Ancient Enforcer

by Reus, Katie

  “I don’t know where we’re going,” she answered.

  “Should I bring him back so you can yell at him? Perhaps punch him?”

  She snorted as they took a left at the next four-way. Her feet had a mind of their own—and she knew where she was going now. “He’s not worth the energy.”

  “He made you cry.” There was a low rumble in his tone, an undercurrent of…something dark.

  “I’m not crying,” she said petulantly, even as she swept away tears from her cheeks. Damn it, she hated that she was crying. “Fine, I am crying, but these tears aren’t for him. They’re for my mother. For a lot of things.” Like the fact that the world had changed forever a couple months ago. Change being such a pathetic description for the complete seismic shift of the entire planet.

  “Here,” he said as they reached one of her jobsites.

  This wasn’t one of the condo complexes she was working on for King, it was a house she’d bought before everything happened, and she, her brothers, Mikael’s brothers and Mikael had all been working on this home when they could. It wasn’t a priority, just a project she enjoyed that gave her something to do when she didn’t want to think about anything else.

  Like right now. Though she wasn’t going to do any work tonight. She was too keyed up. She strode up to the front porch with him and sat on the top step.

  He sat with her, taking up more space than her with his broad shoulders and presence in general. He was quiet, not pushing her about her sperm donor, and she appreciated that. But she also figured he deserved to know. She wasn’t even sure why, but she wanted to tell Mikael.

  “My father left my mother when she was dying of cancer,” she blurted out. She’d only ever told him that her parents were divorced and that her mother had died. She’d never given him any details because it was too painful to talk about. And she never, ever thought about her father anymore. She couldn’t imagine that he would come back after his reception tonight, so at least there was that.

  Her quiet dragon shifted slightly, looking down at her with piercing eyes, the animal back again, peering out at her. His head tilted to the side slightly as if he was confused. “He left his mate when she needed him?”

  She nodded once. “He left her for…another woman. A girl I was in college with. My roommate, a woman I thought I was friends with.” She let out a bitter laugh, but cut it off abruptly.

  Avery looked away from him, staring out at the overgrown grass of the small yard.

  “It was surreal, so unbelievable. He’d never been the best father. Don’t get me wrong, he showed up to some things, but my mom was there for everything. She was like this big bright light of goodness. He never deserved her and I honestly have no idea what she saw in him. And everyone loved her. I’m not exaggerating either. Even my father’s stuffy asshole country club-type friends adored her. She was just the kind of person you simply wanted to be around so you could bask in her sunshine. When she got sick…”

  Avery cleared her throat.

  “The doctors found her cancer too late. There was no help for it, just a way to ease her suffering basically. My brothers were seventeen and eighteen, and I was just finishing up college. My roommate came home with me one weekend… That’s how my father met her.”

  She swallowed hard, knowing that if she shed another tear, she wouldn’t be able to finish.

  “My father comes from a lot of money. Not that he ever did anything to earn it.” She made a scoffing sound. “He likes to pretend that he works hard, that he started from nothing.” She let out another laugh because the thought was so ridiculous. “In reality he had a few vanity projects that he worked on, but he lived off his inheritance. Don’t get me wrong, I had my school paid for, so did my brothers, and I’m grateful and well aware of my own privilege. We were given so much. But that was from a trust from my grandparents. Am I making sense?” she asked because she realized she was just rambling and that he might not get some references, like the country club thing.

  Mikael, steady and strong, nodded. “I understand the majority of what you are saying.”

  “You sure you want to hear all this?” She had diarrhea of the mouth and God, there was no way he could want to hear her pity party story.

  “I want to hear every single thing you have to say.” The deep rumble of his voice was all-consuming.

  A strange flutter started in her belly but she squashed it. He was nothing but her self-appointed protector. He wasn’t interested in her romantically, and she didn’t want him to be. That would just complicate things. “So anyway, I guess the short story is my mother was dying, my father cheated on her, and instead of waiting a couple more months for her to die in peace with absolutely no knowledge of his betrayal and infidelity, he decided to leave her. He married a twenty-two-year-old, someone the same age as his daughter, while his wife of twenty-five years was dying. He…he actually lost a lot of friends. Something that surprised me, given the vipers in their social circle. But I guess he underestimated even his circle’s adoration for my mom. That was the only justice, I guess, even though I don’t think that’s the right word. Because there was no justice, just pain. But he did lose some contacts, and in effect, he lost money, which I know bothered him.

  “Anthony turned eighteen right around the time our mom died, so my brothers both moved in with me and we haven’t spoken to Shep since. He had the audacity to invite us to his wedding. He tried to reach out a couple times, in that first year, but not to apologize. He tried to explain that he fell in love, that it wasn’t his fault, that I would understand when I fell in love, blah blah blah. His…wife tried to reach out to me too. Only a couple times, but I cut her off just as quickly.” Even remembering some of the bullshit stuff Shep had said made her want to smack his stupid face right off.

  “If you wish, I will hunt him down and kill him right now.” Mikael’s words were softly spoken in that sharp-edged way of his that sent a shiver down her spine. She was pretty sure he wasn’t joking at all.

  She was going to choose to pretend that he was, however. She nudged him with her elbow. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “Not ridiculous. It will be easy. He is old and pathetic. I will make it quick. Unless you want him to suffer.” Again, with the dark, rumbly voice. “Then he will suffer greatly.”

  “Mikael! I…” She sighed, unable to deal with this right now. Instead she laid her head on his hard shoulder and stared out at the yard. “We need to trim this lawn. My lawn guy is a slacker.”

  He snorted softly since he was the one who normally took care of the yard here. “I’ll make sure I talk to him.”

  For a moment she savored the quiet, this little time she was going to simply take, when… She sat up suddenly as she remembered something. “Did my brothers have bruises and bloody knuckles?”

  Mikael nodded. “They did.”

  She blinked at his honesty. “Do you know why?”

  “I do.”

  “Are you going to tell me what happened?”

  “They asked me not to, but I won’t lie to you.”

  “Was there…color or something in Anthony’s hair?” It had looked purple, and while she’d been stunned by her father’s arrival, her brain must have subconsciously picked up on all that. Now she wanted to know what had happened.

  “I believe it was cupcake frosting. And no, I don’t know why it was in his hair. I think the lion was involved.” Mikael’s face scrunched up a very particular way every time he talked about “the lion.”

  She studied his expression. If Mikael wasn’t worried, then she wasn’t going to worry either. Sighing, she laid her head back on his shoulder. She liked being close to him. She felt safe. Protected. Grounded. “I’m going to pretend I have no idea about frosting or bruises right now.”

  “With younger brothers, that is often a wise choice. Speaking of…do you know where my brothers are?” There was a tension in his question.

  “No. They’re grown men, Mikael, and I don’t need them watching out
for me while you’re gone.” Mikael could be sooooo overprotective of her and her brothers, which was sweet, but he got kind of grumpy and mulish sometimes if his brothers left her alone for two minutes. She was twenty-eight and she didn’t need a guardian, let alone three of them.

  He just grunted, which yep, meant things were back to normal between them.

  Right now she was glad for it, because she craved normal. Or their new version of it.

  Chapter 3

  King stepped around the prone body and crouched down by the male’s head. It belonged to one of three dead humans.

  They all had puncture marks in their necks and wrists. All had been savaged when the vampire had drained their blood. Savaged meaning that the killer had drunk from them as if they’d had no control. And yes, vampires had to have training once they’d been turned, being taught how to drain enough blood to satisfy without killing the victim. It was Vampire 101. Killing food sources was stupid in the long term when you could use them for decades upon decades.

  “I’ve seen this kind of feeding before,” he murmured to his lieutenants, Ace and Delphine.

  “Yeah, me too,” Delphine murmured, her amber eyes flashing once as she looked down at the bodies. She pulled her long, dark brown braids back into a tie before she crouched down and inspected the wounds on the female human.

  “They’re all clothed,” he said, mainly because he wanted to make sure they were all on the same page. “I don’t think this was a sexual assault type of thing.”

  Someone could have re-dressed them, of course, but…these killings were sloppy. That of young vampires not in control of their bloodlust. Because he was certain there was more than one killer. The scents hung heavy in the air.

  “The vampires lost control, drained them instead of taking only a little. And…” He inhaled again. His olfactory senses were acute, especially for his age of roughly two hundred years. “They were killed at separate times. Then dumped here.” The dumping part was obvious. This area of underbrush was muddy and there was only one set of footprints other than theirs still visible around the dump site. None of the bodies had on socks or shoes—yet their feet weren’t dirty. Definitely dumped. “Not a turning gone wrong either.”

  “There’s a moratorium on creating vampires anyway,” Ace said, stepping back and scanning the area.

  Of course he already knew that—he had set the damn moratorium with good reason.

  One of their sentries patrolling the outer limits of the city had discovered the bodies and reported in immediately. King’s pack had since secured the area, but finding something like this threatened to disturb the balance of the city. One that was still recovering from…a lot of shit.

  So far New Orleans had dodged any serious issues with getting the city resettled. People needed a sense of normalcy, and right now he was making sure everyone’s needs were being met. Everyone had enough food, they had running water and electricity, and had limited communication thanks to some of his brilliant packmates. Education was on hold for the moment, but he was working with various educators as well. Any healthcare needs were being met either in the human hospitals or the ones run by supernatural healers. The important stuff was handled, and something like this… Humans being murdered?

  It could definitely disrupt things. No, he did not like this at all.

  “I want a meeting with all the vampire leaders in the city. Tonight.” He looked at Ace. “Make the calls. We’ll bring the bodies, see if anyone recognizes them.”

  His lieutenant nodded once and stalked off, pulling his cell phone out.

  “Do you smell that?” King murmured to Delphine, stepping away from the bodies.

  She frowned and glanced around the wooded area. The bodies had been left beneath a tree, with a few leaves tossed over them as if the person who’d brought them here had haphazardly tried to cover the bodies, then changed their mind. It was barely a half-assed attempt.

  The bodies had been abandoned quickly, discarded like trash. It also told him all he needed to know about their killers.

  “You think one of the killers is still here?” she murmured low enough that only he could hear.

  “No.” The bodies were cold and it would be stupid to hang around. He stepped between two trees and heard a rustling sound, then looked up, tensing for an attack.

  He stepped back in surprise to see a baby dragon the size of a baby elephant staring down at him with wide purple eyes, its gray wings pulled tight against its back.

  “Well, hello there,” he said in what he hoped was a calm voice.

  The dragon blinked at him, then dove down onto the blanket of leaves in front of King, using his wings to glide. He made a loud chirping sound, tilted his head slightly and continued to stare at King with blatant curiosity.

  “I have no idea what you just said,” he murmured.

  “King,” Ace called out from across the clearing.

  He turned and felt the dragonling sidle up next to him, its wings brushing against his leg and hip.

  He’d only interacted with one dragonling before, and she was a little bigger than this guy. He wasn’t even sure how he knew the dragonling was male, but he definitely was. And he was now rubbing his face against King’s hip with insistency.

  Reaching out, he rubbed the baby’s head. “What is it?” he said to Ace.

  Ace paused, looking at the dragonling, then shook his head and focused. “You’re going to need to see this.”

  He hurried across the clearing, the dragon loping alongside him instead of flying. King shot it a surprised look but the dragonling kept up as they reached a cluster of… Oh hell. “Those are dragon eggs.” Well, the hatched shells. As in…plural.

  The little dragonling moved forward and touched one of the cracked-open eggs with his wing, then pointed at himself. Then it chirped happily, as if to say, “That’s mine!”

  King scrubbed a hand over his face. There were three more open shells in addition to the one the little guy had pointed at. So it looked as if Willow, the dragonling one of his friends had adopted, wasn’t the only one in the city.

  This was an interesting development. He…wasn’t sure what to make of it. There was a lot he didn’t understand about real dragons—which were very different from dragon shifters.

  “Everyone can meet you in an hour,” Ace said. “Unless I should tell them to push the time back?” He glanced at the shells, his eyebrows raised.

  “No. The meeting is still on. But I’m going to take this guy to…” He racked his brain, thinking of all the dragons in the city. He could ask Reaper and Greer to take this dragonling in, but they were both so busy running one of the supernatural hospitals. “Mikael and his brothers. Avery will look after this little guy.” Hell, she looked after all the males in that house, dragon and human alike, whether they realized it or not. And he remembered her saying that she wanted a dragonling of her own. He liked the human female who was doing so much for the city and knew this baby would be safe with her.

  “What should I do about these shells?” Ace asked.

  “Transport them home. To the main compound,” he clarified. “I don’t know if dragons need them or what, but I don’t want to just abandon them here.” He couldn’t imagine why they’d need their shells, but he figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

  “I’ll scout the surrounding area, looking for the other babies,” Delphine said as if reading his mind.

  He nodded, then headed for the open-top Jeep he’d arrived in. The dragonling came with him and jumped in the back open seat like a puppy eager for a ride, as if he’d done it a hundred times before.

  King turned around and looked at him in surprise. “Seriously? You’re riding in here?” He’d assumed the dragonling would fly, if he decided to come with him at all. He’d been hoping the dragon would so it would make the transport to Avery and the dragons easier.

  The baby chirped in response, perched on the seat, its tail wiggling.

  Laughing to himself, King started the
engine and then took off down the dusty old road.

  Two minutes later, the baby jumped from the back seat and started flying next to King, chirping animatedly as if he was having an entire conversation with himself. King just made grunts of acknowledgment, which seemed to please the dragonling.

  “What the fuck is my life?” he murmured to himself even as a smile tugged at his lips. Even as he had the thought, he knew he would tell Aurora about this development as soon as possible.

  Because she was the one person he wanted to tell everything to.

  Chapter 4

  Mikael watched from the back porch as Avery tossed another cherry at the dragonling.

  The baby, roughly the size of a small horse, practically preened when he caught it in his mouth and then did a sort of bow, as if he was very proud of himself.

  If Mikael was the kind of male who used the word adorable, he might say that the dragonling was just that. He was making Avery smile anyway. The pain rolling off her from only hours ago because of her asshole father had dissipated to be replaced by pure joy.

  “What am I supposed to do with him?” He looked back at King, who was watching the interaction between the two with a hint of amusement. If he didn’t know that the Alpha was smitten with another female, he might have been annoyed that the male was watching Avery.

  Mikael’s female.

  His dragon swiped at him. Not your female yet.

  Yeah, and it would never happen. He knew exactly where he stood with her. It was a thing called the friend zone. At least that was what one of her brothers had told him. He didn’t mind being her friend, and did not quite understand the phrase, and wasn’t sure why her brother had said it as if it was a bad thing. In fact, he liked it. But he wanted more than friendship. He wanted everything.