8. Hayden
The curses and growls that filled the air told me the dragon council wasn’t anything good, but I still had about a million questions.
“Where is here?” Easton gritted out.
“The house,” Cillian answered, tension running through his words.
“Right now?” Knox demanded.
“Showed up unannounced. It’s not like I had a choice whether to let them in,” Cillian muttered.
Cáel moved in closer, surrounding me with his massive body.
“What’s the play?” Easton asked.
Cillian let out an audible breath across the line. “We don’t have much room to maneuver. They’re demanding to see Hayden.”
“No,” Cáel spat, making me jump.
“We have to,” Cillian said calmly.
My gaze ping-ponged between all the men in the hallway, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
Knox glared down at his phone. “How the hell did they find out about her?”
“Corbetts,” Easton muttered. “Had to be.”
“That’s my guess, as well,” Cillian agreed. “Probably trying to cover their asses after almost killing Hayden.”
Cáel growled low, making the hairs on my arm stand on end.
“Like we’d ever take our problems to the council,” Knox spat.
“Well, they weren’t taking any chances. I told Maddox to meet you at Easton’s car. Prepare Hayden the best you can on the ride home,” Cillian ordered.
Knox glanced at Easton and Cáel. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“Which part?”
“All of it, but I was thinking about involving Mad,” Knox answered.
Cillian sighed. “It would be worse if he found out about their presence later.”
Easton muttered something under his breath.
“Make it quick,” Cillian ordered. “It’ll just get worse the longer they have to wait.”
He hung up without another word.
Everyone was quiet for a moment before I spoke. “What the hell is the dragon council?”
“We’ll explain in the car,” Knox said. “We need to move.”
Pete was already on his phone, talking to his enforcer partner, Terry. Cáel kept an arm around me as he hurried me down the hallway and out into the late afternoon sunshine. We crossed the parking lot to find Maddox standing at the G-Wagon.
I’d never seen him quite as he was right now. A fury radiated through Maddox, practically vibrating his body as he waited for our approach.
Easton approached him warily. “You going to be okay?”
“Yes.” Maddox’s voice sounded more animal than human, and I knew for certain he was anything but okay.
Pete and Terry got into the SUV next to ours as Maddox and Easton got into the front seats of ours. Cáel opened the door for me, and I slid into the center back seat. With Knox and Cáel on either side of me, I had to twist my body sideways to fit.
“Start talking,” I ordered as Easton backed out of the parking spot.
Knox and Easton shared a look through the rearview mirror. It felt like some silent twin-speak passed between them before Knox began to talk.
“For a long time, we had a ruling class. A queen and her bond who oversaw all the hordes across the globe. Each individual horde had its own ruling figures. Some were called kings and queens, an honor passed through bloodlines. Others had alphas, who were chosen through dominance.”
“You have an alpha. Cillian is the most dominant dragon?” I asked.
Knox nodded. “That’s how our horde was formed. We really didn’t give Cillian much of a choice.”
“And no one just votes? Like a dragon democracy?” I asked.
Knox’s lips twitched. “I don’t think that’s really a thing.”
“It should be,” I mumbled.
He linked his fingers through mine. “Over the years, there were more and more attempts on the queen’s life. More and more infighting. There were forces calling for change. That we should have a council that represented all the quadrants of the globe.”
“That sounds fair.”
Cáel grunted next to me.
“It’s honestly just people grasping for more power,” Knox explained. “From the stories my parents told me, the queen and her bond really cared for our people. Who we have now seems to be more concerned with control and prestige.”
“What happened to the queen?” I asked.
A shadow passed over Knox’s eyes. “She and her bond were killed in an attack. The new council stepped in days later.”
I gaped at him. “You think they had her killed.”
“That’s what most believe,” Easton said.
My gaze flicked to the front seats. Maddox’s hands were clenched so tightly that his knuckles had no color in them at all, while Easton simply looked sad.
“And they’re here? Why?” I asked Knox.
He sent a worried look around the vehicle. “They want to know whenever a female dragon is born or discovered.”
A heavy weight settled in my stomach. “Why?”
Knox gripped my hand tighter. “I said they like control. They see female dragons as pawns, ways to access more power.”
That weight only intensified. “But they’re people.”
“I know. But there are hordes all over the world who would give anything for a dragon mate.”
Panic zipped through me, blood roaring in my ears. “But I have my mates.”
Easton’s gaze found mine in the mirror. “You could choose to leave us if you wanted.”
“But they can’t make me, right?” My anxiety radiated in each of my words.
“They won’t take you,” Cáel growled, moving in impossibly closer.
Knox’s gaze locked with mine. “But they will manipulate you with everything they have to get you to make that choice.”