Chosen Destiny (31 page)

recognized as Doria, the man he’d never seen. The brown-haired man hadn’t been at

any of the battles. It was probably the Dark Sorcerer Doria had mentioned, but it could

be one of the lesser minions.

“What do you want, Doria? I told you, you wouldn’t get your hands on the

generator piece.” Meagan put her hand on the piece and stepped slightly in front of it.

Jaeson held back a smile at Meagan’s protective move. He didn’t doubt that the

Dark Sorceress believed fully that the generator piece was real. The way she stiffened

and her face reddened was evidence of that. Oh yes, she was too angry to think about

why no one had been on lookout for an attack. Hopefully the hazel-eyed Dark Sorcerer,

too, was focused on his own goal. Jaeson could tell the man wasn’t as invested as Doria

was. Jaeson wasn’t sure what the Dark Sorcerer’s aim was, but it wasn’t personal.

“Let’s get this out of here. They can’t do anything more than rage and lob a few

orbs at us as we leave. Not much of a threat at all.” Jaeson put a hand on Meagan’s

shoulder. The last he added as a dig against the Dark Sorcerer. He wanted the man

angry and not thinking clearly.

He saw the color rush over the man’s golden skin and the man’s body tensed. He

snapped his fingers. Two
merdanons
appeared. Each
merdanon
held a woman above the

ground. Jaeson hadn’t expected that. It showed even more clearly that the Dark Sorcerer

wanted this very badly. Jaeson felt a surge of magic and recognized it as Meagan’s.

“Now you know I’m not going to let you hurt hose two women. It’s not very smart

bringing them out here.” Meagan stepped forward to the front of the group. He saw her

sword and dagger held securely in her hands.

“You can’t completely protect them as much as you may want to. You probably

already have a shield around them, but could you hold it forever? We could leave and

use other methods to get rid of them. There are you things you can’t protect them

from.” Doria smiled, sliding a glance from one of the women to Meagan. “You don’t

want them to die, do you?”

“I’m not going to let you kill them, Doria. And you’re damn sure not taking them

anywhere.”

“Then you know what you have to do,” Doria looked relaxed now, as if she was

certain of the outcome.

Jaeson waited tensely. This couldn’t be too easy a surrender. The Dark Sorcerer

standing beside Doria would see the truth even if Doria was too busy gloating. Jaeson

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heard a low growl. He looked over and saw Samiel bare his teeth. Jaeson felt a surge of

magic, Meagan’s. He wondered what she’d done.

“Now you can’t leave. I have all the time I need to take them from you. Then I’ll

take care of you and your friend.” Meagan began gathering power. Her eyes narrowed

and she looked determined.

Jaeson was impressed with her tactics. The Dark Sorceress couldn’t know that

Meagan could take down the shield in front of her with ease. They’d feel safe behind

their shields with the
merdanons
holding the two women.

“Ah, Meagan, you just don’t understand when you’re beaten.” Doria turned to one

of the
merdanons
.

The beast to the right put the woman on the ground and planted his foot on her

chest. The woman screamed but it was cut short as the pressure forced the air from her

lungs. The woman’s hands flailed at the thick gray leg, but it didn’t budge. Her face

reddened.

“Stop, Doria.” Meagan took a step forward.

“Are you convinced you can’t win? Give it to me and she’ll live. Continue to play

games with me and I’ll kill her just to show you I mean what I say.” Doria’s face was

hard as was her voice.

“I don’t trust you to keep you word. I need proof that you’ll let them go, because

leaving them in your hands is tantamount to killing them anyway.” Meagan didn’t

immediately give in to the demands.

“We’ve got other witches. We don’t need them.” Doria waved off the concern.

“Because I’m feeling so generous, I’ll give you what you seem to need. If you try any

tricks, they’ll be dead before you can get to them.”

“That’s not my way and you know it. Do what you’re going to do and let’s get this

finished.” Meagan sent her weapons away and folded her arms across her chest.

Doria waved her hand. Both
merdanons
released the women they held. The two

women ran forward, but hit a shield before they could reach the group of vampires and

dragons. Jaeson put a shield between the women and the Dark Sorcerers. The two were

weak and he’d bet they currently didn’t have the power for even a light shield. He

wasn’t going to chance the Dark Sorceress or her friend deciding to kill the women out

of spite.

Meagan waved her hand and the generator floated slowly forward. “Don’t get too

attached to it.”

“You don’t quit, do you? You lost this piece, just as you’ll lose in the end.” Doria

stepped forward and claimed the generator piece. The gray mechanism lifted off the

ground and floated over to the Dark Sorcerer.

Doria stepped closer to the Dark Sorcerer. They formed a tunnel. Just before the two

stepped into it, Doria hurled a large orb toward the two captives. He knew his shield

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would hold. Jaeson shook his head as he watched sparks fall to the ground in front of

the two women.

“Now that’s finished. Let’s go see what we can learn of the piece we do have.”

Meagan turned and gave Jaeson a wink.

“I’m so sorry,” one of the witches said. She sounded near tears as Maxim helped her

to her feet.

“Don’t worry about it. We don’t need that to ensure the cities remain safe.” Meagan

turned back to face the two women. Her voice softened and she walked over to them.

“You’re more important than that piece of ancient witchcraft. Let’s get you home.”

“They only let us go because they know we’ll be useless. They drained our power.”

The stronger of the two women stood shakily on her feet.

“It will come back. It’ll just take some time.” Jaeson walked forward to join Meagan.

“Don’t worry about those two. They may think this gives them more of an edge, but I

can guarantee it doesn’t.”

“Let’s go. If they decide to come back, I don’t want to be here.” Meagan looked

around at the assembled group.

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Meagan watched Samiel as he paced the length of the room and back. She enjoyed

the flex of his tight buttocks beneath the dark gray leather pants as he walked away

from her. She wanted to get her hands on the taut curve, but he hadn’t come near her.

The man was nearly bursting with energy yet continued to stay with her. She could tell

he needed to be outside. She didn’t know why he was inside when he obviously needed

to move.

“Samiel, why don’t we go outside and enjoy the day?” She stood and walked over

to him.

He turned and frowned. “I thought you said your head ached. It’s why we left the

coven.”

Her head still throbbed, but lying quietly wasn’t helping much. The noise and sheer

activity at the coven had been torture. Watching him pace as if he were caged wasn’t

doing her much good either.

“I’m thinking maybe getting outside in the fresh air could help. Laying still isn’t

doing it. If you don’t mind going with me that is.” She shrugged.

He nodded. “Let’s go. I know a place by the river where flowers are in bloom and

the water falls into a wide pool.”

“It sounds pretty. This place better deliver.” She poked her finger against his chest.

Her finger slid against the dark blue shirt

“It will.” He tugged her into his arms. “Ready?”

She nodded. She fully expected him to release her so that they could walk there, but

his arms tightened, her feet left the floor, and he carried her a few steps closer. She felt

the tugging pull of a tunnel low in her belly, only then realizing they weren’t going to

hike to the river. Samiel stepped forward with the momentum as the tunnel opened. He

lowered her to her feet and turned her around. She saw a crystal clear pool just in front

of her. The sound of water cascading onto rocks filled the air. On the other side of the

pool, flowers and long green grass swayed in a gentle breeze. A sweet scent teased her

nostrils. It was better than he’d described it.

“We’re on this side of the river with a few patches of grass, the occasional flower

and lots of rocks when that’s over there. Why?” She gestured to the flower-strewn field.

“Because this is the nicest view of it. There’s a shallow crossing and you can find a

nice shady spot and rest.” Samiel led her to the shallow portion and followed her across

it.

“What are you going to be doing?” She tilted her head and looked back at him. He

was such a gorgeous man.

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“I’ll probably fly a little, but will stay close enough to keep an eye on you,” Samiel

said.

“I’ll be fine.” She decided on a spot where two trees provided shade. “Don’t worry.

Have fun.”

Conjuring a lounging couch beneath the trees, she walked over and relaxed on it.

With a soft breeze feathering over her, she finally managed to rest. Her headache faded.

She didn’t know how long it had been since she’d relaxed, but she didn’t see any sign of

the dragon. Not that she was worried. She could feel the shield around the area.

At first she’d only been able to feel magic when she was holding the blades. Now

she could feel it any time. To get a sense of where the magic originated she still needed

the weapons, but the growth over such a short time amazed her. Standing, she

stretched. She scanned the sky, but didn’t see a sign of Samiel. She sighed.

The dragon was usually so persistent about staying close. Now when she wanted

him here for some serious playtime, he’d gone missing. She shrugged and peeled out of

her clothes. She wasn’t going to wait around for him. That pool had looked inviting

earlier. Now she wanted to feel the clear water surrounding her.

She ran across the grassy field straight into the water. She screeched as chilly liquid

touching her calves shocked her. She stopped. Slipping in the mud, she fell onto her

butt. She drew in a deep breath, giving her body a little time to adjust to the

temperature instead of running right back out which was her first inclination.

Eventually, she realized it wasn’t bad, just a little cool compared to her warm body.

She waded deeper and began swimming. She loved the feel of the water flowing

over her body. The only thing she could think of that would make it better would be

Samiel or Jaeson. A sudden shadow caught her eyes. She stopped and turned in the

water. She saw Samiel sweep around in a wide circle before coming in for a landing.

She watched as he stalked over to the water still in dragon form. His blue scales

gleamed in the bright sunlight and the gold streaks shone almost as if they were made

of some precious metal. He walked right up to the edge of the water. His head lowered

and his tail swished slowly from side to side. She’d swear that the dragon grinned. If

she wasn’t reading him wrong, Samiel wanted to play. She swam to the left just to see

what he’d do. His head turned and his tongue flicked over his lips.

“So the big, bad dragon is back.” She swam to the edge of the water and stood in

front of him. The water only reached to about mid-thigh now. Her hands planted on her

hips. “Do you think all you have to do is show up and you can have anything you

want?”

The dragon’s head nudged her out of the water. She would swear his brown eyes

glittered with laughter. He definitely wanted to play, but she wasn’t sure just what he

expected her to do. His teeth snapped very close to her thigh. She felt a hot rush of air.

“Watch those teeth. You bite me and I won’t be happy.” She poked a finger against

his muzzle. “I’m going to assume you want to play chase the witch and this isn’t some

bid to get the pool all to yourself. You’d better give me a head start since I can’t fly.”

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The dragon licked his lips. She had a feeling he wasn’t going to play by any rules

other that his. His head slowly lowered in a single nod. She backed away from him,

watching him warily. She created some shoes because she wasn’t going to make this

easy on him. She whirled and ran for the forest.

A huge splash drew her attention. She turned and saw Samiel swimming around

the pool. Furious at being tricked out of that water, she walked to the edge of the pool.

Her hands landed on her hips. What was she going to do with him? Well, she wasn’t

going to let him get away with this. He wasn’t even paying attention to her. She took off

her shoes and weighed one of them. It should do the job. She threw the shoe and

watched in satisfaction as it popped him in the head. His head came up and he bared

his teeth at her.

“Don’t think you’re getting that pool all to yourself.” She deliberately walked into

the water.

She knew he would be a little cautious still, but he needed to understand she wasn’t