Their Runaway Mate (20 page)

The interior had been transformed into a laboratory with pristine white walls, long stainless steel tables and strange looking scientific equipment. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead as she investigated the room. She was about halfway through the space when she realized there was a doorway at the back. Maybe it was an office… with a phone.

But the would-be office wasn't one. Instead, it held a plain bed, raised high off the ground like a surgeon's might be. Thin clear tubing was coiled on a moveable table beside the bed. A low moan shuddered through the room. Someone was here. Her heart thundered as she retreated to the lab.

What was this place? She shook her head. No, she knew what this was. Maryk was involved with making Dragon's Tears. That's how he could give Gabby a big bag of the stuff. It was already touch and go if Maryk would release her when he returned, but if he knew that she had found his—

"Oh, good," a man said behind her. "You are here already. How convenient."

She shivered as she turned toward the new arrival.

"Lord Ansyn," she said. "What an unexpected surprise."

"Likewise, my dear." The serpentine smile on his face sent chills over her flesh. He bowed to her, just like Maryk had done, but there was nothing genteel in the way he eyed her.

"Where is Maryk?" At this point, he seemed like a safer option than his brother.

An amused glint flashed through his eyes. "Soon after my brother came to me with his bit of news about your visiting our fine land, he—" he cleared his throat, "—became indisposed."

"What have you done to him?" Nope. She shouldn't have asked that.

He tsked. He steepled his hands together and grinned at her. "I'd heard you were a bit frigid around our kind, but between such a touching display of concern for my brother and a surprising rumor that you've mated yourself to two of us… Well, I begin to suspect my original information was incorrect."

"I am mated to Kylan and Dillon." She raised her chin. "Return me to them."

"Oh?" One eyebrow lifted.

She nodded slightly, making sure to maintain eye contact with the dragon in front of her. "I will explain this was Maryk's action, not yours. Kylan and Dillon will understand if I can speak with them."

His head dropped back as a burst of sharp, riotous laughter shook through him. "Oh, my dear, no wonder my brother was so taken with you."

Irritation bubbled through her. She tapped her foot. "This is hardly a humorous situation, sir."

This only seemed to bring out more laughter from him.

This was ridiculous. She was leaving whether he was taking her back or she had to find her way on her own. She strode toward the door. Ansyn moved in a blur of motion, too fast for her eyes to register. He grabbed her arm, just above her elbow.

"Not that way." He shook his head at her in a reprimand.

Then he steered her to the strange room with the bed. She dug in her heels, but just like when she'd fought Maryk earlier, his strength was too great. She reached out and grabbed anything she could from the closest table as he pulled her through the lab.

She glanced down. A metal pen. As far as weapons went, it wasn't the greatest. If she swung out at him now, he'd be able to block her too easily. No, she needed to wait for a better opportunity. She curled her fingers around the object and prayed that opportunity would come.

Ansyn thrust her toward the bed. "Get on it."

"No," she said defiantly. She wasn't about to make this—whatever
this
was—easy for him. "What are you going to do to me anyway?"

She glared at him, then scurried around the bed to the far side. Her foot hit something. Another moan shook through the air, louder this time. Oh, God. It was a woman in an animal cage. She pushed her fingers through the openings in the crate and reached for Jasmine.

"Please…" she begged.

"Do you really want me to
assist
you?" He ignored the girl as he adjusted the cuff on his buttoned up shirt. It was a simple little motion, but strangely menacing at the same time.

Maryk's aversion to her dragon markings had triggered a full body recoil. Maybe Ansyn would do that too…

She swallowed as she moved her hands to her dress and started to pull it up for the second time that day. Ansyn narrowed his eyes.

"Yes, it would be helpful if you removed your clothing."

Challenge accepted. She lifted it with her shaking hands.

"You know that your markings will have no effect on me, don't you?"

When she cursed, he smirked.

"I'm not interested in your body for sex. I simply want your blood."

Her eyes bulged. "My blood?"

"Of course. What did you think?"

"I don't understand."

"I've never had a dragon mate in my lab before. I've already got a new name for the product we'll develop: Dragon's Heart. Do you like it?"

She gaped.

"I agree. It is a little kitschy, but so is the name Dragon's Tears and that stuff sells like—what do you humans say? Ah, yes—hot cakes." He patted the bed. "Hop up. This won't take long."

***

Adrenaline pumped through Dillon's veins as Kalmut, the Kelvin clan village, came into view. His war cry shot through the twilight skies. The clouds glowed with brushes of bright crimson as the sun dropped close to the mountains. By morning, the ground would be coated with red to match. A war would be started, but none of that mattered if Jasmine had been injured.

Fire poured from his mouth as he imagined Maryk's vulnerable throat beneath his teeth. He'd tried to help the other dragon, but he was done with that. Maryk had gone too far.

Beside him, Kylan issued his own call to battle. Their guard flanked them as they made their descent. No one could take the chief's mate without facing the wrath of the whole clan. Kelvin dragons were already gathering in the square below, but no one had taken to the air yet.

Dillon growled. If they wanted to start on the ground, he could do that. He tucked in his wings and dove. When the figures below came into focus, he didn't understand what he was seeing. Maryk was in the middle of them, holding his hands up to stay his troops.

His first impulse was to pluck the regent's brother from the group and take him away, but Kylan's sharp command stayed him. They landed hard. The earth shook beneath their feet.

Kylan and Dillon transformed immediately, but their soldiers stayed in dragon form.

"Where is she?" Kylan's question boomed over the crowd.

Maryk turned to them. His eyes blazed. "They told me you were protecting her."

Dillon hissed and stepped forward. "We know you have her."

"I didn't know you'd mated," Maryk said. "I—I thought she was meant for me."

Dillon grabbed the scarred dragon by his shirt. "Where the hell is she?"

"I was just going to—" Maryk shook his head. "We don't have time for this. He is with her. I only just got free myself." Maryk grabbed Dillon's arms to stop him from squeezing out his life. Blood dripped freely down Maryk's arms from his wrists. Deep gouges cut through the man's flesh. What was going on here?

"Your words make no sense," Kylan said.

"I would never have hurt her." Maryk's eyes were wild as he flipped his attention between Dillon and his chief. "But Ansyn… he is going to kill her. It might already be too late."

Maryk's words tore through Dillon's chest and ripped at his heart.

"No!" He refused to believe it. He would know it. He would sense if Jasmine was gone.

"Where?" Kylan asked.

"Follow me."

Dillon forced himself to let go of the man who'd dared to touch their mate. Seconds later, they were flying through the skies again.

As they neared the edge of human lands, disbelief surged through Dillon. Maryk had lied. He was taking them away on some worthless chase. Fire blasted from his mouth, but it missed Maryk, who'd suddenly dipped toward a small group of buildings. New hope sprang to life.

Please let her be alive. They could deal with everything else. She just needed to be alive.

Chapter 22

J
asmine stared at the dragon on the other side of the surgical bed. He wanted her blood. Somehow she didn't think this was going to be the same as donating a pint at the local clinic. She edged away from him and the heinous bed. The girl in the cage whimpered.

"It's quite a unique opportunity," he said as his gaze slithered down her body, "to have a dragon mate available for this."

She swallowed. "Why?"

He shrugged elegantly as he smoothly stepped around the bed. "When the world changed twenty some odd years ago—or was it thirty? Things do tend to blur when you've seen as many decades pass as I have—I needed to streamline our business interests in order to support my clan. It really is all about economics."

How old was he? It was hard to remember that dragons lived so much longer than humans. And now that she had mated, her life expectancy had changed too. Would that work to her advantage? Would it keep her alive long enough to escape? Or would she just be milked for her blood over and over again for years?

In the blink of an eye, he'd closed the distance between them. He inhaled. "Ah, the sweet scent of fear is such an aphrodisiac." He traced a finger down her neck, lingering over the place where her pulse was beating a staccato. "It's a pity about the mate markings."

One small blessing.

"Come now," he said as he grabbed her throat. His large hand squeezed until stars exploded over her eyes. He chuckled, then he loosened his grip. Her ears rang as blood rushed through her veins again.

It was now or never.

She spit in his face to distract him, then she swung. Her hand gripped tightly over the pen. She needed to go for somewhere soft.
Just do it.
She aimed for his eye.

She missed. The blunt tip struck the bone under his eye. The force of the impact shuddered down her arm. The pen slid along her sweaty palm and fumbled from her grasp. A jagged, but hardly fatal, tear cut through his cheek. Blood dripped down his face. When he let go of her to reach for his cut, she ducked.

His roar was deafening as his dragon tried to surface. His eyes blazed orange.

"I'm so sorry…" she said to the girl. She had to leave her now, but she'd come back.

He bellowed again and the lights suspended overhead shook.

Run. Run. Run.

She tore through the lab. He was a dragon. He'd stalk her. But she couldn't just stay there and let him drain her of blood. She had to try to escape. When she reached the door, she plunged outside. She slammed into a wall. A smoky, solid wall.

No. No. No.

She scrambled to get around it. She had to—

"Jasmine!"

Kylan's voice shocked her to her core. She hadn't run into a wall at all, at least not a building wall. This one was all dragon. Her dragon.

She collapsed against him and began to shake. Another howl thundered behind her.

"Go. We have to go. Go." She said quickly. "He's—"

And then it was too late. Ansyn burst out. Orange fire streamed from his mouth. His face was already transitioning to dragon form.

"Get off my land," he snarled at Kylan.

"There's a girl caged in there," Jasmine said.

A low growl rumbled through Kylan's chest as he swung around and positioned himself between her and Ansyn. Then she realized he wasn't alone. Dillon crowded closer. Maryk was there too, enclosed by several dragons. Even more had begun to surround Ansyn. Two of the dragons shifted to human form and went into the barn.

"You will pay for this," Kylan said. "Here and now."

He glanced toward Dillon, who nodded and stepped toward Jasmine. He opened his arms, and she wanted to rush right in, but she couldn’t do that. He was going to take her away and protect her so Kylan could fight Ansyn. That was not okay. She clung to Kylan.

Kylan turned to her and brushed his hand against her cheek. "It is okay, little one. I need to do this."

"I would do it in his stead too." Dillon rested his hand on her back. "But only a chief can challenge the chief of another clan." His gruff tone suggested it was every bit as hard for him to watch Kylan step into this fight as it was for her. "There is a reason he is our chief."

This was going to happen whether she wanted it to or not. He needed to know she supported him. That she forgave him. She hugged him, then stood on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips. "I love you," she said. "I know you'll kick his ass."

Surprise registered on his face. He closed his eyes for a moment, as if to savor her words. He nodded to her one last time, before she let Dillon lead her away. She stared at Kylan, unable to drag her gaze away from her mate as his face went stony cold and he faced their enemy.

She trembled as the two dragons circled one another, moving slowly into the open as they did. Mannix clan dragons formed a loose circle around the combatants. Dillon wrapped his arms around her, and she wished his strength could seep into her through some kind of fancy dragon osmosis.

"I love him," she said. "I love you both."

He hugged her tighter, but didn't say anything. Maybe nothing needed to be said right now. Their lives could all be irrevocably changed by the end of this fight. She grasped at Dillon's arms where they held her. Anything to steady herself.

At least he didn't try to pull her away or turn her from the dueling dragons.

***

From the corner of his eye, Kylan watched Dillon hold and soothe their mate. She'd been frightened, but as far as he could tell neither Ansyn nor Maryk had been able to inflict any physical harm on her.

But that didn't mean they didn't have to face the consequences of touching her, taking her, frightening her…

The horizon was swallowing the sun now. Only a few minutes of sunlight remained, and he was going to use those to his advantage. He circled slowly and Ansyn followed.

Ansyn wasn't a seasoned fighter like Kylan was—he'd always been too caught up in illegal business activities and building his treasure to worry much about physical clashes—but there was no doubt he'd fight dirty.

Kylan took one more step, then another…