Dragon Blood 4: Knight (13 page)

Kade answered on the first ring. “Amber! Where are you?”

“You’re okay?”

“Forget about me. Where are you?”

“They told me you were dead.”

“I’m alive. Where are you, Amber?” He spoke slower, softer, like he was addressing a crazy person.

Maybe she was crazy. Her legs wanted to give out, but she didn’t let them, clinging to the edge of the table as she again looked around. “I don’t know.” She momentarily closed her eyes when she heard the panic in her voice. She couldn’t go to pieces yet, Stanley might return with help.

“Who was it? Tell me Amber, who was it?”

Before Amber could answer, Roy groaned. She crossed the room on unsteady legs, crouching beside him to help him sit up.

“Amber? Who’s there with you?”

“Roy.”

“Was he one of the ones who took you?”

“No.”

“Then what’s going on? Where are you? Tell me where you are.” The calm disappeared from his voice leaving demands and fear.

“How the hell would I know?” She shouted the words into the phone, trying desperately to hold things together. She’d killed someone. Plunged a knife into her heart. At the end Vikki had told her the truth. Kade was alive. If she hadn’t lied to her… her thoughts trailed off. She didn’t know. She just didn’t know what she would have done.

“What happened?” Roy stared around the kitchen. “Where’s Stanley? And Vikki?”

“Stanley got away. We have to get out of here.” Amber helped him to his feet, avoiding the second question.

“Amber?” Kade’s voice softened, but there was still worry in it.

Roy staggered and she wrapped an arm around his waist. Kade was alive. But she still ached, thinking that he might have died. “She said you were dead.” They walked towards the door, gathering Roy’s sword as they passed it.

“Who did?”

“Vikki.”

“I’ll kill her.”

The fierceness in his voice echoed the way she’d felt when she’d thought him dead. She stepped out into the night, still supporting Roy. “You’re too late.” The words were a whisper.

There was silence before Kade spoke. “You okay, Amber?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are you hurt?”

“That way.” Roy sheathed his sword before he pointed out the direction.

“Amber?”

She didn’t know how to answer Kade. “Where’s Ronan?”

“He’s waiting for me to find out where you are.” There was another pause. “He won’t wait much longer. What can you see, Amber?”

“It’s dark. What do you think I can see?” She alternated between annoyance and relief. “I don’t have a clue where I am.” There was a touch of panic in her voice and she took a deep breath. It was a bad idea. The smell of blood made the panther want to escape.

“Amber.” Ronan spoke on the phone.

A fierce protectiveness rushed over her. She couldn’t go through that again. Couldn’t listen to someone tell her Kade was hurt. That he was dead. “What did you do to Kade?”

“Nothing, kitten. He’s pacing the floor again. Where are you?”

Roy tried to pull away from her, pointing to a sedan parked on the side of the road. “My mum’s car.” He fumbled for his car keys, dropping them when he finally fished them out of his pocket.

Amber leaned him against the car while she picked them up, unlocking the car and helping Roy onto the seat.

“Amber?”

She started to answer, but a banging in the boot drew her attention. She looked down at Roy when he grabbed her arm.

“Let her out. Please.”

Amber shook him off her. “She wanted to kill me.”

“Let her go. She’s my prisoner. Just let her go.”

“Amber!”

She ignored Ronan, staring at Roy a moment longer. “She’ll want revenge.”

Roy shrugged. “Let her out. She’s only in there because I tricked her.”

“Answer me, Amber.”

She strode towards the boot, the key still in her hand. “Where are you, Ronan?”

“At my house. What’s going on? And who wants revenge?”

“Jennifer. I’m setting her free.”

“Are you crazy?”

The phone nearly vibrated with his anger. Amber smiled slightly. “Probably.” She thought about it for another second. “More than likely.” Opening the boot, she stared down at Jennifer in the dim light from the boot. She was gagged and tied and there was enough light to see the anger in her eyes. There was no doubt she wanted revenge. “I’ll call you back in a minute, Ronan.” She hung up on his protests, sliding the phone into her pocket. It started ringing almost instantly.

Ignoring the phone, Amber heaved Jennifer out, dumping her on the footpath. “The house is that way.” She pointed in the direction as Jennifer struggled to her feet, slamming the boot shut. Leaving Jennifer tied and gagged Amber strode around to the driver’s seat, her phone still ringing.

“We have to get out of here, before Stanley brings Wayne back.”

Amber nodded, starting the car. The moment her phone stopped ringing it rang again. She swore. Did Ronan ever give up? She smiled wryly. What was she thinking? Of course he didn’t.

“You going to answer that?”

Amber ignored both the phone and Roy as she drove down the street. Searching out Ronan’s direction, she turned the next corner. She had no idea where she was, but she knew how to track Ronan and Kade. When she was headed in the right direction Amber answered her phone noticing Ronan was ringing from his own phone this time.

“I’m heading your way.”

“Who was it Amber? Who took you? We found dragon blood once the smoke had cleared, but Knights are the ones who use the smoke to hide their scent. Not dragons.”

“Wayne and Vikki. And Stanley, but I don’t think he knew exactly what was going on.”

“What was going on, kitten?”

“I don’t know, but I think there’s someone else. Vikki mentioned Hound.”

“Are you sure? What exactly did she say?”

Amber tried to remember, but what was clearest was all the blood. “I think she said the hounds are coming.”

“Is that it?”

“Yes.”

“Well why didn’t you ask her what she meant?”

“I didn’t get the chance. I’d already stabbed her in the heart by then.”

Ronan chuckled.

“It’s not funny!” Amber shouted at Ronan.

“No, what isn’t funny is that they thought they could kidnap you and there’d be no consequences.” There was a moment’s silence before Ronan spoke again. “Is Wayne still alive?”

“Wasn’t killing Vikki enough for you?” Amber ignored the noise Roy made beside her. She couldn’t help thinking about Vikki’s threat. “Is my dad safe?”

“Yes. I still have a Gold watching him. How did you get away?”

“Roy.”

“Why?”

“Does this matter right now?”

“It always matters, kitten.”

“Yeah well, all I’m worried about at the moment is getting as far away from that place as possible.”

“Where are you? We’ll come and get you.”

Anger flared again. “Will everyone stop asking me that? I wouldn’t have a-” She stopped abruptly as she spotted a landmark she recognised. “Actually. I might know where I am. Or where I’ll be in a minute.” She gave him the location she was now headed for. She barely managed to pull up before Kade was opening the driver’s door and crushing her to him. She clung to him, burying her face against his chest, breathing in the scent of him. Listening to the beat of his heart.

“I’m going to kill them,” Kade said against her hair.

Amber couldn’t help thinking of the gun Stanley carried and the sound of gunshots when she’d been kidnapped. There was no way she was letting Kade out of her sight. “Not without me you’re not.”

Kade pulled back enough to meet her gaze. “You want to go kill someone?”

Amber ignored the disbelief she could see in his eyes and hear in his tone. She jabbed at his chest with a finger. “Not on you own.” When his breath caught she tugged at his shirt. “What’s wrong?”

He tried to push her hands away. “I’m okay.”

She finally managed to get his shirt up high enough to see his chest and side. His skin was sewn together in two places, the stitches reminding her of the first night she’d met him. “They shot you?”

Ronan dragged Kade away from the car door. “Come on, kitten. You can heal him later. We need to get back to my place.”

Amber got out of the car, pushing Ronan out of the way with the flat of her hand against his chest. She was not in the mood to put up with Ronan’s orders. “I don’t care where you’re going, but I’m going back to Kade’s place, having a shower and going to bed. And if you’re lucky I’ll find the time to see you in the morning.”

When Amber started to walk past him, Ronan grabbed her upper arm. “It’s not secure enough.”

She met his gaze, searching the depths of his blue eyes with the help of the streetlight. “Is anywhere?”

Ronan stared at her for a moment before nodding towards Roy who had come to stand near her. “What am I meant to do with him?”

“Do we have our Gold here?”
Amber asked Kade directly. When he nodded, and called the Gold out of the Void, she said to Ronan, “He’ll come with us.” She pulled away. “Make sure the car gets returned to the Knights’ headquarters.”

Ronan stepped in front of her, blocking her escape. “Don’t you dare get yourself killed, kitten.”

“Yeah, I know. You still have a use for me.” Her voice was filled with bitterness. She stepped around him, reaching for Kade.
“Get us out of here.”

Kade took them through the Void to arrive on his front verandah. A Gold deposited Roy beside them before immediately disappearing back into the Void. Kade turned to Roy. “You can stay in Orin and Morgan’s room.”

“I have to warn my family.”

For a moment Amber felt annoyed with Ronan for making her wonder about Roy’s motives. It didn’t take her long to admit to herself that she would have been wondering about them anyway. “Why did you come after me?”

“Ronan told my uncles that if anything happened to you while I was guarding you he’d hold them personally responsible. That they’d wish for death if I didn’t protect you.”

Amber started to reassure him when she saw the worry in his eyes, but stopped. Ronan never made threats, only promises. She finally came up with something she could say instead. “He won’t hurt them over this. Not after all you’ve done to help me.”

Maira opened the front door, Brann on her heels. She beckoned to Roy. “I’ll show you to your room and get you a change of clothes so you can wash before you go to bed. I’m sure you don’t want to sleep with all that blood on you.”

Amber watched as Roy followed Maira and Brann, leaving the door open behind him. After tonight, his family could take care of him. She had more than enough people to look out for. When her phone rang and she saw it was her grandmother she groaned, closing her eyes as she leaned against Kade. Speaking to one of her grandparents was the last thing she wanted to do right now.

Kade looked at the screen of her phone. “They were really worried when you were taken Friday afternoon.”

“I’m not going back there.” She continued to hold the phone staring at it until it stopped ringing.

“You don’t have to worry about that. It was Knights that kidnapped you. Ronan’s been trying to get you out of the deal since they didn’t protect you. Knowing that it was some of their people who kidnapped you should make it easier.”

“Well he’s going to have to make sure he does get me out of the deal because I’m not going back. Ever.” She couldn’t help thinking of Vikki saying the word ever to her. She shied from that thought, taking a step away from Kade and linking her fingers through his to tug him towards the doorway. “Come inside so I can deal with your wounds.” Her phone started ringing again and when she saw it was her grandmother she growled.

“It might be best to answer. I don’t think they’re going to give up.”

With another growl Amber answered the phone. “What?”

“Why didn’t you ring us? Why did we have to hear from Ronan that you had escaped?”

She was so not in the mood for this. Stepping into the lounge room she headed for one of the armchairs and was about to sit down when she remembered the blood. Not sure that it would all be dry she remained standing. “I plan to have a shower, something to eat and then go to bed.” She didn’t bother mentioning Kade’s wounds she needed to heal because she doubted her grandmother would care.

“So your family are less important to you then the dragons. You couldn’t even be bothered giving us a chance.”

“How much of a chance did the Knights give me? Kidnapping me, chaining me to a wall and threatening to torture my father is not what I’d call giving someone a chance.”

“They will be dealt with.”

“How?”

“Martin will reprimand them for what they did.”

“Reprimand!” Amber started to pace the lounge room floor. “Reprimand? It sounds like you’re talking about a prank. Kidnapping is not a prank. Chaining someone up. Starving them. Threatening them. Those are not pranks.” Anger flowed through her, making her pace the floor quicker, the panther stirring inside her. “If that’s all they’re going to get for what they did, then I’m glad I killed Vikki.”

“You did what?”

“It was in battle. She was trying to stop me from escaping. Stanley tried to kill Roy.”

“Was Roy injured?”

Amber stopped in mid pace remembering that Roy was meant to be a Knight, not a dragon. “I had to use my blood to heal him.”

“You can heal Knights?”

“Sometimes.” Maybe. “It’s difficult.” She had no real idea if she could do it. “But that’s not the point. They tried to kill us. And what are you going to do about it? Oh that’s right, tell them they were naughty and send them to bed without their dinner.”

“I’d have thought that by now you’d be over your tendency to dramatise everything.”

For a moment Amber was speechless. “You did not just say that. Dramatise? After the weekend I’ve had, I think I have the right to be more than a little upset.” She started to pace again stepping around Kade who reached for her. “I’m going to bed. Don’t bother ringing again tonight.” She disconnected the call before her grandmother had a chance to say anything else. Heading for the bathroom, she hoped that Roy had already finished in there. She had just stepped out of the kitchen when a thought occurred to her and she stopped, spinning to face Kade who’d followed her. “Does Mum know?”