Smoldering Hunger (31 page)

“We can no’,” Con ordered. “Under no circumstances will any of you shift. We doona know who might be watching.”

“Or what Dark might be recording,” Rhys stated with a roll of his eyes.

“We have to do this,” Darius said.

Con gave a nod. “I agree. To pass up this opportunity would be folly.”

“Ulrik will suspect you’ll try and trap him,” Kiril said.

Con’s smile was full of retribution and anger. “He willna be expecting what I have in store for him.”

*   *   *

Sophie remembered that feeling of drowning when she’d discovered Scott’s cheating, but this was so much worse. This felt like she was being sucked under a riptide.

Everything she wanted was slipping from her before she’d ever had a chance to hold it. She hadn’t even told Darius she loved him.

So many years she’d wasted being isolated and hiding her heart. Darius showed her all that she’d been missing. Her dreams were passing right before her eyes like dust in the wind.

And fate was laughing at her once more.

CHAPTER
THIRTY-NINE

Darius drove the Mercedes SUV, his hands tight on the steering wheel. The others were taking different routes, arriving separately in the concealment of the dark.

As he drove down the highway out of Edinburgh, all he could think about was Sophie. He’d come to the conclusion that Sophie was still alive—for the time being. Ulrik would want to kill her in front of him.

Darius couldn’t think of that. He refused to allow his thoughts down that road. It was better if he concentrated on how he was going to get Sophie free.

And kill Ulrik.

Over and over he let the scene play out in his mind of taking Ulrik’s head and ending this stupid war. Twenty minutes later as he exited the highway and turned right he pictured his reunion with Sophie.

Now that he’d admitted she was his mate to Con and the others, it was time he told her. He knew Sophie had feelings for him, but he was hesitant to tell her.

Her career meant everything to her. He didn’t want her to have to choose, which was what would happen if he told her of his love.

As difficult as it would be, the best thing for Darius to do was let her go. Sophie could return to her work as a healer without having to suffer through their war, secrets, and MI5 investigating everyone associated with Dreagan.

Darius slowed and turned onto a dirt road. He drove for several miles before he came to the edge of a forest. Throwing the vehicle in park, he shut off the engine and got out.

He walked around the front of the Mercedes and looked around. The area was unnervingly quiet. Darius was on high alert, because he knew there would be Dark showing themselves soon. As if the animals knew evil was coming, they abandoned the area as well.

His boots crunched on the snow as he headed toward the trees even as flurries floated around him. The sun sank quickly, turning the already gray sky dark.

Not a branch rustled, not even a whistle of wind. The disconcerting stillness had him glancing around, waiting for an attack. But nothing came. Yet.

As Darius made his way through the trees, he thought of the past and how he’d gone mad with guilt and anger at losing his woman and child. Those destructive feelings ate at him until nothing was left. When he’d finally taken to his mountain, his soul had been a raw, festering wound.

When Con woke him for this war, Darius had left his mountain just as angry as when he’d gone in. Centuries of dragon sleep hadn’t calmed him. Nothing had.

Until Sophie.

Darius told himself the wild, primitive hunger that he had was simply his need to relieve his body. In truth, it had been Sophie from the very beginning.

She’s the one who soothed his battered soul. The one who comforted the dragon. The one who glowed each time he touched her.

He yearned for Sophie to a degree that should terrify him, but it only made him smile. He’d never felt such longing for a woman before. He ached to be near her, craved to touch her.

Hungered for her kisses.

At one time he’d resented Kellan and the other Kings who’d defied fate and the world to have their women, who had put aside their pasts and found happiness. It looked like he was one of those as well—or had been briefly.

It was too bad he wouldn’t have the future he so desired. It pained him to know he’d be leaving Sophie behind, but it was for the best.

Movement to his right caught Darius’s attention as he left the forest and walked into the valley. A look showed there was a Dark on either side of him and one at his back. They kept their distance, but it proved that Ulrik had no intention of leaving this battle with anything other than victory.

Many times Ulrik had caught them off guard. Tonight just might swing in their favor. It better, because anything other than Sophie walking out of there alive was a loss.

There was no sign of Ulrik, but Darius knew he was out there. The seconds ticked by as the snow began falling faster and the temperatures dropped.

Darius scanned the expanse between them and the opposite tree line. Need tore through him to see Sophie, to hold her and know she wasn’t hurt.

He wished now that they’d brought every Dragon King. Con, however, had other ideas. Darius was tired of playing this game with Ulrik. It should’ve never gone this way.

But hindsight was 20/20. Looking back, Darius knew they should’ve made other choices and decisions, but there was no turning back the clock. They’d set this course, and Ulrik was determined to finish it.

Darius caught sight of Ulrik walking from the trees ahead of him. Steps behind him were two Dark Fae. One had ahold of Sophie’s arm, leading her. The other carried an unconscious Claire in his arms.

“What the fuck?” Darius murmured.

When had Darius gotten Claire? Then it didn’t matter. There were two captives to free. It changed the plans slightly.

“
I see her,
” Con said into Darius’s mind. “
Leave it to Ulrik to up the ante.
”

Ulrik grinned as he looked at Darius. All Darius could hope for now was that everything went smoothly, but then again they were dealing with Ulrik and the Dark. When did anything go smoothly with them?

When Ulrik began moving toward him, Darius did the same. They halted ten feet from each other. The Dark stayed just behind Ulrik with the women.

“We’re here,” Darius told Ulrik. “Hand over Sophie and Claire.”

“I think I’ll keep the lasses with me for a wee bit.”

Darius clenched his teeth together. They’d expected Ulrik to do that very thing, but it didn’t make it any easier for him. In fact, it only managed to stir his rising anger.

“That didna make you mad, did it?” Ulrik asked, his grin widening.

“Smile while you can. That willna last long.”

“I think it’ll last longer than you think.”

Darius kept his gaze locked on Ulrik even though he wanted nothing more than to turn to Sophie. But he had to keep Ulrik’s attention on him and not the women. “Because you’ve planned it all?”

“I have.”

“You can no’ know every detail. You doona know the humans well enough to predict their decisions.”

Ulrik laughed sardonically. “I’m better at it than you, apparently.”

“So a hundred years ago when you planned all this you knew you would take Sophie and Claire.”

Ulrik’s gold eyes went hard. “I’ll no’ waste my time attempting to explain things to you. You’re nothing more than a brute, Darius. Why do you think Con always sent you out first in a battle? You doona think. Your emotions rule you.”

“Con sent me out first because he knew I wouldna fail in my orders.”

“Just like a good soldier,” Ulrik mocked. “Always following orders.”

Darius couldn’t wait to show Ulrik that he was no longer just a soldier. Ulrik changed all that the moment he focused on Sophie.

Out of the corner of his eye, Darius saw Sophie shivering. Though her coat was thick, it wasn’t enough in the cold temperatures. “Let’s get on with this.”

“Yes, let’s.” Ulrik took a step closer, determination and resolve making his gold eyes hard. “Where is he?”

CHAPTER
FORTY

Sophie couldn’t stop shaking, but it had nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with the situation.

The air was frigid and the flakes fell harder while the moon glistened off the snow, making the area almost glow. It would’ve been beautiful if not for the dire circumstances.

The reality of dragons, Fae, and magic was staring her in the face. No more would she scoff at those who believed in such things. Now that she was experiencing it all firsthand, she wondered how some people instinctively knew it was real while others—like she used to be—were adamant that it wasn’t.

No wonder the video showing the Dragon Kings shifting on Dreagan brought so much attention. Those who believed were looking for proof, while others wanted to verify it was all faked.

She couldn’t take her eyes from Darius. He stood tall and magnificent in the moonlight. The tension was high, the situation daunting. Any moment now a battle would break out.

There was something different about Darius. He looked more focused, more intense. Ulrik teasing him about following orders didn’t strike the chord Ulrik wanted.

Or perhaps it did.

Even though she wasn’t beside Darius, the fact she saw him did wonders to keep her on her feet.

Sophie wanted to touch him, to feel his strength and heat. But the Dark holding her kept her at his side. She blinked through the rapidly falling snow to the ten feet or so that separated her from Darius.

“We’re here,” Darius said. “Hand over Sophie and Claire.”

Sophie listened to the exchange that followed with interest. It wasn’t until Ulrik demanded to know where a man was that she knew this had all been nothing but a precursor to what was coming.

She looked between Darius and Ulrik, watching the two of them stare, unblinking, at each other. Sophie swiveled her head, glancing around to see if anyone was there. Then she spotted a man striding out of the tree line behind Darius.

The clouds parted and the full moon shone upon him as if to spotlight him to everyone. The man was tall and moved with the same predatory stride that Darius had. And even Ulrik, if Sophie was being truthful.

The stranger had wavy blond hair that was cut short on the sides and longer on top. He wore boots, a pair of jeans, and a light sweater despite the snow. He didn’t halt until he stood next to Darius.

“Con,” Ulrik said to the stranger. “So glad you could make it.”

“I wouldna miss this,” Con stated in a flat voice, as if he were bored out of his mind.

Con jutted his square chin toward Sophie and the man holding Claire. “Darius is here, and now so am I. Allow Sophie and Claire to leave. This is between us.”

The tension thickened until she could’ve cut it with a knife as Ulrik and Con glared at each other for several long minutes.

“You know how I hate the mortals,” Ulrik said. “What does it matter if two more die?”

Sophie’s heart plummeted. There had been a part of her that had known this very thing might happen. She’d prayed and hoped that Darius would be able to free her, but now there was Claire as well—a true innocent in this mess.

“Hand the lasses over or I leave,” Con stated.

Ulrik laughed then. “We both know that’s no’ going to happen.”

“Allow Sophie and Claire to leave. This business is between us.”

Ulrik smiled then, a callous, icy smile. “Between us? Is it, really?”

“You know it is,” Con stated.

“I think no’.” Ulrik reached over and touched Sophie’s cheek.

She jerked her face away. “Don’t touch me.”

“I willna be the one to do that.”

Claire moaned then, but it wasn’t a sound filled with pain. It was one filled with pleasure.

Sophie glanced at Darius to see his lips thinning. The Dark holding Claire was smiling as he looked down at her. Sophie began to shake her head. “No! Claire is an innocent! Leave her alone!”

Ulrik’s head turned to her and stared. Sophie could see the death he promised in his eyes, in the way he looked at the world and everyone in it. Almost as if he couldn’t stand to be a part of any of it.

“Innocent?” He repeated the word as if it were poison. “None of you mortals are innocent. You sullied our world, destroyed our way of life. Every one of you deserved to be killed in the most vicious, heinous way possible. I was stopped once before I could finish the job. I’ll no’ be stopped again.”

“We’ll see about that,” Con stated.

Ulrik snorted and turned his attention to the King of Kings. “It’ll be rather difficult for you to do anything once you’re dead.”

Claire moaned again, louder. Sophie saw that the Dark who held her squatted to lay her in the snow and jerked open her coat. He produced a blade and cut Claire’s sweater before doing the same to her bra.

Sophie could only watch in mute horror as he began to tease Claire’s nipples, causing her to moan louder and longer. When the Dark Fae rubbed Claire’s sex through her jeans, Sophie tried to rush them. But the Dark holding her held fast.

“Let her go, you monster!” she yelled at the Dark.

Ulrik laughed at her outburst. “Monster. What a curious word.” He turned to her, his lips lifted in a sneer. “Would monsters make room on their realm for another species? Would a monster take them into their home and love them? Would a monster offer their lives for them? Nay, Sophie. I’m no’ the monster. Your kind is.”

She swallowed and glanced at Darius. He stared at her with a mixture of fury and fear that told her just how dire the situation was.

“Your kind,” Ulrik continued, “takes whatever they want. You doona stop and consider what will happen to the earth or its inhabitants. It’s all about your comfort. And your fear of what you doona understand. All your kind thinks of when you find something new is to hunt it and kill it. All your kind knows is to conquer whatever they think is theirs. You doona know how to love unconditionally. You doona know what it means to be giving and patient. So tell me, doctor, who is the real monster?”

“I’m sorry that happened to you.”