Always (Dragon Wars, #3) (2 page)

“Shouldn’t they have killed the dragon?” Mike stepped next to him.

“By they, do you mean Auggie, Jake, and Trevor?” Robbie bent over and took a final book before he passed the material to Mike. “I’m sure they’re working on our problem.”

“What if they’re not? What if they’re already dead?” Homer’s voice remained steady as he asked the question. From another wolf, the query would be indicative of anxiety. Not, however, for Homer. He wanted to know the plan. What would they do if the wolves they’d left outside to protect them died in the effort?

“We shift, rush the entrance. Some of us make our way out, some of us don’t. Although I suppose miracles can happen.” He shrugged. “I think we’d hear if they were dead. A howl would have resonated or something.”

Robbie didn’t have any new concern for his three wolves outside. Auggie would never leave them in here to rot. His brother could be counted on, as could Jake and Trevor.

A yelp sounded followed by a loud dragon shriek. “And on that note...”

He marched forward knowing they’d follow him. The sudden onslaught of light hurt his eyes and he blinked. He wasn’t going to shift to wolf form unless needed and he didn’t want the others to either. The books were the most important part of their mission. If they all changed form, they’d most likely lose them.

He’d always put the lives of his men over anything else. However, if they could manage to escape and still bring the books with them, they’d achieve the best case scenario.

“Mike. Run. Fast. I’m going to see what I can do for Auggie, Jack and Trevor. Homer, you, David and Chris hoof on two legs behind Mike. Whichever one of you can stay in front carries all the books. If you have to fall or shift, you toss them behind you first. The books get left only if you have no other choice. Got me?”

“Right, my Alpha.” Homer turned to relay the information and Robbie jerked at the name. He was not Homer’s alpha. He was not and would never be alpha to anyone. They’d lost their packs and their hierarchy when the dragon war took everything.

Robbie didn’t have time to correct him. The title was a slip, a mistake from the tension. He’d let the error go. The caves during battle weren’t the time or the place for the discussion—although hearing the words made goosebumps break out on his arms more than the eight flying dragons did.

His brother engaged the green beast which heated the cave. Auggie attacked with a focused brilliance Robbie envied whenever he found a moment to admire the technique. Singularly attentive to the task at hand, Auggie gave the impression of forgetting the world existed beyond the dragon he took from the sky.

The roar behind Robbie caught him by surprise, although being attacked shouldn’t have. He’d have disciplined his people if they let themselves become so distracted during a battle. What was the matter with him? Homer’s concern regarding him needing a vacation proved right. Robbie’s responses were really off.

Of course he was never going to find a chance to figure any of his shit out if he let the dragon darting at him kill him where he stood. He tried to shift and the tenth dragon scooped him up and bit hard on his shoulder.

He cried out, the pain radiating all over his arm. The bite wasn’t his first, though the one he’d just taken ranked the worst. Number nine, a green with purple spots, took the chance to bite his leg at the same time.

The world fuzzed out. He couldn’t shift in the dragon’s mouth, although if he could manage to free himself a bit he would manage. He felt pretty sure the son of a bitch nicked his artery. Now would be his end. In the dragons’ mouth was the
fucking
end. He saw his blood everywhere, covered in his own rapidly fading life force with some added dragon saliva. The whole scene looked really disgusting. Who knew his own death would be so gross?

“Ha.” He laughed, which he knew constituted him being perverse, only he couldn’t help cracking up. After seventeen years of fighting the beasts, he would
die
in a dragon’s mouth. How truly boring.

“Auggie,” he called out to his brother. His twin possessed the most awesome hearing. He’d hear him. “I’m gone. The fight all falls to you, brother. Good luck.”

The world dimmed out, although he thought for a second he heard a cannon roar.

****

T
atyana Knox had ten minutes to fix the mess she’d caused before things went to holy hell. Her second in command, Bridget, grabbed her arm.

“Are you sure?” The grey-haired woman with two different colored eyes quivered as she spoke.

Taty felt sorry for her, to an extent. Worry didn’t get to factor into their decision making. Bridget could help with collecting the werewolves the dragons disposed of, or she could move out of Taty’s way.

“As we stand here, it’s too late for me to change my mind. I knocked out twelve dragons and four werewolves. I have ten minutes to square them away before the stun wears off. I don’t have time to hold your hand. Help or move.”

She stormed forward. Tatyana wasn’t usually so short with her crew. They were all on the same page, helping the wolves before leaving the planet for the last time, and sometimes things got really intense. However, all she could think about was Robert Owens bleeding on the ground. If anything got in the way of her helping him, she would freak.

Tatyana dropped to her knees next to him. He’d been torn in two places, his arm and his leg. By the universe, she couldn’t believe she had to fix his arm again. He hadn’t remembered the first time she saved him and he wouldn’t again. The beauty of the drugs they injected him with was their side effect. They healed, but they also caused temporary amnesia.

He’d never know, again, yet she would continue to live her life thinking about him every spare minute of every day—sometimes even when she didn’t have extra minutes.

Her cousin Gordon knelt next to her. “The wolves are in bad shape. I don’t think we can fix them in ten minutes out here in the open.”

She’d assessed the same thing herself. “Kill the dragons. Blow them to kingdom come, or dump them in the lake. I don’t care. We’ll take these four back with us to Hatton. We’ll be in and out. We’ll keep them sedated the whole time.”

“And then put them back where?” Gordon lifted his eyebrows. “It’s going to be hard to create a story for why they can’t remember where they’ve been for hours. The group here has already done the waking in a medical tent and not remembering how they got there scenario. And three of them aren’t here. They’re going to come looking for their fellow werewolves.”

“I don’t care what story we tell.” She really didn’t. Rising to her feet, she pointed at Robert and the other werewolves indicating to her people they should make them ready for transport. “We’re leaving in less than a week. They can search for answers all they want. We won’t be here to be caught anymore.”

Robert moaned. The stun cannon halted all things, including the flow of blood. Hitting him with the blast had stopped his rapid death. However, he’d bleed out soon. She bent over and injected him the dosage appropriate to slow his demise. The injection wasn’t a permanent fix, but the meds would have to do.

“As you know, your orders go against protocol. Taty.” He placed his hand on her shoulder. The wind blew his blond hair in the wind. The Knox family had long been known for being one of the few human families with platinum coloring. Maybe the coloring changed because of the lack of sunshine playing havoc on their DNA. The changes over the population were worth a study although the research would have to happen on another planet since their leader declared they were done with the one she resided on. “My cousin, blood of my blood, I know you have a...fascination with him. I understand the feeling. I’ve watched them too. And Robert is impressive in any species. Still, you know what you have to do.”

“I won’t let him die. They can try me for my crimes if they still want to in a week. I’ll plead guilty.”

She would not let the most impressive werewolf...man...she’d ever witnessed perish when his people needed him so badly. The world couldn’t spin without Robert Owens.

“So be it.” He nodded and she grabbed her cousin before he would walk away.

“Don’t ever talk about my fascinations again. I know all about yours, too. We keep each other’s secrets or you’re no longer blood of my blood.”

Gordon paled, but she didn’t care she threatened her cousin with exposure for his orgies. She was a woman with a mission and she’d get it done.

A human girl did what she had to do to survive.

****

R
obert moaned and Taty wiped his brow with a washcloth. An infection tried to set in, but the illness wouldn’t kill him, not with the drugs already working. Still, he would have a bad night. All of the werewolves would survive. August, Robert’s twin—albeit not identical, although close physically—had woken twice. He’d given her quite a fight, trying to shift back to his wolf form, so they’d needed to drug him.

Jack and Trevor were getting restless. She’d told the nurse to give them a sedative minutes earlier. However, she wouldn’t knock out Robert artificially, not until she absolutely must. If her fixation made her pathetic, then she’d gladly wear the title.

Tatyana Knox had watched Robert Owens for years. Her father Drake, the president of the Werewolf Studies society, raised her in front of the Wolf screens. When she hadn’t been able to sleep at night she’d crawled to town square to sit in the dark and watch what the werewolves were doing.

Robert had been her favorite feature. The Knox brothers were all still alive, which proved amazing unto itself. So many of their families had been so completely decimated during the war. Yet the four Owens boys continued to breathe air.

Granted, Robert and Auggie would twice be truly dead—not simply pretending to be for their families—if not for her and the other human recruits who cared about what happened to the creatures they were bound to leave behind.

And Robert meant so much more to her...

He mumbled something she couldn’t understand. Their languages were close enough she’d be able to understand him even if she didn’t speak werewolf, yet his words sounded like gibberish.

Did he talk in his sleep all the time? The cameras didn’t follow them when they slept, only when they seemed to be doing something worthwhile. Little details of his life continued to evade her.

When he eventually mated, she’d have no idea.

Taty took a deep breath. Maybe not knowing about his love life would prove a gift. She’d be inclined to kill the bitch.

His eyes fluttered open. “Where?”

She rubbed his forehead with the washcloth again. “Sshh. You’re okay. You’re safe. We’re taking care of you.”

“My wolves?”

Letting herself stroke him one more time, she took a second to compose herself. “They’re all going to live. The good news is, you won’t remember you were here.”

Robert blinked rapidly. “You. I’ve seen you before. Haven’t I? Who are you? You don’t smell right.”

Taty winced. “I’m afraid you’re getting way too coherent and I can’t have your brilliant neurotransmitters start to make connections they should not be able to do. I’m afraid you’re going back to dreamland. I am sorry about the scent. We’ve heard you guys hate to smell us.”

She picked up the narcotic, which would kill his pain and put him in la-la land until he woke elsewhere. Letting him drift was such a shame. The last time she saved him she’d gotten more time to simply revel in having him near her in person.

A few scarce minutes seemed so unfair. Of course, beggars couldn’t be choosers.

“I didn’t say you smelled bad.” He groaned. “Did you save me? I should be dead. The dragon bit my artery.”

“I guess today was your lucky day.” She pressed the needle to the skin on his arm. “After everything you’ve been through, a tiny poke shouldn’t hurt you at all.”

“Don’t knock me out. I want to understand. I’ve been here before. The room we’re in seems familiar. I know the medicinal scent of the place. And you. You’ve helped me before. Why? Who are you? Some kind of angel?”

She snorted and then covered her mouth with her hand. Why couldn’t she be feminine and easygoing as the werewolf women were? Even when she laughed, straight through her nose, she sounded coarse.

“I’m not angelic. I’ll tell you what. I’m actually going to answer your question and then I’m going to inject you. You won’t remember ever being here, let alone how I told you something I absolutely am not authorized to share.” She waited until she saw understanding kindle within his brown eyes. “Still want to know?”

“Absolutely.” His voice sounded hoarse, so she fed him a couple of ice chips. Caring for someone medically never made her so hot before. She’d love to have her hands on his lips for reasons other than administering medicine. Of course, her desire was exactly why she knew she’d gotten sick in the head. He was a werewolf. He wasn’t for her to desire.

Despite his politeness to her, if he possessed two bits of strength he wouldn’t want her near him. Humans smelled of manure to werewolves, several studies she read had outlined the horrible reaction werewolves had whenever they were around her kind.

“My name is Dr. Tatyana Knox. You’re in Hatton, the last human city. You’ve been here before, although you should have no memory of that visit. My group is taking care of you. When you wake again, you’ll be somewhere else and confused about how you got there.”

His brow furrowed. “Not knowing how I got somewhere has happened to me before. The time we all found ourselves in a medical tent. They told us we must have all gotten hit on the head. I never bought their crap. The whole team wouldn’t suffer from concussions all at once.”

“I’m afraid you’re going to be confused again. Not to worry though, because these memory losses will never happen again. We’re leaving. If you’re seriously injured again, I won’t be around to stick you back together and send you back out. You’ll have to rub some dirt in your wound and keep going.”

Tears she wished she didn’t still have the ability to shed threatened, and she pushed them back. “You smell sad. Where are you going?”

“Away. Where the rest of our people have long gone. Some of us stayed, because we thought we could quietly help you with your war. Turn the tides of things. I’m afraid we no longer have the support to do so.”