Chapter 31
C ameron lost all sense of time and place as the car whipped through turns and over hills.
Thank god he didn’t suffer from motion sickness or he’d have an even bigger problem than just being held by a bunch of assholes.
He also didn’t have a great sense of how many people were in the car with him. No one was speaking.
A lot. He was going to go with a lot of people.
It was hot, uncomfortable, and he ached from trading blows and being tossed around like dirty laundry.
But all the discomfort meant nothing compared to the fear currently clawing his heart to shreds.
There was no doubt in his mind Alric knew by now he’d been taken.
Dieter was a tough old dragon. He would have gotten back to his feet within minutes of the van speeding off and would have called for help.
But Alric. It was like he could feel the dragon’s fear and unrelenting rage.
And guilt. Alric would blame himself for Cameron’s kidnapping.
Cameron had to get back to his dragon. He needed to crawl into Alric’s lap, cup his cheeks, and kiss him until he finally agreed that the kidnapping wasn’t his fault.
To hell with that. Cameron needed to kiss the shit out of his dragon and make sure he understood what Cameron felt about him. He needed to know Cameron was proud to be his mate and that he’d do anything to be the best mate possible because Alric was…
The vehicle came to a sharp stop, and Cameron was thrown forward until he hit his forehead on something hard. Maybe the seat in front of him. Bastards. They could at least make sure he wasn’t getting hurt on the ride. So much for being precious cargo.
He could hear doors being thrown open before the engine shut off and he was pulled out.
The moment his feet touched the ground, his knees gave out.
He winced and moaned, trying to get his body to properly move as people hooked their arms through his on either side of him, while another person freed his legs.
He was half marched, half dragged from the car.
The ground changed from asphalt to gravel to dirt and grass to…
concrete. The sound of birds and bugs surrounded him.
Definitely not within a bustling city. No voices.
Just the heavy breathing of his captors holding him.
When he reached the concrete flooring, the sounds of nature disappeared and there was a slight echo to their steps. They were inside now. In a large, open space.
They walked for a while, making two rights before heading up some metal stairs and then down what felt like a long hall. At long last, he was dropped into what felt like a metal folding chair. It was hard and cold under his ass. With his nearly numb fingers, he could feel some of the smooth metal.
At last, someone was speaking. The words were muffled, and he nearly moaned when he realized they were in German. God help him. When he got out of this, he was ramping up his German lessons. Maybe Alric could help him work out a suitable reward system for when he reached certain goals.
Really ? He rolled his eyes at himself. Sex. He was thinking about sexy-times with Alric while being held by Jaeggi mages. Just wonderful. He needed to get his head in the game and focus. If he didn’t pay attention, there wasn’t going to be any more sexy-times with his dragon.
The voice got closer, and Cameron’s heart skipped a beat.
He didn’t understand the words, but he recognized the voice.
There was a feeling of someone close to him and the black bag on his head was slowly pulled off.
He blinked several times against the bright light, trying to get his eyes to adjust. Air rushed into his lungs, as it was now so much easier to breathe.
His kidnapper leaned down and carefully resettled his glasses on his face, allowing Cameron to clearly see the face of the man who’d threatened him and his sister.
That wicked grin was back, and Cameron’s blood ran cold.
He’d suspected he’d be faced with this bastard sooner or later, but he’d been hoping it would be later.
Preferably when Alric had found him and he was no longer bound with duct tape.
“Our slippery American,” the man said in English with a crisp British accent. “I knew we’d meet eventually.”
He straightened and barked out an order to one of the two other mages in the room.
Cameron took the chance to quickly look around.
He’d been expecting the white walls and white floor of the building he’d seen them in thanks to the drone cat.
Around him was drab grey concrete while the floor was painted a darker shade of grey.
Where the other building had a hospital feel, this was more military utilitarian.
That didn’t mean he couldn’t be in the same building, just on a different floor.
The room was largely empty, but there were a few long tables with a scattering of junk. The air was cool but smelled stale.
The door on the far wall opened, and a woman rolled in a leather desk chair. The man took it from her with a snarl and placed it directly in front of Cameron with another ugly smile. Cameron leaned back in his own chair, trying to put as much of his body out of easy reach from his man as possible.
Dropping into the seat, he seemed content to just stare at Cameron for several seconds, as if inspecting a treasure that had at last fallen into his hands.
Cameron stared right back and had to admit the man wasn’t what he’d expected.
The mage was large. Of course, other than himself, all the mages he’d met so far were women, but this man was built more like the dragons in Baldewin’s royal guard.
Broad chest, wide shoulders, muscular arms straining his plain black T-shirt, and thick thighs filling out his blue jeans.
His face didn’t scream villainous mastermind evil.
Though, his thick black mustache and goatee were sort of evil.
His bushy black eyebrows were down low over dark blue eyes.
The rest of his face was wide, hard, and blunt, sort of like a nutcracker’s.
Cameron was tempted to use this asshole’s face for cracking things open.
“Cameron,” the man exhaled with pleasure. “I feel like I’ve been waiting forever to finally meet you. You’ve led us on quite the chase.”
“Fuck you,” Cameron snapped, though it didn’t sound anything like that with his mouth still covered with duct tape.
“Oh, let’s fix that so you can properly swear at me,” the man mocked.
He leaned forward and pinched one corner of the tape between this thumb and forefinger.
Cameron tensed, trying to mentally prepare himself for it, but he knew there was no preparing for this.
The man ripped the duct tape away in one quick motion and pain screamed across Cameron’s face as fine hairs and a thin layer of flesh were torn away with the tape.
Cameron swore brokenly. He pressed his poor lips together as they throbbed.
They were still tacky from the adhesive and would stick together, causing more pain when he had to force them apart.
When this was over, he wanted to cover all of this bastard’s sensitive parts in duct tape and rip them off over and over again.
“Who the fuck are you?” Cameron demanded when the worst of the pain subsided.
The man’s grin widened. “I thought you knew.”
“I know you’re part of the Jaeggi Clan. And…and Kaiser Jaeggi is dead.”
His grin fell away in a heartbeat to be replaced with a glare.
“Yes, Kaiser Jaeggi is dead—thank fuck for that. The bastard who led to the destruction of our clan can rot in hell for all of eternity,” he spat out.
His lip was still curled with disgust as he stared at Cameron.
“I’m Thomas Jaeggi, the new leader of my clan.
The one who will save us after five hundred years of abandonment and betrayal. ”
“And the road to salvation is paved with kidnapped mages like myself and my sister?” Cameron snarled.
Thomas chuckled and reclined in his seat, rocking it back and forth slightly in his obvious pleasure.
“Oh, you and your sister are just steppingstones. A means to an end. A gateway to something bigger that will lift us out of our own private hell. And if it means we can take out the egotistical, self-righteous Burkhard clan at the same time?” Thomas held up both hands out to the side and gave a small shrug.
“Well, I can’t complain about those results. ”
Cameron lunged forward, his teeth clenched. “Fuck you! Alric and his dragons are going to crush you. His mages are going to tear away any spells you’ve created. He knows exactly where I am, and his people are racing to save me right this second.”
Thomas’s grin never wavered, but there was a new sparkle to his eyes that gave Cameron pause.
“You think so?” he taunted. Shoving to his feet, Thomas grabbed Cameron’s left bicep and hauled him out of his chair.
To his surprise, Thomas pulled him over to one of the long, narrow windows and pressed him so close that his nose smudged the dirty glass.
Blinking a couple of times against the sunny brightness, Cameron’s eyes focused on the scene in front of him and his stomach twisted into a sickening knot.
He’d been expecting to see part of the town he’d seen in the mirror just the other day.
There should have been cute little German buildings and signs advertising services.
Narrow roads and cobblestone paths. Flowerboxes boasting brightly colored blooms. But there was none of that.
While he couldn’t see much of the building he was in, he could tell he was up on the second floor, looking down on a vast field with great dirt bulwarks.
He looked as far as he could left and right, but there was no sign of a town.
The open area was ringed by dark trees, as if the forest had opened up to spawn this weird facility in the middle of nowhere.