by Sadie Sears
She shrugged, her mouth a tight line. “I guess there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in most people’s philosophies.” She didn’t say anything else.
A large truck blew past us shortly before we reached the turn-off to Draven’s place. Usually, this would have lit excitement low in my belly, like I was going home, but anxiety buzzed there instead. We weren’t going to Draven’s. We were going to Saul’s, and I didn’t know what we’d find there.
“You okay?” Jo looked at me as she made the turn, following Draven’s bike.
As we approached Saul’s place, Draven drew to a halt, pulling his bike to the side of the road and throwing his helmet into the loose gravel and dirt.
“Something’s wrong.” I leapt out of Jo’s car before she even shoved it into park, and I ran to Draven. “What’s going on?”
He gestured toward Saul’s. “The fucker’s had some sort of security fence fitted. I can’t get in there to let Jo in.” He picked his helmet up and threw it down again, his eyes gleaming with rage.
“Hey.” I reached to touch his arm, to try to calm him. “It’s okay. We’ll—” The words figure something out dried in my throat, and I bit back a shriek as he whirled toward me, his hand raised as if to strike me.
20
Draven
I could barely see out of my own eyes. I was a passenger in my own body as my demon rose closer and closer to the surface, splintering off pieces of my soul as he did so.
Mate. At my dragon’s sudden grumble, I jerked my arm back to my side, seizing a tenuous control of my body. What the hell had I just been about to do? Hit Mae?
Not a fucking chance.
Protect.
I grimaced. Trying here, buddy.
Then I stilled. It had been a long time since I’d communicated directly with my dragon, and the unusual event momentarily distracted my demon. The excited chattering went quiet, and his anger momentarily disappeared as confusion took hold of him, like he was trying to figure out what had just happened.
Try harder.
The quiet urging broke through my disconnect with my own body. How the hell had I ever expected to claim Mae if I was just a witness to events around me rather than a participant? Apparently, my dragon still hadn’t given up hope, and I shook my head in anticipation of his inevitable disappointment on that score… But his words were enough for now.
I surged forward, taking advantage of my demon’s confusion and regaining my full control.
It was like coming out of a daze as I looked around, taking stock of the situation. Jo looked at me, her contempt not even hidden. She wasn’t even trying to accept me—to her, I was just a killer waiting for the opportunity to take a life.
And I wouldn’t exactly have endeared her to me just then.
Mae watched me, but the fear had ebbed from her gaze, leaving only sympathy in its place. That pity twisted my gut, and I swallowed the nausea it conjured. I didn’t want her sympathy, and I didn’t deserve it.
Another part of my soul fractured, hardening, even as my dragon yearned for Mae to rescue him with her love and her sympathy.
I turned away. There was no way she’d want me now, anyway. Not looking like this, not with my demon taking more and more control and acting out against her. No. I was about to be condemned to hell for helping her.
For loving her.
Pieces of myself were slipping away, and I could feel it happening, but I couldn’t stop it.
I glanced back at Mae and hoped she knew.
I hoped she knew I loved her, and I’d wanted to claim her. We just never had the conversation.
Why? My dragon’s voice echoed through my head, but my demon simply just laughed as the base of my back prickled and heated, stiffening to demon skin.
“Mae?” Even my voice wasn’t mine anymore, but she came to me right away, her hand outstretched to take mine.
I glanced down at the black claws tipping my fingers and shoved my hands behind my back. Things were changing so fast, my body, my demon. My control. I couldn’t risk tainting her with my touch now. I didn’t know what would happen if she touched me, and I didn’t know how my demon would react.
Irritation flashed over her face, but she quickly replaced her crinkled brow with understanding and curiosity as she looked up at me, shielding her eyes against the sun with a hand.
Jo also watched me, but there was wariness in her posture, and she looked like she was spring-loaded, ready to react at a moment’s notice as she fingered the gun in the holster at her hip and barely blinked.
“I…” I looked over Mae’s shoulder. It was easiest to say this to the horizon, and possibly better for her if I didn’t keep her in my demon’s view.
“I’m sorry.” I had to force the words past my lips, and my throat burned as I spoke it. “I didn’t mean to. It wasn’t me.” I risked a glance at her.
“I know.” Her eyes were big and wide, and they glistened. “I know.” She reached toward me and opened her mouth to speak again.
But her eyes widened further, and she backed away from me.
I turned to see what had frightened her. Demons materialized from every nearby shadow, their smoky bodies not even adopting human form or features. Instead, they traveled in smooth, swirling motions, their red eyes gleaming with malice, and their tough skin gradually solidifying as they grew closer to us.
Shit. It must have been just like Chloe said—I was like a demon magnet as my blood thinned and my dragon fought to claim my mate. They were here to reinfuse me, but I couldn’t let it happen like this, not in front of Mae and Jo.
My demon tried to force me to my knees, and they buckled, sagging toward the hard ground, but my dragon found a surge of strength and forced a roar from my throat as I threw my head back and looked up to the sky, my arms out at either side in a show of strength I didn’t know I had.
“Demons! They’re demons,” I yelled. Some of them were wearing human glamors, but most were of smoke and shadow.
Mae screamed behind me as the demons flooded past me, apparently intent on a different prey.
Fuck. They didn’t want me at all. Saul had sent them. They wanted my mate. Jo managed to get her car door open.
“Get in, Mae. Get in,” she called as she slid one leg inside. “We need to get out of here.”
Mae ran to the passenger side and ripped the door open. But the throng of demons around her forced it closed again, and Jo sat in the car, helpless and unable to protect Mae.
But at least Jo was safe.
Mae, on the other hand… My dragon roared again, and I rushed into the demons surrounding her, their bodies almost surprisingly solid beneath the curled smoke exterior.
I ripped at them with my claws and sank my sharp teeth into them, destroying them in plumes of smoke that sent their essence down into the fiery pits of hell. Their shrieks and wails filled the air, and Mae’s face whitened at the noise.
Saul was breaking all the rules by allowing the demons to show themselves. Not merely allowing. He’d probably initiated it, finishing the job I hadn’t done for him.
Well, not today. Each demon I killed left its mark on me, ripped away another shred of my humanity, but while my dragon still fought inside me, I wouldn’t let them have Mae.
I glanced over at Jo—she was still safe in her car, although the demons were attempting to get to her, peeling the rubber seals out of the windows and laughing while they did it, deliberately going slowly to cause maximum fear.
I turned my attention to Mae. They were toying with her as well, but she’d found a branch from somewhere and was fending them off as she backed against the car.
She didn’t have much time left, though. Soon enough, one or more of them would tire of the game, and they’d take her, either killing her in front of me, or dragging her off to Saul for him to claim that victory when he next spoke to his boss.
An image of Mae’s pale corpse, her eyes wide open and stunned, flickered through my head, and I steeled myself a
gainst the pain of that and against the pain filling my whole being as I swiped at another demon, raking my claws through his skin so I could split his leathery exterior apart before ripping his spine from his body.
He hit the ground in a slick of black oil and dark gray smoke, and I plowed forward, already reaching for the next one.
I cleared a path to her, before I stood in front of her, my chest heaving as I drew in labored breath after labored breath. Jo watched me through the windshield, and Mae looked past me, her eyes widening before she sprang around me and swung the huge branch she was still holding like a club.
I turned around at the wet, dull thud, and a demon fell to the ground behind me.
“It nearly got you,” Mae said, her voice not quite as strong as usual.
I fought the urge to take her in my arms. With my adrenaline running this high, I was even more dangerous, and my demon was screaming for me to do something to redress the balance of doing so much good. Instead, I focused my anger on the demon in front of me, and before it could get back up, I knelt and thrust my closed fist right into his chest cavity. I didn’t even need to curl my hand around his heart. Instead, I wiggled my whole hand beneath his ribs and stabbed my talons right into it and plucked it out in one smooth movement.
It gave one final beat before it stopped moving, and I threw the black leathery sack of blood on the ground as the demon’s smoke seeped downward. The stench of rot and burning lingered around us for a moment longer, but I turned to Mae.
“Are you okay? Did any of them touch you?” My concern for her overrode all else, and I forced my pain aside.
I still didn’t dare touch her, though.
But Mae paled and she raised a shaky finger to point at something farther down the path. “Gun,” she whispered.
What? Demons didn’t use guns.
I turned and looked in the direction she was pointing, and one of the demons, wearing his human face, was definitely using a gun. And pointing it right at Mae. His trigger finger twitched, and I saw everything about to happen—the shot, the blood, Mae’s lifeless body cradled in my arms.
I leapt in front of her, desperate to protect her, propelled with the force of my dragon. My demon shrieked and tried to pull me back, but there was nothing he could do. The bullet entered me, and blissful pain stole all of my thoughts as I crashed to the ground.
21
Mae
I swallowed my scream as Draven dropped to the ground in front of me, his head striking the road and rebounding with the force.
He’d taken a bullet meant for me.
Everything happened so fast even though it felt as if the world had slowed down. I watched Draven, my heart beating frantically as panic swamped me. Draven was in human form.
I’d done my research during my time away to reassess—it was very hard to kill a dragon with bullets because of their scales. It was natural armor—unless an assailant knew precisely where to aim—but those nasty patches of skin Draven’s demon kept forcing on him didn’t look like any sort of working armor to me. He was still flesh and bone, soft and squishy.
And bleeding. As I moved toward him, I scanned him with my gaze, searching for a bullet hole. An entry wound, an exit one. I needed to know what I was dealing with.
“Draven,” I called. “Draven, hold on.”
He was so pale, but I wanted him to know I was there. I—
My breath whooshed out of my body at a vise-like grip around my waist. Putrid breath fanned over my face, and I kicked my feet out at the demon dragging me away from Draven as I tried to push the demon’s arms from around my body.
“Let go of me.” I found my voice as I struggled.
Draven still lay unmoving on the ground. For all I knew, he was dying. Or dead already.
And I’d never have the chance to save him.
“Let. Me. Go.” I blasted out the words with all the force I could muster, but the demon only chuckled, a sound that scraped along each of my bones.
“Draven.” I screamed his name, and a muscle in his face twitched.
That was all I needed to see—where there was life, there was hope. I stopped fighting the demon because it seemed wiser to conserve my strength, but as he dragged me through the gate to Saul’s estate, I let myself go limp.
I’d heard all about being taken to the second location, and I needed to make it as difficult as possible. I let all of my weight sag in his arms, but the demon didn’t so much as grunt. In fact, he chuckled again.
Panic claimed me, and I kicked out again, struggling for all I was worth because I really didn’t want to go back inside Saul’s house. After all of the things that had happened since I escaped from his party, I didn’t want to be back here. But that instinct was irrational.
This was where I needed to be. I’d come full circle.
I’d learned too much—about the world, about myself—and I’d found Draven. I was his mate. I needed to fight for him and save him.
As I watched, a demon approached Draven and grasped his shoulders roughly. He groaned as the demon dragged him toward the gates, his heels scoring shallow tracks in the dusty surface of the road.
I glanced around, looking for help, any help, but only met the gaze of Jo, her pale face peering through the windshield of her car. But she couldn’t do anything. She had no backup out here, and the world wasn’t even supposed to know dragon shifters existed. There was no one to help us. I waved Jo away, and hoped she understood.
If I couldn’t save Draven, I could at least save her.
Dragged kicking and screaming. I’d never thought it would apply to me, but that was precisely how I entered Saul’s house for the second time in my life.
And the no-doubt expensive decorations and blinged-out monogram seals and runes looked tacky in the daylight. The chandelier dripping with crystals was trying way too hard, and everything about it screamed evil lair—like Saul was secretly the billionaire baddie from a spy movie.
Saul’s living room reminded me of Draven’s gym. Not because it was like some sort of cave hide-out, but because the proportions were off for humans. It was huge, warehouse-like, and even the oversized furniture looked ridiculously small in it.
We didn’t head for the ostentatious couch, though.
Saul and my grandma were sitting at a little table on the other side of the room. Someone had set it up for afternoon tea, and Saul almost looked like the perfect gentleman. Except my grandma had been abducted and presumably brought here against her will. Relief almost weakened me, relaxing some of my tension at seeing her unharmed.
Saul stood from his chair. “Mae.” He greeted me with familiarity and false joviality as a wide grin of malice spread across his face. “How wonderful to have you visit me in my home again. I do hope you won’t feel the need to leave prematurely this time.”
I stared at him quietly. Leaving as soon as possible was foremost on my mind, but first I had to ensure the safety of Grandma. And also that of Draven. I cut him a quick glance.
Draven groaned as two demons held him in an upright position, and he didn’t seem able to fully bear the weight of his head on his neck. Instead, he hung it down, his hair draping in front of his face so I couldn’t meet his eyes.
“I’ve got a deal for you.” Saul interrupted my thoughts, his voice dripping with fake congeniality that didn’t hide the contempt in his tone. “I think you’ll find it quite a good deal, too.” He paused, almost as if he expected a round of applause, but I continued to simply stand and watch, waiting for him to play his hand before I arrived at any decisions.
“Don’t listen to him. Don’t take any deal he offers.” Grandma spoke loudly and quickly, her face pinched but her voice steady.
Saul tutted. “Really, Brenda? But Mae hasn’t even heard what I have to offer yet.”
“And she doesn’t want to.” Grandma’s eyes shone with determination as she replied to him.
His face reddened as though she’d irritated him, and I held out my hand. “I’ll listen,�
� I said before Grandma could speak again and attract any further attention from Saul.
“Good. A wise choice.”
I hadn’t thought it possible, but Saul’s smile widened even more, taking most of his face, and his pointed teeth glinted. I shuddered. This man was more demon than man, and whatever he wanted to offer me wouldn’t be good.
“Miss Turner.” He bowed slightly, his attitude becoming formal. “I would be honored if you’d agree to stay here as my permanent guest.”
“No.” Draven’s simple word was a tight growl, and he followed it with a groan of pain.
“Really?” Saul turned mock sympathy on Draven. “You don’t look well. Imagine if I could put you out of your misery?” He tapped his chin thoughtfully with his finger. “Imagine if I could get Mae to do it for me.” He paused again like he was waiting for a reaction. Then he clasped his hands behind his back and began to pace.
I withheld a sigh of distaste at his showmanship.
I should have been scared, but I was more irritated. This guy had taken the two people who mattered most to me, and I was going to make him pay.
“So, the deal is this.” He paused again, looking at everyone in the room like he was checking if he held our attention. “Mae, you remain here with me, you kill Draven—I mean, look at the man. He needs intervention. And yours would be the kindest cruelty to bear, I’m sure—and Brenda will be free to go home, completely unharmed.”
When no one replied to him, he spread his arms. “You see, I’m not an unreasonable man.”
“No, Mae.” Grandma spoke quickly again. “No. Don’t do any of this to save me. These old bones have lived a full life. You need to follow your heart.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Listen to your heart,” she emphasized.
I nodded. If only my heart spoke, I’d know exactly what to do then. But I didn’t need for it to tell me that Draven’s life force or his will to live was simply draining away. His demon was leaching it from him.
