by Amelia Jade
“Do you ever show anyone else the sights?” someone asked in her voice.
Miranda glanced around quickly, trying to figure out who else had spoken. On the far side of the room the two groups of shifters from different places were sharing smiles, hands moving through the air as they retold one story or another.
But nobody else was around.
Daxxton’s eyes focused on her.
Uh-oh.
Uh-oh indeed.
I asked that question, didn’t I?
Yes, she had. Why had she done that? It would have been so much easier to keep her mouth shut. Instead, she’d just asked him if he had a mate.
His eyes closed and slowly reopened, and she saw defenses in place behind them, blocking her from seeing the true emotion her question had wrought within him. Instead, there was just a hint of dullness in the golden-brown orbs, a reflection of the walls inside him that refused to open for her.
“No,” he said at last. “I have always gone alone.” He paused, and she saw his jaw working.
What was he trying to say?
“But,” he said slowly. “I would be okay—”
Whatever else he was about to say was lost as the door in front of them opened and the two parties reemerged from their room. Klara lead the way out, with the princess following behind her.
“Okay,” Klara was saying. “I’ll assemble the Council while you get settled in. It might take a bit, but I’ll let you know as soon as I can.”
“Thank you, Klara. You are most gracious,” the princess replied, bowing her head to her host.
“Think nothing of it.” Klara said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“We have been invited to stay at the Nova residence,” the princess informed Miranda.
Beside her, Miranda saw Daxxton stiffen. Something was wrong with that statement. But what? She couldn’t just ask him. She’d have to find out herself. Was it the part about being “invited”? Had they been forced into it? Were the Tanithians being held hostage now?
She couldn’t see any sign of hostility or threat in the princess’s body language, nor had she used any of their predetermined phrases to indicate distress. So, Miranda mused, whatever it was, it wasn’t something the princess knew about.
The place where they were going then. Something was wrong with that, or Daxxton didn’t like the choice for some reason. Why wouldn’t he like it if they stayed with the Novas? Miranda knew the Nova name. The princess had had dealings with them, but never in person. She’d seen Klara’s name on many papers before.
And yet, she couldn’t ignore Daxxton’s reaction. Okay, time to get more information.
All of the above happened within a split second as her mind whirred.
“That sounds lovely. Whereabouts in the city is this?” she asked. “I want to send someone on ahead.”
“Oh, it’s not in the city,” Klara said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I have a condo here if I must stay over, but I dread it. No, my estate is northeast of the city. About thirty minutes’ flight time.”
Ah. There it was.
“Outside the city?” she asked, turning to face the princess. “I don’t like it. That’s far from any sort of reinforcements if anything happens.”
Beside her she could feel Daxxton urging her on silently, his body language in complete agreement with her.
Klara frowned dangerously, clouds gathering in her eyes at the suggestion that her house wasn’t safe enough. “You will be completely safe on my lands, I promise you that.”
“It’s not you I don’t trust,” Miranda said, addressing the unintended insult. “It’s the rationality of those after us. They already attacked us on Cadian soil. They’ve gone past logical thinking. If they try to come after us again, we’re far away from anyone else who might come help.”
Klara seemed to take that into consideration. Her expression relaxed, and she nodded.
“Very well, I can understand that.” She turned to Daxxton. “See to it there is adequate protection nearby. The princess is our honored guest. My own security team will meet you when you land. Evaluate and then do what you need to from there.”
Daxxton nodded.
The exchange seemed to calm him. Heck, it calmed her as well. Miranda had thought Klara was going to fight them on it. If she’d done that, and the princess had been attacked, it would have made Miranda very suspicious of Klara. But by turning over the details to Daxxton, someone she trusted, Miranda let herself believe that Klara wasn’t deliberately trying to harm them.
No, she realized, thinking about it some more. This was a power play. By having the princess stay at her estate, Klara showed the others just who the real power in town was.
Ugh, politicians.
Daxxton turned to face her as Klara said her farewells and made her exit.
“I’ll be right back. I’ll meet you on the roof. We’ll leave from there.” He pointed to a door that said Roof Access on it.
“Okay, we’ll head up,” she said, her eyes lingering on him for several seconds more than was appropriate.
They finally broke gazes, and she immediately formed her team up and began heading for the roof as Daxxton conferred with his men.
Chapter Four
Daxxton
Daxxton had seen the predatory gaze in Klara’s eyes. She knew the princess was in a weak position, and he’d had a sudden inkling that she was going to exploit that for all it was worth at the expense of the smaller shifter territory.
But just then, as he took the stairs to the roof two at a time, he was concerned with the princess’s—and Miranda’s—safety.
He pushed open the door and blinked at the darkness.
Were we really waiting that long?
Then again, it had been late afternoon when they’d left to go intercept the incoming visitors in the first place.
Damn these short winter days.
“Miranda,” he said, pulling her to the side as he reached the knot of shifters milling around.
“What?” she asked, eyes focusing at the tone of his voice.
“I think it might be better if we stay here for the night, and then proceed on in the morning. When it’s light out.”
The beautiful woman from Tanith stared at him like he was crazy.
“Do gold dragons not have night vision?” she asked in confusion. “It may be dark, but we can see just fine.”
He gritted his teeth.
“I can see in the dark as well, but it’s not the same, and you know it. If that mercenary team were to strike again, this would be the best time for it.”
Why was he being so paranoid? They were in the heart of Cadia. Even the thirty-minute flight to the Nova Estates wouldn’t put them near the border. Plus, Klara had an entire security team of trained shifters on her premises at all times, in addition to the princess’s security team and him.
So why couldn’t he shake the bad feeling?
“We should stay here,” he repeated.
Miranda eyed him.
“We would be insulting Miss Nova if we did that,” she said at last.
Daxxton snarled. “Politics be damned! This is about safety.”
“The bigger picture, Daxxton,” she said softly, reaching up to place a calming hand on his chest.
He froze as she touched him, not sure what to do.
Speak. Keep talking. Don’t look at her lips. Don’t do it.
“What, uh, big picture?” He stumbled over the words, thrown off stride by the sudden closeness with Miranda.
“The entire reason we came here. I can’t come here to try and stir Cadia back into action while simultaneously insulting the one person who has the most influence. Don’t you see? I…we have to take this risk. I’m no more keen on the idea of flying out to some unknown location at night than you are. We can’t do a proper scout of the area, even with our night vision. As you said, it’s good, but nothing replaces daylight. Trust me, I understand. I don’t like it either.”
She sighed.
“But it’s a necessary evil.”
He growled deep in his chest. “I hate politics.”
“I know you do,” she said, patting him gently on his chest, before slowly dropping her hand.
Daxxton glanced down, suddenly wishing she would put her hand back on him. He missed its presence more than he’d imagined possible.
“You know the way,” she said with a smile, and gestured behind him.
Daxxton turned, his motions almost robotic as he looked out at the roof of Guardian headquarters.
The roof was made of heavily reinforced steel. The area they were currently standing on was bare steel, a circle of it at the center of it all. Spreading out from there was a layer of fire-hardened stone. Unlike most places where the stone was laid in circles, here it covered most of the roof.
That was why the heavy-duty construction was necessary. The stone weighed a lot. Plus it had to be made to support the weight of the immense dragons that made use of the landing pads on a regular basis.
“Spread out,” he called.
There wasn’t room for them all to shift at once. The dragons were just too big. Four of them occupied the corners of the building. Nolan, he believed the man’s name was, and the princess would shift after the air was secured.
Daxxton, Miranda, Vogel—now healed enough to fly on his own, although still hurting—and Dak all summoned their dragons.
Dak and Vogel both took to a knee as they disappeared behind their dragon elements, swirling red fire clouds and a thunderous ball of lightning.
To his right, Miranda spread her arms wide, inky blackness filling the void between them and her body, like the wings of a jumpsuit. Then she brought her arms together in a cross over her chest. The blackness swirled up and around her, then exploded outward like the wings of a bat as she shifted.
It was interesting, he thought, how everyone had their own little thing when it came to shifting.
Daxxton’s was much, much simpler. Gold mist trailed him as he walked to the center of his part of the roof. The impermeable clouds grew larger and centered on him as he stopped walking.
He turned to face the others, noting the various sets of eyes on him, human and shifter alike. Tossing them a wink, he raised his right hand, and with as much nonchalance as he possessed, he snapped his fingers.
The gold mist exploded into a fiery explosion that grew in size until the clouds turned black. The flames became bolts of lightning that grew in intensity from blue all the way to white as his globe of clouds became one of snow that fell apart as he shook his mighty golden wings.
The snow fell around him like a freshly shaken snow globe, melting into nothingness as it touched the stone around him.
Daxxton couldn’t help but smile at the awed looks some of the others were giving him. He often hated being at the center of attention. Sometimes though, sometimes the look of delight his shifting put on the faces of others was worth it.
And this was one of those times. But in the end, they had a job to do.
“Okay people, let’s move out,” he said loudly.
Four sets of huge wings rose up, and as one, the quartet launched themselves from the corners of the three-story building. He had propelled himself up, and as he began to fall, Daxxton angled himself down, beating his wings again. The giant golden dragon fell three stories as he picked up speed. Using momentum, he opened his wings as he approached the ground and beat them hard, forcing himself into an upward arc that steadily pulled him away from the ground as he gained speed and power.
A quick glance around him showed the others doing the same, even as the other two members of their party moved to the outskirts of the roof.
He noted the black dragon that formed where the princess had stood. It was rare that two Blast Dragons would be together in the security team, but he understood it now. Not only did Miranda look a little like the princess, but she could also pass as her in public if she needed to appear in dragon form.
Handy, that. I wonder how often that’s helped them avoid trouble?
“Do you really think Fenris would chance sending a team into Cadia proper to attack us?” Nolan asked as he and Miranda moved up on either side of him.
Behind them, Dak and Vogel flanked the princess, to her side and just slightly to her rear as well, putting her firmly in the center of the formation.
“They wouldn’t send their own troops, no,” he said immediately.
“But even if they send the mercenaries, wouldn’t that basically be provoking open warfare?” Nolan pressed.
“Not if we can’t prove who sent them,” Daxxton and Miranda replied together.
He looked over at the black Blast Dragon and smiled.
She smiled back. He pictured her human face and the way it curved up into a smile.
Miranda was certainly beautiful.
Without warning the image in his mind wavered, and changed. The black hair became blonde, the soft, milky skin became tanned, kissed by the sun, and dark brown eyes became a soft green.
Kyra.
She gave him a sad smile.
Daxxton felt sick to his stomach. His wings beat hard and he pulled slightly ahead of the other two, flying in silence as his mind hammered him with guilt. He was betraying his mate.
It had been a long time since Kyra had died. Daxxton had not been celibate, though it had taken him a long time to be with a woman afterward. He’d been unable to live with himself for some time after…after…
After you exacted your revenge.
Yes. After that. But in time, he’d learned to appreciate the touch of a woman once more.
But it was only physical, as a relief of his more basic needs. Never more than once either, as he did not trust himself not to begin to care. It had just been easier that way.
But none of the women he’d met had been anything like Miranda either. And now here he was, not having had any intimate contact with her besides a pat on his chest, and he couldn’t get her out of his mind.
How could he do that to Kyra? How could he sully her memory like that? She had loved him with all of her heart. Had given him everything she’d had. Her virginity. Her hand in marriage. They’d even begun trying to conceive a child together, only days before—
Daxxton snarled silently as he shoved images of burning buildings from his mind, determined not to relieve that memory once again. Not right now.
But the smiling green-eyed beauty with long blonde hair wouldn’t leave his mind. She just kept on giving him that same sad smile, the look saying only one thing.
What about me?
He snarled at himself and pushed harder, trying to get them there faster.
And at the back of his mind the entire time was the feeling of danger that just wouldn’t go away.
***
The sprawling grounds of the Nova Estate came into view twenty-odd minutes later. They were so massive, however, that the party still had to fly onward for another handful of minutes before they began to descend toward the house.
He watched as the picturesque clusters of trees gave way to the perfectly manicured lawns that surrounded the estate building itself.
“Wow,” he heard Nolan say from behind him.
It certainly was an amazing sight. Gently rolling hills covered in cross-hatched grass led up to the house itself. The huge mansion, laid out in a cross pattern, was a brilliant white even at night, the four wings all pointing at one of the primary compass points.
Extending directly away from the wings of the house were stone landing strips, illuminated by rows of solar-powered lights, making it easy for his team to descend.
Daxxton was careful to land gently, so that his claws didn’t mar the ground beneath them. The stone underfoot was not the normal beige of nearly everywhere else. It was a red quartz that was always kept pristinely polished, despite the fact that most of the visitors were dragons who had a tendency to scratch and scuff things up.
As his team descended behind him, a group of men emerged from the house,
fanning out to either side of the walkway as they approached. They skirted the giant garden that the walkway split around. Each of the four corners had one, and at the center of each garden was one of the massive Vallenwood trees, towering high into the air and spreading out to cover much of the house under their canopies.
The other men drew closer, and he realized of the nine of them, only three were dressed as security. The other half-dozen had the white livery of servants.
“Everything okay?” Miranda asked as they shifted back into human form, her team closing up around the princess.
He frowned. Everything was okay, wasn’t it?
Then why are your hands balled into fists?
He glanced down in surprise, noting that his right foot was forward, weight balanced evenly on the balls of his feet.
A fighting stance.
What the hell was he doing?
He glanced up at the oncoming men once more.
“No,” he said, looking them over. “Something is wrong.”
Something loud roared to life, but whatever it was, it was still obscured by the house.
That seemed to spur the men in front of them on, and without a word the nine of them charged across the distance.
“Shit,” Daxxton muttered. “It’s a fucking trap. I knew we should have stayed.”
“No time to debate that now,” Miranda snapped as she and the other Tanithians moved into a protective circle around the princess.
It wasn’t good. Whoever these men were, they had them outnumbered. Another few seconds and they would be on top of him.
What could he do to buy them time?
Whoever they were, they were smart, having waited until his entire team had landed and shifted back into human form. The distance between them was too little for any of them to be able to shift back before the ambushers were among them.
An idea came to him, his body reacting before it was even fully formed. Daxxton dropped to one knee and reached inside himself, finding the swirling maelstrom of energy that was his dragon.
There were a few tricks he could do that the attackers might not be familiar with.
