Drakon's Promise (Blood of the Drakon)

by N. J. Walters

  Even though the thought of drinking blood appalled her, she opened her mouth. He tipped the glass up slowly, and she forced herself to drink. She closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see the thick red liquid. She swallowed and moaned. It didn’t taste bad at all. In fact, it tasted rather good. She drank until there was no more.

  She opened her eyes just in time to see him set the glass aside. “Give it a minute. It will help heal you,” he promised.

  Her body throbbed with pain, and the ringing in her ears hadn’t quite stopped. She was afraid Darius was in for a disappointment. His blood didn’t seem to be working on her.

  Heat flashed through her entire body like a jolt of electricity. Her back involuntarily arched, and she groaned in pain as every internal organ felt as though it was on fire. Tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.

  “Sarah.” Darius lifted her onto his lap and leaned against the couch opposite the one she’d been lying on. He touched her face, pushing her hair out of her eyes. “It won’t hurt for long. I’m sorry, baby, but you’re so injured. So hurt.”

  Something landed on her face. It seemed wet at first, but then hard as it tumbled off her cheek. She couldn’t process what was happening. All she could do was breathe through the pain. The fire inside her gradually eased until the warmth was almost comforting. She relaxed in his arms, only then realizing how tense she’d been.

  “That’s it,” he crooned. “You’re doing so well.”

  She reached up and stroked his cheek. A salty tear hit her thumb and then turned into a hard stone before rolling off and hitting the floor. “What’s that?” She frowned as she tried to make sense of things.

  A jolt of pure adrenaline surged through her, and she sat upright. “Whoa, that’s some kick.”

  Darius laughed and hugged her tightly. “You’ll get used to it.”

  “I will?”

  He kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose and her cheeks. “You’ll need my blood every now and again to stay young and healthy. It won’t hurt like this again. You were so injured.” He pulled back and scowled at her. “Why didn’t you stay in the fireplace?”

  “If I had I’d be dead. The grenade rolled to a stop just inside it.”

  He yanked her close and plastered her cheek against the heavy pounding of his heart. “I’m so glad you didn’t listen to me.”

  She laughed. “Remember that in the future.”

  He eased her away and there was worry in his gaze. “Do we have a future? You saw what I did to those men, didn’t you?”

  She nodded. There could be nothing but truth between them. “I did. You did what you had to do.”

  “I killed two more in the woods before I shifted. I gutted them.”

  She flinched, but her gaze never left his. “I need to take shooting lessons.”

  His forehead creased and then cleared as he understood the meaning behind her words. “We can do that.” He kissed her then, hard and fast. “God, Sarah, I love you.”

  “You do.” She tried to scramble out of his arms so she could face him, but he wouldn’t let her go. She was forced to look up at her drakon.

  He lifted something off the floor and waited until she held out her hand before dropping it in her palm. She stared at a small piece of glass about the size of a dime. “Is that from where the cabin window was smashed?”

  Darius jolted and then started to laugh. She could hear the loud booming noise clearly. Her ears no longer hurt, and the ringing had stopped. In fact, she felt great. Nothing hurt. Even her taped fingers felt normal. His blood had really healed her. She touched her forehead, and while there was dried blood there, the cut was gone. Her skin felt smooth and wasn’t tender at all.

  It really was a miracle.

  As much as she loved to hear him laugh, she wanted to know what the joke was. She poked him in the shoulder. “What?”

  Darius set her on the couch and proceeded to pick up about a dozen more pieces of glass. He handed them to her and closed her fingers around them. “They’re not glass, love.”

  Her insides fluttered at the casual use of the endearment. Good God, he’d told her he loved her. “I love you.” She had to say the words. She’d come close to losing him.

  He kissed her closed hand. “I love you, too. As much as I’d like to stay with you, we need to get out of here. I don’t know where the Knights are going or if they have backup nearby.” He stood. “Stay here until I see if I can get the plane in the air, and then you can get cleaned up in the bathroom.” He motioned to the two bags he’d somehow managed to snag on the way out of the cabin. “You can borrow some of my clothes.”

  “That’s getting to be a habit.”

  “Don’t worry, love, we’ll get you some new clothes.” He brushed his lips over the top of her head and started down the aisle to the cockpit.

  “Darius.” He turned and cocked an eyebrow in question. She held out her hand. “If this isn’t glass, what is it?”

  “Drakon’s tears. All drakon tears are different, but one thing they have in common is they’re extremely rare. A drakon cries for one reason only—because his heart is breaking. Fire drakons cry rubies, water drakons sapphires, and air drakons emeralds. But an earth drakon”—his voice grew husky—“an earth drakon cries diamonds.” He turned and left.

  She heard him swear seconds later. “What is it?” she called.

  “Someone’s been in the cockpit. There’s what looks like pieces of a portable GPS on the floor. I didn’t know the damn thing was here. I don’t think they damaged anything else.” The engines roared to life. At least they could get out of here before the Knights came back.

  Sarah stared down at the small fortune she held in her hand. Each rock was the size of a pea—maybe a bean would be a better estimate. No matter, these diamonds were priceless, and not because of their monetary value, but because of what they represented.

  Darius loved her.

  The plane taxied down the runway, and she hung on as it gained speed. It took off and rose steeply before finally leveling off. She carefully tucked the gems into her pocket. She’d have to get something to put them in, preferably find some way she could wear them.

  She had no idea where they were going from here, but she was ready to stand and fight by her man’s side. She went to the bathroom and caught a glimpse of her appearance and groaned. She looked like she’d been in an explosion. Her face was covered in dried blood and soot, and her clothes were tattered, burned, and torn.

  In short, she was a mess.

  But that didn’t matter. Darius loved her, and she loved him, and they were safe, at least for the moment. She knew the Knights might have put a tracking device on the plane and knew Darius would have thought of that and would already be making plans.

  Time to get cleaned up and go help him. She grabbed a towel, wet it from the tap, and began to scrub.

  …

  Riggs walked to the back of the plane. This conversation wasn’t going to go well and he wanted privacy.

  Thanks to the copilot’s love of gadgets, Riggs had the information he needed. It would be interesting to see who or what was in the Cascade Mountains. But right now, he had a much bigger problem on his hands.

  “Well?” The low, well-modulated female voice made his entire body clench with desire.

  “He was here but got away. The woman is either injured or dead.”

  “What about the book?”

  He wished he knew why that book was so damn important. “Negative. Didn’t see it. I’m not sure if they still have it.”

  Silence on the other end. It drew out, but he knew the value of silence too and was pleased when she broke first. “What are you doing now?”

  “I lost several men. I’ve never fought one of them in their dragon form before.”

  “You saw him? You actually saw him?”

  Riggs frowned. She sounded fearful but excited, almost turned on. “Yeah, I saw him. I put a tracker on his plane so we’ll know where he lands. We’ll
get men in place as soon as we determine his location.”

  One of his men walked back to his seat. Since they knew better than to interrupt his call, it had to be important. “Hold on a second,” he told Karina. “What is it?”

  “Sir, the tracking device stopped sending a signal.”

  Riggs silently swore but outwardly gave no sign he was upset. “Work on it,” he told his man. He took a deep breath and returned to his call. “You heard?”

  “Yes. Varkas is proving to be rather resourceful. What are you going to do about it?”

  “I know where he’s been. I’m going to see if I can’t find any clues to his whereabouts. In the meantime, my men will work on trying to get the tracker back online.”

  “What aren’t you telling me, Matthew?”

  He debated the pros and cons in a heartbeat and went with his gut. “They made a stopover in the Cascade Mountains. Probably just a safe house, another cabin like the one we found them in.”

  “Maybe. What are the coordinates?”

  Riggs silently swore and gave them to her.

  “I’ll send a team to check out the area. As you said, it’s probably nothing. You need to keep on Varkas’s trail. I want him, Matthew.”

  “I’ll get him for you.”

  “Do that and Christian’s place within the Knights is yours.”

  “Fuck that, I want Herman’s position.” Riggs was through screwing around, through playing lackey.

  Karina’s laughter flowed over him like a drug. “Find Varkas and that can be arranged.” She ended the call and Riggs tucked his phone into his pocket.

  He strode to the front of the plane where his best tech guy was tapping away at his keyboard. “Anything?”

  “Sir, I’m not sure why it’s not working.” There was frustration but also excitement in the man’s voice. Riggs knew he lived for this tech stuff.

  “Keep working.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Riggs took one of the leather seats, closed his eyes, and could once again see the creature they’d fought. What must it be like to be one of them, to be invincible?

  Not quite invincible, or the Knights would never have been able to capture any. Riggs knew private military suppliers who would wet themselves at the prospect of getting dragon DNA to work with. They’d pay whatever Riggs asked.

  They’d want to create a serum that would allow a man to shift into a dragon, the perfect fighting machine.

  If they were ever successful, Riggs was determined to be first in line.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “Are we there yet?” she asked. Darius shot her a look, and she grinned at him. “I’ve always wanted to say that.”

  After ditching the plane, they’d travelled the back roads in a battered pickup before switching to a much newer truck in Chicago. They’d stopped long enough to buy a few things, but other than that, they’d kept moving. It was mind-boggling the amount of wealth Darius controlled to be able to have safe houses and vehicles stashed all over the country.

  The window was down about two inches on his side, and the wind blew in through the opening, tousling his hair. They were in Maine, and she could smell the sea. With the gleam in his eye and one corner of his mouth kicked up in a half grin, he looked like the quintessential bad boy. And he was all hers.

  She still couldn’t quite believe he loved her, but the rare and precious diamonds nestled safely in the pocket of her jeans said otherwise.

  “We’re almost there.”

  “Is it safe to stay with Ezra?” The last thing she wanted to do was put one of Darius’s brothers in danger.

  “Ezra has his own island, and Tarrant set up his security system. No one can get on or off the island without him knowing.”

  “His own island?”

  Darius nodded. “Ezra is even more reclusive than Tarrant. I’m a veritable social butterfly compared to those two.”

  Sarah laughed. She couldn’t help herself. Hearing Darius call himself social when he was known as the reclusive billionaire was too funny. “What about your other brother? You called him Nic?”

  “Nicodemus. He’s not like the rest of us. He craves connection. Right now, he’s in Vegas.”

  “Las Vegas?”

  “Yup.”

  Wow, that brother really didn’t fit with the others. “You’re all close.”

  “We decided years ago that the best way to survive was to stick together. It hasn’t always been easy. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re all a bit opinionated and stubborn.”

  “No.” She feigned surprise. “I never would have guessed.”

  “Smart-ass.” He reached out and brushed his knuckles down her cheek. “We’re here.” He pulled the truck off the road.

  “The Atlantic Ocean,” she murmured. It was always a stirring sight to watch the waves crash against the shoreline.

  Darius pointed to an island some distance away from the private dock where he’d parked. “That’s where we’re going.”

  “And how are we going to get there. There’s no boat.” She rolled her shoulders and stretched. “Unless you’re planning on sprouting wings and flying.”

  He chuckled. “I could, but that probably wouldn’t be wise.” Darius put his arm around her and tucked her against his side. “Ezra already knows we’re here.” He raised his free hand and pointed. “See, here he comes.”

  A fancy speedboat cut through the waves, heading toward them. Darius gave her a squeeze and went back to the truck to gather their belongings. He set them by her feet before driving the truck into the nearby boathouse. Ezra was just pulling up to the dock when he returned.

  His brother jumped out and secured the boat before striding toward him. Ezra threw his arms around Darius and gave him a bone-crushing hug. “Glad you’re safe.”

  “Me, too.” He thumped Ezra on the back and then released him. “This is Sarah.” He reached out and pulled her against him. “Sarah, this is Ezra.”

  She stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you.” Ezra took her hand in greeting but didn’t linger.

  Then Darius narrowed his gaze and studied his brother. “What’s wrong?” Darius demanded.

  “Let’s talk on the way.” Ezra grabbed the two shopping bags and led the way back to the boat. Darius helped Sarah into the vessel and stored the rest of their belongings.

  “What’s going on?” Sarah demanded.

  “I don’t know but I’m about to find out.”

  …

  Ezra released the lines and had them heading out to sea in no time. He stood with his hands on the wheel looking totally relaxed and at home, but there was a fine tension in his shoulders. “What happened?” Darius asked his brother.

  “The priest is dead and someone was sniffing around Tarrant’s place.”

  Darius swore, and Sarah gasped. “Is Tarrant okay?” she asked.

  “He’s physically fine. They didn’t find anything beyond the cabin, but he’s hurting over Father Simon.” Ezra eased the wheel a little to the left and adjusted their course.

  “How?” Darius demanded.

  “Fire destroyed the church.” Ezra spoke loudly to be heard over the wind that was whipping up. “But the priest had been shot. There were two more dead men on the scene as well.”

  “Fuck. Who?” Darius rubbed the back of his neck. This wasn’t good. Sarah snaked her arm around her waist, offering him her support. Having her close helped him in ways she could never imagine.

  “A local and an unidentified male. Tarrant hacked into the local police station to have a peek at the crime scene photos. He thinks the other body is Christian Temple.”

  “This is a total clusterfuck.”

  “Tell me about it.” Ezra maneuvered the small craft into the dock, cut the engine, and quickly tied off the lines. “The local is most likely the man who drove you to see the priest. Tarrant figures he was approached by the Knights and paid to take them wherever you’d gone. We don’t know what the priest told them. Tarrant insists the priest wouldn�
�t talk, but they did find his cabin in the mountains.”

  Darius helped Sarah out of the boat. When she was steady on the dock, he grabbed their belongings. “That’s not on the priest, that’s on me. There was a portable aviation GPS on the plane. It must have belonged to the copilot. All they had to do was check the history to see where we’d been. I had no idea it was there. I was so worried about getting Sarah to safety, I never thought to warn Tarrant.”

  And that was unforgivable. He’d never before put the safety of another person above that of his brothers, but Sarah’s well-being came before anything else. It had been instinct to do whatever it took to protect her.

  “I screwed up.”

  “Tarrant is always on alert, so no harm done. The news that the priest didn’t betray him will help him get through the death of his friend.” Ezra stood in the center of the dock and spread his arms wide. “Welcome to my home.”

  …

  Valeriya Azarov stopped outside her sister’s office. Karina was on the phone…again. Her sister had arrived at her New York home with no notice. Very out of character. Then she’d demanded Valeriya’s presence for dinner tonight.

  Not for the first time, Valeriya wished she’d been born into another family. Hers had secrets. Lots and lots of secrets. And she wanted no part of them.

  “Are you sure?” Karina’s voice was brusque and cold, a sure sign she was speaking with someone she considered a subordinate. It was the tone she most often used with Valeriya. “You checked around the coordinates I gave you?” Her sister paused. “Fine. It was a long shot. Call Riggs and see if he needs you. I want Darius Varkas found.”

  Valeriya sucked in a breath and backed away from the door. A finely honed sense of self-preservation had her tiptoeing back to the top of the stairs. This time when she made her way down, she made sure her shoes clicked on the hardwood.

  Karina stepped out her office and barely spared her a glance.

  “Wait here.” Karina crossed the gleaming floor and started up the staircase.

  Valeriya went straight for her sister’s office. There was nothing lying around, nothing in the garbage, but there was a small notepad on the corner of the desk.