Then suddenly, the world shifted around them, revealing what Liam could only surmise was a glimpse of the past.
Kate’s car was no longer there in front of them, as well as all their other vehicles. Instead, the two blockades that were on the side of the road were now sitting squarely in the middle, barring the road.
“The whole setup certainly is pretty sketchy, isn’t it?” Magnus asked, but Aegis just elbowed him in the side, shutting him up.
Standing next to the blockade was a worker in an orange jacket, wearing a hard hat. A worker with long, dark-grey hair pulled into a long braid down his back. Incredibly tall and foreboding-looking for a construction worker.
And then Kate’s car drove up, stopping at the signs as if it were happening before his very eyes. He saw her frustration, saw her as she had been just as she left the home that morning. The man waved his arms and came up to the side of the car, and Kate popped her head out as if to argue.
And then another vehicle came out of nowhere, driving up behind Kate’s car. Immediately, another tall man, his hair silver-white and very short, jumped out, striding behind the blue vehicle and pulling the door open. Without decorum, he pulled out a now-furious, struggling Kate.
Liam’s blood was practically boiling. He knew these men.
The other noble element dragons. Platinum and Silver.
No.
They would curse the day they messed with Liam’s mate.
He watched as Silver pulled Kate away and tossed her into the back of his car as the other shed his construction clothing and pulled the detour signs to the side of the road, then got into the car that then pulled off.
The vision slowly faded as the car sped off into the distance, making a left at the fork in the road ahead just as the illusion dissipated completely.
And then they were back in reality, surrounded by their various cars and a terrible sense of foreboding.
“Are those guys familiar to you?” Aegis asked, arms crossed.
“More or less, yeah,” Magnus said nonchalantly. But Liam knew better.
“Sworn enemies?” Opal said.
“It’s complicated,” Titus said, coming over and getting into the back of Magnus’s car, barely squeezing into the pitifully small backseat of the shining sports car.
“I’m going to want an explanation,” Aegis said, pointing at Liam as he and Opal got into his poison-green vehicle.
“C’mon, Captain, let’s go get your mate. Opal can lead the way,” Magnus said, bumping Liam as he rushed into his car, starting it and pulling up to Liam.
Liam got in, and they sped off, making a left and following the direction they had seen the getaway car go a moment ago. The road quickly narrowed into a single lane, winding up into the hills as Magnus shifted and pealed around turn after turn.
So the noble dragons were back. But how?
Regardless, the steel dragon was going to show them exactly what he did best.
Protect his mate.
16
Kate looked between the men who had taken her with a scared, silent glance.
She’d fought as they’d tried to drag her to their car, but she’d quickly had a hand put over her mouth and been thrown in the backseat of an elegant, black luxury vehicle, and then they’d taken off immediately after.
After meeting Liam and his friends, she supposed she should be more used to seeing weird, weirdly hot men by now, but she wasn’t. Especially men like the ones surrounding her on both sides now.
But they didn’t seem instantly evil, either, so she couldn’t say she felt in immediate danger, even if she knew being kidnapped wasn’t a great situation.
The man on her right was a few inches over six feet, with refined, elegant features and a boyish beauty to his face with its pointed nose and stubborn chin. He seemed younger than the other dragons she’d met. Maybe in his mid-twenties rather than early thirties. He turned to her with a little, “Hmph,” and then went back to watching out the window, as if she wasn’t worth his notice.
He was wearing a fitted, tailored suit in warm light gray, which contrasted his pale skin and his light, silvery hair that was almost white it was so bright.
He glared at her with silver irises rimmed with light eyelashes. “What are you looking at, human?”
She gaped, and backed up from him only to bump into the large man on her other side.
He was no less intimidating, his height at least six and a half feet, at least as tall as Liam if not a bit taller. He had broad shoulders and lots of muscle. Even the slim man in the suit next to her was well muscled, extremely strong and fit. Like a male fitness model rather than a body builder. Even if his suit downplayed it.
His jaw twitched. “You’re looking again.”
“Calm yourself, Silver. This is for Gold, not us.”
“I know, Platinum, but I’m never patient. You know this. Besides, she’s practically getting her dirty human self all over it.”
Platinum, as the giant on the other side of her must be called, let out a snort. Looking over at him, it made sense. His eyes were a dark, shimmery gray, and his hair was a steely color that was still rich. It was shaved on the sides and long on the top, pulled back into a long braid. It was thick and slung over his shoulder, so she couldn’t make out exactly how long it was.
Unlike like his friend, he was dressed casually in a carefully distressed gray tee shirt and fitted jeans. And designer shoes.
“As I said, patience, Silver.” Platinum appraised her with a cold glare. “I doubt there is much dirt on her. Despite her questionable choice to ally herself with the more common, dirty metals.” He crossed his legs nonchalantly.
“Nonsense, I can smell earth all over her.”
“She did almost mate with the steel dragon,” Platinum replied.
“I’m right here,” she said. “I can talk for myself.”
“Aren’t you scared, human?” Platinum asked. “We could break you with one free hand.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t find you that threatening.”
Silver turned to her, putting a hand on the seat in front of her and leaning in. “That makes you very stupid, human. We aren’t all lapdogs like Steel.”
Was that Liam?
“Yes,” Silver said, startling her by reading her thoughts. “That’s the same stupid person.” He looked visibly ruffled as he sat back in his chair. “How long until we’re there?”
“Almost,” said a pleasant, familiar voice in the front seat.
Her skin prickled. Was that Gold?
“At your service,” he said, looking back at her as they pulled onto a private drive to a big mansion that looked to be in the middle of renovation. Like the other castle, it was hidden up in the hills with tall trees all around it.
Unlike the other, it was very oddly put together, with a mix of newer, modern elements in metal over a very old-fashioned brick building beneath.
Gold got out and opened the door, and Silver stepped out haughtily.
Part of her wanted to make a run for it, knowing these guys were with Gold, who had broken into her house the other night, but she knew they’d catch her in an instant. She’d seen Gold fly with his wings.
He seemed to notice her urge to dodge, and his eyes moved to Platinum. “Bring her.”
Before she could bolt, she felt a hand around her waist and then gasped as she was hauled off the ground and over Platinum’s shoulder like a bag of sugar. She kicked against him. “Put me down!”
Why oh why hadn’t she listened to Liam and stayed home? Why hadn’t she realized it was a trap? Why hadn’t she—
“A little late for regrets now,” Platinum said in a low voice.
She shuddered. Had she read this all wrong? They were snobs, sure, and big, and super pretty, but they just didn’t read as evil. Not like the presence had the other night.
But since it was Gold, she supposed she had to stop being delusional and just realize she really was in danger and had no way to let Liam
know.
“What are you doing with me?”
“Gold wants you, for whatever reason,” Platinum said. “I couldn’t care less.”
“And I don’t want a dirty human in my house at all,” Silver said, marching ahead to keep up with Gold, who didn’t seem to want anything to do with him.
When she’d seen Liam with Magnus, they’d seemed almost like brothers they were so close. The men who made up this group weren’t anything like that; she could tell even at a glance.
So what kept them together?
“It works well enough,” Platinum said, reading her thoughts again. “Where we are from, you cannot survive without a crew. Not well anyway.”
“Right, another time,” she said, rolling her eyes.
He just shrugged, jostling her as he carried her up the front steps and into the main lobby. When the door was closed behind them, he set her down, and she looked around.
It was kind of mess with dust and debris from construction, along with some very old furniture mixed with some new. But there was also odd bits of gold and silver ornamentation in seemingly random places, on edges of frames or columns or even furniture.
Obviously, these dragons had a very specific, slightly questionable sense of taste.
“Take it back,” Silver said, practically spitting as he approached her. She was taken back by his apparent beauty as he got close. Platinum stepped around and got in front of her, his expression foreboding. Like any dragon, he was beautiful, too, with the face and build of a model, but scaled much larger.
“The human has interesting thoughts, doesn’t she?” Gold said, sitting lazily in a large silver chair with a red cushion that looked more like a throne. Where had he gotten such a thing?
Silver waved a hand, and a chair appeared behind her, sweeping her legs out from under her and forcing her to sit. She gasped.
“Save the theatrics,” Silver said, pulling up a chair to sit next to her. Platinum sat on her other side.
Then it got quiet and awkward.
“Why did you break into my house last night?” she asked, glaring at Gold.
Gold raised a dark-blond eyebrow and flipped his long, golden hair over his back. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Liar,” she said, standing. “It had to be you.”
Suddenly, she felt cool metal sliding over her arms, pulling her back to the chair and locking her down against it. She looked down with a gasp to see metal vines twining around her, binding her wrists.
“Thank you, Silver. We can hardly expect to have a dignified conversation with a human using their usual barbaric tactics.”
Silver flushed at the praise, and Gold nodded at him graciously.
“Now.” Gold continued. “To address your ridiculous assertion that I would creep into your residence like a thief in the middle of the night.” He stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles, and put his arms lazily over the arms of his giant chair. “Do I really look like the kind of man who would suffer that indignity?”
“Liam chased you, and you jumped out of the window.”
Silver let out a snort, and Gold merely raised an eyebrow. “Shh, Silver. It seems there’s actually something to this.”
“She could be making it up,” Platinum said. “Trying to distract us.”
“Yes, true,” Gold said, standing slowly. “And besides, that is not why we’re here. Though, let me reassure you once again that I would never lower myself to breaking into your little residence.”
“But you would kidnap me in your car,” she retorted.
“Your ride here was comfortable, was it not? And we have treated you well. Would you like something to drink? Tea?”
Were they psycho? She wasn’t going to drink tea with kidnapping dragons.
“A pity,” Gold said. “Then I’m afraid it’s time to get down to business.”
Her skin started to crawl. “What is business?”
“Courting you,” he said. “Giving you a better option than that silly steel dragon and his crew.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, shrinking back against her chair.
Gold took another step forward, hands clasped behind his back. He was beautiful, handsome almost to a fault, but she didn’t want anything to do with him.
She only wanted Liam, and she now felt supremely stupid for leaving him.
Looking back at her life, if she lost it, she wouldn’t regret losing her job. But she would regret losing a chance with a guy like Liam because she was stupid.
She’d thought the job was the only thing that made her happy, but really, it was just standing between her and happiness.
And now she might die.
“Don’t be so morose,” Gold said. “I’m not going to kill you. Why would I? I’m just giving you a chance to be with someone more elegant, more high class, than the dragon you chose.”
“I like Liam. I’ll keep him, thank you very much.”
“Over me?” Gold looked supremely offended. “I knew you had to say that in front of him, and he wouldn’t give me a chance to court you with him around, but I didn’t think you would actually say that to my face.”
“Oh, I’m saying it,” she said. “I’d rather die than be with you, so you might as well let me go if you aren’t going to kill me.”
Gold sat in his chair again, clearly frustrated. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple. You see, Liam did wrong to us long ago, and I can’t afford to let him be happy. He hurt my crew.”
She looked around the room, seeing only stony assent. “That doesn’t sound like Liam. What did he do?”
Gold sighed. “It doesn’t matter, does it?” he stood again and crossed over to her, getting on one knee in front of her. He was still basically eye level. He raised a hand and wiggled his fingers, and she gasped as gold showered from his fingertips in little nuggets. Her eyes went to the pile on the ground and the pile he’d caught in his other hand.
“Does that change anything?” he asked. “I could give you the world.”
“No,” she said. “I’d rather have a nice yard.” She laughed at her own joke because it was really the only response she had to the situation. And if she knew Liam, he was out there looking for her. Somehow, she felt he would catch up.
“That’s a good point,” Gold said. “That doesn’t leave much time for seduction.”
She wrinkled her nose. Seduction? Ew.
“You may change your mind when you see all I have to offer,” Gold said, unbuttoning his shirt.
She struggled in her chair, realizing this asshole was really going to try something. She wasn’t sure what, but she wasn’t having it.
“I’m not going to force you,” Gold said, undoing the last row of buttons and revealing a set of perfect, hard, tanned abs with softly glistening skin. “I’m just going to use a bit of persuasion.” He turned to Silver. “Let go of her bonds. You’re scaring her.”
She felt the metal loosen and tried to bolt from the chair, but Gold gave her a little shove back into it.
She let out a growl of frustration as she landed back in the hard chair, a slight jolt of pain going through her. She rubbed her hand absentmindedly over the bracelet Liam had given her as she heard Gold argue with Silver.
“Dammit, you hurt her,” she heard Gold say, offended. “We aren’t supposed to—”
They all froze as a flash of light lit the room and a huge sword appeared in front of her, ornate and old-fashioned.
Gold, Platinum, and Silver all stared, stunned, as she took the sword in both hands, wondering if she could wield it.
Then they all started laughing.
Just then, the sword shot out of her hands, rushing toward them, and Silver and Platinum were forced to jump out of the way.
Gold’s brows furrowed. “What is going on?”
“That bastard’s sword must think it’s protecting her,” Platinum said.
“Is that even possible?”
“How wo
uld I know?” Platinum said. “You know it has been a long time since any of our kind found a mate.” He shook his head. “Though I think it’s the epitome of foolishness to give away an ancestral weapon.”
“Stupid,” Silver said. “Then again, they always were idiots. They were idiots for betraying us, and they’ll be idiots when their captain’s sword gets broken because they aren’t here to defend it.”
A flash of light appeared in front of Silver and then Platinum, and when it faded, Kate could see them both holding weapons. Platinum had a sword in each hand, long and made of dark, shiny metal. He stepped back with one foot and got in a low fighting stance.
Silver had pulled a comically large longsword and wielded it one-handed. It was almost blindingly shiny, and the hilt was covered in jewels, along with the ornate hand grip. He held it out to his side, then pointed it at her and the sword in front of her.
With a flash, Gold’s rapier was out, too. His golden eyes narrowed. “Charge.”
17
Liam could hardly believe the sight before his eyes as he and his crew stormed into the mansion.
Kate was standing in the middle of the room, the three “noble” dragons surrounding her, all wielding their weapons menacingly. And between her and them was his sword, floating, a powerful blue glow emanating from it as it flitted back and forth, thrusting and swinging as if Liam himself were using it.
Liam never knew it could do that.
But then again, he’d never been mated before. So it sort of made sense that the very weapon he’d imbued his strength and essence into would defend his mate.
He’d been hoping his bracelet would do something for her when he’d put it on her that morning. It was just a vague inclination that had made him do it.
“Liam!” Kate called out, seeing him at the doorway.
Just the sound of her voice, the worry in it, gave Liam inhuman strength as he rushed across the room toward her side.
But just then, the platinum dragon, wielding the gigantic hammer that Liam hadn’t seen in ages, swung at the floating blade, knocking it to the side. It clattered across the ground so nothing now stood between Kate and her captors.
Steel (Rent-A-Dragon Book 1) Page 11
