Dragonmark

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

  Josette glared at them. "Do you mind? He doesn't trust any of you."

  "Why should I trust you?" he growled low in his demonic voice.

  Josette met his gaze without flinching. "Because I love you. I promised I wouldn't let them have you and I meant it. Come home with me, Cade. Let me give you the love you deserve."

  She's lying. 'Tis the worst sort of dodge ever handed you, lad. Don't be an imbecile.

  But he saw no deceit in her eyes. Heard no tremble in her voice.

  Before he could stop himself, he was on his way to her. He expected her to scream when she saw what he looked like. Horned, winged, and foul. Even he'd glimpsed himself and thought, That can't be right.

  Yet it was. His outside now betrayed the truth of his blood. It telegraphed to the world exactly what a monster he'd been born.

  Like the warrior she was, Josette didn't flinch at his approach. He saw no condemnation in her dark eyes. Only a warmth he'd never known anywhere, other than her arms.

  She again reached for him. "I'm here for you, baby."

  He pulled back. "Don't look at me. I'm hideous."

  "There is nothing about you I find repellent." She leaned so far forward to reach him that she almost crashed into the water.

  Cadegan rushed to catch her and push her back to safety.

  And the moment he felt her hand on his skin, he calmed down to that quiet serenity that eased him deep inside his soul.

  She wrapped her tiny hand around his miscolored, clawed one. "Ever my hero. Thank you."

  Cadegan stared at their laced fingers. As always, her skin was the perfect porcelain blend. Soft beyond imagining. "Aren't you afraid of me?"

  She shook her head. "I will never fear you."

  Before he realized what she intended, she bent down and kissed his scarred lips.

  Jo tried not to think about the fact that he could tear her apart as he lifted his hand to cup her face while he kissed her. Her body went from cold to hot faster than she was prepared for. More than that, he kissed her with an untasted passion.

  When he pulled back, she expected to look into reptilian eyes again.

  They were again his vibrant blue. She smiled at him as she danced her gaze over his perfect, male body. He looked just as he had before.

  Slowly, his eyes locked on hers, he lifted himself out of the water and neared her. Like an exhausted cat, he laid his head down in her lap and pressed her hand to his cheek.

  "Me precious Josette."

  She brushed her hand through his hair. "My beautiful Cadegan."

  "I still cannot leave this place, me lady. I am forever damned here."

  "No, sweetie. I've come to get you. I can take you through the portal, the same way we took Illarion."

  Lifting his head, he met her gaze. "Do you swear to me?"

  "Every effing day." She rose and held her hand out to him. "Come home, Cadegan."

  He glanced to his brother, who watched them with a worried expression. "Are you here to stop us?"

  Thorn shook his head. "I'm here to help."

  "And you are?" he asked the blond man beside his brother.

  "I'm Styxx. They brought me along because I have Asshole Brother issues, too. Mine, as well as his goddess girlfriend, locked me in a hole for eleven thousand years. I know exactly how hard it is to trust again. And I know the hunger you have to be free of this place. Come with us, and we'll take you to a place where you'll never be alone again."

  "Will you be there?" he asked Josette.

  "I promise I will never leave you."

  "Take me home with you, Josette. 'Tis the only place I wish to be."

  Thorn stepped back as he watched his brother, now in human form, lay his head down on her shoulder. It was the damnedest thing he'd ever seen.

  One minute, Cadegan had been a full-fledged, blood-crazed demon.

  The next, he was perfectly calm again. Serene, even. Acheron was right. So long as they had Jo, they had a leash for Cadegan.

  But as he opened the portal and allowed them to walk through it, he knew it wasn't this easy.

  Something bad was going to happen.

  21

  Cadegan hesitated at the portal as the others went through. Styxx stayed behind with him and Josette.

  On the other side, Thorn turned to face them. His expression seemed sincere enough. But Cadegan wasn't accustomed to trusting him.

  Not for anything.

  "I am here for you, little brother."

  That only made Cadegan more apprehensive. Thorn killed or banished creatures like him. He didn't suffer them to live among the world of man, and he damn sure didn't help them to reach it.

  Unsure, Cadegan met Josette's dark gaze, and tightened his grip on her delicate hand.

  "I trust him, Cade. He won't betray you. And if he does, I promise to serve up a part of his anatomy that he'll definitely miss."

  He smiled at that.

  "I am here for you, Cade. Always."

  Those words touched a part of him he'd never met before and they choked him. In that moment, he craved her with a madness that made the demon inside him tremble in fear. Cupping her cheek, he kissed her and wished they were alone so that he could ease the other ache inside him that begged for her touch.

  With a breath for courage and her hand in his, he stepped through and waited for the wall to slam shut in his face. For him to walk into a solid wall that kept him where he belonged.

  In hell.

  But it didn't.

  Holding his breath, he stepped through, into a horrifically bright room. Unused to actual daylight, he flinched and held his hand up to shield his squinting eyes. Even so, he reveled in the pain of it.

  Sunlight. Real and true. He could even feel the warmth of it on his skin.

  Amazed, he held his hand out and let the rays dance over his flesh.

  "Dang it, Karma! Close your curtains. Fast!"

  A woman who looked similar to Josette ran to obey.

  Jo bit her lip as she watched the awe and marvel play across Cadegan's handsome face. He was like an infant discovering his feet for the first time.

  And he looked so out of place here with his black monk's robe and chain mail and spurs.

  Karma raked a sneer over him, but he didn't pay a bit of attention to her. Not while unbelievable joy spread across his face, as he turned a small circle and glanced around the brightly painted room and decorated bookshelves.

  He met Jo's gaze. "Where am I?"

  "Karma's house."

  Cadegan digested that news slowly as he continued to look about. Scowling, he paused and cocked his head at the sight of a familiar stranger. In the far corner was a man who appeared identical to Styxx, except his hair was black and his eyes a swirling silver, instead of Styxx's deep blue.

  "Severe Asshole Brother issues," Styxx repeated in Cadegan's ear. His voice was filled with humor as he cracked a wide grin. "Every time you think you have it bad, just remember, you don't see Thorn's face every single time you stumble in front of a mirror."

  Cadegan snorted at something that wasn't really funny. "I concede this issue to you, me lord. By far, yours is the greatest indignity."

  He clapped Cadegan on the shoulder. "If only you knew, my brother. If only you knew." Rubbing his arm affectionately, Styxx went to his brother's side. For all of Styxx's protestations, he and Acheron seemed to get along well.

  In fact, Acheron embraced him. "Glad you're back. I was starting to worry."

  Patting him on the shoulder, Styxx indicated them with his chin. "Acheron, I present to you, Cadegan."

  Acheron inclined his head respectfully. "Welcome back, my lord."

  He seemed sincere and decent enough. But Cadegan was suspicious of the demon blood he sensed inside Acheron. Blood Styxx didn't share.

  What was he? Why would one twin be demonic while the other wasn't?

  "We have clothes for you," Acheron said graciously. "Whenever you're ready, Styxx or I can show you to your new home."

  Ca

degan arched a brow. "My new home?"

  "In a realm called Katateros."

  His stomach wrenched as his anger grew. So he wasn't free after all. He'd only gone from one prison to the next. That was what he got for trusting them. He should have known better. "Then I'm not to stay in this realm?"

  The men stepped back in trepidation.

  Jo placed her arm on his and calmed him as she saw the demon rising to the forefront. She placed her hand on his face and forced him to meet her loving gaze.

  His eyes went from yellow back to blue as quickly as they'd switched before. "Shh, Cade. That's not what they meant. You'll have the freedom to come and go as you wish. And I'll be with you the whole time. If that's what you want."

  "You will?"

  She nodded. "I will be with you so long as you want me. Just promise that if you want to get rid of me, you'll tell me and not cut my head off or something equally mean."

  "I would never do such, lass." He pressed his cheek to hers before he stepped back to eye Thorn. But at least this time, he remained fully human.

  Jo wrinkled her nose playfully at him as he held her hand. "Your eyes are like an old-fashioned mood ring. The moment you get angry, bang ... the demon rears its ugly head and stares at me. Kind of scary."

  "I would never cause you harm, Josette."

  "You mean you hope you'd never harm her."

  They all turned to Thorn, who'd spoken. Unrepentant, he explained his point. "The demon in our blood isn't always under our control. For that reason, Jo, you need to learn when to run from it. Lest you be harmed, and he be devastated by his own inability to control himself."

  "Really?" she asked, suddenly apprehensive of Cadegan.

  Acheron nodded. "I almost killed my wife once in the throes of it. And I'd sooner cut out my own heart than make my Tory frown."

  Cadegan hesitated at those words. Since he was so seldom around others, and never someone he loved, he hadn't even considered that. "Is this true?" he asked Thorn.

  "Sadly, yes, brother. But you know that. It's what led me to banish you. You unleashed the demon within and killed without reason."

  Aye, he had. But, unlike Josette, they had meant nothing to him. Suddenly, fear rose up inside him. He tightened his grip on her hand. "Then I should be apart from you."

  "Not on your life, bucko. Call me Velcro. You go, I go. I promised you that and I never break my word, either." Her eyes darkened as she passed a knowing smile to Styxx. "Would you mind showing us to our new home now? I should like to introduce Cadegan to my three children."

  He choked and coughed at that. Was she serious? "Pardon, lass?"

  Jo blinked innocently as she heard the panic in his voice. "Didn't you know, sweetie? You're a father."

  The expression on his face was priceless.

  "Only you could make stark cold terror look sexy, Cade." She kissed his cheek. "Relax, sweetie. It's just my three dogs. You'll love them."

  Finally relaxing, he shook his head at her.

  Laughing, Styxx returned to their sides. "If you're ready?"

  Cadegan nodded.

  One second they were at Karma's with all the group that had rescued Cadegan. The next, they were gone.

  Max clapped his hand over Illarion's back. "You ready to leave?"

  Illarion nodded, even though he wasn't sure if that was the truth. In all honesty, he didn't feel like he belonged here any more than Cadegan did.

  And unlike Cade, he didn't have the love of his life to help him adjust. Strange how as bad as it'd all seemed at the time, in retrospect, being damned to the Shadow Tor hadn't been that awful.

  At least Edilyn had been with him.

  Now ...

  He felt adrift and without purpose.

  While he still had the Halter and the Spartoi, they were meaningless to him. So he allowed Max to take him to his home in Sanctuary.

  A huge loft apartment that was modified to accommodate a dragon's weight.

  Max kept looking at him with a state of utter disbelief. "I just can't believe you're here and alive."

  Neither could he, honestly.

  Aimless, he wandered around Max's apartment that held some of his sacred items Max had guarded over the centuries. Why do we do this again, brother?

  Max frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

  He met Max's gaze that was so different from his. Not the human forms that were forced on us. The original curse placed on our mother by Azura that damned the lilitu to only birth dragon children ... monsters to be solitary. To live immortal lives of isolation and misery. Is it any wonder why the Daimons eat human souls to elongate their lives? I actually understand their motivation. It's not fair that we be cursed by the gods for actions none of us took.

  Max had that look on his face that he'd always gotten, whether dragon or human, that said he never bothered with such philosophy.

  Curse of his Arel father.

  Duty. Honor. Protect.

  Illarion's curse was more--kill. Maim. Screw them all.

  It was a wonder they ever got along or saw eye to eye on any matter.

  Never mind. I'm just tired.

  "Then rest. I have to work in the bar next door. If you need anything, just call."

  Illarion nodded. Shifting into his dragon form, he lumbered to the straw to lie down.

  But as he did so, his past played through his mind. The horrors of those who'd mocked. Those who'd tortured and tormented him.

  And his soul screamed out for the only balm it'd ever known.

  A single crystalline tear fled down his cheek with the knowledge that for him there would never be anything more than duty. Nothing more than misery.

  Nothing more than mere existence.

  Forevermore.

  And while he'd once been content with that, Edilyn had taught him to want more. To need more. Now he hated and resented his birthright with every shitty breath he drew.

  22

  The hardest part about living a life not bound by linear years was gauging length. But then, even those bound to finite life spans in sequential order occasionally suffered from a form of temporal displacement where sometimes a single year could seem like a blink or a week could last an eternity.

  With Illarion, he kept drifting back to his days in Greek captivity when they'd forced him to become a man against his will.

  To those escape attempts with Max when he'd been reliant on his brother.

  Probably because he felt that way now. Only this wasn't a physical need for protection. It was emotional, and he hated that even more. He wasn't physically weak and unable to fight. In fact, he'd never been stronger in that regard.

  It was his spirit and soul that were sick. The need inside him to feel connected again.

  He'd never craved that. Not until Edilyn. Her absence left such a vacuous hole inside him that it was as if a part of him had been carried away into the grave with her.

  It didn't help that he was here with the Peltier bears and Kattalakis wolves and their mates. Daily reminders of what bonded mates were like.

  What they should be like.

  Max was his brother, not just in blood, but in misery. A mated dragon whose partner had abused him to such extent that Max had left her in the Stone Age and sought refuge thousands of years out of her reach.

  Yet he would sometimes mumble Seraphina's name in his sleep. Illarion never mentioned it to him, and if Max remembered doing it, he never spoke a word about it. Nor did he ever talk about Sera at all.

  In fact, no one here other than Illarion even knew Sera existed.

  Max kept that as his personal hell.

  So on the night when she and her Amazon tribe made a thunderous appearance in the Sanctuary bar and grill, Max turned more than a few Were-Hunter heads.

  But the bomb she laid on them all was the one none of them, especially Max, have ever suspected....

  Blaise shoved at Maxis as Illarion joined them in the private room inside Sanctuary that was reserved to isolate rowdy patrons. He'd been awakened by their shouting. The last thing he'd expected was to find his two brothers embroiled in a heated argument in front of Seraphina.

  "Max is planning to leave us behind and go fight demons on his own for his dragonswan. Go on and tell him how stupid he is, Illarion. I tried and he's too stupid to listen."

  Illarion arched a brow at that. His sharp, steely gaze went to the titian-haired bitch who'd all but destroyed his brother and narrowed with a bloodlust that visibly scared her. And well it should, since he meant it.

  Shaking his head, he let out a frustrated sigh as he returned a furious glower to Maxis. So can I kill her now?

  Eyes wide, Seraphina stepped back. "Excuse me?"

  "No!" Maxis snapped. "And stop asking me that."

  Illarion looked up at the ceiling. It's so not fair. I lost my Edilyn and yet this bitch lives and returns? Why, gods? Why? His jaw ticcing, he looked to Blaise. Is there not some transmutation of souls we can do? Place my mate's soul in her body?

  "Maybe."

  Max growled at them. "Stop it! Both of you! You're not going to swap out her soul."

  I don't understand why you continue to protect her. She's never brought anything save utter hell and misery to your door. You told me yourself that she could barely look at you when you lived together. So why are you so eager now to die at her command? Let her rot in whatever mess she's woven. It serves her right.

  Seraphina winced.

  "Enough, Illarion! She's the mother of my young and I will not have you say another word against her."

  That news cold-cocked him. You spawned with her? Are you infinitely stupid? The answer to that was obvious.

  Instead of saving their race, Max, you should have cut that ungrateful whore's throat and devoured her unborn young when you had the chance. Saved us all the misery and heartache they've caused us since then. Not to mention indigestion and ulcers.

  Illarion raked another cold sneer over Seraphina. Be grateful you're his mate. That alone stays my hand from ripping out your heart and feasting on it ... Arcadian.

  But Max wasn't in the mood to give him any reprieve. "If not for them, Illarion, you'd have never met your Edilyn."

  Illarion winced at his brother's cruel reminder, and looked away. You're not helping your cause, brother. You're only reminding me why I hate them all and what they've viciously taken from me.... Now, what's this infernal madness you're on about?

  Max glared at him. "You're the only being alive who can talk to me like that and not be gutted on the floor."

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