by Julia Mills
The mad dragon had had enough. Jumping to his feet, he lunged forward, grabbed Adam by the hair, and pulled him up until only his hips and legs remained on the ground. Leaning over to see the hunter’s face, Maddox growled, “I should make you suffer but honestly, you’re not worth the time it would take,” as he sliced Adam O’Baoill’s neck from ear to the ear.
Dropping the still bleeding corpse in a puddle of its own making, Maddox stood up, stepped back, and wiped his blade across his blood splattered jeans. The pounding of his heart along with fire of his rage receded. “One down, one to go,” he growled under his breath. But it was at that precise moment Maddox realized Eve’s scathing screech no longer filled the air.
Spinning towards the valley, he saw an empty jeep and a black panther stalking towards him. From one step to the next the majestic cat became the formidable King who snarled, “The perra sucia got away. She was free before I could get to her and took off like a streak. It would appear she’s been doing some of that testing on herself.” He took a deep calming breath, picked imaginary lint from his sleeve, and added, “I’ve sent Juan Carlos and Matías after her with orders to kill and dispose.” He looked up, showing that his eyes still had the elliptical pupils of his cat, and grinned an evil grin. “I assume no one minds if she’s never seen again?”
“Absolutely not,” Kayne was quick to answer.
“Suits me fine,” Maddox answered while looking at the bodies of the slain hunters littering what had once been a holy place for his kin.
Rian and Kellan appeared as they climbed over the rubble blocking the entrance to the valley, followed by Royce and Rory. Using their enhanced speed, the Dragon Leader and the Dragon Guard Commander were at Maddox’s side in less than three seconds and began ordering the younger Guardsmen, who were appearing from where Kellan had ordered them to guard the perimeters, to incinerate the bodies of the dead and then begin clearing the valley.
As one unit, the mad dragon, the demi god, the King of the Big Cats, the O’Reilly brothers, and the scarred dragon all turned and headed towards the clinic. The first to speak was Rory, who asked, “Did all the shifters make it out alive?”
“All that were here today were saved…injured but saved. Niall is treating their wounds and removing their tracking devices and then Camille will be removing the modules from their brains. It appears…”
The King’s words were cut off as Niall’s roar blasted through the minds of all the Guardsmen. “Kyran is gone! The sneaky bastard escaped!”
Chapter Twelve
“He’s what?” Maddox exclaimed, so shocked he stopped walking and stood with his mouth hanging open.
“Escaped,” Drago reiterated what Niall had just screamed with a bit less exuberance but measurably more concern.
“But…” Was the only word the mad dragon could get out. He had no idea which of the hundred questions racing through his mind to ask first. Thankfully, Kayne picked up the slack. The group started running towards the clinic, peppering the Elder Healer with questions. Maddox could tell Max was also speaking with Dr. Danvers from the slight buzz in the air and the look of concern on the King’s face.
“How can that be possible? You just sewed up the hole in his brain less than an hour ago, right?”
“Yes, that is correct,” Niall answered, more in control than before but still noticeably rattled.
“And he was heavily sedated?” Rian asked.
“Yes, he was and shackled at his wrists and ankles. We had just finished the surgery and closed his incision. Camille gave him another injection of the sedative and we went upstairs to get a cup of coffee. We…”
“We were gone less than ten minutes and the bugger slipped out of his shackles and made a run for it,” Drago cut in. “We have to find him, Doxie. The lad’s a mess.”
“I know, but you can’t go running off halfcocked. Let me get Hayes to bring a horse around for you. He’ll pick you up outside the clinic and then you meet up with us at the back gate.”
“I owe you, Dox.”
“Never, Drago, never. It’s part of being family. We’ll find your boy.” Maddox hoped he wasn’t blowing sunshine up the Assassin’s ass but it was the only reassurance he could give the Commander at the moment.
Calling to the younger Guardsman so all his brethren could hear the plan, he ordered, “Hayes, get my horse from the stables and one for yourself, then pick up Commander Drago behind the clinic and meet us at the back gate. We’re going dragon hunting.”
“Aye, sir,” came the young Guardsman’s quick response.
“And I thought we couldn’t have any more fun today,” Rory chuckled.
“Oh, the party has just begun,” Kayne joked as the group sped towards the rear of the lair and hopefully, the renegade of their clan.
Max added out loud, “Camille said had she not seen his empty bed she would swear you lot were lying. In her entire career, she has never seen anyone, no matter how strong, up in less than five hours after brain surgery. To say your Kyran has stumped the expert is an understatement. She is most apologetic and wants to help with the search.”
“Not her fault. Kyran always was the exception to the rule and whatever those bastards did to him has only made matters worse,” Kayne responded as they reached the beginning of the trail leading through the woods to the back of Blue Thunder territory.
“Kellan, have Lenn, Brann, Dec, and Pearce head in from the North. With the mess we left at the valley, Black Lake to the South, and us coming in from the East, he can’t get far,” Maddox ordered while ducking low hanging branches and pushing vines and unruly foliage out of his way.
“Well, there is one area we don’t have covered,” Kayne yelled from just over the mad dragon’s shoulder.
“Son of a …” then in mindspeak to Joshua, another of the new recruits, “Josh, I need you up on the ridge watching for a black dragon. I need to know the second you see him.”
“Aye, sir.”
“And the mad dragon gets it in one,” the demi god teased.
“Do you really think he can transform after just having some piece of metal removed from his noggin?” Rory inquired, chuckling as he ran.
“Hell, I have no idea what he can and can’t do. Never did.” Maddox blew out a long breath as he broke out of the wooded area and rounded one of the many prayer gardens in the lair, closely followed by his brethren. “All I know is that we have to find him or Drago is gonna lose whatever’s left of his mind.”
Horse hooves sounded on the rocky trail to his right a second before Drago and Hayes came into view. “What’s that about somebody losing their mind?” Drago yelled as he slowed his horse to a trot and kept pace beside the running Guardsmen.
Maddox was unable to give his sarcastic retort as Kyran’s voice sounded in his head, “Doxie?”
“Ky? Ky is that you?” Maddox was shocked the Phantom had reached out to him along their private mind-to-mind link but didn’t want to lose the opportunity to find his old friend, so he decided to keep him talking.
“Yeah, it’s me, Dox 'n' A'm needin' a favor.”
“You need to come back so the doc can make sure you’re okay.” Maddox was shocked at how normal the black dragon sounded. The mad dragon had to once again adjust to his heavy brogue and remember it had more than likely been damn near a hundred years since Kyran was able to have any semblance of a normal conversation with anyone. But none of that mattered. He sounded good. It was like old times.
“No kin do.”
“Come on, Ky, this is nuts. Drago is crazy with worry. Get back here and let Niall check your head and then we can come up with a plan to get that crazy bitch.”
“Weel doon you. Cheers fur killing that four-eyed wee piece o' shite. If it hud tae be a'body ither than me, A’m glad 'twas you.” Kyran’s laugh was harsh but even still, Maddox could hear something off in his old friend’s voice.
“Yeah thanks. His sister is all yours. Just come back and get better then we’ll take her and her army out t
ogether. Just like old times.” Maddox knew he was pleading but was at loss as what else to do to get Kyran back to clinic. He knew from experience that orders and commands didn’t work with the one they called the Phantom.
“Nice try, Doxie, bit ye knoo very weel that A’ll heal.” There was a long pause and the mad dragon was sure Kyran had disconnected their link. Maddox stopped in his tracks and stepped out of the way of his charging brethren before turning and waiting for the others to halt also.
Tapping the side of his head he mouthed, Kyran, just as the black dragon started to speak again. Maddox listened closely as he watched Kayne relay the information to Drago and then the Assassin curse a blue streak that would’ve made a sailor blush.
“I can’t coome back richt noo. Ah ken whit I’ve done tae ye, tae Drago, tae Heavens knoos who else 'n' Ah hae tae set it right.” The black dragon sighed. “There’s something Ah hae tae dae. Something, oonly Ah kin tak' care o' 'n' then A’ll be back tae mak' amends...”
“But Ky…”
“But nuthin’, Dox. This is hoo it haes tae be. Tell th' lads.” More silence in which Maddox held his breath until Kyran chuckled. “And don’t huv a go tae fin' me, Doxie, or else.”
“Or else what?” Maddox growled, never one to like ultimatums.
“Or else I’ll tie ye up again 'n' this time in front uv th' lads.”
“Ky…” Maddox yelled, but it was too late. All he heard was Kyran’s laughter as the black dragon cut their connection and worked his incredible magic to make himself disappear.
Opening his mouth to speak, Joshua’s voice blasted through his mind, “The black dragon was in the air and out of sight in the blink of an eye. Sorry I wasn’t quicker, sir. Do you want me to follow?”
Shaking his head, Maddox looked to Drago, who’d also heard the young Guardsman’s report and replied, “Not your fault, son. No need to follow. Come on down and finish with the cleanup. Thank you.”
Climbing off his horse, Drago held his still healing wound and walked forward. “So tell me what the son of a bitch has done now?” The Assassin’s voice was a mixture of angry, sadness, frustrated, and just plain exhaustion. Maddox felt like he’d been punched in the gut, so he could scarcely fathomed what Drago was going through at the prospect of losing the man who’d been by his side throughout their entire career as Guardsmen.
Sitting on a large rock just at the edge of the woods, the mad dragon scrubbed his face with his hands then looked up at Drago. He also glanced at the other men standing alongside the Assassin. The men he called brethren. The men he’d watched grow into the next generation of leadership their kin needed to survive. The men with whom he was bonded in blood and fealty. He prayed none of them ever decided to go off the reservation the way Kyran had, because the mad dragon knew beyond a shadow of a doubt he would hunt them down and string them up.
Taking a long deep breath, Maddox looked back to Drago and said the only thing he could. “Ky said there’s something he has to do. He said he knows he hurt you and he’ll be back to make amends, but not until he’s taken care of whatever it is he thinks he has to do.” He stopped as the Assassin cursed and then added, “Oh, and he said if we try to find him, or more to the point, if I try to find him, he’ll tie me up again but this time in front of you lot.” The mad dragon snorted sarcastically.
“And we all know Doxie doesn’t want that happening,” Rory barked with laughter as Maddox growled, “I can still kick your ass, young’un. Drop the ‘Doxie’ crap.”
The whole group was chuckling behind their hands or turning their heads to laugh, but it was Drago who was mad as a wet hen at the news.
“What the…That stupid…He really has finally lost his mind.” The Assassin shouted and paced then shouted some more. “What could he possibly have to do? He’s been imprisoned in one way or another for over a hundred damned years.”
They all watched Drago as he walked back and forth between two trees, spaced about twenty-five feet apart, over and over while ranting about how stupid Kyran was. Finally, stopping midstride, he turned to his right and stared at Maddox then in a low voice asked, “What if I’m the one to find him?”
Maddox merely shrugged, sure that wherever the conversation was going, he wasn’t going to like it.
“And how exactly do you propose to do that? We never could find the jerk when he didn’t want to be found and that was before he was driven out of his ever-loving mind,” Kayne asked with palms up and a perplexed look on his face.
“Doxie here has a witch for a mate and so does our boy, Roy,” Drago looked at the middle O’Reilly brother and winked before looking back at the demi god and continuing. “And his mate,” he pointed at Maddox, “is the Grande Priestess, the most powerful of all. Two witches, same bloodline, lots of power. Then there is us,” the Assassin looked at each Guardsman in the circle. “If we all work together I know we can find one pain in the ass black dragon.”
Looking at his old friend, the mad dragon saw hope, and who was he to take that hope from Drago after all he’d suffered. Maddox had no clue if it would work but figured it was worth a try. What’s the worst that could happen?
I get trussed up like a stuck pig in the middle of lair by a crazy as hell dragon who can make pudding outta my brain. Good times, good times…
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Walking back to the clinic, he spoke to Calysta. She’d heard everything that happened with Kyran and most of what went on after. He’d only silenced their link when Drago was cursing and pacing. “We’re on our way back, Callie.”
“Good, we could use the extra hands. I wish Ettie and the others hadn’t gone back to their clan. Oh well, can’t worry about that now. As it stands, we’ve got four new refugees and they need brain surgery and treatment of the wounds they sustained in the fight. Della and I are running triage. Alicia, Claire, and Olive are bandaging and getting those strong enough for surgery lined up and into see Camille and Niall. And…oh yeah, Kyra and Audrey are running supplies and keeping the charts straight. That leaves about ten pairs of hands short. Know where I might find those?” She joked, but he could tell she was tired and stressed. It made what he was about to tell her all the harder to spit out. “Oh, and I just found out that the black bear is Annie’s cousin. Thankfully, she’s taking it all in stride and not relapsing, but she wants to spend every minute with him and he is about to have his consultation with Camille, so any help distracting her would also be appreciated.”
“I think I might have a dragon here who would love to distract your little bear,” he chuckled.
“Oh, really? Anyone I know?” sShe teased.
“I believe you do. I will have to tear him away from his computer, but I bet he’s up to the task,” he snickered, while trying to come up with a way to tell her Drago’s master plan without adding anymore stress to her day. Fortunately for him, his mate was as intuitive as she was beautiful.
“Spit it out, Maddy. I can hear you thinking too hard about something and I know it’s not good. Just get it over with. I’m too tired and too busy to play twenty questions.”
Smiling and flooding their bond with love, he chuckled, “Dammit woman, I love you more every minute of every day and not just because you know me better than I know myself.”
“Stop stalling,” she growled as she issued instructions out loud to what sounded like one of Niall’s young Healers.
“Drago wants to try and contact and maybe even track Kyran and he wants you and Kyra to help us. Is that even possible?” He heard her sigh and then call to her daughter across what sounded like a very busy clinic. The conversation between the two very formidable witches would’ve been comical if he hadn’t been asking his mate to add one more thing to her very long To-Do list. He chuckled when Kyra said, “Roy was just telling me their plan.”
Well, at least I won’t be in the doghouse by myself…
“Yes, we can do it, but…” she paused, said something to Della that he missed completely, and then added, “After the wic
can ceremony. The Council is due to arrive tomorrow morning and we are nowhere near ready.”
Mentally kicking himself for at least the twentieth time for forgetting they had another mating ceremony, Maddox quickly responded, “You got it, mo chroí, I’ll let Drago know.”
“Thank you, darling. See you soon. Love you.”
“Mo ghrá thú,” he answered, then to his old friend he said, “Drago, Callie and Kyra agree that it is possible but it will have to wait until after our wiccan wedding and the Council leaves.”
“Alicia was just telling me the same thing.” Maddox could hear the impatience in the Assassin’s voice. “And she is right. Your mate is important in her community and they need to be allowed to celebrate your union just as we did. I can wait.” Then he chuckled. “Heavens knows, waiting may even help us out. Kyran will get comfortable and let his guard down.”
“You are so right, mo chara.”
“Awwww, lookie there, it’s a love fest,” Rory snickered.
“Shut the hell up,” both Drago and Maddox lovingly growled as they reached the front door of the clinic.
The next few hours were a blur of bandages, debriefings, and more cups of coffee than he could count, but at the end of it all, his respect for Calysta, Niall, and all the others who consistently dealt with the sick and afflicted soared. Brannoc, Lennox, and Declan found a kindred soul in the gorilla, Simon. He’d been a software engineer before being captured and was able to help fill in some of the blanks concerning what the O’Baoill’s called the Messenger.
The hunters were careless while experimenting on all the shifters, treating them like nothing more than animals and ignoring their human side. It was awful to think about but in the long run, it was going to be one of the vital components to taking them down…forever. Visions of Eve dying by his hand danced through his mind. Hate was not something he enjoyed feeling but in her case, there was no more fitting emotion available.
