Chapter 17
SEVENTEEN
PYRO
I don’t think I could love another person as much as I do Carina. Leaving her in bed is the last thing I want to do. Just like yesterday morning, I didn’t like leaving her alone.
She’s mine, and I can’t get enough of her. I fucked her ‘til dawn before allowing her to fall into an exhausted sleep. I didn’t sleep, though. I held her for a while before getting up, showering, and getting dressed. I have a lot to do before I have to be ready for the challenge.
First things first, make sure Heat and Brimstone are ready. There’s a lot to do, and they for sure have to be with me when I go to deal with my mother. The two of them, and Fire, if he ends up going with us, are the only ones who need to be near the woman.
For what I have planned, I need most of my brothers here to look after my mate. Keep her safe because I don’t know how long it will take with my mother for her to agree to my terms.
With one last kiss to my mate’s temple, I make sure she’s tucked in and leave her to sleep.
I glance down the hallway as I step out of the room to find not just Heat and Brimstone, or even Fire, standing there. Clay and Inferno are also there.
“We going?” Brimstone asks, kicking away from the wall.
“Yeah, VP.” I nod and look toward Inferno and Clay. “You standing guard over her?”
“Not leaving her alone,” Clay grunts.
“I’ll be shifting and sitting on the roof watching for anything,” Inferno states.
Good thing we’re on the top floor. It’ll make things easier for us when it comes time to leave for the top of the mountain.
“Right.” I nod. “If she wakes up before I get back, let her know I’ll see her in a little while before the challenge.
” My gut twists at the thought because I didn’t want her to witness what was going to happen.
I have no problem when it comes to fighting.
I sure as hell have no issues killing. I’ll draw blood and carve out my opponent’s entrails like no one’s business.
What I don’t want is for her to see me do it only to get scared of me.
That’s what I don’t want to happen.
Throughout the night, I’d felt her feelings through the bond. I knew what she felt for me, and the feeling was mutual. I don’t want that to change.
Not fucking ever. If I could keep her away from this shit tonight, I would in a heartbeat.
“She’ll be all right,” Clay states, stepping toward me and clasping a hand on my shoulder. “Got nothing to worry about.”
“The rest of the club will also be here. No one will get to her,” Heat remarks.
I nod and start for the elevators. This is not something I want to do. If I could, I’d still be in bed with Carina, passed the hell out.
But this is something that needs to be done. For the club. For Carina.
“You’re not welcome here,” the little weasel of a bastard states snarkily, standing in front of a cave. “Only those of the leaders are allowed.”
Not willing to deal with this pencil stick dick, I step forward, shove him to the side, and move to the barrier, sealing those out who are not welcome. Looking at the warlock, I plant a foot inside, keeping one out, opening the barrier for my brothers to step inside.
“You think my mother would keep me out?” I ask, eyes still on the guy. “Think again. I’m her only child, and she’d never ban me, no matter the fact we are not close. I’m her son.”
It’s the only reason I’m here.
Stepping fully into the cave, I jerk a chin to my brothers and lead the way down the dark cavern.
Lanterns come on as we make our way deeper into the depths of the mountain.
This was my home growing up. I knew it like the back of my hand.
Where others lived in houses, I lived in a cave.
It served a purpose for both my parents.
From the different familiar scents hitting my nostrils, I knew they were both here.
But there was also the scent of others. My father’s family. My mother’s father.
Great.
It was going to be a full-blown family reunion.
I haven’t seen any of them in a long damn time.
It’s been more years than I can count. Definitely more than forty years.
Well, my parents, it’s probably been more like ten or eleven.
I do my best never to come here, but the folks seem to think they need to see me every so often. Mostly when my mother wants something.
Hearing them all shouting, I try to make out what the fighting’s about, but with the echoing of the cave walls, it’s hard to decipher.
With a signal to my brothers, I finish the rest of the walk, and step into the deep middle of the mountain where it seems my family has missed that they have company.
“Guess I’m interrupting some heated shit here,” I boom loud enough to break through whatever the hell they’re fighting about.
My mother’s head whips around, eyes narrowing. “Magnus.”
“What are you doin’ here, son?” my father asks, watching me closely. The last time I’d seen him, I’d given him the scar that cuts through his eyebrow, down his cheek.
“Magnus,” my grandmother shouts, seeming pleased to see me. She’s the only one who ever does. “Who are these men with you?”
“We’re in town for club business,” I tell them all, ignoring both grandfathers. I turn my attention to my mother. “We need to talk with you.”
My mother steps forward, as her mate, so does my father. They might not like each other, but the man still protects her.
“What?”
“You gave safe passage to hide in these mountains to a group of blood suckers that have a woman with them.”
“Yes, I’m aware.” Mother nods. “What does it have to do with you?”
“The woman belongs to the club, Esme,” Heat speaks up, coming to stand at my side, calling my mother by her name. Something I haven’t done yet. “They kidnapped her months ago, and we’ve been looking for them.”
“And you want me to tell you which cave they’re in?” my mother asks, cocking her head slightly. “Why would I tell you?”
Here we go. There’s a price for everything to be paid when it comes to Esme.
Sighing, I shake my head and get the rest out. To get what I want, I’ve got to play the game. “Look, Mother, that’s not the only reason we’re here.”
“Oh, and what is the other reason?”
“I’ve been challenged at the high peak of this mountain.”
“What?” my grandmother gasps.
Both grandfathers curse.
“You’re the one he challenged?” my father demands, harshly sounding outraged, which weirds me out since he’s never seemed that way regarding me. “You’re the one with the dragon-marked mate?”
“You know this dragon?” I cock a brow, watching them all closely.
“Your mate is dragon marked?” my grandmother claps gleefully.
“My mate is, yes,” I confirm through gritted teeth as I look at my mother. “You’ve allowed this to take place here, and I know what you casted when I’m here. I need you to lift it so that I’m not fuckin’ hindered by it when it comes time for the challenge today.”
“Why would I do that?” And there’s the bitch in the woman who birthed me.
“Because if you don’t, I’ll make sure hell rains down on this mountain in more ways than one.” It’s not a threat. It’s a promise. I don’t fuck around when it comes to my family, and it’s not this one I’m speaking of. It’s the club. It’s Carina.
My mother opens her mouth to say something, only to have my father beat her to it. “She’ll lift the damn spell, son,” he says, shocking the hell out of me.
“I will not,” the woman snaps.
My father turns to her and growls deeply. “You will because if you don’t, I’ll kill you myself. The boy has never come for help with anything. He’s our boy, and you’ve treated him shitty. Forced me to do it, but you know what, Esme, as we were fighting before he showed, it ends now.”
“How dare—”
“Enough,” my mother’s dad clips out. “You might be the powerful witch you are, but you are still no match for me, daughter.” He turns to me, speaks the language I haven’t heard in a long time, and steps toward me while slicing into his hand.
The scent of his blood fills my nostrils and has my dragon on alert. We know the words of the language, so he’s not fucking with us. It’s been a long time since we’ve been a part of a spell of any kind.
My grandfather reaches up and presses his bleeding hand to my face. “It is done. You will not be bested today or any day when it comes to your mate.” He then turns to my mother. “Now, tell my grandson the rest of what he wants to know. Where’s the girl?”
When we came here, I had a plan, and it’s definitely not going the way it should be. I thought I’d be paying the price, but it seems my father and grandparents have grown sick of my mother’s shit finally.
Strange.
Never saw it coming.
“I will not tell you. I refuse to help him or anyone. Not without him paying the price,” she snarls.
“You will help him,” my grandmother snaps, rounding my father and getting in her face. “For years, years on top of years, I’ve kept my mouth shut. The only good thing about my son mating you, is Magnus, otherwise I’d have told my son to kill you so many years ago.”
“He can’t kill me. I’m his mate.”
“Stop lying,” Grandfather snaps at her. “You spelled him to be your mate because you wanted him, and he was able to keep you from aging. He knows the truth now.”
What the hell?
“I’ve also met my actual mate,” my father snarls.
“Talk about family drama,” Heat mutters next to me.
“You can say that again.” I grunt, clear my throat, and speak up. “Look, y’all can have at this bullshit family drama. I’ve got shit to do. If you don’t want to tell me where the fuck they’re keeping Kinley, fine, we’ll search the whole damn range.”
Without looking in my direction, my father speaks up, “I’ll find out and get that information to you after the challenge.”
“It’ll be too late.” Mother sneers and laughs bitterly.
“What does that mean?” I demand.
“That they’ll have been notified the moment you entered this mountain.” She grins mercilessly. “They will have left by now. You’ll never find that girl.”
Rage fills me. Hinders me blind to anything else. She’s not my mate, but she was one of us. One of ours and my own mother ruined it for me.
There’s no stopping the shift. No stopping what I do, and everyone scatters around me, getting out of my way.
Fire burns in my throat. My dragon has taken over control as he roars, eyes on my mother. The only thing we can think of is making her burn.
Roaring again in her direction, I see her laughing.
“Your fire will not burn me. It’s a part of the spell.”
I didn’t care what she said as I breathed fire in her direction, hotter than I’ve ever felt burning.
Her screams fill my ears.
So much for her thinking she could escape my fire.
I don’t stop until her screams fade and she falls in a charred heap.
“Magnus, if you keep it up, you won’t have the strength for the challenge at noon,” my father says in my head, something he rarely ever did.
“She took a lot from both of us, and I’ve come to terms with that. You need to as well. Right now, though, you have a mate to defend against a man who is also your half-brother.”
“What?” I don’t have brothers.
“He’s of your mother’s. She cheated with another dragon, gave the child to the father, but still she visited him,” he explains. “We’ll discuss this another time, but for now, it is done. I’m sorry she did all of this to you. I should have protected you.”
“I don’t want to hear this.”
“I wouldn’t want to either, but she cast her spells. Ruined either.”
I suppose he’s right.
Fuck.
I wish I could kill her all over again.
“I removed all spells she’s cast over both of you,” my grandfather states loudly from next to his daughter’s burned corpse.
“My love blinded me for my daughter for far too many years to see the truth. She was all I had left of my sweet Roseline. Her mother would never have let her blind anyone as she has.”
Hate to break up the family moment,” Brimstone grunts, “We’ve got to get back to the hotel.”
The way he says that last part has my nerves unhinged. I reach out to my woman through the bond and feel nothing out of the norm, but it doesn’t settle me in the least. Something’s happening, and I need to get there and see what the hell is going on.
If someone has touched her, I swear to all the Gods that I’ll burn the world down in vengeance.