After what felt like an eternity, she finally saw Knox nod definitively, take a step back, and then shift back into dragon form. For a moment, she thought that she was about to witness another fight. But then, he suddenly started flying upward, circling back toward the top of the trees where she was. When he reached her, he perched as close to her as he could manage to maneuver his large dragon body, and he motioned with his head for her to climb onto his back. Bree hesitated for just a moment, then climbed on. She knew Knox was about to take her down to meet Peter, and the thought of facing the leader of the High Council filled her with dread. But she knew that Knox would not take her to Peter if he thought there was the smallest possibility that Peter would harm her.
As it turned out, Knox did not fly directly back to the fire pit. Instead, he made his way to the front of his cabin and landed with a soft thud. On the way down, Bree noticed that Samuel was now captured, bound with ropes as well as under the guard of several wizards, who stood with their magic rings pointed menacingly in his direction.
“What’s going on, Knox?” Bree asked, looking warily around as Knox gestured for her to go into his cabin. Once inside, he flipped on the lights and started rummaging around in his bedroom for some clothes. He looked tired, but happy, and the muscles on his body seemed even larger than usual. Fighting had brought out the best of him, it seemed.
“I’ve spoken with Peter, who I understand is the head of the High Council of your clan?” Knox said.
Bree nodded, and, to her surprise, Knox flashed her a huge smile.
“I think you’re going to want to hear what he has to say,” Knox said as he pulled on a pair of jeans.
Bree frowned, feeling relieved that Knox seemed so sure that everything was going to be okay, but also starting to feel angry that she had been left out of the fight.
“Who do you think you are, by the way, trapping me up in a tree so I couldn’t fight?” she demanded to know.
But Knox kept grinning at her, not looking the least bit sorry. He was nearly fully dressed now, and he didn’t reply until he’d buttoned up the last few buttons on his navy plaid shirt.
“Sorry about that,” he said in a voice that told Bree he wasn’t actually all that sorry. “But I didn’t want to run the risk of someone catching you, and I didn’t trust you to stay hidden. Come on, though. Don’t be grumpy. Come hear what Peter has to say.”
Knox started walking toward the door, and Bree scurried to follow him.
“Is everyone else okay?” she asked, nervous to hear the answer but needing to know.
“Everyone is fine. Just some scratches, but nothing serious. And the dragon sapphire is safe. Now come on.”
Knox quickened his pace but reached back for Bree’s hand. She took his hand, feeling instantly safer with his warm firm grip pulling her along. The nerves in her stomach felt like they were going to twist her right in half as she walked up to the fire pit. The Redwood shifters and their Texas shifter friends were all there, and had all dressed again after losing their clothes to their sudden shifts before battle. A few wizards Bree recognized as higher-ups in the Falcon Cross government were standing around as well. But the face she couldn’t tear her eyes away from right now was Peter’s.
He stood, watching her carefully with a serene but guarded expression on his face. He looked even more terrifying now, on the battle field in a plain gray robe, than he had even in his full dress robes at the High Council meeting where Bree had last seen him.
“Bree,” he said, his voice not giving anything away.
“Y-your honor,” Bree stuttered. She felt her nerves relaxing just slightly. If he wanted to strip her of her magic, he would be ordering wizards to catch her and bind her, wouldn’t he?
Peter closed his eyes with a pained expression on his face now, and then took a deep breath as he reopened them.
“I owe your shifter friends here a huge debt of gratitude. And I owe you quite an apology, Bree,” he said.
“You do?” Bree asked hopefully, her heart soaring at the words.
“Yes, I do. Of course, we will have to hold a formal hearing for you, since you disobeyed the High Council. But I think you have more than proven that you had sufficient reason for doing so. Especially since one of the High Council himself turned out to be a traitor. I will be recommending a full pardon for you.”
For the first time since the fighting had begun, Bree finally felt like she could breathe. She was still quite confused, though.
“Does anyone want to tell me what’s going on?” Bree said, looking around at the faces by the fire. Most of them looked quite somber.
“That Samuel guy was after the dragon sapphire,” Knox blurted out, apparently unable to keep quiet any longer. Many of the wizards looked startled by Knox’s seeming lack of protocol. It was considered incredibly rude to butt in on a conversation the eldest High Councilor was having. But Peter merely smiled. And, Bree thought, Knox himself was the head of the Redwood Dragons, after all. Yes, they were a much smaller clan than the Falcon Cross Wizard Clan, but they were still a clan nonetheless.
“It’s true, unfortunately,” Peter said. “Samuel, it seemed, has been trying for some time to acquire the dragon sapphire, using the assistance of the two ex-drug lords you wrote about in your report, Bree. That is why he was trying so hard to strike down any recommendations you made about conducting our own search for the dragon sapphire. I misjudged him, badly, I’m afraid. I thought he was to be trusted, and usually I am a good judge of character. With him, however, I was quite off the mark.”
Bree stood, feeling shell-shocked, and looking over at the spot where Samuel was now held captive. “But, how did he end up here tonight at the same time as you?”
“Pure coincidence,” Knox said, impatient with the slow pace at which Peter was explaining everything. “Samuel’s men, it turned out, were the ones who attempted to rob the dragon sapphire at the gem collector’s home. They quickly realized that they had the wrong gem, but some of Samuel’s other men had already been following me because they knew I was in contact with the guy who makes the fake gemstones. They had been following me for days, and knew that I’d had a visit from the guy, presumably to get a copy of the gemstone. But they didn’t realize I had switched out the stone because they got sloppy and didn’t follow me when I went to chase down the armored vehicle with you earlier today.”
Bree could hardly believe that it hadn’t even been a full day since she and Knox had switched out the dragon sapphire. It felt like a lifetime ago already.
“But weren’t they suspicious of me? If they were watching you they must have realized I was with you,” Bree said.
“They thought you were just some girl I was having fun with on the side or something, I guess,” Knox said. “They never mentioned you to Samuel, or he would have known who you were, obviously. He had no idea you and I were connected, which is why he was shocked when you showed up here tonight. He thought he would bring his little army of traitorous wizards, shifters, and humans, steal the dragon stone, and suddenly be the most powerful man in the world. The fact that you were here put a serious kink in his plans.”
“We were here tonight for you, you see,” Peter said, picking up the story. “We’d been delayed in finding you, largely due to misinformation Samuel fed us to keep us away from Mountain View so that we wouldn’t realize what he was doing with the sapphire. He led us to believe that you had moved on to San Francisco, but when our trail there was completely cold, we sent some scouts back to Mountain View. We figured that, since that’s where the sapphire was supposed to be, that we would most likely find you there. And we did. The scouts found you, followed you from afar, and got the location of this hideout. We returned with a full army as soon as possible. In an ironic twist of fate, we got here at nearly the same time Samuel did. We got to see firsthand his treachery, and how he himself had been in league with shifters despite arguing so vehemently against reopening shifter-wizard relations.”
“In league wi
th bad shifters,” Knox pointed out. “We’re not all like that.”
“Indeed, I see that now,” Peter said. “And if it had not been for the brave fighting of your men tonight, Knox, I’m not sure we could have overcome Samuel’s army. We owe you a debt of gratitude, as I’ve said. And Bree, I owe you an apology. You were right. The dragon sapphire is very powerful and dangerous, and we needed the help of the shifters to recover it.”
“So I’m not being stripped of my magic?” Bree asked in a small, hopeful voice. Peter had already indicated that this was the case, but she almost couldn’t believe it. She wanted confirmation. Peter smiled at her, and she felt Knox squeezing her hand.
“Like I said, there will need to be a formal hearing, but I can’t imagine anyone wanting to strip you of your magic. Now that everything has come to light, I see how right you really were. You did something very brave, Bree. You risked everything to save people who ridiculed you to your face.”
“I risked everything to save the clan I love,” Bree said fiercely.
Peter smiled. “I know, dear child. And now, your job is done. You’ve had a long day. You should rest. In the morning, we will provide you with a secure escort back to Falcon Cross, where we will hold a special hearing to clear your name.”
“Can Knox come?” Bree asked, feeling bold and standing tall. No shifter had been near Falcon Cross for centuries, but Bree had already decided that she wasn’t going without Knox. Peter, however, did not protest.
“If Knox would like to come, he will be our honored guest,” Peter said.
Bree looked over at Know and smiled. He nodded at her, affirming that he would go.
“Well, then,” Bree said. “I guess I’d better go get some rest for the journey tomorrow. Good night, your Honor.”
“Good night, Bree. Rest well,” Peter said.
Bree nodded to the rest of the group, and turned to start walking toward Knox’s cabin. Knox leaned over to kiss her, then released her hand.
“I’ll be right there,” he said. “I just need to work out a few logistical details about prisoners and such.”
Bree smiled at him and said “okay,” then headed for the cabin. The whole day felt like a dream—one that had had the potential to become a nightmare but had somehow turned out like a fairy tale. Just before closing the cabin door behind her, she turned to look back toward the fire pit, where she saw Knox standing tall and mighty, silhouetted perfectly against the orange blaze. She could hardly believe that he was part of her life now, or that someone as magnificent as him loved her. But he did. He really did.
Yes, thought Bree as she closed the door behind her: today had been like a fairy tale.
Chapter Nineteen
Knox woke to the smell of coffee filling his cabin. He sat up slowly in bed, wincing slightly as his stiff muscles protested. The events of the night before came rushing back at him, and he smiled broadly. He was angry that such a big attack had happened on his clan’s base here in the Redwoods, but he was happy with how things had turned out. The dragon sapphire was safe, and Bree was safe.
He smiled as he thought of Bree. Inhaling another deep breath of coffee-scented air, he rose and went to the main room of his cabin, where he found her searching through his cupboards for mugs. Her hair was falling in loose waves around her shoulders, and she was wearing the oversized t-shirt of his that she had slept in. Seeing her in his t-shirt, in his cabin, rummaging through his kitchen, turned him on like crazy.
“Hey, you,” he said softly.
Startled, she turned suddenly and looked at him with wide, apologetic eyes. “Oh! Did I wake you?” she asked. “I was trying to be quiet!”
“The smell of coffee woke me,” Knox said. “But it’s okay. We need to get moving early today, anyway. And I don’t mind having a few moments with you before the day gets busy.”
He crossed the room in a few large strides and put his arms around her. She sighed, and melted into his chest as he kissed the top of her head. He could not put into words how happy he was in that moment. He had wanted this for so long. He had dreamed of a chance to be with her, enjoying her, without worries about the stone or about her being caught. Now, here they were. The stone was secure with Pierce, ready for its journey to shifter protector headquarters. Bree was no longer a fugitive, and would be officially pardoned soon. Everything had worked out exactly as it needed to.
Knox bent down to give Bree a long kiss on her lips. She let out a soft sigh as she returned the kiss, slipping her tongue past his lips and letting it dance in his mouth. Knox felt himself going hard as Bree reached her hands up to wrap them around his broad back, pressing her body against his. He was only wearing sweatpants right now, leaving his chest bare. And he knew she wasn’t wearing a bra because he could feel her firm nipples poking through the t-shirt she was wearing, and rubbing against his skin. A thrill of excitement ran through him, and he deepened his kiss, drinking her in as his tongue ran across hers. But just as he started to really get into it, she pulled back and looked up at him uncertainly.
“Do we have time?” she asked. “We have to get ready to leave for Falcon Cross. And I don’t want to make the wizards wait when my fate lies in their hands…”
Knox smiled at her tenderly. “We have plenty of time. It’s early enough still, and, besides, I think your fate is already decided. The wizards owe you their lives. You saved Falcon Cross by insisting on going after the stone. All that’s left is just the formality of pardoning you. Peter said so himself last night.”
Bree sighed and leaned her head against his chest. “I guess you’re right,” she said. “It’s just hard to believe that things have actually turned out so well. I was so scared for so long.”
“You were so brave,” Knox said, using his finger to tilt her chin up so that she was looking directly in his eyes. “It’s normal to be scared. But to feel that fear and do the right thing anyway—that’s true bravery.”
Bree gave him a half-smile then, and Knox beamed back at her.
“I’m so proud of you,” he said. Then he leaned down to kiss her again. She did not pull back this time. She returned his kiss even more passionately than before, and it didn’t take long for both of them to completely forget any worries about getting ready for the trip to Falcon Cross. The coffee sat patiently waiting in the coffeepot while Knox began pulling Bree back toward the bedroom. The light outside was still the gray-pink of dawn, so the bedroom itself was bathed in muted tones of gray. Bree looked so lovely in this light. Hell, she looked lovely in any light, though.
Despite the full day ahead of them, Knox did not rush. He sat Bree gently down on the bed, then pulled her t-shirt off, leaving her perfect, round breasts exposed right in front of him. He marveled at how full and beautiful they were. So soft, with such hard, alert nipples. He felt himself growing stiffer and stiffer between his legs, until his rock-hard member pushed impatiently against the fabric of his sweatpants. He pushed off the pants quickly, leaving him naked since he had not been wearing any underwear. Then he pulled Bree up into a standing position to quickly pull off her pale pink panties, so that they both stood free of clothes in front of each other. His erection pointed proudly in her direction, ready for its chance to sink itself deep into her. But, for a moment, he just stood there, drinking her in. They both looked at each other, trembling with the anticipation of what was to come, hardly able to believe that they had been lucky enough to find each other.
“Knox,” Bree breathed his name out dreamily. That one word was a plea, a request. She wanted him. She needed him. The realization sent a fresh thrill through his body. He pushed her down onto the bed on her back, and his mouth closed over her breasts. She writhed with pleasure and moaned as he took each nipple in his teeth in turn, nibbling firmly, hungrily. He moved back and forth between each breast, pleasuring each in turn, all the while keeping his body firmly pressed against hers, savoring the sensation of bare skin against bare skin.
His erection was poking at the space between her
legs, and he could feel that she was soaking wet, her juices of desire dripping down onto her legs and then onto the sheets of his bed. It sent a fresh thrill of pleasure through his body, knowing that she wanted him so badly, and he could hold back no longer. He slid up so that he was right above her slick entrance, then plunged into her. She gasped, and then moaned with happiness, his sudden entrance having taken her by surprise. He moaned himself as he felt her soft warmth enveloping him. She made him feel like he was on fire, but the heat felt so good.
He moved in her, steady and deep, and he closed his eyes with pleasure as he felt her once more writhing and whimpering beneath him. She was not far from exploding, he could tell. And moments later, explode she did. She cried out his name so loudly that the whole base camp must have heard. But Knox didn’t care. All he could think about was how amazing he felt as her strong, hot inner muscles clenched around his dick over and over, squeezing tighter with each spasm and sending wave after wave of tingling pleasure across his body. He let the pressure build until it was nearly unbearable, and then, he let himself go, too.
He came into her, a stream of fire shooting through him and into her as he stiffened and roared. The heat and electricity in his body was like nothing he had ever experienced, and he knew for certain in that moment that Bree was his lifemate. They were bonded, and what a special bond they had. He could hardly believe that he was lucky enough to have found a woman who could make him feel like this, a woman so brave and so deserving of his love. With a huge smile on his face, he collapsed gently on top of her, kissing her deeply once again.
There was coffee to drink, bags to pack, and instructions to be given for how the Redwoods base camp should be taken care of while he was away in Falcon Cross. But right now, none of that mattered. All Knox could think about was how amazing he felt, and how beautiful the woman underneath him was.
Defiance and the Dragon (Redwood Dragons Book 1) Page 15
