by Paula Quinn
Red laughed, And you would give this stone over to me?
I don’t want power. I want the girl.
Then you’re a fool, Red scoffed. But tell me how you know you’ve found the right stone.
I used it on my life mate. It works, Jacob assured him. Now no more questions. Do we have a deal or not?
All right, White. We have a deal. But how do I know you’re not coming here to kill me?
Don’t be wherever you are. Leave the girl. I’ll leave the stone.
Jacob tipped his head and winked his scaly lid at River. They had a deal. Soon, they would have Ivy back. She smiled at him but was careful not to send him any thoughts.
White, if this is some sort of trick, it’s going to get very ugly.
Where are you? Jacob couldn’t help but growl. He wanted this to be over so he could begin his life with River.
Cromore in Lewis, Red told him. There’s a small croft house close to the harbor. The girl will be inside. Leave the stone. Hey, hang on…
Why? Jacob asked. What is it?
Nothing.
Jacob sensed he was lying. Red, if she dies in your care, or if you’re lying to me about how she is, I will raise an army with this thing and hunt for you. I’ll make sure to take you down a thousand times before I kill you permanently.
Then you’d better hurry, Red said reluctantly. I just checked on her. She’s deteriorating quickly. Her breath is shallow and her pulse is slowing. You can’t blame me for this one.
No! They wouldn’t make it. Even flying as fast as he could, Cromore was at least ten minutes away.
Jacob! River’s terrified voice broke through everything else. I can’t let her die, not again.
Why is she with you, White? This was a trap, wasn’t it!
Red! Listen to me! River pleaded.
River, no!
You can alter her with your blood! You don’t need Garion’s! Please, please try—
Jacob severed their connection and almost altered in the air.
What have you done? he asked her, doubting his own ears. That hadn’t just happened. She hadn’t just told Red—and what now? Should he hope that Red tries it and it works on Ivy—or that it doesn’t? How many descendants did Red know? Less than a year ago, Jeremy Redmond had been part of a group of descendants who wanted to take down The Bane. El Montgomery, Garion’s sister, was part of the same group.
Damn. Damn. Damn.
Garion, he sent out immediately and flew faster, get in touch with your sister. Find out where she is and go to her.
I know where she is, Jake. What the hell is it now and why are you heading toward Lewis?
Garion had been searching the Onyx. Obviously, Red was still walking or Garion would have mentioned seeing him. Keep your eyes on the Onyx, Jacob suggested. I think he’s going to fly soon.
Why do you think that? It was Helena, connected through Garion.
Good. It was better to tell them both at the same time.
I think Red can alter descendants, I think we all can and I’m pretty sure Red knows it now.
What the hell are you talking about? Garion demanded. He sounded a bit winded, like he was running…flapping. I really hope you’re joking.
It wouldn’t be funny, his sister chimed in.
I wish I was joking, he told them, but think about it, Garion. Your existence was foretold. You were born to save Drakkon from extinction. But you weren’t meant to do it alone. Your essence has changed us. We’re more like you. Gold doesn’t kill us and our blood—
Oh, no, his brother-in-law groaned, understanding what he meant. Do you know all this for certain? Have you altered River?
No, Jacob told him. But Red may have altered Ivy. I’m heading to where he has her now. I’ll know shortly.
He told you where she was, Garion said tightly. It sounds like a bargain was struck between you and Red. Which one of you gave him the information in exchange for Ivy’s life?
I did, Jacob told him quietly. She was at the brink of death.
A long, heavy silence passed and Jacob had the feeling that things had just changed between him and Garion, perhaps his sister, as well. It killed him to think the man who’d saved his life and gave him flight thought he betrayed him. But it was better that Garion be angry with him and not River.
All right, Garion said, retreating. I’m on my way to Ellie and speaking to her now. If there’s anything else, tell Helena.
There’s nothing else. Jacob let them go and continued flying in silence.
Why did you lie to him? River asked silently, having listened in. Her naturally husky cadence was tainted with regret and uncertainty. You don’t always have to protect me.
But I always will.
You’re angry with me. I didn’t mean to involve Garion’s sister. If anything happens to her, he’s never going to forgive you.
Nothing’s going to happen to her, he said, praying he was right. Garion’s on his way. She’ll be safe with him.
I panicked, she confessed quietly in his head. I’ve never been so afraid in my life. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing her again.
I know, he told her with a long, smoky sigh. He knew why she told Red. He knew she did it for Ivy. He’d been at the point of telling Red himself when Ivy’s life was slipping away. In fact, he could have severed the connection quicker, but he hadn’t. He’d let Red hear it. He wanted it to work. He wanted Ivy to live, and he wanted to make a Drakkon out of River.
But this is bad, River. If we don’t kill Red today and he has this power, there could be ten Drakkon by tomorrow. In a month there could be a hundred.
And what about The Bane? How many of them were left? How many more would be recruited if more Drakkon ruled the sky? How long would it take them to discover the only way to kill the Gold’s “children” was to cut off their heads?
Even more reason to kill him then, River said, like a true warrior Red.
You would feel this way still if he saves Ivy?
I haven’t forgotten that he killed Noah…and Graham. And if it weren’t for him, Ivy wouldn’t need saving. She wouldn’t be possibly turning into a Drakkon. Oh, my poor father! She shook her head as if the thought of telling him were too much to fathom. Jacob, do you think it worked. Do you think she’s alive?
We’re about to find out. He told her, coming in for a landing behind the small croft house near the harbor. We’re here.
He changed and swept his robe from River’s hands as he let her go. “Stay here,” he told her, looking at the small house. What if it worked? What if it hadn’t? He wasn’t sure he was ready to find out. If it didn’t work, Ivy was probably gone. His heart wrenched in its place. “Red could be inside.”
He slipped the robe on and took a step forward. River moved in step behind him. He looked over his shoulder and aimed his most menacing stare at her.
She pushed him forward. “Why would he stick around if it worked?”
“What if it didn’t and he wants the stone that doesn’t exist?”
“He doesn’t know how to kill you,” she tossed over her shoulder, passing him.
He took her by the wrist, springing her back to him. He looked into her eyes, hoping she would see what she meant to him there. “He knows how to kill you though. Stay back, River.”
She blinked slowly and breathed, seeing the heart he laid bare. “Okay.”
He continued on with her close behind. Ivy? Ivy? He reached out, entering the house with caution. She was here. He could smell her.
Jacob?
Her small, soft voice penetrated his thoughts, his blood and bones. His shoulders melted around his neck with an exhalation of breath he felt like he’d been holding for days.
“She’s alive,” he whispered over his shoulder.
Ivy, are you alone? Jacob asked while River issued forth a hundred questions, clutching his back, ready to start searching.
Yes. Jacob where are you?
They passed the small sitting room without incident and came
to a hall with three closed doors, one on each side and one at the end of the hall.
I’m here. He strode to the door at the end of the hall and pushed it open. Behind him, River finally broke free and rushed to the small bed where her sister lay, lifting herself on an elbow.
Jacob smiled watching their reunion. River asked a dozen questions about how her sister felt, to which Ivy responded that she felt better. So much better.
After he checked the rest of the house and deemed it safe, Jacob returned to Ivy. He noticed, as he neared the bed, that her complexion was rosy, her eyes bright blue. Her hair was no longer blue, but it’s natural dark, almost black color. There were bruises on her shoulders beneath her torn, dirty sweater and her left eye was a bit swollen. She was healing. She’d been altered. Red had done it.
He kept his smile intact while he spoke to Ivy and sent word to Garion and his sister that it had worked. Red had altered Ivy. He tried not to let their reactions pierce his heart at present. Ivy was alive. She was well.
Red was still walking according to the Onyx, so they didn’t know where he was, or if he was turning anyone. They’d found El and were with her. Jacob promised to meet up with them soon.
“What happened?” Ivy asked, sitting up. “Where are we?”
“You don’t remember?” Jacob asked.
She shook her head. “I was…home, and then I was here.”
She didn’t remember being chased down by a dragon. Jacob was glad.
“Where’s the man?” she asked next. “I saw him here. The man with one arm from Tarbert.”
Jacob moved closer. “Did he speak to you, Ivy? What did he say?” he asked when she nodded.
“I opened my eyes and saw him. His palm was bleeding and he was wrapping it. Mine…” She looked down at her palm and the tender streak running across it caked in blood. “Mine was bleeding, too. He smiled at me and he said, ‘Welcome, Daughter, first of my blood’.”
Jacob felt sick.
“What did he mean?”
Jacob couldn’t help but scowl when River leaped away from the bed and turned away with her hand over her mouth. Was it so horrible that her sister was a Drakkon? So horrible that she could be one, too?
“He…ehm,” Jacob began. How does one tell someone that they are now another kind of being? One with ten-inch fangs and scales and wings? “He turned you, Ivy.”
“Turned me?” Her eyes filled with tears. How would she handle it? She’d been angry with Jacob for being a Drakkon. “Into what?”
“Drakkon.”
For a moment, her eyes took on a haunted, distant look—as if she was remembering something. Something dreadful. “Where’s Graham?” she suddenly asked and tried to leave the bed. “The red dragon! It…it…”
River caught her in her arms when she crumbled in a pool of tears. “Graham was running and the dragon flew over him and then…” She looked up at them with eyes stained with tears and sorrow.
Jacob looked away. He liked Graham. He’d liked spending time with him around the table. Graham was a talented musician and had a lot of potential, and he loved Ivy.
I’m going to kill Red, he promised Ivy in her mind. “I have to go,” he said out loud. “I have to find him.”
“I know where he’s going to be,” Ivy said, wiping her nose and proving she was every bit of a fighter as her sister. “He wants me to meet him on St. Combs Beach. He told me not to tell you if you asked. I had no idea what he meant at the time. I don’t remember anything else until I heard you calling my name.”
Jacob’s heart thundered. He nearly altered right there. St. Combs Beach, Garion.
“Thank you, Ivy.” He leaned down and cupped her head in his hands. I’ll come back and teach you about Drakkon. We’ll fly together. He pulled a smile from her and kissed her forehead.
When he stepped back, River was there. Hell, it was difficult looking at her and knowing he had to leave. From the moment he’d arrived in Harris, he’d made it his purpose to protect her. Now he knew why. She was his life mate. If he lost her, he would lose it all.
“You need to stay with your sister,” he said, taking her hand and holding it between them.
Her big, beautiful eyes filled with tears and she nodded, giving in. She took his hand and led him back out of the house. “Don’t get killed,” she said, turning to him with the wind blowing her hair across her eyes. “We have things to talk about.”
Right. Like her becoming a Drakkon. He didn’t need Garion to agree, though he’d prefer his family’s blessing. But he did need River to agree. Would she? His mouth went dry and he swiped his tongue over his bottom lip. Did she still want him to leave when this was over?
“For a moment up there,” she told him, hugging herself instead of him, “I thought you were going to let me fall.”
No, no, he never wanted her to think that. He closed the gap between them and took her in his arms. “River, I’ll never fly again after today if you believe that.”
“I’d never ask you to give that up for me,” she told him, her breath warm against his lips.
He kissed her. There were a thousand questions he wanted to ask her, a thousand reassurances he longed to hear her say. But he kissed her because she was his and he treasured her above all else, not because it was a Drakkon instinct, but because she’d taken up the broken pieces and made him whole, finally complete. He wasn’t leaving. He wasn’t letting her go, and he showed her with his lips, his tongue, his hands along her back, drawing her in closer as he deepened his kiss.
When he finally withdrew, he stared into her eyes. He spoke softly and slowly, running his fingers down a lock of her hair. “I want to spend eternity with you, River.”
She veiled her eyes from his. His heart sank. He’d never considered that she wouldn’t want to change. Why would she? Drakkon ruined her life and killed her friends.
He turned away without another word, slipped his robe off, and flew away.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Jacob pierced the clouds and soared low over The Minch, a strait separating the Inner Hebrides from the Outer, and then swung around the Orkney Islands to the North Sea and the coast. He didn’t care who saw him flying. They’d never have proof, a fact they’d learned from Ivy.
He was happy Red’s blood had been able to alter River’s sister. He’d do everything he could to stop Red from turning anyone else, and mend what he’d broken with Garion. He’d just discovered that belonging to a family had been his heart’s desire. He wasn’t about to start losing members of it now.
He tried to keep his thoughts on Red, but River seeped into every corner of his mind like a mist, dousing every fire inside him but the one that burned for her. If he’d lost her, he’d win her back. If she chose not to be transformed, he would live each day with her until it was their last, making her happy, helping her make her dreams come true.
Where are you guys? He reached out to Helena and Garion after surveying the sky and the coastline of St. Combs Beach.
I just passed the Isle of May, his brother-in-law informed him. Helena stayed in Arran with Ellie. Anything from Red?
Garion’s brevity fell upon him like a sharpened sword. No, nothing, Jacob told him. Listen Garion—
I’d really rather not, his brother-in-law cut him off. We need to stay focused.
We will, Jacob said. This will only take a second. Ivy, who had not been dead as we believed, was taking her last breaths. River was listening to her sister die. I was losing them both. My family…my treasure. I can only hope you would do the same for Helena.
It was quiet for a little while. There was nothing more to say. Garion either understood and could forgive him, or not.
Jacob landed on the sandy shore and looked around. He saw a small stone shed with a square hole for a window a short way down the coastline. He lifted his spiked head to sniff the air.
Jake, Garion’s voice sounded in his ears, quiet, softer. I would.
Yeah, Jacob answered happily, not really surprised
but glad to hear it. Things would be okay with Garion.
He stuck his head inside the dark shed and smelled the place. He picked up a slight trace of urine and something else, possibly Drakkon.
Jake! Garion’s voice rumbled through his head. He’s flying! He’s heading toward St. Combs Beach. I’ll be there in five minutes!
Jacob altered and stepped into the shed. He bent to his knees and looked outside the square window at the sky. He saw nothing but clouds for a moment or two and was about to turn his attention to a large duffle bag in the shadows. Something reddish-gold flashed against the sun.
He’s here, Jacob sent to Garion.
Crimson wings painted the sky as the Red dipped below the clouds and flew toward the shore a half-mile north.
Jacob wasted no time but leaped from the window and into the sky. He spread his wings, momentarily blocking the shed from the sun, and then set off after Red. He hoped to catch him as he landed and altered. One bite was all it would take. Though the thought sickened him and pulled him toward humanity, he resisted. Right now, he had to be Drakkon.
He spotted his prey landing along a rocky incline. The air changed and the Red shimmered into dust, leaving a man behind.
Triumph brought a snarl to Jacob’s mouth. He pulled his wings in close and dove toward Red, his jaws spreading wide. This was for Graham and Noah, and for all the pain he caused River.
Jeremy turned just several seconds before he lost his head. Eyes wide with surprise and horror, he threw himself to the ground, rolled, and came back up breathing fire.
Damn it, Jacob thought, diving into the water to avoid the flames. When Red’s fire was gone, Jacob came back up and met him in the air. He snapped his twelve-inch fangs at Red’s face. He caught the Drakkon’s snout and bit down but he couldn’t pierce Drakkon’s scales. It was their armor, only penetrable with pure gold.
Red swished his spaded tail and nearly hit Jacob in the ribs. They separated in the sky and then flew at each other again.
Jacob recalled what Garion had told him. If Red was Drakkon they should forget his head and go for his wings. Take him down. Kill him while he altered. Jacob tried to swing his neck around and bite but Red’s clicking fangs near his eyes stopped him.
