by Denise Lynn
The cube his aunt possessed wasn’t large enough to contain a person. At least not a living person.
Did the image of the man represent ashes, maybe? Were the ashes of this old man inside there?
The man in the scene shook a fist at him.
Sean leaned slightly away. Apparently, not ashes.
The dragon leaned closer and sniffed then, seemingly unconcerned, yawned and finally went back to sleep.
So...did the beast somehow know this man?
“Something new?” Caitlin asked from the office door, holding two cups of coffee.
He motioned her in. “Check this out.”
She set one cup on the desk and took a seat next to him. Curling her legs up in the chair, she held her own cup close. Bending her head side to side, she said, “I feel like I must have tossed and turned all night.”
Sean’s eyes widened briefly, but he wasn’t going to explain why she felt that way. Instead, he pulled her attention to the grimoire. “There’s the cube the Learned wants.”
“Is that the one your aunt has?”
“Yes. But look inside.”
She leaned forward slightly, glanced at the image then calmly sat back in her chair. “I still think he looks older than he sounds.”
“Older than he sounds?” Sean turned in his chair to stare at her. “Care to explain that?”
Caitlin squinted for a moment before opening her eyes. “That’s right, I forgot. The three of you haven’t met him.”
“And you have?”
“Yes. When your aunt took me outside yesterday, she introduced us.”
Sean slammed the grimoire closed. “You didn’t think that worth mentioning?”
“You didn’t ask. Oh, that’s right, you were too busy being amused because she’d duped me.”
“We’re going to do this again?”
“We could gather everything up and go get our son.”
“We aren’t gathering anything up to give to the Learned.”
“So we’re going to sit here another day doing nothing?”
Sean wondered how she spoke so clearly through clenched teeth. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
Her coffee cup hit the desk so hard that coffee sloshed over the edge. “You just don’t care, do you?”
“You saw him for yourself. Did he appear to be in any danger?”
“No. But you don’t know when that could change.”
He placed a hand on her arm, hoping to calm her and himself. “Caitlin, the Learned isn’t going to do anything to harm his only guarantee. We plan on moving tomorrow.”
“What’s wrong with today? What difference will another day make?”
He could ask the same thing, but he knew the answer—she was anxious. “We are taking our time because we can and we must. Men are probably going to die. There’s no helping it. Braeden wanted everyone to have today to see to their families and for us to go over every detail once more.”
Caitlin shook her head, a confused expression on her face. “Wait a minute. You would rather have people die in a rescue attempt that may not work, instead of just giving him what he wants in exchange for a certain release?”
In an attempt to blow off some of his own agitation, Sean rose and paced. “Certain release? The only thing you can be certain of with the Learned is death. You’ve seen the things he’s done, what he’s capable of. How can you not see how much more dangerous he would be with those items in his possession?”
“I want my son!”
He walked toward her. “Caitlin, please understand.”
She held up her arms, palms out, to stop his approach. “Stay away. Don’t touch me.”
Sean spun about and walked out of the office. She wasn’t going to see reason, and he had no words to convince her that he and his brothers were doing the right thing.
He heard her crying and felt as if his own heart was going to break. There was no way he could just leave her like this, so he went back to the office and came to a rocking stop in the doorway.
She was still seated in the chair, head bowed, crying, with a glowing Ascalon held out before her.
“Do you want me to leave?”
She nodded and waved the sword at him.
Sean bypassed the elevator for the stairs, hoping the jog down them would provide some of the release he needed.
It didn’t, so he kept up the pace and slammed out of the castle. He had no idea where he was going; he just knew he had to get out of there.
By the time he made it to the beach, he was moving at a dead run and saw no point in slowing. The instant his toes hit the water, he shifted to a smoky dragon and lifted into the sky.
He circled the island, flying in and out of clouds. It was too bad he couldn’t just keep going higher and higher until he hit the moon, or Mars, but he knew that was a foolish wish since even dragons needed air to breathe.
What was he going to do with her? His brothers’ wives were bullheaded, but Caitlin took demanding to another level. When she wanted something her way, she wanted it that way now. Not tomorrow, not when it was the right time, but now.
Had she always been this way?
His dragon snuffed at him. Yes, yes, he was being unfair. She was upset about the baby. He knew that. But he was doing everything he could within reason.
What did she expect?
Suddenly, the warmth of the sun above the clouds grew cold. The blood running through his veins chilled. Something was wrong. By the rapid beating of his heart he could tell that even his beast felt that something was off—not quite right.
He couldn’t have been gone half an hour. Both Braeden and Cam were at the castle. What could have happened in so short a time? And why hadn’t either of them contacted him?
When he started to direct his flight back to the castle, the dragon intervened and headed west, toward the Learned’s castle. Sean’s breath caught in his chest. Was something wrong with their son?
He focused his full attention on getting to the Learned’s quickly, lending speed to the dragon’s flight.
They didn’t slow until they were right up against the castle wall. Sean directed them up to the window where he’d seen his son and then he heard it—not the cry of a child in distress, but of a terrified woman—his woman.
Chapter 12
Nathan waved a palm slowly before the highly polished mirror hanging on the wall behind his altar. The blank surface wavered and then filled with a swirling smoke before the vision he wanted came into view.
He’d been keeping an eye on the cursed beast since his arrival on Mirabilus. Waiting, plotting, tamping down his impatience because he knew that eventually, this moment would come.
A quick study of his altar assured him that all was ready.
Now he simply needed to bring the beast here.
Which wouldn’t be too terribly difficult since the dragon was a juvenile and unlike his older siblings, who relied more on reason and forethought, still let emotions overrule his better judgment, especially when it came to his mate.
“Let me go!”
Nathan paid little heed to the woman chained to a pillar at the far side of the chamber. She was nothing more than a necessity—needed bait. A mortal who, in her soon to be realized death, wouldn’t provide enough energy to lift his arm.
Without turning around, he snapped his fingers over his shoulder at her and smiled at the easiness of the spell.
She screamed again. “Let me— What did you do?”
Her voice changed midscream. Instead of the high-pitched, accented voice she’d used her entire life, it was now lower, the voice of a certain succubus.
He focused on the image before him. It was all he could do not to shout in triumph. No, not yet. True, the beast was now headed to what he thought would be his mate’s rescue, but he wasn’t yet caught fast in spells and chains.
Soon. Mere moments left.
Nathan waved his hand again, wiping away the image in the mirror and then he moved into the
shadows.
* * *
Sean’s throat tightened. The Learned had Caitlin!
No. That wasn’t possible.
His heart threatened to pound out of his chest. The beast shook its head in dismay and anger. Possible or not, there was no time for planning or plotting. He wasn’t leaving her in Nathan’s hands one millisecond longer than necessary.
Aiming for the window, Sean entered the stronghold like a smoky arrow.
The second he cleared the window, she cried out, “Help me!”
Keeping his sense alert for Nathan, he followed the sound, through the chamber he’d entered, out into the hallway and down the curved staircase.
There, at the other side of the Great Hall, he spotted a woman chained to a pillar. Sean’s beast reared back, slowing them, giving him time to shift into solid dragon form—a form that would provide him with more strength and speed than that of a human.
Once shifted, he lunged forward to get to the woman, only to slam face-first down on the cold, stone floor. He lifted his head to see a chain secured around his ankle and Nathan walking out from the shadows laughing as he threw a spell toward him and then at Caitlin.
Sean tried to shift to human form as a blazing ball of light blinded him momentarily before the heat of it washed over him. Unable to shift, the beast raged. Intent on getting to Caitlin he turned away from the wizard and reached toward her. She was no longer screaming, no longer upright. She’d fallen to the floor in a pool of blood.
Sean dragged himself as far as the chain would allow, afraid to touch her, afraid of what he would find. But he had to know. He stretched out, straining against the metal bond holding him, hooked the tip of a talon into the hem of her blouse and dragged her to him.
The dragon buried his nose in the sweat-dampened hair bunched on the back of her neck. Caitlin’s scent was absent. The only things he detected were the scents of blood and death.
Unable to contain his emotions, Sean let the gut-wrenching pain of loss wash over him, sobbing as the beast’s keening cry filled the chamber. He pulled Caitlin’s body into his embrace then held her against his chest.
He longed to feel his fingertips against her skin, his lips—human lips—pressed to hers one more time. But he’d been denied that by the vile cretin who’d killed her.
The beast loosened his hold enough to bring her away from his chest. Even if he couldn’t kiss her, he could at least gaze on her.
He took a shuddering breath before turning his gaze down to the sight he knew would shred his heart.
As realization that the woman in his hold was not Caitlin set in, Nathan’s cruel laugh rang loud in the chamber, bouncing off the unadorned stone walls.
The dragon placed the woman on the floor, drew to his full height and then growling, it turned to tear the wizard apart with his talons. As he lunged for the Learned, a puff of smoke coated his face, filled his nostrils, and he swayed on his feet as a sudden dizziness claimed him.
Sean cursed as his beast once again hit the floor and succumbed to the blackness of sleep, leaving him alert, contained within the dragon, unable to defend himself or his beast against whatever Nathan had in store.
The wizard walked behind his altar to light the candles. “Now, my beloved creation, you will learn obedience.”
He picked up his curved-blade athame and approached the dragon. He drew the tip of the small weapon along the beast’s chest until blood coated the blade, which he let drip into a shallow bowl back on the altar.
Sean fought against the all too familiar anger, hatred and bloodlust seeping into him. He focused his thoughts on Caitlin, their child—anything other than the dark hunger threatening to fill his soul.
Again, Nathan laughed, then chanted words Sean couldn’t decipher. When the wizard finished his chants, he threw ashes over the dragon. “I wash you in death and in a hatred that only the blood of this human’s kin will quell.”
He walked back to the altar and then returned with a small vial. He poured the contents along the beast’s spine. “Heed me in this, or your spawn and mate will die while you watch.”
He then circled the altar three times, doused the candles then returned yet again. After releasing the chain on the dragon’s ankle, he patted the beast’s forehead and spoke to Sean, “Fear not, changeling, you won’t remember a thing until it’s far too late.”
A darkness washed over Sean as Nathan left the Great Hall. He wanted to fight it, tried to struggle free from the descending sense of doom, but the more he fought, the stronger it became.
“Shh, beastie, rest.”
A woman with long, flowing black hair bent over him, whispering—the gypsy mage from his dreams. She sat beside him on the floor, stroking the scales on his chest.
“You are my boy, my big, brave boy, and I tell you true, St. George will set you free.”
Sean relaxed, no longer fighting the darkness washing over him. He gladly sank into its cold embrace.
* * *
Aelthed knew she was nearby. He could feel her in the room. Tired of this curtain of silence she’d thrown over him, he asked, “Danielle, are you going to keep ignoring me?”
“That depends.”
When she didn’t say anything further, he prompted, “On?”
“On whether you’re alone, or with someone. I certainly wouldn’t want to interrupt you if you have company.”
“Woman, have you gone daft?” When he caught his breath, Aelthed said, “I invited no one into my cube—it’s not as if I can. The gypsy was here to explain what was going on with the grimoire and the cursed changeling’s mate.”
“So, she wasn’t here for you?”
“No.”
“I’m sorry. You are perfectly within your rights to entertain anytime you so desire. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Aelthed shook his head. Had she been listening to him at all? Apparently, she’d missed the part about not being able to invite anyone inside his cube. He changed tactics. “Danielle Drake, I wish to entertain only one woman—you. I would take you as my wife if possible. I would think you knew this without being told.”
His cube bounced as she sat heavily down on the bed, sending him stumbling to the floor. Her sweet warmth invaded his space as she lifted the wooden box to her cheek.
“Oh, Aelthed, I know a great many things, my love, but that was not one of them. I’d hoped and wished that someday you could come to feel for me, but I’d not known that you had.”
“Well, I do. Now stop your nonsense.”
She sighed, then asked, “So, what is going on with the grimoire and Caitlin?”
An icy chill swept over him. He turned his head, hoping to better deduce what was happening.
“Aelthed?”
“Shh.” He hushed her, adding more gently, “Give me just a minute.”
He spread out his arms and waved the cold to life. It wavered, gathered and then cleared, giving him a vision that horrified him. The cursed changeling was chained on the floor of Nathan’s stronghold. Aelthed’s breath caught in his throat. He moved his arm to spin the vision slightly. The sight of the Learned behind his altar casting a spell upon the beast froze his heart.
“Danielle! Get me to the Dragon Lord, now!”
She jumped up from the bed, clutching his cube tightly as she raced for the door to her suite. “What’s going on?”
“Just hurry. Nathan captured the youngest Drake.”
“No!” She came to a dead stop. “Is he alive?”
“I think so. Hurry! I’ll tell you what I can as we go.”
* * *
Braeden slammed the phone receiver down onto the base. “I don’t know where the hell he is.”
Cam tapped off his cell. “He’s not answering his cell, either.”
“I said eight, right?” Braeden glanced at his watch. “It’s almost nine.”
“Maybe we should call Dan—”
The door to Braeden’s office slammed open, cutting off Cam’s suggestion. Danielle half
ran, half staggered into the room, dropping breathlessly onto a chair. “He’s been taken!”
Cam sat down next to her and took her hand in his. “Calm down. Who’s been taken?”
“Sean.”
She lifted the cube. “Aelthed saw it.”
Braeden didn’t know whether to swear or to raise the hounds of hell. “Did Aelthed say what happened?”
She placed the cube on the desk. “Tell them.”
“Hang on a second.” Holding his arm outstretched, Braeden called Caitlin to the office. She materialized—holding what could only be Ascalon in her hand.
“Son of a—”
He dropped back down onto his chair. This was turning out to be a great start to the day.
Cam looked at the sword, then at Caitlin, then back at the sword. “Is that...”
She nodded slowly and sank down onto a chair at the back of the office. “I... I...” Taking a deep breath, she placed the weapon on the floor at her feet. “I was cleaning it.”
Braeden raised an eyebrow, asking, “For anything in particular?”
The sword disappeared. Caitlin jumped to her feet, shouting, “Hey!”
A voice rose up from the cube on Braeden’s desk. “I put it back in its scabbard. Can we get to the task at hand?”
“Is something happening I should know about?” Caitlin looked around the office. “Where is Sean?”
Danielle motioned her closer. “That’s what this is about, dear.”
Caitlin took the empty chair by Danielle. “It’s about Sean?”
Braeden answered her, “Yes.” He then directed his attention to the cube. “Aelthed, if you please.”
“After their argument this morning, Sean took flight.”
Caitlin studied the ceiling, while Danielle patted her hand. Braeden and Cam rolled their eyes.
“It seems that he and his beast sensed something wrong at the Learned’s stronghold and went to investigate. When they got there, they heard the dragon’s mate crying for help and went in to rescue her.”
