“That’s an explanation I’ll give to my boy, and my boy alone. And later. Because right now, I could really use your help. Will you hear me out?”
Quentin, Taylor, and I all looked to Slade. We’d let it be up to him.
Shoulders still tight, stance still rigid, Slade gave a jerky nod. “Yeah,” he said. “We’ll listen. But we’re not putting away our weapons.”
Chapter Twenty
Slade
Something passed through my dad’s eyes when I said we weren’t putting away the weapons. He looked hurt.
He covered it up fast with a tight smile. I shrugged. I wasn’t trying to hurt his feelings. I was trying to protect my team—my friends, and my lovely Ariana.
I didn’t know him anymore. I wouldn’t take any chances.
“It sounded just like my kind of job. Cut and dry,” he said. “Go out to the middle of nowhere for a rescue mission. Koenig said the Vergoldet Fortune, the Braunbar clan’s heiress, was promised to him and was kidnapped by a rogue clan.”
I remembered Koenig had said my dad had killed innocents to get the treasure. I couldn’t believe it. I looked in his eyes for a sign, for the man I used to know. He looked the same, though angrier, not as kind. I didn’t know what to believe.
I couldn’t sense any lies. His scent stayed even as he talked. His pulse did too. Was it possible that he was telling the truth?
“Snatched her while the camp slept. She struggled at first, which wasn’t a surprise. But as soon as we were out of their reach, I realized I’d been duped.”
“How so?” Quentin narrowed his eyes.
“Turns out she wasn’t scared of the guys she was with. She was just scared of me. Scared I was taking her away.” He looked distant for a moment, like he regretted it. Just as quickly, the look was gone.
“So, she wanted to be with her kidnappers?” Taylor asked. He crossed his arms and squished his brows together. “Was she running away with them?”
I wasn’t sure I understood, either.
“They didn’t kidnap her at all,” my dad said. “They were taking her out of the Warzenschwein Mountains, hiding her from Koenig.”
“If that’s true, they didn’t do a very good job,” Taylor said.
“To their credit,” my dad said, “it took me a week to find them.”
To hide from my dad for a week—that was impressive, actually. My team still looked tense, but by now, nobody was pointing a taser at my dad except me.
“Is that supposed to be a long time?” Taylor asked.
I nodded but didn’t break eye contact with my dad.
“They’d managed to squirrel themselves away in a ramshackle old cabin at the edge of the forest. If I’d known it was there, I would have looked there first.” He continued, “Heather Vergoldet is heir to the Braunbar territory. Whoever takes her as his mate claims the territory as his own. Heather told me so herself.”
“It is just like Gadalbon job.” Ariana lowered her weapon. “Say we take you at your word, where do we go from here?”
“If Mr. Rouland could be trusted, he wouldn’t have attacked me and stolen the phone,” Quentin said, with a hand on his injured shoulder.
“I was trying to stop your call,” my dad said. “If you told Koenig where you were and that you’d found me, he’d know where to look. I had to protect Heather.”
“That motivation agrees with the rest of your tale,” Quentin said, lowering his taser the rest of the way.
“I contacted the Braunbar clan, and they asked me to watch over her and keep her from Koenig while they set up a new safehouse.”
“Where’d you find reception?” Ariana asked.
“Satellite phones are supposed to work everywhere,” he said.
I nodded. It was why I’d brought one.
“But there’s something about the Warzenschwein Mountains,” he continued. “It’s the only place in the world I’ve found where the satphones don’t work.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” Ariana said.
“My camp,” my dad said. “They work back at my camp. I’ll return yours to you, and introduce you to Ms. Vergoldet, if you agree not to interfere.”
Glances passed between Taylor, Quentin, and Ariana. All eyes landed on me.
“What do you say, Slade?” Ariana asked.
“Okay,” I said, and lowered my taser. “We’ll go to see if you’re telling us the truth.”
My dad nodded, and he held himself stiffly, like it was an effort to keep his hands by his sides. I knew he didn’t want to fight, so what was it? Was he expecting a hug or something?
No way.
We packed up our tents and supplies. I could feel his eyes on me. He’d said he had an explanation to give me. Did I want to hear it? I wasn’t sure. Part of me wanted him to have some reasonable excuse for never coming home. But I couldn’t think of any scenario where I could forgive him. He was free to take this job from Koenig, so he was free to call Mom, tell her he wasn’t dead. He could have come home. He could have called. It’d been seventeen years since he’d left us. If he wanted a chance to be a father, he should have taken it when I needed a dad.
“Slade.” He spoke softly from behind me, but he didn’t touch me. I was glad.
“We’re almost ready to go,” I said.
“I was hoping to speak with you—”
“You are,” I said.
“Who are your teammates?” he asked.
“They’re not just my teammates. They’re my friends.”
He waited.
I said, “That’s Ariana West. She owns Whitesong Security. Taylor Stonehall, Quentin Phillips, and I are all her partners.” I pointed to each of them, but I kept my voice short. He didn’t deserve to know my friends. He didn’t even deserve to know me.
“You have every right to hate me,” he said. “I wasn’t there for you and your mother.”
I didn’t need him to tell me how I could feel. I knew I was entitled to my feelings.
“I wanted to be. I missed you, and Olivia,” he said. “More than anything.”
“Then why’d you stay away?” I asked, louder than I’d intended. I turned to face him. “If you cared so much, why didn’t you come home? Why did you let Ma think you were dead?”
“I was taken,” he said. “During my tour in Badinor.”
I threw my bag over my back as I listened. This was it, the explanation I’d been waiting seventeen years for.
“The enemy had our unit cornered, in a five-story building in Darik City.”
I knew the area. The entire Tejeman Province had been torn apart by the time I was sent to Badinor.
His look was questioning, as if he knew what I was thinking.
“I served in Badinor,” I said.
“I never wanted that for you,” he said.
“My life isn’t about what you want,” I said.
His eyes were filled with sadness, and his mouth straightened into a hard line. Then he nodded and continued, “There was gunfire everywhere. My unit escaped out a window. I was about to follow when I saw the boy. Hidden in a corner. He couldn’t have been older than you were then. I couldn’t leave him.”
Orphans left in the middle of battle were not uncommon. It was a tragedy I remembered well.
“I went back for him. I got caught.”
“You were taken prisoner?” I asked.
“I was.”
“So, the military telling us that you were dead—”
“I was gone too long,” he said. “My unit thought I’d fallen. A simple mistake. You know how many of us were lost, bodies never recovered.”
I did.
“It took ten years before I had the chance to escape,” he said. “Every day of it, it was the thought of returning home to you and your mother that kept me going.”
“So why didn’t you?” I asked, no longer angry, just sad. “When you escaped, why didn’t you call?”
“I thought it best to return in person,” he said. “It was the first
thing I did when I was strong enough to make the trip.”
But he didn’t come home. I’d waited.
He said, “It was Christmas time, and the world was covered in snow. Nothing looked the same as I remembered. I took a cab and made it as far as the driveway, when I saw.”
“Saw what?” I asked.
“A snowman wearing clothes that didn’t belong to me. We’d always used my hat and scarf, remember?”
“Yeah.”
“And the tree in the window glowed with lights. I paused where I stood when I saw Olivia. She was as beautiful as I remembered, and happier than I’d ever seen. But I stopped when I saw the man she was with, the ring on her finger. She’d married. She’d moved on. And she was happier than she’d ever been with me.”
“You should have knocked,” I said.
“I didn’t want to ruin it. Olivia looked so...joyful.”
Putting myself in his place, I guessed I could see what he meant. I’d been eighteen years old by that time, no longer needing a dad. And for him to come home, see his wife happy with a new man...it made sense. But I still had missed him.
“I would have liked to have seen you,” I said.
“I’m sorry, Slade,” he said. “I’m sorry for everything.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Quentin
It was all well and good for Slade that he and his father were getting to talk about their alienation from each other. However, I still didn’t trust the man. He’d bested me, and that hadn’t happened since I was fourteen and my two eldest brothers had ambushed me in our hedge maze.
Still, I endeavored to get past it. For some reason, I could sense Slade’s gladness, his relief. I also sensed his sorrow at the time they’d been apart. Their words were faint and I tried to focus on Ariana who walked at my side, yet I could nonetheless ascertain the feelings brought forth.
Ariana reached over and took my hand. Her warm fingers squeezed mine, and she caught my eye. The soft smile playing on her lips soothed me like nothing else could.
“We trust Slade, remember?” Her voice was soft, quiet enough that only I would hear.
It was as if she had read my mind. “Yes, we do,” I said, sighing. “But I’m still angry that Victor got that phone away from me.”
She grinned. “Maybe you can challenge him to an arm-wrestling match or something. Win back your honor.”
“Are you insane? His biceps are even bigger than Slade’s!”
She paused and pulled me to the side, then slid her hands along my arms, up to my biceps and shoulders. She felt the muscles there and closed her eyes. “You’re perfect,” she murmured.
“I wasn’t feeling insecure,” I said. “Merely stating a fact. But if you want to comfort my bruised ego…”
She tilted her head up. When I brushed her lips with my tongue, she opened for me, giving the tiniest moan.
“We’re nearly there,” Victor shouted back from the front of the group. “The cave’s just ahead.”
I growled low in my throat, but let Ariana go. She bit her lip and smiled up at me. If it weren’t for Victor and his deplorable timing, I would’ve taken her right here against one of these trees. I could imagine the way the dappled sunlight would look on her lovely skin and breasts.
As we followed Slade and Victor, I kept a couple of feet between me and Ariana. Otherwise I’d make good on my fantasy….
A few minutes later, Slade and Victor disappeared. Taylor was nowhere in sight, either.
“Uh, guys?” I asked. I wasn’t worried—I was still feeling the residual trust and relief that Slade had been feeling.
“Down here,” a voice called from inside a giant rock.
Ariana’s forehead wrinkled as she looked around. We both sniffed the air at the same time, and then pointed. Off to the side, Slade, Taylor, and Victor’s scents all faded into what looked like a tiny recess in the rock but was actually a well-disguised entrance. A tree grew right in front of it, so we had to go around to see an opening that was barely big enough for Ariana to enter upright. I had to duck my head, and I wondered how Slade and his giant father had managed to fold themselves through it. Perhaps they’d had to grease themselves, first.
A lantern sent dim yellow light through the cave. The dark rock walls looked damp and formed an ovoid room maybe twenty-five feet long and fifteen feet wide with a dirt floor. It smelled like dust and dampness, mixed with dragon and bear.
Suddenly, a brighter light shone at us from the rear of the oval.
“Who are these people?” a female voice asked.
“Friends,” Victor said. “You can put down my gun, Heather.”
“I don’t know why I don’t just shoot you all and find my way back to my clan,” she said.
“How many times do we have to have this conversation?” Victor asked.
“Until you let me go.”
“Not gonna happen, princess.” He held a hand in front of his face to keep the bright light from his eyes. “Do you mind?”
She turned off the headlamp and stepped forward. Now the only light in the cave came from the yellow lantern on the floor.
She was the young woman from the photograph. Reddish brown hair, pale skin. Large eyes full of mistrust. Her scent, too, reflected her unease, while the heavy quality of grasses suggested she was some kind of bear shifter. She noticed Slade, first. “I take it this is the offspring you were blathering on about.”
Victor’s jaw hardened. “This is my son, Slade.” He introduced Ariana, then Taylor, and finally me.
“I’m surprised you remember all the names,” Slade said.
“They’re your friends,” Victor said. “I’m making it a point to remember my son’s friends.”
Gesturing to the woman, he said, “Everyone, meet Heather Vergoldet.”
She ignored Taylor’s proffered hand and came right up to me. “Hello. Quentin, is it?”
“Yes,” I said. “Quentin Phillips.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Was it just me, or had she drawn out the word pleasure? Nobody else reacted. It must have been my imagination. I shook her hand, and then she greeted everyone else.
Victor said, “Let’s get acquainted, have some food, and come up with a plan that gets us all out of these woods alive.”
“Wait just a second,” I said. “We need the satphone.”
Victor hesitated.
“I promise, we won’t be making any calls until we’re sure your story checks out,” Ariana said. Her gaze flicked to Slade.
Slade shrugged. “This is the treasure, I believe him.”
“Good enough for me,” Taylor said.
“Then it’s good enough for me, as well,” I said. “Should I contact Koenig and tell him we’ve had no luck?”
“It can wait a few minutes,” Ariana said.
Her face looked drawn, tired. A wave of sympathy and concern washed through me. Four months ago, I likely wouldn’t have even paid attention to someone else’s fatigue. Taylor stood close to her, and his hand touched her shoulder. His face mirrored the sympathy I was feeling.
“Let’s rest,” Victor said.
He sat on the ground, so we all followed suit. Thankfully the cavern floor was smooth and dry. We made an informal circle. Taylor and Slade sat on either side of Ariana, so I sat a few feet across from them. If I couldn’t sit next to Ariana, I was content with a good view. Victor and Heather sat on either side of me, and Victor began passing out vacuum-packed bags of meat.
Not this again. “Pray tell,” I said, “where did you find this food?”
Victor gave a wide grin, looking eerily similar to Slade when he was celebrating a win on our Defenders of Aerasummit game. “The little town with the long name.”
“Versorgungsstelle,” Taylor guessed.
“That’s the one.” Victor tore into his meat pack. “I couldn’t resist a little elk meat.”
“Aw, why’d you have to say something?” Slade grumbled. “Quentin’s been afraid of it
all this time.”
Elk meat didn’t sound quite so awful. Perhaps I would try a taste of it after all.
“I’m so glad you guys are here,” Heather said from her spot beside me. “It’s been really boring only listening to this old man yammer on about ‘my boy Slade’ this and ‘my boy Slade’ that. No offense, Slade.”
“None taken,” Slade said through a mouthful of the meat.
I tried a small portion. It was elk, and not too bad.
“Old man, though?” I asked Heather. I pointed to Victor. “Do you think he looks old?”
“No, but to have a grown son I knew he had to be getting up there.”
Victor had a couple of wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, and a tiny bit of gray in his light-brown hair. He hardly looked to be “getting up there.”
“How old do you think she is?” I pointed to Ariana.
Heather considered her. “Twenty-six, twenty-eight, somewhere in there.”
Ariana laughed. “I’m in my forties.”
“So, it really is true,” Heather said. “Dragon shifters don’t age the same way everyone else does.”
Ariana nodded. “I found a gray hair the other day. We do age. Just not like everyone else.”
Heather nudged me with her shoulder. “How old are you? Are you in your forties, too?”
“I’m twenty-five.”
“Not much older than me, then,” she said, batting her eyelashes.
“Guess not.” I immediately looked away, uncomfortable.
Her hand landed on my thigh, and I jumped up. Maybe she was just being friendly, but that felt a little too friendly. “I’ll be right back.”
Heather made as if to follow me, but Slade took pity on me and told her, “He’s gotta take a leak. He’s just too polite to say so.”
“Oh,” Heather said as I quickly went outside. “Manners are sexy.”
I heard the sound of Taylor choking back a laugh. Sighing, I leaned against the rocky exterior of the cavern.
The sky above was barely visible through thick tree branches, but it was growing darker. Something about the bear shifter intimidated me. We had to protect her, so I was all ready to do that. But I might need someone to protect me—from her.
Dragon Unbroken_A Reverse Harem Dragon Fantasy Romance Page 14
