Chapter Twenty-Eight
Tor
My sleep was rudely disturbed by the door flying open uninvited.
I was lying in bed, eyes closed, a drowsy smile tugging at my lips as I recalled the press of Mia’s flesh against mine.
The sound of her cries filled my ears once more, the pleasant reminder tugging me further into a sleep state.
I’d done what I’d set out to do, showing her yet another side of the pleasures in life that she deserved.
I still had to tell her she was my mate, but there would be a time and place for that.
For the time being, I wanted to celebrate the crossing of a barrier.
She’d let her walls down fully, inviting me in, which meant a lot.
I doubted I would ever fully understand just how big of a step it was for her, but I intended to do my best to respect it.
You will never hurt again. Not by my hand, at least. I will protect you, shield you, from whatever comes forth.
I swore the oath to myself, vowing that nothing would ever hurt her. I would destroy it first, rend it limb from limb, crush it and pulverize it. She would be safe with me, and I would strike down anyone or anything that sought to put her in jeopardy. Human. Dragon. Beast. It didn’t matter.
Power coursed through me as I made the vow, but I shunted it aside, forcing myself to calm.
It was not the time to get worked up around her.
When she came back from the bathroom, she’d probably be tired and sleepy.
We would either cuddle with her head on my chest and her body contoured to my side in perfect harmony.
Or we would go for round two. I was fine with either option.
But they were both denied as someone burst into the room.
“What the fuck?” I snarled, sitting up. “Don’t you dare disturb—Ty?”
The figure in the doorway sagged against the knob, leaving a streak of dark liquid along the wood as he slumped to the floor, his breathing labored.
“It’s here,” he gasped, hitting the floor.
I was at his side in a blur, holding a section of his scalp against his skull, urging it to heal, while I checked him over. He was sliced to hell and back, with wounds crisscrossing his entire body. Whatever had attacked him had been ruthless.
“Ty, what happened? Who did this to you?” I snarled, looking out into the hallway, one fist filling with energy, providing light for me to see my friend and anything lurking in the hallway.
It was empty. There were no sounds, no approaching enemy. I dive-rolled through the opening, spinning left and right, but nothing was there.
Hurriedly, I returned to my room, closing the door behind me and lifting a table into place to block the entrance. It was a flimsy blockade, but if it bought me even a second of time, that would be enough.
“Ty,” I said, cradling my friend and bringing him to the bed. I didn’t care about bloodstains at that point. “Talk to me. Tell me what happened.”
I just wanted my friend to rest so that he could recover. There were so many wounds, and I knew his system would be strained to the limit to close them all before he lost too much blood. He should survive, but it would take all his energy.
His fingers wrapped around my wrist. “It’s here,” he repeated, his eyes so wide I could see the whites.
“Mia!” I barked at the bathroom door. “Get out here.”
Then I turned my attention back to Ty, who was squeezing my wrist hard enough it hurt. I’d never seen him that scared before. Whatever had attacked had severely outclassed him.
“Killed them,” Ty whispered, trembling. “Dead.”
“You killed them?” I asked.
He shook his head, his eyes staring past me toward the ceiling and into nothingness beyond. “In their sleep. Dead. They’re dead.”
I stiffened. “You mean Tempest and the others?”
Ty nodded.
The hairs on my neck rose. Whatever was out there had killed three other dragons and nearly done the same to Ty? What the fuck was it?
“Mia, now!” I hollered. Why was she being so stubborn? It was an emergency. Ty was near death. I didn’t give a fuck if she was naked or not. She needed to be in the room with me right then.
Ty gasped in pain, his back arching. I held him until he slumped down into the comforters.
“Who did this, Ty?” I asked. “Who killed them? Was it Rica? Was it my sister?”
“No sister,” he gasped, his head moving slightly from side to side. “No sister.”
I frowned. “Humans? Do the humans know about us? Did they discover some sort of super weapon?”
Even as I guessed it, I knew it was wrong.
If humans had discovered our existence and what we were and developed a weapon to use against us, they wouldn’t have made it a close-combat tool.
They would have put it into a gun. Cut us down from a distance, where our strength couldn’t kill them with a wild death blow.
No, whatever had attacked had done so viciously, with intent. That bespoke rage. Rage, and almost a natural use of slashing weapons.
“Not humans,” Ty said, still staring into the distance. “No humans. Not sister.”
“What was it, Ty?” I pushed. “I have to know.”
I leaned over the bed, forcing myself into his field of view. His eyes snapped to mine, and he shuddered.
“Vorgan,” he whispered. “Vorgan!”
I went still. “That’s impossible, Ty,” I said. “Vorgans aren’t on Earth. They’re back home.”
“Vorgan,” he repeated. “Vorgan.”
I wanted to deny him, to tell him he was wrong, that it couldn’t possibly be one of the near-mythical creatures from deep under Storm Keep. The only one seen in generations was the one Rica unleashed on me when I was younger. I’d seen my father kill it.
That wasn’t the only thing I’d seen, memories returning unbidden. It had left a trail of death and destruction through Storm Keep, striking unsuspecting dragons. During my flight from its attack, I’d come across two of those corpses.
Each one had been sliced up dozens of times over until they’d bled out, their systems too overwhelmed to heal that much damage.
Just like Ty.
“Holy shit,” I gasped, turning to the bathroom. “Mia. Out here, right now, it’s an emergency. I don’t care how naked you are!”
There was no response.
Remembering all the fear of my youth and the wild mass of shadows that was a Vorgan, I called even more power to me until my skin emitted light, driving back the shadows around me, providing no space for it the creature to hide.
I was no longer the young dragon it had attacked.
I was full grown, with all the powers of the noblest bloodline to back me up.
I’d seen my father kill the previous Vorgan. I knew how to do it. I would not hesitate.
“Mia!” I called again, leaving Ty on the bed to rest. There was nothing else I could do for him. Right then, I had to protect Mia. She was what mattered most.
I crossed the room, ready to throw the door open and berate her for being so unwilling to listen. Could she not realize that shit was going down, and we had no time to lose? What was making her so stubborn?
“Will you just come out of—”
Two feet shy of the door, my words failed me as I strode through a cold spot. It wasn’t like standing under the vent of an air conditioner and having the cool breeze flutter across your skin, drawing goosebumps.
This kind of cold sank below my skin and into my bones, chilling me to my very core. It was dark and unwelcome, a reminder that evil walked the world. I shivered despite myself. I’d felt this sort of depressive, vile cold before. Once. Seventeen years ago.
A Vorgan had been here. In my room.
Rushing forward, I flung the door to the bathroom open.
“Mia!” I bellowed, but it was pointless. The room was empty. The light was on, but that was it. She’d never been in there. All that time that I’d been calling for her, and she hadn’t been there.
I turned back to the bed. Ty had slipped into unconsciousness. I whispered a prayer to the God-King that he would recover, and then I stormed from my room.
A Vorgan had my mate.
It was time I showed the creature just how big of a mistake it was to fuck with the woman I cared about.