Dragon's Heart (7 page)

Lester reached over and grabbed them, holding them tight. “It doesn’t matter. You told me now and that’s what’s important, when I needed to hear it the most. Thank you.”

They both stood and shared a hug, Brian patting Lester heavily on the back. Once they parted, Lester could have sworn he saw Brian wipe his eye, but he couldn’t be certain and wasn’t about to call the leader out on it.

Mick appeared in the doorway. “Everything is packed up and we’re ready to go.”

Brian glanced at Lester. “You sure you’re ready for this?”

Lester took a deep breath. “Yes, I am. Let’s go visit some Harpies.”

Chapter Seven

The drive seemed to go on forever, yet pass by too fast, if that made any damn sense. The entire time, Lester worked hard to get that damn incantation memorised. While he was pretty sure he had it down pat, he wanted to be certain, since he didn’t think there would be any second chances with this one.

They were in Hummers instead of the usual vans and Lester soon saw why when they drove off the road and into the dense woods that seemed to surround much of the area around the dragon lands. While the cover was convenient—it kept them from the prying eyes of humans when they flew—it also made an appealing home for undesirables. In this case, Harpies.

As they pulled close to the base to the small mountain, Lester looked up and could see small figures flying around the mass. Since they were way too small to be dragons, he could only assume that they were the creatures they would soon be battling.

“Are they female?” he asked.

“In theory, although there is nothing feminine about them. They are ten times stronger than most men, too, so be prepared for that,” Duncan informed him grimly.

“Look. We have a welcome committee, too, just as expected,” Maddox said, pointing at a small group of sorcerers who were at the base of the mountain.

“Quick! Get them before they can call for backup!” Brian ordered.

“As if we couldn’t handle it if they did,” Maddox said with a feral grin.

He and several of the other warriors transformed into dragons and attacked the sorcerers. The sorcerers responded by shooting off magic and soon a full-scale battle was going on. Lester was mesmerised and horrified by the sight of it. He had never been so close to such a large fight before.

Trent grabbed him by the arm. “Come on! We need to start climbing. The scrying bowl is going to be at the top.”

“Shouldn’t we be using professional climbing gear or something? What if we fall?” Lester asked as panic began to set in.

Trent gave him an ‘are you kidding me’
look. “We’ll just scream and hope one of the dragons catches us. Now come on, let’s go.”

All of the sudden, Lester had a longing for his old life where all he had to worry about was getting to his ER shift on time and whether he had milk for his cereal in the morning. Then he reminded himself of all the dragons counting on him and he went up to the first steep stretch and began to climb.

At first, it wasn’t easy. For one, he’d never climbed anything other than the stairs at work and that had only been when the elevator was out. Another problem was the Harpies, who kept taking pot shots at them. They dived in and tried to pull them away from their grips. It was only the dragons below who breathed fire on them that held the devils back. And ‘devils’ was a kind word.

Nicholas hadn’t been kidding when he’d said the things were ugly. They looked like humanoid goats on wings, only with long, raggedy, brown hair and red, glowing eyes. Even their wings were hideous. They were huge, brown and full of rotting tears that were leaking pus and blood. On their hands they had long black talons, which they used to grab at Trent and Lester.

Despite the dragons’ help, by the time they were halfway up the mountain, the back of Lester’s shirt was in tatters and he could feel the warm stickiness that could only mean he was bleeding. He didn’t even want to think what type of infections he could be getting from the bitches. Somehow he didn’t see them being the type to line up to wash their hands before and after a meal.

Lester reached up to grab onto a rock, but a Harpy swooped in and took a big chunk out of the back of his wrist. He let out a cry of pain, but didn’t dare let go. Not when he didn’t know what waited for him down below.

“Are you okay?”
Mick’s voice came into his head.

“I’m fine. You just worry about yourself, babe,”
Lester rushed to assure him. The last thing he wanted was for Mick to get killed because he was worried about Lester. Lester didn’t think he would be able to live with himself.

He began to climb up again, all the while aware of the fact that Trent was next to him, taking just as bad of a beating. Just when Lester was sure that they’d never reach the top, he saw it—the bowl.

He didn’t know what he’d expected, but it sure wasn’t some beat-up old saucer that was about twelve inches in diameter. The only thing that lived up to expectations was that it was black, albeit faded.

“Do you see it?” Lester shouted.

“Yes! Don’t start the incantation until we’re both touching it, otherwise it won’t work,” Trent answered.

Lester rolled his eyes. Yes, he got it. They both had to be touching the damn thing. Trent had repeated it so many times, Lester was about to save him the trouble and just get the sentence tattooed on his ass. He liked his brother-in-law, but damn, he could be a nag at times. And really, who picked a time when Harpies were trying to eat you to nag anyhow?

They both finally reached the top and stretched out so they were touching the bowl, which was firmly embedded in the rock. Trent locked gazes with Lester and nodded, then they began the incantation.

Once he got going, the words rolled smoothly from Lester’s mouth, almost as if he’d been born to say them. He even forgot about the Harpies and the battle going around them. All that mattered was the magic that was going on between him and Trent.

Then just as quickly, they were at the end of the incantation. The bowl let out a loud squeaking noise then Trent pulled it loose. Lester and Trent had a moment of
holy shit, we really just did this
before they recovered. Trent tucked the bowl in a bag that he had slung across his shoulder for just this occasion.

“Are you going to be able to climb down with that thing? It looks pretty heavy,” Lester asked.

Not only that, but Trent appeared to have taken his own fair share of Harpy bites, as well. The climb down was going to be hell on both of them.

Trent tapped his temple. “I just talked to Duncan. He’s going to arrange for a ride for us. The Harpies have thinned out some, so it will be a little safer. Plus, the spell never said anything about us having to climb down, only that we had to climb up.”

Lester let out a sigh of relief. “Smart boy. I don’t think we would survive a trip down.”

No sooner had those words left his mouth than a Harpy came swooping out of nowhere. She caught Trent by the centre of the chest and sent him flying off the top of the mountain.

“Trent!” Lester called out as he stared over the edge.

He looked around frantically to see if any of the other dragons were coming, but they hadn’t seemed to notice. That only left one choice—him. Taking a deep breath, Lester jumped. He only hoped that his dragon didn’t fail him when he needed him.

Mick had promised that Lester’s dragon would come when he needed it the most and if there was any such time it was now. Not only was Lester’s life depending on it, but so was Trent’s. Plus, he was willing to bet the scrying bowl wouldn’t survive the fall, either.

As the ground started to get closer, Lester could feel panic begin to set in. Oh boy! Maybe he’d really fucked up this time. But just as he was getting ready for the final big splat, he felt it—the transformation.

It wasn’t painful like he’d expected. Actually, it was a pleasant sensation, like a million bubbles dancing over his body. It only lasted a second and he was in his dragon form.

He didn’t even have time to revel in the fact that it had worked. Instead, he reached out with his front talons and gently caught Trent before he fell to the ground. Lester then had to bank to the left to avoid the small group of Harpies that was still left. He opened his mouth and made sure to blow fire at them. Only his fire was a strange green instead of the normal red and orange of the other dragons. It must have been hotter, too, because it didn’t just burn the Harpies, it melted them on the spot.

They all began to help the dragons fighting with the sorcerers on the outside of the cave. While there were just a few of those baddies left, Lester decided to use his fire on them, as well. It had the same effect.

“What. The. Fuck. Was that?” Maddox breathed out, so stunned he dropped his sword and took a few steps back.

Mick shifted back to his human form and grinned. “That’s my mate.”

They all shifted back to their human form, Lester being the last of them. The first words out of his mouth were, “What colour was I?”

Maddox pointed to the pile of sorcerer goo and said, “You did that and you want to know what colour you were while in dragon form?”

“Of course, I’ve always wondered if I could transform what I would look like.” Lester shrugged.

Mick gave him a big hug. “You were purple, with a black streak down your back, and you were beautiful.”

Maddox wasn’t done with the green flame, though. “Dude, how in the hell did you do that thing with the fire?”

Trent went closer to the sorcerers and studied them, showing that he was much braver than most of them, because the stench was pretty strong. “I think it’s because Lester has magic in his blood, too. It gives him an extra boost.”

“Which makes him one kick-ass weapon for our side,” Maddox surmised.

“It will also make him hunted as hell,” Brian said grimly.

Lester’s stomach dropped at his brother’s prediction, because he knew it was true. Once word got out of a dragon who also could wield magic, he would be the bull’s-eye of everyone’s target. It wouldn’t just be sorcerers, either—every paranormal creature out there would want a piece of his ass and not in a good way.

“They’ll have to get through me first,”
Mick said through their link.

“That’s what I’m afraid of. I don’t want you to get hurt on my account.”

“Well, too bad. You’re stuck with me for life now. That’s how it works with mates.”

Lester put a hand to his stomach as he realised how dire his situation really was.

“I know. I just wish I could protect you better.”

Mick let out an irritated sigh. “
You protect me and I protect you and we’ll be fine. I promise you.”

Lester put an arm around his mate and prayed that he was right. Because now that he had taken Mick as his mate, there truly was no way they could survive without each other. It just wasn’t in a dragon’s makeup. They would grow weak and die without each other. So there would be no running away to save Mick from the danger.

Besides, Lester was done running away from his problems. If he’d learnt anything, it was that it never solved anything. It only made things worse. No, he would stay and face this problem head-on, with his mate and family by his side.

“So now what do we do?” Lester asked Brian.

“First, we go home and get cleaned up and then we see if this scrying bowl works. If it does, then we start going out one by one and rescuing our dragon brethren.”

They got back into the vehicles, Lester wincing a bit, because the shift hadn’t healed the worst of the Harpy bites and scratches.

Mick ran a soothing hand over his back. “Don’t worry, now that you have shifted, your enhanced dragon healing will make the remaining injuries go away sooner.”

“They burn like hell. I don’t even want to think what kind of crap those nails had under them.”

Mick gave him a kind smile. “Probably not. I saw the carcasses of their kills. They were pretty nasty-looking.”

Lester let out a shudder. And now all that gunk was under his skin, festering away. Sure, he might have a dragon’s healing ability, but he still had a nurse’s training and it was screaming at him to grab the Bactine and start scrubbing away.

The drive home seemed to take even longer than before, and by the time they got there, it was dark. Lester was starved, tired and aching all over. He leaned on Mick for support as they got out and made their way up to the mansion…oops, farmhouse.

Somehow, Lester managed to make it up the stairs and into the kitchen. A couple of the dragons who worked as makeshift medics cut away his shirt and began to wash the wounds on his back. Meanwhile, two others cooked up a meal for everybody.

The only thing that stopped Lester from dropping his head on the table and falling asleep on the spot was the stinging sensation of them cleaning out his wounds. One of the medics, a calm, quiet, younger dragon by the name of Alex, kept muttering words of apology. That still didn’t stop him from scrubbing the hell out of Lester’s skin, though. Lester just gritted his teeth and took it. As a nurse, he knew it was a necessary evil. They had to make sure that no infection remained behind.

When they got to his wrist, that was the worst part. Mick had to hold his hand through that one. Lester prayed through the entire painful process that the Harpy who had done that damage was among the ones that he’d personally fried. It was the least he could do to pay her back for all the hurt she was causing him.

Across the table from him, Trent was receiving the same treatment. Lester had to hand it to the guy. He was taking it just as stoically. He never uttered a word of complaint, although going by the way the sweat beaded up on his forehead, he was in a world of hurt too.

Finally, the cleaning and bandaging was over and the food was brought over to the table. They all descended on it like a starving horde. It wasn’t much, just a stew with some bread, but it was the best meal that Lester had ever eaten.

Once they were finished, Lester asked Brian. “Now what?”

Locking gazes with Lester, Brian replied, “Now, we see if it was all worth it. We’re going to give that scrying bowl a try.”