Dragonmark (25 page)

Illarion glared at each of them in turn.
What did you people do? Take out ads? For thousands of years, Max stayed hidden and safe.
He pinned that hostile glare on her.
You come back into his life for five minutes and it starts falling apart again. Everyone now knows who he is and they're all attacking him. Why do you have to ruin his life every time you come near it?

“That's not fair!”

No, it isn't! He never did anything to you, except try to protect you. I wish you'd do him a favor and get out of his life before you kill him.

Blaise gasped. “Illarion…”

Don't, brother. It's the truth I speak. We're all thinking it. I just said it. I'm sick to death of watching my brother bleed for her.

Seraphina took a step toward him, intending to make him eat those words, but before she could, a loud thump sounded on the other side of the curtains.

All of them froze.

In unison, they turned toward the unexpected rustling. An exasperated sigh was punctuated by the curtains parting only enough to launch a round object from between them. It shot across the room and landed with another wet, squishy thump on the floor before it rolled a few feet.

Edena shrieked and danced toward her brother as the object came to rest near her and turned out to be a disembodied human head.

An instant later, a huge, spiny dragon poked his head out from between the curtains to offer a lopsided grin. “Sorry, love. Didn't realize anyone was here.” He arched one dragon brow at Sebastian. “Hope that's not a friend of yours. And if it is, tough shit. He was an asshole. Anyone got some extra-large dental floss on them? I've got a chunk of Arcadian dragonslayer stuck in my teeth. Nasty-tasting stuff, that. And Illarion, you're wrong. It does
not
taste like chicken. More like three-day-old rotten ass.”

Blaise and Fang burst out laughing. Sebastian looked offended. Hadyn and Edena gaped.

“If I said that, I'd be on restriction forever,” Hadyn mumbled to his sister.

“Yes, you would. And don't forget it.” Shaking her head, Seraphina closed the distance between them so she could check on Max and make sure he was all right.

She was so upset she couldn't speak. Instead, she rose up on her knees and wrapped her body around his, and held him in a tight embrace with her cheek pressed against his heart. She had one arm draped around his neck and the other beneath his arm, and clutched her hands behind his back so tight, he wasn't sure she'd ever let go.

Completely baffled, he met Illarion's gaze over her shoulder.
Help?

For the first time, Illarion looked at her with something other than unreasoning hatred.

Just hold her, Max. She needs to know that you're really alive and whole. It's how women are sometimes.

Max nodded. “Fang, it won't take the Arcadians long to track me here and demand you turn me over to them.” Since he was the Dragonbane, the laws of Sanctuary didn't apply to him. He was the one creature they could legally deny shelter to. It was entirely up to the owners if they wanted the heat of it.

“If you'll protect my family for me—they're innocent in all this—I'll make sure I lead the others away from your door. I just need a minute to catch my breath, and collect a couple of things. I promise I won't draw Sanctuary into the cross fire of my mess.”

Snorting, Fang tucked his hands into his back pockets. “Boy, don't you dare insult me with that shit. They can kiss my furry wolf ass, which is exactly what Aimee would skin alive if I dared let them have you. I don't give up family.” He paused. “Well, they could have Fury. I'm not
that
attached to
him
. But they'd only keep him till he opened his mouth, then launch his ass back to me with a catapult. He's like a bad boomerang that way.”

Illarion laughed at his surly tone, knowing it for the bluster it was. Fang would kill for his brother.

“You really don't want this kind of heat. Trust me.”

Fang glanced around at the other dragons in the room. “You were one of the first residents the Peltiers took in when they moved here. When Eli and his pack used their witch to set fire to the first bar, you're the one who saved Aimee, Dev, and Cherif from burning alive in it. And you're the only reason that fire didn't spread to Peltier House and trap the others who were sleeping there, including a Dark-Hunter who would have been trapped inside by the daylight. I know the stories, too. Brother, there ain't a shifter in this place who wouldn't fight for you. Now I don't know what happened to cause you to get marked and I don't really care.… The one thing I do know is
you
. And if you killed him, he had it coming. So you're free to stay. If they're dumb enough to attack, I know a bar full of hungry Charonte over in the Warehouse District who would love to chomp dragon meat.” He glanced over to the head on the floor. “And unlike you, they don't care if it tastes like chicken or not.” Then he scratched his chin. “You are picking that up, right? 'Cause I don't want to have to explain it.”

Rubbing his forehead, Sebastian let out a slow breath. “I hope you know what you're doing, wolf.”

Fang arched a brow. “Have you met me? Of course I have no idea what I'm doing.”

Ignoring Fang's surly comment, Max rose to confront Sebastian. “Go to your Regis and tell him that I'm calling hazard on the ones who took and held my dragonets. They want the Dragonbane? I want their throats. Fair combat. In the circle.”

“No!” Seraphina gasped.

“No?” Max arched a brow at her.

“I want to kill them.”

He smiled at her. That was his dragonswan. Ferocious to the end. “Too late. I called challenge first.”

“I birthed them. I should have the honor of avenging them.”

“And in the event this goes badly, I'd rather they lose the parent they don't know than the one they're attached to.”

“I'd rather not lose either,” Edena said. “No offense.”

Hadyn nodded his agreement.

“I'm concurring with the kids.” Blaise smiled.

Ignoring the comment, Sebastian met Fang's gaze. “If you want me to issue the challenge, I will do so. But watch your back. I have a bad feeling about all this.”

Fang sighed. “We will. Give Channon my best.”

Sebastian inclined his head to them before he vanished.

Max sighed. “The gallu aren't going to stop and neither will the two packs coming for me. This is a blood feud that is centuries old. I need my children where they can't reach them.”

Blaise nodded as he understood what Max wasn't saying. “You want me to take them to Avalon?”

“Please. It's the one place I know is beyond their reach.”

Hadyn and Edena immediately protested.

“Your father's right. It's just for a few days. I promise. Go with your uncle and we'll get you soon.”

As Blaise started to leave, Max stopped him. “Tell Merlin not to worry. I have not forgotten my oath or my duties. Should I fall, guardianship will go to Illarion and then to you.”

He arched a brow. “Not to Hadyn?”

Max shook his head. “I would never do that to him. The curse of it's too strong.”

“So you give it to us. Thanks, brother.”

Max laughed. “Getting you both back for all the years of hell you've given me.”

Blaise sobered. “I'll tell her. You be careful.”

“And you.” He kissed Edena's cheek and hugged Hadyn one more time.

It took Seraphina longer to say good-bye. “I will come for you very soon. I love you both. Guard your sister.”

“I will.” And then they were gone.

Alone with Maxis and Illarion, Seraphina felt so strangely empty. She'd been a mother for so long that she'd forgotten what it was like to be by herself. To not have to look over her shoulder to make sure her children were keeping up with her and not falling behind.

Now …

“We have to prepare for war.”

Maxis nodded.

Illarion went to the grisly head.
I'll take care of this.
He wrapped it up in a T-shirt. His eyes sad, he locked gazes with Maxis.
I'm so sorry I dragged you into this.
Then he looked at Seraphina.
And I'm sorry I've been so rude to you the entire time you've been here. You're not really the one who fucked my brother's life over and ruined it, my lady. I am. And I swear to you both that I won't take my hatred for myself out on you anymore. Please forgive me.

Max grabbed Illarion's arm as he started to leave. “You have nothing to apologize for where I'm concerned.” He cracked a chiding grin. “That being said, you could have been a little kinder to my dragonswan.”

The tormented agony in Illarion's gaze was searing.
How can you not hate me? At the very least, blame me or curse me for what I've done to you?

Max buried his hand in Illarion's long hair and locked gazes with him so that his brother could see the sincerity in his heart. “Would my life without you have really been better? Really? Let's say that none of this had happened. That I remained a fully blooded drakomas. Where would I be now? In a cave somewhere alone like you were, enduring in Glastonbury? You're right, Illy. You're a rank, effing bastard to spare me
that
god-awful fate. I should take you outside right now and beat the shit out of you for doing this to me.”

Illarion snorted.
I hate you.

Smiling, he tightened his grip in his brother's hair before he released him. “I hate you, too.”

Then Illarion pulled Max into a tight hug and held him there.

When he finally stepped back, he refused to look him in the eye.
I'll check on the others. I'm sure the two of you could use a moment to yourselves to catch your breath, and decide what to do about her tribe and the demons out to claim you.

“Thanks.”

Illarion inclined his head to him, then left.

*   *   *

A few hours later, Illarion stood with Dev, Fang, Vane, and the wolves and bears in the bar, ready to war against every member of Seraphina's tribe. Thankfully, the bar was still closed to humans or this would have been an even worse situation.

“I demand you hand over the Dragonbane! He attacked our patria, killed our members, and—”

“Cry to your mama, bitch, I don't care.” Fang flipped the Arcadian wolf off.

“Fang!” Vane put himself between his brother and the other wolf. “Not helping!”

Dev laughed. “Maybe not, but he's highly entertaining and helping lift my mood immensely.”

Samia smacked her husband in the stomach. “Stay out of this. If we wanted to blow the bar up, again, we'd have brought Rémi out here.”

Sera brushed past Max to address the group. “This isn't about the Dragonbane. It's about Nala's pact with a demon.”

“Hold your tongue.” Nala glared at her.

“No. Not in this. I won't watch you destroy my mate again.”

“Seraphina…”

But Sera wasn't having any part of this. “I will renounce my allegiance to the tribe before I allow you to take him.” She pulled her sword from its sheath. “You want Maxis … you have to come through me.”

Shocked, but determined to protect his sister-in-law for his brother, Illarion moved to stand at her side.

Fang took up the position on the left-hand side of Sera's body. “As you can see, we like our Dragonbane. He goes really well with the furniture.”

Sarcastic applause sounded, breaking the tension. “Nice.” From the rear of the Arcadians, a demon stepped forward. He wasn't Kessar, but there was something remotely familiar about him. Illarion tried to remember where he'd seen him before.

Definitely gallu. The stench was unmistakable.

The demon stopped in front of Fang and raked him with a sneer. “However, you're all forgetting something. While you are bound by the laws of your Omegrion, we are not. Do you really want me to unleash my warriors here? How long do you think you and your animals will stand?”

Fang didn't miss a beat. “Long enough to mount your head to my wall.”

The demon opened his mouth to speak, then began a strange gurgling noise.

Illarion stepped back. As did Nala. Max closed the distance between them to protect his family.

Quicker than he could blink, Dev grabbed a mop bucket and had it in front of the demon in time to catch him as he unloaded the contents of his stomach. Grimacing and cursing, he glanced over to Sam. “Yeah, you raise as many nieces and nephews as I have and run a bar, you learn that attractive I-ate-too-much sound, so-grab-a-bucket-uncle-I-gotta-hurl.” Making an even worse face, he turned back toward the demon. “You through? 'Cause dude, this is some nasty stuff you got going on. And I really hope this shit ain't contagious.”

Instead, the demon fell to his knees in agony. He was in so much pain, he couldn't talk.

Dev set the bucket aside as they all stared at the demon in stunned silence. “Anyone know a demon doctor?”

“What's wrong with him?” Nala asked.

Fury shrugged. “I'm thinking his last victim didn't go down right. Who'd you eat?”

Dev snorted sarcastically. “Judging by the contents of the bucket, I'd say a Muppet. Looks like Kermit.”

Sam let out a sound of extreme pain. “Y'all are all so gross.”

With an exaggerated gesture, Fury's mate Lia nodded her complete agreement.

And still the demon convulsed and gagged. Wheezed and sputtered.

Then burst apart.

In unison, everyone stepped back from the spot where he'd been as if afraid that, too, was contagious.

“Holy shit,” Dev breathed.

Fury took Lia's hand. “My freakin' giddy aunt.”

Fang and Vane toed the smoking remains of the demon before they swept their gaze around the room.