Sevan: Zodiac Dragon Guardians, Book XI

by Faulks, Kim

  Violet flames...violet flames...not a Hound...not a Hound...massive wings filled my mind. Thorns as long as my body shooting from its neck. It was all male, all suffocating, consuming male.

  Not a Hound...but a Dragon.

  The words chilled me to the bone as he reached through the connection I shared with my sister and lowered his massive head. I knew who he was then. I knew what had come for my sister.

  A tiny flicker of knowing coursed through the connection.

  No, not what came for her...what saved her.

  I reached further, casting my Hound’s power along that unseen link between me and Amaris, and felt the flicker of life. But it wasn’t the amber flames of her Hound that answered my call. It wasn’t her Hound as I knew it, at all.

  This Hound was different.

  This Hound had changed.

  Midnight flames danced around its body.

  The foul taste of rage tainted the air around her beast.

  I’d take rage. I’d take terror and pain. I’d take anything if it meant she was holding on. Hold on, Amaris, I sent the whisper through our link. Hold on for me.

  “Kalliste.” I opened my eyes as Blaze stared down at me. His lips curled, dark eyes sparkled with savage cruelty. “I have some rather upsetting news, I’m afraid.”

  He could barely contain his excitement.

  Inside my head, that faint flicker of power from Amaris’s Hound found me, and I was swallowed by its power, consumed by hate and rage trapped inside midnight flames.

  “I’m afraid your sister, Amaris, is dead.”

  I stared up at him, seeing the sickening glee. I held on to that flicker of life inside me.

  He tried to kill her.

  He tried to take her from me.

  He plunged something cold into her heart, no, not cold…something ice.

  But she survived, didn’t she? Not because of her Hound…

  But because of a Dragon.

  3

  Kalliste

  “Did you hear what I said?”

  I shook my head as tears rolled down my face.

  He smiled then, smiled because he’d gotten what he wanted. He wanted my pain, my tears. He wanted me vulnerable and pliable. He wanted me weak and reeling.

  He wanted me broken.

  I opened myself to the pain and heartache, to a lifetime of living in fear one way or another, first with my mom in fear for her life, and then in the wake of her death. I used that pain now, used it for a purpose other than closing myself off from those I loved.

  Tears streamed down my cheeks. I lowered my gaze as the drops smacked the polished marble floor.

  “There...there,” Blaze whispered without a hint of compassion in his tone. He squatted once more, hands gripping the point of my chin to lift my gaze to his.

  He loved my pain, swallowed my pain. It fed some kind of sickness that welled inside him, a kind I knew all too well.

  “Not long now, my Princess. Not long and this will all be over.”

  I sank into the darkness of my soul, and brushed against the power of my Hound. I wanted it all to be over, to be free of men like Blaze and my father--free of loneliness and emptiness.

  Free to find peace, however that might come.

  I pulled my head back, letting him see the endless darkness, letting him see how deep I’d plunged. He couldn’t touch me down here, he couldn’t hurt me...not anymore.

  As long as they’re safe, the thought skimmed across my mind as the sound of heavy boots echoed through the hall.

  “I think it’s time you retire for the evening.” Blaze never took those infernal eyes from mine, and then he pulled away.

  I wouldn’t play his games...not now...not ever.

  The guard stepped into the doorway and waited, but I didn’t look away as I lifted my hand and swiped the last tear from my cheek.

  “Maybe a little time alone will help you reflect on your loss,” Blaze rose, looking down at me.

  That is how he liked it, to be in control...to be feared. I shoved up from the cold floor as the guard came closer. Rage filled me as I met the Hellhound’s gaze. The flicker of amber flames burned brighter than those in Blaze. He was taller, stronger, in Hound and in muscle. If the male wanted to, he could kill this cruel piece of shit.

  But he didn’t...instead, he took a step toward me and bent down, reaching for my arm as he murmured, “My Queen.”

  His fingers skimmed my arm before I pulled away from his touch. His weakness was bitter and foul, filling my nose and mouth. My lips trembled, curling as I lifted my gaze and met his stare. “Do not dare touch me again.”

  A flicker of pain tore through his gaze, but one simple nod was all he gave as he straightened.

  Blaze’s chuckle spilled into the room. “It seems our Queen has found her bite after all.”

  I turned to the piece of shit who kept me prisoner and took a step closer. My Hound let out a quiet growl of warning, and that sound spilled along the back of my throat.

  There were no words needed. That sound was all I had to say.

  Blaze thought I was weak and afraid, he thought my sisters were disposable.

  He had no idea who we were…

  I turned, leaving both of them standing in the middle of the room as I left them behind. My footsteps echoed as I made my way along the hallway to the stairs. I wasn’t allowed up here, not at night, when Amaris roamed the streets hunting for a way to get to me.

  But not tonight...tonight, she clawed her way back from the brink of death.

  With a Dragon at her side.

  Still I played my part, holding that knowledge close to my chest.

  I made my way down the stairs to the entrance of the house. Three guards stood at the entrance, armed with semi-automatic guns. They glanced up as I strode toward them, and then looked away. There was barely a flicker of a Hellhound flame between all three of them, barely a man in this entire house...at least, not one with a backbone.

  My chest tightened, fists curled at my sides, as the heavy steps of my warden echoed behind me at the top of the stairs. I met every gaze, carved through every hollow stare.

  I turned right, sweeping around the stairs to the hallway. My heels clacked on the marble. This place was cold stone and colder steel. A palace made for a King.

  But it was no place for a Queen.

  I made for the closed door at the end of the hall and waited as my handler stepped around me, twisted the doorknob, and then stepped inside.

  This room was more than my cell, it was my torture. I stared at the walls as he switched on the light, checked the room and then the bathroom, then walked out, closing the door behind him. The clunk of the lock made me flinch.

  I closed my eyes for a second, and then let the mask fall.

  My body shuddered and shook.

  I strode toward the bed and fell to my knees. My sobs were muffled by my pillow, my tears were soaked up as fast as they came. Until, in an instant, the shudders stilled. I lowered the pillow and sucked in a hard breath.

  Don’t give in...Amaris’s voice filled me. Don’t give him what he wants. Get up...get up and fight...I lifted my head and swiped the tears aside.

  She was right.

  She was always right.

  I shoved the pillow aside and rose from the floor, then strode into the bathroom. White tiles sparkled under the overhead glare. I turned from the shower, finding my reflection in the mirror above the sink.

  He thinks we’re broken now...he thinks we’re weak.

  Are you weak, Kalliste?

  Are...you...weak?

  “No,” the answer resounded. Dark eyes held me, pulling me closer. Red flames danced around the pupils. It was those flames I held onto...those flames, I followed them down...down...down into the darkness--to where my Hound waited.

  She gave a snarl, her anger so close to the surface. She was angry...and powerful.

  And ready.

  My breath caught as she neared. Red flames burned brighter, the bellies bu
rning blue. “They think we’re going to crumble,” I whispered to her. “They think Amaris is dead.” Power came to life inside me, spilling through my veins as I clenched my jaw. “We’ll show them,” my Hound growled and took a step closer. Red and blue filled my world. “We’ll show them all.”

  Queen…

  The title consumed me. I’d run from it, hidden from it.

  But there would be no more hiding...not anymore—not for me.

  Maybe there never really was.

  4

  Artemas

  Fever gripped me. I curled my body into a ball, my claws gouged the wall as I tried to hold on. But I couldn’t hold on. I could only shake and whimper like a newborn.

  Through the blur of my tears, my phone came alive. A name lit up the screen. I reached out, but my claws scratched the leather cover, swiping it just out of reach.

  Pain drove a nail through my temple. I closed my eyes and waited.

  Darkness moved in…darkness that hated and hurt.

  Darkness with flaming blue eyes.

  Darkness that growled a name.

  One I hadn’t heard in a thousand years.

  One I never wanted to hear again.

  “It’ll pass,” my throat burned with the words. “Hold on, it’ll pass.”

  The sting in my palms was instant, wrenching open my eyes to see the tips of obsidian talons embedded in the skin.

  But it’s not going to…not this time, Margaret murmured somewhere in the room.

  Pain roared to the surface, like the cut of a whip around my throat. I reached up, fingers grazing the stubble. I could almost feel something around my neck, cinching tighter and tighter.

  I sucked in a hard breath, arching my neck as the pain drove deeper...deeper.

  But it wasn’t my pain…

  The words slipped in. Not my pain...I skimmed my neck and sucked in the cold air. My tongue was thick, skirting arid lips. I tried to remember how long I’d been here, tried to remember how long ago I was in the limousine.

  My phone buzzed and vibrated once more. Regan, the name flashed.

  She could help me. She could save me.

  Fingers unfurled, tearing from my palm. I tried to move, tried to push from the doorway.

  They will listen, Sevan. They will hear us now. A voice slipped in from my past, one that sent a shudder through my body, and the rattle of bones filled my mind.

  My breath caught, the phone now silent, as I lifted my gaze to the shadows. An old woman stood there, hunched and frail as she stepped out into the light.

  I knew her. I knew…with the memory of the old woman, came the past. She was there that day, standing outside the hospital, staring at me with those all-seeing eyes…while inside my wife was dying inside. I thought she’d been an illusion, just a figment of my imagination. Something cruel to haunt me in the days and the weeks and the months Margaret died.

  And now she was back.

  “Not real,” I closed my eyes. “You’re not real.”

  “And neither are you,” she snapped.

  There was the thud, thud, thud, of her cane hitting the floor as she moved closer. “You didn’t listen to me, did you?”

  Soft fingers moved across my forehead. I shuddered under her touch, and opened my eyes once more. She was a blur of long, knotted hair and wide brown eyes. “Who,” the word was a hiss. I licked my lips and swallowed before trying again. “Who are you?”

  “I’m the one who’ll see this through,” she answered. “I’m the one at the very end. They will hear us, Sevan,” she murmured, and touched my cheek.

  I shook my head and closed my eyes. “Not me, that’s not me.”

  “No,” she answered. “But it will be, soon enough. You’ll meet your match this time. You’ll meet your match, and, no matter how big or strong either of you will get, you’ll still be yin and yang.”

  Pain lashed deep, tearing me open from the middle, and I lost my grip and fell to the floor. I couldn’t understand her, couldn’t gather enough strength to figure it out. The phantom lash around my throat tightened, cutting off the air. I gasped and choked as the shadows moved, and the old Shaman leaned closer.

  “He’s not here,” she murmured. The soft pads of her fingers pressed against the side of my neck. “But he’s coming.” She leaned closer. “And your Hellhound is pissed.”

  She rattled as she moved, leaning hard on her cane. Behind her, my phone vibrated on the floor.

  I lifted my head from the floor. “Wait, my phone.”

  The old woman glanced at the screen and then turned to me once more. “They can’t help you, Senator. Not anymore. Have to help yourself this time, Hound. You found yourself here, you can find your own way back.”

  I whimpered, and reached further, claws dragging along the hard tile floor. The old woman stepped away from me.

  “You can find your own way back, Sevan…”

  You can find your own way back.

  I shook my head, thick tears slipping down my cheeks. I couldn’t, not anymore. They didn’t understand, no one could. I wasn’t me. Not the Hellhound or the man. When I stepped away from Hell…

  Hell refused to step away from me.

  It clung to me, invaded me, poisoned me.

  I wasn’t what they knew me to be--I lifted my head to the blur of the old woman. “I’m not like I used to be…I’m worse.”

  “Aren’t we all?” she murmured as she blurred, until I blinked and she was gone. I stared at the growing shadows spilling from the doorway of my home and closed my eyes.

  I remembered now…remembered stumbling from the car, remembered screaming at my driver to leave and never come back. I remembered falling. I lifted my gaze to the front door of my home.

  I remembered home.

  Shadows reached for me with icy fingers. I pulled away, sucked in a savage breath, and turned my head, finding the narrow staircase that’d lead me higher. I’d call someone…Alpha…Ace…Gunny. I glanced at the phone once more. It was silent now, silent and dark.

  Fragments of memory came back to me. Gunny had tried to reach me, something about a mission. I hissed as pain ravage my body, tearing the air from my lungs, bowing my spine.

  A savage sound ripped from my lips, low and guttural…like a beast. I tried to hold onto Gunny’s face, tried to remember, something about a Guardian.

  You can find your own way back, the old Shaman’s words haunted me.

  Muscled clenched, tendons screaming, I slammed my eyes closed and held on while blue flames danced in my eyes.

  Inside my head, the Hound crept closer to the metal divide between us. His lips curled, hate burning blue.

  “Stay away from me.” I whimpered, seizing and jerking. “Stay away from me.”

  Do you feel them? My Hound growled. Do you feel the others falling into the abyss, their strength is weakening…someone is causing that.

  I curled my nails against the tiled floor, desperate to find an inch of cool. Sweat ran down my brow. I was sick, that’s all. “It’ll pass,” something burned inside with the words, and a hacking cough tore free. “It’ll pass.”

  Not this time, the Hound growled and stepped closer.

  That metal divide between us bowed and bubbled.

  Not this time…

  I lifted my head to stare into the beast’s eyes, my lips moving with the words. “Not this time.”

  This time it’s real. This time there’s no hiding what you are and what you’ve done. This time is when you’ll pay…Sevan.

  I shook my head, casting the name from my mind.

  Pain raged, I swallowed the agony as lash came again around my throat. Reflex drove me, punching out my fist and grasped the unseen lash. I could feel it, feeling it like I felt my fucking breath. Feel it like I felt the other Hellhounds of my line. I reached up and grasped it.

  My Hound snarled. The vibration rolled through my chest and spilled into my throat. I closed my eyes as their faces haunted me…

  Kane.

  RyKor. />
  Ezre.

  Stone.

  Haze.

  Cekresy.

  Me…

  Me. I swallowed a breath and felt the first flutterings of life. They were there, waiting in the darkness, behind that wall of steel I’d welded tight over the years.

  No, I tried to pull away from them as the lash around my neck tightened. I didn’t want to go back there...didn’t want to be the man I was before.

  Didn’t want to fail them again…

  Terror filled me, making me whimper, making me fight. I kicked and thrashed, shoving up on one hand to stare at the shadows.

  I didn’t want to fail her. The face of the Hellhound Queen pushed to the surface of my mind, and with the image came the smothering agony of regret. I opened my eyes as my body shuddered and trembled, a spasm raced along my spine as I stared at my splayed fingers.

  It was her blood I saw. It was her flameless eyes which haunted me.

  It was the Queen...the Queen I’d failed to save.

  My Hound snarled and stepped closer. I closed my eyes once more, but still seeing the hunger in his eyes, midnight flames dancing and flickering with a hint of blue. He hated me...hated the weakness...hated the flesh.

  Midnight lips curled, revealing a row of razor-sharp fangs.

  Panic filled me. The Queen...The Queen...and that need roared to the surface.

  The Queen was in danger...I clenched my fist as a wave of panic filled me.

  No. No, it can’t be...it can’t be...the crumbled form of a woman appeared to me. Long, auburn hair fanned out against a black marble floor. Her body was still…her neck twisted.

  Eyes forever open staring at me.

  Making me vengeful.

  Making me rage.

  Sevan! A male’s voice tore through my head as that lash tightened around my throat. I summon you now!

  Agony roared through my mind, the call a drug I couldn’t fight.

  Muscles trembling, my body quaked. A tortured sound ripped from my lips.

  Fight it...you can fight it...Margaret’s voice filled me. I lifted my head, and through the blur of tears, I caught her hiding in the shadows. “I can’t...I can’t do it.”