Immortal Dragons: The First Four: Prequel + Books 1-3

by Ophelia Bell

  “Mistress. It’s the music, isn’t it? Should we leave?”

  Belah shook her head and darted her eyes away, feeling a warm flush rise to her cheeks. She continued dancing, and they did, too, adapting to the flow of bodies. Women gravitated to them, and they both eagerly danced with the willing ones. She didn’t object. They remained perfectly attuned to her despite their own desires. They cloaked her well enough that she could just stand and watch her lovers on stage without the crowd around her being aware.

  “How much do you know about why we’re here? How much information did the First Shadow share?” she sent to them both.

  The Shadow she’d kissed released the woman he’d been dancing with into his fellow Shadow’s grip and faced Belah. He squeezed her shoulder gently—a comforting gesture that she appreciated.

  “Kol only instructed us to guard you until you located your turul mate, and then it was up to you whether you wished us to continue to do so. We’re your servants unless you say otherwise.” He tilted his chin toward the stage, and his voice reverberated again inside her mind. “I’m guessing that, considering what we witnessed the other night, both those Wind Charmers up there have caught your attention. Is it true what they say about turul? They only have a single mate for life?”

  A smile spread across Belah’s face, warmth pooling in her belly at the sight of the North brothers playing. They stood back-to-back now, leaning against each other, music streaming from their saxophones so strongly she could almost see the magic filling the room. They were so in sync. She wished she could find a way to be with them sooner rather than later.

  “It’s very true,” she said. “And I belong to them.”

  “Then we’ll guard you until you get what you need.”

  When Iszak and Lukas parted and she saw past them toward the back of the stage, a chill went through her. Seated behind the drum kit was none other than Ozzie West—the turul who’d witnessed her exchange with Nikhil.

  The events of the last few days converged, the threads coming together. The music Erika had played, the names she’d mentioned that first night. The music itself had been the impetus for Geva to seek out Sophia North in the first place. Then the date with Ozzie and its disastrous conclusion—he’d seen and heard her entire exchange with Nikhil. She’d entirely forgotten her worry when Lukas had revealed that Ozzie was part of their trio.

  “I need to get out of here, now!” she said, broadcasting the thought loudly enough that both Shadows immediately came to attention as if a switch had been flipped. She didn’t have time to feel bad about pulling them away from potential mates. She couldn’t risk being discovered by someone who knew her true identity.

  On the way back out to the alley, the other details began to piece together. The pictures she’d seen in Sophia North’s apartment … the brothers were in those pictures.

  The photos had also featured the sister they had lost. And one other … A face she knew now. A face that was connected to her old lover. Nikhil’s newest Elite.

  Marcus. The third Elite. She remembered seeing into his mind the day they’d met, learning his name and his secrets. Seeing a beauty of a woman with wings, and feeling the ache of need the man had to save that woman from her captors—from the very man he served.

  If Marcus wanted to save her, that meant that Evie wasn’t dead. If Evie wasn’t dead, Belah’s new mates had no reason to hate her.

  The revelation was too delicate to share with anyone else. She didn’t want Ozzie to see her, but more than that, she needed her brother’s wisdom.

  In the darkness of the club’s alley, she and the Shadows shifted, and she led them to the top of a tall building nearby. The wind still carried strains of the music to her ears, and each errant note made her skin quiver with the urge to return to Iszak and Lukas. But with distance, her head cleared enough to focus entirely on the pair of black dragons who rested on their scaled haunches beside her.

  “Call my brother,” she said.

  Her guards exchanged a glance and their heads dipped suspiciously. She hated that she couldn’t read their thoughts at that moment, but Shadows were notoriously guarded, thanks to their own powers. Her brother was impossible to read if he didn’t wish it, but she knew him well enough to predict his behavior. Even though they’d agreed that only Belah would leave the Glade to complete the search for the mate from her dreams, she suspected her brother had followed.

  “I can’t reach him myself, but if I know Ked, he’s open to any and all communication from you two. How close is he? Call him now, or I’ll be forced to fly around the city trumpeting my irritation for the entire human world to hear.”

  “No need for theatrics, sister,” a deep voice boomed from behind her.

  Belah turned, shifting into her human shape at the same time. Several yards away her brother stood, clad from head to toe in black leather and almost blending into the shadows.

  “Do you have some addiction to meddling in my love life? You shouldn’t even be here, you know.” She took several irritated steps toward him.

  “And yet you were about to raise Hell trying to get my attention, so I suppose it’s good I’ve been following you. What do you need? I hope you haven’t given up on finding your mate already.”

  “Far from it. I’ve found both of them, and they’re more wonderful than I could have hoped for. Can you hear that music—the faint song that reminds me so much of Mother’s crooning when we were babies? That’s their mating call.”

  Ked tilted his head and his eyes grew hooded while he listened. Some almost imperceptible emotion flickered across his face, but was gone before Belah could understand what it was. He raised his head and said, “What of it? You were looking for a turul mate. Naturally, they would have a mating call that sounded like that. So why haven’t you answered them?”

  “Oh, I did, several days ago. They just didn’t expect the same woman to answer both their calls on the same night. Like most siblings, they needed time to work out their differences. Now they have, but there’s something else standing in my way of being with them.”

  “If it’s your futile mission to convince Nikhil to give up the location of our son, you already know my feelings on that. He no doubt believes the second you have the information, he’s a dead man.”

  “Nikhil still wants me enough that he already agreed. I’ll get the information from him somehow. But that’s not the issue. I decided I can’t wait any longer than I have to before I mark Iszak and Lukas and make them mine. The problem is they hate me. Or at least, they hate the ‘Blue Beast,’ who they believe was responsible for the Ultiori’s existence. They lost a sister … Are you listening to me?”

  She strode over to her brother, who had a glazed expression with his face turned toward the center of the city.

  “Ked,” Belah said, gently pulling at his elbow. “What’s up with you? I’ve never seen you like this. You should head back to the Glade. Have Kris attend you for a night. Following me around without seeing to your own needs is a recipe for disaster.”

  Her brother shook his head, his thick, dark hair catching the wind and whipping around his face, but it couldn’t conceal the look of desperation in his eyes. Then it hit Belah full force—the raw emotions buried in her brother’s soul. Beyond all that darkness was a driving need to find the turul female she’d seen when he had shared his own dream.

  “I don’t need a fuck,” he said vehemently. “I need her. Something about that music sounds so much like the mating call from my dream, but it’s not quite right.”

  “The music …” Belah caught the rhythm and started humming, then softly sang the words that had come to her the night she’d found Iszak playing on his roof.

  Ked’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as he stared at her. “Where did you hear that? I never shared the song from my dream, only the images, but that’s exactly what she sang to me. How do you know those w
ords?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “The song came to me when I answered their call. Maybe …” Could it be? Here she was about to ask Ked to help her find a lost turul female. Was Fate that transparent? A chill went down her spine when Ked’s brows drew together as he waited for her to finish her thought. Before she could speak, he’d delved into her mind and pulled the details out for himself.

  “They have a sister, or had a sister, who they believe was killed by the Ultiori. But she isn’t dead, is she? Tell me everything you know, Belah. Everything.”

  Belah took a deep breath and explained what little she knew. She told him about the photos of Iszak and Lukas with their sister, and the fourth figure, who she knew now was Nikhil’s newest Elite. She told Ked how when she’d met Marcus, he had clearly longed for a female turul who fit the North girl’s description perfectly.

  “If you can rescue her, then I can face them with the news that their sister is alive. They will have no reason to hate me when I tell them the truth about who I am. Ked, I can’t mark them without them knowing everything. I might as well let Nikhil have me and return to Iszak and Lukas when all this is done, but it’ll kill me if I have to wait any longer for them. I know you feel what their music is doing to me.”

  Ked’s shoulders sagged. “You know how the Ultiori work. If we couldn’t find our own son by now, what makes you think we can find this turul?”

  Footsteps from behind made Belah turn. The two Shadows had been waiting at a polite distance, but their closeness and suddenly anxious demeanors told her they had something to say, but weren’t eager to share.

  “What is it?” Ked barked.

  “The missing turul, Master. Kol has had a squadron searching for one for several months now—it was a command left by his mother, the former First Shadow, prior to our Ascension. The exact instructions were to bring the news to you once she was found. The search has apparently been going on for years, but the original message is what you need to hear. ‘Tell the Void to find Iszak and Lukas North. Their sister is alive.’ It hasn’t been a priority since it’s a turul female, not a dragon, but the search is ongoing.”

  As swiftly as if a light switch were flipped, the night went pitch-black, Ked’s power betraying how he’d received that ages-old moniker—the Void. Within the darkness, Belah sensed the fear rising to the surface in the poor Shadow who’d been the bearer of this unfortunate news to her brother.

  “If the message was to tell me something, why am I just hearing this news now?” Ked’s voice rumbled darkly and so low, Belah was sure the humans in the city must hear thunder.

  “We didn’t know the significance of your involvement. You’d have to ask the First Shadow for specifics on why he kept it quiet. Maybe he wanted to find her first. I’m sorry, Master. I don’t have any other information.”

  The light gradually seeped back in through the unfiltered darkness of Ked’s mood and the Shadows both visibly relaxed.

  “Go now, both of you. Tell Kol this search is his first priority—he’s to drop everything else, and I do mean everything—and make sure I don’t see either of you again until the female turul is found.”

  Turning to Belah, he added, “Your priority is to go to the North Brothers and answer their mating call for real this time—make it permanent, sister. Tell them the truth. The news about their sister will have more impact coming from you once they learn your true identity. If Nikhil really does have my mate, then I want all the help we can get to get her away from the bastard—we need her brothers on our side. We need everyone on this.”

  Belah’s instinct was to argue with her brother’s plan. She’d spent so long wishing to find her babies again that following through on that singular mission seemed like it should take precedence. Yet somehow, she was relieved to be commanded by her brother to act contrary to her own convictions—to follow through with the more present urge to mate the pair of brothers sooner rather than later. Her need to find her children would never die. They may remain lost for a bit longer, but one thing she was sure of was that they were safely bound in their hibernating forms and nothing could break through that magic but the touch of their own fated mates.

  “All right. Where will you be if I need you?”

  Ked gave her a sad look. “When have you ever really needed me, Belah? I like to think I’m your protector, but you and I both know that I only get in the way. This is all as much my fault as it is yours. We all have a part in Nikhil’s existence. Perhaps you and I more than most, but never think I don’t know you’re the strongest of all of us. If he comes for you, do what you need to do. Just try to make sure you don’t put this turul female’s life on the line for the sake of old regrets.”

  It hurt that he’d refer to her babies as regrets, but Ked was right. There were good reasons her son and daughter had been taken, and she shouldn’t risk the life of Iszak and Lukas’s sister on a reckless mission to get them back. The opportunity would still be there after she’d mated the North brothers. She quashed the ache of maternal longing in her belly and nodded, too choked up to voice her assent.

  Just as Ked’s form began to shimmer and take on his true shape, she called out, “Her name is Evie.”

  His brows lowered. “Who is?”

  “Your mate, Brother. Her name is Evie North. We’ll save her together, I promise.”

  With a final nod, he spread his wings and launched his enormous dark shape into the air. Almost immediately, he disappeared into the velvet blackness of the sky above.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Belah avoided heading back to the club, even though the music called to her more strongly than before. The two saxophones sounded almost desperate now, the sexual energy in the club rising to a fever pitch in response to the sound. They called to her deliberately tonight, not the teasing seduction of Lukas’s music, or Iszak’s soulful lament she’d heard on the rooftop. They hadn’t known at the time what their music meant. Now they did. They called to her with a vengeance, and the sound intoxicated her, made her want to drown herself in it. Drown herself in them. She stood alone on the rooftop of one of the tallest buildings in the city, staring in their direction and fighting the urge to fly to them now.

  Where they were right now wasn’t where she wanted to bare her soul to them. She turned, forcing herself to walk in the other direction, and launched herself off the edge. She let her human body plummet for several seconds, allowing her instincts take over and enjoying the rush of air over her skin as her conjured clothing dissolved and her dragon skin appeared. Just before she’d be too visible to deny, she extended her wings and soared high, shifting completely as she ascended, her talons skimming the glass of a skyscraper too quickly for anyone inside to realize what had just happened.

  Once high above the city again, she headed away from the lure of Lukas and Iszak’s music, flying as quickly as she could, now that she didn’t have the added cloak of the two Shadows to help hide her.

  Moments later, she landed on the roof where Iszak had made love to her only a few nights earlier. The bricks beside the stairwell were still cracked and damaged from where the brothers’ hurricane had tossed her into the wall. She felt no residual ache from the bruise she’d received, only a rising dread about what might happen when she told them the truth.

  Shifting back to her human shape, Belah glanced around and found a pair of chairs with a small table between them. From the detritus strewn about, she picked up a crinkling bag filled with salty crumbs, then a half-empty bottle of liquor. She dropped the bag, but bent her head to the bottle. The deep blue glass carried a lingering scent of both men and the faint residue of their auras when they’d been drinking it—conflict and reconciliation clung to the dew-covered glass. They’d both drank from this bottle before coming to terms with her presence in their lives.

  She sat in one of the chairs and stared down at the bottle. Answers had come for them from inside this blue vessel
with the name of her favorite place emblazoned across its label. Wild Blue Heaven, it read. Perhaps answers would be revealed for her, as well. She stared up at the heavens and wished for an answer.

  When nothing came from the hazy night above her, she opened the bottle and lifted it to her lips. When her tongue circled the rim, she could taste them both. Sweet Mother, she needed them. She needed them to believe her, to accept her, in spite of her past. When the burn of the liquor hit her tongue, she opened up and swallowed, drinking it down.

  If it had worked for them, it might work for her. She took another deep swallow and closed her eyes, seeking any insight or inspiration that the liquor might carry with it.

  When she heard the sounds of engines rumbling in the distance some time later, she stared down at an empty bottle and wondered where the hell all its contents had gone.

  She stood up, frantic, her heart racing. The bottle clattered to the ground while she rushed to the door to the stairwell. The world swam and she fumbled for the door lever. She didn’t want to miss them … she’d planned to be front and center when they came home.

  Their voices reached her, Lukas’s halfway through an irritated monologue when they became audible. Belah paused when she heard the words, “No sign of her at all. She’s done with us, brother. We fucked it up.”

  She let go of the door handle and leaned against the cold metal. Lukas sounded so defeated she longed to comfort him.

  “She was there. I fucking know it,” Iszak said. “At least I know there were dragons there. Did you see the level of humping on the dance floor tonight? That never happens unless a dragon’s hanging around. They’ve got magic mind shit going on. I don’t think tonight was random.”