Blackwing Defender (Kane's Mountains Book 1) (13 page)

Winter slid her arms around his waist and sobbed against his shirt. She was getting tears everywhere. The sun was too bright, too harsh. Logan’s head was splitting in two. In the clearing beyond, Kane’s dragon stood much taller than the cabin. He stretched his gargoyle wings and lifted off the ground with powerful strokes. The wind under his wings was like a tornado, and Logan struggled to keep Winter upright. Dark Kane was a true monster—hideous and terrifying. The spikes down his back shone like weapons, and his black scales were matted and scarred as if he’d battled for centuries to survive. Long, black horns arched out of his face, and his claws were monstrous.

Kane was true to his nickname—the End of Days.

At six o’clock tomorrow, Dark Kane was going to be the end of Logan’s days.

Logan tightened his arms around Winter’s shaking shoulders as he watched the massive dragon break through the cloud layer above and disappear from sight.

Now, after working toward the end for so long, Logan suddenly wasn’t ready.

“There will be no pulling Kane off this, Winter,” Ben said in a gruff voice. “Don’t yank the tail of the dragon. Live.”

Winter rested her cheek on the chain of the playground swing and swayed back and forth slowly. She’d thought Brody had broken her heart, but if Kane killed Logan, something inside of her said she would never be okay again.

“Ben, I care for him.” Her voice came out tear-soaked and pathetic, but she was past caring right now.

“Winter, I know. I can tell, but you don’t want a war with the End of Days. Trust me. I was in Apex for eight months with him. He was a friend, but one of the few people who ever really scared me. Not the human parts of him. The Blackwing Dragon parts. He’s giving Logan what he asked for. He’s giving him what he wants.”

“But it’s not what I want!”

“That’s right, so I think we need to revisit that because I remember sitting down with you while we were drying you out, while you were detoxing and so sick and we didn’t know if you were even going to make it. And I asked you what you wanted because I thought it would give you a reason to stay in this world, and do you remember what you said?”

Winter sniffed. “That I wanted a family who wanted me back. A family who stayed.”

“Exactly. You pick the wrong people, Winter. You can see they’re not right for you, deep down you can tell, but you cling to them anyway.”

“You think Logan is a bad bet?”

“I think you’ve seen a different side of Logan than the rest of the world has seen. And I applaud you for trying to see the best in everyone. But I knew about Logan Furrow long before he went to Kane. I’d heard about him. An assassin for hire who had been trained to feel nothing. He was the back-up plan for every alpha who accepted problem shifters. He’s famous for his skillset, but that skill is killing.”

“Killing killers, Ben. Killing shifters who can’t be saved and are murdering humans to fill some dark need. There’s a difference between a serial killer and a man who was the arm of hard justice for our people. I thought you, of all people, would understand. You went through the shit, Ben. You lost your panther for years, lost your brother in Apex, lost your friends there, and you spiraled. I know that’s why you picked me up and pushed me where I needed to be. You saw yourself in me. I see that in Logan. He’s savable.” She dragged in a long, shaking breath. “He’s mine to save, do you understand?”

“Winter, maybe you should come home.”

Warm tears streaked her cheeks. She shook her head. “Ben, he is home, and he’s about to be annihilated by the dark dragon. I’ll never have a home again.”

She hung up the phone in a rush and dropped it in the grass. She couldn’t take another second of him trying to convince her she was better off without the incredible feeling of safety Logan gave her.

He’d promised her day by day, and now the choice was being taken away from both of them. And what could she do? She’d asked Ben to talk to Kane, but he’d refused to get on the wrong side of the dragon. And who was she? A submissive panther in a world of fire-breathers.

“You gonna join the crew?” Logan asked from right behind her.

Winter startled hard, gasping.

“Shhh,” he said, trailing his fingers down the back of her bare neck. His eyes were the silver color of a minnow in the sun, and they were full of bottomless sorrow. Slowly, he drew the chains of the swing back, then released her and pushed her gently on her lower back.

Winter rested her cheek on the chain again and sighed, helped by kicking her legs. “I don’t want you to go.”

“Running won’t do me any good. I did my research on Kane before I came here. He’s ex special forces, survived God knows what on an elite team of shifters, and that was when he didn’t even have his dragon. He has surveillance capabilities you wouldn’t believe. In a matter of days, he found out about a kill that no one knew about but me and my old alpha. I wouldn’t be able to crawl out from my rock for a single second for the rest of my life. That’s a long time to live without making a mistake, and what kind of life would that be anyway? It wouldn’t give me you.”

“I could hide with you.”

Logan huffed a breath. “Beauty,” he murmured. “That’s what you gave my life at the end, and I can’t repay that gift by putting you in Kane’s line of fire. The best way for me to protect you is to let you go.”

Winter bit her lip hard so the sobbing sounds that crawled up the back of her throat wouldn’t escape. “No,” she whispered. “I can’t join the Blackwing Crew.”

“Why not?”

“You mean besides the fact the alpha is about to take the life of the man I love?”

“Don’t say that. Don’t talk about love, or it makes this harder.”

“You’re giving up. I didn’t take you for a quitter.”

“I quit a long time ago,” Logan gritted out. He stopped pushing her and paced away like he would walk back up the street to the hotel. Running his hands through his hair, he circled back. “I hurt you. I hurt everyone who gets close. That’s what I am, Winter. You just aren’t seeing me for what I am. Kane’s doing a good thing. For the wrong reasons maybe, but this is what I’ve been asking for. I spent years trying to end it, and he’s going to do it so I can go down fighting. I wish…”

“Say it.”

A long snarl rattled his chest. “I wish I would’ve never met you so this could hurt less.”

His words stole her breath away. Such poignant pain slashed through her heart that she nearly doubled over. “Take it back.”

Logan shook his head for a long time, churning silver eyes locked on hers.

Winter stood and rushed him, shoved him hard in the chest so he felt the hurt that she did. “Take it back!”

“It would’ve been better for both of us if—”

Winter slammed her fists down against his chest. He didn’t move, and it made her angrier so she did it again. Still no reaction, so she went to town beating on his torso, pushing him, sobbing until he slid his arms around her and pulled her against him. She struggled, but his body was a fortress. Sagging against him, Winter cried until the tears wouldn’t come anymore.

And when she was spent, he folded her into his arms and strode back toward the motel. His cheeks were damp, too, so she knew he felt this. Knew he hadn’t meant it, knew he was just trying to find a way to leave this world easier. But nothing inside her wanted to make this easy on him. She wanted to make it hard enough that he would come up with a way to save himself. Come up with a way to save
her
.

He didn’t slow until he reached her room, 1010. He shoved open the door and dumped her on the bed, followed her down, and then his lips were on hers before the door even clicked closed. This kiss was fire. It was heat and desire, urgency and goodbye. Goodbye. She closed her eyes tight against the reality because it was too much. Winter slid her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, pushed her tongue past his lips and held on as he rolled her on top of him. His fingers shook as he tugged at her shirt, so she held his hands for a moment to steady him.

“It’s okay to feel,” she whispered. She didn’t know why she said that, only that he needed to hear it. “Fuck the rest of the world, Logan. You can feel with me. I’ll keep you safe.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed in his muscular throat as he swallowed hard. And then he cupped her neck and eased her to him gently. His lips were soft and steady. He didn’t push his tongue in her mouth or suck her bottom lip. He just lay there under her, connected and frozen in this beautiful moment she wanted to stretch on forever and ever.

When he reached for her shirt again, his hands weren’t shaking any longer, and the fire in his eyes had dimmed. Now he looked at her—
really
looked at her as he pushed her shirt upward and over her head. He unsnapped her bra and slid the straps down her arms slowly. Hooking a finger between the cups, he eased it off and sat up, pulled her to him, hand on her lower back.

When she arched upward, he drew one of her nipples into his mouth. There was no biting this time, only gentle, rhythmic sucking until she was rolling her hips with the pace he set. And then he moved to her other breast and gave it the same attention.

Needing to touch his skin, Winter pulled off his shirt and ran her hands down his chest. Logan stood, settled her feet on the floor, and then pushed her jeans down her legs, kneeling with them. He was unrushed, careful to put a steadying hand on her hip as he removed each shoe and sock, and then her jeans away from her ankles.

He kissed her stomach tenderly. Winter ran her fingers through his hair, angling his face up to hers. “You should say it once before you go.”

“It’ll make it harder on you.”

“It’ll make it harder if you leave me without saying it.”

Logan buried his face against her stomach, hugged her tightly, there on his knees as though worshipping her. For a second, she didn’t know if she could be strong enough to hear it. He felt it, though. She could tell by the way he looked at her, by the tears that had wet his cheeks earlier.

With a sigh, Logan tipped his chin up and trapped her in his gaze. “I love you, Winter Donovan. I take it back. I’m glad I met you. You were the best part of my life.”

Her eyes burned again, but he didn’t give her a chance to lose it. He stood, cupped her cheeks, and eased her backward, step by careful step toward the wall as he kissed her. It felt like dancing—another thing they would never get the chance to do.

When her back hit the wall, Logan slipped his tongue into her mouth, pressed his body along hers. His skin felt so good, as if he was made to hold her just like this.

This right here, in his arms, was her happy place.

Logan eased her panties down until they fell to her ankles. He unbuttoned his jeans and then kicked out of them as he continued kissing her soft, like saying
I love you
again but without words. He pulled the back of her knee up and settled her leg around him as he slid into her.

“Ooooh,” she groaned as he filled her slowly.

There was no scent of fur, no snarl in his chest, no weight of dominance pressing against her shoulders. There was only her and Logan, as if his bear had curled up deep inside him to give them this—their last night.

Logan eased out of her and then back in until he pressed against her clit. He lowered his lips to her neck and worked her skin, right over the hickey he’d given her. This bruise he was giving her would last longer than him, and that thought killed her.

She rolled her hips, meeting him stroke for stroke as he sped up, his back flexing under her hands with his movement. She was trapped against the wall, and she’d never liked that in sex before, but she would give anything to stay trapped by Logan always. He didn’t scare her anymore, not even a little.

Logan grunted and pushed into her faster. Pressure pulsed within her on every thrust. She was so close. Panting his name, she closed her eyes to the world and rode a wave of ecstasy only Logan could give her.

He clamped his teeth on her neck just how she liked and slammed into her deep, froze and shot warmth into her center, heating her from the inside out with each spurt of seed. Her orgasm exploded through her. Winter’s body throbbed with pleasure as she raked her nails down his back.

Suddenly, Logan stopped moving within her, pulled her away from the wall, and just hugged her. He inhaled deeply and buried his face against her neck. He was shaking.

And now she was crying again. This shouldn’t be the end.

It should’ve been their beautiful beginning instead.

Winter ran her fingertips across her lips as she watched Logan sleep. She was knelt beside the bed in the blue moonlight that filtered through the slats in the blinds. He’d slept here in her arms as a final gift, but she wasn’t ready to quit. Not until he drew his last breath.

He was lying on his back, his face relaxed in his sleep, dark eyebrows smoothed out, dark lashes resting on his cheeks, jaw un-clenched. He looked like an angel fallen to earth. Perfect and scarless.

She was determined to change that, but she’d done this before.

Winter ran her fingers through her hair and gripped the base of her neck as she really considered this. She’d tried to save a sick man before and failed. She’d bit into Dad’s forearm, and his response had been almost immediate. Blood had poured from the bite, poured from his mouth, from his eyes, from everywhere. He’d looked at her so scared, so confused, and all she could do was hold him as he died. Because of her.

This is different
, her panther reasoned.
Logan is like us. He won’t die. Not from our bite. We could save him, bind his bear to us even more, make him fight for his life…for us.

Winter swallowed hard and tried to imagine biting him. She still remembered the feel and smell and taste from when she’d bitten Dad.

Could she even do that again?

To save Logan? Yes.

To make him want to fight? Yes.

Even if it was just her way of saying “I love you” back before he went? Yes.

She wanted him to be hers no matter what happened today. She needed him claimed if she was going to pull this off.

She had to do it fast, or he would yank away, so without thinking about it another moment, she lurched forward, grabbed his arm, and sank her teeth into the same place she’d bitten Dad. This time would be different. It had to be for her to be okay. For them both to be okay.

Logan flinched, and his eyes flew open, but he didn’t move after that. He just watched her bite down as hard as she could. He didn’t show pain, or anger. Instead, the corners of his lips curved up in a sad smile as she claimed him.

With a sob, she released his torn flesh and spat red onto the white sheets.

Logan held his bleeding arm out for her, and she crawled into the safe place he created, right against his ribs. She wiped her mouth on his skin, smearing crimson as a tear slipped from the corner of her eye. Logan’s lips were pressed against her forehead, his hand stroking her hair.

“You love me, too,” he whispered against her hairline.

Her voice would come out all weak and heartbroken if she spoke, so Winter nodded and cuddled closer.

“You’re going to be okay, you know.”

She didn’t answer because he was wrong. Winter had reached the peak of what one person could handle, and now she had nothing left to lose. She couldn’t go back to Red Havoc, couldn’t face Brody, couldn’t join the Blackwings, couldn’t do anything. She was stuck in purgatory until she knew Logan was safe again.

And a shifter with nothing to lose was the most dangerous creature on the planet.

Logan didn’t know it yet, but today she would go up against the Blackwing Dragon himself as a panther doomed in a war she couldn’t win against a fire-breathing dragon.

There was no other choice, though, because she couldn’t sit by and let her mate burn to ashes.

****

Winter blew out a long breath before she got out of her truck. It was early, just at dawn, and the sky was still gray and not yet blue. Logan was still sleeping back at the motel, but Winter was in front of Kane’s territory about to “yank the tail of the dragon,” as Ben called it.

She hadn’t bothered to clean all the dried blood from her mouth as she’d readied in the dark because Kane would need proof.

The hairs rose on her neck.
Careful
, her cat warned. Winter turned her head toward the woods and frowned at a flock of birds that sprung into the sky toward the east. The woods didn’t feel right. Perhaps the dragons were out for an early morning walk or…something.

She narrowed her eyes at the silent woods before loping toward the front porch to get to the house faster. She didn’t like the woods at her back right now, which made no sense because the woods were her most comfortable place.

Leaves rustled at the tree line, and Winter instinctively crouched on the porch, hissed long and loud.

The door behind her opened, and Rowan stood there in a baggy sweater and bell-bottom jeans. Her blond tresses were up in a messy bun that looked better than anything Winter could ever manage. Put-together, she may look, but her eyes were worried and darted to the woods, then back. To the woods, then back.

“What’s wrong with this place?” Winter asked, scanning the woods.

“I don’t know,” Rowan whispered. “Kane and I felt the same. He left a few minutes ago, but he hasn’t returned. He told me to stay here.”

Rowan smelled of fear, but why? She was a dragon. Clearly there was more to the Blackwing Second than Winter knew.

“You’re bleeding,” Rowan murmured as she came to stand beside Winter.

“It’s not my blood. It’s Logan’s.”

Rowan shot her a shocked look, but Winter had expected it and was already drawing up her shirt sleeve to show her the claw marks. “He’s mine and I’m his. I can’t join the Blackwings without him. I can’t let Kane put him down.”

Rowan shook her head. She looked pale, almost sick in the dawn light. “Well, now I can’t either.”

Hope bloomed inside of her chest. Rowan was her last hope at actually surviving Kane and saving Logan, too.

When Rowan frowned at the woods, Winter followed her gaze to Kane who was making his way out of the tree line. He looked odd, lurching this way and that, his soft brown eyes locked on his mate.

Behind him, the A-Team melted from the woods one at a time, appearing from behind trees like ghosts.

“Kane?” Rowan asked, panic tainting the word.

“R-Roe. Run,” he slurred.

“What?” Rowan asked, stepping down the first stair.

“Run!” he yelled as he tripped and spun. When he hit the ground hard, Winter gasped. There were a dozen feather-tipped darts in his side, maybe more.

“Oh, my God,” Rowan gasped, bolting for him. “Kane!”

Shit! Winter sprinted after her and yanked her back just as she reached Kane, but it was too late. Rowan’s body jerked again and again. She turned in Winter’s arms, her eyes wide and terrified. Now that her body was covered in darts, her eyes morphed from gold with elongated pupils to blue human eyes. Her dragon was going to sleep inside of her.

“No!” Winter yanked furiously at the darts to try and help her, but they were empty. “Rowan, Rowan, listen to me,” she rushed out as the bright-eyed shifters breached the clearing. “Call them. Call them now before you lose her completely.”

“Who?”

“The Bloodrunners and the D-Team.” Winter yanked Rowan’s hair, arching her head back. “Do it, Rowan. I’ll keep you and Kane alive until they get here.”

Rowan rolled her eyes back in her head in a slow blink. “Don’t leave us,” she begged in a whisper.

The A-Team ran toward them, flooding from the woods like a violent tidal wave, yelling their war cries.

“I won’t,” Winter promised. “I need back-up though. Call for help.”

Rowan clicked her firestarter and parted her lips. Winter angled her face away from the heat when Rowan blasted a fireball into the sky.

As Rowan went limp in her arms, Winter set her furious gaze on the closest attacker who had morphed into a tiger shifter.

Her animal roared to get out of her, and when Winter let the beast have her body, she released a hellish fury in a way she had never allowed her cat to have before. Because now she needed to kill. She needed to give into her predator instincts and bleed the assholes to survive. To protect the dragons.

She ran a few steps and leapt, clashing with the Bengal tiger.

And then, over the rush of rage and adrenaline and the deafening sound of roaring animals, there was pain.