Bound to the Dragon King (3 page)

“Yes,” Colin replies.

“How many of you?” Ash asks.

“12, including me.”

“Are you the Alpha?”

“I will be,” Colin growls. “What is beyond that barrier? I’ve been here before, but I can never find a way through. We have to get to the other side, that’s where it’s coming from.”

“Where what’s coming from?”

“The disturbance. There’s a legend about being able to control it, like you say. Most of us think it’s a myth, but I’ve always wondered. There’s something in there, something that keeps us this way.”

Arralt. And whatever he did to corrupt magic. Asher and I exchange knowing glances. “You don’t want to go in there,” I say.

“I have to. Maybe together we can-”

“No. The Fae are far too powerful, we almost got killed running here.”

“I wouldn’t use the word
almost
,” Ash corrects me, squaring his shoulders. I roll my eyes. “But she’s right. We need to get out of here, but not through there.”

“What is in this forest?” I ask. “What could scare those horrible Seekers so much?”

“Me,” Colin laughs. All three of our heads whip to the side towards a shadow moving through the trees. “And that. There’s also that.”

“What is it?” I ask, squinting to get a better look at it with my witchsight as Asher steps in front of me protectively.

“I don’t know, but you don’t want it to touch you. We have to move.”

The energy doesn’t feel particularly menacing. “Are you sure it’s dangerous?”

“We are not sticking around to find out,” Ash insists. “Try the bracelet.”

“It won’t work yet,” I reply, still looking into the blackness. The urge to step into it is overwhelming.

“Try it anyway, Melinda,” he orders.

“It needs to recharge, Ash.”

“That’s not right.”

“Yeah, it is. Fire magic is corrupted, remember?”

“How can you be sure?”

“I just
am
,” I huff. “Stop questioning me.”

“Excuse me?” Asher’s eyes bug out at my defiance.

“Which one of you in charge here?” Colin ask, obviously amused.

“I am,” Ash replies quickly.

“Neither of us,” I say at the same time. “Excuse
me
?” I snap at Ash, my hands on my hips. The jerk actually has the nerve to chuckle at me.

“I bet she’s a handful,” Colin laughs.

“You have no idea,” Ash says, his eyes locked with mine. “But she’ll figure it out eventually.”

I pull my hand out of Asher’s, glaring at him. For a moment, he almost looks like he wants to apologize, but then he glances at Colin and grabs my wrist. Oh how cute. Two shifters bonding over their outdated ideals.

“You’d better watch it,” I hiss into Asher’s ear.

“I was about to say the same thing to you.”

The shadow moves closer. It’s not really a shadow as much as a glimmer, and I’m so curious about what it’s concealing. It feels important. Powerful. “What do you two lovebirds think about getting out of here?” Colin suggests. “I know a way out through the tunnels, it doesn’t take long. And it’s in the opposite direction from whatever
that
is.”

“Show me,” Asher demands, pulling me to his side. My cheeks flush red and my heart races, but I’m not sure if it’s more from annoyance or arousal. It might be both.

“Yeah,” I agree, mostly to keep from being ordered around. “Let’s get out of here.”

The forest becomes sparser and brighter as we get closer to the edge of the cavern. I think I remember my father talking about these woods, about a place deep in the Underground Forest that’s heavily warded to keep the evil from the tunnels from getting into the city. But it doesn’t feel evil here. Arralt would certainly spin it that way, I’m sure, because every so often I see a flash of the inferno in my peripheral vision.

Colin hesitates at the dark entrance to the catacombs that lead to Uptop. “I can’t see as well with my human eyes.”

“Don’t worry,” I say, holding out my palm and casting, “Light.”

I send the orb into the tunnel ahead of us as Colin’s lips curl into an astonished smile. “How did you do that?”

“I’m a witch.”

“Hopefully her light spell will last,” Asher grumbles skeptically. “If not, I should be able to lead us through. I see quite well in the dark in my human form.”

Looking over my shoulder into the trees, I catch one last glimpse of the shadow. I can’t shake the feeling that I need to come back here, perhaps on my own since Asher is being such a steaming turd right now.

“So it’s really true, isn’t it?” Colin asks me. “About the fairies, the wizards, and all the other magical creatures that live underground.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“We can’t get in there. There are so many tunnels, but we keep hitting barriers. That forest is the closest we can get.”

“The catacombs are warded to keep the monsters from getting into the Underground and terrorizing the people,” I explain.

“Monsters? There’s nothing in the tunnels but the occasional curious shifter.”

“Oh.”

“That’s probably who Arralt wants to keep out,” Asher says.

“Who is Arralt?”

“The Fae king. He rules over the Underground City,” I explain, cutting Ash off. This is my area of expertise.

“There’s a whole city?”

I spend the rest of the journey explaining how things work. Asher keeps trying to wrap his arm around my waist, but I shrug him off. Yeah, this place reminds me of the dream world too, but I’m not feeling the slightest bit romantic. He meets this guy like five minutes ago, and all of a sudden his opinion matters more than mine?

Squinting, I survey my surroundings when we step into the light of the desert sun. There is no sign of civilization, we must be in the middle of nowhere. Colin sniffs at the air, inspiring Asher to do the same.

“I don’t think my pack is close, thankfully,” Colin says. “But we’ll need to find a place to hide your woman before we go to them.” Oh no he just didn’t. I roll my eyes, but neither of them notices.

“What are you talking about?” Asher grabs at me again, and this time I let him pull me close to his side. “I’m not going anywhere without Lindy.”

“It’s too risky. I’m not sure how many of us you can force to shift at one time, but until you do, they’ll attack on sight. Unless you think she can fight them off with us.”

“I’m not running off to a pack of werewolves,” I inform him. “Look, Colin, I’m sorry about everything that’s happened to you, but we have bigger issues to deal with. Your pack has waited this long, it will have to wait a little longer.”

“What?” he replies, his face contorted in disbelief. “But the Dragon King will free us. That’s the legend, and it obviously isn’t a myth.

“The prophecy of his return is about the Underground, not shifters,” I say. “The fate of all Magic hangs in the balance. This is much bigger than a cursed pack of werewolves.”

“You’re coming with me, right?” Colin asks Asher, totally ignoring me.

“I have yet to decide on a course of action,” he replies.

“Ash,” I interject. “I’m sure you want to help them, and we will, but right now we have to figure out what we’re going to do about SIGMA.”

“We can help you,” Colin tells Ash. “I’m not talking about just one pack of wolves. There are hundreds around here. Thousands of us, everywhere, from coast to coast, and across the oceans. Not just wolves either. Panthers, bears, every wretched and ferocious beast you can imagine. If you’re looking for an Army to attack this Arralt, you’ve found it.”

Now that piqued Asher’s interest. “We don’t have time to go from state to state, converting shifters. The Renewal Celebration is less than a week away,” I remind him.

“They are already flocking here just because of a whisper of the King’s return. When the wolves find out I’ve been changed back… There’s no telling how many will follow. And none of them will be able to control themselves, this area will become a killing field. The humans will send out their police officers, possibly their soldiers. It will be a massacre on both sides.”

“Then you can’t go back yet,” I explain. “We’ll have to take him with us.”

Chapter Four

“Take him with us
where
, Lindy?” Asher asks me, running his hand through his hair in frustration.

This is going to be awkward. “I want to go back to see the Council.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“No, I’m not. We need to know more about SIGMA’s weaknesses, regardless of what you choose to do.”

“They can’t help us, Lindy,” he replies. “That Council is useless.”

“They’re incredibly disorganized, yes, but I at least want to speak with Georgia.”

“And why would you want to do that?” Asher asks condescendingly.

“Because I’m a part of this prophecy too. And
important
part, according to
both
of you.”

“I think we had different reasons for saying that.”

“Oh really?”

“Melinda…” Ash glances at Colin, obviously not wanting to do this in front of him either.

“Just come out and say it already, Ash.”

“Say what? Since you’ve become so accustomed to speaking for me, why don’t you just tell me what I think on this issue as well?”

“How about I just tell you what
isn’t
going to happen,” I hiss. “I will not be some ornament to look good on your arm when you finally decide to reclaim the throne. I am not your bed warmer and I am
not
your subject to rule over.”

“What are you then?” he snaps. My jaw drops open. That can’t really be what he thinks, can it? “A powerful fire witch with abilities unseen for generations? Because as far as I can tell, those powers don’t work all that well until you’re warming my bed.”

“Oh, so I’m the only one that needs the other, huh? Because this broken witch is the only reason you’re not trapped in the dark, Ash. Or did you forget that? I am going to see Georgia, and I will form my coven because that is the only way we’ll ever be able to figure out how to defeat Arralt.”

“Perhaps not,” Asher says, taking a deep breath and forcing his tone to remain calm. He glances at Colin. “Thousands, you say?”

“Maybe more,” he replies.

That just can’t be true, there’s no way there could be so many shifters out there without magicfolk knowing more about them. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Wolves? Panthers? Against SIGMA,” I laugh. “You can send a million of them down there and those Seekers will bring them to their knees with a snap of their fingers.”

Colin growls at me, but takes a step backward when Asher clenches his fist. Of course he won’t let his favorite treasure get hurt. Then who will he climb on top of when he needs to fix his own powers?

I lock eyes with the werewolf snap my own fingers, drawing in the heat of the sun and my own anger into a fireball. It grows larger and hotter, hovering above my palm. “You and your dogs won’t get within a hundred yards of SIGMA, or any of the Fae protecting Arralt. You want to see a massacre? Then go down there blind and completely unprepared.”

Asher shouts, “No!” as I hurl the fireball toward Colin, making sure it stops before it actually hits him. He flinches, but I pull it back towards me and reclaim its energy into my core.

“I’m going to see Georgia. You can come with if you’d like.”

“Do you really think I’ll keep running after you like this?” Ash snarls.

“Yes, actually. I do.”

Asher huffs, gritting his teeth. He’ll follow me, I know he will. Too bad I don’t have any idea which way I should be walking and the portal bracelet isn’t working yet. Argh, this is so frustrating.

“Some King,” Colin laughs. “Do you always let her emotional outbursts make your decisions?”

“She can’t come with us anyway, but I’m not about to let my woman wander off into the desert alone,” Asher growls back. “Especially in the wrong direction. Stay here, I’ll come back for you.”

I spin around, my heart pounding. “You’re really going to do this, aren’t you? Just leave me to go gather more cannon fodder for your suicide mission?”

“I’m not leaving you. I’m taking you home.”

“Home?” I scoff. “I don’t have a home anymore. Because of you. Or are you talking about that lair you think you can keep me locked up in until you feel like using me again?”

“Stop being so unreasonable,” Asher growls, dropping his pants to his ankles and stepping towards me.

The flames of his transformation surround both of us and before I know it, I’m staring up at the massive black dragon. Despite my protests, I instantly find myself wrapped up in his talons and hovering above the ground. Colin watches with wide, shocked eyes until a triumphant smile breaks across his face.

“I don’t fucking think so,” I growl, kicking my feet. The dragon’s laugh shakes my entire body.

“It’s miles of nothingness in every direction. You don’t have a choice about this. Unless of course, you can manage to get somewhere yourself.”

We climb higher into the air as I struggle to figure out how to stop this. Hot tears stream down my face. I should have paid better attention in school, but by the time we got to translocate spells I’d given up hope of ever being a true witch. Now I can’t even get back into the library to catch up on my homework and the only thing I really feel comfortable doing is setting things on fire. I’ve given up everything for Ash, and this is how he repays me?