The Panther's Rival

by Emilia Hartley

  Gareth kicked his chair away and went over to relieve his brother of the bags that weighed him down. Not that it hindered the young dragon. It was probably nothing compared to the limits of their strength. It was just bulky.

  Cameron’s eyes immediately fell on Rhiannon. “Hey, I know you.”

  Her head shot up, eyes completely gold. Her lips pulled back from her teeth in a snarl.

  “Well, can’t say I saw that coming,” Cameron commented before laying the sheet pan on the table. “Last I remember you worked for the shitty Guardian sect here in Wales.”

  Drystan was the one to speak next. “Do you happen to remember Jacob and Annie?”

  Cameron’s attention was pulled from Rhiannon, lifting a weight from Gareth’s chest. The urge to stand between his brother and his mate was overwhelming.

  “Barely,” Cameron confessed. “Brainy fellow, right?”

  Drystan laughed, but he nodded. “Yes, that would be Jacob. I have reasons to believe that their daughter didn’t die like GOE tried to tell us.”

  Liana narrowed her eyes at Rhiannon. “I don’t remember her.”

  “You weren’t even born yet,” Rhys reminded his younger sibling.

  “No shit,” Cameron breathed. He tossed another glance back at Rhiannon. She was leaning back on the couch, eyes closed as she tried to regain control of herself. “That’s Regina?”

  He watched Rhiannon scowl, not bothering to open her eyes. “That’s my given name?”

  Gareth laughed. “Yes. You were their little queen. Bossy little thing you were, too. Drystan was convinced that you were going to knock him off his seat of power someday.”

  Her eyes cracked open and fell upon Drystan. “No need to worry about that anymore. I can barely control myself let alone a family of dragons.”

  Drystan leaned forward, putting his hands flat on the table. “Let’s stop talking about the past and start talking about how we are going to put a stop to the immediate future.”

  ***

  Rhiannon leaned back into the plush couch. Inside of her, she felt the rage of her beast. It was consuming. The smell of burnt fabric tickled her nose. If they put an end to all of this, she would replace Gareth’s burnt couch with her own couch. If she lived through this.

  She could barely believe what Wilson had done. He made Everett kill five humans, even if it was an accident. The lives of those people now stained her old friend’s soul. She didn’t think she would ever get Everett back, but she mourned for him and the sin he now carried.

  Ten feet away from her, a table of dragons and Maggie argued about what their next move should be. Maggie was convinced that if she could just talk to them she could fix the entire situation. Drystan was not so convinced of his mate’s convictions and Rhiannon tended to agree with him. There was little to do now that could be done to save their face.

  That was until another face rolled through Rhiannon’s mind. Raphael had been present when Everett tried to frame her for the explosion. No doubt, he’d been there when Everett laid the explosives on the building once more. The white dragon had been whispering venomous crap into Wilson’s ear for some time now. He was a part of a lot of the dirty doings Wilson was taking part in.

  Rhiannon pushed herself up from the couch. Her beast still paced inside her mind, walking dizzying circles in her head. She swayed on her feet for a short moment before pressing forward. She managed to make it to the impromptu war table. Silence fell over the room as everyone looked up at her.

  “What we need to do is make a show of protecting this city,” she said.

  A man with a thick, white beard looked up at her with hard eyes. “And, just how do you think we could do that? The city is already convinced that we are the villains in this case.”

  “We name a new villain and move the blame off of the Snowdonia and the red dragons. As you already know, there is a white dragon working with my old boss. He’s slimy shit and everything that has happened is probably his doing. If we can show the people of the city that it isn’t their own dragons that are hurting them, then we can act as their defenders. It will change their view of us.”

  Drystan sighed heavily. “I really don’t want to make other dragons out to be the bad guy. We should be acting to preserve all of our kind.”

  “Fuck that,” a new voice proclaimed. Dakota appeared beside Rhiannon. “Raph is hell bent on destroying us so he can have Snowdonia for himself. He thinks that the red dragons stole his homeland from the white dragons. If that little shit wants to be the villain, then he and his get treated like the villain.”

  “Language,” Wesley hissed, his eyes motioning toward the white bearded dragon beside him.

  “Pshaw,” the old, white bearded dragon said. “The human is right. We cannot be concerned with the survival of the entire species if we’re all dead. Let the white dragons reap what they’re trying to sow.”

  Rhiannon’s knees shook beneath her, whether from the sex she’d had earlier or from the realization that her new world was falling apart again, she didn’t know. What she knew was that Gareth was there. He leaned forward and pulled her to him so that she sat on his knee. One, thick arm was wrapped around her middle to keep her from sliding to the floor.

  She pulled in a breath, afraid of the words that were about to fall from her own lips. Gareth’s grip on her tightened as though he knew what she was about to say.

  “I’m willing to play bait,” she blurted out.

  All eyes fell on her. She wriggled nervously in Gareth’s lap. His arm tightened around her, a response brought on by her own words. He wasn’t going to be happy with this plan. It might not matter in the long run. She couldn’t bear his children. If she couldn’t further the red dragon family, they might demand that Gareth marry another woman who could.

  “Raphael, the white dragon my boss was working with, is a cocky bastard. He was there the night they framed me just to push my buttons. I’m sure that if I resurface, he’ll show up. The trick from there is to get him to drop his guard and attack.”

  “That sounds like a loose plan,” Drystan commented.

  It was loose. There was no way for her to know if she’d be shot on sight after her partner framed her. GOE was looking for all of the red dragons, afraid to their very core that the dragons were a threat to humanity. She looked around the room at the people that circled the table. Maggie leaned against Drystan’s hip, looking destitute. Dakota was still trying to rid herself of the anger that flooded her by pacing behind Wesley. The old man that agreed with her earlier, most likely a grandfather of her mate, wrinkled his nose in disgust as he looked down at the table.

  “What else can we do?” she whispered.

  Finally, Drystan’s shoulders fell. “Take Maggie with you. I hate to have to say that, but if anyone can get under someone’s skin it’s her. Plus, if you’re recognized she can grant you momentary immunity so that the two of you can retreat to the Human Dragon Relations building.”

  Maggie snorted at his comment about her getting under people’s skin. She seemed like a strong woman. Rhiannon remembered a few run ins with her on campus, the professor’s stony glare was immovable and heavy every time she threw it her way. Maggie spent much of her time mocking Rhiannon’s old boss, unafraid of his position in GOE.

  “I can do that,” Rhiannon replied.

  “I don’t think I can,” Gareth whispered into her skin after he let his head fall against her shoulder. “Why would you do this when our future is still ahead of us?”

  Rhiannon swallowed past the lump in her throat. “Because there is no future if GOE attacks. They’ve been preparing for a dragon war for a very long time and with modern weaponry, I don’t think that we stand a chance. Dragons aren’t the force of destruction they once were in comparison to technology.”

  Gareth pressed his face into her skin and refused to respond. She understood. She didn’t want to do this. Leaving the Territory was an awful idea for her. She was wanted. She was the enemy now. But, if she could do thi
s one small thing for her new family, she would. Rhiannon knew how to find Raphael.

  “Gareth,” Drystan barked. “You’re Territory bound for this.”

  “What?” her mate growled behind her. She could feel the tension in his body, his fingers as they dug into her hips. She was lucky he didn’t stand and dump her off his lap.

  “You heard me. I cannot have you jeopardizing this mission because you’re a fool. You are to stay here on the Territory and report to us if GOE makes any moves.”

  Rhiannon pulled herself from Gareth’s lap because she could feel the energy crackling beneath his skin. He was angry. He was dejected. She grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the war council and up the stairs.

  At the top of the stairs she realized how little she knew about her mate. Out of three closed doors on the landing, she had no idea which one would lead her to his bedroom. She froze, feeling out of place. She took a deep breath and reminded herself it wouldn’t matter soon.

  Gareth pushed past her, arming his door open before disappearing inside. She stood outside the door, chewing her lip. Inside, she could hear Gareth hitting something. Her ears caught the sound of drywall cracking and crumbling. She sighed and followed him inside.

  “I should be there to protect you,” he growled when she entered the room. “It is my right to protect my mate.”

  Rhiannon nodded. “It would be if this were not a time of war. Look at this from Drystan’s perspective. We are newly mated. Your reactions are heightened and acute when it comes to me and my safety. It’s a feeling I’m sure that Drystan is familiar with. What I’ve volunteered to do goes against all of your protective instincts. Doesn’t it?”

  “Of course, it does!” Gareth threw his hands up in exasperation.

  “Then it only makes sense that you would end up interfering in a moment when we need Raphael to think he has the upper hand. We need him to feel like he’s about to win so that he confesses to everything he’s done. If I can’t get him to confess, I need him to attack. If you attack him first, then the whole plan is ruined.”

  Gareth paced in front of her. The walls shook with the force of his beast’s anger. Photos cracked and fell from the walls. Hairline fractures appeared in the drywall, snaking around the room. Rhiannon stepped forward and took her mate’s face between her hands. She forced him to look into her eyes.

  “I am willing to risk this for you and your family.” She searched his eyes while he grew calm in her grasp. “I am willing to do anything to make sure you are safe, too.”

  He wrapped his arms around her and drew her into a long kiss. Together, they fell onto her bed. He shielded her from the world with his arms and body, and she believed, just for a second, that they could stay that way forever.

  “Promise me one thing,” he whispered into her lips.

  “Promises already?” she joked, trying to ease the tension and apprehension growing inside of her.

  “Promise me that you will come back to this house in one piece.”

  “I promise,” she said into his mouth.

  They made quiet love in his room, desperate to hold each other a little longer. She might not love him yet, but she was starting to see the potential for it creeping into her heart. She put a hard clamp on the emotion, because she couldn’t deal with the pain of it later.

  Downstairs, the plan to frame Raphael had been laid out. Maggie and Rhiannon would leave the next morning. Rhiannon would lead them to Raphael, a voice recorder in her pocket. Raphael would feel superior to the two women and would, likely, divulge more than he should to them. If not, Drystan and Cameron would be nearby to lend aid.

  Chapter Eleven

  Gareth was not happy with his leader’s decision. The two of them seldom saw eye to eye. Perhaps that was why Drystan was the leader and Gareth was not. The red dragon family had survived so far, managing to recover even from Elgar’s rampage over Bangor, the event everyone referred to as the Occurrence, so long ago. Gareth also understood Elgar’s rage.

  He worried that his mate would not return home. He worried that the white dragon would hurt her, would kill her for being a red dragon. He worried what his own rage would make him do if she were killed while he was trapped here on the Territory.

  Drystan’s hands fell on Gareth’s shoulders, forcing the younger dragon to stand still and look him in the eye.

  “She is a capable woman,” his leader said. “I would not have sent my own mate with her if I thought they would fail. So, sit tight and wait for her to return. She will do much for your honor in the long run. That I can tell.”

  Gareth snorted. His honor, the code by which all dragons lived and ordered themselves, was dismal. He only had his temper to blame, and knowing Rhiannon’s own temper, he could see that they would put Drystan through his paces before Wesley rose to take his place.

  Hopefully by the time Wesley became their leader, Gareth and Rhiannon would have a tiny dragon of their own to distract themselves. Maybe more than one. It was a hope that Gareth hadn’t thought of before, but now that it was a possibility, it set a warm glow upon his heart. He would have to shape up his honor for his future children.

  “In the meantime, why don’t you go and pack a few belongings.”

  “Pack? Why?” Gareth was caught off guard. “We can’t tuck our tails and run!”

  Drystan’s eyes darkened. He looked toward the window, his mind elsewhere for a moment. “We need to vacate the Territory in case this goes wrong. There can be no war if there are no dragons to slay.”

  “You can’t possibly ask us to leave,” Gareth argued. What would his mate return to if they were all gone? Besides, it made them look as though the dragons were guilty, pulling in retreat from GOE’s modern weapons.

  “I can and I am, Gareth. Pack what you wish and convene with the rest of us at my cottage. From there we will leave the Territory. It will not be a fun journey, to say the least. Tensions are high and testosterone will undoubtedly cause a few problems along the way, but we have no other option right now.”

  Gareth looked around himself. This house had been his home for over a century. He’d known the Territory even longer. It broke his heart to run away with his tail between his legs. How could GOE force them to scatter like mice when they were anything but?

  He spun and his fist crashed into a ceramic bowl on a shelf. The pieces of shattered ceramic flew all around him. He fumed, the anger burning him up from the inside out. They couldn’t run. They couldn’t show weakness or guilt to the city.

  “Brother,” a soft voice said.

  Gareth whipped around, his teeth bared and smoke tendrils rising from his nose. Cameron stood before him, his younger brother a bigger presence than he’d ever given him credit for. Instead of using that presence to intimidate, he pushed into Gareth’s space to pull his brother into a comforting hug. After a moment, the tension left his hands and he wrapped his arms around Cameron in turn.

  “Sometimes I wonder if I inherited all the fire that you should have had,” Gareth joked, his voice low.

  Cameron laughed. His chest rumbled against Gareth’s. He slapped his brother on the back. Cameron was a ray of light, the sun shining on all of them. His cheer was inescapable and, more often than not, he was able to defuse a tense situation that should have ended in a bloody fight.

  “We will do what we have to,” Cameron told his brother. “We will survive. Remember that Mags is with your mate right now. That tenacious old bat won’t let anything happen to Rhiannon.”

  “I heard what you called my mate,” Drystan shouted toward them.

  “I’m not wrong,” Cameron called back.

  He could trust Maggie. She was capable of the impossible. But, he could not still his fear. Tension and fear mingled inside of him, resulting in an anger directed at his leader. He had to do something and he knew that his leader would not like it.

  ***

  Rhiannon and Maggie enjoyed a small brunch in a neighborhood that she remembered Wilson meeting Raphael in. Her
eyes scanned the streets for the fair haired dragon. Her leg vibrated nervously beneath the table until Maggie touched it with the tips of her fingers.

  Right, Rhiannon thought. They were supposed to look innocuous. There was suddenly much more at stake than she’d ever fought for before. All of Snowdonia was counting on her to follow through with this. They needed the recording, the confession.

  “So,” Maggie began, attempting at a conversation to distract Rhiannon. “Have you thought of children? It’s not uncommon for mated pairs to begin bearing children quickly. We all know the hormonal frenzy that happens early in the bond. I know that Dakota chose not to and I don’t judge her for the decision. It’s a new day and age, after all.”

  Rhiannon pushed her breakfast around her plate. “I can’t bear children.”

  Across from her, Maggie stilled. “Does Gareth know?”

  Rhiannon shook her head. “I didn’t have the heart to tell him. It is not something that comes up in conversation very easily.”

  Maggie nodded in agreement. “I’m sorry for being such a nosy old woman.”

  “No,” Rhiannon said. “You have a right to know that I cannot further the family. I don’t know if that will affect our mate bond. I… I understand if you have Gareth marry a woman that can bear children.”

  She understood, but that didn’t mean she didn’t feel the pain of heart break building in her chest. It felt like a pressure ready to burst at any moment, resulting in tears that she did not normally shed.

  “What are you going on about, girl?”

  Maggie’s confused voice shook her from her own veil of depression. Rhiannon’s head shot up. Her head fell to the side as she tried to understand Maggie’s sudden expression.

  “I… I’m barren. As far as I understood that means I’m unfit to be married.”

  “Who the hell told you such an insane thing?”