by Julia Mills
The traitor wore no robes and had a sword strapped to his back and a dagger shoved in the side of his belt. She was sure it was a show of strength and wanted to laugh at his arrogance. A spell traveled a damn sight faster than a sword could cut, but she was grateful that he believed he was protected. False vibrado would help bring the little shithead to his knees.
When the chalk circle was finished and the two had returned to their places, Andrew began to speak, but not the words that would close the circle. Instead he droned on and on about all they would achieve with their ritual and their goals for the future. Kyra could feel the hate and rage pouring off Aaron and wondered if he could feel hers. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Andrew asked the wizards to join hands.
Before the traitor spoke the third word of his ritual, Kyra had begun her Containment Spell. When she was finished, she felt the sweat dot her upper lip and roll down her spine. Aaron leaned in and whispered next to ear, “Everyone is ready when you are. You say when and we all walk out together.”
Kyra nodded, absently listening to the words of the ancient ritual Andrew and the Master Wizard standing next to him were attempting to work. The constant chanting of the other wizards lent reverence to the proceeding, and would have been spiritual had they not been tainting purity with evil and then planning to use it to kill. Kyra’s heart sank when she recognized the old Latin word for blood…sanguis. To add insult to injury, she was sure the full translation of what the bastard traitor had said was Blood of the Unknowing. These filthy assholes had killed an untold number of innocent people just for their blood. It turned Kyra’s stomach and strengthened her resolve to kick the ass of every single piece of shit standing in that circle, beginning with the biggest dick of them all…Andrew.
She felt the rite coming to an end and prepared herself for what was to come. As soon as Andrew spoke the closing words, he and his followers would be expecting a flow of magic from the moon and mountain directly into their souls. When that did not happen, Kyra had to be right there with her vessel and her spell. One final prayer to the Goddess and a happy thought to the spot in the center of her heart where she felt Royce the most, and she nodded to Aaron. She felt him speak to the Dragon Guard and thought, It’s now or never Kyra girl. Time to kick traitor ass Earth witch-style.
~~~~~~~
Aaron’s voice rang loud and clear in Royce’s head, “Thirty seconds.” He spent every one of those seconds pouring confidence, strength, and love through their bond, and would have yelled his joy to the Heavens when he felt her thinking of him. It was obvious she had purposely focused on their connection even though he was sure that she still had no clue what it was.
Aaron’s command of “Now,” pushed all other thoughts to the back of his mind. The traitor was less than fifty yards away and it was time to put the little fucker away.
Using their enhanced speed, the Dragon Guard surrounded the circle where Andrew was standing as leader. Royce would have laughed out loud at the assorted looks of surprise and fear on the wizards faces had it not been that he and all his brethren wanted to rip their heads off and feed the bodies to the scavengers.
He located Kyra where Aaron had placed her between him and his twin, with Rian at her back. It was comforting that she was so well protected, but he would have felt so much better if he had been there himself. Kyra immediately began her spell while the guard stood at the ready, swords drawn. Andrew turned to face her, along with the gaunt man standing next to him, and began speaking so quickly he could barely make out the words. From the bit of Latin he remembered, they were trying to stop the words she was speaking. Their followers, however, seemed to be stuck in the original spell. They all stood, holding hands, swaying and repeating the chant Andrew had instructed them to say, completely unaware of the turmoil brewing all around them.
Royce watched closely as Kyra held her ground. His heart and his dragon pushed him to go to her as her hands shook and her voice quivered, so when Andrew drew the katana from his scabbard and the master drew a pistol, it was all he could do not to call forth his fire. The traitor advanced on Aidan, shouting how he would finally take his head, while the wizard walked to the center of the ritual circle, and shouted, “EXSOMNIS!”
The wizards in the circle snapped to attention and as one unit, did a one eighty, pulled swords and daggers from under their robes, and moved towards the Guardsmen. Always ready for a battle, the dragon warriors ran headlong towards the sorcerers, unfazed by the four to one odds. Royce watched Aaron and Rian continue to protect Kyra while Aidan locked blades with the little brother he had thought lost so many years ago, but truly wanted dead and buried for good this time.
With his enhanced vision, Royce could see what looked like thick gray smoke coming from the a blackened spot on the ground, close to what would have been the center of the dark wizards circle, and flow into the vessel that Kyra was holding. The longer it flowed, the more her arms quaked and the vase shook. He remembered she had told him it was made of silver and iron and that iron was harmful to witches, explaining why she was wearing heavy black leather gloves, making holding onto the vessel even more difficult.
Royce struck down every wizard in his path in his race to get to Kyra. His dragon pushed with all his force against the confines of Royce’s mind and body with the need to protect their mate. So involved in fighting a particularly skilled sorcerer while watching Kyra, he was hit at the base of his skull by what he recognized as the handle of a sword. His knees immediately hit the ground at the same time he heard Kyra scream his name. Thankfully, Rory was quicker than any of their enemies and was there in the blink of an eye to decapitate two wizards with one strike.
Nodding to Kyra that he was okay, Royce and his younger brother continued to massacre the opposition. Only Kyra’s voice raised in pain stilled his blade. When his eyes found her, she was leaning with her back against Rian, tears streaming down her face. Aaron was off to the side fighting a group of magicians, while the Master Wizard was descending upon his mate, chanting ugly Latin words in a low guttural tone. It was then that he saw magical sigils forged from silver hanging off the hood of his robe. Two of the symbols he recognized from his youth, and knew they were used to nullify a personal attack. Ilsa had always made sure that he and his brothers knew basic symbols of protection in case they were ever attacked, and thank the Heavens he knew those. Unfortunately, the most experienced practitioner was blocking whatever spell Kyra had worked that was supposed to keep him from using magic against her. The rite he was throwing at her, combined with the energy used to work the Siphoning Spell, was causing his mate serious pain while she tried to finish what she had started.
“What the fuck, Ri? Make her stop! It’s hurting her!” Royce shouted directly into his brother’s mind.
“I tried! But your mate is tougher than nails, she won’t stop!” Royce could never remember a time he had ever heard his brother so panicked and that only served to make him crazy with worry.
“Pick her up! Get her the hell outta here!”
“Don’t you think I tried? But she just dug her heels in and threatened to hurt my…manhood.” Rian answered and Royce could hear his embarrassment at being bested by, as Rian called her, ‘the little witch’.
The battle raged on around him, while he took out every opponent that dared challenge him, all in the effort to get to Kyra and get her to safety. Their eyes met and he shouted for her to leave, but she simply shook her head and looked away. The need to protect his mate was beginning to overtake all common sense. He was ready to call forth his beast and burn them to the ground when a beam, resembling starlight, began to shine on Kyra.
He followed the ribbon of light to the outstretched palms of a tall, full-figured woman with long gray hair flowing around her face, accentuating her glowing blue eyes. The light seemed to fortify Kyra as the woman slowly walked towards her. His mate mouthed the word, ‘Auntie’ and new hope surged throughout every Guardsman, but none so much as Royce. They all fought with renewed
vigor, striking down the remaining wizards that had not run in fear.
Royce was within a few steps of Kyra when the clash of blades and the sounds of bitter insults reached his ears. Looking to his left, he saw Aidan and Andrew still engaged in a battle to the death with Andrew, who was hurling insults and yelling every vile thing imaginable. Aidan, ever the honorable man, was fighting with the utmost skill and enduring all his brother’s taunts in an effort to capture the traitor instead of killing him.
Andrew aimed a violent thrust at Aidan’s heart, but the seasoned warrior stepped to the side just in time. The momentum propelled Andrew over the side of the mountain. Every Guardsman that was not fighting ran to the edge of the mountain, only to see the traitor being carried off by several of his followers. A cry of sheer horror sounded behind the men watching their greatest enemy get away. They all turned, swords at the ready, to witness the older witch driving a bright green light into the Master Wizard. He was on his knees, attempting to fight the assault the older, obviously more experienced sorceress was piling upon him.
The elder witch took a half step back and the failing Master got in an exceptionally strong burst of magic, but Kyra was right there to help out and within minutes the dark wizard was laying on the ground, unconscious. Both witches stepped back as Kellan and Brannoc stepped in, grabbed the wizard by the arms, and began dragging him away. The Master Wizard sprung to life and pointed his dagger at Kellan’s heart. Always quick to react, Brannoc ran the assailant through with his broadsword. The dead wizard dropped to the ground, just another casualty in Andrew’s bid for vengeance.
Kyra completed the siphoning of dark magic, spoke the spell that would seal it while applying the wax if the ceremonial candle. She finished just as Royce ran to her side, grabbing her and lifting her until their lips met. One hard and fast kiss, with a promise of so much more, and he was being introduced to his mate’s Auntie Della. The woman, he found out on the hike back to Sam’s cottage, was responsible for the strong vibrant woman that he looked forward to spending the rest of his life loving. The longer the older woman spoke, the more Royce could see the resemblance between Kyra and her aunt. Mannerisms, facial expressions, and an inner belief in everything that was right and good with the world, were just the most obvious of the similarities.
Aaron and Rian carried the vessel containing the dark magic back to the house. Once there, it was loaded into a silver lined lead box with a spelled lock, awaiting transport to the werepanthers. Apparently, Max knew of a witch doctor in the rain forest that could dispose of the tainted magic without harm to anyone.
The battle had been a victory even if Andrew had gotten away. They had kept him from getting the dark magic, thinned his ranks by at least forty dark arts practitioners, and only suffered minor wounds themselves that were already healing. Kyra, Della, Royce, and all the Dragon Guard crowded into the small house and partied until the wee hours of the night. When Kyra tugged on his arm and yawned, he picked her up and yelled good night to all that were listening as he took his mate upstairs.
He felt her head fall against his shoulder, heard her breathing slow, and knew she had already fallen asleep. As they entered the bedroom, he used his foot to softly kick the door closed behind them. After pulling back the covers, he gently laid Kyra on her side, thankful she had already showered and changed, because nothing would make him wake her, especially when she looked like his very own angel peacefully dreaming. He stood staring just a moment longer, and then stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed beside his amazing mate. When Kyra snuggled against him and breathed a sigh of relief against his chest, he looked to the ceiling and whispered, “You were so right, Mom, she is worth everything.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
It had been the best night’s sleep he’d ever had and all he could think about was getting Kyra back into his arms. Royce had felt his reluctant mate kiss him on the cheek and then get out of bed a few hours earlier, whispering for him to rest as long as he liked, that she was going to see her aunt. The ringing of his cell phone woke him with a start, and when he looked at the screen he frowned. “What the hell, Rory? You couldn’t just mind speak? I hate waking up to a ringing phone,” he grumbled while his younger brother just laughed.
“First of all, I tried to mind speak to you for about an hour, and then Rian tried, and even Devon, but all we got back was static, also known as snoring.” Rory howled with laughter and Royce contemplated hanging up, but before he could decide, his brother began again, “Anyway, I finally gave up and called. And secondly, it is damn near ten o’clock. And you are late! Rayne and Rian want to have a debriefing since the traitor got away. So make yourself beautiful and get your ass out to the lake.”
Rory hung up before Royce could tell him to stick it. Jumping out of bed, he threw on his jeans and a clean t-shirt, grabbed his boots and socks, and headed downstairs as quickly as he could. Hearing Kyra’s voice coming from the kitchen made him smile. She was all he would ever need. All he had to do was convince her that he would never, ever do anything to hurt her again. His mate’s Aunt Della was the first to speak, “You look well rested and in a hurry this morning, my boy.”
He chuckled at her use of ‘my boy’. It had been years since anyone had called him anything but ‘old man’ or ‘gramps’. He knew witches aged as slowly as they did and wondered how old Kyra’s aunt actually was, but would never ask a lady her age. “I did sleep well.” He looked towards Kyra, and just the glimpse of her violet eyes from under her full dark lashes made his pulse race and the tiny grin on her very kissable lips made his heart soar. His mate was a tough witch that took shit from no one and he loved that about her, but he also adored that she had a sweet, sensitive side, reserved just for him.
Remembering they were not alone, he turned again to Della and asked, “And did you sleep well?”
She nodded before speaking, “I did, thank you. And I have enjoyed spending time with my favorite niece.”
“Auntie, I’m your only niece.” Kyra shook her head and laughed.
“That makes no difference, you are still my favorite and don’t you give me any back talk, I can still whoop your butt.”
The kitchen erupted in laughter just as Kellan walked in the back door. “Hey, nobody invited me to the party,” he joked, causing them all to laugh even harder.
As the fun died down, Kellan cleared his throat and began to speak, “I’m sorry to take you away from the fun, but the vein in Rayne’s head is about to pop and Rory sent me to get you.”
Not wanting to spend one second away from Kyra, but knowing it was unavoidable, Royce nodded. He turned to Kyra and pulled her to him. “I won’t be gone long and then we can head back to the lair and show your aunt around… sound good?”
“Sounds awesome,” she replied, but he could see that something else was on her mind.
He leaned down until they were eye-to-eye and asked, “Everything okay, mo ghra’?”
She nodded and said, “Perfect.” But he could see that something was still bothering her. He debated skipping the meeting and staying to find out what was on her mind until Rayne’s voice sounded in his head, “You have ninety seconds…” His Commander’s voice left no room for argument. He gave Kyra a quick kiss and ran out the door with Kellan in tow, promising himself he would find out what had put that faraway look in his mate’s beautiful violet eyes.
Four hours! Four fucking hours later, and if he had to listen to one more person detail the part they played in the battle the night before, he was going to pull every last red hair from his head. The gathering had begun just as he had expected. Rayne spoke as the Commander in charge of the mission and let them know that werepanthers with magical abilities were already being dispatched to gather Intel. They all knew that Andrew had survived his fall but were holding out hope that maybe he had succumbed to his injuries, or was injured bad enough that they would be able to swoop in and capture him. They knew they had delivered a serious blow to his followers, killing approximately f
orty and hopefully leaving him vulnerable, but the best had been the destruction of the Master Wizard.
Royce felt pride that Kyra and her aunt had been able to defeat the dark practitioner. When they had first gotten back to the cottage after the fight, he could sense Kyra’s worry that he would turn on her again. After all, he had all but called her a murderer-in-waiting and swore he would never have anything to do with her less than two weeks ago, but everything had changed, and that situation had definitely been really screwed up. On the mountain, she had defended herself and all the Dragon Guard against a powerfully evil wizard, and she had defeated him. He could not have been prouder and he had told her so in front of his brethren.
Rian’s voice brought him back to reality, acting as the Head Elder of the allied clan and added his congratulations along with the promise that he and Kellan’s Force would always be allies of the Golden Fire Clan and the MacLendon Force. From there, everyone had to put their two cents worth in, while all Royce wanted to do was get back to Kyra. Finally, it felt like it was wrapping up and he tapped into his and Kyra’s mating bond. The anxiety and frustration he felt had him standing up and waving his goodbye to the leaders of the group.
He made it to the back door of the cottage in record time, even for a dragon shifter, using his enhanced speed. The conversation between Kyra and her aunt stopped as soon as he opened the door and the look on his mate’s face said it all…she was worried and it had something to do with him. Unsure what to do as both women looked first at him and then each other, he opted for the wait and see approach. Trying to play it cool when he felt anything but, he asked, “So are you ladies ready to head back to the lair?”
“Auntie Della is gonna head back home. She has lots to do and feels like she has been gone long enough.” He could feel the tension in her words and knew there was more to it than she was saying. A quick sidelong glance from Kyra to her aunt told him he was right, but again he decided to wait and see if she would tell him what was happening. He longed for her to trust him, to confide in him, and knew he would do whatever it took and wait as long as she needed to have that.
