Sanctuary, Texas: My Dragon Masters Part 25

The end was coming. If he killed her, the whole town would be a pile of ash before the sun rose again in the morning. If Rose killed us now, Xerxes would still get what he wanted.

f.u.c.k.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO.

DIANA.

I hit the ground, my stomach heaving from whatever it was that man had done. One second I'd been stepping out of the front door of the fortress in Sanctuary, and now I was in the middle of a gra.s.sy field ... It was still close. The air smelled the same and I could hear the thunder from the building storm. The clouds were dark above me and I felt a stray drop of rain hit the back of my neck.

We couldn't be more than a half-hour's walk from the town. That man had been waiting for me. Dark skin, curly black hair, and lavender eyes. d.a.m.n Djinn. I gathered my wits and my stomach and stood.

He was right there in front of me. I raised my hands to blast him with ice, but he disappeared and I only froze the ground where he'd been standing.

"Where the b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l is my son?!" I spun around and came face-to-face with the man I'd stolen the knife from in the Veil. Behind him was a man in irons, beaten and bloodied. He had the same features of my husbands and the bond between us thrummed to life with our close proximity. My dragon roared and I didn't stop her.

My body began to s.h.i.+ft immediately.

The stranger lifted his hand as if to grab me but nothing happened. My hands became white claws and my body changed until I stared down at him through my dragon's eyes. I could see his heart beating and smell his fear.

I opened my mouth to speak, but only an infuriated roar bellowed forth. He backed up a step, took out a dagger and held it over my son's heart.

The Djinn flashed back into view from the corner of my eye and I whipped my tail around, missing him by inches when he teleported away again. Swinging my face back around to the object of my anger, I lowered my face carefully until it was level with his. My breath was freezing cold and ice was forming on the ends of his long reddish brown hair.

"I won't die if you freeze me, but he will if I put this dragon-steel blade through his heart. Will you sentence your son to death, Diana?"

I snarled, looking from his calculated black eyes to the brown ones of my son. His eyebrows had risen in surprise. He hadn't known I was his mother. How could he? I hadn't seen him since the day that servant spirited him away after I pushed him from my body.

"It's you I want. Change back and take his place. I'll let him go."

My dragon shuddered. We both wanted to save him, but remembered the other people back in that town. They were counting on me. They were counting on Miles and Eli to protect them. But I couldn't do nothing. I couldn't watch him murder my son.

"No," my son shouted and grabbed the man's hand, driving the knife deep into his chest. "I won't let him kill you." He looked right at me. "At least I got to see you once."

I screamed. The sound out of my dragon's throat was terrifying and shook the ground around us. Blood poured from my son's chest.

I lunged at the other man, one of my white claws sliced across the front of his chest, but he threw my son at my head and backed away before I could lunge at him again. The Djinn appeared behind him and they were both gone a moment later.

I turned around and around, waiting for him to come back. If I s.h.i.+fted back now and they reappeared, his magick would work on me. Only as a dragon was I impervious to all magick.

I looked down at my son, lying close to one of my large claws. Nuzzling his arm, I huffed and whined. The only thing I wanted to do was cradle him in my arms and tell him how much I loved him.

He lifted his cuffed wrists and stroked the tip of my nose. "Y-you are b-beautiful, Diana. I d-didn't know my m-mother was an ice-b-breather," he said, choking on blood as he forced the words out.

A large shadow floated over my head and the familiar scream of a dragon sounded over the meadow. Another was close behind him. My mates had come.

I pushed back my dragon immediately, s.h.i.+fting to human form within seconds.

"Please, fight. I can't lose you again. I don't even know your name, my sweet boy." I leaned over his body, running my hands over the swollen flesh of his beaten face. His arms were black and blue. Several places were swollen twice what they should've been. I knew they were broken and then I knew how painful it had been for him to reach up and touch me before.

Tears poured down my cheeks. I caught them in the palm of my hand and smeared them over his skin. They would aid in healing him faster. Then I dipped my head and breathed softly over the wound on his chest. Ice crystals formed on his tattered tunic, but the flow of blood did come to a stop.

"L-let me d-die. He stole my w-wife from m-me."

My heart broke again at his words, but I refused to let him go. He was my son and he deserved another chance.

"No. You are my precious son. The boy who was taken from me before I could look upon your face."

"I am a grown man. I've lived a thousand years without you."

"Then why did you almost sacrifice your life for me?"

He paused and looked up at the sky. Miles and Eli were still circling above us.

"I couldn't let him take you. He was an evil man."

I covered my mouth to try and stifle a sob. I'd been through so much in my life and yet, this man had driven a blade into his chest, narrowly missing his heart to save me from an enemy I barely knew. From a fate he considered worse than his own death.

"My name is Mikjall," he added.

I rolled the name off my tongue. Mikjall. It was Elvin, and a beautiful, strong name. "You cannot take your vengeance for your lost wife if you are dead, Mikjall." I shook my head. "You are a prince of the Veil. Your birthright one day will be the throne of Orin."

He took a deeper breath and looked directly at me. "I am only Mikjall, son of a weaver. I know nothing of ruling, nor do I want to."

"You are my son and the son of Miles and Eli, House of Blackmoor. You will be a king one day. Never say you are no one. You have a destiny. And it is not to die in this field of gra.s.s."

I stood, pulling him up as I rose. Then maneuvered my much smaller frame beneath one of his shoulders. Even with my small size, I still had more strength than most other supernatural beings.

Miles and Eli swooped low, circling closely as I helped Mikjall back into town, one painful limping step at a time. He would heal completely, but it would take time. The dragon-steel cuffs and collar weren't helping, but at least my breath and tears combined had healed his chest wound enough to stop his blood from gus.h.i.+ng.

Once in sight of the town, all manners of people rushed forward and helped me move him quickly through the strange, blue barrier that surrounded the town. The woman I knew as Rose stood off to the side. Her gaze dark and enraged, but the rest of the people swarming around me appeared genuinely concerned about my son's well-being.

I felt the ground s.h.i.+ver as Miles and Eli landed a few yards away. The huge black dragons galloped along several hundred feet before they began to s.h.i.+ft back into human form. They never stopped running and reached my side within moments.

"Why didn't you listen?" Eli roared. "We told you to stop. To wait for us!"

"I couldn't leave him. He needed me."

"He's a grown man!" Miles shouted. "A dragon nonetheless."

"So. Am. I," I snarled, handing off my son to a male vampire standing next to me. And then turned to face my husbands' wrath. "I am Drakonae royalty. A mother. And a wife. He is my son!"

"She didn't s.h.i.+ft back," Mikjall coughed out, hanging onto the vampire's shoulder. "If you hadn't come, she would have let me die. She didn't give him a chance to take her."

Miles' eyes flashed orange and he growled at Mikjall. "She did give him a chance. He's Lama.s.su. She endangered everyone by going after you alone."

Calliope stepped forward, attempting to mediate the situation. It was brave, but mostly foolish. "Look, he's gone for now and the rain will be here any minute. Could we please all get inside and argue under a roof? Or maybe just quit arguing and be ecstatic that you're safe and this new, dragon hunk will be okay."

"You're a siren. Why do you care if you get wet? Don't call him a hunk. He's my son," Miles snapped back at her.

"Now he's your son, too, huh? Back off, pal," Calliope growled, her painted red nails turning black and lengthening into razor-sharp claws. "Just because you forgot how hard it is to keep up with an independent woman, doesn't mean you get an a.s.shole pa.s.s with me. Plus there are more Djinn around here making me p.i.s.sy."

"Hannah and Meredith can't hold the wards much longer," Rose said slowly, her voice even and calm-almost cold. "The Lycan scouts say there are no human troops nearby, but I can feel the presence of dozens of Djinn hopping from one side to the other. This isn't over."

"What happens when the wards fall?" I asked.

"The Djinn can teleport inside the town. Right now they have to walk through the barrier just like us," Rose answered. "We need you three ... now four back inside the Castle protecting the Sisters."

I knew why the Sisters were so valued now. I felt the smallest amount of guilt for putting them in danger. Had he been able to kill me, Miles and Eli would have razed the town once their souls faded away. Everything would have been lost because of my actions.

"I'm sorry."

"I know." Rose unfolded her arms and sighed. "He was your child. I know what that feels like, but if we lose one of the Sisters to Xerxes, you won't be the only parent to lose a child.

"Could you all stop talking about me like I'm an infant," Mikjall said, trying to stand taller next to the giant, Nordic-looking vampire.

Miles and Eli took him from the vampire, wrapping his arms around both of their necks.

"Let's get moving," Miles bellowed.

I watched my husbands on either side of Mikjall and sighed. I'd nearly lost everything today. Instead, the G.o.ds had favored my plight and spared my family any further loss.

I wasn't about to let a handful of Djinn change that. Storm or no storm. They wouldn't get close to the Castle I now called home.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE.

DIANA.

Miles and Eli carried Mikjall through the Castle and down to the lower level where there were private areas of the club. As we pa.s.sed through the large hall with the play cubicles, no one said a word. We pa.s.sed group after group of Sisters, huddled on this couch and that. Babies in their laps and small children were being hushed.

It's a fortress within a fortress.

"Stay here with Mikjall, Diana." They opened a white door and helped their son stretch out on the large, four-poster bed in the center of the room. "There's food in the kitchen down the hall if you need anything. The Sisters also know where everything is kept, so just ask them if you can't find something."

I grabbed Miles' arm as he turned to leave. "What are you going to do?"

"We're going to the towers. Rose intends to box as many of them as dare to enter the town, but everything has to be done carefully and quietly. We call out positions on the coms while the vampires do the hunting."

Eli stepped up behind me. "Be safe, Love. We'll be back soon. Take care of our son."

Miles kissed me on the forehead and they both left the room, closing the door softly behind them.

I turned back to Mikjall. The chains connected to the collar and wrist cuffs clinked with every s.h.i.+ft he made. "I'm going to find a pick to get those off of you."

He nodded and then turned away.

I knew he was in pain, but I also wanted him to be glad he was alive and well ... and back with his parents. With me. His mother. I'd missed everything in his life. He was a stranger and that was the most painful thing. I wanted to know everything about him and he didn't even want to look at me.

I slipped through the bedroom door and wandered into the main hall. Tears ran down my cheeks and I sat down on a strangely shaped bench to cry. I'd been holding it back, but now it poured out like water breaking through a dam.

I jumped when a soft hand touched my shoulder. Opening my eyes, I looked up to see the loveliest, green-eyed, little girl with red curled tresses. She couldn't have been more than five or six.

"Don't be sad. The dragons always come back and let us out," her little voice a.s.sured me. "I'm Issa, what's your name?"

I couldn't hold back the smile. Wiping my face, I nodded back at her. "I'm Diana. It's nice to meet you."

"Is the man they brought in hurt?"

"Yes, Mikjall was hurt. Do you know where I might find something long and sharp? Perhaps a hair pin?"

A woman stepped around the corner and stopped suddenly when she saw me. She was dressed in the white s.h.i.+ft I now knew was what the Sisters wore most of the time.

"Issa, you shouldn't bother the nice woman. It's not polite. Come, let's give her some privacy."

"She wasn't bothering me," I said quickly, drying the last few tears that trailed down my cheeks.

The little girl skipped away and leaned against the Sister. "Auntie, she needs a hair pin." Then the little girl pulled the woman down and whispered something in her ear. I couldn't hear what she said, but the woman's face changed from a frown to a smile.

"You need a hair pin?"

"I need to pick a cuff lock."

"Ahh, Seely can do that. Issa, run and tell Seely we need her over by the white room."

The little girl dashed away, her red ringlets bouncing with each step.

"She's a beautiful child," I said, trying to break the awkward silence.

The Sister beamed. "Issa is special and has such a big heart. She's my niece. I don't have a baby of my own yet."

"I had a baby."

"The man in the white room?"

I nodded, surprised she knew the man was my son. But then I remembered they were all seers. Born knowing things others had to seek out.

"Don't be unhappy, Diana. Issa said he will come around. The new brother will soften his heart in time."