Chapter 6 Piper
Piper
Iwas jolted awake by an explosion that rocked my room so hard the chandelier above me crashed to the floor, scattering shattered glass everywhere. Another blast followed right after the first, and chunks of the ceiling fell as things around the room toppled and crashed.
Barrett.
Throwing off the covers, I ignored the glass on the floor and grabbed my shoes and socks, then slung my bag over my shoulder and hurried through the connecting door into Matteo’s room.
Matteo’s room was just as trashed—worse, actually. And he was on the floor, unconscious.
At least, I hoped he was only unconscious.
“Matteo!” I knelt quickly, feeling for a pulse at the side of his neck, then sighed in relief when I found one, though it was faint.
A massive roar shook the castle, rattling the walls, and I instantly knew who it belonged to.
The Prime was on it, whatever or whoever it was.
But I knew it had to be Barrett’s men. How had they tracked me to Alaska?
Better yet, how had they gotten into Dragonspire?
The gates had been closed and guarded by at least a hundred guards.
My door was thrown open next door, and when they couldn’t find me there, Matteo’s door was thrown open. The Prime thundered in, along with about fifteen guards. He glanced down at Matteo, laid out on the floor.
“Alive?”
“Yes.” Thankfully.
“Good. My healer will see to him. Come with me.” He picked Matteo up like he weighed nothing and led me to a safe room near the backside of the castle, behind a well-protected, invisible door.
He pressed something I couldn’t see on the wall.
When part of the wall slid down, he entered a code, and another section slid open, revealing descending stairs.
Before going down the stairs, he turned, commanding his guards, “Half of you with me. The other half go help search for the jackals who dared to breach my gates.” His voice was pure snarl.
They bowed, and frankly, I was surprised they could move even that much given how intense the Prime’s aura was right now.
Then they charged off down the hall to follow his directive, and I followed like a puppet with wooden hinges and sciatica, still trying to throw off his aura but unable to completely do it.
It was only when the Prime saw that his wife was already in the safe room that his aura lightened enough for me to move more freely.
He carefully laid Matteo down on a bed against the wall, and I took a look around. The bunker was huge, and unlike the rest of Dragonspire Keep, it was very modern-looking, with a lot of stainless steel and clear signs of high tech goodies.
A healer in pale robes rushed over and started working on Matteo. Green, glowing magic flowed from his hands as he used it to scan the bear shifter.
I slumped into a chair next to the bed, waiting to hear what he said about Matteo’s condition.
After pouring a lot of healing magic into him, the healer came quickly over to me and started picking glass out of my feet, then healed them.
When he was finished, I offered a grateful nod, then pulled on my socks and shoes while he went right back to Matteo.
With only one healer to go around, I imagined he was going to be very busy today.
My feet felt fine now, but I should have had my shoes on. I shouldn’t have let that plush carpet seduce me. My feet had definitely paid the price for it.
I didn’t want to interrupt the Prime and his wife, but I needed to know.
“Was this attack from one of Barrett’s men?”
The Prime broke away from murmuring something to Everly and turned to me.
“Yes, that’s the assumption. My guards reported seeing someone earlier who wasn’t familiar to them, but before they could take him into custody, he was gone.”
Matteo came awake with a groan, then immediately started panicking. He fought the healer, who was still trying to pour more magic into him.
“Where’s Piper?” he demanded. “Is she okay?”
“I’m right here. Stop fussing and worrying.”
He shoved the healer aside so he could see me, then collapsed back in relief.
“I don’t know how to tell you this, Piper, but you’re kind of high maintenance.”
I snorted at the gallows humor. “Be sure to tell Riggs that.”
He winced and put a hand to his side. “I like living, so no thanks. Besides, I don’t think he cares that you’re high maintenance, just as long as you’re his.”
Even though he was obviously in pain, his voice was teasing.
“How did you get injured?”
“No idea,” he said, gritting his teeth. “Last thing I remember is falling asleep.”
My eyebrow lifted. “So someone attacked you while you were sleeping? But then, why would they leave you alive?”
The healer cleared his throat. “If I may speak? He wouldn’t have survived much longer if you hadn’t brought him directly to me.
In addition to the damage he sustained to his cranium, he was also injected with something pretty nasty.
My magic has been having difficulty isolating exactly what it is, but it was strong enough to take down a water buffalo. ”
“Or a bear shifter,” I muttered, thinking. “They didn’t attack me, though. Not directly.”
The Prime sat in a chair across from me, pulling his wife onto his lap. I was fairly certain he wasn’t letting her out of his sight for a while, if I knew shifters at all.
“I’m getting reports. There was more than one bomb that went off.
They were all set to a timer. Half the first floor is in pieces.
” His eyes were glowing so brightly from his dragon that I could only respond by staring to the side of him, and not directly at his face.
“My guess is that, more than anything, this guy wanted to send a message. Anyone who helps you becomes a target.”
My hands fisted. That sounded exactly like something Barrett would do. “I’m so sorry that I brought this danger to your door. I naively believed he wouldn’t dare follow me here.”
The Prime snorted. “It seems there isn’t much that this Barrett wouldn’t dare. And if I find him, it will be the last thing he does.”
I shivered at the promise of violence in his voice.
Everly didn’t seem to mind her husband’s bloodthirstiness at all as she turned to me. “Are you sure you’re okay, Piper? You weren’t hurt?”
My heart softened at the concern in her voice. “I’m okay, really. The chandelier fell, but it wasn’t over my bed. I am a little worried about Matteo, though.”
Everly bit her lip as she watched the healer continue to pour magic into Matteo. Whatever he’d been shot up with, it must have been bad.
“You okay, Matteo?” I asked in a low voice. His eyes were squeezed shut, and he was gritting his teeth so hard I feared they would shatter.
“Is it just me, or are all poisons made to feel like living fire is consuming your veins?”
I winced.
So, that was a no.
His phone started ringing, and it sounded like it was coming from his front pocket.
“You slept with your phone in your pocket?” I got up to help him answer, since he was clearly in no shape to. “I’m going to reach in, okay?”
Matteo nodded. “It’s probably Alpha.”
I fished it out, but the caller ID still made my stomach dip when it flashed Alpha.
“Can’t he reach you with the Clan Link?” I asked, almost desperately. I wasn’t sure I was ready to talk to Riggs yet.
Matteo snorted. “He doesn’t want to talk to me, Piper. I guarantee it.”
Biting my lip, and totally frustrated with myself for being a big chicken about this, I clicked accept.
“Hello?”
There was a beat of surprised silence, then Riggs’ raspy voice ground out my name, sounding both relieved and devastated.
“Piper.”
There was so much emotion in that one word that I felt the back of my eyes sting. I felt for the chair beneath me and sat, trying to ignore Matteo’s smirk.
“Told you,” he whispered.
I sniffed, then cleared my throat. “Hi. We’re okay. Matteo is still being worked on by the healer, though. Barrett’s men injected him with something.” I glanced at Everly and the Prime, putting my hand over the phone. “I’m so sorry I’m just now thinking to ask, but were any of your people injured?”
The Prime nodded, and his eyes started glowing again from his dragon. “Some of my off-duty kitchen staff were in the same area as one of the bombs, and some of my guards were in the vicinity of another. There were injuries, but no fatalities.”
“I’m so sorry,” I told them. I lifted my hand. “The Prime’s staff have some injuries, but no one was killed,” I reported. Anything to avoid talking about the amount of emotion that was in his voice when he said my name. Anything to avoid even thinking about it.
The Prime gently moved his wife off his lap, then sat her down and took a few steps away, pulling out his phone. I couldn’t hear his conversation, though, because I was too distracted with my own.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Riggs asked, his voice intense but gentle.
“I’m sure.” I swallowed. “Sorry for just leaving you with Alanna. That was... awful of me, I know. I just didn’t know if I would be able to do it, to leave her there so I could get help. And every conversation, every stalled moment, would have made me change my mind, and this was what was best.”
He sighed. “I’ve been happy to protect and watch her, Piper. Anytime, actually. What hurt is that you didn’t even give me a chance. You just assumed you knew how I would react. You just assumed there were no other options.”
I frowned. “What other options were there?”
“Well, I could have sent Matteo with you from the beginning instead of having him try to find Barrett. You would have been safer and had backup that way. Or, you could have stayed with Alanna in the Clan’s circle of protection, and Matteo and I could have gone to ask for help from the Prime.”