Hidden Dragons (34 page)

Cass felt dangerously lightheaded. “I’m going to finish this,” she said, her voice seeming to come from a great distance. “Are you ready?”

Rick nodded. He had the sword, his grip on it prepared. Cass tugged a final spark from Ceallach.

The pureblood exploded in a brilliant white glitter bomb.

Joscela keened. Cass dropped the protective shield. Rick blurred to the queen and swung his sword with a warrior cry.

This time, he gauged the force for decapitating a royal fae correctly. Joscela’s head flew free, pale hair whipping as it tumbled. Her skull landed with a thump a number of yards away. She didn’t burst into faerie dust like her lover had, though her separate pieces did sparkle where they’d been parted from each other.

Well?
Cass thought, abruptly exhausted as the stolen energy drained from her.
Is it over?

“I’ve got this,” came Nate’s weary voice.

He was human again, and he’d retrieved the big black gun. Naked—though somehow still stylish—he braced the stock on his shoulder, sighted down at Joscela’s head, and kept depressing the trigger until it too disappeared in a Fourth of July display.

Hearteningly, the queen’s headless body flashed out of existence at the same time.

Nate watched the last twinkles wink out among the grass as Rick and Cass moved to stand by him. Nate turned his head to her. “We had to do that. They would have kept coming if we gave them the smallest chance.”

“Yes,” Rick agreed. “Joscela wouldn’t have been satisfied until she’d destroyed the Pocket and everyone in it.”

Both men were looking at her. Cass wasn’t sure why until she noticed her cheeks were wet. “Oh,” she said, touching them. She hadn’t known she was crying.

“It’s hard to take a life,” Rick said. “Even when it’s justified.”

She met his serious green gaze. The kindness that had always moved her glowed behind it. Was love in there as well? Or had she imagined that in the heat of battle?

Nate patted her back, pulling her attention back to him. “You did well. I’d fight alongside you any day.”

She suspected this was high praise. Nate gave Rick a look that seemed to be a warning and began walking toward the house. Abruptly, Cass wasn’t sure she wanted to be alone with Rick. Was he going to dash her hopes again?

“Well . . .” he said right before all hell broke loose.

THE dragons must have decided it was safe to come out of hiding. They zoomed squealing from the stables, circling her and Rick so excitedly they were obliged to duck.

“Settle,” Cass called, trying to calm them.

She hadn’t made much progress when three big men jogged out of the house. The hyped up dragons couldn’t resist dive-bombing them playfully. Nate hadn’t gotten inside yet. Scarlet landed on his shoulder—her werewolf-crush, Cass guessed—but the boys weren’t so easily lured down.

“
Verdi
,” she scolded as firmly as she could. “You and Auric come here
now
.”

They made one more circle and flew back to her and Rick.

“Wow,” Adam said, for it was he, Carmine, and the pilot Johnny who’d trotted out. “They really are something.”

Understanding this was a compliment, Verdi stretched up full height on her shoulder, flapped his green wings, and crowed.

“I sense we missed something,” Carmine said. He leaned on the gun he’d carried out with him. “The last time I saw Nate he had clothes.”

“We killed the bad faeries,” his packmate said, his gift for drollness on display. His handsome face split into a grin. “You sleepyheads can go back to bed.”

“Where’s Jin Levine?” Adam turned his gaze around as if she might appear.

“She wasn’t in cahoots with the queen,” Rick informed him. “The queen was impersonating her.”

This comment took Cass
and
the alpha aback. She hadn’t known Jin was suspected of collaborating with the enemy.

“Ah.” Adam scratched his cheek awkwardly. “About that . . . I didn’t mention that before because I wasn’t sure how easily the faeries could read our minds. I figured the fewer of us who knew my strategy, the better chance it had of working.”

“Jin
wouldn’t
,” Cass said. “She’s a good person.”

“Well, she seemed a little off when she came with Bridie to report you were in trouble. She said the right things. She just didn’t feel authentically upset.” Adam pursed his mouth in consideration. “I suppose she already wasn’t her at that point. We’ll need to discover where she’s . . . gotten to.”

Rick slid his hand around Cass’s, which made her feel simultaneously better and worse. If he’d thought there was nothing to worry about, he wouldn’t be comforting her.

Her dad limped out then, and the dragons went strangely quiet. Roald stopped at the edge of the stone terrace. His smile was faint and a little wistful as he gazed at each of her brood in turn. She wondered if they could tell he’d been a keeper too. Cass was pretty sure he was remembering T’Fain.

Wherever the dragon’s essence still existed—in this world or some other—she had to be glad her species would continue.

“Dad,” Cass said. “You’re all right.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “When Ceallach and the queen died, the spell they’d set to trap me unraveled.” Something flashed in the grass before him. Brow furrowed, he leaned down to pick it up. Blue fire sizzled around his fingers but at a whispered word, it stopped. He straightened, turned what he held over in his hands, and looked musing. “Ceallach’s protector sword. This will need a new owner.”

“You could—” Cass stopped, because she wasn’t sure he’d welcome the suggestion that came to mind. “You can contact the Dragon Guild now, can’t you? The danger has passed, and you’re out of hiding. They’ll know what to do with it.”

“Yes,” he said and looked even more thoughtful.

Verdi snuggled against her ear, and she petted him.

Rick’s hand tightened around hers. “I smell someone new.”

Every wolf there drew at least one weapon.

“Don’t shoot,” said a tired but familiar voice.

“Jin!” Cass cried.

“Jin?” Bridie asked, having shuffled out to join the others. She must have rolled straight out of bed. She wore her polka dot pajamas and hair rollers.

“It’s me,” Jin confirmed. “The real me.”

Felipe had carried her to the rear of the house, romance hero style. The handsome stable master seemed reluctant to put her down. The last Cass heard, the fake Jin had sent him to the butcher. She realized she never saw him return.

“Felipe found me,” Jin said, her head on his broad shoulder.

“Because you were clever enough to escape your captors,” her hero praised.

“You were captured?” Bridie said, more than a bit confused.

“By a gang of goblins. I was coming out of Star’s Brew with my mocha latte, and they grabbed me right off the street. I screamed like a banshee, but they used a muffling enchantment, and nobody heard a thing. I’m telling you, it was a nightmare!”

Now Bridie looked aghast. “When was this?”

“The morning after Cass’s welcome back party. Oh, I am
sick
about that bitch interviewing Talulah Banksworth instead of me. That was a serious get.” Miffed at the memory, she patted Felipe’s chest. “You can put me down now, sweetheart.”

The stable master set her on her Jimmy Choos but kept her at his side. Not seeming to mind this, Jin brushed her short gold locks back from her face. Being her, she’d recently applied makeup. She didn’t believe in making an entrance looking less than her best. Nonetheless, Cass could tell she’d been through the wringer. Her short-skirted, ultra-stylish suit was crinkled beyond repairing.

“What happened after they captured you?” she asked.

“Just the most disgusting experience of my life. That faerie . . . the ‘queen’”—Jin put this in quote marks—“stuck a spell inside my brain, like one of those horror film creepy crawlies, only made of magic. She chained my mind to hers so she could rifle through it at will and imitate me in front of you. I saw it all but couldn’t stop a thing.”

Jin shuddered and made a face.

“How did you escape?” Bridie asked, sympathetically horrified.

“What’s-her-face started losing her grip when her boyfriend showed up wounded. I watched for my chance and wriggled out of the ropes the goblins tied me up with. Luckily, she’d dismissed Felipe—”

“Because
I
would have seen through her charade,” he declared.

Jin smiled indulgently at him, maybe believing him and maybe not. She turned to Adam more seriously. “I got a good look at all my captors. You sit me down with your mug shot files, and I’ll do whatever it takes to help you prosecute. First, though, I’m burning everything she wore. I can’t believe that bitch had free run of my closet!”

Amused, Cass gave her a long but gentle hug. Bridie joined in a moment later. Neither of them mentioned Jin was shaking.

“I’m so glad you’re all right,” Cass said.

“Me too,” Jin agreed. She laughed dryly. “On the bright side, this is going to make the best
As Luck Would Have It
episode ever.”

“Oh my gosh,” Bridie gasped, obviously jumping onto the same page. “It totally is!”

Verdi had clung to Cass’s head throughout the hug. He cheeped when she backed away from it.

“You are beautiful,” Jin praised, which he enjoyed of course. Seeing he’d allow it, she stroked his neck and crop. “How would you and your siblings like to be famous?”

“Uh,” Cass said, not sure about that idea.

“It’ll be safer,” Jin insisted. “You imprinted them, and no one else can claim them, but there’s still the future to think about. If the dragons aren’t secret, no stupid faerie factions can move against them without the rest noticing.”

“That’s true,” Bridie said. “Just don’t call faeries ‘stupid’ on air.”

“Hm,” Cass’s dad responded, clearly considering the merits of the suggestion.

Auric chittered his two cents from his perch on Rick’s shoulder.

“We need to think about this,” Rick cautioned. “Don’t start planning promo spots.”

“Of course not,” Jin and Bridie assured him in unison.

Cass hid her smile against Verdi’s warm scaled side. Nothing short of Armageddon would keep the cousins from dreaming up promotions.

“Why don’t we take this inside?” Adam said, his quiet authority turning all heads to him. “We can notify the rest of the pack, Jin can . . . purge her wardrobe, and then we’ll start on identifying the goblins who captured her.”

“Rick and I might be able to help with that,” Cass said.

When Rick’s boss looked at her, he wasn’t dazzled like he’d been when he helped her into the helicopter. Though he seemed calm, she sensed a bit of annoyance that he’d missed out on the big fight.

“We, uh, had a run in back at my penthouse with some goblins Joscela hired.”

“We were aware of that,” he said.

“Don’t be a jackass,” Nate said. “How does she know what we’ve been doing since she and Rick took off?”

Adam shot the naked man a cool look, but this simply made Nate grin. “Alphas and their seconds,” he observed. “The bromance is beautiful until you add women.”

“Now who’s a jackass?” Adam said in an eye-rolling undertone.

“Put on some clothes,” Carmine threw in. “You’re blinding me with your pretty abs.”

Rick wasn’t alarmed by their exchange. “Ignore them,” he said to her.

His hand had found its way into hers again, its reassuring squeeze addictive. She wanted to ask him many things but didn’t have the nerve. Right then, fighting evil faeries seemed like a piece of cake compared to romance.

~

Adam set up a temporary cop-shop in the ground level sunroom that overlooked the back of the estate. He took Cass’s formal statement while Carmine questioned Rick. The pack leader was thorough but didn’t badger her. Cass found herself gradually relaxing around him.

He didn’t really disapprove of her; he was just being cautious about the woman his beta had hooked up with.

“This is good,” he finally said. “The Founders Board may have some questions about how and why Queen Joscela died, but I think we’ll be able to keep them away from you.”

Cass appreciated that. Though reputedly pro-Pocket, the group of faeries responsible for overseeing Resurrection was an intimidating bunch. She’d just as soon they didn’t cross-examine her.

“Thank you,” she said as she rose. “If you need anything else, I’ll be outside talking to my dad.”

“I’d like to interview him too,” the alpha said.

Cass smiled for the first time since sitting down with him. How much actual authority Resurrection’s police had over purebloods could be tricky.

“I’ll pass your request along,” she said dryly.

The weather outside was bright and crisp. Here and there, wispy clouds brushed the rich blue sky. Cass’s father sat on the coping at the edge of the reflecting pool, watching the dragons devour a lunch of raw hamburger.

Cass lowered herself beside him with their sides touching. “They’re not traumatized,” she observed.

“No,” he agreed. He glanced cautiously at her. “You have questions.”

“Just one really.” His injuries had healed, and he was back to his normal solemnly handsome state. Something was different about him—or maybe the difference lay in her.

Despite him having much more power, she felt closer to being his equal.

“You enchanted Mom to fall in love with you,” she said.

The topic didn’t surprise him. He let out a resigned sigh. “Yes. I searched long and hard to find the right human to bear my child, someone who could hatch the dragons but not abuse their power. I was wrong to do this without Irene’s permission. I stole many years from the path she would have chosen for herself.”

“And you’d do it again,” Cass said.

“In a heartbeat.” He leaned forward, his forearms resting on his knees. “There was only one thing I didn’t plan on, one thing that made my actions difficult.”

The sun twinkled off his perfect features as his emotion rose. The charm that normally damped his sparkle wasn’t so firmly in place right then.

“What didn’t you plan on?” she asked.