by Amelia Jade
Klara Nova, Rhynne’s mother, was one of the two dragon representatives on the Cadian Council. As the dragons were also the longtime chairs of the Council, that made her one of the three most powerful figures in Cadia. The only one who could rival her was the High Guardian, who commanded all of the Guardians of Cadia.
No pressure. None at all.
A flapping of wings alerted him to the presence of another in the sky with him. Dominick’s head snapped around as a large inky-black dragon came close.
Shit. I was so focused on the house, I forgot to keep a watch on the sky! Rule number one of the Academy, and I still can’t follow it.
Cursing himself, he eyed up the newcomer, who coasted in close to him in a non-confrontational manner. Black dragons, or Blast Dragons, were exceedingly rare, and he swallowed hard as his mind realized that at this place in Cadia there was likely only one Blast dragon he might encounter.
“Zoltan,” he said respectfully to Rhynne’s father.
“Hello,” the former Cadian Council Lord said politely. “May I assist you in any way?”
The question was phrased politely enough, but Dominick understood just what he was saying underneath the veneer of cheerfulness. You have no business here. Get out. Well, in this case Zoltan was wrong. He did have business being here.
“Ah, I was just getting ready to descend, sir,” he replied. “Such a gorgeous place here. I was just taking some time to admire it. Sorry if I caused you any trouble.”
“None at all,” Zoltan said quietly in reply as he eyed Dominick. “Business at the house you say? Well, come on then, let’s be quick about it.”
“Of course,” he said and the pair of them began to descend from the sky.
Dominick picked one of the landing circles, gathering himself. He needed to make this shift a smooth, easy one. No excessive lightning or other tricks this time. Just a quick, seamless shift back to his human form, so that he might show them he wasn’t just some slob of an Academy Cadet.
His sapphire-blue scales glittered in the waning sunlight as he passed through a beam that had made its way through the clouds. He glanced over at Zoltan, noting the way the sun illuminated him, but there was no reflection of the sunlight on the black dragon. His scales were a dull, matte black. Dominick wondered how he did that, and resolved to ask if he ever got on good terms with Zoltan.
Unlikely chance of that happening.
“So,” Zoltan said, appearing around the corner from his chosen landing circle before Dominick had even begun his transition. “What kind of business brings you to Chez Nova?”
Dominick didn’t reply. Instead he summoned the lightning clouds and shifted into human form, the black shapes shot through with streaks of blue light that momentarily occluded his view of the head of house Nova. When they dissipated he exhaled in relief. It had been, by all accounts, a smooth shift. There was no look from Zoltan that would have signified his distaste at a rough change.
“Well, actually sir, I—”
“There you are, Z!” a female voice said loudly, and the pair of men turned to see a tall blonde figure coming down the stairs at a stately pace, accompanied by a person in all white livery.
Dominick would recognize Klara Nova anywhere he saw her. She was always perfect-looking. She was beautiful, in an abstract sort of way, and he could see where Rhynne got her good looks from. But she was missing something that Rhynne had. That zest, the fire for life that he found so attractive about her. That was something, if he didn’t miss his guess, that she had gotten from her father. He wondered for a brief moment why the two of them had ever gotten married in the first place.
“Oh, hello,” Klara said as she finally noticed Dominick. “Can I help you?”
Shit. Where was Rhynne? There was no sign of her around, and now he was being confronted by both of her parents. Not good. Not good at all.
Klara frowned as she looked at Dominick. “Wait, aren’t you one of the cadets at the Academy? The one Rhynne is working with?”
Dominick nodded politely. “Yes ma’am, I am.” He tried to say more, but his voice died.
“Oh, very good then. Is there something that brought you here? Did Daxxton have a message for us?” She seemed ready to dismiss him as soon as he answered.
“Ah, no, not that I am aware of,” Dominick sputtered, thrown completely off balance. This was not how the evening was supposed to have gone.
Where the hell was Rhynne? He certainly wasn’t going to tell them himself. For all he knew, Zoltan, or even Klara herself, would attack him for something silly. Like violating their daughter or something, or insulting their family by even suggesting something had happened.
“Is Rhynne here?” he asked as the Novas looked at him strangely.
Zoltan looked over at Klara. “No,” she responded. “My daughter hasn’t been here in a few days. Why? Shouldn’t she be at the Academy?”
Dominick felt his throat swell up. What the hell was going on? Where was Rhynne? She’d said she’d be there. She wouldn’t ditch him like this, would she?
His dragon rumbled inside of him, pushing that thought aside. It knew Rhynne, and it said she was telling the truth when she’d planned to be here. But now she wasn’t, and Dominick was left to come up with an excuse.
“Ah, I’m not sure of the specifics behind it all,” he said, improvising quickly. “But Blaine asked me to come find her, and he was under the impression that she would be here.”
“Oh,” Klara said, clearly not entirely believing Dominick. “Well, you can tell him that we haven’t seen her.”
“I shall do just that,” he replied, nodding his head respectfully to the pair and returning to the circle under the watchful eye of the Novas.
He shifted as fast as he could while still maintaining control, so that the forces of his change didn’t spew out all across the circle. Then, without looking back, he launched himself into the sky and got the hell out of dodge.
For one reason or another, Rhynne had abandoned her plans to meet him tonight, and he needed to find out why.
Chapter Twelve
Rhynne
She walked out of the Cadian Administration building with a sigh of relief. One of the worst parts of being a Guardian was the paperwork that came with it. Although Rhynne flew fewer border patrol missions now that she was enlisted as an instructor at Top Scale, she was still required—like all Guardians—to commit to at least one per week. So that morning, after departing Dominick’s company, she’d flown a six-hour route.
Normally such things were uneventful. This time, however, a small party of humans had gotten lost. She’d seen them send up a flare for help, and had then escorted them back over the border and into human territory. Most of the time they were smart enough to stay on their side of the mountains—the sun made it real easy to tell which side that was—but every now and then a party got badly turned around.
But with such an encounter came forms.
Rhynne hated forms. Especially ones she had to fill out in double, because a copy went to the human government as well. Done with that, however, she was free to go.
Not that walking out of paperwork and into dinner with her parents where she told them not only had she fallen for Dominick, but that she was carrying his child, was any more comforting. In fact, her stomach was already twisting itself into knots at the prospect. She was committed to it now, and there was no going back.
Her parents might freak out, but Rhynne was comforted to know that things were working out between her and Dom now. This way she could hopefully stop denying her dragon’s frantic efforts to convince her that he was her mate.
Mate.
It wasn’t a word she’d truly expected to be hers to use. Although she was still practically an infant when it came to the lifespans of dragons, as a human she was nearing the end of the child-producing years. The fact that she could healthily produce children for another three or so centuries was a weird dichotomy with her human brain, which was screaming at her that she nee
ded to reproduce, and she needed to do it now.
Without a man in her life she’d been fairly successful at ignoring those urges. Now though, as she walked down the streets of Cadia, her hand straying across her still mostly-flat stomach, it was kicking into overdrive.
Considering the fact that I’m carrying a child, you’d think it would realize that I’m working on it! Unexpectedly, true, but hey, it all seems to be working out.
Her lips tugged upward in a smile at that thought. It was true. Things were working out. She had two jobs in life that she enjoyed thoroughly, and now there was a man who—despite some hiccups—she got along with extremely well. She was looking forward to the times ahead now, where they could truly open up to each other and become a better pairing.
Not that her dragon felt it was necessary. It knew Dominick, and it recognized what it needed within him. That, in essence, was that. There had been no fighting it from when she first saw him, not from her dragon. When two shifters found their mates, that was it. They knew it. It was a little different with a human in the mix, like Dominick’s friends had found out. A human had no inner animal to guide them. So they had to go through more stages of acceptance.
But with her and Dominick, she knew he was her mate. And vice versa, even if they’d never voiced it out loud. It was simply fact.
Not that she didn’t still yearn to spend more time with him. Every minute away from him was lonely. But when he was near, even though they had yet to bond, she felt happier and more complete.
And after tonight, her parents would know about everything. They might not be happy, but Rhynne was determined that no matter what they said, she wasn’t going to let it affect her any longer.
A figure suddenly eclipsed the street in front of her as she rebounded off their chest.
“Holy shit!” she exclaimed, stumbling backward. “I am so, so sorry!”
Her eyes looked up, fixating on the person she’d walked into in her daydream.
“Hello, gorgeous,” Garviel said with a false smile.
Rhynne spun, intending to just walk the other way. But there behind her, lounging against the outer wall of the building down the street, were two more men. One of them had a dark mark under his eye, while the other was wearing a red fleece jacket.
“You’re the jerks from Morrte’s,” she said, though they were too far away to hear her.
“What was that?” Garviel said as he grabbed her arm and began to walk with her.
“Nothing,” she snapped, wrenching her arm to free it.
His grip was strong though, and this time she knew he wouldn’t be surprised by her strength or abilities. Garviel had planned this through.
“What do you want?” she asked, trying a different tactic instead.
Perhaps all he wanted was to get back at her for knocking him out or something. If that was his plan, she was positive she could foil it.
“Why so angry?” he asked with a frown. “Didn’t you get all that out when you punched me?” he said, his voice still filled with false happiness.
“No, I think I’d need a few more of those,” she said dryly. “Care to take a few more to the chin? If you think you can handle it, of course,” she added wickedly, reminding him she’d knocked him down with one punch.
“That’s all in the past,” he said. “I have bigger plans now. Much bigger plans for you.”
Her blood ran cold as she heard real happiness enter his voice. Whatever it was he had planned, it was not going to be good, and he was really looking forward to it. Rhynne looked around as surreptitiously as she could, trying to spot anyone who might be able to come and rescue her without causing a scene. If she tried to fight him, he might just kill her for all she knew. Until that became a foregone conclusion, Rhynne would try to stay away from that outcome.
She didn’t have just herself to worry about. There was the child within her, and Dominick, both of whom she wished to live to see. So yes, avoiding death was rather understandably at the top of her priority list.
“Let’s walk,” he said, keeping a tight grip on her arm as he strolled down the street. “Play nice with them. Don’t act like a scared puppy dog,” he said viciously.
Rhynne tried to relax, to smile at those few she knew well enough as they passed by. Although she was a Guardian, she was just as reclusive as most dragons, and didn’t know much of the population personally.
“Where are we going?” she said as he took her down a side street, and then another.
She noticed they were leaving the more populated areas of town behind.
“Out,” he said with a teasing smile, clearly inviting her to ask more.
Rhynne sighed. “Out where?” she asked, angrily playing along with his little game.
“Out of Cadia!” he crowed.
“What about the big bash at the end of the week? You’re going to miss your own going-away party?” she asked, truthfully surprised by that revelation.
“Well, yes, that part does sadden me,” he admitted. “But you see, the truth is knowing I won’t be leaving alone makes it all worthwhile!”
She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at his words.
“Not leaving alone? But—”
Her eyes went wide as realization hit.
“Yes!” he said with a snap of his fingers. “Exactly, you see it now, don’t you? It’s perfect, right?”
Shaking her head, Rhynne looked up at him in disbelief. “You can’t actually think this will work, can you? There’s no way you can get me out of Cadia without someone noticing.”
“By the time they notice you’re gone,” he boasted, “We’ll all be back in Fenris. Do you really think they’ll risk war with Fenris over this?” He practically cackled at the thought. “Seriously, Cadia has become so pacifistic it hurts. Just because you are above the old ways, thinking you’re so high and mighty, doesn’t mean the rest of us prescribe to your ridiculous thoughts. Fenris is a rapier ready to be wielded. Cadia is like a straw man. You wouldn’t stand a chance.”
Rhynne thought he was exaggerating a little bit, but he had a point. Cadia had become a peaceful state over the past century or two. Much more so than anywhere else, including a warrior haunt like Fenris. Still, war? That seemed a bit much, in her opinion.
Okay, so all you have to do is get away before he leaves. No problem, right?
Right. Except for the part where she was outnumbered at least three to one. She wasn’t sure where the other three members of the Fenris delegation had gotten off to, but she hadn’t seen a sign of them yet.
“Yes,” Garviel said as they continued to walk, his fingers like a vise on her arm as he guided her along. “It will be nice to get you where nobody else will ever lay a claim on you again.” He growled. “I don’t like it when others eye my girl.”
“What? What the hell are you talking about? Eying your girl?”
“Must I explain everything?” he sighed. “The sandwich man. The little trainee. The ones here in town you’ve got wrapped around your finger. We’re going to teach them a lesson before we leave, aren’t we boys?”
The other Wards of Fenris chuckled evilly.
Morrte. Dominick!
“What have you done to them?” she snarled, shaking free of his grip at last, but not moving to escape.
“Oh relax,” he said with a wave of his hand. “We just burnt down the man’s shop to teach him a lesson. He didn’t lay a hand on you. Your little cadet puppy guard dog, however, he needs to be taught a little more painful lesson. Which is why we’re going to go find him after this, aren’t we boys?”
There were more evil laughs and Rhynne knew she had to do something. If he’d burnt down Morrte’s shop just for talking to her, what was he going to do to Dominick?!
“Don’t even think it,” Garviel said, dropping all pretense of his cheeriness and nonchalance.
Rhynne stiffened as the true Ward of Fenris appeared. His easygoing demeanor vanished and he stepped into a combat stance, feet spread apart, one slight
ly in front of the other, hands hanging at his sides, ready to bring them up in an instant if she tried anything. To either side of her his lackeys straightened up as well, obviously having sensed something in her body language to indicate she was going to try something.
“Think what?” she frowned, looking to her left at the one with the birthmark.
“Don’t try it,” that one warned, stepping closer.
“Try what?” She looked to her right at the man in red. “This?” she asked innocently.
And she lashed out with her left hand, catching Garviel in the throat with her slash. She’d known he would be less suspicious of her off hand, and had hoped he’d relax just enough for her blow to land. She was right, and thanked her lucky stars not for the first time that she’d been born left-handed. All the difficulty of learning her craft paid off just then as she followed it up with a right jab to his nose. It didn’t connect hard, but enough to send him reeling, tears appearing in his eyes automatically.
“Come on boys,” she said, taunting the other two Wards, who hesitated as their boss tried to recover.
When neither of them made a move that might give her an opening, she swore and charged at Garviel, hitting him twice more, one in the solar plexus. With cupped hands over his ears she further disoriented him. Then she grabbed him, planting her rear foot to spin and hurl him at one of the others.
She got as far as spinning with Garviel in hand. Then something hard hit her in the back of the head and the world went dark.
Chapter Thirteen
Dominick
Dominick walked out of the Administration building wearing a frown. After leaving the Novas’ place, he’d come to town and gone to the Guardian Headquarters. There they’d told him about Rhynne’s encounter at the border and that she’d headed over to the Admin center to fill out some paperwork. Several people inside had confirmed seeing her approximately two hours ago, which was half an hour before she was supposed to have been at her parents place.
