Darkest Flame (15 page)

It all sounded like a good plan, but Kellan knew how quickly good plans could blow up around them. It had happened less than an hour ago.

He found himself looking at Denae again. It was his job to keep her safe from threats of Dark Fae and MI5 alike. Why then was he looking forward to more time with her?

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Denae couldn’t stop thinking about what Kellan had told her about the Dark Fae. The carnality in the Dark Fae’s eyes as he watched her earlier made goose bumps rise all along her skin.

She had been close to evil. Evil she recognized, but didn’t fully comprehend. Until now.

All her life, the only thing she had felt she needed to worry about was the bad guys she eventually worked to bring down. Now she had learned that there were Dragon Kings, Light Fae, and Dark Fae.

At least she wasn’t the only one with a shell-shocked expression. Henry wasn’t much better, and he didn’t know of the Dragon Kings. But he suspected the men from Dreagan were something more than just humans. It was in Henry’s hazel eyes when he looked at any of them.

The forty-five-minute ride to meet Rhys was made in silence. Denae’s mind should probably have been on the attack and the Dark, but all she could think about was her sister.

Why had she told Kellan about Renee? No one at MI5 knew anything other than that her sister had drowned, and her parents had died shortly after.

What was it about Kellan that made her open up? Was it his virile magnetism? His irresistible eyes? His finely honed body?

His mind-blowing kisses?

She didn’t want to trust him, but he had come into the middle of a trap for her. He had pulled the bullets from her wounds. He had even shielded her with his own body. How could she not trust him?

Her life had been dedicated to finding the bad men who stalked, threatened, raped, and killed women. The Dark and MI5 were now coming after her. She was no longer a part of MI5, which meant she had to fight for herself now.

She wasn’t alone, at least not for the moment. There might come a time that the Dragon Kings cut ties with her, and she needed to prepare for that day. Until then, she would stand beside them and fight MI5.

Battling the Dark was another matter entirely. Nothing terrified her like the Dark. At least nothing in a very long time.

“Will the Dark continue to come after me?” she asked.

Kellan turned his head to her. “It depends on whether the Dark and MI5 continue working together.”

“They frighten me,” she whispered as she met his eyes. She felt like that girl who had buried her mother right after her sister, and then watched her father slowly die. That forlorn girl was reaching out to Kellan to steady the world spinning out of control. “The Dark make me feel alone and lost. I haven’t felt that since I lost my family.”

He started to respond when Banan pulled over behind a white Mercedes G-Class. Instead of words, Kellan laid his hand atop hers and gave it a squeeze before they exited.

Henry merely gave Kellan a nod after all four had gotten out of the Range Rover. Then he looked at Denae. “I’m going to clear your name in this.”

“We both know my career at MI5 is over. I’m actually all right with that.” Which came as a complete surprise. She had dedicated her life there. “I just want them to let me go without any fuss.”

“Then I’ll see it done,” Henry said with a smile.

Denae noticed that Kellan and Banan exchanged looks, but nothing more. Kellan’s hand then rested on the small of her back as he walked her to the Mercedes SUV and Banan and Henry drove off.

Rhys leaned against the vehicle with one shoulder, his arms crossed over his chest. He flashed her a smile as they neared. “Ready for your next adventure?”

“Always,” she replied. It was part lie. Normally she never shied away from anything, but all she wanted to do was curl up with a glass of wine and pretend the day hadn’t happened.

What was happening to the girl who feared nothing? She glanced at Kellan. He could have let her bleed out in his cave, and despite her current situation, she was glad he hadn’t. She had gotten to see a dragon.

And kissed Kellan.

Denae touched her lips as she recalled the heat and passion, the desire and need that had scorched her with the intensity of that kiss.

She took the backseat while Kellan sat in the front with Rhys. Except when Rhys slid behind the wheel, he didn’t start the SUV.

Kellan looked at him. “What is it?”

“You know they can track us.”

Denae assumed “they” were MI5.

Kellan ran a hand through his hair to get it out of his face. “She can no’ swim that far.”

“I wasna talking of swimming,” Rhys said and gave Kellan a knowing look.

Kellan blinked and glanced at her over his shoulder. “We would have to wait for cover of darkness.”

“No’ necessarily. Look.” Rhys pointed to the dark clouds approaching.

Denae looked from one to the other, realization dawning a second later. “You want to fly to wherever we’re going?”

“It would be quicker. And safer,” Rhys pointed out.

Denae snorted. “Safer for who? I can already see lightning flashes in those storm clouds. Y’all might be able to withstand a blast, but I can’t.”

“She has a point,” Kellan said. His disappointment was palpable.

She squeezed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. “Look. Why don’t one of you fly in and the other drive?”

“Because I’m no’ leaving you,” Kellan said. He paused for half a second, and her heart missed a beat. Then he said tightly, “And I doona know how to drive.”

“I do,” she stated.

Rhys began to nod. “I like it. I can go in and take a look around before you two arrive. It’ll also let me know if they have anything watching from the skies.”

“It’s settled then,” Denae said.

“Nay, it’s no’.” Kellan’s pale green eyes were narrowed in thought.

Rhys’s grin was wide as he said, “You know it’s the right thing to do.”

Kellan faced forward without a word. Rhys chuckled and exited the vehicle. The back passenger door was opened by Rhys, who waited for her to get out before he closed it.

“Where are we going?”

“The Isle of Raasay. Go west toward Skye. The ferry will take you to the isle. I’ll be overhead.”

Denae glanced at the sky. “Out of sight, I presume.”

“Of course.”

Rhys then took off his shirt and shoes and tossed them into the back of the Mercedes. When he reached for the waist of his jeans, Denae hastily got into the driver’s seat and adjusted everything to her.

As soon as the back hatch closed, Kellan said, “We can leave now.”

Denae pushed the start button and the engine roared to life. She pulled out onto the road and started driving. In the time she had known Kellan, they had been alone for very little. Now, she had hours with him.

She glanced at him to see one hand fisted on his thigh and his gaze on the sky. “You would rather be up there flying, wouldn’t you?”

“Aye.”

Denae was a little surprised he answered so honestly. “Rhys could drive me, you know.”

“I gave my word I would see you safe.”

“You would be, just from a different vantage point.” Out of the corner of her eye she saw him staring at her.

“I’ll take to the skies soon.”

“When was the last time you flew?”

His sigh was long. “Nearly thirteen centuries ago.”

Denae was so shocked she swerved on the road as she looked at him. She straightened the SUV and blinked. “Are you kidding?”

“Nay.”

They drove for two miles as she waited for him to elaborate. When he didn’t, she asked, “Will you tell me why it’s been so long?”

“I was asleep.”

She really needed to stop being surprised at everything that came out of his mouth. There were supernatural beings on Earth, sharing their world with humans. Who knew what kind of code they lived by, or even how they lived?

“You must have been really tired.” Was it her imagination, or had there been a ghost of a smile on his lips?

Kellan shifted in his seat. “When you’re immortal, time stretches endlessly before you. Sometimes we grow weary of it all, but we have responsibilities as Dragon Kings. We either stay awake and get through each day, or we sleep.”

“In dragon form, I suppose?”

“Of course. It’s our natural form.”

She smiled softly at him. “So you slept for thirteen hundred years. What sent you into the mountain?”

“The one I killed, because even after what he did, we are supposed to protect humans.”

He cut his eyes to her, but she kept driving. She knew he disliked her kind, but his voice had fairly dripped with loathing.

“It wasn’t just that one mortal. I had grown tired of them and their ways. I had never stopped hating them for what they did to my dragons. I was supposed to defend the mortals, and yet I wanted to wipe them from this realm.”

She was silent, taking it all in.

“It was Con’s right to end my life after I killed that human. He opted not to, and I chose to sleep rather than see another human.”

“And then Matt and I showed up,” she said and glanced at him. “I can’t begin to know what it’s like to lose dragons, but I do understand loss. I don’t think I’d have blamed you had you let me die in your cave.”

“I honestly doona know why I didna. Maybe it was the way you fought Matt.”

The windshield wipers came on as rain began to drizzle upon them. Denae knew she shouldn’t prod into Kellan’s past, but she was curious about him.

She licked her lips, suddenly nervous to pry. “You mentioned being the Keeper of the History. What did you mean by that?”

“I was in charge of the history of the dragons,” he said and tapped the window beside him as a bubble of rain ran down the side. “I wrote down every birth, every death, every disagreement, every battle. It plays in my mind, allowing me to write details without having to witness anything. I kept numbers of each dragon clan. Some events I was part of. Like when we discovered Ulrik’s woman had betrayed him and we hunted her down.”

Denae gripped the steering wheel tighter. He had glossed over that part before, but would she hear it all now? “You were important?”

“We all are, in our own way. Ulrik was no less important than me. It could’ve been me who had a human female betray me.”

“What happened?” she asked.

“No one ever spoke with her, so the only one who knows the entire story is Ulrik.”

Denae put on her blinker and followed the signs west toward Skye. “I thought you recorded the history.”

“Not everyday lives. It’s important events that come to me.”

“Has anyone ever asked Ulrik about his woman?”

“That would be difficult. When we learned of the treachery, Con gathered all of us to track her down and kill her.”

“What?” Denae squeaked. “You killed her without asking her if the charges were true or even hearing her side?”

Kellan leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “We saw her meeting with a group of dragon hunters and giving the location to a clan of small pink dragons that lived in the cliffs nearby. Those dragons were no bigger than eagles. They would’ve been slaughtered.”

“I’m glad you stopped them, but why kill the woman? And was Ulrik with you?”

A muscle in Kellan’s jaw tightened. “Con sent Ulrik away.”

“That wasn’t very noble.”

“Con and Ulrik were as close as brothers,” Kellan said and then opened his eyes. “He was trying to protect Ulrik.”

“And how did that turn out?”

“When Ulrik returned and found his woman, he … he grew enraged. Nothing any of us said could calm him. Con finally told him what had occurred. I’ll never forget the look of betrayal that shone in Ulrik’s eyes.”

Denae’s heart pounded as she waited to hear the rest of the story. “What happened?”

“I’m no’ sure who Ulrik was more angry at—us, because we killed his woman, or the humans because they turned against him. In the end, I doona think it mattered. He went after the humans, wiping out entire villages with his silver dragons.”

“Is that what started the war?”

“It was the tipping point,” Kellan said. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked out his window. “Sometimes it feels as if it just happened, that I’m still in the middle of that war.”

Denae slowed the Mercedes as they came to an intersection. Once she pulled out, she glanced at Kellan. “How long did the war last?”

“Too long. Humans began to kill dragons, and dragons began to kill humans. As Kings, we had to keep the peace. It didna always work.”

“Like when your dragons were killed?”

His voice was hoarse with emotion when he answered, “Aye.”

“I’m sorry. What became of Ulrik?”

Kellan cleared his throat. “He wouldna listen to reason from anyone, no’ even Con. Con had no choice but to strip Ulrik of his magic.”

“Con can do that to one of you?”

“Only with the other Kings using their magic. Ulrik remains immortal, but the connection to his Silvers was terminated. No longer could he communicate with them, or any dragon, for that matter.”

She frowned, confusion filling her. “He was one of you. He had suffered from a betrayal on two sides, and y’alls only thought was to strip him of his magic and keep him from his Silvers? That was stupid.”

“As Kings, we were divided. I agreed with Con, because I didna see another way. Others tried to talk Con out of it, and even went to Ulrik again. Now, when I see where the war has brought us, I also think Con should’ve handled it differently.”

“Where is Ulrik?”

“In Perth. He has an antiques shop and moves around every few decades so people willna notice he doesna age.”

“Did you talk to him after he was stripped of his magic?”

Kellan was quiet for several minutes. “Nay, but I went to see him. He was broken. Without him to lead them, the Silvers attacked all humans. We had to round them up and send them away with the other dragons. We captured a few of the biggest, and keep them caged in the mountain. Our magic keeps them sleeping.”

“I feel sorry for Ulrik. He lost his family and friends, and he lost his dragons.”

“Con can be a coldhearted bastard.”