Her Mad Dragon (Dragon Guard Series Book 15) (14 page)

“Right as rain,
mo ghrá
, right as rain.”

“And you better keep it
that way, if you know what’s good for you.”

“Aye, my love. Your wish
is my command.”

Her answering giggle lifted
his spirits even as he blocked a blow from a hunter’s blade and kicked his
enemy aside with a powerful blow to the gut. Severing his connection to his
mate to save her any undue stress from images of the battle, the mad dragon saw
his brethren had moved the remaining hunters to within fifty yards of the
opening to the valley.

Battling the enemy one by
one, Maddox cringed as Eve raged, “Get those fucking dragons,” from where she
stood in the topless jeep they’d somehow gotten into the lair. 

 Maddox watched the
treacherous bitch as she eyed the terrain. He wasn’t shocked to see her brother
now standing beside her, which only served to accentuate how very much they
looked alike and that Eve was the one in charge.

Adam was two or three inches
taller and his dark hair cut in a close cropped flattop. He was broad in the
shoulders with a swimmers physique and wore the same dark horn-rimmed glasses
Maddox had seen on his face in photos, making him look even more out of place
in his black SWAT fatigues reiterating his sister’s orders to their troops.   

His thoughts coincided with
Kayne’s perception of the female O’Baoill’s actions.
“That woman is looking
for something specific. I don’t know what it is, but I have to think it has
something to do with the way she keeps stroking the pocket of that vest she has
on.”

“I was thinking the same
thing,”
the mad dragon agreed then to
another of their young recruits he asked,
“Where are you, Hayes?”

“The highest ridge on
Ancients’ Mountain, sir.”

“Got your bow?”

“Absolutely, sir.”
Maddox thought about asking the young dragon to stop
calling him sir for the twentieth time but immediately decided it wasn’t the
time as he clashed blades with two hunters.

“Good lad,”
the mad dragon grunted, dispatching one of the hunters
.
“See that bitch with the evil grin on her face and the long black braid?”
He
sliced his blade across the second hunter’s neck and bent down to miss being
sprayed by the blood gushing from his neck as the young Guardsman answered,
“Aye,
sir.”

“Take aim at the pocket of
her vest and let it fly.”
Maddox
figured the Kevlar sewn into the fabric of her top would more than likely stop
the steel tip of the arrow from doing little more than scratching the skin of
the heinous woman’s chest, but he knew for a fact it would break or seriously
damage whatever she was holding so closely to her person.

The mad dragon listened to
Hayes count down from three. Heard the young Guardsman take a breath and hold
it as he whispered the number one and then watched as the perfectly aimed arrow
flew through the air and struck its target, all the while dodging continuous
strikes from blades, fists, and the butts of guns.

Eve flew back from the
contact, falling into Adam’s arms as she pulled at the arrow protruding from
the front of her vest. The two fell into the backseat of the jeep, a mass of
flailing arms and legs, just as they passed through the entrance to the valley.

“Count it down, Lenn,”
Kellan ordered.
“All the shifters were left in the
clearing. You are good to blow.”

“All clear!”
the mad bomber announced as the jeep slowed to a crawl
and Eve screamed, “Get moving! Attack! Do something! KILL THOSE SONS OF
BITCHES!”

“Three…”

The twins once again took
their places, standing side-by-side in the back of their vehicle.

“Two…”

Eve shrugged out of her now
useless vest and threw it over her shoulder then literally pushed her brother
out of the jeep with a blade in both hands while screaming, “Kill that stupid
bastard!” She pointed right at Maddox with an evil glint in her eye and a snarl
on her lips.

Adam had made it exactly three
steps when Lennox yelled,
“One!”
a split second before one right after
another, three explosions shook the ground where they stood and dumped rocks
and debris into the valley, burying the remaining hunters and cutting off their
attack. Unfortunately, Eve’s earlier blasts had slightly changed the trajectory
of Lennox’s detonations and instead of burying her and her minions, only the
front half of the jeep carrying the horrid woman was crushed.

As she screamed obscenities
and struggled to climb free of the wreckage, Adam faltered. Stopping midstride,
the young man looked over his shoulder at his sister then back to Maddox then
one more time at Eve before committing to follow through with his attack on the
mad dragon. Not one to run from a fight, Maddox lifted his broadsword and took
one determined step after another towards one of the two megalomaniacs who
dared to threaten all he held dear in the world.

Kayne fell in step beside him
but the mad dragon shook his head and growled, “This dick is mine.”

With only fifty feet
separating them, Maddox could see the fear in Adam’s eyes. Knew the only reason
the hunter was even on the battlefield was because his bitch of a sister had
forced him to do so. This boy was the brains behind the operation and his
sister the mouthpiece. He belonged in a lab, not in the heat of the fight.

O’Baoill held his blades at
the ready in a textbook formation, further letting the mad dragon know the
young hunter had little to no combat experience. All he knew was what he’d been
taught. Had it been under any other circumstances, Maddox would’ve refused to
fight. He never wanted to take advantage of a situation and needlessly spill
blood but in this case, the little snotnose son of a bitch advancing towards
him had harmed not only one of the mad dragon’s oldest and dearest friends, but
had also been the cause of countless deaths and unnecessary pain and anguish
throughout the shifter community. The simple truth was, the bastard and his
nasty piece of work sister had to die and there was no better time than the
present.

Without any preamble, Adam
made an ill-timed and clumsy first strike that Maddox easily deflected as Eve
wailed, “Get your head out of your ass, Adam! Kill the piece of shit,” while
still squirming against the front seat laying against her lap where it had
collapsed.

Adam flinched at her insult
and slashed with first one blade and then the next while stepping forward and
damn near running into the end of Maddox’s blade as the mad dragon blocked both
strikes and stepped to the side.

“The kid’s gonna kill
himself
with
your
sword, Doxie,”
Kayne
chuckled as he stood to the side where Maddox knew the demi god had his back if
need be.

“Yeah, looks that way,”
Maddox agreed, batting away another of Adam’s forward
thrusts while looking for a clear shot to take the hunter out once and for all.
O’Baoill was awkward but that was what made him dangerous. Like a dull knife,
he was untested, scared, and willing to try anything to save face in front of
his tyrannical sibling.

Getting more aggressive and
closer to his target with each attack, Adam was breathing heavily and sweat was
pouring down his face. The moment of truth was before him and unlike his
father, he was not so sure he wanted to die for their cause.

 Maddox knew either Lenn or
Pearce was supposed be taking care of Eve, but neither had shown and the woman
still screamed from where she was pinned in the remains of their demolished
vehicle. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the larger than life black
panther he knew to be the King of the Big Cats slinking down the unharmed side
of the mountain towards the screeching woman. 

Making his first offensive
move, the mad dragon lunged forward and thrust towards Adam’s chest. The hunter
ducked his shoulder and stepped to the side, causing just the tip of Maddox’s
blade to slide across the top of his arm. Blood wet the sleeve of O’Baoill’s
black fatigues decorated with the HAHS logo as the hunter hissed in pain and
sliced the blade in his free arm through the air with such rage that it whistled
as it missed the mark and swung wide of Maddox’s neck.

The momentum of his blade as
it missed its target and flew through the open air caused the hunter to
stumble. The mad dragon leapt on the opportunity. Shoving the heel of his boot
into Adam’s chest. Maddox forced him onto his back mere inches from one of his
fallen comrades.

Aiming his sword at Adam’s
chest at a ninety-degree angle, the mad dragon pushed the blade home, narrowly
missing the mark and instead, driving steel into dirt as the hunter rolled to
the side. Abandoning his broadsword where it stood in the dirt, Maddox pulled a
short blade from the holster at his side and dove towards O’Baoill, who having
just come face to face with the dead eyes of another hunter, was scrambling
across the bloodied turf on his hands and knees.

The mad dragon had had
enough. Jumping to his feet, he lunged forward, grabbed Adam by the hair, and
pulled him up until only his hips and legs remained on the ground. Leaning over
to see the hunter’s face, Maddox growled, “I should make you suffer but
honestly, you’re not worth the time it would take,” as he sliced Adam
O’Baoill’s neck from ear to the ear.

Dropping the still bleeding
corpse in a puddle of its own making, Maddox stood up, stepped back, and wiped
his blade across his blood splattered jeans. The pounding of his heart along
with fire of his rage receded. “One down, one to go,” he growled under his
breath. But it was at that precise moment Maddox realized Eve’s scathing
screech no longer filled the air.

Spinning towards the valley,
he saw an empty jeep and a black panther stalking towards him. From one step to
the next the majestic cat became the formidable King who snarled, “The
perra
sucia
got away. She was free before I could get to her and took off like a
streak. It would appear she’s been doing some of that testing on herself.” He
took a deep calming breath, picked imaginary lint from his sleeve, and added,
“I’ve sent Juan Carlos and Matías after her with orders to kill and dispose.”
He looked up, showing that his eyes still had the elliptical pupils of his cat,
and grinned an evil grin. “I assume no one minds if she’s never seen again?”

“Absolutely not,” Kayne was
quick to answer.

“Suits me fine,” Maddox
answered while looking at the bodies of the slain hunters littering what had
once been a holy place for his kin.

Rian and Kellan appeared as
they climbed over the rubble blocking the entrance to the valley, followed by
Royce and Rory. Using their enhanced speed, the Dragon Leader and the Dragon
Guard Commander were at Maddox’s side in less than three seconds and began
ordering the younger Guardsmen, who were appearing from where Kellan had
ordered them to guard the perimeters, to incinerate the bodies of the dead and
then begin clearing the valley.

As one unit, the mad dragon,
the demi god, the King of the Big Cats, the O’Reilly brothers, and the scarred
dragon all turned and headed towards the clinic. The first to speak was Rory,
who asked, “Did all the shifters make it out alive?”

“All that were here today
were saved…injured but saved. Niall is treating their wounds and removing their
tracking devices and then Camille will be removing the modules from their
brains. It appears…”

The King’s words were cut off
as Niall’s roar blasted through the minds of all the Guardsmen.
“Kyran is
gone! The sneaky bastard escaped!”
   

Chapter Twelve

“He’s what?”
Maddox exclaimed, so shocked he stopped
walking and stood with his mouth hanging open.

“Escaped,”
Drago reiterated what Niall had just
screamed with a bit less exuberance but measurably more concern.

“But…”
Was the only word the mad dragon could get
out. He had no idea which of the hundred questions racing through his mind to
ask first. Thankfully, Kayne picked up the slack. The group started running
towards the clinic, peppering the Elder Healer with questions. Maddox could
tell Max was also speaking with Dr. Danvers from the slight buzz in the air and
the look of concern on the King’s face.

“How can that be possible? You just sewed up the hole in
his brain less than an hour ago, right?”

“Yes, that is correct,”
Niall answered, more in
control than before but still noticeably rattled.

“And he was heavily sedated?”
Rian asked.

“Yes, he was and shackled at his wrists and ankles. We
had just finished the surgery and closed his incision. Camille gave him another
injection of the sedative and we went upstairs to get a cup of coffee. We…”

“We were gone less than ten minutes and the bugger
slipped out of his shackles and made a run for it,”
Drago cut in.
“We
have to find him, Doxie. The lad’s a mess.”

“I know, but you can’t go running off halfcocked. Let me
get Hayes to bring a horse around for you. He’ll pick you up outside the clinic
and then you meet up with us at the back gate.”

“I owe you, Dox.”

“Never, Drago, never. It’s part of being family. We’ll
find your boy.”
Maddox hoped he wasn’t blowing sunshine up the Assassin’s
ass but it was the only reassurance he could give the Commander at the moment.

Calling to the younger Guardsman so all his brethren could
hear the plan, he ordered,
“Hayes, get my horse from the stables and one for
yourself, then pick up Commander Drago behind the clinic and meet us at the
back gate. We’re going dragon hunting.”

“Aye, sir,”
came the young Guardsman’s quick
response.

“And I thought we couldn’t have any more fun today,”
Rory chuckled.

“Oh, the party has just begun,”
Kayne joked as the
group sped towards the rear of the lair and hopefully, the renegade of their
clan.

Max added out loud, “Camille said had she not seen his empty
bed she would swear you lot were lying. In her entire career, she has never
seen anyone, no matter how strong, up in less than five hours after brain
surgery. To say your Kyran has stumped the expert is an understatement. She is
most apologetic and wants to help with the search.”

“Not her fault. Kyran always was the exception to the rule
and whatever those bastards did to him has only made matters worse,” Kayne
responded as they reached the beginning of the trail leading through the woods
to the back of Blue Thunder territory.

“Kellan, have Lenn, Brann, Dec, and Pearce head in from the
North. With the mess we left at the valley, Black Lake to the South, and us
coming in from the East, he can’t get far,” Maddox ordered while ducking low
hanging branches and pushing vines and unruly foliage out of his way.

“Well, there is one area we don’t have covered,” Kayne
yelled from just over the mad dragon’s shoulder.

“Son of a …” then in mindspeak to Joshua, another of the new
recruits,
“Josh, I need you up on the ridge watching for a black dragon. I
need to know the second you see him.”

“Aye, sir.”

“And the mad dragon gets it in one,” the demi god teased
.

“Do you really think he can transform after just having some
piece of metal removed from his noggin?” Rory inquired, chuckling as he ran.

“Hell, I have no idea what he can and can’t do. Never did.”
Maddox blew out a long breath as he broke out of the wooded area and rounded
one of the many prayer gardens in the lair, closely followed by his brethren.
“All I know is that we have to find him or Drago is gonna lose whatever’s left
of his mind.”

Horse hooves sounded on the rocky trail to his right a
second before Drago and Hayes came into view. “What’s that about somebody
losing their mind?” Drago yelled as he slowed his horse to a trot and kept pace
beside the running Guardsmen.

Maddox was unable to give his sarcastic retort as Kyran’s
voice sounded in his head,
“Doxie?”

“Ky? Ky is that you?”
Maddox was shocked the Phantom
had reached out to him along their private mind-to-mind link but didn’t want to
lose the opportunity to find his old friend, so he decided to keep him talking.

“Yeah, it’s me, Dox 'n' A'm needin' a favor.”

“You need to come back so the doc can make sure you’re
okay.”
Maddox was shocked at how normal the black dragon sounded. The mad
dragon had to once again adjust to his heavy brogue and remember it had more
than likely been damn near a hundred years since Kyran was able to have any
semblance of a normal conversation with anyone. But none of that mattered. He sounded
good. It was like old times.

“No kin do.”

“Come on, Ky, this is nuts. Drago is crazy with worry.
Get back here and let Niall check your head and then we can come up with a plan
to get that crazy bitch.”

“Weel doon you. Cheers fur killing that four-eyed wee
piece o' shite. If it hud tae be a'body ither than me, A’m glad 'twas you.” 
Kyran’s
laugh was harsh but even still, Maddox could hear something off in his old
friend’s voice.

“Yeah thanks. His sister is all yours. Just come back and
get better then we’ll take her and her army out together. Just like old times.”
Maddox knew he was pleading but was at loss as what else to do to get Kyran
back to clinic. He knew from experience that orders and commands didn’t work
with the one they called the Phantom.

“Nice try, Doxie, bit ye knoo very weel that A’ll heal.”
There
was a long pause and the mad dragon was sure Kyran had disconnected their link.
Maddox stopped in his tracks and stepped out of the way of his charging
brethren before turning and waiting for the others to halt also.

Tapping the side of his head he mouthed,
Kyran,
just
as the black dragon started to speak again. Maddox listened closely as he
watched Kayne relay the information to Drago and then the Assassin curse a blue
streak that would’ve made a sailor blush.

“I can’t coome back richt noo. Ah ken whit I’ve done tae
ye, tae Drago, tae Heavens knoos who else 'n' Ah hae tae set it right.” 
The
black dragon sighed.
“There’s something Ah hae tae dae. Something, oonly Ah
kin tak' care o' 'n' then A’ll be back tae mak' amends...”

“But Ky…”

“But nuthin’, Dox. This is hoo it haes tae be. Tell th'
lads.”
More silence in which Maddox held his breath until Kyran chuckled.
“And
don’t huv a go tae fin' me, Doxie, or else.”

“Or else what?”
Maddox growled, never one to like
ultimatums.

“Or else I’ll tie ye up again 'n' this time in front uv
th' lads.”  

“Ky…”
Maddox yelled, but it was too late. All he
heard was Kyran’s laughter as the black dragon cut their connection and worked
his incredible magic to make himself disappear.

Opening his mouth to speak, Joshua’s voice blasted through
his mind,
“The black dragon was in the air and out of sight in the blink of
an eye. Sorry I wasn’t quicker, sir. Do you want me to follow?”

Shaking his head, Maddox looked to Drago, who’d also heard
the young Guardsman’s report and replied,
“Not your fault, son. No need to
follow. Come on down and finish with the cleanup. Thank you.”

Climbing off his horse, Drago held his still healing wound
and walked forward. “So tell me what the son of a bitch has done now?” The
Assassin’s voice was a mixture of angry, sadness, frustrated, and just plain
exhaustion. Maddox felt like he’d been punched in the gut, so he could scarcely
fathomed what Drago was going through at the prospect of losing the man who’d
been by his side throughout their entire career as Guardsmen.

Sitting on a large rock just at the edge of the woods, the
mad dragon scrubbed his face with his hands then looked up at Drago. He also
glanced at the other men standing alongside the Assassin. The men he called
brethren. The men he’d watched grow into the next generation of leadership
their kin needed to survive. The men with whom he was bonded in blood and
fealty. He prayed none of them ever decided to go off the reservation the way
Kyran had, because the mad dragon knew beyond a shadow of a doubt he would hunt
them down and string them up.

Taking a long deep breath, Maddox looked back to Drago and
said the only thing he could. “Ky said there’s something he has to do. He said
he knows he hurt you and he’ll be back to make amends, but not until he’s taken
care of whatever it is he thinks he has to do.” He stopped as the Assassin
cursed and then added, “Oh, and he said if we try to find him, or more to the
point, if
I
try to find him, he’ll tie me up again but this time in
front of you lot.” The mad dragon snorted sarcastically.

“And we all know
Doxie
doesn’t want that happening,”
Rory barked with laughter as Maddox growled, “I can still kick your ass,
young’un. Drop the ‘Doxie’ crap.”

The whole group was chuckling behind their hands or turning
their heads to laugh, but it was Drago who was mad as a wet hen at the news.

“What the…That stupid…He really has finally lost his mind.”
The Assassin shouted and paced then shouted some more. “What could he
possibly
have to do? He’s been imprisoned in one way or another for over a hundred
damned years.”

They all watched Drago as he walked back and forth between
two trees, spaced about twenty-five feet apart, over and over while ranting
about how stupid Kyran was. Finally, stopping midstride, he turned to his right
and stared at Maddox then in a low voice asked, “What if
I’m
the one to
find him?”

Maddox merely shrugged, sure that wherever the conversation
was going, he wasn’t going to like it.

“And how exactly do you propose to do that? We never could
find the jerk when he didn’t want to be found and that was before he was driven
out of his ever-loving mind,” Kayne asked with palms up and a perplexed look on
his face.

“Doxie here has a witch for a mate and so does our boy,
Roy,” Drago looked at the middle O’Reilly brother and winked before looking
back at the demi god and continuing. “And his mate,” he pointed at Maddox, “is
the Grande Priestess, the most powerful of all. Two witches, same bloodline,
lots of power. Then there is us,” the Assassin looked at each Guardsman in the
circle. “If we all work together I
know
we can find one pain in the ass
black dragon.”

Looking at his old friend, the mad dragon saw hope, and who
was he to take that hope from Drago after all he’d suffered. Maddox had no clue
if it would work but figured it was worth a try. What’s the worst that could
happen?

I get trussed up like a stuck pig in the middle of lair
by a crazy as hell dragon who can make pudding outta my brain. Good times, good
times…

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Walking back to the clinic, he spoke to Calysta. She’d heard
everything that happened with Kyran and most of what went on after. He’d only
silenced their link when Drago was cursing and pacing. “
We’re on our way back,
Callie
.”

“Good, we could use the extra hands. I wish Ettie and the
others hadn’t gone back to their clan. Oh well, can’t worry about that now. As
it stands, we’ve got four new refugees and they need brain surgery and
treatment of the wounds they sustained in the fight. Della and I are running
triage. Alicia, Claire, and Olive are bandaging and getting those strong enough
for surgery lined up and into see Camille and Niall. And…oh yeah, Kyra and
Audrey are running supplies and keeping the charts straight. That leaves about
ten pairs of hands short. Know where I might find those?”
She joked, but he
could tell she was tired and stressed. It made what he was about to tell her
all the harder to spit out.
“Oh, and I just found out that the black bear is
Annie’s cousin. Thankfully, she’s taking it all in stride and not relapsing,
but she wants to spend every minute with him and he is about to have his
consultation with Camille, so any help distracting her would also be
appreciated.”

“I think I might have a dragon here who would love to
distract your little bear,”
he chuckled.

“Oh, really? Anyone I know?”
sShe teased.

“I believe you do. I will have to tear him away from his
computer, but I bet he’s up to the task,”
he snickered, while trying to
come up with a way to tell her Drago’s master plan without adding anymore
stress to her day. Fortunately for him, his mate was as intuitive as she was
beautiful.

“Spit it out, Maddy. I can hear you thinking too hard
about something and I know it’s not good. Just get it over with. I’m too tired
and too busy to play twenty questions.”

Smiling and flooding their bond with love, he chuckled,
“Dammit
woman, I love you more every minute of every day and not just because you know
me better than I know myself.”

“Stop stalling,”
she growled as she issued
instructions out loud to what sounded like one of Niall’s young Healers.  

“Drago wants to try and contact and maybe even track
Kyran and he wants you and Kyra to help us. Is that even possible?”
He
heard her sigh and then call to her daughter across what sounded like a very
busy clinic. The conversation between the two very formidable witches would’ve
been comical if he hadn’t been asking his mate to add one more thing to her
very long To-Do list. He chuckled when Kyra said, “Roy was just telling me
their
plan.”