Hidden Dragons (25 page)

Thankfully, their big meal would keep them in dreamland. She and Rick slipped silently from the cave. Side by side at the lake, they contemplated the rippling water. After a minute, they turned to each other.

Rick’s expression held more worry than she’d seen in it recently. “The dragons wouldn’t have whammied us on purpose. They’re too young to be that devious. Plus—” He struggled to sort through his perceptions. “They’re too affectionate. I’m not magic, and I can feel how fond of us they are.”

However fond they were, the end result was the same. Cass and Rick had acted in ways that weren’t natural to them. Rick had taken Cass’s hands as he spoke. Now Cass caressed his gauntlet, carefully avoiding the knuckle spikes.

As she rubbed the smooth gleaming surface, a new thought occurred to her. “You’ve been hunting with this, haven’t you?”

“Well, it’s there,” Rick said. “Handy. And it’s not like I can remove it.”

She nodded, not accusing him of anything.

“It . . . doesn’t get messy,” he confided, like maybe he’d been wanting to for some time. “It seems to drink in any blood I get on it.”

He looked at her. The furrow in his brow seemed to say,
That’s weird, isn’t it?

“This situation has changed us,” she said.

“Not for the worse. I’m glad we’re together.”

Did he mean that, or was he enchanted to think so? Cass wasn’t ready to face that particular answer. She dropped his hand and pulled the bell out of her pocket.

“I’m going to give this a shot,” she said.

Her shot went nowhere. Though she pulled up power and concentrated, Poly’s jingling collar bell didn’t give up its secrets. “Shoot. This thing has to connect both ways. If my dad can spy on us, I should be able to track the spell back to him.”

“Your dad’s no bantam weight when it comes to magic.”

This was true, but it didn’t help her crack the puzzle.

“Try this,” he said, holding out his gauntlet. “Put your hand in mine. Your dad is a dragon keeper. This is a protector’s glove. Maybe its magic will help you fine tune your search.”

Willing to try, Cass rested the hand with the bell in his. She breathed in and out, keeping the motion smooth. The night was quiet but not completely so. Branches whispered against each other. Water lapped the pebbled shore. Rick’s heart beat slow and even, his hand as firm as the ground under her. Suddenly, her brain seemed to swoop, and Rick steadied her elbow. She saw a funnel made of stars against a field of black.

She knew she had to go where it led.

In her imagination, she slid in like the shape was oiled. Before she could start thinking this would be easy, her progress stopped. The tunnel she’d glided into narrowed to a point.

I need to shrink myself
, she thought.
There’s a way through this
.

She moved again as the idea took hold. Faster she went, and faster, an Olympic bobsledder rounding hairpin curves. She gripped her focus tighter, concerned she’d overshoot her mark.
Father
, she thought.

A real world scene appeared.

She was aware of being in two places: with Rick by the lake and outside a dark outbuilding. She knew she needed to get inside it, not stand out in the weeds.

Rick is watching over my body
, she thought.
It’s safe to go in there
.

Her astral melted through the planks of the wooden wall.

Her father was inside. A hurricane lantern sat on bare ground to one side of the barnlike space. Its paradoxically homey light lit a horrific scene. A long electrum-plated chain—presumably spelled to prevent its links from snapping—bound her father’s unconscious body to the side of a green tractor. Blood had spattered the vehicle’s paint and its giant rear wheels. More blood coated the silvery chain, soaking in darkened patches into the dirt. Such a quantity had spilled that the area beneath the old farm machine was mud. No one body could contain so much . . . unless that body belonged to a pureblood fae.

Faeries like Cass’s father could replace almost any amount of loss almost any amount of times.

Dad
, she thought.
What have they done to you?

He moaned, lifting his head unsteadily. His face was a mess—swollen, broken, the soft blue eyes they shared peering from puffy slits. Other parts of his body were broken too. His arm bones were crooked, and both his shins. From what she could see, his flesh had been cut and ripped, dark blood seeping sluggishly from many wounds. Cass took a little comfort in the fact that his blood wasn’t glittering. He wasn’t dying, though maybe he wanted to.

She didn’t think he knew she was there. Though his head came up, he didn’t look in her direction.

A second figure stepped into view.

The tall male was as beautiful as a fairy tale. His thick hip-length braid was silver, his snowy skin sparkling like he’d been rolled in tiny stars. Cass’s breath caught in her throat at the fluidity of his stride. Though he was slender, his shoulders stretched straight and broad. His arms were bare beneath a laced chamois vest, and his legs looked strong in brown leather pants. A long sheathed sword hung diagonally across his shoulder blades.

Given the guns his arms were sporting, she imagined he’d be able to swing it fine.

“Good.” The stranger’s voice was a breeze over sun-warmed sand. “You’re ready to play again.”

“Why don’t you . . . get it over with?” her father rasped.

“When I have what I need.” The stranger held an iron instrument in both graceful hands, a fireplace poker with a sharp hooked tip. Cass knew the properties of iron allowed it to harm faeries but not kill them.

“I already told you,” her father said. “I’d rather die than give those eggs to you.”

Those eggs
, Cass thought. Didn’t her father know they’d been hatched?

“They’re ours by right,” said his torturer. “We have the boldness and the vision. We spent centuries laboring in secret to get this close to them.”

“Ceallach—” Her father coughed and spit blood. “The only thing that’s yours and that cunt’s by right is a one-way trip through a hell portal.”

In a blur of motion, Ceallach lashed out with his hooked bar. A fresh slash exploded across her father’s face. Bone cracked beneath the impact. Her father gasped but didn’t cry out. When he looked up again, his skull was distorted on one side.

A human being couldn’t have survived that much damage.

Ceallach stepped to him and grabbed his broken jaw. “Where is the Sevryn clutch?”

The fae’s electric blue eyes glowed. He was right in her father’s face, the light from his gaze probing her father’s. Cass realized he was pulling up extra power to read his thoughts. Considering the pain her father must have been in, it should have been easy.

“
Where are the eggs?
” Ceallach demanded.

“Safe from you and your demon-fucking whore,” her father spat.

The insult angered the other faerie, but he wrestled his temper under control and stepped back. Cass didn’t understand. Her father knew where the dragons were. He’d been watching her through the bell. Ceallach should have been able to steal that knowledge from him.

That he hadn’t was obvious. He stared at her father from the distance he’d stepped to, looking weary but determined. The arm that held the poker at the ready dropped.

“I shall return,” he said. “As you know, I’m willing to spend as long as it takes breaking you.”

He left the weatherworn outbuilding. Cass wanted to follow and see what he did, but she was tethered to her father. In Ceallach’s absence, he’d begun breathing unevenly. Cass wondered if his injuries bothered him more than he’d let on in front of his enemy. Then a broken sound tore from him.

She knew what was happening.

Her father was crying.

She sensed more than pain fueled the reaction. He believed he was alone; believed no one in this world or any other was coming to save him. He thought he’d chosen a path that rendered rescue impossible.

When Cass realized that, her heart broke for him.

~

Rick didn’t want to get in the way of Cass’s magic, but just standing there while tears trickled down her cheeks was tough. When she jerked from the vision and lost her balance, he caught her arms.

“I’m okay.” She dragged her palms down her face. “I found him.”

“Your father?”

“Yes.” Her voice was rough with emotion. She composed herself with a ragged breath. “I recognized the location. He’s at the old Maycee farm.”

Rick’s brows drew together. This seemed a less than ideal choice.

“I know,” she said. “He’s not a Maycee, but it’s still a place a thorough person would think to search. Maybe he wanted to be found. Or maybe he thought the extra magic from the Pocket’s birth would give him an edge.”

“I gather it didn’t.”

She scrubbed her face again. “One of the faeries had him chained up. My father called him Ceallach. From what they said, it sounds like the two faeries who want the dragons are working together. I didn’t see his partner. I couldn’t tell if she was there.”

Since Cass was shaking, Rick led her to a fallen tree trunk and sat her down. Her eyes were haunted by what she’d seen. She took his wrists and looked up at him.

“He hasn’t given us up. Ceallach is torturing him, trying to break down his resistance to having his thoughts read. Purebloods can heal a lot of damage. My dad has got to be in incredible pain, but somehow he’s maintained his barriers. Ceallach believes my dad has hidden the eggs but won’t say where.”

Rick squeezed her fingers.

“We have to save him,” she pleaded. “He thinks no one is coming.”

Rick’s chest tightened, but he had to stand firm. “You need to leave this to me. It’s my job to help people who are in trouble. This is too dangerous for you.”

“It’s too dangerous for you! Rick, this Ceallach is a pureblood. And probably royal. He’s very strong. You can’t go after him on your own. Even with your pack . . . Anyway, we can’t wait for them. Ceallach warned my father he would return. My dad was in bad, bad shape. I don’t know how much longer he can hold on.”

“Your dad is trying to protect you and the dragons. If we go rushing to the very people who are trying to steal them, you undo his sacrifice.”

“Just us,” Cass said earnestly. “We’ll leave the babies behind. I’ll order them to hide.”

“Cass—”

“They’ll behave. I’ll make them.” Her face tightened with resolve. Despite the strange expression, he didn’t guess what was coming when she stood; didn’t sense any threat from her at all. She ran both hands around the thin chain he wore . . . and yanked off his saint medal. “I’ve got your protection now,” she said, holding it in one fist. “I can glamour you. So help me, if you try to force me to stay behind, I’ll compel you.”

She shocked him to his core. He looked into her hot blue eyes and saw she meant every word.

“I
can’t
let you go alone,” she said softly.

He didn’t want to give in to her. She meant too much to him to risk. They shouldn’t go at all. It wasn’t strategic. One man’s death . . . Except the one man was her father. Truth be told, Rick couldn’t abandon him either. At least if he went alone, he could pray to come up with some sort of Hail Mary pass.

Unfortunately, him going alone wasn’t in the cards. Because Cass was determined to be involved, she needed more protection than just him.

“We call the pack,” he said. “No arguments.”

Simply saying the words was a relief. He hadn’t realized how much he minded going his own way without them. He could see Cass didn’t want to agree. He gave her his hardest face, the face he’d have led men with if he’d been alpha.

“We can’t wait for them,” she insisted. “We have to get to the farm right away.”

“We won’t wait. I’ll tell them to come here. They can look after the dragons.”

This much of a delay she’d accept. He didn’t add that once his fellow squad members were so close, they’d damn well find a way to help him and her. They’d try to protect the dragons; they’d just care about people more.

Cass threw her arms around him. “Thank you,” she said into his neck.

Rick hugged her back grimly. He didn’t feel guilty over misleading her. Whether he’d just signed his pack’s death warrants did trouble him a bit.

Cass didn’t waste any time hurrying back to the cave. Rick followed almost as quickly, though he wasn’t eager to get this rescue mission on the road. As of that moment, he didn’t foresee it ending well.

His Elfnet phone was where he’d left it, in a snapped pocket of the duffel. His thumb hovered above the button that turned it on. Cass was waking the dragons, clasping each scaly head to look into their eyes while murmuring stern instructions. As the hatchlings listened, their mouths gaped like surprised toddlers.

Rick hoped this meant her strategy would work. He didn’t want the dragons hurt. Preferring privacy for his call, he stepped to the vine-draped cave mouth.

Naturally, he had Adam on speed dial. His pack leader answered halfway into the second ring.

“Hey, boss,” Rick said somewhat sheepishly.

“Jesus,” Adam responded. “Where the hell are you? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Rick said. “But I don’t have much time. Is this line secure?”

“Of course it is. What the hell is going on?”

“We have the dragons. We need you and the pack to protect them. Don’t involve anyone you don’t trust a hundred and ten percent. The second faerie is still unaccounted for.”

“And the first?”

“Is torturing Cass’s father for information. We’re hoping to rescue him.”

“Rick,” Adam said, his frustration and worry clear. “Wait for us. Wherever you are, don’t do anything crazy by yourself.”

“We can’t wait. Track my cell phone. If you lose the signal, we’re in a spot only Nate and Evina know about.”

“Only Nate and Evina . . . Rick—”

Rick disconnected the call and turned off the ringer. Adam would be furious. Unable to help that, he joined Cass at the rear of the cave. She’d tucked the dragons into the tunnel they used for their treasure hoard. Verdi’s green head was sticking out, craning around to watch her shove supplies into the second opening in the wall. For whatever dragonish reason, her babies weren’t as fond of this hidey-hole.