by Kimber White
On and on we went. He turned me. I spread my legs as wide as I could, taking him in. Then we turned again and I straddled him. I lost count of how many times he brought me to orgasm. Ten. Twenty. He gave me everything he was. I took it all. His mark on me burned bright. It was so good. So right. At that moment, it was all that I was. We were one.
Chapter Nineteen
Ash
I woke as the tide came in, ocean foam kissing my cheek. Loch sat beside me, resting on his elbow. He traced a lazy circle over my breast and smiled. The brilliant sun cast him in bronze. My love. My dragon.
“Wow,” I whispered. “So that’s what that’s like.”
He laughed. “I was just thinking the same thing.”
Part of me wanted to stay like that forever. But, we both knew the world was still out there. There were things we had to face. Loch’s expression hardened.
“Come on,” he said. “I can take you back home.”
He’d gathered my clothes and folded them in a neat pile. I got dressed. Every muscle in my body ached. I had no idea how I’d even be able to walk after everything we’d done. Fresh heat seared through me at the thought of it. Incredibly, renewed lust lit inside me too.
“Wow,” I said again. “I’ve heard about this but...Loch...the wanting…”
He kissed me gently. “I know, my love. I’ll tend to you. Promise. Are you ready to go?”
I pulled on my jeans and stood up. “I guess. I was just kind of hoping all the rest of it was just a dream. That I’d wake up and everything would be simple again.”
“Your family has to be worried out of their minds. Let’s go up. You can call them. We’ll figure out the rest as we go along.”
I took Loch’s hand and we walked up to the house together. With each step, I felt a sense of dread building. It was so much simpler on the beach.
As soon as we walked through the door, the cell reception picked up and my phone started ringing. My fingers shook as I answered. It was Rick.
“Jesus. Ash. Where the fuck have you been?”
I raised a finger to Loch. “It’s a long story, Rick. I’ll tell it later. I need to give my mother a call.”
Rick went deadly silent. Then, he took a breath. “You can’t, Ash. Haven’t you checked your damn phone? I’ve been calling you all night. They’re gone. Your parents are gone. What the hell have you done? What the hell is Branson?”
“What do you mean, gone?” My heart raced.
“Baby, what is it?” Loch asked.
“They’re gone!” Rick screamed. “We thought you were dead. They won’t answer their phones either. The storm took them. Just like it took you. What the fuck is happening?”
Rick stopped making sense. My heart hollowed out. I couldn’t breathe. Loch’s arms came around me. The call dropped and Rick was gone.
“What did he say?” Loch asked.
I shook my head. “He said they’re gone. He said a storm came and took them away, just like you took me.”
Loch took a step back. His face went white. He didn’t have to say the words. I knew. It was dragons. Avelina. His brothers. They’d come for my family. Oh, God. We were already too late.
Chapter Twenty
Loch
Xander wasn’t answering his phone. He wasn’t answering any of my telepathic calls either. None of my brothers were. Son of a bitch, they were shutting me out. I tried my best to project calm. Ash was still unsteady from our mating. As worried as I was about what my mother had done, a new peace and strength moved through me. I was whole. I was in control. I felt the full power of my dragon in a way I never had before. It made me feel like I could conquer the world. But, I was rational enough to know just how foolish a thought that was. Still, as I made the last turn toward Blackfoot, I knew how lucky I was.
This woman. This incredible, feisty, strong, marvelous woman. Ash had every reason to want to wait. She had every reason to want to reject me and close ranks with her family. Instead, she put all her trust in me and followed her heart. I vowed to spend the rest of my life earning it.
Yeager’s site was cleared out. I smelled the burning embers of my mother’s fire. She had been here, all right. I sensed Xander and Kian too.
Ash ran for her father’s office, knowing full well it was empty before she even got there. The Blackfoot shifters had gone to ground. They didn’t yet know what they were dealing with. I scented the wolves along the north ridge. The bears had gone east into the deepest parts of the wilderness. The rest were scattered through town and beyond. They would regroup. They were waiting for some word from Clint.
“Loch,” Ash said, out of breath. “They’re nowhere. Oh, God. Are we too late? Do you think your mother actually…”
“No,” I said, my voice booming. “No. They’re staying quiet. But, I don’t think she’s done anything she can’t undo. Yet.”
“You think? Loch, where? You have to figure out where she’s taken them.”
“She’s...dammit. She’s cloaking. Until that day in the cut, when Avelina and Xander showed up and you were there, I didn’t even know we had the power to cloak ourselves from each other. She must have known that all along but never said.”
I was thinking out loud. Ash made a choked, wounded animal sound. I dropped my head and went to her. “It’s going to be okay. I’ll find them. She won’t have gone that far. He’s here somewhere. She’ll have found a place out of the way but still close by. She won’t risk taking Yeager to any of our places.”
“He’s not Yeager. He’s my father. And he’s your family too now.”
I pulled her to me and kissed her forehead. “I know. I’ll make my mother understand. Just...stay here. As soon as I…”
“No way!” Ash pulled away from me. “No way in hell am I letting you fly off alone. Wherever you go, I go.”
“Ash,” I said, trying to quiet my dragon. “I don’t know what state my mother will be in when I find her.”
“You’re worried if she’s in a Yeager-killing mood I’m next under fire?”
It was a blunt way to put it, but yes. That’s exactly what I was worried about. I couldn’t let my mind go any further with it. If it came down to it, it meant I’d have to take my mother on head-on to head to protect Ash. I prayed with everything I was that it wouldn’t come to that.
“She has to see me,” Ash said. “She has to see you with me. You’re part of me now. She needs to know. Maybe it’ll be enough. Maybe it’s just what we need to buy some time. Your brothers will understand. You said they have their own mates. What do you think they’d do in your place?”
I swallowed hard, knowing the answer as well as she did. If it came down to it, my brothers would and had gone up against the family in defense of their mates. Ash was right. Xander, Gideon, and Finn may just have been my best allies in this.
“Come on,” I said, reaching for Ash’s hand. “I think I’m right about what I said. Every instinct in me says she hasn’t taken your family out of the Yukon. If I can get close enough to her, I still think I’ll be able to sense her, no matter what kind of magic she’s throwing off.”
Ash slid her arm around my shoulder. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s start looking.”
Just as I was about to step away from her to safely shift, a chill ran down my spine. We weren’t alone. I pushed Ash behind me and faced the threat.
It was Xander. He walked slowly out from behind one of the trailers, blowing my entire theory about being able to sense the others if I got close enough.
I growled, my fire rising. Xander sensed the threat and his own eyes glowed. He put his hands up in a neutral gesture.
“Loch,” he said. “Stand down. I just came here to talk.”
Ash lost it. She ran out from behind me. “Where are they?” she yelled. “What have you done with my parents, my brother?”
Xander’s expression went blank. He looked from Ash back to me. She had a glow about her my brother understood. He let out a sigh. He knew.
“Jes
us,” Xander said. “Loch, why didn’t you say something?” Then, a second realization lit his eyes.
“Wait,” he said. “What did you say? Your parents? Your brother?” Xander looked at me.
“Xander,” I said. “This is Ash. Ash Yeager. And yes, we’re mated.”
Xander ran a hand over his face. “Well, shit. I mean, congratulations. And Avelina’s going to kill you.”
Ash lunged at him, not recognizing my brother’s sarcasm in her current state of distress. I got an arm around her and put her behind me again.
“Where are they?” I said. “What’s Avelina done?”
He bit his lip, grappling with his loyalties. Ash was my mate. It meant my oath to protect her was his as well, just as I would defend his wife, Shae. But, she was a Yeager. She had just as much of Christoph Jeger’s blood in her veins as her father.
“West,” he finally said.
“Take me,” I said.
Ash had a hand on my arm. “Us. Take us. I told you, I’m not leaving your side.”
I locked eyes with my brother. In any other circumstances, his expression would be comical. His Shae was every bit the strong-willed woman Ash was. And he instantly understood that she would not back down.
“Come on,” he said, stepping back to shift. “Follow me.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Loch
Avelina had not gone far at all. Xander took us just fifty miles away to a remote forest near Mount Logan. Avelina’s cloaking magic was strong. She joined it with Kian’s. I barely recognized my brother as we landed. Kian’s scales had changed, going from their normal blue, green, gold, and silver to a muted charcoal. Only his eyes remained their same sapphire blue.
“Here,” Xander said. He shielded himself behind some trees and tossed me a duffle bag. I caught it against my chest.
Ash’s jaw dropped. Her thoughts went the same place mine did. How the hell long had Avelina been planning this if she’d packed clothes and supplies? I got dressed and grabbed her hand.
“Come on,” I said. “They’re close by. Can you feel that?”
Ash stayed rooted to her spot. Kian stood guard at the bottom of a hill in the clearing. Behind him was an entrance to a cave, partially hidden by the brush.
“What,” she said, pointing to my brother, “is that?”
“That’s Kian,” Xander answered, coming out from behind the trees. He finished buttoning his shirt and ran a hand through his hair to smooth it.
“Is he?” I asked.
Xander shook his head. “He’s okay. He’s here at least. It’s progress. Before this he hadn’t come out of the catacombs for weeks.”
Kian’s mating sickness got worse by the day. God in heaven. Now that my own had been cured, the contrast between us was startling. I saw myself through Xander’s eyes. Gideon’s. No wonder they had been so concerned.
A tiger’s roar ripped through the air. Ash lunged forward. “That’s my father!”
She started to run down the hill. Kian stomped the earth, sending up a spray of dirt. Ash skidded to a halt. I put her behind me and faced down my brother.
“You touch her, I kill you,” I said. Kian’s eyes narrowed. He let out a puff of smoke, but didn’t advance. I put a hand on Kian’s leg. Are you in there, brother?
Go. She’s waiting for you.
I shot a look at Xander over my shoulder. His mouth formed a grim smile. The three of us walked to the cave entrance.
Ash pulled at me. I kept a firm grip on her. Xander brought up the rear. Down and down we walked. I let enough of my dragon out to light the way.
We came to an open cavern. Avelina had it lit with LED lamps along the floor. In the center, she had three huge cages. Clint, Will, and Lucia Yeager were locked inside. Dragonsteel. She’d locked them up with dragonsteel.
“Christ,” I muttered.
“Let them go!” Ash screamed. Her parents joined in the yelling chaos as soon as they saw their daughter. Will was the only one in his tiger. He paced and panted, his tail hung low.
Avelina emerged from the shadows, her white hair billowing behind her. Her eyes were the purest silver. Fire crackled from her fingertips as she saw Ash. My protective instincts raged to the surface. It was all I could do to keep my dragon at bay. I kept Ash behind me.
“Mother,” I said. “We need to talk.”
“Ash, get away from them,” Clint yelled to his daughter. He didn’t understand. He was so filled with rage it blinded him to what was really going on. Lucia Yeager sensed it. She was quieter, more still. She rose slowly and gripped the bars of her cage.
“Clint,” she said, her silver wolf eyes flashing. Will let out a deadly roar that echoed through the cavern.
“My family is not your enemy,” Ash said. “Loch, tell her.”
“What the hell is going on?” Clint asked. Had my mother not told him? Had she just caged the Yeagers down here and said nothing?
“I was waiting for you,” Avelina said to me. “This was your mission, Loch. I owe it to you to see it through. We can talk about the rest later.”
“No,” I said. “We need to talk about it now. No one is going to die here today. No Brandharts and no Yeagers. Avelina, I’d like you to meet Ash. Ash Yeager. She is my fated mate. If you try to touch a hair on her head, you’ll have to go through me.”
Lucia Yeager was on her feet. Will clawed at the bars of his cage. Clint Yeager took a faltering step backward. His wife tried to reach for him.
Avelina came slowly forward, her eyes locked on Ash. I let out a low, threatening growl. Flames shot from my fingertips.
“Loch, wait,” Ash said. She tried to come out from behind me. I pushed her gently back.
“Yeager,” Avelina said. Her eyes glistened with tears. She was trembling. I couldn’t tell if it was from rage or sadness. Maybe both.
“Yes,” I said. “She is Clint’s daughter. She’s mine, Avelina.”
My mother shook her head. “You don’t see. They’ve done something to you. You’re sick, Lochlan. I should never have sent you to Blackfoot alone.”
“No,” I said. I stepped away from Ash and went to my mother. I put my hands on her shoulders. I made her look in my eyes. “No. I’m not sick. I’m cured. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Ash is my mate. She’s one of us now. It was her choice. Even after I told her the truth about her family. She chose me anyway. You know what that means. It’s time to end this.”
My mother tore away from me. Blue flame crackled all around her. She was losing control. She doubled over. Her pain became my pain. Outside, my brother Kian sensed it too. He let out an anguished roar and shook the ground. Gravel and stone rained from the roof of the cavern.
“Ash,” Lucia called to her daughter. “Honey. Step away from her. Come toward me.”
“No,” I said.
“They’re my family,” Ash said to Avelina. “Loch is my family now too. And you…”
“No!” Avelina was wild. I’d never seen her like this before. I put Ash behind me again. Gideon stepped forward. Together, we formed a protective wall in front of Ash. Avelina’s eyes widened with fear. She was here, but yet not here. I knew what she saw. She seemed locked in the past, watching my father suffer and die. She wasn’t hearing me. I realized with cold horror that I may have to hurt her to get through to her.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ash
I felt Loch’s fire rising. It hit me so hard I could barely stand. His mother loomed in front of us, her eyes flashing blue flame.
“Ash!” My own mother gripped the bars of that awful cage.
“Avelina,” Loch said, his voice low and threatening. “You know what I have to do. You feel it. Look in your heart and you’ll see the truth.”
Loch moved slowly, ever so slightly. He kept his body between his brother and me. Gideon took his lead. The pair of them formed a barricade in front of me.
“Let her go,” I said, trying to find something that might get through to Avelina Brandhart. “You said
your vendetta was against Christoph Jeger’s line. My mother is a McGraw wolf. She had no part in this.”
Avelina’s eyes flashed. “Vendetta? You think this is just about revenge? Jegers have hunted me for centuries!”
“They’re not hunting you now!” my mother yelled.
“What is she talking about?” My father’s voice was barely more than a growl. Will banged against the bars, flashing his fangs.
“She’s right,” Loch said. “Lucia Yeager doesn’t belong here. Let her go. She was never part of what we talked about.”
The ground rumbled again. Something had agitated Kian’s dragon. Avelina whirled around. She was human still, but her dragon tail spooled out behind her, its silvery ridges razor-sharp. Loch pushed me out of the path of it.
“It’s Finn and Gideon,” Xander said under his breath. “I thought we might need them.”
“They’re not alone,” Loch answered.
“Fine,” Avelina said. “I see the way you’re looking at me. You think I’ve lost my mind. You have no idea what I’ve had to do to keep you all safe over the years. You’ve heard me tell stories, but you can’t possibly understand what we’ve been through. You haven’t seen the people you love cut to pieces, kept barely alive so they could serve as nothing more than a blood supply.”
“It’s over, Avelina,” Loch said. “Those times are long gone.”
“It will happen again as long as clans like the Jegers still walk the earth!”
She charged my mother’s cage. Mom moved away from the bars. My father slammed against the side of his cage, trying to get to her. Avelina took a key from her pocket and opened my mother’s cage.
“Go,” she said. “I didn’t come for you. My sons are right about that. I’m not a murderer.”
