by Jana Leigh
“We need to know where you bought the dragon horns,” Drakk barked out to the female who looked up at him with a shocked expression on her face.
Too bad, he was not in the mood to sit and have tea with them to get his answers; she was going to have to deal with it.
“Didn’t I tell you they were not real, what the hell is wrong with you guys? And why the hell does this guy think he is one? I can get you help, you know, one phone call and you will have all the meds you need to lead a perfectly normal life,” Aislinn said quickly.
Jex snorted and then Drakk narrowed his eyes at the female. “Let’s not play games,” Drakk growled.
“Yes, let’s not. A little Xanax and you will be fine. Now, just give a me a phone, and we can make some calls and you will be good.” Aislinn agreed.
Drakk growled and looked at Jex, “Show her.”
Jex raised his eyebrows at his leader and stared intently. There was no way he just asked him to shift in front of the human. They didn’t do that—like ever, so why now?
“Uh, Drakk?” Jex said.
“Oh, you are Drakk, the leader? Good, now we are getting somewhere. I am not going to discuss this any further,” Aislinn said briskly.
Drakk rolled his eyes and then nodded to Jex who finally shrugged and stood. He pulled his shirt over his head and threw it on the chair he just vacated. Aislinn jumped up when he put his hands on his pants and yelled.
“Whoa there buddy, let’s keep your little guy in your pants, shall we. And why the hell are you undressing?”
Jex snorted and looked at her, “First off, have you ever seen someone shift with jeans on? Not comfortable, and second, my ‘little guy’ is not so little, babe.”
Aislinn narrowed her eyes at the handsome man. Drakk laughed loudly and her gaze was drawn to the other sexy man in the room. She knew she was going crazy, since both of these men had stood closer together she had been shocked at the feelings she was having. The word ‘mine’ kept playing over and over in her head.
“Okay, this is not funny anymore,” she yelled.
“Not trying to be funny, doll, we need to get this fucking party started,” Drakk drawled and nodded once again to Jex who smiled.
Aislinn felt her eyes grow wide as Jex slowly pulled off his jeans; she refused to allow her eyes to drift down, no matter how much she wanted to. So instead, she kept her eyes on Jex’s. However, when everything began to shimmer and blur, her eyes couldn’t help themselves. Because once she actually blinked, standing in front of her was a red dragon with black wings, and it was fucking huge, and the room they had been standing in was now a cave. Wait, what? she thought.
Drakk narrowed his eyes as he watched the woman’s mouth open and shut. Well shit, he possibly could be wrong here. She looked like she was going to puke any second, and she looked terrified. Finally, she took a deep breath as he had been ready to speak to her but the loud piercing scream that came out of her mouth made both of the men jump.
“What the fuck did you do to me?” she screamed and turned in a circle.
Drakk frowned and shook his head. “Do to you? Nothing.”
Aislinn looked at him panicked, then fainted.
Jex shifted back quickly and rolled his eyes at his leader. “That went well.”
“Shut up, we needed to know if she knew about us,” Drakk growled and snapped his fingers and the room appeared again. “Get her to the bed.”
Jex wiggled his eyebrows and smiled. “My pleasure.”
“Knock it off,” Drakk said and shook his head.
“Come on, man,” Jex laughed and picked up Aislinn and laid her on the bed and then turned, grabbed his clothes, and got dressed before looking at his leader again. “She is my mate, I can’t help it if she is a hottie.”
Drakk glared at Jex and shook his head. “Damn it, we are being hunted, and we seriously need to figure out what the fuck we are going to do. I don’t have time for your jokes.”
Jex sighed. “Brother, I know that. I know we need answers. I am not sure she has them though. I mean, she just worked in a little woo woo shop.”
“Brak and Peyon are getting some computers set up as we speak. They think they can break into the fuckers’ mainframe.” Drakk sighed.
“Here? They have computers here?” Jex laughed.
“Yeah, well the good part about this cave is that a power plant is right above us. Gandore tapped into it,” Drakk said.
“Ha, so no more magic?” Jex clapped. “Thank god, I was getting sick of lighting everything up. Waste of my energy.”
“Yeah, well, we would hate to waste your energy,” Drakk said dryly. “Anyway, we hope there is some indication of what is going on if they can get in.”
Jex nodded, “How is Aislinn involved?”
“I am not,” Aislinn moaned and they swung their gaze back to the bed where she was laying. “Damn…”
Jex rolled his eyes and looked at the woman who was scampering off the bed and looking around the room.
“Wait, how, cave, room?” she stuttered.
“Woman, we are dragons, magic!” Drakk said and rolled his eyes.
“Well excuse me if I don’t know the ins and outs of being a dragon,” she snapped.
Jex snorted. “I can show you the ins.”
“Jex,” Drakk said with a warning tone.
“Listen, I have no idea what the fuck is going on, but I would really LIKE TO KNOW WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!” Aislinn screamed. “What the hell did you give me? LSD?”
“Calm yourself, woman,” Drakk barked and then looked at Jex who shrugged. “Listen, we just need your help.”
“Ummmm, hell no, you drugged me, gave me hallucinations, and refuse to let me call anyone. I’m not helping you at all. Now, just let me go!” she screeched.
“We don’t have time for your little temper tantrum!” Drakk yelled back. “We didn’t drug you, what you saw was real. Pull your head out of your ass for a second and cooperate, and then we’ll take your difficult ass home.”
Jex folded his arms across his chest and watched as the two headstrong people fought with each other. He could feel their mating urge pulling at him. It was freaking him out a little, Jex stared at his leader and mentor, then at the woman who was destined to be theirs, and he froze. Theirs. They were meant to share her not fight over her. No, Drakk was not attractive to him at all, their friendship was closer than brothers, and that was what they needed to make this work. He could feel it. There had to be a reason somewhere to explain all of this, but right now he didn’t care. He only cared what he knew to be right, and that was Drakken and Jex were meant to mate with this gloriously pissed off woman. How much fun life was going to be. He could see it now, he would be the mediator between the two of them.
“Aislinn,” Drakk yelled loudly to gain her attention when she had begun throwing things at him.
“Fuck you,” she screeched.
“Uh, guys,” Jex said as he turned and looked at the doorway. Gandore was standing there motioning to them.
“You need to calm the fuck down and listen,” Drakk continued.
“Guuyyysss,” Jex tried again.
“Calm down, you want me to calm down? Well here is calm you overgrown Neanderthal,” she yelled and picked up the vase that was sitting on the nightstand.
“GUYS!” Jex roared.
“WHAT?” both of them screamed in response.
“Thought you might want to know, we have the computers up and running, and we found something.” Gandore laughed, turned around, and walked away.
Jex leaned against the hard cave wall with his arms folded across his chest. Both Aislinn and Drakk remained locked in place, both standing their ground. He rolled his eyes and moved in between them, realizing that being the buffer between these two was going to be harder than he thought. “Both of you need to get over yourselves. We are dragons. This is a cave. She is a woman. It’s not rocket science, and there is something going on that is bigger than us. So if you two are done argu
ing, let’s go see what information we can find out.”
Aislinn snorted. “I’m not sure anything is bigger than his fat head.”
“Woman, I swear on everything holy—” Drakk growled.
“Enough, Drakk,” Jex cut in. He turned and walked out, smiling at the cute little huff she released before stomping behind him, her footsteps echoing against the cave walls.
Chapter Five
When they finally made their way into the deep cavern of the cave, Aislinn choked back a scream. Five towering men all resembling Greek gods crowded around a large desk. Even in the dim light, she was taken aback at their beauty. Jex laughed at her reaction. “Aislinn, meet Xavier.” He pointed to the closest one. Xavier had hair as white as snow with alluring deep emerald streaks that fell down the middle of his back, and his gold eyes glistened but given his insanely good looks and fit physique, she knew he wasn’t old. “Next to him is Dag.” Dag had hair so black there was a blue shine to it, the length about the same as Xavier’s, with the most alluring purple eyes, and shoulders so broad any NFL team would beg to sign him on. He flashed her a cocky grin and winked.
“Mmm. The pleasure is all mine.” He reached for her hand, bringing it up to his lips before placing a lingering kiss on the back of it. When he didn’t release her, Drakk grunted and yanked her hand out of his grasp. She shook her head, attempting to snap out of the hypnotic fog he had created with just a simple look. Jex couldn’t help but snicker. Oh, he could deny it all he wanted, but Drakk had it bad. Deciding that now wasn’t the time to confront the situation, he continued.
“The one who looks like Santa Claus is Gandore.” As much as a shock all this was, she felt a calmness radiating off the silver-haired man. His eyes were a rich platinum, like none other she had ever witnessed before.
“Hello.” Even his voice was smooth and calming.
“Hi.” Her shoulders relaxed. The anxiety she felt before melted in his presence. Her ease was short lived.
The next guy that was introduced to her had a pissed off look on his face and didn’t so much as look at her. “The asshole is Peyon. Don’t take it personally. He hates everyone.”
She turned to meet the last of the group and screeched. What used to be a man lurking in the dark corner was now a ginormous iridescent dragon. Its scales were a dark black, shimmering with color in the light in a majestic eggplant effect. His mane flowed down its back in thick waves with the same alluring coloring. Instead of running like a sensitive human being would do, she stepped closer, cautiously walking up beside it.
Drakk and Jex both groaned as the others snickered. “That’s Brak. He prefers being in his dragon over human form.” Aislinn’s brow furrowed in curiosity. From her standpoint, she understood why. He was mesmerizing. Her hand reached up slowly, brushing against his solid scales. Brak snorted a puff of air and sniffed, startling her, but he didn’t back away. She slowly walked around him, examining the sharp spade of his tail and course silkiness of his mane. When she rounded back to stand in front of him, he lowered his head, and smiled. His sharp teeth gleamed in the light and made her giggle. “I can see why. It’s nice to meet you, Brak.”
“The pleasure is all mine,” he said in a low rumble. This time, she did jump.
“Y-y-you talk,” she stammered.
“Of course. What did you expect, fire to shoot out of my mouth?” Even as he tried to talk quietly, his voice vibrated through the cavern.
Her eyebrow arched. “Actually, yes.” Aislinn couldn’t help but be infatuated with the beast. Before he could protest, she had grabbed a handful of his mane and hoisted herself up on his back. He raised up, loving the chance to irk Drakk and Jex. From the lethal glares they were shooting in his direction, it worked. He stood, raising her up in the stalactites that grew down from the tall cave ceiling. He would never admit it, but she was the first human ever to ride on his back. The other females he had bedded hadn’t been keen on his true form. After he was done with them, he had compelled them to forget, leaving only memories of him human.
Aislinn couldn’t help but giggle. From this vantage point, the massive men looked like tiny little midgets. “This is awesome! You should see the view from up here!”
“Enough! Get her down now!” Drakk roared. Jex held back a laugh, basking in victory. He was jealous. He could deny the pull all he wanted, but his actions spoke volumes. The big, bad, fearless leader had a soft spot, and he was going to use it against him any chance he got.
“Leave her alone, Drakk. It looks to me like she is enjoying straddling something big,” he mumbled where only they could hear. Once the words left his mouth, he realized he felt the same twinge of jealousy. “If you want to ride a real dragon, I’ll show you a good time, baby.” Drakk punched him, jolting him backwards. Before an all out rumble broke loose, Gandore stepped in.
“Enough. Brak get her down. Now! You two—” he pointed to Jex and Drakk, “Cool it.” Drakk grumbled something on the lines of him being leader, and Gandore cut him off before he got a chance to pull that card.
“Then act like it. We have work to do.”
Brak lowered her to the ground reluctantly. It had been so long since a human had admired his true form. He didn’t feel romantically toward her, but he did see the beginning of a friendship. Once her feet were firmly on the ground, he walked around the corner and shifted, tossing on a pair of jeans before he returned. Her expression was enough stroke to his ego.
Aislinn hadn’t expected his hair and eyes to match the unique coloring of his dragon but thought it best not to voice her opinion. All of the men were magnificent. She should be scared, but amusement trumped her reality card ten-fold.
Gandore didn’t wait for the group of goons and sat in front of the row of computer screens. “Look.” The others crowded around, examining each monitor carefully.
“Son of a bitch. This can’t be…can it?” Peyon said in disbelief. Anger rose in his chest.
“It gets worse.” Gandore pointed to a spreadsheet and read it aloud. “It’s documentation that we aren’t the only ones, boys. Here is the last known location of six other clans. Who knows how many others are out there.”
“Wait. Did you see this?” Dag pointed to the monitor in front of him. It was a map with detailed notes of important worldly locations and names.
“The humans want to use us as weapons.” Drakk couldn’t believe it. All that time they had cooperated, it was all for them to find a way to control them. The U.S. government wanted world domination. He flipped through the file. Certain words popped out at him. “Alluminati. Skull and Crossbones. Celebrities. Government leaders. They are all working for a new world order.”
“Check this shit out!” Brak exclaimed.
“What is that?” Jex read, not believing his eyes.
“Concentration camps. FEMA. Red Cross. They are all behind it! Look! The damn camps are setup all over. Louisiana, Georgia, Washington. All of them are hidden in remote areas. This is a stockpile of plastic caskets. From what this is saying, each casket holds up to three bodies. There are rows and rows of them out in a heavily camouflaged compound. These assholes are preparing for a war, with us as the weapons. Page after page of this stuff all leads back to this. They want to imprison anyone who gets in their way.” Brak might not be fond of humans, but this was ridiculous. They lived on Earth, and if the government took control and forced humans to submission, it affected them in more ways than one.
“Shit. Here are blueprints for ration cards and scanners. This is end of the world crap, boys. They want to use computer chips placed in the palm to control them. Anyone that doesn’t comply ends up in one of their camps or dies. This is unbelievable.”
“They can’t possibly think it’ll work. Heck, half of all citizens own guns. It’ll be another revolutionary war. People aren’t going to allow this.”
“That’s why they want us. They know we are more powerful than any weapon they have created. What they don’t realize is we have more magic than they cou
ld ever dream possible. All they see is size and strength. If there are other clans out there, we need to get to them before they do. It’s going to take as many of us as we can get.” Gandore couldn’t believe what he saw. Of all the centuries he had walked Earth, he had never seen something to this degree. Then it hit him. A long time ago, there was a secret society, which devoted their life to keeping the balance of the world and fought against the cults and organizations out to make profits on others’ losses. There was no doubt they still existed, and were needed more now than ever. “The Templar Guard.”
“What? You can’t actually think they are still around...” Peyon leaned back in his chair.
“If you remember correctly, dear friend, we swore our allegiance to them and will always be Guards. If we exist, the Guards exist.”
“Gandore has a point. Peyon, pull up the history on each member, then track down their descendants. Chances are that neither time nor technology has changed the family heritage that is passed down between generations. The Templar Guard is and always will be. It’s just a matter of finding them. They have never been discovered throughout history. Our lineage and the fact we are in the inner circle will help.” Drakk leaned forward on his elbows, feeling Aislinn’s closeness as a distraction. He needed to stay focused and not allow a measly human girl to have such an effect on him.
“You do realize how hard this will be, don’t you? They have kept the location of the Holy Grail hidden for hundreds of years, and still only members know about the marriage between him and Mary Magdalene and his only heir. If secrets like that have been kept, what makes you think they will trust us?” Drakk knew his words were true being the oldest amongst them, and yet even they didn’t believe him fully. The Guards all dedicated their life to upholding their ways and secrets. Just because the dragons were members didn’t guarantee the trust bond was still intact after years of silence on their part. It would take time and a ton of convincing to get their foot back in the door.
