Chapter Nineteen
Two pickup trucks pulled to a stop right as Elouan roared down the street to the coffee shop. Leon got out of one, hanging back while four other men Elouan didn’t know—all dragons— approached the shop.
Three betas and two omegas, counting Leon.
None capable of taking on a pissed-off alpha dragon, at least not alone.
While dragon law prohibited alphas from flaming lesser dragon ranks, he wanted to.
How could Leon betray him this way? Leon.
His friend. The man he’d depended on so many times.
The betrayal ached worse than dragon fire.
No sign of Jules. Was that a good thing or bad?
“This is none of your concern, full-blood,” one man growled.
Why? He appeared full-blooded, too. But what if, by full-blood, he meant someone raised in the dragon world instead of the human one?
Blood marred the man’s hands and his scent. Had he harmed Jules? The forming bond in Elouan’s mind said no. He couldn’t spare a moment for relief.
“This is between us, Mountain Meadows, and Sandy Shoals.” A sniff of the breeze carried faint traces of the Northern Crags court, too.
Another beta gave a cruel laugh. “What’s left of them.”
“I might be from High Reaches, but yes, it is my concern. Why are you here?” Elouan wouldn’t use his title of prince. Leon knew, so the other dragons likely did too. Calling himself “prince” would only fan the flames of their anger.
“What have you done with my son?” Leon demanded. “He was to keep you there. If you’ve hurt him….”
“I wouldn’t hurt him.” He also wouldn't give away Curtis’s change of heart.
“I don’t know what kind of plan you think you have.
You’ll never take over the dragon world.
You lack the knowledge, skill, and backing.
Where is Gwythyr?” Elouan didn’t feel the mage’s presence, thank the Goddess.
“You know you can’t trust him, don’t you?
The moment you do his dirty work, you’ll be expendable. ”
Another omega stepped up. “What would you know about trust, living in your lofty heights, never waiting for remnants of whatever kill the alphas allowed us to share, even when we made the kill?”
“That isn’t the way of my court.”
Leon laughed. “It is now. We no longer have to wonder about Adrakus. Gwythyr updated us on everything.”
Something Elouan sincerely doubted. Gwythyr wouldn’t share knowledge, not when knowledge gave power over others. “You’re here to find an omega I’ve taken under my protection.”
Something caught Elouan’s attention, not necessarily a sound or movement, but something inside his head. Mate! his dragon projected. Thank the Goddess for the late hour, with all nearby businesses closed. Elouan couldn’t stand for human casualties.
The other dragons sensed Jules, too. Leon leaped for the Harley, taking Elouan and the bike to the ground, while another beta ran down the sidewalk.
Elouan rolled, barely escaping being caught under the bike, throwing every bit of alpha energy into a roar. Leon and the other omega froze. The betas continued their charge toward Jules’s hiding place.
A silent wail filled Elouan’s mind. Jules! He tore off down the street. Please let him get there before those betas.
Jules suddenly calmed, sensing Elouan. He stepped from the alleyway, hands down at his sides, facing the betas like he had the human muggers a few weeks ago.
“Jules! No! Get out of there!” Elouan couldn’t spare any more breath to scream.
Jules took up a stance Elouan had only seen in videos or during one of his brother’s practices: a fighter's stance. What was Jules holding? It looked like a dragon’s claw.
The first beta reached Jules. “No!” Elouan screamed, redoubling his efforts.
Jules spun, lashing out with one foot. The beta flew backward, straight into a lamppost. A knife clattered onto the sidewalk. Jules extended his hand as though making an underhanded pitch. What was he doing?
The second beta ran straight into Jules’s hand. He screamed, backing away. Jules appeared to slap him. The beta reeled away, clutching his face and midsection. Blood poured between his fingers.
The third beta reached for the knife. Elouan plowed into him, knocking him against a brick wall.
“Stop right there!” Leon and an omega stood a few feet away, Leon holding a .38, the other man holding a shotgun. Both men trained their weapons on Jules. “Back off, Elouan, or I’ll blow this little omega back to Adrakus.”
The bleeding beta moaned, writhing on the ground. “Watch out! He…he—”
The two other betas seemed to have recovered, coming up behind Elouan and Jules, trapping them. Why the hell hadn’t Elouan ever gotten a gun? The arrogant alpha thought he didn’t need one.
Elouan stepped between the guns and Jules. “If you want him, you’ll have to come through me.”
“I can arrange that.” Leon smirked.
“Leon? What the fuck, man? We’re friends!”
“No, we’re not. I only sent you to that cabin to get you out of the way, but it turns out your little omega toy left too.”
What the ever-loving fuck? “All this. Taking me in, acting like my friend, finding me a job. What did you hope to gain? You couldn’t have known I’d meet Jules.”
“No, but we figured you’d make a useful hostage if a mage ever got the portal open.”
A scream came from behind Elouan. It wasn’t Jules, so he charged, taking down Leon and the omega, landing on top of them with his much larger body. His instincts fought with him not to hurt omegas, or a friend, but Leon wasn’t his friend. He’d threatened Elouan’s mate.
Did they know Jules and Elouan were mates?
Elouan punched, knocking Leon’s head back against the asphalt. Leon raised the gun. Elouan punched him again, holding nothing back.
Leon lay still, his chest rising and falling with steady breathing. Elouan turned his attention to the remaining omega, pinning him to the ground. More screams sounded behind him, but his internal warning system told him Jules was fine, but pissed.
The omega under Elouan whimpered. Elouan felt something wet against his thigh at the same time he smelled piss.
“Put the gun down. I’m going to let you up.
Run as fast as you can away from here. I know what you smell like.
If you ever come near me or Jules again, I won’t show mercy. Do we have a deal?”
The omega nodded, eyes wide. He placed the shotgun on the ground.
Elouan rolled away, ready to pounce if needed. The omega scrambled to his feet, running before he’d even straightened his back. Elouan checked on Leon. Still out cold. Elouan threw the shotgun into the darkness. He engaged the safety on the .38, tucked it into his waistband, and turned.
Jules stood over the moaning betas, blood dripping from his…claws? What the hell? “They killed Moira and Radomir. My senses tell me not to harm them, but I want to do to them what they did to my family.”
“We can’t kill them,” Elouan said, trying to be the voice of reason. “Leon’s wife is the chief of police. Right now, we have more than dragons to deal with. They’re not dead, only knocked out. They’ll wake up eventually. We don’t want the human cops after us.”
Jules seemed to vibrate for a moment, his rage coming through whatever connection he shared with Elouan. Then he nodded, claws retracting into his fingertips, and scales over his hands receding—golden scales.
Jules kneeled, wiping his hands on one beta’s jacket.
The man shrieked at Jules’s approach. Jules hissed, the sound so dragon-like even Elouan wanted to tremble.
Jules stepped back, revealing the damage he’d caused.
Both the beta’s faces bore claw marks. One would be lucky not to lose an eye. The other gripped his stomach.
They’d live since dragons healed faster than humans, but they wouldn’t be pretty, and they wouldn’t be up to fighting for a while.
“C’mon.” Elouan rested a hand on Jules’s arm, the sleeve sticky with blood. “Are you hurt?” Please, Goddess, let him be okay.
Jules shook his head . Thank the Goddess! Elouan wrapped his mate in an embrace, breathing deeply of his scent, then helped him strap on his helmet and secure his jacket.
He fired up the bike, waiting while Jules climbed on.
They roared into the night, several angry dragons screeching behind them.