Dragon King of Treoir

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

  "Yeah. One of them called the other one Karlo or Kardo, something like that."

  "Kardos?"

  "That's it. The other one was Kellman. That Kardos gave the men lip and got a busted lip in return."

  Evalle mumbled to herself, "Why would they take those boys?"

  Ixxter said, "They said they wanted a gryphon, but they had me so I didn't understand that."

  Her head popped up. "They were looking for me. Those boys are friends of mine. They live in my house. That's it. I'm contacting Trey."

  "Wait." Tristan grabbed her arm. He told Ixxter, "Give us a minute." Then he led her to the side.

  When they had privacy, Tristan said, "Why call Trey?"

  "To tell him to get in touch with Daegan. We have to go get those boys. He's our leader. We need him to help with this."

  Tristan couldn't tell Evalle what Daegan had shared with him about the ring that would protect Daegan and his family. Neither would Tristan put Daegan's life in jeopardy by bringing him to the human realm when it might not be necessary.

  He suggested, "Let's not do that."

  She got up in his face. "I'm not letting those boys die because of getting caught up in our Belador conflicts."

  "When did I say to let them die?" Tristan argued.

  That stopped her short. She seemed at a loss for what to say in reply so Tristan explained, "We can't just go to Daegan without solid intel. They could be in Athens or Blairsville and we don't have it narrowed down any more than that yet. What would be faster? Me and you pinning down the location or bringing in a bunch of Beladors who might alert the enemy and cause them to move?"

  She scrunched her face, working on her answer. "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but you're right. What's your plan?"

  "First we find them and scout the situation so we'll know what we need before we call in support. That way, we'll know how to cover all the exits."

  "How do we find them?"

  Tristan called over to Ixxter, "You know anything else about the camp?"

  "No."

  Tristan asked Evalle, "Did you see a phone laying around where we found Ixxter?"

  "No, why would I if everyone has telepathy?"

  "I gave him a phone."

  She looked incredulous. "Why didn't you say so? We could have had Trey triangulate his location."

  "For one thing, Trey wasn't part of our roundtable meeting. For another, I tried calling Ixxter a couple times after he shook me off his trail, but he didn't answer so I don't know if he still has the phone. But if we hadn't found him when we did, contacting Trey was my next move."

  Tristan walked back over to Ixxter with Evalle right behind him. "You got the phone I gave you before you left Treoir, Ixxter?"

  "Yes. It's in my boot. They weren't smart enough to take my boots off." He grinned as if that was some major accomplishment.

  "Give me the phone."

  Ixxter's face fell from amused to suspicious. "Why?"

  "I set it up so it could track your movements. It has a tracking program that should show any spots the satellite was able to pick up to form a route of where you've been. We might be able to narrow down the camp's location with it."

  Ixxter puffed up. "You son of a bitch."

  Tristan said, "What? I told you I'd been following you. First off, if we can't find you, we can't pull you out of trouble, which we just did. But didn't I just explain how we had to confirm that you were on our team?"

  "I guess."

  "Damn, Ixxter. You just want to fight all the time."

  Ixxter scratched his bristly beard. "That's actually true."

  "You need counseling."

  Ixxter's green eyes glowed, which meant he was one wrong word away from breaking out gryphon whoop-ass.

  Tristan suggested, "Or maybe we need to set up some boxing or wrestling matches so you and the others can burn off some aggression." When Ixxter settled down, Tristan returned to the problem at hand. He had a chance to regain the tomb and find out who was behind all of this, but he couldn't do it alone.

  He told Evalle, "Let's get Ixxter somewhere safe so he can heal, then you and I can confirm the exact location of the tomb and hostages. Once we know that, we'll have something to work with."

  When she hesitated, he said, "Change your mind, Evalle?"

  She let out a sound of pure frustration. "Hell, no. I'm going after those boys, but the minute we find them we have to call in the cavalry. I promised Storm I wouldn't go racing into danger."

  Tristan did not see her issue. She was one of the deadliest warriors he'd ever met. He kept it simple by saying, "Where's the danger in confirming intel? Besides, you told everyone you'd take a partner. Daegan put us together, so I'm your partner. Besides, when'd you become so fragile?"

  She snarled at that.

  Heh. He'd hit that nail dead-square and went for his closing argument. "There's always a potential for danger when we deal with preternaturals, but if you and I run into any trouble, I'll teleport us away."

  That must have been all she needed to hear. She said, "I'll text him what we're doing. He won't get it until he shifts back from his jaguar form. Let's go."

  Tristan kept his smile hidden inside. He did like getting his way, and his way included watching Daegan's back. He'd been honest about teleporting away from trouble, but he might have shaded the truth a little about his intentions.

  He and Evalle had fought together in the past. They'd been a tough team to beat. Where was the problem?

  He'd get Ixxter dropped off somewhere safe, then he'd handle this issue himself.

  If Daegan was going to trust Tristan with being his right hand man, then Tristan was going to step up and show Daegan that his trust had not been misplaced.

  Tristan was not about to take this problem to Daegan and put the dragon in a dangerous situation by asking him to come to the human world.

  Not when two of Treoir's gryphons could handle this.

  Storm knew what he was getting into when he mated Evalle. She was nobody's little woman. Storm had to trust her Belador teammates to watch her back just as she watched theirs.

  Tristan gave Ixxter his phone back. "I'm going to let you use a hotel room I keep in town. It's not far so we can walk."

  Ixxter's face widened with a full grin. "Now we're talking."

  Tristan warned, "Keep your head down and out of sight once you get there. The hotel belongs to a troll. We're friends. Screw that up and you'll end up troll dinner."

  Ixxter grumbled to himself and limped for the roof access door.

  Evalle said, "Let's do this. Storm will totally understand me going after the boys."

  "But is he going to ground you if you stay out past your curfew?" Tristan teased.

  She shook her head, following Ixxter out, but sent a last shot over her shoulder. "You wish you had what we have. They say jealousy is an illness. Get well soon."

  Tristan hated when Evalle had a point.

  A human woman who held Tristan's heart in her hands came to mind. She even knew he was not human. He had to carve out time for Mac soon and he would, once Daegan's security was in place.

  He smiled to himself. He couldn't wait to see Storm's face when they returned from this recon trip.

  Chapter 23

  Adrianna had been holding her umbrella against the drizzle, but in the last few minutes the freaky weather had taken a sudden turn. The cool change finally seemed more like winter. The rain had stopped and the temperature now felt closer to fifty. She pulled her umbrella down and closed the spines.

  Hard enough to see at night without still having to dodge water puddles, but she'd take that over being wet from head to toe.

  She walked up to her house in the quiet, reserved area around Emory University. She'd chosen this stone-and-brick home built sixty years ago because it had hummed with happiness when she'd first walked in to view it. She'd purchased it just this year.

  She distinctly remembered the front porch being just as cozy looking when she left thi
s morning, but without the man sitting on her porch swing.

  That was new.

  Isak had a streak of determination a mile wide.

  "What are you doing here?" she asked as she climbed the steps.

  He stood. "My men refuse to snatch you off the street again, after you turned their tires into stone. I almost had a mutiny."

  She'd wanted to send Isak a message that she was not someone to kidnap and to remind him she belonged to the club of other, strange, nonhuman, it.

  After all that, she should have found a way to squash this attraction--on her part at least.

  When she said nothing to his explanation for not sending a black ops team out for her, he walked over with his usual swagger. He had a confident stride and, to her detriment, she was drawn to that.

  He touched her face with his fingers, gently moving them to push her hair over her shoulder. "Why are you avoiding me? I only want to take you to dinner."

  She wanted to have dinner with a man. She'd like to do a lot more with this one, but deep down she knew this could be the one who would destroy her.

  Not because he would stray. Isak would never be a man who cheated on a woman.

  He would bring flowers and romance her.

  She had the feeling that his focus would reach a new level while making love.

  No, she couldn't fault him for his moral character or his attention, but he was human.

  One day, he would look at her as a person on the wrong side of the human-not-human continuum.

  "Isak, I don't live in your world."

  "You could."

  Those fingers of his were slowly severing every reason she had for staying away from him. If she didn't stop him soon, this would end up in the wrong place.

  Her bed.

  Taking a side step, she offered, "Would you like to come in for tea?"

  "Sure."

  She unlocked the door, then cleared a ward that he couldn't see, but would notice when it threw him backwards. She left the umbrella on the porch and dropped her purse on the side table.

  He closed the door and said, "This fits you."

  She'd just crossed the living room to the kitchen. The remodeling had turned this part of the downstairs into one large great room. "What do you mean this fits me?" If he said it was strange and unusual, she'd boot him out the door on her own, no majik needed.

  "It's feminine without being frilly. It's attractive and has a sincere air to it." He placed his phone on the side table and strode across the room as he spoke, pausing only inches from her.

  That was nice. He was nice. That wasn't the issue.

  Toying with her hair, he asked, "Why are you so opposed to spending time with me?"

  He was killing her the longer he touched her so tenderly. She had to put a stop to this. The best way to do that was by addressing their issue head on.

  "Isak, you will never get over your prejudice against nonhumans, so we have nowhere to go. I don't want to get involved with someone who is--"

  "Closed-minded?"

  Those had been the next words she planned to say. Now, she wanted to smooth it over. But that would be counterproductive so she said, "Yes."

  He argued, "I'm not running around killing all nonhumans anymore and you have to admit not all are good ones. I didn't kill Evalle the first time I found out she was an Alterant and I was actively hunting them."

  "The way I heard the story, she used her kinetics to save Kit's life and still, Kit had to stop you from shooting Evalle with your blaster."

  "Okay, that might have been a bad example," he admitted.

  She found his honesty under fire adorable, but telling him so would not help her case. Since he'd brought up Evalle, Adrianna pointed out, "You were also attracted to Evalle. Now you want me to believe you're attracted to me?"

  He pulled her to him and lowered his head until they almost touched noses.

  She had trouble breathing.

  Isak explained, "I'd never met anyone like Evalle who knew about demons. Sure, I found her intriguing, but ... you're different. If I had really wanted to be with Evalle, I wouldn't have given Storm a chance to get in the picture. I think about you day and night. If a man looks at you, I can't think about anything except bundling you off to keep you away from all of them. I want to get to know you, to find out what makes you happy, what movies you watch, where you'd like to go for a vacation, anything and everything. From the minute I saw you, I admit that I tried not to pay attention."

  She'd been mesmerized until then. He lost points admitting that he hadn't wanted anything to do with a witch.

  "But you aren't someone to be ignored. You draw my eyes the minute you're in a room. You're a woman that appeals to me in every way. I'll never meet anyone else like you and I know it."

  Okay, his points were going back up.

  But there was still the issue that would never go away. She sighed and said, "We can't--"

  He moved with stealth and kissed her, tasting her and sending his tongue in for a hello.

  Unfair tactics.

  How was she supposed to think and maintain her control when he ... his hand scooped her up to him. She gripped his arms, strictly for support since he had her off balance.

  Very off balance.

  His mouth would not give up, but then who liked a quitter?

  Isak snaked his other arm around her and lifted. That brought her up against him and left zero confusion about how much he wanted her.

  Her body was not helping one bit. Her breasts ached. She rubbed against his chest. Nice, but not exactly what she needed.

  He moved a hand to the closest breast and cupped her.

  She felt that touch in her womb.

  This wasn't her first rodeo with a man, but it felt like the first time one had made it past the surface of her emotions. Touching Isak wasn't in the same category as touching other men. She loved his strength and she'd always found confidence in a man a huge turn-on.

  Was she really going to take this step?

  Breaking the kiss, she watched his face when he pulled back. She touched his lips with a finger, drawing it across the perfect shape. "This is not something I can do lightly, Isak."

  "I know that without you saying so."

  Still, she hesitated. "My friends are always going to include nonhumans."

  "That's probably a good thing since it seems I now have a few myself." He smiled and her heart did a spin.

  How could she deny him when he'd removed the one real barrier between them? She didn't expect a commitment of love before sleeping with him, but she was not frivolous with her body, or her emotions.

  Maybe over the years she'd been forced to keep her emotions locked down while she channeled the pain of her twin sister who'd been in captivity, she'd forgotten how to open up. Her sister was no longer in pain, no longer of this world.

  Adrianna took a breath and stepped off the cliff. "Yes."

  "Yes, as in yes we can have dinner?"

  "Yes, as in we can ... do more than that."

  He picked her up and carried her to the sofa.

  She said, "Are you going to go caveman on me?"

  "Depends. Do you like it?"

  He lowered her to the sofa and eased down next to her. His hands pulled her blouse from her pants. "I love how you dress so prim and proper." He smiled at her with so much warmth. "It's like a live fantasy, because I can feel the passion you hide beneath that pristine look."

  When his fingers reached her breasts, she had to catch her breath.

  "You're beautiful, but that's not what makes you special." He leaned down and kissed the mound of breast pushed up by her red lace bra.

  She let her breath out on a sigh. That felt so good.

  He kept kissing her, pausing only to say, "You're special because no other woman is your equal. No other woman can hold a candle to your bright light."

  His fingers had unzipped her pants and eased in.

  She had to be careful or her majik would slip from her grip.
/>   "I want to see you let go of all that control you hold close."

  Maybe not if he knew what it would be like if she did let go.

  His phone buzzed.

  Isak didn't so much as look toward the phone. He was too busy reaching inside her lace panties to touch her ... oh, yes. Right there.

  He kissed her breasts through the bra and she thought about using majik to get rid of the barrier.

  His phone played an announcement "Isak, Code Red. Repeat, this is Code Red."

  Chapter 24

  Evalle silently cursed Tristan as she clawed her way down the mud-slick wall of a hundred-foot-deep, abandoned open-pit mine in north Georgia. Close to Blairsville, which confirmed some of Ixxter's information. The endless rain had stopped in Atlanta, but not here. Rain came down in earnest, cutting little rivers into the dirt and clay sides of this wall. She'd need two showers to get all the mud off of her.

  Teleporting meant they had arrived in Blairsville by midnight, but she took points off for navigation.

  Tristan had landed them five miles away.

  The relentless rain had been drizzling there, but the closer the closer they got to this chasm, the more the rain seemed localized to this spot.

  She paused to catch her breath and scope out the dirt chasm below them. There were grooves cut into it from strip mining, but trees had clearly been growing since excavation work had ceased. Fifteen or twenty years old now, the trees had sprouted along rutted pathways that ran into a fog covering all but this end.

  How could fog hang there with the rain still falling?

  Maybe because none of this was natural.

  Any other time, she might enjoy visiting this area of north Georgia with Storm, but right now she wanted to choke Tristan for doing the man thing. Once he'd downloaded information from Ixxter's phone onto a computer at the hotel, Evalle suggested they consult a map for the best place to teleport in.

  Tristan had snapped the device shut and declared, "No, I've got this."

  Oh, yes, he had this.

  "Stop thinking so loud," Tristan muttered, ten feet to her left.

  "You can't hear my thoughts unless we use telepathy."

  "I don't need telepathy to know you're thinking of ways to dismantle my body," he smarted back.

  "True, but I'll add that to my list of payback. Your teleporting navigation needs work."

  "Hey. This part of Georgia is a new area for me. What are you complaining about? I landed us in a baseball field. Wouldn't you rather have that than a grove of trees or on the side of this hill?"