented the train privately and impressed upon the driver the importance of getting us to our destination on time, which he seemed to be taking seriously.
The designer was a small, trim woman who didn’t speak a single word of English but somehow managed to convey what she wanted effortlessly.
We’d already decided it was far too obvious for all seven of us to gatecrash such an exclusive event, so it was just Cole, Vali, and I going. Originally, they’d all vetoed me going in, but it hadn’t taken all too long to talk sense into them. Not only was I the most powerful among us, but I was also the only female. If this girl really was being held against her will—which I still doubted, but whatever—then who was she more likely to confide in? Me? Or two surly, muscle-bound men who scowled far too much and looked like they killed people on a regular basis?
“So, where is the rest of it?” I asked with a frown as our designer, Marianna, stepped back and clapped her hands like she was done.
At my question, her brow furrowed and her lips pursed in disapproval.
“There is nothing else, sweetheart,” Wesley informed me with a lazy grin on his face. He’d finished making our fake invitations and IDs already and had been sitting back to watch the little Italian woman buzz around me with needle and thread for far too long. “This is apparently the in thing for these sorts of parties.”
“Not that I’m disagreeing with you,” I replied, squinting at him. “But are we all okay with me strutting around in public wearing this? And nothing else?”
“No,” Austin replied straight away, folding his arms over his chest with a scowl. “But you’re welcome to wear it in private any time you like.”
“Quit it,” Wesley snapped at him, punching him in the shoulder. “We had limited time, and this was a costume Marianna already had made. So, it’s all we have. Besides, it’s sort of appropriate given that this is a dragon quest, don’t you think?”
“I’ll give you that, mate,” River agreed with a half-smile. “Let’s see the lizards before we judge too harshly.”
Marianna must have understood because she hustled down the aisle to the next carriage, where Cole and Vali had been getting fitted by her assistant. When they emerged, a grin spread across my face, and suddenly I felt a whole lot better about my own costume.
While I was dressed in nothing but black and red metal scales, all linked up to form a sort of barely-there bra and—I didn’t even know how to describe it—loin cloth? Skirt? It was like a skirt, but with no sides to it, so when it moved you could clearly see my ass. Thank the gods of coffee for the shimmering, black G-string underneath to at least cover my vagina. Princess Leia wore more in her metal bikini than I had on at the moment. Anyway, while I thought that was bad enough, Cole and Vali emerged wearing tiny, metallic-silver hot pants and seemingly random pieces of gleaming armor on their top halves.
Vali had both arms clad in metal, joined at the throat with a silver chain, while Cole wore just one arm and half of a breastplate. Other than that, all they wore were matching scowls.
Marianna beamed and clapped, then babbled something in Italian before diving back into her suitcase of bits and producing a magnificent pair of wings, made of the same metal scales as the rest of my costume. She carefully eased them over my shoulders and secured them with leather straps, then clipped what felt like a heavy necklace around my neck.
The looks ranging from surprised to shocked on my guys’ faces told me it was no ordinary necklace though. Something that was confirmed when Marianna handed a long length of chain to Cole and another to Vali, then clipped the other ends to my collar. Not necklace. Collar.
<
br /> What. The. Fuck.
Marianna said something more, her face shining with pride at her creations, and Wesley hurried to translate for me.
“She said, um”—he coughed, clearing his throat—“she said you are like a majestic dragon, held captive by your knights in shining armor.” His face was turning redder by the second. “Told you it was oddly appropriate.”
I leveled a glare at Wesley—one which I’m sure matched Cole’s and Vali’s expressions—but with the other guys barely containing their snickers, it was hard to stay mad. It was just a costume, after all.
Sighing, I let Marianna continue to fuss as she applied a countless number of cosmetics to my face and body to make me shimmer under the lights. She had just barely finished when our driver announced we’d reached our location.
“I feel like an idiot,” Cole rumbled as the three of us stepped off the train and into the waiting town car, which would drive us out to the villa.
“A sexy as fuck idiot, though,” I replied, licking my blood red lips and giving him what I hoped to be a sultry smile. He shook his head at me with a half-smile but let his hand graze over my backside when he “helped” me into the car. Perv.
Vali slid out behind us, then cleared his throat and gave us both a look as he closed the door. I smothered a smile and nodded back to show I understood. Now wasn’t the time for games; we needed to be in character from here on out.
Cole and Vali were wealthy Russian businessmen, and I... well, I was little more than arm candy for the night.
The bride sparkled as she strolled the room on the arm of her fiancé. Literally. She was just head to toe in glitter and sequins with some sort of fairy wings attached to her back. She looked stunning, and happy.
“Guys, come on,” I murmured under my breath, covering my mouth with a cocktail glass, “that woman is not here under duress. Look at her.”
“I see a young woman who is hitting the champagne awfully hard for the night before her wedding,” Vali commented with an arched brow as he sipped his own drink. “Is that what you would be doing in her shoes?”
“Her shoes look painful,” I observed, inspecting the sharply angled, strappy sandals Lady Ioana wore. “But I wouldn’t have a clue. It’s not like I ever pictured myself getting married, so I have no idea how hard I’d be hitting the booze the night before.”
“Seriously?” Cole wrinkled his nose at me. “Don’t all little girls dream of their wedding days? I thought that was sort of just an inbuilt thing.”
I snorted a laugh, then covered it with a cough, glancing around to see if anyone was looking at me. “Most probably do,” I replied when I was satisfied I hadn’t drawn any undue attention to us. “But it’s not really something that you ever consider when you’re not sure you’ll live to see your teenage years.”
This confession settled an uneasy silence over the three of us, which I attempted to cover by taking another long sip of my drink and letting my eyes wander the room.
Smooth, Kit. Way to kill a conversation.
“That’s really sad, regina mea,” Vali murmured finally, and my cheeks heated with embarrassment. “I think it might be our responsibility to give you a fairytale wedding now.”
“Don’t,” I snapped in a sharp tone. “I don’t need or want a wedding. How would that even work? Six grooms?” I snickered a laugh at how that would look in a church. “No, I am perfectly fine with the commitments I already have from you all.” I waved my Ban Dia ring to remind him of the unbreakable promises they’d all already given.
An evil sort of smile touched at his lips, and he flickered a look to Cole that was too quick for me to catch. “We’ll see, regina.”
I growled a little under my breath, but it was pointless arguing with him in one of these moods. “Whatever, I need another drink. Where did our blushing bride go?”
The guys followed my gaze across the room to where we had last seen her, but she was nowhere to be seen.
“Probably around here somewhere,” Cole said, looking around with a dragon-sharp gaze. “She can’t have gone far. It’s her party, after all.”
“I’ll go check the bathroom. You two scout around here,” I suggested. “Hopefully she’s just making out with her husband-to-be in a dark corner somewhere.”
“Or maybe she’s made a run for it because she’s really here against her will,” Vali countered, and I rolled my eyes.
“Split up; let’s find her,” Cole ordered, and I tugged my collar chains out of their hands so I could actually walk more than three feet from them.
The nearest bathroom had a line of people waiting outside, so I ventured farther inside the villa. If I were in her shoes, I’d head to a more private one where party guests weren’t going to be waiting in line. Master bedroom, perhaps?
After a few false starts, I found what looked like the right place.
I tried the handle of the door that I guessed led to a bathroom, but found it locked.
Damn.
“Just a minute,” a woman’s voice called back, and I grinned my success. Now, was it too much to hope that the woman inside was Lady Ioana?
“No rush,” I called back, “I just needed a break from my dates, you know?”
Whether I thought she was there under duress or not, I wasn’t going to half-ass this job. We really needed that amulet shard, and if this was the way to go about it, then so be it.
A bitter-sounding laugh came back through the door. “Yeah, I know.” This was said in a voice considerably less bright than her first words and was followed by a heavy sniffing. Like someone was doing lines of coke... or crying.
“Are you okay?” I asked hesitantly, pressing my ear to the door. “You sound upset.” I was taking a gamble on crying, but truly it could go either way.
There was a long silence, and I almost gave up before a clearer, shuddering sob filtered through the door to me. Yup, definitely crying, not snorting coke.
Now the real question was if this was our Lady Ioana or some random drunk chick with a dodgy date. Crossing my fingers, I sent up a quick prayer to the gods of coffee—the only gods I still believed in—and sucked in a deep breath.
“Lady Ioana?” I tried again, biting my lip with anticipation. “Can you let me in? Maybe I can help.”
Again, there was no response for so long that my hopes began to sink, but just when I was about to give up, the lock clicked and the door opened a crack.
Not fucking around, I pushed it open further and slipped inside. I pushed it closed again quickly and flicked the lock while eyeing up the soggy, tear-stained mess on the floor in front of me.
“How did you know it was me?” she sobbed, then blew her nose on a piece of toilet paper. Her sparkling wings were discarded in the corner, and her glittery makeup was smeared halfway down her face. All in all, not quite the cliched happy bride I had her pegged as.
“Just a guess.” I smiled at her in an attempt to seem less like a creeper.
Come on, Kit. Channel that inner nice girl. She’s in there somewhere!
“I bet I look pathetic, huh?” Ioana sniffled, dabbing at her red nose. “I’ll be okay soon. I just needed a few moments alone, you know?”
Crouching down, I folded my legs under myself in a way that I hoped didn’t flash too much vag at this poor girl before replying. “Totally. Can you believe I’m here with not one, but two dates? What was I thinking?”
Ioana gave a small, sobbing laugh and nodded, wiping her eyes with more toilet paper.
“I saw you earlier; your dates are hot as fuck,” she commented with clear envy. “They seemed like the kind of guys who know how to treat a woman right, even if your costume does have a collar.”
I smiled, running my finger over the stupid collar and giving a small head tilt of acknowledgement. It didn’t sit right with me to talk shit about my guys, even for the sake of the mission.
“Your fiancé isn’t that kind of guy?” I asked her in a gentle voice, hoping that her clear intoxication—which, this
close was abundantly clear—would loosen her tongue enough to answer honestly. It was like trying to tame a wild horse or something the way I was approaching this situation. Damn me for having so little social interaction with girls my own age; I was hopeless at this!
Thankfully, Lady Ioana was too far gone on expensive champagne to notice my lack of social graces. Hell, the poor girl looked like she was bursting at the seams to offload her problems.
“No,” she replied with a bitter laugh. “No, he’s a right royal asshole.”
“So... why marry him?” I frowned. “You don’t look like you’re collared and chained.” I tried to make it into a joke, rattling my own chains. She laughed, but shook her head, looking so damn miserable.
Fuck me. I’d really misread this one.
“My chains might not be so literal, but they’re there.” She sucked in a deep, shuddering breath, like she was trying to pull herself together, and I knew my time was limited.
“Hon, you’re a bit of a mess. Did you want me to fix your makeup? I can’t promise it will be as professional as before, but at least he won’t know you’ve been crying.” I could only hope this would give me enough time to learn what I needed to know in order to “save” her.
“Oh god, I bet I’m a huge mess.” She laughed in a self-deprecating way and nodded. “That would be amazing, thank you. I have my makeup bag there.” She nodded to the huge Gucci case on the counter, which I had guessed was cosmetics.
I smiled at her in what I hoped was a reassuring way. “Don’t worry; we can sort you out. Sit up on the toilet seat for me.”
She did as I asked, and I opened the makeup case to rifle through all the options.
“So, tell me your story,” I encouraged her with a casual air to my voice, like we were just new friends getting to know one another. Totally harmless, right? “How did a beautiful girl like you end up marrying a man you don’t love?”
