Finding His Dragon (Dragon Blood Book 3) (9 page)

She reached for the panel Maddie indicated and pushed. Nothing happened. She tried shoving left, still nothing, but when she pushed to the right, the panel silently slid behind the wall. The hole created in the wainscot was only two feet by two feet, but it was plenty big for them to squeeze through.

“Get in,” she whispered as quietly as she could. She guided her to the hole, then slipped in behind her. With a gentle touch, the panel closed, sealing them in.

She looked around the dusty area. It couldn’t be called a room. It was more like a wide passageway leading to an exterior wall. There was a single bulb light high above with a string attached, but she didn’t light it. She didn’t need it to see in the dark, and Maddie couldn’t see at all. “Sit here,” she whispered. “That dragon you heard is my brother. We have to be quiet. He’ll hear us if we speak.”

When she was sure that Maddie was in a safe spot in the unfamiliar environment, Charlotte made her way to the other end of the room. Heavy drapes covered a tall window. One that unless she were mistaken would be much like the one in the room she shared with Jace, and every other window on the third level of the house. In her haste to get to the window, she didn’t notice the little nook off to the side, or the man standing there until it was too late.

In an instant he had her back against his chest, his hand covering her mouth.

Maddie’s eyes rounded, and her hand shot up at the sudden muffled sound, but she didn’t speak.

The man shushed softly. “I’m not the enemy, Charlotte,” he whispered. “If you remain calm, I will release you.”

Remain calm? A strange man or rather, a dragon was inside the house and had her trapped, and she should stay calm? Charlotte nodded, unwilling to show him any hint of emotion and braced herself, ready to defend her and Maddie.

He loosened his hold, backing away only a fraction before dropping his hand. Charlotte spun, her hands in front, ready to strike. A long, jagged scar ran from his eye down his neck to disappear under the neckline of his black T-shirt. Charlotte swallowed. Her eyes darted to where Maddie still sat. The poor girl was scared shitless, and there was nothing she could do to reassure her.

The man lifted his right hand, drawing her attention right back to him. He put one finger in front of his lips. Like she needed to be reminded to stay quiet. The sounds of clomping footsteps echoed on the other side of the wall, not three feet from where Maddie sat.

“I know you’re here somewhere, Charlie. I can smell you,” Reyn yelled. No one moved in the dusty space, didn’t even breathe. After a few moments, his footsteps receded. A door close by clattered open, then a few moments later slammed shut. He repeated the process with each room. When he finished and still hadn’t found her, he gave a mighty roar. “Search the next level down. She can’t be far. Her scent is too strong.”

Charlotte listened for him to come back in their direction, but when the footsteps didn’t return, she sagged a bit. The first thing she had to do was figure out who the man staring a hole through her head was. He wasn’t working for Reyn. Otherwise, he would have given them up. Adrian maybe? That didn’t make sense either. Reyn would have delivered her to Adrian. There was something familiar about the man. Maybe she’d seen him around Eldurcrest before?

The man stepped to the window and pulled the curtain only wide enough to look through. The room was dark now that the sun had set, but dragon shifters had great eyesight. If he could see them, they could see him.

With a flick of his wrist, he beckoned her over. He stood back a little so she could see what he’d seen. He pointed to his eyes, then down to the tree line, and sure enough, three hunters were crouched down, their arrows pointed straight at the roof. Had she tried to take flight, she would have been shot down, most likely with a poisoned arrow. She and Maddie would have both been goners. The man let the curtain slide gently back into place, then pointed to his left ear before pointing up.

It wasn’t much, a scrape of a sound, but she heard it. Someone was on the roof.
Damn it.
She wouldn’t have even gotten Maddie in the air.

His first stop when he’d arrived in the village was at the Old Time Inn. He went around to where the boy had stopped him the night Charlotte had been taken and sniffed the air. The boy’s scent was faint, but it was there. He followed it down the street, then into an alley. There wasn’t a lot down there except metal garbage bins. There wasn’t even an exit. He found the boy sleeping, crouched behind one of the containers with broken pieces of cardboard covering him, and Jace’s heart broke. The kid wasn’t old enough to be on his own to live in the streets, even in a quiet village like Glen Farley.

“Hey buddy, do you still have my things?” he asked the boy after he’d shaken him awake. The boy’s eyes rounded, and he scurried back until he realized who was with him.

He nodded, then looked over Jace’s shoulder. Satisfied that no one else was around, the kid reached behind him and grabbed the cell phone, then the wallet and handed them over.

Jace helped him out of his hiding spot and then grinned at the sight of his huge T-shirt hanging off the boy’s shoulders. Without missing a beat, the kid started taking the shirt off.

“It’s okay, keep it on for now,” he told him.

Jace flipped through his wallet, noticing that five bucks were missing, but the twenties he’d had in there were still there. “Thanks for watching my stuff for me. You did an excellent job. What do you say we grab a bite to eat?”

The boy swallowed hard, his stomach rumbling loud before he nodded.

“Well, if we’re going to be friends, I need to know your name. I’m Jace.”

“Bradley,” he said, his chest puffing out as he stuck his hand out for a shake.

“Nice to meet you, Bradley. Now let’s go eat. I’m starving,” he said before leading the boy from the alley. If he had anything to say about it, it would be the last time the child would sleep under the stars unless it were some fun camping expedition or something.

After they had eaten, he took Bradley to the Woolridge place. It was always full of kids with no place to go, but they wouldn’t turn him away. Once there, they would take over. They’d know how to go about getting him off the streets for good. They’d even keep him fed and safe until the courts figured out what to do with him.

He was about to go into Josie’s Diner to see what the local assholes had to say about the increase in dragon presence when his cell rang. “Get your ass back here now, hunters are on the property,” he’d yelled into the phone before the line went dead. He hit redial, but nothing, the battery was dead. It was sheer luck that it had allowed him to answer the call at all.

Jace’s chest rose and fell with the fury churning a hole in his gut.
The village was quiet, too quiet. With at least a dozen extra dragons in the area, he should have caught sight of them, but they were nowhere. He should never have left the estate. The only reason he had was so that he could check on the kid and get his wallet back.

He tore his shirt off as he ran for the park at the end of the street. His jeans came next, and then without bothering with taking his boxers off, he shifted. At least, the park would be empty at that time, and he wouldn’t be scaring the local children. With strong beats of his wings, he flew high into the sky, heading straight for home.

The heat churning inside him puffed out from his nostrils in long plumes of steam as he flew. A constant growl rumbled in his chest, but he kept from roaring. The last thing he needed was to alert the Dark Wing clan of his presence. Why else would the hunters show up at their doorsteps out of the blue? They had to be working in tandem somehow.

He was about a mile out when he came down in a small but secluded clearing. He and the other men often came to that very spot for training exercises when they wanted to be out of the gym. His best run time to the clearing was four minutes, but he’d been going at a dead run. Tonight, he had to be more careful. He couldn’t make a sound. That would slow him down.

He took off at a cautious but steady pace. He doubted anyone would be so far out, but he couldn’t risk being killed by a wary hunter before he even reached the estate. Every deliberate step he took had the fury inside him roiling hotter, and hotter. The minutes ticked by in his mind like a bomb about to go off. By the time he reached the estate, he barely held his dragon in check.

He waited in the treeline, not moving a muscle. To his right three hunters hunkered down with night vision goggles. The night fell quickly in the mountains, and they’d come prepared. His dragon wanted him to eliminate the threat to his mate, to his clan, but he remained where he was, watching, listening. A growl, deep, and mean came from the yard. He could see Luke’s dragon form on the ground. His head was down, and his wings lay awkwardly at his sides.

A roar, higher pitched than that of a male ripped through the night sky. Stella shouldn’t have come out. The only way she would have is if the men had been in dire need of assistance. He looked further into the yard and saw another dragon, and another on the ground. Their chests heaved, so they were alive but the hunters had gotten them. Where were all their other men? They should have converged at the first sign of attack.

On top of the roof, men he didn’t recognize pointed their rifles into the trees. They peered down their scopes as they swept back and forth. At least five men on that side of the house alone searched for targets.

Another roar from Stella and a bright flash of flame drew his attention to the far corner of the yard. Any further back, and he wouldn’t have been able to see her at all. More men with night goggles surrounded her. The one closest to him jabbed at her with what looked like a spear, the sharp metal at the end gleaming in the moonlight. She turned her head and roared, but the energy it took to create fire was gone. Rivulets of dark blood trickled from her side. The fire in his chest expanded with the fury of his dragon.
Fucking bastards
. They had immobilized her and were torturing her.

A snicker came from the group to his right. Rather than keep their guard up, they were watching the fucking show, like killing his sister was something enjoyable. By the time they noticed him, it was too late. They didn’t have time to raise their bows. Fire spewed from his mouth, engulfing all three. He didn’t wait around, moving quickly back and to the thickest part of the surrounding trees. Shots ricocheted all around him as he ran. By the time the men fell, he was out of sight. How he didn’t get hit was a miracle.

He circled the yard, keeping to the edge of the forest. He’d have to shift to his dragon form sooner or later, but he was harder to detect if he stayed as he was.

Stella gave no obvious indication of knowing he was there. It was in the way her breaths lengthened and the stiffness of her neck that relaxed a touch. The humans wouldn’t notice the slight change, but he did. On the other side of her, the one closest to the trees, only one man stood, his makeshift spear dripping in blood. With Stella’s massive body blocking him, he was easy prey. Jace stepped behind him, silent in his approach. Before the man had a chance to react, Jace grabbed him, snapping his neck, then slid him down to the lawn.

“Those fucking lizards still think we’re down the mountain. By the time they realize it was a trap, it’ll be over. The women will be dead, and we’ll be long gone,” one of the bastards on the other side said, then laughed. The sound, high pitched and tight, spoke of the nervousness of the man.

“Serves them right for stealing the blind bitch. Can you believe Bert asked her out, and she told him no? Then she goes off to fuck one of those animals? She’s probably one of them scaly fuckers by now.”

Stella shuddered, and her body stiffened, then he heard the slice of a blade against scales, followed by the whimper of the woman inside the beast’s body. With a furious roar, he circled her, shifting as he went. The first man he came upon dropped his weapon at the sight of him. His eyes widened, and his mouth went slack. A disgusting wet patch darkened the man’s jeans at the front. Jace grabbed the man in his jaw, his sharp teeth sawing into the man’s shoulder and neck. His struggles stopped in an instant, and Jace tossed him aside.

Two more men were there, waiting for him with their spears pointed straight at his chest.
Stupid fucking hunters.
Spears wouldn’t protect them—nothing would. Stella was paralyzed by their poison, as were the other dragons in the yard, but he wasn’t. Not yet anyway. With a deafening roar, blue-white flames shot from his mouth. He didn’t wait for them to fall. The snipers on the roof, whether they were human, or dragon, would be aiming right at him, and Stella would get hit. He beat his wings long and hard, lifting from the ground. In the distance, he heard the rest of his clan.

Shots rang out all around him. Searing pain stabbed through his right side. He expected to be hit, but the burn was too intense, too wicked to be a mere bullet. Poison, more potent than their arrows could ever carry blasted through him, making each muscle seize and contract. Another shot, this time in his left leg had him roaring and turning toward the roof. The flicker of movement from inside, a darkened curtain moving drew his attention. Charlotte. Her silent scream from inside the house and the fury and determination in her eyes had his already straining heart hammering against his ribs.
Stay inside, Charlotte
. He willed the words to her. He didn’t want her in danger. He didn’t want her to watch him die. Jace pulled his wings tight to his body, diving toward the roof. He had to get rid of as many of them as he could before he fell.