Chapter 24
Rook
The wolves’ trail was sloppy. Broken branches, churned mud, and the faint scent of blood left a roadmap visible to anyone who cared to look. They’d been careless, as though they thought no-one would follow them. As though they thought no-one would hunt them.
The darkness was fading into a pre-dawn gray, and still I didn’t stop to rest. I didn’t need to rest. I needed to reclaim what was mine.
I’d found the spot where he’d taken her, and I’d known his fetid scent at once.
Landon. I’d found the abandoned bag my Tribute had taken with her, and I’d found the first traces of blood.
Hers. He’d hurt her. And when I caught up to him, he would repay every drop of blood, every ounce of pain, with his own, ten times over.
As the night had worn on, I’d found more blood, and fibers of the rope they’d bound her with. Bound her so tight it broke the skin. My jaw clenched as I thought of it. I wanted to rip him apart for that alone.
Yes. Kill the pup. Kill anyone who would dare harm her, my dragon urged, his fury melding with my own until I no longer knew where I ended and he began.
But I couldn’t lose control. Not yet.
I’d found the spot where the fools had camped for a few hours, allowing me to gain on them. Allowing me to note five distinctive scents in addition to Kaylee’s. Five men who would die today.
When I found them, when I had Kaylee safe, then I could lose control. Not before.
And when she is safe, we will burn the rest to ash.
Yes. We’d let it all burn, every trace of those who’d dared to threaten, dared to hurt, the one I—
There!
I dragged my focus back to the woods as the dawn lightened. I’d almost missed the turn in the trail. I needed to focus. Kaylee needed me to focus. I’d already failed her once. I wouldn’t fail her again.
The fire burning in my chest turned to ice. They were heading for the border. And if they crossed out of my territory…
Fly!
No. We can’t.
As much as I wanted to, as much as I abhorred crawling along at a snail’s pace through the undergrowth, likely not even twice the speed of the wolves, I couldn’t take the risk. With the thick tree cover, it would be too easy to pass directly over them.
Not when we know where they’re headed, my dragon growled impatiently.
Our border is over 400 miles long, they could come out at any point.
My dragon settled back with another grumble, and I pushed on, the scent of my Tribute and her kidnappers growing steadily stronger with every step. And with every step, my dragon grew more restless.
We’re almost to the border.
I know.
If they’ve passed beyond our borders…
I know.
I bit back a growl. If they’d passed beyond our borders, and I murdered them in another dragon’s territory, I risked war.
It wouldn’t stop me. I was bringing my Tribute home, and nothing would stop me.
If we got lucky, they’d take a sharp right and veer into Gaheris’s territory.
He’d have no issue with what had to be done. But I wasn’t counting on luck.
I doubled down and pushed hard, my uneasiness growing as the trail continued straight ahead.
The land was technically neutral territory, but arcane law meant all neutral land was territory of the crown.
I’d need to make the deaths quick and clean, neither of which was high on my agenda, if I didn’t want to risk unwelcome attention.
Risk it.
Let’s just find her first. We’ll worry about how to kill the upstart wolves when we catch them.
We will take them back to our lair and torture them. Slowly.
A low rumble of agreement spread through my chest. The idea appealed to every jealous, protective instinct in me. That Tribute was mine, and they’d stolen her. There was a price to be paid, and only their pain would settle the debt.
We grow near.
I sharpened my focus. He was right; we were close. My uneasiness increased. The trail was at least half an hour old, but air scenting told me I’d reach them within a minute. They had stopped, and—
Her scent is not fresh.
I froze, inhaling. Fuck!
An ambush? my dragon wondered.
Their mistake if it is. We kill all except the so-called alpha. He’ll break…eventually.
Anticipation heated within me, and I let it drive me the final steps. When I pushed through the trees, I found myself in a large clearing…and at its center were five men.
And no sign of our female.
Landon’s face twisted into an arrogant smirk as he saw me notice her absence. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the mighty dragon lord himself, crawling through the dirt like a common wolf. Didn’t think you’d stoop this low for a broken little null.”
He shared a smirk with the shifter on his left as he insulted Kaylee, as though this were all some joke for him. He wouldn’t be laughing for long.
“Where is she?” My voice was layered in my dominance, and three of the men shifted their weight uneasily. Lesser males. They’d die first, leaving their leaders alive to give me the answers I needed.
“What, no threats?” Landon asked. “No posturing? I’m disappointed.”
“If it’s threats you want, wolf, I’ve got plenty. You took something that belongs to me, and I will reclaim what’s mine.” I stalked forward. “But you know what I find works better than threats?”
One of the three dead men swallowed hard, but I kept my eyes on Landon as I spoke. “Actions.”
Landon threw his head back and laughed, exposing his throat in a way that made me want to crush it. “Nice try, dragon, but this is neutral territory. We both know you can’t kill me here without consequences.”
“You think arcane laws will protect you? You think neutral territory matters to me? You took what’s mine, and there’s no law in this world that will save you now.”
I flicked one arm and grabbed the man who’d swallowed, snapping his neck as easily as a dry twig. My eyes stayed locked onto Landon as I dropped the lifeless body to the ground.
“I’ll ask you again. Where. Is. She?”
Landon’s eyes widened, but quickly narrowed again, his face hardening. “Lay one hand on me, and you’ll never find her.”
“You hurt her,” I ground out. “That was your first mistake. Thinking you can negotiate with me? That’s your second. I suggest you don’t make a third.”
“I’m not the one making a mistake. This is bigger than you think it is, dragon.”
My patience was wearing thin. “You’re stalling. Bad choice.”
I let my eyes flick to another of Landon’s lackeys, and the man visibly paled, taking a step back. I lifted my lip in a sneer.
“Pretty soon you’re going to be standing there all alone, Landon.” I took another step towards him, dominance rolling off me in waves. “You think you’re an alpha?” My voice was a low rumble, and I shook my head once. “You’re nothing but prey.”
“Prey? Is that what you think I am? Because from where I’m standing, it looks like I’m the one holding all the cards.”
“Then you must not have very good view.”
I lunged forward—not at Landon, but at the man who had flinched back from me. My hand closed around his neck and I started to squeeze, just hard enough to cut off his air supply.
“Because from where I’m standing, it looks like I could kill you and your men, and there’s nothing you could do to stop me.” The shifter in my grasp flailed his hands at mine, trying to claw me from his throat, and I rattled him, squeezing more tightly. “Except tell me where she is.”
“Go ahead, kill him,” Landon said, looking at his choking enforcer impassively. “It changes nothing.”
I smelled the panic flare from the man I was killing, and his eyes flew wide. “Alpha, please…” he gasped—which was a waste of his final breaths. I ducked my head to his ear.
“You should have chosen a better leader,” I told him, and then put him out of his misery.
“Alpha Landon,” one of the two remaining men at the shifter’s side said urgently. “Maybe we should—”
“Silence!” Landon cut across him. “You vowed your life to me, or did you forget that, Jake? And so did both of them.”
“You said we just needed to stall until he gets back—”
Landon twisted with a snarl of fury, lashing out at the enforcer.
The rising sun glistened on his elongated claws, and before any of us could react, before the enforcer could get out another word, Landon’s lethally sharp claws slashed across the man’s neck, opening a wide, bloody gash.
Jake’s mouth popped open in surprise, a wheezing gasp escaping, then he clamped his hands to his throat, and fell to the blood, bleeding out before his shifter healing could save him.
I blinked in surprise. I’ll admit, I didn’t see that coming. What the fuck had he been about to say, that Landon had been so desperate to keep secret?
“He, who?” I demanded coldly, but Landon shook his head, the sneer back in place.
“Kill me or my beta, and you’ll never know. My enforcers were weak, but you won’t break either of us. Not in time, anyway. She’s alive—for now. But if—”
I was in front of him before he could finish, my hand closing around his throat. I didn’t squeeze, not yet, but his eyes widened with panic as my dragon’s heat radiated from my palm, searing his flesh.
“What the fuck do you mean, for now? I suggest you think very carefully before you answer, wolf.”
“He means, ‘for now’,” the beta said calmly. “If you want her to stay that way, then let. Him. Go.”
I canted my head, considering the words, then my lips twisted into a sardonic smile and I released the alpha, shoving him away and raising my hands.
“Barely a mark on him,” I said, fully aware of my handprint burned into his throat. “Now speak.”
The beta flicked a glance at Landon, who was rubbing at his throat.
“Let’s be clear,” I said, when he kept silent.
“Just in case you’re both too dumb to have worked it out yet.
Whoever you’re waiting for isn’t coming.
Whatever ace you think you’re holding has expired.
As has my patience. I will ask you one more time, and you will answer, and then I will consider allowing you both to leave. ”
A lie. Their remaining days were numbered, and that number was zero. I switched my attention back to Landon, whose eyes didn’t leave me.
“Where the fuck is my Tribute?”
Landon backed away a step, his mouth twisting into a smirk. “You’re too late. She’s gone. We sold her.”
I surged forward, but Landon shook his head. “Uh-uh. Clock’s ticking, dragon. You can kill us, or you can save her before she’s beyond your reach—but you can’t do both.”
Dread trickled down my spine.
“Who did you sell her to?”
“Uther.”