Panicked screams were lodging in my chest, trying to burst free. Braxton’s arms wrapped around me, pulling me back into his body. I didn’t even care about the surge of power from him, I took comfort from his strength. His massive chest shook around me, and I knew he was close to letting his beast take over.
“Go to Larkspur,” Rose said as she glanced back in his direction. “You have to fight him now before his brothers come.”
The quads moved even closer, and Braxton set me back on my feet. “Why did he bring you today?” I asked her.
Sorrow had her face dropping, shadows crossing the cocoa color of her stunning skin. “To control the marked he must channel the energy through me. I’m the original. My blood was used to cast the spell. He uses me to issue the commands. That way the crowd of voices and energy doesn’t drive him crazy.”
Motherfucker. That’s how he was doing it. Rose was the conduit for them all.
“I don’t think I’ll survive any more of the channeling,” she said, her voice low enough to be muffled. “In this sort of situation, with close proximity – well, one more time and my mind will fracture. I’m desperately holding on to it. You have to stop him.”
I was relieved at the reassurance that she was on our side. All of the sympathy I’d felt for her in the floating castle kicked in again.
“I’m going to kill him,” I said to her; the five of us were already moving toward Larky. “Just hold on to your sanity for a little longer.”
She sobbed again and my urgency upped another notch. I was running out of time. I had to get to the dragon king before he destroyed her and everyone else here.
We started to run. I dodged to the side to kick out at a marked demi-fey who was choking one of our wizards. My boot hit her in the throat; she choked and gagged for a few moments before a well-placed kick from Tyson shut her lights out. We continued moving, doing what we could to help those in our path, but unable to really stop. I was kind of enjoyed smashing marked as we passed them by. Poor minions. Couldn’t catch a break.
An opening in the crowd paved a path right to the golden king. He was lazily standing there like he was just waiting for a bus or something. A grin lit up his face when he saw me, and I could tell by the look in those dark eyes that if he captured me today he was not going to let me go again.
Immediately, about ten marked came at us, trying to separate me from the boys. No way was I stupid enough to take him on without help. I threw back my elbow, catching one of the minions in the face, before spinning around to stomp him, hard. The next few minutes were a flurry of activity, the quads and I making short work of putting the rest down.
A charging troll hit me then, knocking me back and barging through to get to Maximus. I managed to stay on my feet, but Braxton’s growl rocked over the crowd. There was no way to miss the worried glance he cast at my stomach. I rubbed at my side, giving my mate a smile of reassurance. The troll had only smacked my hip, which was smarting like a bitch. Those troll fuckers hit like steam trains.
Braxton hooked me under one arm, Tyson under the other, and they lifted me free from the mass of bodies blocking my way. As we regrouped, I realized we’d lost Cardia somewhere in the mess, which explained Maximus’ distracted glances around.
Not the best thing to be doing when he was right in the middle of fighting that troll who’d hit me. Luckily, the vamp was skilled in many different fighting techniques, and the troll was young and untrained. If Larky had taken the time to actually train his marked, we’d have been screwed for sure.
The second Maximus was free I grabbed his hand. “Come on,” I shouted, knowing he was going to double back to find Cardia. “If we can stop this, we save them all. It’s our only chance.”
The moment I spoke there was a roaring rumble, like one of the magic users had called on a storm. A quick glance up into the glow of the rising sun and I realized it was far worse than a storm. Three dark beasts were cruising toward us, quite distant now, but would be here in moments at the speed dragons moved.
“Shit!” Braxton said. “I’m going to have to shift. Otherwise those three will destroy everyone here.”
He was right. Their speed, flames, claws and massive fang filled jaws would cut through the supernaturals. On both sides.
Braxton was strong, I knew that. He held his own against the king, but three versus one … they would tear him to pieces. I grabbed his arm, the quads’ joined energy thrumming across me strong enough that I almost dropped it just as quickly.
“You can’t go alone, they’re too powerful. There is no way.”
I jumped as Louis popped up from somewhere. Sneaky sorcerer. “I’ll stay with Jess and help her until you can return. Braxton, you need to shift. It’s the only chance. Jacob, Tyson, and Maximus, you need to stick close to him, protect his back. Your calling will work on the king’s brothers as well. They’re quads, joined together the same as you four are.”
Damn. It was all starting to make perfect sense now.
Louis continued: “I didn’t know until those dragons appeared, but now I can tell that this is why you and the Craiz brothers have a calling, to fight the original quads who messed with what was not theirs to mess with. The king controls his brothers, their minds were damaged from the forced dragon mating, but they’re strong. Do not underestimate them.”
Rose’s warning had been accurate. The king started all of this when he messed with the sacred bond of dragon mating. Now we had to clean it up. Funnily enough, now that I saw more of the puzzle pieces, I was starting to notice some real parallels between Braxton and Larky. Both were quads and powerful dragon shifters. Arrogant. They loved power and were destined to control and lead, it’s just that Larky took it multiple steps too far. I wondered if the dragon king would have followed through on the forcible dragon mating of his brothers had he known the end consequences? That his quest for total domination would destroy his family. Maybe that was actually when he lost the last part of his soul.