From This Day Forward (15 page)

“
Listen, no matter what you think you need or what you think you’re trying to gain by hurting my family, you don’t have to do it to get what you want. What is it you really want?”

“
I want my husband back.” The woman’s soft voice tugged at April. The brokenness she heard there almost broke her own heart, even though she didn’t want to feel compassion or understanding for this woman.

“
Then go get him. Talk to him. Make it right between you.”

“
I can’t. This is the only way I can get his attention. He won’t listen to me otherwise.”

“
That can’t be true.”

“
It is.” She walked to the girls. She ran her finger along Caeden’s cheek. Smoothed Abigail’s hair. And rubbed a smudge off of Samantha’s chin. “He sees me as a monster. So I have become a monster he must pursue and destroy.”

“
Please, don’t do this.”

“
Enough. I’m done talking. Besides, Noah will arrive any minute.”

April tensed. She knew he’d come. But she didn’t want him here. Didn’t want him in jeopardy
, too. It was bad enough that the girls and Yana were at risk. That Noah could now be killed for real, his hoard stone stolen, was too much for her to handle.

She could lose everything. All at once.

No.
Stop. One thing at a time.

April
couldn’t bear to think about the possibility. The total fear of abandonment that threatened to swamp her would paralyze her and she couldn’t afford that right now. She needed to stay present. Focus on how she could save them all.

“
Wait.”

“
You cannot stop me. This is too important—a higher calling if you will. Besides, its compulsory. A service for the greater good. If I die today, another will come. And another. Then another. Until the dragon mage race is taken down. I am not the mastermind behind this hoard thief scheme. I am only one puppet in the play. Only one cog in the wheel of this misfortunate grab for total power. A petty thief, that’s all I am. I digress. For a time, I had my reasons to comply. David’s my biggest weakness. Now I grow weary. It is time to end it all.”

Iona’s soulless laugh sent cold shivers crawling up April’s spine. This was a woman with nothing left to lose. And that scared the shit out of her, because April had everything to lose. Her girls. Yana. Noah.

“Dragon mages have lived among us for centuries. Co-existed peacefully. There is no reason to eradicate the whole race because one man scorned you.”

“
That is not how the dragon race and the sacred dragon vow works, is it? Either I die or he dies. And he, the great leader, cannot die if the power he feeds off of comes from those powerful mages under him.”

“
What?” April asked, confused.

“
Yes. The great and noble high dragon council feeds like a parasite from those strong men under it. A council of dragon mages cannibalizing its own ranks. Not so noble is it? Especially when the men serving the high dragon council, who are most bound by it, have never been told. They’re used as interchangeable power sources.”

“
What are you saying?” April didn’t understand. The words didn’t make sense to her. The consortium and the dragon council had only ever been out for the good of the whole dragon race. They were noble. Honorable. Altruistic.

“
Has no one looked at the pattern of who is dying?” Iona said. “It’s older families bound to the consortium. One layer lower than the council.”

“
That can’t be right.”

“
Believe me, it’s not right.”

“
David would never do that. I know him.”

“
Ah, so you know my esteemed husband. No. David does not know he’s being used. Sucked dry of his dragon power. He is on the list of dragon mages who will die in sacrifice on the council altar. How did you know David and I were married—”

“
Me, Iona. You cannot do this, sister.” Morgana stepped forward from the shadows to face her sister.

“
So you join the fight against me. Et tu, Morgana?”

“
I have not betrayed you. It is you who have dishonored your family.”

Iona laughed, bitterness making the sound of a rusty hinge
. “I cannot dishonor what has been taken from me. Father made sure I could never dishonor the LeFay name when he erased me.”

“
These people are innocent. This is not their battle to fight. It is not right of you to destroy them in your quest for completion.”

Iona looked at April.
“Do you know what happens when a soul mate bond is broken? When your dragon mate’s protection is withdrawn?”

April pursed her lips.
“No. I don’t.”

“
That lovely hoard stone that you wear on your finger? When it’s removed, the metaphysical one in your heart is fractured. And in the process of fracturing, it leaves you wounded, with a constant ache. A constant loneliness that will not go away. A hunger that can never be filled by anyone or anything else.”

“
How do you fix it?” April asked. Her voice sounded shaky even to her own ears.

“
You can’t. That’s why I’m on a mission to destroy or be destroyed. Either way, my pain will end. The power of the stolen hoard stones makes me strong. Only when I reach a certain strength and can hold my own against David in a fight, can I then hope to convince him of the truth. So I will either defeat him and end my pain, or die in the process, thus ending it either way.”

“
You really believe killing your soul mate will end your pain?” April asked, disbelief rife in her voice.

Iona let her chin drop to her chest.
“No. It’s always been a kamikaze mission for me. I don’t intend to survive it. I barely survived loving him, I could never survive losing him. And once the council knows I saved him, they will kill me.”

Chapter Fourteen: Ticking Time Bomb

Noah evaluated the situation from the shadowy doorway of the mudroom, just out of sight of anyone inside the spring house.

April stood near the wall. Calm, despite the apparent chaos all around her. God he loved that woman.

The girls and Yana were strapped to an elaborate makeshift portable chair wired to C4. He examined the wiring, the set-up. They sat on pressure plates.

Shit.

The pressure plates didn’t look like they were rigged to blow at a slight shift in weight, because the girls were too young to sit totally still. Although by the fear he read on their faces, The Fox had taunted them with that threat. He watched his youngest wiggle. Nope. The explosives would detonate if the weight was lifted off entirely, unless he could wedge something between the plates and the explosive device. He fingered the knives in his belt.

The Fox bantered with a woman who could only be her twin sister. The Fox yammered on about something that Noah ignored. He signaled to David, indicating there were two women
who looked alike and Mick. David nodded. Seemingly not surprised by the fact that there were twins.

Noah narrowed his eyes at his friend. Hmmm. David knew more than he’d led him to believe.
Damn. He hated to be blindsided.

He signaled to David that they were going in. To Grayson, who lagged behind
, he motioned for him to stay to watch the perimeter in case anyone tried to bolt.

Noah and David entered the spring house on silent feet.

They were at a standoff, the woman April had called Morgana gripped a gun and The Fox brandished a detonation remote in her hand. Mick and April completed the odd semi-circle. The girls and Yana sat behind the action, never quite forgotten because they were the central weapon.

The Fox
could engage the remote, but she waited.

She wanted something
.

Noah
needed to figure out what. He palmed two small sheathed knives in his hands, pushing each into the tight space between his forearm and the sleeve of his Henley. Then, he pulled his gun and stepped into the opening.

David followed, his own
weapon drawn.

They couldn’t afford shifting at this point, not with his daughters strapped to explosives. No. Traditional weapons would give The Fox a sense of false security.

“Ah, Captain Easton, so nice of you to arrive. Even if you are a little late to the party.” She waved the remote at him. “Put down your guns. Now. Or say good-bye to your progeny.” She bit her bottom lip and studied David, taking her time to look him up and down. “You look good, husband,” she said to David.

What the hell?

Noah stared at David. “Husband? Did I miss something here? You know her? And you’re married to her? How did I not know this? Seems like a pretty big omission. What the fuck, dude. You couldn’t warn me?”

David winced and closed his eyes briefly.
“Were. We were married a long time ago. Not any longer. I haven’t seen her in years. A lot of years.” He opened his eyes and glared at The Fox. “Ex-husband, Iona.”

“
No.” She sniffed, and glared down her nose at him, even from across the room. “You will always be my husband. Mundane law might say we’re no longer married, but mage bonds say different. And in our world, that’s all that matters.”

“
Shit,” Noah said. “Just, shit. It would have been better to know this fact before I came in here, Pearson. You don’t blindside a friend.”

“
Sorry. It was over a long time ago.”

She waggled
the remote at them again. “Stop where you are and no magickal funny business. It’s not so hard to understand what will happen.” She walked toward the girls and patted Abigail’s cheek. The girl’s eyes widened. She pulled back from the woman’s touch, clearly frightened.

Noah crouched
and slid his 9mm to the floor. He nudged it away from him with the toe of his shoe. He raised his hands and stood. “We’re good.”

When he lowered his arms to his side, he shook a knife into his right palm.

“David.” The Fox’s tone held a husky warning.

David huffed a sigh and laid his gun on the floor as well.

“Okay, now what?” Noah said. “We’re disarmed.”

“
Yeah, three dragon mages in the room.” She looked at Mick. “Four. I don’t call that quite disarmed, do you? Not until you’re all dead.”

Noah shrugged.
“Not much we can do about that and it’s not like we’re going to change with my daughters and Yana ready to blow. We wouldn’t jeopardize their lives.”

“
That’s what I’m counting on.”

Keep counting.

“You’re not getting out of here alive, Iona.” David directed this comment at his ex-wife.

She shrugged.
“Maybe, maybe not.” She paced slowly in front of the girls. “I think I’m going to walk out of here with exactly what I want.”

“
We’ll give it to you. Anything. Just release the girls.”

“
I want your hoard stone.”

Noah stood silent for a long moment. Then he laid his palm over his heart to retrieve the stone.

“No.” April gasped. “Don’t, Noah. You can’t.”

They all knew what happened when a dragon’s hoard stone was
removed, lost, or stolen—he died. His hoard gone. The protection the hoard stone provided gone as well for him and his family. A dragon mage could not exist long apart from his hoard or his hoard stone. A dragon mage’s power removed, he was vulnerable. His strength and power came from the stone.

Noah had no intention of giving up his power. Now or ever.
“April, I need you to relax, honey. Everything is going to be fine. Trust me.”

“
I do. Always.”

Noah smiled. Not always. But he loved that she said so
now. His brave, feisty wife. He adored her and he wouldn’t let anything happen to her or his girls. Not one of them.

April looked at her feet.
“Okay, not always. But from now on—from this day forward. I promise to trust you.”

Noah winked at April. She understood he loved her.

Then he stretched out his palm and offered The Fox the green stone that protected everything he loved and cherished in the world. “If you want my hoard stone, come and get it.”

Morgana shifted. She nudged the gun lying on the floor
—April’s discarded weapon—in front of her toward her with her toe, then quickly reclaiming it, she pointed it at Iona.

The Fox took one step toward
Noah and stopped, glaring at her sister. “Morgana, you’re not really going to shoot me. It will hurt you as much as it hurts me. Put the gun down.”

“
I don’t care. You have to stop, Iona. Please. You don’t really want to do this.”

Love and concern were evident in the hunched shoulders, the trembling mouth, the pleading tone Morgana used.
But Noah could see it didn’t move her twin.

“
We are two halves of a whole, you and me. You the best of me, I the worst of you.” Iona shrugged. “I’ve come to accept it.”

“
No. That’s not true. You are you. I am me. We are different. Neither of us inherently good or bad. We are what we are from moment to moment, a rare mix of the best and worst intentions and actions. Please put the remote down. I don’t want to shoot you.”

“
I am sorry. I cannot do that. Even for you, dear sister.” She turned to David, longing so intense spread across her face that Noah wanted to look away, the interaction so intimate and personal.

Noah heard the click of the gun safety
.

Time slow
ed to freeze frames.

He slipped his hoard stone back in place. And then two things happened at once
—the gun went off and he lunged for Iona to grab for the remote.

T
he bullet was faster. It ripped into Iona, driving her back. Iona stared at her sister in open-mouthed shock.

Morgana had, indeed, shot Iona.

Blood bloomed in a bright red burst on Iona’s right shoulder. The 9-mm round not only put a hole through and through, but it caused her hand to spasm. She let go of the remote. It tumbled, end-over-end, through the air. Noah threw himself at it. Stretching. Just as the device was about to hit the stone wall of the wellspring, a curlicue of water reached out of the spring and snatched the airborne remote, yanking it into the water and submerging it in the silvery depths.

T
he Conrad women were safe. Thank God.

The remote
neutralized, Noah continued rolling toward the girls. Iona crashed to the floor. He guessed David tackled her, but he didn’t worry about the scuffle he heard behind him, he kept moving toward his daughters to free them.

He jammed a knife between the pressure plate and the copper coil for the girl nearest him, then he did the same for the other two before he got to Yana. Each plate deactivated, he used his bowie knife to cut
the white wire attached to the explosives then he released their bindings. He shepherded them around the edge of the room and out into the hallway to Grayson.

He
crushed the girls to his chest and kissed them each on the forehead before gently pushing them into the safety of Grayson Cooper’s protection.

“
Girls, go with Mr. Cooper. He’ll take you to the academy. You’ll be safe there. We’ll be along shortly, I promise.” The girls looked at him with wide, innocent eyes, but seemed to understand that now was not the time to argue with dad.

Noah returned to find Yana and April huddled against the stone wall. He checked on them.
“You okay?”

April nodded and kissed him.
“Yes.”

“
Go with Mick.”

“
No, I’m staying with you.”

“
Yana, please go with the girls to make sure they’re okay.”

“
Will do, son. Thank you.” Yana kissed him on the cheek as she passed. “I’ll go.”

“
Thank you.” Noah squeezed her shoulder gently as she left. He pressed April against the wall. “Stay here. I need to know you’re safe.”

“
There is no safe, Noah Easton. As a magickal, you should know that by now.”

“
I know. Did you mean what you said about trusting me?”

“
Always, babe.” She drew him in for a hot kiss. Her mouth opening hungrily under his.

“
Thank you.” He kissed her on the nose. “Now just stay back, okay? I have no clue what’s going to happen next. She’s batshit crazy.”

“
All right.” She closed one eye and pursed her mouth to one side. “But I can tell you it’s going to be good.”

He smiled.
“Really? How good?”

“
Rock your world good.”

“
Oh, baby.” He chuckled. “Now let me do my job.”

“
Yes, sir.” She saluted him.

“
Cheeky girl.” He brushed his lips against hers. “Remember the
yes, sir
bit in bed tonight, okay?”

When
Noah returned to the room housing the spring, he found Mick holding Morgana, who lay sprawled on the floor bleeding from her left shoulder. “What happened?” Noah asked.

“
When Iona said it would hurt Morgana as much as it would her, she wasn’t shitting. Whatever is inflicted on one, the other experiences, too.”

“
Fuck.” He looked around. David and Iona were gone. A hole the size of a female dragon ripped the outside wall wide open. Huge stones lay scattered as if an explosion had ripped the hole, not a dragon mage. Blood spatter marked the stones.

Noah peered
through the opening in the thick stone wall to see a smaller red fire dragon flying lopsidedly through the air while a huge black dragon—David—followed close on her tail. “He won’t let her get away. Not this time.”

“
No, I don’t suppose he will,” Mick said. “He’ll have to kill her.”

No one spoke into the heavy silence.

April stood in the doorway of the mudroom. “She said others would come, even if she dies. She’s not the one calling the shots. Someone in the high council of the Dragon Consortium has commissioned the thefts of the hoard stones.”

“
Why would they do that?” Noah asked.

“
It’s a cover to deflect their true purpose. Whoever is doing this is another dragon on the council who is secretly draining the power of dragons under him in the consortium. But if a thief is stealing hoard stones and this is how they are dying, then no one is the wiser. They don’t know that someone on the high council is the one who is gaining strength and siphoning power from his or her underlings.”

They stared at each other.

“Until now.” They both breathed at the same time.