Hot Blooded, page 26
“We have a leak apparently,” Taraeth said. “Find it and squash it.”
“My pleasure.” He nodded to four of his men, and they teleported away immediately. “When do we go to Dreagan?”
Taraeth scratched his chin. “I’m not going to take his word. Send men who can remain veiled the longest to scout the area and report back.”
Balladyn pointed to two of his men nearest him. “Go now.”
“Sixty thousand acres is a lot to search, especially when we don’t know exactly what it is we’re searching for,” Taraeth said, gazing off into the distance.
Balladyn covertly looked at Taraeth’s missing arm. The king hadn’t been himself ever since the human female had taken his arm. Other Dark had noticed it as well. It was only a matter of time before Balladyn took command. He hadn’t yet determined how he was going to do it, precisely.
“You want revenge for your arm. If we find Denae, it could bring Con,” Balladyn said.
Taraeth’s red eyes swung to him as he frowned. “You have no idea what you’re even considering. Constantine is stronger than the other Dragon Kings. His magic is greater. It’s what makes him King of Kings. We’re only going to have one try in taking him. It needs to be planned perfectly.”
“What do we do then?” Balladyn asked crossly.
“We go through the doorway and have a look around.”
CHAPTER
THIRTY-EIGHT
Rhi waited until night fell before she appeared in The Silver Dragon, not bothering to veil herself. The lights were dimmed, a signal that the store was closed. She gave the front a cursory glance before she walked to the back. Rhi stood there for a moment. Ulrik lived upstairs. There had to be a way to get there from inside the shop.
With a roll of her eyes she went to the first wall covered in thick wood panels with intricate molding. She ran her hand along the wall as she walked around the small hallway. It wasn’t until Rhi reached the opposite wall that she heard the telltale click of a hidden door. She immediately stopped and pressed harder on the panel.
The entire wall swung open to reveal a wide spiral staircase that led up to the second floor. Her black combat boots made nary a sound as she ascended. When she reached the top, she paused for a moment and took in the grandeur.
The rich, dark silver-colored walls were accented with black baseboards and crown molding. The floor was a deep espresso wood that had one rug, massive in size with various grays and blacks in a modern design set before the fireplace with a black couch and two dove gray chairs.
Rhi spotted a tall table behind the sofa that was lined with crystal decanters filled with various liquors. An ancient tapestry hung on one wall while two smaller pictures of ancient Roman architecture hung on either side of the stone fireplace.
A small, modern kitchen with lots of stainless steel and minimal cabinets was to one side of her while she spotted a doorway to the other that she was sure was Ulrik’s bedroom.
Rhi hastily took a step back and retreated to the first floor. She closed the hidden door and found an overstuffed chair at the front of the store. Once seated, she crossed one leg over the other and considered Ulrik. The fact he wasn’t there didn’t bode well for him, mainly because she knew who was coming.
Rhi wasn’t sure why she even concerned herself. Did it really matter if it was Ulrik who had taken her out of Balladyn’s compound? She’s the one who broke the Chains of Mordare. She’s the one who had the entire stronghold collapsing around her. Or at least that’s the rumor she heard whispered. She didn’t know for sure, and she didn’t want to know. It was better if that part was locked away for all eternity.
Then why did she care that Ulrik found his way onto the Fae realm? Why did she feel she owed him a debt for carrying her out? She still hadn’t discovered how he knew of her secret house. Being around him made her … uncomfortable. Yet, if he found his way onto the Fae realm and learned of her house, what else could he do?
Rhi was still mulling that over when she heard the lock on the door of the shop turn. She propped her elbow on the arm of the chair and leaned her head onto her hand. The door swung open, but stopped before the little bell above it could ring. A moment later a large shadow of a man stepped inside and quietly shut the door behind him.
“No reason to be quiet,” she said. “He’s not here.”
There was a long moment of silence before Con said, “What the hell are you doing here, Rhi?”
“A good question. One I don’t have to ask you. You’ve come to kill Ulrik. Do you know what will happen to the Kings if you do?”
He stepped out of the shadows into the fall of light from the lamppost outside the nearby window, wearing nothing more than a pair of jeans that hung precariously on his trim hips. Con didn’t bother to hide his anger. “It’s a chance I’ll take to save us.”
“Hmm,” she said and swung her leg. She couldn’t believe he had flown to Perth and dared to walk the city in a pair of jeans, barefoot. Unless he flew straight to the store. Surely not. “I don’t think that explanation will work for all the Kings.”
“You think you know us so well,” he said softly, all his anger contained once more.
He always did know how to piss her off. Rhi lifted her head from her hand, and said in an equally soft voice, “I know the Kings better than you in some ways.”
“So you say. You can no’ really know us. You were no’ there when we fought the humans or had to send the dragons away. You were no’ there when we banished Ulrik.”
“No, I wasn’t there, but we’ve been around long enough, watching the Dragon Kings,” she stated. She waved her hand around the room. “This moment was destined to come sooner or later. Everyone knows it, including Ulrik.”
Con’s black eyes narrowed. “Where is Ulrik? Hiding?”
“He’s not here, but I’m sure he’s going to be upset that he missed you. You know he wants your death as much as you want his. I don’t blame him, you know. What you did to him was beyond cruel.”
“I couldna kill a friend.”
Rhi rolled her eyes. “Pul-eeze. You put a friend out of their misery. You condemn an enemy to eternity as the thing he hated most. And you wonder why Ulrik loathes you and the others as he does.”
“You know what he’s done to Rhys!” Con thundered.
That brought her up short. Rhys. He was one of the few Kings that she missed terribly. Rhys was a good King, even if he did let his emotions rule him at times. “I gave Rhys the choice. He made it.”
“He shouldna have had to.”
“If you think killing Ulrik will reverse what has happened to Rhys, you’re wrong.”
“You doona know that,” Con said, almost daring her.
Rhi drew in a deep breath. “What happens if you’re wrong about Ulrik?”
“Why? Do you know something? Now’s the time to tell me if you do.”
“I’m not saying that. I asked a simple question.”
Con gave a loud derisive snort. “As if anything with you is simple.”
“It used to be.” The words were out of her mouth before she realized it. Once released, she couldn’t take them back. Rhi uncrossed her legs and stood. “Good luck with your killing.”
Con shouted her name as she vanished before him for the second time in one night. He clenched his hands into fists and fought the urge to hit something. Rhi infuriated him. She interfered when she shouldn’t, and she constantly harassed him. She was a plague that beset the Kings.
He put the Light Fae out of his mind and took stock of the interior of the shop. All he had seen before was the outside since no one had gotten cameras set up inside—until now.
Con had come to kill Ulrik, but on the off chance he wasn’t there, he’d brought several wireless cameras. He dug into his pocket and put the first one near the door so they could see right to Ulrik’s desk. Three more were put on the lower floor, and three more upstairs.
As Con walked to the back, he put more surveillance cameras along the way. He opened his hand and saw there were only four cameras left. It took Con less than a minute to find the panel that hid the stairs. He hurried upstairs and set the cameras about, and then took a few moments to look for any information Ulrik might have on them, or his connection to the Dark.
Con found nothing, which didn’t help his sour mood. He went back downstairs and took more time riffling through Ulrik’s desk, but still he found nothing.
He put everything back in place and opened his telepathic link to Ryder. “We have new cameras in place.”
“Are you kidding?”
“They’re on. Check them and you can see me.” Con waited a moment and then waved toward the camera above the door.
“He’s going to find them,” Ryder stated flatly.
“Until then, we’ll get what we can.”
“This could send him over the edge, Con. I doona think this was a wise move.”
Con slowly rose, his gaze directed at the camera. “Every King is in danger. Do you want to endure what is happening to Rhys? I will do whatever is necessary for the survival of the Kings.”
“Careful. There are those of us who doona want Ulrik dead. You kill him, and you destroy what we have.”
Con knew all too well that if he killed Ulrik that it would fracture the Kings, possibly for good. But if it meant the threat to them was gone, then he would do it.
“Being King of Kings means making the hard decisions. Is everything set for our visitors?”
“Aye.”
Con severed the link and moved aside to roll the chair back in place. He strode to the front door and walked outside. With a wave of magic, he locked the front door before he hurried to the shadows.
* * *
Ulrik pushed off from his spot against the building across the street from his store and watched Con fade into the night. The magic surrounding The Silver Dragon alerted him the moment someone entered.
He was on his way back to the store when an image of Rhi flashed in his head. As soon as the alert hit him, he hurried. He was curious about what would bring Rhi to him. Whatever she had to say would be good. It always was.
Ulrik was at the corner about to cross the street to the store when he spotted Con entering. A moment later, he got another alert, this time it was an image of Con that flashed in his head.
It took Ulrik a full minute to get past the haze of fury. His nemesis was in his place of business, his home. Ulrik had been counting down the days until he could confront Con and get his revenge. He wanted to kill Con right then, but it wasn’t time.
As soon as Con was gone, Ulrik smiled. It was obvious that Con had set up cameras throughout the building. With only a thought, he deactivated every one.
* * *
“I’ll be damned,” Ryder said in shock.
Elena tucked her dark blond hair behind her ear and cut her sage green eyes to him. She sat beside him in the computer room at Dreagan helping to monitor everything. “What is it?”
“All the cameras Con just installed are gone.”
“Gone? How’s that possible? And what do you mean, ‘Con just installed’?”
Ryder ran a hand down his face. “He was at Ulrik’s. He set up cameras.”
Elena let out a long whistle. “Was that wise?”
“It’s a moot point since they’re no’ active.”
“Did something go wrong with them?”
Ryder shook his head as he leaned back in his chair. “My equipment never fails.”
“Then what?”
He turned his head to her. “No one was in the store. There were no wires to cut the cameras, and there were over a dozen set up. They all went out at once.”
“Magic,” Elena said with a frown. “At Ulrik’s? That’s not good news.”
“Nay.” He stared at the screen with all the squares blacked out. The cameras hadn’t been operational for more than five minutes.
Which meant Ulrik had seen Con.
Ryder slowly sat up as his mind went through all the scenarios.
“Go,” Elena urged. “They’re waiting on you anyway, and you need to tell the others what you’ve found.”
“It might be too late,” he said, even as he stood and turned to throw open the doors to the balcony. He jumped from the balcony and shifted, his wings catching the current.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-NINE
Iona drummed her fingers on the table and stared at her camera that Ryder had reassembled hours ago. A camera she hadn’t let out of her sight for years. She grabbed it and threw it as hard as she could at the refrigerator. Several pieces fell off, but it was still intact.
“If you want to do that again, I can add some magic behind it and make sure it shatters,” Isla said as she leaned on the counter.
Iona shook her head. “I don’t usually let my anger get to me like that.”
“It’s understandable.”
“This waiting is unbearable,” Iona said testily as she rose from the table and began to pace the kitchen.
Isla made a face. “It certainly is. The men never understand that because they’re in the midst of battle.”
“And I’m keeping you here,” Iona said with a sigh.
“I volunteered,” Isla reminded her. “Just as Hayden volunteered to remain near you in case something happens.”
“It’s the doorway they want.”
“Yes, but if you’re dead, they can get the land and have access to the doorway as often as they want.”
“Killing me won’t solve that problem,” Iona said with a sly smile. “I had the will changed to name Hayden as my heir.”
Isla’s face went slack before a slow smile formed. “Does he know?”
“I haven’t had a chance to tell him.”
“That’s very kind of you, Iona.”
She shrugged and came to a stop at the counter across from Isla. “I had to have an heir.”
“And if you have any children?”
She shrugged, unable to answer. At one time she hadn’t ever even considered that as a possibility, but now … she was reevaluating everything.
“Does Laith know you love him?”
Iona jerked. “I don’t love him.”
“Don’t you?” Isla said gently. “You don’t have to believe in love for it to find you. You just have to recognize it when it’s there and grab hold.”
“I admit that I want to be with him. I think of him constantly, even when I’m not with him. I … care about him, but that’s not love.”
Isla tilted her head to the side and a curtain of black hair fell over her shoulder. “You have feelings. That’s the first step. Open your heart and your mind, and you just might find that it is love you feel.”
Iona looked into her ice blue eyes. “If there was a man who could make me want a family, it’s Laith.” It was Isla’s quick look away that made her ask, “What? What is it?”
“I probably shouldn’t be the one to tell you.”
“Just tell me.”
Isla pursed her lips for a moment. “The Kings do take wives, or mates as they’re called. It isn’t done lightly, because once a female binds herself to a King, it is for eternity.”
“I’m human. Eternity isn’t possible,” Iona said with a chuckle.
“You’ve seen the Kings, you know they have magic. Do you think they would take wives who would die? Being bound to a King means that a female lives as long as the King does. You’ve seen Sammi. She was bound to Tristan not that long ago. She’ll never age, nor will she die unless Tristan is killed by another King.”
Iona could only stare in mute astonishment at Isla. The Kings expected their mates to love them for eternity? That was asking the impossible in an age where very few remained married.
“As for a family,” Isla continued. “Back before the war with the humans, a few became pregnant with a King’s child, but not one of the babies lived. Most died in the womb, and if they were carried to term, they were stillborn.”
“Laith never told me,” Iona mumbled.
Isla lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “The Kings usually don’t unless they’re considering a woman for their mate.”
“Oh.” It stung that Laith didn’t consider her. How ironic when she’d never considered a single man before him.
“Did you tell Laith you don’t believe in love?” Isla asked.
Iona wrapped her arms around her middle. “I might have. Laith said he wanted whatever we had to continue. So do I, and I can’t tell you how much that scares me.”
“Take it one day at a time,” Isla advised. “If you’re happy with him, then be happy.”
Iona opened her mouth to respond when a ball of fire was hurtled at the living room window. Isla turned and held up her hands as the fire smashed the window. Whatever magic she used stopped the ball from reaching them, and a moment later, it was gone.
“Move!” Isla said as she grabbed Iona’s arm and brought her around the counter only to shove her down the hall.
Iona ran into her room and turned to the door. Isla stopped just outside her door in the hallway. “What’s going on?”
“The battle,” Isla said without looking at her. “That was Hayden’s ball of fire.” Suddenly Isla’s face turned pale and a shudder went through her. “They’ve just crossed my barrier as if my magic didn’t even exist.”
* * *
Laith saw the fireball from his flight in the clouds. A growl rumbled through him as he fought to remain where he was and not go to Iona.
“As soon as they get through the doorway you can go to her,” Con said through their link.
Laith wasn’t sure he could wait that long. He wanted Iona at the manor, but she and Con both thought it a bad idea. Con because he was an ass, and Iona because she reminded him that everything needed to appear normal.
Normal. When had anything been normal? Laith couldn’t remember what that even felt like. The closest he came to that was when Iona was in his arms.
“Con!” Ryder shouted. “Ulrik simultaneously killed every camera you installed minutes after you left.”
Laith turned his head to look toward Con as he remained in the clouds. What had Con been doing at Ulrik’s? Was that where he’d been going lately?
