“I’ll stay here as well,” said Tryst, her tone laced with bitterness. “I’m not a taxi for bloody humans. Never have been, and I never will.” With those words, she turned to head down the hallway toward the Guild Chamber, defiant and proud as always.
“Is she all right?” asked Neko.
Lumen nodded. “Tryst’s general style is to stay apart from the madness that the rest of us get involved in. She’s rarely seen in Dragon form, and I won’t ask her to stoop to a level that she deems beneath her. We have enough Dragons without her. Besides, I owe her a great debt of gratitude for helping me to find you the other day.”
“Yes,” said Neko. “As do I.”
Bonds
Neko watched Tryst disappear down the hallway before turning to see the other shifters alter into their exquisite Dragon forms to take off for downtown London. As she stared at the sea of amazing creatures, a surge of some wonderful emotion drove through her. Pride, perhaps.
“What are you thinking?” Lumen asked, taking her hand in his. No doubt he could feel a change in the air.
“I was just thinking that this is the first time in my life that I’ve felt as though I belong somewhere,” she said, turning his way. “How ironic that it should be in an underground bunker, surrounded by mythical creatures.”
A soft chuckle rose from Lumen’s throat as he lay a kiss on the top of her head.
“You belong with me,” he said. “Always.”
“I know that. But there’s more to it. I…rarely speak to my parents,” she said. “It’s not that they don’t care about me. Or that I avoid them, exactly. It’s just that we have nothing in particular to say to one another. They moved away so long ago, and there’s no part of my life that they understand.”
Lumen nodded, listening intently.
“My life changed the day when I saw my first Lapsed as a young girl. And I grew up feeling isolated, strange. As though I didn’t fit into the world around me. I didn’t yet understand my role.”
“But you found the Syndicate,” Lumen said, guiding her to walk down the hall, away from the landing area.
“I did. And I’m grateful for that,” she said. “They’ve been a surrogate family to me for years now—especially Bertie. She’s the mother I never had. Or at the very least, the lunatic, neurotic aunt.” She laughed to think of the woman who managed to lead a group of killers and yet appear so tightly wound at times. “But much as they’ve welcomed me, the Syndicate is made up of Hunters and Hashes who are out for themselves. The Dragons are different, though. You seem to care, genuinely, for one another.”
“Some of us do,” said Lumen, looking ahead.
“Well, all right,” Neko chuckled. “Minach is a grumpy bastard, and Tryst has her moments. But you call each other ‘Brother.’ I never had a brother, much less a sister.”
“You have many brothers now,” Lumen replied.
It was true; she had somehow become a part of a family of wondrous creatures. A strange, magical one, but a family all the same. The Dragon shifters were noble and strong, and their entire existence seemed based on wanting to create a better world for its inhabitants. They were the purest of good, and somehow Neko had been fortunate enough to become wrapped up in their lives, and they in hers.
“Come on,” Lumen said, steering them down a hall that Neko hadn’t seen before. Carved of white marble slabs, the passage had been crafted into ornamented, exquisitely fine arches overhead. Their detail almost looked as though it had been made of bone, like the blades of the Dragons’ weapons. Translucent white, and yet strong as steel.
Tucked at the tops of the walls where they met the curved ceiling, small stone dragons looked down upon them as they walked, protective and curious at once.
“Well, this is beautiful,” Neko said, eyes taking it all in. “Where are we now?”
“I’m bringing you to our Guild vault, to get more weapons for your fellow Hunters to help in our task, if we should need them.”
“Ah,” said Neko. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something about that.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“It’s to do with our hunt. The verses—the Relics. You were given the first verse by Lyre, I know. But what happens when we find our Relic? How does anyone know where to look for the next one?”
A slight frown invaded Lumen’s handsome face; the expression that Neko hated to see. It meant that he didn’t have an answer—and he hated not having answers. “So much has already gone awry in our hunt. But I suspect that we will uncover the next verse, and it will lead to the second Relic, and so on.”
“But the Seekers, it seems, need to be found as well,” Neko said.
“What do you mean?”
“It seems to me that each Dragon shifter needs his Seeker—his mate—before he can find his piece of the circle. That seems a tall order. Not only is a Dragon shifter in charge of finding a priceless Relic piece, he has to find his mate while hunting for it.”
“Well,” Lumen replied, spinning and grabbing her by the waist before drawing her towards him. His illuminated irises stared down into hers, a smile crinkling the corners of his eyes before finding its way to his curving lips. “We found each other, you and I. I’ll admit that the circumstances weren’t exactly what you’d call traditional, but it happened. And it will happen for the others. We have to leave it to destiny, I’m afraid. Which means that it may take some time. Months, or possibly even years.”
“But isn’t there some urgency to the hunt for the four pieces?”
“Yes and no,” Lumen said, planting a kiss on her forehead, then leaning in to slip his lips along her cheekbone. “We must keep ahead of the enemy—keep the Forsaken at bay and prevent them from getting their hands on the Relics. That’s the important thing. And it means taking down the enemy as we find them.” His voice had gone sultry, soft and deeper than ever, even as he kissed his way along her neck, bending towards her breasts.
“And you think that making out with me in a hallway is the way to ensure that we stay ahead of the game?” Neko asked, laughing as he slipped onto his knees before her, teasing her breasts with his nose. God, he was delicious.
“Not in the least,” he said.
Rising to his feet, his gaze moved to the distance, drawn away from her face. His voice altering, he spoke again. “I nearly lost you, Neko. So now if you wonder why I kiss you at every chance I get, it’s because I want you to know, every minute of the day, how much I—”
As his eyes met hers again, he stopped short of concluding the sentence. The unspoken words hung in the air between them, as real and penetrating as if they’d been said aloud. Too soon, maybe. Too soon for such declarations. Even if they both felt it deep in the marrow of their very bones, the courage to utter the word failed him. A Dragon Lord, afraid of such a thing as four letters.
He swept his arms around her, pulling her body to his. Shielding her from the world, and hoping that she understood how much his heart ached with love for her, even if he couldn’t muster the courage to say it.
* * *
The Dragon shifters returned after a time, various members of the Syndicate astride their backs. Bertie was the first to leap down, off Kabal’s back onto the cobblestone. Her face was a comical mix of joy and terror, looking as though she’d just gone through the spin cycle of a washing machine.
Beatrix, the fiery haired Hunter, beaming from her first encounter with the shifters, came shortly after, as well as several others.
When Neko entered the Guild’s chamber with Lumen and saw them, she wanted to laugh with the realization that every Hunter in the place was female. It was no surprise, though; Bertie had always favoured the Syndicate’s women. It seemed that she trusted them more, having dealt with more than one male’s jackassery in her time. Her love life had always been what Neko referred to as a cautionary tale. Bertie did not have the most sensible taste in men, and had managed to remain single for a few years after a series of failed relationships that had resulted in ever
ything from theft to two-timing to verbal abuse to a few months with a confused cross-dresser.
Neko’s eyes moved to the other woman in the room with a major affinity for males: Beatrix, who was standing quietly in an isolated corner. Her light blue eyes were locked on Lyre, Minach’s twin brother. If Neko had been asked to describe her expression, the words “pantie-wetting hunger” would certainly have sprung to mind.
The dark-haired, very handsome man who had provided Lumen with the verse that had helped in their hunt for the first Relic, stood across the room, his own eyes scanning in every direction but Beatrix’s; it was almost as though he were avoiding eye contact with her. Like Lumen, Minach and the other Dragon shifters, he was astonishingly beautiful. But unlike his brother, of course, his face held a deep kindness that Neko had seen in it the first time she’d met him. A sort of gentleness that seemed the polar opposite of Minach’s own surly demeanour.
“So, Trix?” Neko asked, grabbing Beatrix’s attention for a moment, drawing her eyes away from the object of her admiration. “How was your first encounter with Dragon-kind?”
“I feel like a kid in a sweet shop,” Beatrix replied, a broad smile taking up residence on her lips. “These men are amazing. Beautiful. Astounding. But…”
“But?”
Beatrix spoke in hushed tones, leaning in close to Neko’s face. The teenage girl inside her twenty-five year old body seemed to be coming to the fore, which always amused Neko. Trix was such a fighter; a warrior, really. And yet on occasion she sounded as though she’d been spending too much time reading magazines with articles entitled “Ten Ways to Catch Your man,” or “Keys to the Best Orgasms of Your Life.” She approached relationships as though they were forged through the magic of soap operas, rather than real life.
“I rode here on Lyre’s back,” the redhead whispered. “His Dragon is gorgeous, isn’t he? And so is the man himself It’s just…I’m a little disappointed. He’s so quiet. He hasn’t said boo to me since we landed.”
Neko laughed. “Well, he is deaf. He doesn’t exactly speak much.”
“Oh,” Trix laughed. “Well, that bloody explains it. He spoke in his Dragon form, though. But come to think of it, our conversation was entirely in our minds. The thought hadn’t even occurred to me that he couldn’t hear me when I speak out loud.”
“Well, he can’t,” laughed Neko. “But that doesn’t stop him communicating. And yes, the shifters work in amazing ways when they’re in their déors.” And out of them.
“They really do,” said Trix. “He’s sweet—he was trying to make sure that I was comfortable and not frightened, though to be honest, I think he knew perfectly well that I was fine. I get the impression that he knows a lot more than he lets on.”
“Yes. Lyre is very intuitive, I think. And much gentler than his twin.” Neko’s eyes found Minach, who was standing across the room with the usual scowl plastered on his face.
“I was shocked to see the two of them together,” said Beatrix. “They’re so fucking gorgeous. I thought I’d fall over from the pleasure of it. But so different, aren’t they? You’d hardly know they were related, even though they have the same features.”
“It’s true. Though I don’t know either of them very well, I have to say that so far I like Lyre far better. I should warn you that I get the impression that he keeps to himself, though. He and Aegis seem to stay outside of the Guild.” Neko gestured towards Lumen’s good friend, the tall, handsome light-haired man who stood speaking to a few other shifters and Syndicate members. As always, his easy nature shone through his expression, a smile on his lips.
“Aegis is also something, isn’t he?” Beatrix replied. “A handful, I’d guess. But Lyre—”
“You really liked him, didn’t you?” Neko’s words held hidden meaning. She knew what was happening inside Trix, even if the other Hunter didn’t see it herself. A bond was beginning to form, a desire that would consume her that night when she sat at home, thinking about the Dragon shifter, wondering if she’d see him again.
But her friend seemed to ignore the question’s depth as she nodded and laughed. “I feel like such a girl right now. You’d hardly know that I kill things for a living. It was just…so odd having him inside my head. And I liked having him in there. Inside of me, so to speak. From anyone else it would have seemed invasive, but from him, it felt…right. Good lord, I think I have a crush on a Dragon shifter.”
“Yes, a crush. I know how that feels.” Neko smiled, thinking how fine-tuned she and Lumen had become since they’d first been together, how much their affection had deepened. She imagined that the expression on Trix’s face was how she must have looked the first time she’d laid eyes on her own mate. All wonderment and shock, to realize that such a beautiful face and body even existed on the surface of the planet. “It seems that when a Dragon shifter and a human are meant to be, they find their way to one another.”
Trix looked around, her eyes seeking out Neko’s mate. And when she found him, she hardly even needed to ask if he was the one, given how the man was staring at her friend. “That’s him then?” she asked, nudging Neko gently in the ribs with her elbow. “That’s your man.”
“He is.” No sense in denying it. She wanted, if anything, to shout it from the rooftops. “He’s mine, and I adore him.”
“Neko, adore? I would never have expected to hear that word from your lips in a million years.”
“Neither would I, even a week ago. Believe me. It’s some seriously trippy magic these Dragons inflict on us humans. But I’m fine with being softened.”
“So long as you can still wield a blade.”
“Oh, I can,” she said. She’d already sheathed several of Lumen’s Dragon bone daggers, prepared for what was to come. “But listen—we need to get started with this damned meeting, speaking of weapons. The Syndicate needs to know what we’re up against. So for now, we must stash our sexual fantasies away and consider how to fight Umbra and his ilk. I trust that someone’s filled you in on what’s up?”
“Bertie did, yeah.”
On hearing her name, Bertie stepped towards the two women. She’d been standing in a corner, overwhelmed by the sea of gorgeousness confronting her eyes.
“My ears are burning, and I don’t think it’s all the hotness in this place that’s doing it,” she said, her eyes still moving about the room. The look of excitement and admiration on her face made her look more like a twenty-something year old than the sophisticated middle aged woman that she was.
“We were just talking about the meeting. Listen—what’s the news? Have any more bodies been found?”
“A few, though things have been kept quiet. No one—including Scotland Yard—wants a panic. The odd thing is that the victims are scattered about London. The first few were all around Beggar’s Alley, but now there’s talk of corpses in the east and west end. Mostly homeless types; people with no traceable connections.”
“It sounds like there’s more than one killer, then.” Neko felt her body tighten at the thought that more like Umbra were coming out of the woodwork, lurking in the shadows as he did. The recollection of his sickly sweet smell came to her mind, but she pushed it away, inhaling the reassuring musk of Lumen’s form, mere feet away.
“Yes, it’s likely that there are more of them out there,” Bertie replied. “And if we can find them before the police do, it’s for the best. That’s why I jumped at the chance for this alliance.”
“Speaking of which,” said Neko, turning towards the Guild’s long table, “I think our meeting’s about to start.”
A Meeting of Minds
With these words, the Dragon Guild took their seats around the chamber’s massive wooden table, leaving space for Syndicate members at the end nearest the door.
“Please,” Tryst offered the female strangers in her most sugary tone, “Sit.”
Neko got the distinct impression that she wasn’t too pleased to have so many young women about. Perhaps she felt threatened in some way,
knowing that Dragon shifters tended to bond with human females. Or maybe it was just the thought that her kind was forging a partnership with humans at all.
Ignoring the underlying hostility, each Syndicate member pulled out a chair and sat, attentive, eagerly awaiting whatever was to emerge from the mouths of their new allies.
It was Lumen who stood to speak first. The leader of Dragon Guild, the group of powerful beings who had no great desire to be led. An unenviable duty that he performed, as always, with confidence and skill. As he rose Neko gazed up at him, intense pride swelling her chest. Her Dragon. Not only was he exquisite to look at, but he commanded the room, pulling eyes and minds his way.
She watched as somehow he managed, with his piercing eyes, to take in each individual who sat at the table, drawing each of them into a sort of deep and unquestioning trust. Charming them expertly, just as he’d done to her in the first minutes after they’d met. But of course, that had only been in the beginning. Now their relationship was so much more. Charm had been replaced by something far more profound; a deep, unabiding affection. A bond supposedly impervious to every threat. Even death.
A bond, she thought, darkness welling up inside her again, that would soon be put to its greatest test, splitting them apart in the hopes that they would find each other again.
If she succeeded, then nothing could ever bring them down.
And if she failed, then they would both shatter from the inside.
An abrupt shudder overtook her as she reminded herself of her earlier resolution: focus on future happiness. Not on worst case scenarios; those were for the weak.
“You all know by now why you’re here,” Lumen was announcing, his mind clearly focused on the task at hand, “including the two Kindred from the North. Thank you for coming, Aramis and Domnal.” He nodded towards the two newer Dragon shifters, who gave quiet nods of their handsome heads.
“A new threat has hit London. As you all know, the Dragon shifters have been contending for some time with the increasing numbers of the Lapsed, and we were working to take them down, as was the Syndicate. But now an ancient evil has moved into the city. They are known as the Forsaken, and, as Neko knows first hand, they want more than just shifters’ heads. They hunt humans for their blood, and we cannot allow such monstrosities to take place under our noses. I’ll ask her now to tell you a little more about her encounters with the man Umbra, so that you have some idea what you’re up against.”
Dragon Hunter Box Set: A Dragon Shifter Serial Page 24
