Saved By Her Dragon (22 page)

“I know Bro, but you can’t think that way.
Sam’s smart and there’s no way she’ll go anywhere without an
escort. Just keep the faith. She’ll be back here where you can
watch over her before you know it.”

“I know you’re right. She’s just so damned
stubborn.”

“And dedicated, and an amazing doctor, and tough as
nails…”

“You are so right,” Lance finally chuckled. “Thanks,
man.”

“You got it.”

Tired of waiting for her ice cream, Sydney pulled on her
dad’s arm and all but yelled, “Are you guys done talking in your
heads? I need my ice cream!”

All three adults barked with laughter as Lance swung his
daughter into his arms and kissed her cheek. “Yes, Syd, we’re
done.” Turning to Devon and Anya he winked, “Catch you two
later.”

“Bye guys,” they called in unison as father carried daughter
towards the ice cream shop.

Not one to miss anything, Anya asked, “Is Sydney a dragon
shifter, too?”

Devon shrugged, “No one knows what Sydney is except a very
loveable, happy, super intelligent little girl with more special
powers than anyone ever thought possible.”

“Not even Kyra or your mom?”

Shaking his head, Devon answered, “Not even Kyra or my mom.
Sydney was hurt in a car accident that killed her parents and Sam
was her doctor. Sam had been in the foster care system and couldn’t
bear to see the sweet child go through what she did. Long story
short, Lance finally claimed her as his mate and they adopted
Sydney and they are living the dream.”

Accepting the abbreviated explanation he had given her, Anya
nodded as they once again began walking towards the Town Square.
Her eyes lit up as they turned the corner and the epicenter of his
clan came into view. It didn’t take long until she was completely
engrossed in their little community, marveling about all the
different shops and stopping to look at
everything
. Devon once again noticed
how everyone they came in contact with seemed drawn to her. Each
person told her how happy they were to meet her and asked how she
was, truly interested in hearing her answer. The baker gave her a
loaf of bread and some bagels, the florist refused to take payment
for the flowers she picked out for Siobhan, even the grouchy old
dragon that ran the stationery store smiled and offered to create
special invitations for their mating ceremony. Devon was amazed at
the incredible reception Anya received from his kin.

He was disappointed, but not surprised, when Anya stopped and
looked in the window of Emma’s shop and it was closed. There with a
note on the door apologizing and explaining that the jeweler had
been working overtime on a special piece and would reopen the next
day. He watched his mate’s eyes light up at all the beautiful
jewelry in the window and imagined how excited she would be when he
presented her with the beautiful pendant Emma had
created.

Several hours later, laden down with more packages than he
could ever remember carrying, even during the holidays, he and Anya
made their way back to Siobhan’s home. Walking up the front steps,
Anya asked, “Am I ever gonna see your house?”

Stopping at the door and turning to look into her eyes, he
answered through their ever-growing mating bond,
“You will most definitely see OUR home…very
soon,
mo chroi’
.”

He watched her eyes grow wide, heard her sharp intake of
breath at his innuendo, and cursed every single package in his
hands for standing between his body and hers. Apparently reading
his thoughts, she grinned and chuckled directly into his
mind,
“I’ll hold you to it.”

Anya opened the door since his hands were full, but Devon
still insisted she go in ahead of him. He heard her mutter
something about macho men and laughed to himself. If she only knew
that not only was he minding his manners, but there was no
way
in hell
he
was giving up the chance to watch the gentle sway of her
beautifully rounded behind as she made her way into the
house.

After all of their bags were emptied and Anya was satisfied
with the floral arrangement she had created for his mother who was
still researching in her study, Devon steered her down the hall and
into the room they were now sharing. Giving into temptation, he
sealed his lips to hers as soon as the door was closed behind them
and kissed her like he had longed to all afternoon. Lifting her and
making his way to the bed, he carefully sat on the edge with Anya
straddling his lap, their lips never leaving one
another.

Their kiss went on forever, and would’ve led to them both
spent and sleeping in each other’s arms had Royce’s voice not
sounded in Devon’s mind.
“Rayne just
called for us to meet at the Great Hall. He said he didn’t get a
response from you so I thought I’d holler before he sent Rory after
you again.”
The older Guardsman chuckled
through their shared link as Devon groaned
. “Be fair warned, the girls are all on their way to
Siobhan’s to keep Anya company while we are out tonight, since it’s
her first time and all.”

A giggle from Anya let him know that she had overheard at
least part of his conversation with Royce. He wondered about the
increased powers she had already received from their yet to be
official mating, but another voice in his head made him lose his
train of thought.
“Yo, loverboy. You get
the message that we need to be at the Great Hall as soon as
possible?”

“Yeah. Your older brother
just told me,”
he growled at
Rory.

From the laugh in Rory’s voice, Devon could tell Rory was
enjoying interrupting him again way too much.
“Well, ya better hurry or ya know Rayne will just send me to
get you.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,
smartass. I know.”
And then more to
himself than anyone else he added
, “I am
seriously rethinking my choice of giving Rayne back the command of
this mission.”

“I’m sure you are, lover
boy.”
Rory laughed through their
link right before cutting their connection.

As Anya went to move off his lap, her knee brushed across his
rock hard cock as it pushed against the zipper of his jeans. She
gasped as he pulled her hard against his body and slammed his mouth
to hers, making promises with his kiss that he had yet to speak.
Her hips met his as she rode his cock until stars burst behind his
closed eyelids, and all he could think of was his mate naked and
writhing beneath him.

Devon stood and turned to lay them both on the bed when Anya
tore her mouth away and laid her forehead against his. Trying to
catch her breath, she whispered, “There is nothing I want more than
to make love to you, but I’m afraid I would have to kill Rory
or
anyone
that
interrupted us. So you, Mr. Walsh, better get your sexy ass out of
here and do what you have to do.” She stopped and kissed the tip of
his nose, then continued, “And I will be waiting right here when
you get back.”

Loving that she was already comfortable enough with him to
tease, he returned the gesture by gently tossing her on the bed and
spinning around. Looking over his shoulder, he smirked and barked,
“So you think my ass is sexy, huh?”

Anya threw back her head, her laughter filling the room and
Devon with incredible happiness. He walked towards the bathroom to
grab a quick shower, serenaded by the music of her laughter and
thoughts of what his life would be like with her by his side. Only
after he was clean, dried, and dressed, and sure he would be able
to hold back his desire, did he return to the bedroom.

Finding Anya dressed and ready to greet the girls, he kissed
her thoughtless one more time and together they followed the sounds
of women talking and Sydney laughing. Satisfied that she was okay
and would be kept busy while he was gone, Devon headed out into the
night to meet his brethren. Almost an hour later, thirteen proud
Guardsmen piled into three black SUVs and headed to meet their
allies and finally bring down the fucking traitor that had caused
so much pain and turmoil among their kin.

They met the werepanthers at the designated spot, and within
ten minutes all the vehicles had been hidden and the dragons along
with the King and his men were running in three different
directions towards the mansion the traitor called home. It had been
decided early on that they would split into three groups,
converging on Andrew’s hideout from both sides and the back. They
had all agreed that not even that idiot would try using the front
door for his escape, if he attempted one at all.

Devon listened to the Guardsmen calling out everything they
could see through mindspeak. Each group contained at least two
werepanthers that did not have access to the dragons’ special form
of communication–but that had been taken care of. Max was in
Devon’s group and every few minutes he would relay the information
to the Leo as discreetly as possible so that he might pass it along
to his men.

As they drew close to the mansion, Devon could feel the men’s
excitement as they got closer to the perimeter of the property. The
prospect of finally putting the asshole traitor in a cage and
ending his bullshit revenge was all they thought about.

Max held up his fist, signaling their group to stop. Raphael
moved forward and Devon watched as the panther removed several
small tools from the pockets of his cargo pants and set to shutting
down the security system. Less than five minutes later, Devon was
sending word to his brethren that they were free to breach the
walls of the compound.

He listened intently as Rian’s group made their way to the
back of the house. It was there that Lennox would set the charges
that would allow them access into Andrew’s fortress. Thankfully,
they had not been noticed, and according to Max’s play-by-play from
Raphael, the security system was still offline but sending a signal
to the wizards mimicking it was in working order.

“Lennox and I just got to
the tunnel entrance. The ‘mad bomber’ says to give him five minutes
and then we’ll be good to go,”
Rian
sent through mindspeak to all the dragons.

Devon told Max what Rian had said and watched as he passed
the information onto his Pride. Within seconds, Max gave a nod,
whispering, “Raphael’s good. His patch into their security is
holding strong.”

The tension was palpable as the seconds ticked by, everyone
waiting for Rian’s signal. Devon grinned, listening to Lennox’s
excitement as he prepared the explosive.
“He truly is our very own ‘psycho’
,”
Rory joked.

“You gotta love a man that gets such
pleasure out of his job. Just make sure he doesn’t blow all of us
up too, Ri,”
Lance
laughed.

“Ha Ha, you guys are freaking
hilarious!”
Lennox
grumbled.

“So if you ladies are finished with the
coffee club maybe we can get this fucking show on the road,”
Rayne growled, his frustration
evident.

“Sounds like the Commander is wound a bit
tight,”
Aaron sent through their unique
link.

“No shit. I haven’t heard Rayne so keyed up
since the day the traitor returned,”
Devon
answered, still keeping an ear open to Lennox’s
progress.

“Ernesto senses movement heading towards the
basement from within the house,” Max whispered from behind.

Devon immediately sent the message to all the Guardsmen and
began moving through the overgrown foliage. Rayne issued the
command that all teams form a loose perimeter close to the house,
and Devon listened as all teams confirmed they were moving in. The
main objective in those few moments was to run interference if any
wizards should wander outside and keep Lennox hidden until the
device could be detonated.

Devon felt as if he could hear the seconds ticking by in his
head. Everyone had gone completely silent. The anticipation that
ran through both dragon and panther alike was thick enough to cut
with a knife. Only Lennox seemed to be unfazed as he continued to
mutter to himself.

Rian broke through the Guardsman’s mindless chatter and
whispered ominously,
“I can feel the
traitor just inside those fucking walls. His dragon is weaker than
most and shrouded in a cloudy mess of magic, but it’s there,
intermittently. Thankfully, the beast cannot sense
us…yet.”

The warriors’ anticipation turned to anger and the need for
vengeance with confirmation that the traitor was just a few feet
away. Always more empathetic than most, Aidan spoke cautiously and
flooded their common link with a calmness Devon admired,
“Take a breath, Brothers. Stick to the plan.
We’ll have…”

His words were cut short as Lennox roared, “OH FUCK!” And a
matching shout of “OH SHIT!” came from the other side of the small
door they were trying to access.

“WHAT THE HELL?” Rian and Aaron bellowed as
the ground shook and a sharp, quick heaviness tore through the air
in waves, building pressure within Devon’s head until he thought
his eardrums might pop. The sound that followed was one he had
heard many times when deployed overseas but had hoped to never hear
again, especially with his brethren in such close quarters.