Treoir Dragon Hoard

by Dianna Love

  She turned her gryphon loose on the man who had sent one flying creature after another to its death, leaving their blood on Evalle’s hands.

  Time lost all meaning as she attacked and Germanus threw his energy at her. She batted strike after strike aside, glad that Storm was not jumping in to take this from her. He deserved to rip Germanus apart, but she needed this and her mate would understand. When she finally broke through the last strike, she opened her beak above his head, ripped it off, then tossed away the miserable face she never wanted to see again.

  Lifting her head, she called to her pack and heard their screeching cries in return.

  Evalle?

  It took her a minute to realize Daegan was trying to reach her telepathically. What?

  Shift back.

  Hurts.

  I know, but you’re strong. You can do it.

  She wanted to argue. She’d shifted and fought to the point that she could barely stand now that the adrenaline was wearing off. But her dragon king had given an order.

  The change took time and energy. When it was done, she sat on the ground, but surrounded by soft cloth this time. Running her hands over the material, she realized she now wore a deep blue robe.

  Storm reached down with open hands. “Can you stand?”

  She took his hands and struggled to her feet.

  That’s when she realized Tristan and the other gryphons had arrived and shifted to their human forms, all clothed. Daegan often handled that part just to save time. They stood in a circle around them. Even the realm dragon was here, but not changed.

  Could that one shift to human, or not?

  Quinn hovered nearby with fear riding his gaze.

  Adrianna’s normally no-expression face filled with horror as she took in Evalle.

  Tristan stepped up. His voice sounded sad when he asked, “You ready to leave, badass?”

  Storm had a gentle, but firm hold on her elbow as if he was afraid to touch any other part. She shook off the mental fog from changing. Her heart filled with love for this bunch.

  It was time to send them home.

  Her mother’s voice came into her head. Trust your friends who came for you.

  Evalle told her mother, I do, but even Storm can’t fix this. I can’t talk to you right now. I need this moment with Storm.

  Seeing them for the last time hurt. She would not cry and make this harder for Storm. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she said, “I can’t leave here.”

  Daegan said, “Garwyli told us that anyone put in here by Abandinu must be removed by the god. Did Abandinu put you in here, or Dakkar?”

  “I have not met the god. From what you’ve said, Dakkar kidnapped me?”

  “Yes,” Storm said, now stroking his fingers lightly over her head. “That bounty hunting bastard. So the god didn’t put you in here. Finally one thing in our favor.” He let out a breath of relief.

  She said, “That’s not why I can’t leave.”

  Quinn came over to her. “Why not?”

  She placed a hand on her chest. “I know you all saw the hideous wound where my emerald was torn out.”

  Storm’s chest rumbled with a low growling. He paused to say, “I’ll heal you.”

  Turning to him, she gave her crooked smile that would probably never return to normal. “Not this wound, sweetheart. I was dying by the time he got me here so they shoved Noirre majik into the wound. Dakkar placed a spell as he used the Noirre. That saved me probably because of my Medb blood. Germanus showed me what happened to a wyvern Dakkar tried to take out of this realm after feeding it Noirre and placing a spell on the creature. The transition of exiting the realm boundaries attacked the Noirre.”

  Adrianna said, “Let me pull it out of you.”

  “I would, but it’s wrapped inside my heart and running through my blood stream. That’s why I haven’t been able to heal here. I’m guessing that Dakkar spelled the Noirre to attack my Belador blood so that I would not regain all my power. He wanted to ensure that I stayed here for eternity.”

  Storm said, “If that’s the case, I’m staying with you.”

  “Go home, Storm.” She hurt saying that, but he would not survive. “Abandinu only likes winged creatures. He’ll probably kill you.”

  Her mate was adamant. “We leave together or stay together.”

  She put a hand covered in wounds and scars on his face. “You would make me watch you die?”

  The look on his face crushed her and his words came out thick with emotion. “I am not alive without you.”

  Rumbling started in the distance.

  She swung her head to determine if a thunderstorm had started. There were no mountains or multi-colored desert landscape now, just gray ground.

  The sky had jagged lines spreading across it like an egg cracking.

  Tristan yelled over the noise. “What’s happening, Daegan?”

  “I don’t know.”

  The farthest point she could see inside the realm seemed to be folding in. This had to be what the inside of a toothpaste tube looked like when it was being squeezed.

  Air blasted past them.

  Bodies of the dead creatures burst into gray clouds of dust.

  A voice louder than all of them speaking at one time shouted, “You destroyed my sanctuary!”

  Adrianna asked, “That wouldn’t happen to be Abandinu, would it?”

  “That’s exactly who it is,” Daegan confirmed. Then he powered up his voice almost as loud as the angry god’s. “We did not come here to harm your sanctuary, but to rescue one of mine stolen by Germanus.”

  “You entered without permission. You must pay a price. I want the gryphons!”

  More of the landscape slowly imploded, pushing strong winds at them. Evalle’s hair batted around her face.

  Storm pulled her into his embrace, still careful as he held her close.

  Daegan yelled back, “No. The gryphons are my people. I have no argument with you. Allow us to leave and I will not call in another god or goddess.”

  The world around them kept collapsing.

  The castle trembled.

  Tristan said, “I’m guessing we have less than a minute.”

  “Abandinu!” Daegan shouted. “Let my people leave or this will be a war with more than one pantheon. This was not your fault. Do not make it your problem.”

  Evalle looked at Daegan’s face to see if he was bluffing.

  She had no idea.

  Note to self. Never play cards with Daegan. That wouldn’t be an issue since they would all have to leave and she would stay, but at this point she wondered what her eternal home was going to look like.

  Abandinu’s voice finally boomed down from the heavens, “You may leave. I no longer wish to power this realm.”

  Evalle said, “He can’t destroy this place.”

  “Yes, he can,” Daegan said. “Time for all of us to go.”

  “What about Evalle?” Storm shouted, because Abandinu went into full demolition mode.

  “We got seconds,” Tristan shouted.

  Daegan ordered, “We’re teleporting.”

  Evalle argued, “No, let me stay. Don’t make Storm watch the Noirre boil inside of me. I look awful, but that ... ” She twisted to Storm and begged, “I can’t let that be your last vision of me.”

  Tristan grabbed one of her hands.

  She flinched.

  Storm snarled, “Get your hand off her.”

  Daegan had everyone pulling in close around them.

  Still holding her hand, Tristan shouted at Storm, “She dies if she stays. She dies if she leaves.”

  In the second it took Storm to process that, Tristan dropped his head to Evalle’s ear. “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes, but ... ”

  An explosion rocked the realm that sounded as if an atom bomb had just gone off.

  The world shifted and blurred. No, Daegan, don’t teleport me, she called to him.


  Evalle screamed. Her chest felt pulled in ten directions.

  Fire burned her from the inside out.

  She heard a mash of voices yelling and felt hands grabbing at her ... then she lost touch with all of them.

  Then, it was blessedly silent.

  CHAPTER 32

  Evalle clawed at the air.

  Agony flooded her body for what seemed an eternity. She didn’t understand why dying took so long. She gave up fighting and ... the pain eased until she could breathe.

  In fact, it disappeared completely.

  That could only mean one thing. She was truly dead.

  Where was Storm?

  She wanted one last kiss, just a chance to say goodbye. Just ... more time with him, but she floated in a sea of murky darkness. Black would be a color next to this. She had no sense of having a body.

  Time stretched into no time. No place. Nothing.

  Where was her mother’s spirit now? Wouldn’t she at least be around to welcome Evalle into the afterlife?

  Go back, Evalle, her mother said from far away. Do not follow me. Her mother’s voice faded to nothing at the end.

  I don’t think I get a choice, Evalle answered and floated some more.

  The next voice in her mind was male and whispered, Evalle?

  Her eyelids fluttered enough for her to see a tiny light flickering far away.

  Could that be Storm trying to reach her? Was his spirit guide bringing Evalle into that private realm so she could see her mate one more time?

  Her fingers touched nothing. Did she even have hands? Maybe she was too far gone into the next world for him to connect with her. See? She’d been right to be glad she hadn’t completed the bonding with Storm or ... he might have died, too. He’d said they would be linked forever.

  Her thoughts faded ...

  Evalle, listen to me, dammit!

  The words dragged her back from where she’d drifted off.

  But ... that was not Storm’s voice. In fact, it sounded like Tristan.

  Why would he be able to talk to her and not Storm?

  Dammit, Evalle, where are you?

  I’m right here, she replied in her mind. How can you talk to me when Storm can’t? Wait, did you die, too? Oh, Tristan, I’m sorry.

  He made an odd sound. Was he laughing? The bastard. What’s funny about dying, asshole?

  Tristan said, Nothing. It hurts like the devil, but you have to come back to us.

  I can’t.

  Don’t quit now, Tristan ordered her. Remember how Tzader only survived because of you dying with him in Treoir Castle? He trusted you when you forced a link open between the two of you, then you brought him back to life with you the third time you died?

  Tristan paused and said in a quiet voice, I’m not Tzader, but you can trust me. I grabbed your hand as we blasted out of the realm and I’m not letting go.

  Now she could feel his fingers squeezing hers.

  Her heart made a faint thump. Then it thumped again.

  Was this happening? She said, Tristan, I trust you. I have for a long time. I feel your energy. Hope jumped all over the place in her heart, but the organ wasn’t really doing its part yet.

  His fingers squeezed hers again. He said, Get ready, because you’re only feeling the leading edge of my regeneration, and the rest is gonna seriously suck.

  More energy seeped into her.

  She opened her mouth to draw in a breath, but a wave of power poured into her body, stealing that breath. Power surged so fast and hard it felt as if she’d been stabbed with a handful of lightning bolts. She arched and yelled in her head, because she had no breath or voice, no way to stop the searing pain coursing through her.

  She lost touch with parts of her body.

  Worse than that, she couldn’t feel Tristan’s hand any more.

  But ... she could hear him yelling, “It’s not working! I lost the connection!”

  She wanted to tell him not to feel bad, that he’d tried, but she couldn’t talk. Her body spun wildly like being sucked into the vortex of a physical tornado.

  In her mind, she called out, Storm! I love you.

  Strong hands yanked her into a hard embrace. Then she heard it, the one sound she longed for ... Storm’s voice.

  He was chanting a swift rush of words in his native language. When he paused, he whispered gut-wrenching words of love and need that flowed through her mind, blending with the chaotic power surge.

  More chanting, plus now she could hear Adrianna’s voice. And maybe Garwyli’s, too.

  The spiraling energy her body had turned into began to slow down.

  Storm begged in a hoarse voice, “Please come back, sweetheart. I can’t lose you.”

  The furious energy finally dissipated and her body calmed. Every muscle felt limp as cooked noodles. She inhaled and ... smelled her mate.

  Her eyes fluttered open, but speaking was difficult. She squeezed out, “Storm?”

  He stilled and asked in an incredulous voice, “Evalle?”

  Talking was beyond her so she smiled.

  Loud cheering erupted. Storm clamped her body to his trembling one. “Thank you for not leaving me.”

  Licking her lips, she croaked, “Never.”

  Content that he was nearby, she let go and drifted asleep.

  Time moved in slow waves that occasionally woke her. She couldn’t force her eyes to open or her mind to reach for full consciousness, but she recalled the sensation of being held as she teleported again. Then she fell deep asleep.

  When she finally roused, she moved to stretch. Huh. Her arms worked.

  Warm fingers brushed over her face.

  She might not be a Skinwalker, but she knew the scent of her man.

  Wait. Her brain fog continued to clear.

  She was alive?

  Evalle opened her eyes and squinted against the blurry image. Please, no more nightmares of losing Storm.

  When the world came into focus, she saw the face of the man she would cross a river of fire for if that was the cost of just one more minute with him.

  His beautiful teak-brown body was stretched out beside her, with his head propped up by his bent arm. Straight black hair fell loose over powerful shoulders. Those brown eyes kept sweeping across her face as if he didn’t believe she was there.

  His smile didn’t quite reach his gaze, telling her how difficult this had been for him. “Hi, sweetheart.”

  She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

  Moving around, Storm came back with a glass of water he held to her lips while lifting her up to drink. When he put the glass away, he came back to kiss her. Not one of his let’s-get-naked kisses, but a sweet, I-need-you-more-than-life kiss.

  She smiled against his lips. “I missed you, too.”

  He doubled down on the next kiss, growling with pleasure.

  When he lifted up, he said, “I missed you more.” Drawing in a long breath, he said, “There was no way I would have left you there, but much as it pains me to admit this, you wouldn’t be alive right now without Tristan.”

  So she hadn’t hallucinated all of that. “Is he okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “He linked with me, didn’t he?”

  “That’s what Tzader said happened.”

  She considered that and asked, “Why would Tzader explain? Why didn’t Tristan tell you?”

  “Tristan thought he’d lost you while he regenerated, that he’d done something wrong. As soon as it was clear that you did survive, he just teleported away. Daegan went after him, then came back and said Tristan needed some time.”

  “We have to thank him,” she said, hoping this mended the rift that had driven friction between Tristan and Storm for a long time.

  “No, I’m the one who has to thank him, which I will figure out how to do as soon as he surfaces again. I owe him anything he asks for at this point.”

  Her smile turned into a grin
.

  Storm finally smiled for real. “What?”

  “Tristan will probably never let you pay that debt. He’ll love having it to hold over you forever.”

  Rolling his beautiful brown eyes, Storm muttered, “Probably true. I’ll still thank the jerk.”

  Her gaze tripped past Storm to take in the room. She appreciated the soft lighting. Their building in Atlanta was incredible, but it did not have thirty-foot ceilings with gold-framed paintings that looked as if someone had paid the equivalent of buying a house for each one. Nor were their walls at home shiny marble. Leaning a little, she took in the massive bed that appeared to be three feet off the polished stone floor.

  Pulling her gaze back to him, she asked, “Where are we?”

  “In a private suite in Treoir Castle.”

  Her eyes widened. “No kidding?”

  “It’s the truth. Daegan teleported us to the grounds outside the castle where we all tackled saving you. Once it was clear you were going to make it, he ordered you brought inside and kept here where he said your energy would rebuild faster. The minute we showed up and Brina found out what had happened to you, she started spouting orders. She had everyone in this place jumping, including Daegan.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.” Storm pecked a kiss on her forehead and kept toying with her hair. “She used her powers to clean and clothe you, then she ordered Garwyli to continue healing you ... ”

  Evalle reached up to touch her face. Her fingers ran over a scar that ran across her neck. She cringed at realizing how she must look.

  Storm clasped her hand and his voice turned serious. “Don’t.”

  “I’m hideous.”

  His eyes darkened above a fierce frown. “You are gorgeous. That old druid healed about eighty percent of the wounds and scars. He’s letting you rest and waiting to see if your beast can heal the rest, but I want you to hear me. I. Love. You. I don’t give a damn if you still had all the scars you had in Abandinu’s realm.” Storm watched her as what he said sank in. Then he growled and added, “You’re not going to be happy until the scars are gone, are you?”

  “No. I’m not particularly vain, but I don’t want to look at a reminder of that place for the rest of my life if I have a choice.”

  He nodded with understanding.