Cain.
The part of her chest above her heart twinged. A jolt of white-red pain shot through her. As she reached out to rub it, a brush of energy whispered against her psychic senses.
The psychic scent was like the hot plains of a desert after the first rain. Musky and evocative. It brought tears to her eyes.
Another jolt of pain had her grasping Serena’s hands for support. Sweat ran down her forehead, and she panted in its aftermath.
“You okay?”
She barely heard Serena through the ball of emotion that lodged in her throat.
There was a fluttering in her chest. Her left eyebrow throbbed. “They’re hurting him.” Even as she said the words, fear twisted her gut and she sprang to her feet. “I have to find him.”
32
Cain
Cain’s lion shook back its mane. His nostrils flared, separating out the individual layers of scents that washed over him. Their metallic stench drew the beast to the viewing glass.
The Elysian woman stood there.
Something in the back of his mind told him not to trust her. This female had hurt him—she was going to hurt his mate.
The lion snarled and swatted at the air.
He wanted to leap at her, break through that glass and kill her.
A small part of his hind brain still functioned on a rational level. It told him to hold on to his energy and wait for an opportunity.
He’d had to take his sister and run and watch as his pride had been killed by the Elysians. In a rush it all clicked into place. He’d recognized that metallic smell which had triggered his memories.
He’d crept up from the basement where his parents had shut him and Serena in when their pride had been attacked. Shoving against the trapdoor, he’d found there was a weight blocking it.
He’d put his shoulder to it and heaved once, then again. On the third shove it had burst open. The stench of metal in the air had been thick enough to make him gag.
He’d banged the door shut behind him to prevent Serena from seeing their father’s corpse. Walking out of the house, he’d found the rest of his pride killed. There was no sign of blood or wounds, just bodies strewn around. He couldn’t see his mother.
He realized now that the Elysians must have kidnapped her then, just as they had Serena and Eve. They were going to hurt the people he held most dear in his life.
He couldn’t allow it.
But he had to be clever about it. He had to pretend to cooperate until he gained their trust.
He rubbed his head against the glass, then dropped his neck, pretending to submit.
Once more, the harsh darkness of Vesta’s presence called to him on the psychic plane. His chest expanded.
He dropped his shields, allowing her psychic scent to creep in.
The metallic notes rose to a crescendo. Harsh aluminum and bitter sulfur that swept into his head, clogging his senses. He gagged.
The lion shrank from the invasion of the most private thoughts in his head, the last remaining rational part of his brain pushing him to hold steady, to let her in. Her presence infiltrated past his shields, only to hit a secondary barrier she probably hadn’t been anticipating.
On the other side of the glass screen, Vesta paused, her eyebrows furrowed.
Sweat dotted Cain’s skin; his heart beat fast, and adrenaline laced his blood.
His secondary shields cracked.
Muscles tensing, he dropped into the reserves of psychic energy and held firm against her presence.
Vesta gestured to Tibor to lower the glass barrier.
Tibor looked at her over his screen, but he didn’t respond. He shook his head, his jaw set.
Turning on her heel, she glided to him.
He gripped her chin.
Something silent passed between them.
Breaking away, she stalked back to the glass barrier, then through it. The barrier closed behind her.
Entering the enclosure, she swept up to the lion and touched his forehead. The force against his brain grew stronger. It was like a massive weight pressing down on him, threatening to rip him apart.
The black metallic psychic presence changed shape until its blunt edge pulled back to get leverage.
Cain drew on all the remaining energy inside, just as the psychic hammer swung and shattered his shield.
He had miscalculated. He was going to die.
33
Eve
A jolt of pain slashed through Eve. It blinded her, filling the space between her ears, pushing on her brain. Clutching her head, she bent over and was violently sick.
She was feeling his pain.
How was that possible? Unless...they were connected through a fledgling mating bond. There was no other explanation.
She’d felt him while she was in a coma. It was his presence that had made her return to her body and anchored her to the physical plane.
The bond between them must have formed right then.
She’d been so caught up in trying to resist him, she hadn’t wanted to acknowledge it. She couldn’t ignore it any longer. Not when he was in her head, in her heart. He was a part of her.
She sensed the amber energy of his lion whisper to her on the psychic plane, then it was gone. So was the pain.
The blankness left behind only made it worse. He was alive.
She had to get out of there to help him.
Running to the wall that separated her cell from the beach, she smashed her shoulders against it.
The wall shook but didn’t give.
It wasn’t reinforced like the bars. The Elysians hadn’t expected the shifters who were held here to be in any state to fight back. They hadn’t reckoned with the alpha of the dragons.
All the while, she kept trying to reach out to him through the fledgling bond.
He was not far. She sensed him on the other side of this set of buildings. She was going to get to him.
She shut her eyes and dropped inside herself, reaching for the dragon heart of her. Pulling on that pulsing violet and gold that throbbed there, she slipped in deeper.
To her surprise, she found another layer of energy, a secondary pulsing light that hadn’t been there before. It was a brilliant turquoise and gold, similar to hers but masculine. It felt like Rage was there with her in that second, pushing her on.
It couldn’t be, though. Her brother was dead, lost in the tsunami…but she recognized his psychic scent. How had he found her after all this time?
Was he alive?
The energy buzzed inside, overflowing, filling her cells. Her nerves tingled. Her eyes flew open to focus on the target. Hair swirling around her face, teeth gritted, Eve raced toward the wall. Halfway there she leaped, twirling through the air, adding momentum to the impact. She hit the wall feet first, hands close to her chest, and went right through. She landed on the sand on the other side.
Rolling to her feet, she came to standing position.
Taking off, she ran around the building, in the direction of where she estimated the entrance was.
When she swerved around the corner, she spotted the guards near the door to the building.
Without giving herself time to think, she headed for them.
She slid in low and swept the feet out from under the both of them.
They went crashing to the ground. One of them made to get up, and she smashed her fist into his forehead.
His body shuddered.
Before he’d stopped moving, she grabbed his neck, hauled him up, and peeled back his eyelid for the retina display.
The door to the building that housed the cells slid open.
Dragging the body of the two men with her, she did the same at the retina display next to Serena’s cell.
As the bars shimmered and disappeared, Serena jumped through the open cell. Without looking back, she took off toward the exit, followed by Eve.
Once out of the building, Serena shuddered to a stop. “What now?”
Brushing past, Eve turn
ed right, making straight for the direction in which she’d sensed Cain’s aura.
Even though she couldn’t feel the bond anymore, all her instincts pushed her toward the building at the end of the promenade.
As she drew closer, her head felt heavier. White flickers of pain flashed behind her eyelids, and she stumbled.
Serena grabbed her arm to steady her. “You okay?”
Eve barely noticed her.
With every step, that urgency to get to Cain became louder, drumming inside her, echoing in her head, her heart, at the base of her chest, at the pulse points on her wrists.
Her dragon was pushing her on, its violet and gold energy growing in size, swirling, getting louder and bigger.
Every part of her body vibrated with the need to transform.
Gasping from the effect, Eve dropped into the energy of her dragon, trying to pull it through herself, to reignite the fire and trigger the transformation.
The violet glowed brighter, thrumming through her blood. But there was no reaction from her cells.
Eve swore, rolling her shoulders. Balled her hands into fists. Her insides quivered.
Her dragon was still not ready to reveal herself.
She had no choice but to fight in her human form.
She was much more vulnerable without the strength of her dragon to back her up. The woman in her would have to come to the fore.
It made her even more determined to find Cain. She was going to save him, even if it meant having to kill herself.
Turning to Serena, she gripped the younger woman’s arm. “Go, get out of here.” She forced the words out through a throat gone dry. “Cain would want you safe and away from here.”
The lioness set her jaw in a stubborn line. “If it was Cain in my place, do you think he’d have turned and walked away?” She touched her head scarf, straightening it.
Serena was right.
“Stay out of sight.” Eve pushed the smaller woman to the side. “Give me a few minutes before you come in.” If nothing it would give them an element of surprise.
Sinking into herself, she once more reached for that violet-gold energy of her dragon.
Feeling the energy surge, she channeled it. She let it swell and fill her until she became her dragon in human form.
The dragoness kicked at the door and broke through.
34
Cain
Vesta’s psychic energy smashed through and fragmented his lion’s secondary shield.
The physical impact had his body flying through the air. Cain’s lion crashed into the wall. His ribs cracked, his teeth snapped together, his body shuddered.
Pushing against the wall for purchase, Cain shook his head to clear it.
The lion bared his teeth, pushing aside the pain.
Nostrils quivering, jaws wide, he let out a roar. Thrusting his legs into the ground, the lion sprang to his feet.
Pain cut through him, the blood dripping from his wounds. His head felt like it was going to explode.
He wasn’t going to last much longer.
But he was going to take the Elysian down with him.
Paws flattened onto the floor as he lashed, his tail muscles coiled, ready to leap.
The door flew open, and Eve burst through.
Rolling to the ground, she then vaulted to her feet. Her eyes met the lion’s across the room.
On the psychic plane her dragon reached for the beast through the fledgling mating bond.
Before he could stop his lion, his amber energy surged through the bond, twining with her violet.
The mating bond slammed into him. He was overcome with a feeling of it being just so right.
It filled parts of him he hadn’t even known were empty.
Their joined violet-amber essence mixed with his blood. On the psychic plane, Vesta’s oily darkness rushed toward the joined-up energy.
Eve.
His fear must have communicated itself to her, for their combined mated energy drew right back through the mating bond and into the pulsing violet energy that was Eve’s dragon.
A shudder of transformation jolted Eve.
The air around her shimmered, sparks of gold and violet and red flying through the air. When it cleared, there stood the most beautiful dragon Cain had ever seen. Wings of violet touched with brilliant blue snapped out.
With a screech, his dragoness raised her neck. Smoke poured from the dragon. Opening her jaws, she let loose a stream of dragon fire.
The scent of burning flesh filled the air.
A cry of pain from Vesta echoed around the room. Her energy burned itself out on the psychic plane, consumed by the dragon fire.
Tibor threw himself at Vesta, taking her flaming body down and rolling with her. They slid across the floor. Before they hit the wall, the air around their bodies shimmered, becoming transparent.
They teleported away.
The alpha of the dragons raised her neck and expanded her wings. The span was wide enough to shove against the walls, which cracked and then shattered as the dragon spread her wings to their full length.
The breeze rushed in, pushing away the metallic stench of the Elysians.
Cain took in a shuddering breath of the cool sea air, realizing only then how much that scent had bothered him.
His body trembled, a weakness gripping him.
It felt like all the energy from his body had drained out. When he looked inside himself onto the psychic plane, it was to see the mating bond strong and glowing violet-gold. The energy from his body headed toward the bond, sucked into it and to Eve.
His cells changed shape, his paws drew back, and his mane turned into his hair. Glancing down at his hands, Cain realized he’d transformed back into his human self.
The energy from the bond that had helped Eve transform had replenished his shattered psychic shield around the lion. He was whole again.
For a second, he was just happy to be there with her, to have seen what they could have been together.
He got to his feet, only to find his knees couldn’t hold him up. A trembling gripped his limbs, and he fell back to the floor. “Eve.”
The dragon screeched.
Violet and blue flames swirled over her. The air shimmered, and she drew her wings close to her body.
The dragon surged toward him, its scales fading away, the neck shrinking, legs shortening, until Eve rushed to him in her human form.
Dropping to her knees, she pulled his head into her lap. “No.” Tears fell down her cheeks and onto his lips.
He licked them. “Sweet.” He blinked. Surprise shuddered a path through the strange darkness that was creeping in on him. “Dragon tears are sweet.”
The sound of footsteps echoed around the space, and Serena ran in. “Cain.” She gripped his hand.
She’s safe. Serena was away from harm.
His lips curved in a smile.
A sense of peace filled him as the tension drained out of his muscles.
Eve pulled him closer, kissing his forehead, his cheeks, his lips. “Don’t leave me, don’t you dare die on me.” Her lips wobbled.
Her breath stirred the hair on his head.
The pain receded, and his limbs grew light.
He raised a hand to her face, only for it to slide down to his side. It felt like he was floating.
His eyelids fluttered shut.
Part IV
35
Eve
Eve had wanted to stay and search for Rage. It was his energy that had given her the power to break through the wall of her cell.
She reached out to Rage on the psychic plane, hoping to connect with her brother, but there was nothing. It was as if he was gone.
Had she imagined it all?
With Cain in such bad shape she couldn’t delay getting him back to Bombay. She’d have to come back for Rage.
She helped Serena wrap her scarf around Cain.
Once Eve transformed to her dragon form, Serena managed to get Cain onto her back.
She held him close as Eve snapped out her wings in a vertical take-off. Her body strained and pushed back the air.
Her scales throbbed with the speed she set herself. Her muscles protested, her limbs trembled as she flew, but she refused to let up.
She covered the distance to Bombay in under half the normal time.
Coming into land on the beach just outside the infirmary in Bombay, she flattened her wings and waited for Serena to slide off.
Logan rushed toward them, helping to lower Cain.
Only then did she let the transformation take over. Her cells shrunk, her scales folding in on themselves, her neck sliding back until she was once more in human form. Panting from the effort, sweat running down her back, her legs gave out, and she fell to the sand.
Logan took off his shirt and wrapped it around her quivering shoulders.
She slid her hands into its sleeves, not daring to take her attention off the unconscious Cain. She couldn’t rest until she got him to the infirmary.
Drawing on her lingering energy reserves, she pushed herself to her feet.
Between her and Logan, they balanced his body between them. With Serena leading the way, they got him into the emergency room.
Eve stood in the background as Vance sprang to work. He checked the lion shifter’s vitals, stabilizing him.
All through this, Cain was still.
On the psychic plane, she reached out to find he was empty. Where his amber energy had pulsed there was silence, a white space, and leading from it was the mating bond. A cord of amber and violet that fed her dragon fire.
Her gut tied itself into knots with fear.
He’d reached out to her through the fledgling mating bond and poured his life force into her. It was the trigger she’d needed to break out of the emotional barriers she’d placed on herself, to embrace her dragon and fly.
Obsession_Paranormal Romance _Dragon Shifters, lion shifters, immortals and wolf shifters Page 12
