Chapter 23 Jackson #3
“They’ll be waiting for us,” Jaden said absently, then she looked around the car with obvious distaste. “You couldn’t have found something nicer?”
“It’s a classic,” Shyanne said, sending a dagger-sharp glare across the car to the other woman.
“I heard about the last car. I assumed you’d have something better than this,” Jaden said.
The car was an early-nineties sedan. Shyanne had done a ton of work to soup it up so it would make a good getaway car.
She’d installed a turbocharger, an upgraded intake and exhaust system, computer-tuned fuel injection, and something called sway bars that improved handling.
All of it done in such a way that the car still retained its original look.
That was important to our plan. The car needed to look harmless.
In fact, Jaden’s assessment made me breathe a bit easier.
It meant we’d succeeded in camouflaging it, and that would help with the second part of our plan.
They’d hopefully never suspect the other changes we’d made.
Shyanne had done a ridiculously amazing job on it all in such a short time.
The woman was a wonder. Even now, when we were in such a dangerous situation, I couldn’t help but look at her and wish that we’d met under different circumstances.
I’d have loved to woo her the proper way and gotten to know each other in an organic and less stressful way.
I wanted her. Wanted her as a mate. The idea was crazy, especially given that I needed to try to have an heir with another dragon and give my people the best chance possible at trying to survive, but what was survival if you weren’t truly happy?
As we drove closer to our destination, my phone buzzed with a text. I glanced at Jaden, but if she’d heard the sound, she wasn’t showing any signs of it. Surreptitiously, I slipped it out of my pocket.
Christian: My whole family is aware of the plan now. They were fucking pissed that I didn’t tell them sooner, but I think it made the whole thing more believable.
I allowed myself a brief sigh of relief. Christian’s family and friends must have been terrified when I took Bryn. Now that they understood why, I could be comforted by the fact that they knew she was mostly safe. I gave Jaden one more glance before typing out a response.
Jackson: Good. Tell them I’m sorry. We’re almost to the meeting place.
Christian: Got it. Mom, Broderick and I will be at the location we decided on. I hope the little friend we made does the job. Not gonna lie, I’m not totally up to date on Germanic occult magic, but I think it’ll work. Be careful. See you soon, old friend.
Tucking the phone back into my pocket, I sat back and tried to relax for the last part of the trip.
Christian’s family had come over from Germany around two centuries ago.
The Jewish wyrm dragon family had been middle-to-lower class, but through ingenuity, hard work, and sheer force of will, they’d risen to become the richest, most powerful, and highest-ranking wyrm dragon family in the world.
Pretty impressive, honestly. Our plan had relied on an ancient magical trick that would do exactly what we needed.
Christian was being modest. I’d seen the magic at work after he attempted the task, and I had no doubts that it worked like a charm, even if he had haltingly read the instructions from a book that was older than the United States.
All I could do was cross my fingers and pray.
“Here we are,” Jaden said a little while later.
The meeting location was about as far from anything as you could get.
From what I could see through the darkness, we’d pulled into a deeply hidden estate.
A paved driveway led us up toward a mansion on a hill, surrounded by live oaks and towering pine trees.
To the left of the home was a four-car garage, and in the center, a round parking area.
In front of the structures, dead center of the parking courtyard, stood the awaiting drakes.
Joseph Anitoli stood at the forefront. Two hulking men in suits flanked him. Behind them, prowling like angry cats, were a half dozen more drakes in their dragon forms. The larger creatures slashed the air with their tails and hissed as we pulled up.
“Holy shit,” Shyanne muttered.
It was terrifying to see. Even I knew that. Looking out at them as they paced back and forth, they looked like hell incarnate. Walking death.
“Let’s get this over with,” Jaden said as she got out of the car.
“You stay close to the car,” I whispered to Shyanne as I opened my door. “Stay as close as you can.”
“Got it,” she said, and there was no hiding the quaver in her voice. If I’d been a human surrounded in this situation, I’d have been scared shitless too. Hell, I was a shifter, and I was terrified.
“Another job well done,” Joseph said as I stepped out of the car. “I gotta hand it to you, you winged dragons sure can follow orders.”
Before I could respond, he turned his gaze on Jaden, his self-satisfied grin slipping.
“There’s my little watchdog. How’d it go?”
Jaden nodded her head toward me. “He beat the shit out of his buddy right in front of me. Wrapped the kid up in a blanket and dragged her out. No funny business that I could see.”
“Good,” Joseph said. “Now get the fuck outta here,” he added, waving a hand at her.
“I’m sorry?” she said. “That’s it?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Final payment has already hit your account. Now get out of my sight. Traitorous bitch.”
“Hey!” Jaden took a step forward. The two large men on either side of Joseph stepped forward, and one of the shifted drakes snarled a challenge at the woman. She paused mid-step, and held her hands up in surrender.
“Hang on,” she said. “What about—”
“Yeah, yeah,” Joseph said, growing more irritated. “All taken care of. No more worries. Now go!” he barked.
Jaden spun on her heel and sprinted away, shifting to her wyrm form after a few paces. She slithered out of sight in seconds, rushing back down the driveway. Maybe I had been right. It took more than money and bitterness to turn someone.
“All right,” Joseph said once Jaden had vanished. “Back to business.” He glanced sideways at Shyanne. “And who’s this little number?”
My throat went dry as he gazed at her. Christian had been followed, we knew that, plus they’d actually seen her with him.
The only thing I could hope for was that any of the guys who’d been watching weren’t here.
Also, that night, Shyanne had been dolled up like a supermodel.
Hair, make up, sexy dress and shoes—the whole nine yards.
While she was still gorgeous, her T-shirt, baggy jeans, and baseball cap helped hide much of what had been on display that evening.
“Hired help,” I said. “Human. She’s not part of this.”
“We’ll see about that,” Joseph said, eyeing Shyanne with what could only be called cautious lechery.
Shyanne, smart as she was, kept her head down, the brim of the ball cap hiding most of her face away.
After scanning her up and down like she was some juicy steak to devour, Joseph turned his attention back to me and nodded toward the car.
“Is the little bitch in there?”
I gritted my teeth, but held my temper at bay. “Yes.”
“Good, deal,” he said. “Go ahead and get her out.”
“Why?” I spat. “I’ve just got to kill her later.” I pointed in the direction that Jaden had run. “Your spy made sure you knew we did as you asked. We’re here, now we can go. I’d rather do this in private.”
Joseph threw his head back and laughed, a big boisterous sound that was incongruous in this situation. When he brought himself under control, he leveled his gaze at me and slowly shook his head.
“You still think you can call the shots? How many times do I have to tell you that I’m in charge? Open the goddamn trunk.”
“Where’s my sister?” I said, unable to help myself. “I want proof of life.”
“You want— The fucking balls on this guy,” Joseph said, turning to look at his men.
The shifted drakes snarled and hissed, staring daggers at me. The two large bodyguard drakes looked at me with disdain, smirking.
“She’s inside,” Joseph said at last, then snapped his fingers at the hulking man beside him. “Enzo, go help Mr. Adelmund get our little prize out of the trunk, will you?”
The big man strode forward, glaring at me.
“Pop the trunk,” I muttered to Shyanne.
Nodding, she leaned down, and pulled the trunk lever. Thankfully, she was doing as I’d asked, staying right by the driver seat, door open.
Enzo approached and reached out as if to grab my arm and escort me to the rear of the car. I jerked away.
“Get your fucking hands off me,” I growled.
Enzo’s nostrils flared, and he pressed his chest against mine. “Think you’re a big man, do ya?” he whispered.
I glared at him. The guy was only an inch shorter than my six-foot-five frame, but he still outweighed me by about fifty pounds. That didn’t matter. I was an alpha, and this guy was still a shifter. My dragon snarled, and I pressed against him, allowing every ounce of my alpha aura to surge out.
He flinched and took a step back, unconsciously bowing his head. He looked pissed, and so did the other men, Joseph had a vein pulsing at the side of his neck.
“Enough!” Joseph shouted. “Get the fucking kid.”
Enzo, still not looking me in the eye, trudged along, following me to the trunk. Grabbing the metal, I paused for half a second, sending up a prayer to whatever god or gods might be looking down on us to make our plan work. After that brief request of fate, I lifted the lid.
Enzo looked down into the trunk for several long seconds, then lifted his head, filling his lungs and shouting.
“He’s got her. She’s here,” Enzo cried.
The bundle in the trunk moved slightly, almost writhing in pain, and a faint whimper could be heard as if Bryn was hurt or terrified. The yellow blanket covered her entirely. Not even her hair was visible above it. She was a small kid, and it didn’t take much to hide her.