Dracones Boxset Books 1-5

by Sheri-Lynn Marean

  Rising to his own feet, he watched Jax grab Tierney into a tight hug. Thaniel turned away. The depths of Jax’s feelings toward Tierney left him feeling even more lonely and confused and wishing for something he knew he’d never have.

  Looking down at his sticky blood-and-dirt covered hands, he began to scrub at them. He didn’t want to get anything on his new clothes. The dirt fell away, leaving him with a deep, reddish-brown stain on his hands. Swallowing, he scooped up more dirt when Jax wrapped his hands around Serena’s neck and demanded to know where Zander, Tierney’s dad, was.

  “I don’t know,” Serena said as Thaniel continued to use the dirt to try to get rid of the blood. Then she said a strange name and Thaniel looked up in time to see a young boy appeared out of nowhere, just like Genna had earlier.

  In the ensuing surprise, Jax loosened his grip on Serena just enough for her to pull away. Then she and the boy were both gone.

  They were all blinking at the empty spot, and Thaniel rubbed his arm where Genna had pinched him. He knew she said he wasn’t dreaming, but all the stuff he’d seen today sure didn’t seem real.

  “Ah, I hate to interrupt but—”

  The familiar voice sent a tingle through him.

  Chapter Ten

  Mark

  THANIEL TENSED up and turned to see a Were-wolf—Mark––in human form.

  Once tall and proud, he looked like Thaniel had just that morning, pale and starved. Mark’s short brown hair was now long and scraggly. As they all turned warily to the newcomer leaning against one of the cells not far from them, Thaniel noted that even the tattoos all over Mark’s upper body appeared faint.

  “Who are you?” Jax growled, ready to attack.

  Thaniel noticed that most of the captives had taken off, while a handful were helping others. He looked back at the Were-wolf and couldn’t help but tremble at the reminder of what Mark’s pack had done to him. “He’s Mark.”

  Mark blinked and moved forward. “Thaniel? Shit, sorry, kid,” Mark cursed and grabbed the bars of the cell beside him. “Fucking Arlow.”

  Thaniel saw Tierney reach out to pull him in behind her, but he sidestepped and cautiously inched forward. “It’s … okay.” He stared at Mark and hope bloomed. Maybe Mark knew where Real was. “He … brought me food.” In fact, it was Mark who had first offered him that slice of pizza right before he left and Justin had been killed.

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

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

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

  It had been a really long day, and now Thaniel’s shoulders sagged in defeat. Feeling the sting of tears in his eyes and not wanting his friends to see, he turned away.

  After that, introductions were made and Tierney told Mark that Toren’s father had sent them to find the missing wolf.

  “I’m going to look around outside while you guys talk,” Sami said, and Thaniel saw him slip out of the barn.

  “Any idea where Toren is?” Tierney asked.

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

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

  Mark’s lips tightened in anger for a moment before he spoke. “I was betrayed by my own pack.”

  Tierney and Jax sighed, not surprised.

  “Mark, you look like you’re about to fall down,” Tierney said.

  “I’m fine.” Mark scowled, but even Thaniel noticed the sheen of sweat on his brow and the tremble in his limbs.

  “No, you’re not.” Tierney rushed forward to help, but Jax reached him first.

  “I got ya, man.” Jax helped Mark down the row of cells to the hall door where they had entered.

  “Where will you go?” Thaniel finally asked, wondering if Mark planned to go back to the wolf den.

  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 said, and somehow Thaniel got the impression that Jax wasn’t happy about that.

  “Nah, I’ll figure shit out.” Mark attempted to stand on his own but couldn’t.

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

  Mark studied them a moment then nodded. “All right. Maybe I will, thanks.”

  Whatever misgivings Thaniel had sensed from Jax were suddenly gone as brilliant-blue eyes met his.

  “Hey, Thaniel, can you help Mark back to the car? We need to find Sami. We’ll be right behind you,” Jax said, holding out his keys to him.

  Stunned, Thaniel blinked at the shiny silver key in Jax’s hand before looking up at him. “All right.” No one had ever entrusted anything to him, and he had already figured out that Jax loved his car. Feeling confused and a little weepy, he agreed and accepted the keys.

  Then, with his arm around Mark’s waist, he helped him out of the barn. Mark let out a quiet whistle when he saw the wall, and Thaniel realized there were scorch marks all around the outside. He inhaled deeply and caught the very faint whiff of … ozone? It was, and yet, there was something more. Something that still sent a tingle through his skin. Magic! That had to be it. He wondered once again where crazy girl had disappeared to, not that he minded. She really scared him.

  Once on the other side of the wall, Thaniel searched around uneasily before helping Mark back up the trail to where Jax parked.

  “They seem like good people,” Mark said, talking about Thaniel’s new friends.

  Thaniel nodded. It had been a long, strange day and he still wasn’t sure how he felt about everything. Finally, Mark’s ragged breathing broke through his thoughts.

  “I need to stop,” he said.

  Thaniel let him go and waited while Mark leaned up against a tree. He kept his eyes lowered as the Were-wolves had demanded, but he could feel the intensity of Mark’s gaze on him.

  “I meant it,” Mark said, and Thaniel peeked up at the Were-wolf before quickly lowering his eyes. Sighing, Mark nodded. “I really am sorry. Your buddy, Real … he and I, we had a plan to get you out.”

  Thaniel’s eyes flicked up at him, wondering if that was the truth.

  Mark’s face pinched with anger, but there was sadness in his eyes as he held Thaniel’s gaze. “We did. We just didn’t get the chance before they took us,” he added, and Thaniel swallowed deeply.

  He didn’t know how to react, but was saved having to say anything when the sudden sound of gunshots made them both look behind them.

  Thaniel’s pulse raced in fear. “We should get going,” he said, and Mark nodded. Thaniel put his arm around the guy’s waist again and they continued back toward Jax’s car.

  “Do … do you really think Real is dead?” Thaniel asked a few minutes later when they didn’t hear anyone coming after them.

  It was an excruciatingly long second before Mark answered. “I don’t know, Thaniel. The ones they took … they never came back, and we often saw them carry the bodies out, but who knows. He could have gotten away.”

  Thaniel swallowed. Deep inside he knew that if Real had gotten away, he’d have come for him down in that basement.

  They hadn’t gone much further when Jax, Soroyan, Tierney, and Sami caught up to them and Jax took over helping Mark so that they could move faster.

  Thaniel noticed that Tierney was holding Sami’s hand, and wondered what had happened. From the look of loss in his friend’s eyes, Thaniel knew it had to be bad. It also touched Thaniel on a level he subconsciously understood, though he couldn’t have said what that was.

  Chapter Eleven

  Weary

  THANIEL STARED out the window as Jax drove. A weight seemed to hang on his shoulders. Though a lot of the prisoners had escaped, some hadn’t been so lucky. He knew he was beyond lucky to have s
urvived the Were-wolves, but now where was he going to go? What would he do? He knew his odds of surviving on the streets alone would be slim. Then, as he contemplated his fate, Tierney glanced back from the front seat where she sat between Jax and Sami.

  “We’d like you to come home with us, Thaniel.”

  Both stunned and humbled, he couldn’t understand why they would offer him such a thing. Why would they even want him in their home? And, did he dare trust them? They hadn’t hurt him so far, but he’d learned early on that people weren’t to be trusted.

  Even if he did decide to trust them, it still didn’t answer the question of why they would want him there. They were all big and strong and even as weak as Mark was, he was still a force to be reckoned with. Where else will I go?

  Even if he went back to living on the streets, he was a Were-leopard now and a whole lot stronger and more dangerous. He’d no longer have to worry about fending off those wanting a piece of him. Then again, he was a Were-leopard—who could barely control himself. He’d be more likely to hurt someone, and that was the last thing he wanted to do.

  Besides, if the Were-wolves came looking for him, he’d be easy to find and now that he was no longer their captive, Thaniel knew he’d do anything to stay that way. Still, his survival instincts had kept him alive in the past and he couldn’t help but wonder if he was just exchanging one cage for another.

  As Thaniel stared into Tierney’s amazing purple eyes, he didn’t think so. He also realized that whatever she asked of him, he’d likely agree to. There was just something about her that made him want to please her, though he had no idea why.

  As they drove north out of Spokane once again, and then veered to the east, Thaniel gazed out the window into the night. Yet as each new road passed them by, he grew a little more nervous.

  Had he really agreed to leave the city with a bunch of strangers? Had he lost his mind? They could do any manner of things to him out here and no one would ever find his body. Oh, who cares anyway?

  With an inward sigh, he laid his head against the glass of the window. If they had wanted to, they could have hurt him, many times. Or, just left him where they found him. But they hadn’t. Although now that he thought about it, Elianna had waited until he trusted her before she betrayed him. Still, for some reason, though it went against everything he’d learned about people in his life, he didn’t think his new friends, as he was beginning to think of them, were out to do him any harm. That, or he was just being naive.

  Giving himself a mental shake, he tried to see into the night at the passing scenery. He really hadn’t been out of the city since before he was four years old and now he’d left the city twice in one day. His dad liked fishing, and Thaniel remembered them going to a lake somewhere out this way. As a small child, he had thought the drive took forever, though likely it was only a half-hour to an hour.

  He remembered his dad showing him how to put the bait on his line and cast, but Thaniel hadn’t been strong enough. In the end, his dad had cast his line for him. Then they sat and Thaniel asked a million questions while his dad patiently answered as they waited for the fish to bite. His dad had made them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. It had been a great day.

  Lost to his memories, Thaniel watched the signs lit by the headlights of Jax’s car fly past. Westmoreland Road. Apex Road. When they drove through the town of Riverside, he wondered if that was where they lived, but Jax just kept on driving. They had just passed the sign for the turn off to Elk Camden and a mobile home park when he blinked at something looming ahead off the side of the road.

  They flew past and he saw that it was a large metal giraffe. Huh! That was just as strange as his life the last six months. They drove a few more miles until Jax turned north again onto highway Two-eleven. The next sign said Cusack, eighteen miles, and below it Metaline Falls, sixty-one miles. Thaniel stared at the dark blur of trees and had absolutely no idea where he was anymore.

  Finally, knowing there was no more point in worrying, he let himself be lulled by the motion of the car and as everything caught up to him, his eyes slowly slid shut.

  When the car slowed, his eyes flickered open. Where am I? He began to panic, but then he heard the ticking of Jax’s directional signal and it all came back to him. A moment later, Jax turned left off the road onto a tree-lined gravel drive. It was pitch black out as they wound their way upward.

  Thaniel could only stare when Jax pulled up close to the door of a humongous log building. They live here? Pot lights along the ground lit up the place and it was beautiful.

  As they all climbed from the car, Thaniel caught the scent of wolf and hesitated. Tierney stopped and looked back at him and he saw her face soften.

  “It’s okay,” she said, and then as if sensing his fear, she motioned to the male waiting behind her. “That’s Kyrian, Toren’s father. He’s an Okami wolf like Soroyan and is the king of the Okami. He won’t hurt you.” She held her hand out to Thaniel and though still unsure, he took another whiff of the air around him. Again, he smelled wolf, but not Were-wolf.

  He stared at Tierney as she waited patiently for him then finally reached out and took her hand. Almost immediately he felt better—safe––like nothing could harm him as long as he was with her. Tierney smiled at him and though he was nervous, he let her lead him over to the Okami wolf king.

  Mark followed as they made their way over toward Kyrian. Soroyan spoke to his brother, then in a rush of power, he shifted into a large black wolf and ran into the dark forest.

  Thaniel’s mouth dropped open. “How?” he asked. If he could shift so effortlessly, he might not mind. Then he remembered that he was still dangerous.

  “Yeah, they change fast. Did Real ever tell you about the Okami?” Tierney asked, smiling at him.

  Thaniel shook his head as he stared at the trees where Soroyan had disappeared.

  “Toren shocked the crap out of me as well, when he changed instantly,” Mark said beside them.

  They turned back to the male waiting for them. He doesn’t look like a king. Shivering, Thaniel eyed the white t-shirt and faded blue jeans that Kyrian wore. The guy was even wearing sneakers. He took in Kyrian’s long, silvery hair and his first impression, that Kyrian appeared young, changed as a pair of silvery-blue eyes met his. Eyes that beheld a wisdom only born of many years. Thaniel quickly lowered his gaze.

  “I’m sorry we didn’t find Toren,” Tierney said to Kyrian.

  “I thank you for looking,” he said and Thaniel heard the pain and worry in his voice.

  “You are welcome. Kyrian, this is Thaniel and Mark,” she said. Mark greeted Kyrian, but Thaniel stayed silent and eyed the Okami king.

  “I’m happy to meet you both,” Kyrian said.

  “I’m sorry about Toren. He is a fine wolf. I’d like to help find him,” Mark offered.

  “Thank you. He is, and I would appreciate your help.” Kyrian turned questioning eyes back on Tierney and she gave a slight nod.

  “I thought you might have questions for Mark, in case I forgot something.”

  “I do, but they can wait for the moment,” Kyrian said and then spoke to Thaniel. “You’re a new Were-cat.”

  Thaniel tensed up and Tierney squeezed his hand. “The Were-wolves chained Thaniel in the basement last August and left him there,” she added.

  A rush of angry power swept them and Thaniel cringed.

  “I would have thought better of Justin—” Kyrian said only to be cut off when Mark growled at his words.

  “My Alpha had nothing to do with it.”

  Thaniel trembled and held his breath, but Tierney clasped Mark’s arm and calmed him down.

  Mark apologized to Kyrian. “Sorry. My Alpha wanted to help Thaniel, but the night Thaniel arrived, Arlow’s men murdered Justin and locked Thaniel in the basement.”

  “Arlow.” Kyrian growled his disgust. Thaniel shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortable and ready to run, wishing he were anywhere but here. “I’m sorry they d
id that to you. It was wrong and against Oberon’s law,” the Okami leader said gently, stunning Thaniel. Still, he kept his gaze lowered.

  “Kyrian, I wondered if you might be able to help?” he heard Tierney say as she squeezed his hand again. “Thaniel struggles to control his change.”

  “I would be happy to,” Kyrian said, further shocking him.

  They said goodnight, agreeing to speak again the next day. Then Tierney made arrangements for Mark to stay in one of their cabins.

  Thaniel could feel Kyrian’s eyes on them as Tierney led him toward the large log building.

  “How are you holding up?” she asked. Thaniel shrugged, suddenly tired. So much had happened, so much to take in, that he really didn’t know how he was doing. “It’s okay, I get it, we are all worn out after the events of today,” she said.

  Tierney opened the door and Thaniel followed her inside. Along one wall hung coats and jackets, while on the floor shoes and boots were lined up.

  He knew the largest ones had to belong to Sami.

  “Those gunshots earlier, what happened?” he finally asked. It had been obvious something bad had happened.

  Tierney took a deep breath. “We came across these large pits in the ground behind the barns.” She shuddered and Thaniel almost told her that she didn’t have to tell him, but then he thought of the stench and smoke and suddenly his stomach churned and he had to know.

  “What kind of pits? What happened?”

  Tierney bit her bottom lip and hesitated, but Thaniel could see the horror in her eyes. “Sami … he’s been having these dream-visions, about this woman, for the last few weeks.” She shook her head. “Tonight we saw her, right before they threw her into one of the fiery pits.”