Dragon Void (Immortal Dragons Book 2)

by Ophelia Bell

  Chapter Four

  Ked

  Canadian Rockies

  Present Day

  “You’ve been listening for a while. I also know who you are, Ked, and what you are. And I know—” Evie’s voice shook. “—I know you are mine. Like he was mine for so long.” She dipped her head and kissed the bare temple of the too-still man on her lap, tenderly brushing his hair back over his ear.

  Ked pulled himself out of the corner and summoned his shadows back to him. Standing before her, he manifested his human form, disregarding his own mandate that he to keep to shadows until he got her out; disregarding his desire to tear down the walls of this place with his bare hands and destroy every hunter in residence.

  She needed to see him, now that she’d called him out. That was all she needed. No heroics, no destruction.

  “You loved him?” he asked.

  “More than anyone else. Until you.”

  Ked closed his eyes. She was a turul, he reminded himself. She would know him instantly as her true mate, if they were meant to be. He let out a deep breath and collapsed to his knees beside her bed.

  “What happened?” He placed his hands on the back of the inert man between Evie’s thighs. The body was warm, but he didn’t sense a pulse.

  “Sayid found us together. Marcus hadn’t come to me in so long. I missed him. I didn’t care what would happen because he said he was getting us out finally, but then Sayid showed up. He wasn’t happy. The bastard hates when we’re happy. He always has. I guess Marcus was too happy today.”

  The name she used made Ked pause. She must mean Nikhil. Was Sayid the name he went by now? No, it wasn’t his name. It was his title. A fresh wave of guilt and regret washed over him. He and his siblings had hidden themselves for too long. They’d been fools to leave their race to the wolves the way they had. The hibernation cycles meant to protect the dragons had only served to alienate half their race, to the point they broke the laws to avoid the cycles of sleep. As a result, too many of them had been taken and were locked up in the cells Ked had passed before arriving in this room. And he knew this wasn’t the only Ultiori facility. There might be hundreds more. He couldn’t think about that now, though. The broken-hearted woman in front of him was his reason for coming in here to begin with.

  “He was happy because he was getting you out.” Ked looked down at the body draped across her thighs. It still held a dim aura around it, so similar to the faint aura of his sister the day he’d taken her away from her lover, bloody and broken. The man wasn’t dead—at least, not entirely.

  “He was happy because he loved me, and for once, I let go of my resentment and loved him back the way I craved to do ever since he became like you,” she said. Her lips quivered and her eyes filled with tears. “He always loved me, but until tonight, I never loved him enough. He still tried to save us both.”

  “He did save you both,” Ked said. “Someone got word to me that you were here. A female dragon said she was approached by a hunter who gave her your name and this location. She was told to take the information to the Council. Not an easy task for a dragon of her low rank, but she did it. I’m here to get you out, Evie. Your brothers are waiting nearby.”

  Evie’s face was wet with tears, her eyes shining with those still unshed. “I’m not leaving. Not unless you bring him out, too. I know he’s dead, but I won’t leave him here for them.”

  Something about her bearing seemed stiff to him. She barely moved her head when she turned to look at him, and she hadn’t shifted a muscle of her body. The only movements were her hand on the dead man’s hair and the occasional flux of her facial expressions.

  That was when he noticed the pillow behind her back was soaked wetly with blood, the scent strong. She was still bleeding from unseen wounds.

  Ked’s power surged, blotting out the light in the room. His nostrils flared as he reached a hand out to her.

  “You’re hurt,” he said.

  She flinched back from his fingers. “You just ruined the mood.”

  Ked drew his hand back and stared at her.

  Evie shrugged enough to wince at the pain. “It wasn’t a good mood, I admit, but you succeeded in making it worse.”

  “What did he do to you?” he growled.

  Ignoring the question, she said, “Can you please turn the lights back on? I spend too much time in the dark as it is.”

  He blinked at her, surprised at her lack of reaction to his power. He willed the lights to illuminate again.

  “I’m taking you both out of here now. It won’t be pleasant, but it won’t kill you. Just… hold on, okay?”

  Ked slipped an arm around her waist, hoping he was avoiding the worst of her injuries. When she leaned into him, he finally caught a glimpse of her bloody back. Two ragged, semi-symmetrical wounds graced each shoulder blade, and it was then that he noticed the soft sheets around her were covered in feathers.

  “Don’t look at them, please,” Evie whispered shakily. “I just wanted to be his angel for one night. That’s all. I guess I was the angel of death.”

  Ked’s rage returned, blotting out the light again and illuminating the profound emptiness and grief that overwhelmed Evie. To lose one’s wings would be the most horrific torture imaginable.

  He clutched her to his chest and wrapped his other arm around the naked man draped across her lap. The body slumped into him coldly as he gathered his power to get them out.

  The swirling void of shadow opened for him, and he flowed through as easily as ever, pulling his passengers along. At the other end they would be safe. Perhaps not whole, but at least Ked would have time to help make them so.

  Chapter Five

  Ked

  Canadian Rockies

  Present Day

  When he reappeared in a cloud of dark smoke in the clearing, Ked fell into a pile with the other two wrapped around him. Marcus’s unconscious face met his, expression as serene as carved stone.

  Ked had considered ignoring Evie’s plea and leaving the man behind, but he couldn’t deny the Blessing Marcus carried now, along with a connection that went even deeper. He was effectively dead, yet his aura still glowed strong. If Evie hadn’t noticed, Ked guessed that he was the only one who could sense the black glow emanating from the unconscious man. He could see it because the aura was identical to his own, so dark it seemed to suck the light away. And for that reason, Ked knew the man wasn’t truly dead—that he could be revived.

  He was in the same state Belah had been when Ked had found her so long ago, her own blood drained from her to feed her lover’s mad need for power. It had rendered Nik immortal, the same way Ked knew his blood had done for Marcus. He could be killed, but Ked hoped that wouldn’t be necessary, at least not right away. He hoped he could revive him just enough to glean some information about their enemy. After that, he would have to decide the best course of action based on what Marcus shared.

  The lingering presence of Ked’s own magic provided a connection that should assist with the interrogation. Almost as strong as actually being marked by Ked, though not enough to heal him fully.

  Evie’s brothers gently carried their sister away, leaving Ked alone with the man he’d thought was a traitor, but who he desperately hoped would be redeemed. The last time he’d killed an Elite, it had left him with a hollow ache inside that had never really gone away in the intervening centuries.

  He reached out a hand and touched the man who lay beside him. All it took was a fingertip on his arm and a dark, violet spark shot between them. Marcus’s eyes opened.

  Ked clenched his teeth hard when he looked into those light green eyes. The allure of his Blessing was strong. Ked was overcome by a powerful urge to mark and mate the man. The fact that Marcus hovered at the edge of death’s abyss didn’t change his compulsion to possess him. He only knew of two ways to save him, if he proved worth saving, and if the dar
kness he sensed in the man meant what he believed, it would take work before Marcus accepted either of those options.

  “What did you do to her?” Marcus rasped, grasping at Ked’s forearm with a grip so fierce it contradicted his weakened state.

  “She’s safe. You’re both safe now.”

  Marcus closed his eyes and sighed. “Good,” he said. “I can die now. Please make it quick.”

  “That’s not going to happen, not until we talk. You’re too important for us to kill you.”

  Important was an understatement. What Marcus may have known about the enemy only scratched the surface. Blessed humans were so rare, it was nearly impossible for a dragon to control themselves when they found one. Wars had been fought over them in the distant past, and now their enemy was systematically using them against the higher races. Regardless of what Marcus may have become since joining the enemy, Ked rejected the idea of killing a Blessed, particularly one who still carried a piece of Ked’s own power in his soul.

  Marcus blinked up at him, panting to catch his waning breath. “I’d rather die now. If you want to kill me, go ahead. Evie already thinks I’m dead, doesn’t she? The blood drain is deceiving—makes us appear dead and wish for death even more. He does that sometimes to torture us when we misbehave, then transfuses us again. This time he let me bleed onto the floor instead of into a bag. No coming back from that.”

  “You don’t get to die. She doesn’t want it. And neither do I.”

  Ked glanced at Evie, crying in her reunion with her brothers. He would have time with her, but right now he needed to see to Marcus.

  “I’m taking you home with me,” Ked said. Not that the limp body beneath him could object.

  He signaled to his brothers and the three of them shifted. He grasped Marcus in his talons and sent a silent message to his brothers to see to Evie’s wounds while they flew, hoping she could be fully healed. Gavra would be able to cocoon her in healing breath during the trip, at the very least, so Evie would be in less pain.

  They grasped their charges in the cages of their talons and prepared to fly. The way ahead was long, but Aodh could extend their endurance if they needed.

  The North brothers had excellent stamina in their turul forms, and could keep pace for hundreds of miles at a time. When they tired, they would rest on Aodh’s back, taking in his breath to replenish their energy to travel farther. It would take them most of a day to reach the dragons’ safest domain: the monastery in the middle of the Pacific Islands.

  Chapter Six

  Evie

  Canadian Rockies

  Present Day

  Evie ached at the distance between herself and Ked so soon after finding him, after losing Marcus. But soon after her tearful reunion with her brothers, a huge red dragon urged her into the cradle of one large foreclaw and she went, wincing only slightly when her injured back brushed against his palm. While she’d crossed paths with many dragons in her life, she’d never been so close to one.

  Staring across the clearing at the large, naked man who had spirited her and Marcus out of the Ultiori fortress, her entire body tingled just as it had deep in the underground room of that horrible place.

  For a moment after she felt his presence, she believed he was merely Marcus’s ghost lingering behind, unable to let her go. Marcus’s final breath had carried the words, “Forgive me,” after all, and had been filled with such soul-deep regret she still ached from the sound.

  But a dragon’s breath was part Wind magic, and carried a hint of living essence with it that no turul could miss. This dragon’s breath had betrayed his presence to her, whether he knew it or not. And in that second, she had known him—first, for his nature, and second, for who he was to her. The immense Shadow wasn’t Marcus’s ghost, but the magical breath of the biggest, most powerful black dragon she’d ever seen in her life.

  For a turul to find a second true mate in a lifetime was unheard of, yet here he was, as frightening for his size and potency as for the feelings he incited in her in the aftermath of losing the man she’d believed she was meant to die with.

  She had to remind herself that her situation was an anomaly. Her rebellion against her race’s traditions was what made her impulsively seek out a distraction after years of frustration waiting to stumble across her true mate—her One. Marcus hadn’t really been hers, that first day they’d met—she knew that much—but over the next year, she’d fallen in love with him in what she believed was a more enduring way. She’d lost that only briefly after her capture by the Ultiori, then during the early part of her captivity, somehow, her feelings shifted.

  Marcus had come to her one day, filled with promises of escape and apologies for bringing her there to begin with. On that day, the very sight and nearness of him had struck a bright flame inside her that had refused to die, even after five decades of wishing she could hate him for betraying her. The irony of that moment tortured her.

  The flame had only brightened when this dragon appeared, so dark and intent now as he shifted into his full form over Marcus’s inert body. A wave of his power washed over Evie as though drawn in by her mere attention. It made her quiver with need for him in spite of the searing pain that covered every inch of her back. The black dragon’s gentle treatment of Marcus’s body made no sense to her. He was dead, yet the dragon cupped his large foreclaw and let her brothers lay Marcus carefully across his palm in a reclining position before closing his other claw around him. Marcus might have merely been asleep, as comfortable as he looked.

  At her side, another large, red dragon lowered his head to eye level and lifted a massive talon to nudge gently at her chin.

  “Who are you?” Evie asked, in awe of all three of the dragons who nearly filled the entire clearing now, dwarfing even her brothers once they shifted into their massive falcon forms and readied for flight.

  “I am Gavra,” he said softly to her. “Ked, the one who brought you out, is my brother. He bade me to guard you with my life.” He let out a gust of red breath that enveloped her. “And I will heal you on the way to our destination.”

  His breath tingled as it seeped into her wounds, stinging just slightly before easing the pain. The names tickled at her memory, but the pain of her injuries still throbbed too much for her to comprehend the full truth.

  “I thought Reds only seduced with their breath,” Evie said, attempting a light-hearted tone in spite of her pain. “I’m not in danger of that, am I?”

  Gavra let out a low chuckle. “No. You belong to my brother. If he wants to share, I wouldn’t object, but you are in no condition for seduction. Sleep, if you can. It will be a long flight.”

  The lumbering form of a huge white dragon ventured near and gusted pale smoke over her, then spoke. “He is right; you should sleep. We will keep you safe.”

  Soon after, Evie found herself lulled by the comforting stream of wind over her skin and the undulations of Gavra’s body, from the slow, even pumps of his wings in the currents of air high above the earth.

  She dreamed of flying. The caresses of her Goddess, the North Wind, kept her aloft and gave her hope again for the first time since her captivity began. The ordeal was over now, but the pain of grief loomed at the edges of her mind. She would mourn Marcus soon, but not until she could do it wholly, and without the distractions of a damaged body and the pull to the black dragon that reminded her so much of her need for Marcus.

  Rather than give in to grief now, Evie reverted to her old habit during her worst days in the Ultiori clutches. She played over and over in her mind the memories of her best days with Marcus. The day they’d met had been a revelation to her, yet she would always especially treasure their last night together, before his life ebbed away in her arms.

  Chapter Seven

  Evie

  Central Park, Manhattan

  Spring, 1965

  The steady clink of coins almost drowned
out Evie’s voice. She smiled as she sang. Every coin dropped into her brother’s guitar case meant someone loved what they heard. Lukas strummed while Iszak goofed around with his saxophone, flirting with the women who wandered past their spot in Central Park.

  They weren’t here for money, though. Nanyo had sent them out to find mates, as if a day in the park was enough to snag the one person each of them were meant to be with for life. Her brothers loved music enough that they went along with it, but they were petering out, too. Finding a mate in a day was ridiculous, but Nanyo would make them head out again until she was satisfied they’d exhausted their efforts.

  “The One is there for each of you. You never know where he or she will turn up. It could be in the library, or it could be on the street. Give yourself as many chances as possible to find him or her. It will happen, I promise you.”

  Evie wasn’t even sure if she believed in the One. She and her brothers were still young by turul standards, but still over one hundred and fifty years old. She’d have thought at least one of them would have met their true mate by now. Whoever it was, it wasn’t another turul. The first thing turul parents did when their children were old enough to fly was introduce them to the other enclaves, to try to find their match among their own kind. She and her brothers knew all the turuls there were to know, yet not even a glimmer of interest occurred for either of them.

  Humans were so prolific it could take another century to find a mate, if hers was one of them. That is, if she even believed there was one true mate for her. She could probably have picked one out of the crowd of onlookers, if she wanted to. The second she had that thought, butterflies erupted in her belly and she nearly lost track of the lyrics she sang. Could she throw caution to the wind, choose her own mate, and prove to everyone that the ridiculous waiting and searching was bullshit?

  She scanned the crowd in front of her, thrilled with the idea of an experiment. Could she forge a deeper bond with someone by choice? She was no stranger to playful trysts with other turul, but had never had a non-turul playmate before. Unless the other person was definitely The One, coupling outside the enclaves was frowned upon. And she’d never been inclined to have anything deeper with one of the turul males she knew.