Her Mad Dragon (Dragon Guard Series Book 15) (9 page)

Chapter Seven

Stomping down the stairs with his hair still wet and his
t-shirt in his hand, Maddox was trying to decide between punching Kayne in the
mouth or the stomach when he heard the low rumble of the demi god’s voice and
Calysta’s answering chuckle. Turning the corner, he stepped into the kitchen
and growled, “Thought you were staying on the porch?”

“Maddox,” Calysta chastised, then to only him she said,
“where
is my sweet lover from a few minutes ago?”
before kissing him on the cheek
and handing him a mug of coffee.

“Scared away by the likes of him,”
he answered,
glaring at Kayne.

“Nice to see you, too, Maddox,” the demi god snickered then
pointing to the bagels said, “Have something to eat. Maybe it will help your
nasty disposition.”

“Maybe I’d rather kick your ass,” the mad dragon challenged,
holding on to his fraying temper by a thin, tight wire.

Throwing his hands in the air in surrender, Kayne
apologized, “I really am sorry for interrupting,” he waggled his eyebrows, “but
Rian is seriously ready to bust a gut and for some reason thinks you and I have
to be the ones to call the ol’ Assassin home.”

Grumbling to himself as Calysta kissed his cheek and excused
herself to shower and get ready for the day, Maddox scoffed, “Ri just doesn’t
want to get yelled at. I oughta call over there and give him a piece…”

Interrupted by Kayne’s laughter, Maddox downed the rest of
his coffee, placed his mug on the breakfast bar, and headed towards the patio,
hollering over his shoulder, “You comin’ or ya’ gonna sit there all day feedin’
your face?”

Sliding open the glass doors and stepping onto his redwood
deck, the mad dragon took a long deep breath of fresh air before taking a seat.
He knew he was being obstinate, probably even cantankerous, but he really
didn’t care. He didn’t like to be interrupted at the best of times and Kayne’s
disruption had come at the worst possible moment. Still irritated, he growled
when the demi god set his own fresh mug of coffee on the table between the
patio chairs and munched away happily on yet another bagel. The thought of
knocking the bagel out of his hand crossed Maddox’s mind mere seconds before
Calysta purred through their unique link,
“Play nice and I’ll give you your
reward later.”

Smiling despite himself, Maddox watched a replay of a few of
their finer moments from earlier that morning as his little witch shared them
with him. His anger melted away as his arousal rose. Just as he was about to
tell Kayne to get lost and go to his mate, his little witch whispered,
“Later,
mo ghra’,” and cut their connection.

“If I didn’t love her so much, I would…” Maddox grumbled
under his breath, stopping short when he realized Kayne could hear every word.

The demi god chuckled, “Your mate sure is one of a kind. No
doubt she was made just for you.” He sighed and looked out over the landscape
as he took a drink of coffee and then added, “You’re one lucky dragon, my
friend.”

Maddox immediately felt sorry for his old friend. It wasn’t
something he did very often. For the most part, the mad dragon minded his own
business and expected others to do the same, but in this case, he could see
that Kayne longed for a mate. Wanted that someone special, created just for
him, to spend the rest of eternity alongside.

“Your mate will show up soon. No worries.” Maddox fumbled
through the only encouraging words he could think of and quickly added, “Let’s
call this old SOB and break the news.”

Giving Maddox a knowing smile, Kayne nodded and said, “Do
the honors, ya’ grumpy old cuss.”

As they both chuckled, Maddox called,
“Drago, you there?”

“I’m here. What the hell are you doing calling me? I thought
you were still honeymooning. Congratulations by the way. How’s mated life
treating you?”
The Dragon Guard Commander was known as the Assassin, named
because there wasn’t a wizard or hunter alive that could outrun, outwit, or
outfight him and his Force, known as The Enforcers. It was a fact that when
they set their sights on an enemy, that enemy was as good as dead.

“Yeah, well, as usual, our boy here screwed that up,
too,”
Kayne snickered.

“Shut the hell up, Kayne,”
Maddox growled.
“Thanks,
it’s going good but that’s not why we called.”

“Didn’t figure it was but I thought I’d try the polite
route to start. Alicia says my people skills leave a lot to be desired,”
Drago snorted and the mad dragon had to smile. The Assassin’s mate was also a
witch and a sweet girl but much younger than her dragon. The age difference had
to be difficult to understand from both sides, but especially for the young
witch. Not a one of the older Guardsmen had much in the way of people skills,
especially the ones who’d been locked away by dark wizards or hunters in one
way or another for a century. They were from a rougher, more fight-or-be-killed
time, and old habits were proving to be hard to change.

“Yeah, well, it’s just us, so cut the crap,”
Maddox
grumbled.

Kayne barked with laughter,
“As you can see, Calysta’s
attempts at reforming our resident old bastard are not working.”

Drago chuckled in response
. “Don’t let ‘em change you,
Doxie. The lads and I always loved you just the way you were – grumpy and
growling.”

Maddox cringed at the use of his old nickname and even more
so at the gleam in Kayne’s eyes. The demi god had apparently forgotten about
the moniker but now that it was renewed in his mind, the mad dragon could only
hope his old friend kept his mouth shut.

Oh, yeah, right, like that’s gonna happen…

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, thanks,”
Maddox pressed on.
“Anyway,
the reason for the call is that we ran into a nasty customer a couple of months
back. A real asshole who was torturing shifters of all kinds. I’ll let Kayne
explain the technical shit to you.”

The mad dragon nodded to the demi god and sat back while
Kayne explained Tariq O’Baoill’s heinous operation and what they’d found there.
It was still difficult to hear the details and took all Maddox’s control not to
become enraged all over again. Not that getting pissed would do any good until
they found Adam and Eve, but he felt useless just sitting on his patio talking
about what needed to be done instead of taking action.

Kayne wound up his explanation with,
“And we blew the
place up, but as usual, there were still some surprises. I’ll let Doxie,”
the demi god winked and Maddox thought about punching him in the jaw, but
decided Calysta wouldn’t approve,
“tell you what happened next.”

“Okay, it kind of seems as though you lot are building to
something here,”
Drago cautiously chuckled.

Taking a deep breath, Maddox decided there was no easy way
to break the news, so he simply blurted out,
“We found Kyran.”

“What the hell? Really?” Kayne shouted out loud at the same
time that Drago bellowed,
“You what? Is he okay?”

Maddox sat quietly as they peppered him with questions, one
through mindspeak and the other in his face. “You couldn’t have softened the
blow?”

“Where is he?”

“What the hell is the matter with you?”

“Why are you calling me and not him?”

Deciding enough was enough, the mad dragon roared, “SHUT
UP!” Both out loud and directly into the Assassin’s mind. The badgering
stopped. Maddox took a deep breath then stood and began to pace the deck as he
explained,
“There’s no easy way to explain all of this, so just listen then
you can lose your bloody mind. Okay, Drago?”
He continued to ignore the
dirty looks from Kayne and rubbed his forehead, trying to push back the
headache that was pounding like a base drum in his brain.
“Yes, Kyran was
being held and tortured at Tariq’s facility but we didn’t know that. There was
no record of him. The bastards had him hidden and somehow dampened his magic.
Apparently, Lenn’s explosion freed him. He flew out of the burning compound,
took O’Baoill, and that was the last we saw of him.”

 
Maddox paused and sat back down while Drago asked an
endless stream of questions.
“You just let him go? Have you looked for him?
What are you lot doing to find him. We HAVE to find Kyran, he’s one of my lads,
my second. Why would he leave? What aren’t you telling me?”

When the Assassin finally stopped to take a breath, Maddox
was just about to continue when Kayne demanded, “Tell him the rest, Doxie.”

Damn, I wish he’d quit with the ‘Doxie’ shit….

Deciding to ignore the demi god, the mad dragon grumbled,
“I
told you to listen before you went off all half-cocked, Drago, there’s a
helluva lot more to this.”

“Like what?”
The Assassin challenged
.

“Like the fact that those sons of bitches have messed
with his mind and he didn’t even know us. Like the fact that he tried to
scramble mine and Kayne’s brains with that damn screech of his. Like the fact
that he trussed me up like a stuck pig and mumbled like a damn madman for
almost three days.”
He was seething, so angry and fed up with all the crap
going on around them and that one of his oldest friends was questioning his
motivation that the mad dragon didn’t realize what he was saying. Still pissed,
he added
, “How’s that for the shit that’s been going on around here while
you lay about with your mate on holiday?”

Maddox shot out of his chair, jumped off the deck, and paced
the grounds behind his house. He tried not to trample the flowers and herbs
Calysta had planted but was so angry he really didn’t care. Mumbling to himself
about how much easier it was before he left his mountain, he almost missed the
continued conversation between his friends.

“Ky really got the drop on Maddox?”
Drago asked, now
concerned instead of accusatory.

“I wasn’t there but all signs say he did. Maddox was
pretty banged up but that could’ve been from the twin hunters, Tariq’s kids.
Seems like they’re following in dad’s evil footsteps.”
Kayne went on to
explain.
“And get this, he named them Adam and Eve.”

“Oh shit, that is never a good thing,”
the Assassin
groaned.

“No, no it’s not, my friend.”
Kayne sighed then went
on.
“They’ve got some kind of electronic tracker in Kyran and caught up to
him while he had Maddox tied up. Thankfully, the mad dragon had gotten free.
Seems Doxie’s got tricks we never knew about. It was lucky that Ky was having a
halfway lucid moment so they could fight together but the Gruesome Twosome, as
the boys around here are calling the O’Baoill twins, have created some shit
they’ve added to the silver and they made aerosol bombs out of it. The lads
didn’t stand a chance.”

Kayne looked up at Maddox and winked, to which the mad
dragon flipped him off, jumped back onto the deck, and took his seat, still
pissed but ready to rejoin the conversation. Picking up where Kayne had
stopped, Maddox said,
“First of all, and yes it’s off topic but keep your
yaps shut, the Doxie shit has got to stop. If the boys around here get a hold
of that, I will never hear the end of it. Got it?”

He leveled a stare at Kayne, who gave a thumbs up but was
still sporting a shit-eating grin and then waited while Drago finished
chuckling and finally said,
“Whatever you say, Maddox. Now, what else do I
need to know before I get Alicia and we head your way?”

“Second of all, why the hell did you never tell us what
his ‘special power’ was? He nearly killed us, Drago, and we had no clue what
the hell was happening.”

Drago cleared his throat several times. Maddox could feel
the uncertainty and regret coming from the Assassin. 

Trying to be patient but quickly coming to the end of his
incredibly short rope, the mad dragon opened his mouth to speak just as Drago
said,
“I promised never to reveal Kyran’s secrets. It was a pact made
between brethren, one we both took seriously and in all honesty, I had
forgotten about it until you said he used it on you.”
There was a second of
silence then he added,
“I won’t apologize but I will admit I am glad you
lads know. Now, you know what we’re up against if they find a way to completely
turn the Phantom against us.”

Maddox slumped back in his chair as Kayne leaned forward,
stared at his feet, and shook his head. They all knew what Drago was saying but
none wanted to utter the words aloud. Finally, fed up with waiting, the mad
dragon sat upright in his chair and declared
, “We took an oath. We know what
we have to do. We just have to be ready IF that time comes.”
He stopped,
shook his head, looked the demi god in the eye, and added,
“And pray that it
never does.”

There were a few seconds of tense silence. He knew the other
two were listening to his thoughts just as he was listening to theirs. They
were all in agreement. They would save Kyran if at all possible and if worse
came to worse…well, they’d deal with that time if and when it came.

Tired of dealing in what if’s and needing to get the show on
the road, the mad dragon said, “
Okay, so enough of that shit for now.
Here’s
what you need to know right now. Niall and Brannoc will have to explain the
technical stuff to you but just let me say those fucking hunters have created
some nasty weapons and killed a lot of shifters to do it. They knocked Kyran
out and carried him off like a sack of potatoes. Would’ve taken me too if
they’d had enough man power.”
Maddox paused, took a deep breath and pressed
on in a low concerned voice,
“They’ve messed our boy up really bad. His mind
is fractured and scattered. He went back and forth between knowing who I was
and thinking I was one of the hunters. When he did recognize me, he thought we
were back in Forest of the Dead.”