Dracones Boxset Books 1-5

by Sheri-Lynn Marean

  “Where the hell is Taraven?” Jax asked, frowning at her.

  “I am Taraven,” a very young voice said, making them all jump as a small, blond ten-year-old boy appeared behind Serena. Taking advantage of the situation, Serena yanked away from Jax and stumbled into the boy.

  “You! You’re the raven I saw—” Tierney yelled, remembering the strange episode back home. She moved toward the boy. The boy frowned at Tierney, as Serena grabbed his hand.

  “Go,” Serena hissed at him.

  “Wait!” Tierney shouted as Jax lunged for Serena, but both she and the boy disappeared into thin air.

  “What the fuck?” Jax growled and they all stared wide-eyed at the empty spot.

  “I saw a hologram of that boy a week ago. The raven—” Tierney said, and they all looked at her like she was crazy. Shaking her head, she grimaced. “Sorry, I’ll explain later.” Then she squeaked when Jax grabbed her and pulled her to his chest, hugging her tight.

  “You’re okay.” His voice broke as he squeezed her.

  Tierney, surprised but happy to be pressed up against him, hugged him back. “Yeah, thanks to you.”

  “I almost lost you,” he whispered, and Tierney sensed a void of despair in him as he clung to her. Finally, he pulled back. “You are okay, right?”

  She nodded. “Yes, thank you. But what’s with everyone appearing and disappearing?”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Dream-Nightmare

  TIERNEY AND JAX tensed up when they heard someone clearing their throat.

  “Ah, I hate to interrupt but—” a strange voice said.

  Thaniel jumped and Tierney started to pull out of Jax’s embrace, but his arm tightened around her protectively. Sami moved to the other side of Jax as they turned towards the voice.

  A tall male with short matted hair and tattoos all over his upper torso, leaned against one of the cells not ten feet from them. Tierney wondered how long he’d been there.

  “Who are you?” Jax growled, ready to attack, even though the guy looked pale and starved.

  Tierney scanned all around them, before looking back at the tattooed guy. Most of the captives had taken off, but some were still helping others.

  Beside her, Thaniel trembled. “He’s Mark.”

  Ah, yes. The wolf Toren hung out with.

  Surprised, Marks came closer. “Thaniel?” He stopped at the fear on the Were-leopards face. “Shit, sorry kid.” Mark cursed and grabbed the bars of the cell beside him. “Fucking Arlow.”

  Tierney frowned and tried to pull Thaniel in behind her, but he took a cautious step forward. “It’s okay.” Thaniel stared at Mark. “He brought me food.”

  “Shit. I’m sorry I didn’t do more,” Mark said, clearly upset.

  “H-have you seen Real?” Thaniel asked instead.

  Mark pursed his lips and shook his head. “Not for days. They took him down the hall. He never came back. Sorry.”

  As they all thought of the torture room, Thaniel’s shoulders suddenly sagged with defeat, making Tierney ache for him. Then he turned away with tears in his eyes.

  Mark studied them. “That’s some crazy shit,” he said, referring to Serena. Still, none of them said a word and finally, Mark sighed. “I heard you calling for Real and Toren a few minutes ago. I know Thaniel, but who are the rest of you?”

  “I’m Tierney, he’s Jax.” Then before she could introduce Sami, he did it himself.

  Tierney glanced around for Genna, before remembering the fear on the girl’s face right before she disappeared. Something about Serena had scared her. She turned back to Mark. “Kyrian, the leader of Toren’s pack, sent us to find him.”

  “Ah yes, King Kyrian, Toren’s father.” Mark nodded, weary.

  Tierney frowned at his white-knuckled grip on the bars of the cell. She glanced at Jax. Kyrian, leader of the Okami, was Toren’s father and also a King? “Seems Kyrian forgot to tell us some things,” Jax said, but Tierney didn’t reply.

  “I’m going to go look around outside while you guys talk,” Sami said, and Tierney thought he looked nervous and pale as he slipped out the double doors.

  With a frown, she turned back to Mark. “Any idea where Toren is?”

  Mark shook his head. “Sorry, they took him somewhere else.”

  “How did you end up here?” she asked.

  Mark’s lips tightened in anger. “When Toren showed up looking for Zeveride, Arlow claimed he didn’t know where the guy went, but promised to find out. Then he directed me to show Toren the city. But a couple days later, Arlow texted, said he had information for Toren, and for us to meet him back at the house.” Mark closed his eyes and shook his head, and Tierney caught the tremble as he tried to steady himself.

  “Mark, you look like you’re about to fall down,” she said, worried. He seemed like a decent guy and she could usually sense when someone wasn’t.

  “I’m fine.” Mark scowled, but his trembling continued to worsen, and a sheen of sweat rose up on his brow.

  “No, you’re not.” She rushed forward to help, but Jax reached the guy first.

  “I got ya, man.” Jax slipped an arm around Mark’s waist for support.

  “So, what happened?” Tierney asked as Jax helped Mark down the row of cells to the hallway door.

  “Seconds after we got to the house, Arlow’s buddies appeared and tranq’d us while Arlow, the asshole, sat back and watched the show,” Mark explained.

  “Yeah, that seems to be their MO,” Jax said grimly.

  Mark grinned. “Well, Toren showed them. In a split second the guy shifted from human to wolf. I was going down, but I saw him leap across the room and heard a lot of yelling. I do believe he got some bites in before they knocked him out. Then everything went dark, and I woke up in the back of a large van with eight of the pack crammed in with me.”

  “That’s messed up.” Jax shook his head.

  Mark nodded. “I drifted in and out of consciousness, but I remember the truck stopping. They unloaded Toren and three others into another vehicle, before they brought us here.”

  “Shit!” Tierney swore. How do we find Toren now?

  “Sorry I’m not much help. I do appreciate you freeing us, though,” Mark said, and Tierney nodded.

  “No problem, man. This shit is fucked up,” Jax said, as they made their way to the steel door.

  “Where are you going to go?” Thaniel asked Mark.

  Mark shrugged. “I’ll find somewhere. Arlow needs to die, but I need to get my strength back first.”

  “Well, you can come with us,” Tierney offered without looking at Jax.

  “You want to bring him home?” Jax asked.

  Tierney smiled at the hint of jealousy. “Well, we have lots of space. He can stay in one of the empty cabins.”

  “Sure, okay,” Jax agreed, though he didn’t sound certain.

  “Nah, I’ll figure shit out.” Mark attempted to stand on his own, but when he began to stagger, Jax caught him.

  “Thanks,” he said, embarrassed.

  “I’m sure Kyrian would like to talk to you about Toren, and we have some empty cabins you can stay in while you recover,” Tierney said.

  Mark studied them, trying to decide whether to trust them. Finally, he nodded. “Maybe I will, thanks.”

  “Hey, Thaniel, can you help Mark back to the car? We need to find Sami and we’ll be right behind you,” Jax said, surprising Tierney when he offered Thaniel his precious car keys.

  Thaniel stared at the keys a moment, before peering up at Jax. “All right.” He nodded and took them as if they were a treasure.

  “I like Thaniel, and Mark seems decent,” Tierney said as the pair made their way down the hallway.

  “Yeah,” Jax reluctantly agreed.

  Tierney grinned, knowing he was worried about Mark stealing her affections, but she could have told him he had no reason to worry. She was his and always would be. Instead, she turned away so he wouldn’t see her grin and scanned the cells. Then a sudden wav
e of nausea swept through her, making her groan.

  “What’s wrong?” Jax asked.

  “It’s Sami,” she whispered. “Sami?” she called, switching to telepathy, but he didn’t answer.

  “Jax, we need to find him—now.” She turned and began to run for the double doors with him right beside her.

  “Sami, where are you?” she called again, and again, received no answer. They hurried outside and across to the other barn where they cautiously peered inside. Not seeing anyone, Tierney lowered her shields and confirmed with she suspected. “No one’s here.” She glanced at the old junk that filled the building, before turning away. “Where the hell is he, and why isn’t he answering?”

  “Sami?” Jax called this time and she could hear and feel his worry for his brother.

  Back outside, Tierney shivered at the ominous shadows cast by the setting sun, and glanced toward the front of the property. Nothing. She looked the other way and spotted a large, dark silhouette falling past the corner at the end of the barn. “Sami.” Tierney sprinted along the barn with Jax following her.

  She rounded the corner and found Sami standing immobile, horror pulsing from him. “Sami?” she whispered, then choking, sucked in a lungful of smoke as her stunned mind tried to make sense of the massive smoldering grave in front of her.

  “Sami, we need to get—what the hell?” Jax stopped and stared. A pit of about fifty feet across, and the same wide, smoldered with thick, black smoke, from hundreds of burning bodies, bones and ash.

  Oh hell, this really is Sami’s dream—wait, scratch that, it’s a fucking nightmare!

  The crackle, popping, and roar of fire, along with movement out of the corner of her eye, drew their attention to another pit about two hundred yards away where an inferno blazed high into the air. Over the noise, they caught the sound of someone screeching and swearing.

  “No,” Sami whispered when two men, armed with automatic weapons rounded the corner from one of the other outbuildings, mere feet from the pit. They were dragging a pale-skinned, dark, short-haired female who cursed as she kicked and bit at them. They saw one of the men taser her, but still she fought them with all she had.

  “No!” the anguished cry tore from Sami’s throat as he bolted towards them.

  “Shit!” Tierney swore. She and Jax took off after him. “Sami!” they both called him telepathically, but he didn’t stop.

  “It’s her. I need to help her,” he said, running towards the men.

  Tierney’s heart thundered in fear as she chased her best friend, keeping an eye on the men with the girl. There was no way would they get to her in time.

  Oblivious to their audience, the two men shoved the girl, who let out an ear shattering scream of outrage, as she flew into the fiery pit of flames.

  With a stumble, Sami fell to his knees. “No!” The fire whooshed higher, engulfing the girl whose screech lingered for a few seconds longer.

  Oh Gods, no. Tierney couldn’t believe what those men had just done. These people are monsters. She’d grown up knowing it, but seeing their handy work up close, reinforced everything. She and Jax stopped beside Sami at the same time the men spotted them and let out a yell.

  “Shit. C’mon Sami. We need to go,” Tierney hissed, as the men began to run toward them.

  “I’m going to kill them!” Sami howled, suddenly furious as he climbed shakily to his feet.

  “No Sami,” Tierney and Jax each grabbed an arm and tried to pull him away. “Now’s not the time, we gotta go.”

  Sami started to fight them. “No, they need to pay!”

  “Sami, I get it, but please—” Tierney pleaded with him, as the first bullet whizzed by. “Aw—fuck,” she yelled as it grazed her arm. Seeing the blood and hole in her sleeve, she swore again. Damn, I liked this shirt!

  “Tiern,” Jax called, drawing her attention to him, then she watched as he used his power for a protection spell. “This better work this time.”

  “C’mon, Sami.” Tierney held onto him as she tried to pull him away. Luckily, he went willingly, but as they ran, automatic gunfire sprayed behind them, bullets bouncing off Jax’s shield. They almost made it around the corner of the barn, when another bullet flew a little too close past her head.

  “Fuck—I’m done!” Jax gasped, as his power ran out. They spun around the corner and were momentarily safe. Behind them, the gunfire ceased and Tierney drew in a relieved breath, even though she knew they didn’t have long. The men wouldn’t give up.

  But when she heard a shout of surprise, followed by a bloodcurdling scream, she halted.

  “Keep going,” she said to Jax, as she let Sami’s arm go.

  “Tierney, no—what are you doing?” Jax and Sami both stopped as well.

  “I’ll be okay. Keep going, please—get Sami out of here, I’ll be right behind you,” she said and turned back.

  “No, Tiern!” Jax growled.

  Ignoring him, she peeked around the corner and grinned.

  One man writhed on the ground, holding a bloody arm, while a massive black wolf knocked the second man down, and proceeded to rip his throat out.

  “Tierney!” Jax hissed, but she waved at him to be quiet.

  “One sec.” She continued to watch Soroyan, in wolf form, tear the men apart, when a loud screech startled her. She glanced up to see a large, flaming rocket shoot from the far pit, straight into the air. It whizzed into the sky so fast that Tierney only caught a flash of flame, as it streaked through the evening light and disappeared. What the hell?

  Okay. Weird. Tierney glanced back at the men and wolf. The first man Soroyan had put down cradled his hurt arm against his chest and was inching over to grab his gun with his good arm. “Soroyan—behind you!” she shouted, catching the wolf’s attention right before the man took aim and began to squeeze the trigger.

  A ferocious growl rang out as Soroyan spun and leaped, knocking the gun from the man’s hand. Blood flew everywhere. Heart racing, Tierney and ran to Jax and Sami, who waited a few feet away.

  “What’s happening?” Jax asked and she knew he was angry that she had put herself in danger once again.

  Tierney glanced instead at Sami, who stood with silent tears running down his soot-stained face and her heart wept for her best friend. “Soroyan took care of them, but I’m sure more men are on their way.” Then she took Sami’s arm. “C’mon, Sami.”

  He didn’t resist and together they hurried back into the first barn, where Sami finally pulled away. “Let me go.”

  “Sami, I’m sorry. We need to go before more of them come.” Tierney stepped up to him, wanting to wrap her arms around him and hold him, but he backed away from her, eyes glittering. “No. Let them come. They’ll regret what they did.” His fists clenched in anger.

  “Sami—” Jax started, but the sound of barking dogs reached their ears and Jax moved back to the doors. He had just started to close them, when something rammed one door and sent it flying back.

  Tierney gasped at the large black monster that flew into the barn, and pulled up at the sight of them. “Soroyan, shit!” Holy hell, he’s one big fucker! Tierney stared. Blood covered his muzzle and his eyes glowed bright red. He was the size of a small horse, and not someone she ever wanted to fight.

  The barking grew louder as the dogs drew near, causing Soroyan to turn and face the doors. “Go!” he roared in their heads, making them jump. A moment later, the two Dobermans they had seen from the road earlier, shot through the doorway and skidded to a halt mere feet from him. Growling low in his throat, Soroyan bared large fangs that dripped with blood. With matching whines, the two dogs turned and fled the barn, as if it were on fire, whimpering as they ran. “I said go. You waiting for me to hold your hands or what?” Soroyan turned and glared, red eyes boring into them.

  Tierney turned to Sami and, sensing his pain, she took his hand in hers. “Sami?”

  He closed his eyes, took a breath, and when he opened them he nodded, and followed her back through the barn and to th
e hole in the wall.

  Once on the other side, they waited while Soroyan changed back into human form. “Toren?” he asked right away.

  They shook their heads.

  “No, sorry. We did find Mark though—the guy Toren hung out with. He told us they took Toren and three others somewhere else. Arlow sold them out,” Tierney said.

  Soroyan’s expression was grim as they started back along the trail towards the car.

  “What the hell just happened?” Jax asked her as they followed Soroyan.

  “You mean with Sami?”

  “Yeah, with Sami.”

  “You just witnessed the woman from Sami’s dream being murdered,” she answered him grimly.

  “What woman? What dream?” Jax asked, confused.

  “I’ll explain later. Right now, we need to get back to the car,” she said as they ran.

  They caught up to Thaniel and Mark, but didn’t catch sight of any of the captives, making Tierney think that maybe they had all gotten away. She hoped that was the case as they all hurried along the trail, lost to their own thoughts at the horrors they’d just witnessed. A few minutes later, Jax, who now supported Mark, glanced at Soroyan. “So where did you disappear to?”

  ***

  SOROYAN DIDN’T PLAN on answering, but then surprised himself. “I went to help those in the brick building.” And they should all be hearing an explosion anytime now. He tilted his head, waiting.

  Disgust filled him as he thought of the horror he had found. What the hell were the Ilyium up to? They used to kill anyone with supernatural abilities, but now they seemed to be draining them of blood first. What was that all about?

  “So, who—or what—did you find?” Tierney asked, breaking his reverie.

  Soroyan turned and looked at her grimly. “You don’t want to know.”

  “Try me,” she challenged and although he didn’t want to, Soroyan found himself starting to admire her. She never gave up and didn’t scare easily.

  Still, no one spoke to him like she did. Not even his own brother. Her lack of fear and respect—well, no one dared treat him the way this female did. Not even his own mate, Delsie, had ever spoken to him like this. No, don’t think about her. Damn, how he missed his woman.