Chapter 28 - Kaius

Julie's voice is muffled, and then there's a distinct scream that causes my stomach to plummet. Panic courses through my body, her fear triggering the mate bond to pull me in her direction. I'm shouting her name, but she's not answering. I hear yelling and male voices, and then the phone dies in a crunch.

Shit.

I break into a run, trying poorly to text the team group chat as I go. I see a quick message that they'll be there as soon as possible. Milo is going to give them cover so they can fly there. I run as hard as I can, willing my legs to just move faster. It's not enough. I can feel her panic getting worse through the bond.

I push myself even harder, the muscles in my legs protesting, trying to close the distance faster, but I'm moving frustratingly slow on human legs. I've only made it a block, and I've got at least the length of town to go. At this rate, flying from Lena's, the team will make it there before I can. I just hope we aren't too late.

I round the corner by the shop and Julie's mother is leaving the market, locking the door. She turns and sees me and waves me down. I try to avoid stopping, but she calls out my name, waving me over and stepping into the road to stop me.

"Kaius! Where are you running off to?"

"Not now, Mrs. Harris, it's an emergency," I call out to her.

She stops and puts her hands on her hips before shouting back, "Kaius, stop it right there! What the heck is going on?!"

I stop, my breath coming in broken gasps, and I can feel the intense urge to shift hiding just below the surface. I want to give in to it and take to the sky to close the last few blocks, but there's definitely no way I can do that with Julie's mother staring at me wide-eyed.

"I can't talk right now, Mrs. Harris," I gasp as I try to keep moving. She grabs my arm to stop me.

"Now, stop for a minute. Nothing in this town can be so serious you have to run off. I just wanted to talk to you about this ridiculous idea Julie has about opening the museum—"

I feel my eyes flash as the rage boils in me, flickering between shifted and human. It's taking every ounce of my self-control to avoid shifting on the spot. I let out a single huff of breath, and her arm falls away. The mate bond and the immediate need I have to get to Julie is pulling at every nerve ending in my body.

"Mrs. Harris, respectfully, shut up. Julie is in danger, and right now, you are the absolute last thing I'm worried about and are the only ridiculous thing I see here," I let the words fall, honest and abrupt, before turning to run for the alley that runs behind the businesses, leaving her standing there gaping at me.

Problem for another day.

I glance over my shoulder, and my eyes scan the area. I don't see anyone, but I don't wait long enough to find out.

Fuck it.

This is as much cover as I'm going to manage. I can't control my need to shift anymore, and I let the change take over as that ripple of familiar energy rolls over my body. I toss my phone on a box behind Lena's shop, and my shredded clothes fall to the ground. It's worth it, as my legs are much stronger and longer. I can close the distance between these last few blocks much faster now.

I round the last corner to the museum, crashing through the open back door to find Rufus and Milo already there, the other three arriving just behind me. The small space of the museum lobby is overcrowded with all the dragon bodies. I reach for the nearest shifter and grip him by the throat, lifting him bodily and then slamming him back hard into the ground.

I land three punches to his face in rapid succession before gripping his head in both hands and twisting it hard, hearing the satisfying snap of his neck breaking. I look up and there's still one of them lurking over Julie's body. I'm on him in seconds, lifting him by the wing joints and throwing him into the ground behind me.

I drive my knee into his face, and the satisfying crunch of bones and the warm, thick blood spurting from his nose satisfies my rage. I drop him to the ground and descend on him, ripping and tearing at any shred of his body I can get to.

I'm blind with the rage, and I feel a clawed hand on my shoulder. I turn, prepared to launch into another attack, and see the familiar sight of a white, pearlescent dragon with an amber and blue eye gazing down at me. Milo.

"It's done," he says steadily, "We got them all."

It takes several more breaths for reality to register. I'm still seeing red.

"Julie," I gasp, turning to see her body still lying on the ground, a small gash bleeding from the side of her head. My heart sinks. She looks pale and is far too still.

"She's okay," Milo says as he dips his head toward her, inhaling deeply, "I think they just drugged her and planned on taking her somewhere. Other than needing to clean up that cut on her head, I think she's going to be just fine in a few hours."

"This isn't good, if they're drugging her, I'm assuming that they've decided to escalate. We need to check on the rest of her family quickly," Cyrus offers with a worried glance between everyone. "Kaius, you stay here with her, Rufus can stay and keep watch down here. Evander and Milo, you guys head to Merl's and Orion and I will head to her parents."

"Guys, thank you, I just couldn't—"

"Hey, don't even go there," Rufus offers with a nod.

I shift back into my human form, not wanting to navigate the close quarters of the small stairway that leads up to the apartment with a larger body. I pull Julie into my arms and lift her up easily, carrying her close to my chest.

"Don't let me forget to talk to you about what she saw. We may have a map to the other keys," I call over my shoulder as I reach the stairs.

I take the stairs as carefully as I can to make sure I don't accidentally bash her head on the narrow walls or the small corner at the top of the stairs. I push open the door to her apartment, and my heart sinks into my stomach.

Her things are scattered everywhere, the couch torn and shredded. Someone had been up here searching as well. Another swell of rage builds in my chest again. Julie put in so much work making this apartment feel like a home. She is finally getting settled in, and they do this?

I'll kill them all for this.

Julie stirs in my arms, and it tempers my animal-driven rage, keeping me from taking off and giving in to the ridiculous need I have to protect her. I cross the small distance to her bedroom and am relieved to see that it's been left relatively alone. I lay her down on the bed gently, smoothing the hair back from her face.

I stop for a moment, my breath catching. Her hair is down, falling around her in a soft mass of curls. I have never seen her hair down before. She looks absolutely stunning. I run my fingers lightly through the hair near the cut on her head and frown.

I push myself up off the bed, fighting the urge to stay there next to her until she wakes up. Realistically, I would rather not be sitting there naked when she wakes up, and I should get something to clean the cut on her head.

I walk to the bathroom and wrap a fluffy, neon-pink towel around my waist. Not the best, but better than naked. I get a washcloth wet with a little bit of soap and look through the box propped on the counter to see if I can find some first aid supplies. I come up with at least a small kit and return to the bedroom.

Gently, I clean the cut, and I can't help but feel the weight of everything crashing over me. I have never had this before, the feeling that my entire world hangs in the balance of her being safe. I can't let anything happen to her. I won't.

I gently place the small bandage across the cut on her forehead. I see marks forming on her wrists, and upon looking a little closer, she's injured a couple fingernails, and her hand looks like it's swelling a little. A fresh wave of anger bubbles up. She definitely put up a fight. While Milo isn't wrong about her recovering from all of this relatively quickly, I hate that she has to. She shouldn't have been by herself, to begin with.

I slide into the bed next to her and pull her into my arms.