As he arched, he shifted fully into his dragon form. Glistening obsidian scales covered his body. He was gorgeous, massive, ancient. His paws the size of a half-ton truck. Razor sharp talons glinted in the sun. Alex almost wept at his beauty.
He growled to Domhall below him. “Keep that goddamn break open.”
He dove straight down, soaring into the chasm with the speed and force of a bullet train.
As soon as Collum disappeared, Alex raced through the battle to her mother’s side. She hurled a wave of fire to reinforce the wall of wind.
On the sidelines, Lachon shouted, “Idris.”
“Yes, Law.”
“Take out the Gondien soldiers.”
His lips curled back. “It's about time you made the right choice,” he said before turning to join the battle.
Lachon rushed to Domhall, placing his hands on the earth. “I have this old man. There’s enough power in me to keep this open a bit longer. Go help your daughter and granddaughter so we can rectify the mistake made all those years ago. They cannot beat the twins alone.”
~ ~ ~
Terror surrounded Alex. She and her mother fought side by side against the two council members while behind them the earth quaked. Alex knew the twins shared their elements, making it almost impossible to defend against them, let alone beat them.
Domhall had explained their strengths the night before after scouring through their files. But she wasn't leaving her mother to stand against them alone. She couldn't spare a moment of thought for Collum or Neeren. She had to focus all her energy on staying alive.
Ealian screeched at them that they couldn't be alive, that she wouldn't let them live, that Alex was an abomination. Taurin remained utterly silent. Every move was calculated and swift. He fought like the devil, forcing the world beneath their feet apart time and again. The siblings fought like one being. She and Gray were utterly outmatched.
Ealian howled. The sound of a storm raged in her voice. She used her wind to throw them in the air over and over. “You’re supposed to be dead. It’s all we wanted. Your death was my gift to the dragon. Why couldn’t you just die like your husband.”
The wind became a hurricane. The force threw Alex in the air as Taurin opened a giant rift in the earth behind them.
Ealian’s laughter echoed in the wind. “He was so easy to kill. I let my dragon play with him for a while. I wish he hadn’t cut his tongue out but one can’t live on wishes and prayers, can they? Your lover wouldn’t tell me who he was even after I told him I’d let you live.” She turned demented eyes on Gray. “Can you imagine? He wasn’t worth your time really.”
At the words hurled their way, Gray faltered. The wind protecting them slowed. The earth rushed up to meet Alex and she landed with a thud. Grief twisted her mother’s beautiful face. Out of the corner of her eye, Alex saw her grandfather running toward them with a ball of fire in each outstretched palm. She summoned the last of her strength, raised fire to her fingertips, and screamed to keep the twins focused on her.
She and Domhall threw their flames at the same time.
Ealian noticed too late. The flames slammed into her. The winds whipping around her body forced the fire into a frenzy. Ignited a blast so large her entire frame became engulfed in an instant.
Alex's second flame missed Taurin. The fire thrown by Domhall glanced off his arm. Taurin screamed his sister’s name as her body disintegrated to ash. He threw up the earth, erecting a barrier between Domhall and himself. And using the last of his dead sister’s wind element, blasted Gray across the field.
They were alone and Alex was as bereft of energy and power as any human.
The look in his half dead eyes as he spoke told her she wasn’t long for this world. “You half-breed bitch. That was my life you just killed. I'm going to destroy you like I did that interfering cow, Kaylen.”
The dim-witted brother she’d read about in the papers her aunt had brought them, disappeared. “You all thought she wasted away from the grief of losing her daughter. I'm surprised by your family, little girl. They truly thought that woman would waste away? It was poison you realize. She was threatening to tell certain things about my beautiful Ealian. Disgusting lies. She was jealous of Ealian's beauty and her power over men.”
He stalked Alex, taunted her as she backed away.
“I got rid of her before she could cause more trouble. Except she'd already done it hadn't she. You live.”
Alex choked back a cry of sorrow for a woman she’d never known. She heard her grandfather tearing at the earthen wall behind Taurin. He would break through soon, but it would be too late to stop what was going to happen.
Alex refocused her energy and concentrated on pulling her tattoo off her body. It was—had always been— ready to do her bidding. She might die today, but she was taking this bastard with her. As she felt the earth crumble beneath her feet, she unleashed the molten rope, and with precise control, wrapped it around Taurin's neck.
His screamed ricocheted off the cliffs to the ocean below. He clawed at the fire that held him, attempting to rip it from his neck.
As the soil beneath Alex’s feet gave way and she sunk into the cold earth, she saw was a fully formed dragon burst out of the ground with Neeren in his claws. She screamed Collum’s name, praying he heard her before the earth swallowed her whole.
Chapter 48
Collum saw her the exact moment Domhall burst through the earthen wall, the exact moment the rope around Taurin’s neck gave way. He roared. Agony tore the fire from his chest. He dropped Neeren like a used doll. Every sound around him ceased to exist.
It took him five precious seconds to reach the gap in the earth. Each second was another death. He soared into the earth behind her. Her name ripped from his lungs.
Thunder echoed across the island. Torrents of rain poured down on the inhabitants. As the last waves of the sound faded, the dragon surged out of the earth with Alex wrapped around his neck.
He turned his ancient eyes on the sniveling creature running from the battle to the cliff edge. Terror trailed behind him like a river.
The dragon gently laid Alex next to Domhall. He draped his wing over her body, breathing deeply into her hair. Her scent drove warmth into his favored skin. After assuring himself that Domhall and her mother would care for her, he flew after a dead man.
With the ease of an owl picking off field mice, the beast swept him up and flew over the edge of the cliff to the ocean. Then with utter silence and precision, he plunged the man headfirst into the waist deep water below.
Taurin choked and sputtered. “You, stupid animal. It was your father that started all this.” He laughed, utterly deranged. “Do you think this absolves you?"
The dragon towered over the inferior being. He was lethal, destructive, every inch a killer.
“You will drown now.” His voice was black. It resonated with death.
When the dragon spoke, the history of the world rumbled in his speech. “You will swim as far as you can and you will drown yourself.” Razor-sharp claws lay like death in the sand in front of them. “You will remain locked beneath the ocean for one hundred years. Do you understand.”
Of course, there was no choice. No question. No one could withstand the dragon’s command.
“I understand,” Taurin whispered.
“When one hundred years are up, I will come for you and rip your head from your body. This is my judgement for the murder of Kaylen Taleisin and the attempted murders of Gray Taleisin and Alexedria Simine.”
Tears poured down the other man’s face as he struggled to ignore the shadow of Collum's voice. Yet no being stood a chance against the power of a beast who controlled the rise and fall of the mind. A beast who had done so for longer than any being could fathom. It was over before it began.
As C
ollum knew it would be. As it always was.
On grieving legs, Taurin walked into the ocean, to his living grave.
His will followed, the dragon turned from the site of his enemy collapsing into the waiting waves.
~ ~ ~
He noticed Domhall standing at the edge of the cliff watching him. As the rage left his body, he let the dragon fade. Collum kept his wings though, and flew to the man.
“It’s done.”
Domhall nodded. “It had to be you. It’s why Kaylen chose you to protect our granddaughter. God knows she deserved better than me. And you were her best friend. Thank you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me everything long ago?” he asked of the man who was once his greatest friend. His partner. It was a secret they’d both take to the grave.
“I was ashamed. I’m losing my mind, Coll.” Domhall shrugged. “Besides, you boys are always so focused on balance. You’d have tried to fix things long before it was the time to do so.”
“You could join us again, you know.”
Dom smiled sadly. “No, I stopped being a guardian the moment I agreed to send Gray to your father. We both know I was corrupted.”
Collum nodded slowly. As much as he wanted the man to be whole again, they both knew he wasn’t.
“Check into the witch. She has potential.”
“She’s too wild to be a guardian, Dom.”
“Hmmm, well some of us think you guardians could use a little stirring up.”
Collum laughed. The sound rumbled across the cliff. The dragon inside him eased. “Maybe you’re right.”
“You need to get Alex to agree to the binding. It’s the only way Lachon will agree,” Domhall said. “It’s how we keep the balance. You know that.”
“You’ll handle Neeren?”
“My grandson’s power will be bound before the week is over.”
“Very well. I'll talk to her. But she’s only to be bound against the Elementals. No others. I have hope for her. I think she is strong enough to be a guardian one day.”
Domhall closed his eyes and took a long breath before reaching out a hand to his lifelong friend. “Thank you for avenging Kaylen's death. I am in your debt.”
Collum clasped the other man’s hands in his. Said, “There is no debt between us. You make sure you call me when you’re ready to come back,” before launching himself in the air to find his woman.
Chapter 49
Collum flew back to Alex and plucked her out of the dwindling battle. Silently, he took them to the beach where they’d made love the night before. He ignored her protests, sat her gently at the edge of the water. He absorbed his wings back into his body before quietly washing the dirt and soot from her face.
“We have to go back, Collum. They need us.”
He ignored her protests as each cleansing swipe of water showed him more wounds. “No. You almost died back there. You promised not a scratch. I see a scratch.”
“Did you kill Taurin? Oh God. He murdered my grandmother.”
“He will never hurt anyone else.”
He sat back on his haunches and stared at her. There was nothing more important than her.
“Your family is capable of protecting themselves. We’re staying right here until my heart attack is over and then we’re flying directly back to My. Goddamned. House. Where we will stay until you get over your shit and admit you love me.”
Tears began to fall from her eyes.
Immediately contrite, he said, “Are you hurt? Why are you crying?”
“I love you.”
“What?”
“I'm crying because I love you.”
“Oh, well aren't you supposed to be happy when you fall in love?” He stood up, still full of fire from the battle. “Don’t think that gets you out of coming home with me.”
“Quit telling me what to do and be happy I said it.”
“I'm happy.”
He stopped his pacing as she broke out in laughter. “Something tells me this love thing isn’t going to be easy between us.”
Collum flopped beside her on the sand. “You know it won’t be.” He plucked dirt and flowers out of her hair.
He prepared himself for her anger. “I need to ask something of you, princess.”
She stroked his shoulders. “What is it?”
“You must let the witch bind your dreamwalker power over the Elementals.”
She leaned back from him and removed his hand from her hair. “That’s never going to happen. That’s what this war was about.”
“No, this fight was about balance and keeping you alive. This was no war. The only way to keep a war from happening is to ensure you hold no power over the Elementals. It was promised to Lachon the Law.”
“Grandfather won’t let this happen.”
“He engineered this, Alex. And as much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. He spent twenty-five years trying to find a way to save your life. Finding a witch powerful enough to perform the binding spell. You and your brother hold too much power. Power you aren’t ready to manage. You must be willing, or a war you may not be able to stop, will happen. Hell, a war may still happen.”
She dug her feet in the sand. “Why does no one feel it necessary to bind your powers? It seems to me you are more powerful than all of us?”
“I am The Guardian, Alex.”
“Yes, I know that. You’ve said it enough times.”
“But you don’t get it. Only a few do.” He sighed. “I cannot forsake my calling. It is my sworn duty to maintain the balance in the world. The final choices will always be black and white. I make those choices.”
“There are gray areas. There is free will.”
“No. There must be balance in everything. I keep that balance. The decision of The Guardian is the last decision, regardless of free will.”
“And the right to my power falls under that category?”
“Your power disrupts the balance, Alex.” He was stoic, a rock. “These are not gray areas.”
“You would do this to me, for balance?”
He nodded. “I would.”
“And my free will? What about that?”
“That is mine in this instance.”
“How many times has my free will been yours, Collum?
“This is a discussion we cannot have, sweetheart.”
“But you love me.”
“I do love you. I must also protect you and sometimes that means my will must be followed.”
Alex sighed, realizing the whole dreamwalking thing didn’t even matter to her that much. But she needed Collum to be her champion not just her protector. “You can let her bind me, Collum. But after, you need to leave.”
“I’m taking you with me, princess.”
“No, not this time.” She placed her hand on his lips when he would have argued. “I love you. I do. But I’ve only been immortal for a week. You’ve been for thousands of years. I don’t understand any of this, not even who I am.”
“I know who you are.”
“Do you? You keep expecting me to blindly accept all this immortality stuff. You need to recognize that I grew up human. All my choices will be affected by my humanity. I don’t think like you. I need to question everything, understand it all.”
“You will.”
“Maybe. I doubt it.”
You’re special. It’s your humanity that makes you that way to me.”
“Maybe. But I think I need you to go home for a little while.”
“Because of my request?”
“Because of everything. I ache for you. I love you. But I need time.”
He held her face in his hands and kissed her eyelids. “We’re destined.”
Tears streamed
down her face. She kissed his lips before taking a step back. “I like cheap Tuesday at the theatre and gummy bears. I’ll expect you to pick me up in two weeks. After you study up on what it means to be human.” She turned to leave.
As Alex walked away from him, emptiness hollowed out his gut. His dragon stirred in protest, everything in him demanding that he stop her. That’s when Collum realized balance wasn’t worth losing her. Maybe that’s what Domhall had been trying to tell him all this time.
He reached her in two long strides, clasping her shoulder to gently turn her around. The heat from her skin burrowed beneath his own, shattering two thousand years of armor. He bent a knee so he could look directly into her beautiful eyes. Brought up his other hand to brush the back of his fingers across her damp cheek.
“I forgot, Alex. I forgot what it meant to put love before duty, before balance. I forgot what living looked like. I won’t lose you. You come first, from this day forward. If that means you need time, then I give it to you freely. But know this, sweetheart, I will never, for a moment stop fighting for you. You belong with me.
Her eyes widened, and he could read every conflicted emotion swirling in her violet gaze. Love. Stubborn defiance. Hesitation.
Satisfied she got his meaning, Collum straightened and kissed her cheeks, her eyes, her lips. He held her until his dragon calmed—until he tasted the answer on her mouth. “Two weeks, babe. Then I’m coming for you.”
He released her and stepped back. “Be ready.”
Magic Born,
Book Two in The Guardian series
Maria Del Voscova is a powerful Witch with a past. Her friends Alex and Collum are busy navigating new love, and guardian business. She doesn’t want to burden them with her messed-up history. But we don’t always get what we want. Sometimes, we don’t always know what we want. Though Mar absolutely knows she doesn’t want Neeren, King of the Parthen. She alone sees the darkness in him and it reminds her too much of the past. She knows better than to fall for his stoic, tortured-soul façade.
Fire Born (The Guardian Series Book 1) Page 22
