18. Eighteen

Eighteen

Draken

“Wake up, dragon.”

My eyes fly open, yet I can’t move, and Caspian doesn’t even give me a minute to get my wings about me before moving me through the fucking shadows.

We materialize in the hallway our rooms are on, in front of a pissy-ass-looking Tillman, but before I can grumble or bitch about my rude awakening, he’s shoving my shirt, pants, and some shoes against my chest.

I’m already unstable from being surprised and his heavy-ass hand knocks me even more off balance till I’m falling into the wall.

“Be quiet, for fuck’s sake. Get dressed.” Caspian hisses.

“You two stop manhandling me. What the fuck is going on?” I whisper-shout.

He rolls his eyes, ignoring me, and turns back to an even more impatient-looking Tillman.

What the fuck has happened now?

“Recon, Cas. I’m fucking serious. The two of you have no backup right now besides the three there. No funny business,” he says sternly, shooting us both serious looks that I don’t understand at all before walking back toward the bedroom.

“Hurry up,” Cas commands and this time I growl in warning. “Stop that shit before you ruin my fun.”

Once a-fucking-gain, he snatches me up and whisks us through the walls until we’re outside the ward of the south wing. If not for his grip on my arm, I would’ve busted my ass from how I’m hopping around, trying to put my shoe on. Wordlessly, he continues to drag me until we’re outside.

He’s yet to tell me what’s going on, but obviously, I’m down.

A little warning isn’t too much to ask for, though.

“Ready?” he asks.

“Hell, I don’t know, Cas. What’s going on?”

He turns back toward the doors with a devious, shit-eating smirk on his face, and my beast ruffles himself out in my chest. My body alights with the giddiness of whatever it is that he has planned.

Fuck yeah. He’s up to trouble.

“We’re going hunting,” he says cryptically and my little heart jumps with joy. I swear I’m so excited I could fucking squeal, but that doesn’t really explain the secrecy.

“And Tillman couldn’t know because…”

“About thirty minutes ago, he received a phone call that he had to leave the room to answer, so I followed him. Obviously. How you and the Primary can sleep through shit like that is concerning, by the way,” he says as his eyebrows draw down and he scans me from head to toe as if he’s looking for some sort of issue. I throw my hands in the air and then cross my arms, silently telling him to get the fuck on with it. He rolls his eyes but continues, “The team that he put on Oakly’s parents’ house called and said they’ve returned home. He told them to stand watch for a couple hours to make sure no one else showed up. I volunteered us to join them.”

“Volunteered us to join them, but we’re really…” I trail off, wiggling my brows, hoping I’ve got the right line of thinking. There’s no way he just pulled me from bed, away from my little wanderer to hide in the shadows.

“Exactly, dragon, now you got it. Couldn’t let Tillman know that. He wouldn’t have let us go. Then the Primary would’ve woken up and wanted to go, or not let us go. Or worse, Corentin, then we’d have to wait around for a sound plan. It just seemed like a headache all the way around.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

We share bloodthirsty little smirks with one another before he grips my shoulder and pulls us through a transport. I don’t like keeping secrets from Willow, like at all, but this doesn’t too much feel like a secret. I mean, she’ll know what we did as soon as she wakes up. She may be a little mad that we didn’t invite her along, but her beauty rest is far more important.

This is also going to be such a fun surprise for Nikoli, Ry, San, and Jamie. The little tidbits Willow has shared without putting Oakly’s feelings out there for us haven’t alluded to much, so I don’t know how she’ll feel about knowing her parents have been caught. She’s struggling with this level of betrayal. Fucking understandably. So her men can break this news when we get them back to the dungeons.

Palace prison. What the hell ever.

We pop in a couple feet behind the E.F. members and I’m a little disappointed we didn’t startle them. They look like they were expecting us, so Tillman must have warned them.

“Any movement?” Cas asks.

“They’re awake, sir. They came in and…” The E.F. guy trails off, looking a little uneasy sharing the news with us.

“And what?”

“Just started cooking. From what we’ve observed, they’re acting completely normal. Leader Tillman was hoping to see, I don’t know, maybe a sign of distraught, coercion, regret. He instructed us to watch their behavior, see if they acted upset, irrational, but for people who just sold their daughter, they’re carrying on with a mundane routine.”

My beast heats my chest, and I hold in the smoke that wants to come out of my nostrils. Not that I seriously expected them to act like they felt bad for what they did to Oakly, but at least shed a fucking tear. Be asleep, something. Making breakfast, flipping fucking pancakes—as little wanderer calls them. Are you serious?

“So they’re in the kitchen?” I ask.

“Yes, sir. All five of them. ”

“Good. You all stay here, keep watch. We’re going to eavesdrop from inside,” Cas says nonchalantly.

“Leader Tillman said no one’s to move in yet.” The dumbass, well, truly he’s pretty smart to be following orders, but incredibly stupid to question a man who literally manipulates the darkness.

“He told you that. Not me.”

“What the hell do the two of you think you’re doing?”

“Busted, shadow man,” I whisper.

We both turn around slowly. Me wearing a smirk, Caspian looking like he’s annoyed his plans keep getting interrupted.

“Ry. Coincidence seeing you here,” I say happily.

“Cut the shit, Draken. T called me and told me he sent you two for recon. It didn’t sound like recon plans just then,” he says seriously, crossing his arms over his chest. Like a fucking mirror of Tillman.

Spoilsport.

“You cut the shit. You coming or not? Fuck, I should’ve just come alone.” Cas sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Fuck yes, I’m coming. This is my Paterna-Nexus we’re capturing,” he says with a serious scowl, and I smile at him darkly.

Knew the ol’ second-in-command had a rebellious side to him.

Without further ado, ’cause Cas is out of patience at this point, he wraps the two of us in his shadows, and we move through the darkness into the house.

Instead of popping right into the kitchen, we skirt the walls of the foyer, and my eyes trace the very boring decor. There’s not a thing in this room that would even hint that Oakly lived here not that long ago. There’s no color. The place is washed in creams and whites. It looks as though they attempted to make it as posh as possible but missed the mark and it just looks cheap.

“What’s the plan?” Ry whispers.

Plan…good question.

“We don’t typically operate under plans,” I whisper back.

“What? ”

“We just show up, fuck shit up, and get out. We don’t require all the step-by-step you’re used to. This isn’t a high-stakes mission where there’re hundreds of lives involved. We’re capturing some piece of shits who sold my little wanderer’s sister, your Primary. They come the easy or the hard way,” I say, shrugging. It’s really that simple.

“No wonder Tillman doesn’t send you two with teams,” he says, shaking his head as if it’s a bad thing.

“Yeah, because extras get in the way and ask stupid shit like what’s the plan. Can we move now?” Caspian asks with a tilt to his lip.

Look at how teasing and sweet he’s being.

Fucking the shit out of Willow in that shower did a wonder on his mood.

“Fine, but no funny business. Take down and out,” Ry orders, to which we just snort at him.

Moving us through the shadows, Caspian holds us in place in a darkened corner of the kitchen as we watch Oakly’s parents. Her mom and one of her dads stand at the stove, seriously fucking cooking, while the other three men sit around the small table off to the side, talking.

So relaxed. So nonchalant. As if they didn’t sell their daughter to the Mastery to have her powers taken and ultimately killed.

Vile.

Commanding my flame out, I set the food in the pan on fire and smile as Oakly’s mom shrieks. I honestly didn’t mean for her hair to catch on fire. It was perfect timing and a coincidence that she leaned in to taste test the food at the exact moment I commanded my flame out.

The man beside her shoots his earth element both at Oakly’s mom and the ruined food, attempting to cover the blue fire in sand, but it’s pointless. As if his element could ever compete with mine.

Ry, the sly dog, sees the other three scum about to step in to help and quicker than they can stand, he has them wrapped up in vines, tied to their chairs. Right before I know my flames are getting ready to sear through her skull, I call them back to me.

Caspian shoots his shadows out and ties Oakly’s mom together to the other man, then covers everyone’s mouths with a strip of shadow to silence their pathetic screaming .

It’s always the same reaction. The loud, petrified wailing where their lives flash before their eyes for a moment, then they settle down when they realize they didn’t actually die.

I wish someone did something original.

“Hello, fuckers. I mean Folders.” I cheer when we step out of the cover of darkness and I perch my ass on their kitchen countertop. “You two just scoot on over, join the others.”

The assholes look past me and Caspian as if we’re nobodies, but when their gazes land on Ry, I swear they all piss themselves. Their faces instantly pale, Oakly’s mom starts trembling, and her dads fall statue-still.

Idiots.

If they only knew, out of the three of us, he’s by far the most levelheaded.

“You heard him,” Caspian says, but he’s already flinging them across the room to their new seats.

Once everyone is situated, the guys take a side each of mine and stand stoically, staring our little kidnappees down. Crazy how their roles have reversed so quickly.

“Why?” Ry asks sternly.

No other explanation is needed. It’s a loaded question.

Caspian removes the shadows blocking their mouths, but no one jumps at the opportunity to answer Ry, so I send out a fireball for each of them. Holding it about two inches from their faces. It takes no time at all for them to start begging for it to stop.

Weak.

“What have you done? Where is my daughter?” Oakly’s mom screeches.

“What have I done? You’re the one who sold her off and almost had her killed,” Ry growls, taking a step closer to her.

“She wouldn’t have died. She just no longer would’ve possessed her magic.” One of her dads tsks as if we’re all fools.

“Is that what they told you? And you believed them? You’re a healer, are you not?” Caspian asks, glaring at the mom. His cold, dead tone finally draws a reaction out of them, and they turn their heads to him slowly. “Well?”

“We have nothing to say,” Oakly’s dad, I think the biological one, says sternly.

“We’ll do this one of two ways, and this is me being gracious enough to give you options. One, you can tell me what you know. Or two, we drag you to the dungeons, and my best friend rips it from your minds before me and my brothers tear you apart piece by piece.”

Oh, I like a murderous Ry.

The Folders don’t share the same sentiments. Their eyes nearly bulge out of their heads and Oakly’s mom whimpers like that’s the worst thing she’s ever heard. Very rich for a bitch who’s done what she has.

“We were introduced to the Mastery at the last Everglow family party,” she supplies helpfully.

“Marika, shut up,” another of her Nexus barks.

“No. I’m not willing to die for this.”

That’s pitiful. Ol’ Marika believes that’s not the only outcome for her.

“Kellie Everglow told me all about them and the vision they have for the future of Elementra. It was a no-brainer to join the society. The plans they have in place for those of us with great power are exactly what this realm needs. Those of us with power should be treated with the utmost respect, not as if we are on the same level as…as commoners.”

Commoners? What the fuck is this? The dawn of Elementra.

“All we had to do was pledge ourselves to the Everglows, claim Pyrathia as our territory, make Oakly give herself over to the Mastery, and we’d be brought into the fold. With Oakly being as deviant as she has been in her coming years, reaching the age of Primaries, we felt that she no longer deserved her gifts. It’s not like she’s putting it to good use anyway. Archivist. My daughter. She could’ve at least joined the E.F. and brought honor to our name since she wasn’t willing to have an arranged Nexus.” She sneers, glaring at Ry as if what she just said doesn’t fucking contradict itself. Ry is almost at the top of the E.F., which automatically elevates Oakly on the respect totem pole .

No, this bitch just wanted to be able to control her daughter completely and was pissed the hell off that Oakly wouldn’t give in.

“Gima or Silvia or any of the other promising girls would’ve done extraordinary gaining a gift as good as Oakly’s.” One of her dads sighs, but that comment has the three of us tensing.

“What do you mean?” I growl.

“When we expressed our concerns over Oakly’s defiance, the Everglows took our concerns back to our leader. His solution was to take her magic, gift, and element from her. Give them to someone more worthy. They explained the process and of course we agreed. She was supposed to be handed over the night we called her home for dinner, but she dropped the horrific news she’d already bonded. We thought that would be the end of our time in the Mastery, but it turned out to please the Summum-Master. It made the most sense to give another Primary the already strengthened gift. Then once one of them would’ve bonded the men, another boost would have occurred,” her mom states as if that’s obvious and grand fucking news, but I just continue to stare at Caspian. I see it in his mind he’s already working it out. Just like I am.

“Sounds an awful lot like the Summum-Master is trying to create Primaries that have more than one gift.”

“Yeah. An awful lot like our Primary,” he replies darkly before turning back to Oakly’s piece of shit excuses for parents.

“But why? For a society who hates females, why make them more powerful?”

“They’ll be his and their chosen Nexuses to control. Remember what Franklin said about Willow not being able to hurt any of them once she’s bonded? His self-made bond is one way.”

Smoke blows from my nostrils before I can stop it, and I can’t even find the gasps falling from these sorry-ass people funny in this moment. I hate absolutely everything that makes me think back to anything related to her kidnapping.

“I understand that, but it still doesn’t make sense. Why not give the men extra gifts? Why only the Primaries?” I ask through my anger .

“That I don’t know, dragon. Either he’s trying to replicate our Primary now that he got a taste of the power she packs or we’re missing something.”

We’re definitely missing something.

“Well, looks like I won’t be killing you all at your kitchen table after all,” Caspian groans like nothing about our little trip has gone according to his bloody plans.

All five of the disgusting fuckers in front of us breathe a sigh of relief that’s opposite to his of aggravation, and he snaps his head up, glaring at each of them. I do actually laugh at that because he looks personally offended.

“We’re going to need a room bigger than your favorite one,” I supply helpfully when I hop off the counter.

“Figured as much. Room three will do,” he grumbles as he stomps around the table and slaps his hand down on two of the dads. Ry takes Oakly’s mom, who won’t quit crying and asking what’s happening, plus another male. And I get stuck with the last one, who hasn’t spoken, just cried to himself peacefully.

Popping into the dungeon, Marissa…Marsha…whatever her fucking name is, instantly starts wailing like a dying animal and I cringe as the noise makes my ears ring.

Fuck, she will not hold up well under torture.

“Let’s leave them be,” Ry says after he finishes strapping them down to the chairs with the magical cuffs.

“What?” Cas asks, whipping around to look at him.

“It’s not my decision how we handle this outside of questioning and Tillman looking in their minds,” he says begrudgingly.

I snicker at the sneer on Caspian’s face and the groan that leaves him. Poor thing’s whole plan of kidnapping and torturing has been thrown to the wayside and he’s pissy about it.

And they call me the psycho one.

“Come on, Cas. There will be plenty more traitors where they come from.” I clap him on the shoulder as we turn our backs on the sniffling bunch .

That doesn’t please him like I thought it would and he shrugs my hand off him as he stomps to the door, me and Ry hot on his heels. As soon as he slings the door open, though, he halts, and I nearly crash into his back.

“No, dragon, now we’ve been busted.”

“You two…oh hell…three, have got to be kidding me,” my little wanderer says, crossing her arms and staring us down.

Corentin and Tillman stand behind her, smug fucking smirks across their faces like they can’t wait to hear the tongue-lashing we’re about to get. Both are in white shirts and sweatpants as though they rolled out of bed on her command, and I can’t help it as my gaze tracks down her body. She’s wrapped in her robe, matching pajama set underneath. Her wild curls are pulled on top of her head, and the pissed off look on her face just makes her even more sexy.

Fuck that, the two of us aren’t going down on our own.

“Tillman knew we were going and agreed to it,” I say quickly, shooting her an innocent look.

Which works because she snaps her neck around to stare at him while he glares at me.

“I told you both to stay with the recon team and watch.”

“Oh, don’t even try. You knew what Caspian had planned or you wouldn’t have called Ry right away. You would’ve waited until this morning when you had more word, then formed another team to go in,” I argue, not letting his big ass get out of this.

“I’m upset with all of you. What if the Mastery had shown up, or it was a setup? There were too many unknowns for you three to go alone.”

“Hey, I was sleeping with you the whole time. I had no clue,” Corentin says, his smile turning into a scowl.

“Okay, so I’m not upset with Corentin.”

“Listen, trouble, I get it. We’d be fucking livid if you and Oakly pulled this. But I couldn’t risk them disappearing or the Mastery hiding them. What if we hadn’t apprehended them and then this morning, they packed their shit and left? Oakly wouldn’t get the justice she deserves, and she’d be looking over her shoulder, constantly wondering if they’re just going to show up and take her,” Ry says firmly but softly. Pleading with her to hear him out.

I don’t think she’s really mad anyways. If she were, there’d be far more cussing and yelling, or fuck, even worse, silence and tears. Right now, her bond is just on high alert and all the wrongs that could’ve happened are running through her mind.

She lets out a long sigh, dropping her crossed arms, and then strides between me and Cas. “I know it was the right thing to do, but I need a break from rescue missions for a while. Next time just wake us all up and we’ll go, no questions asked. Together.”

“Okay, Primary.”

“Whatever you say, little wanderer.”

“Thank you,” she says, snuggling into us before turning to Ry. “And you. You will be the one to tell her that her parents are in the dungeons. I’m not doing it.”

“Palace prison,” Corentin quietly corrects, then quickly holds his hands up when she narrows her eyes on him.

“I will, I promise. I’ll tell her before your date today,” Ry easily agrees.

“Okay then. So what did they say? Did they try to apologize or were they regretful? What happened?” she fires off as we start making our way down the hall toward outside.

The three of us share a loaded look. None of us want to tell her the truth. Just because the Folders believed their daughter wouldn’t die from this experiment, doesn’t mean that justifies any of their actions.

Ry’s the one who bites the bullet and tells the others everything. Not only is the fury obvious on Willow’s face with each word he says, I can practically feel her dragon’s growl within my chest. Her beast is just as protective of Oakly as she is, and when she came out in a blaze of glory in that volcano, I was fucking mesmerized.

There’re no limits we won’t go for the ones we love.

“They’re fucking idiots. How could they remotely believe that bullshit? It’s a given that this would kill her, kill anyone who gets everything that makes us, well us, stolen from them. ”

“Well, you bunch are up early. Who’s pissed my Adored off as soon as she woke up?” my—Keeper says as he comes around the corner of the exit to the dungeons.

“Shit, you scared the hell out of me. What are you doing up so early?” Willow asks, pressing her hand to her chest.

It’s cool and freaky as shit that he can move so silently. Even with our advanced hearing, she nor I can pick up his movements without him wanting us to.

“I’m always up early. Vampires don’t require the amount of sleep that you all do,” he says.

“Yeah, I definitely didn’t get that trait from you. I need my beauty rest.” I catch myself as soon as the words are out of my mouth, but it’s too late and they’re out there now.

He smiles proudly at me and nods without further acknowledging what I said. “You most likely get that from Tanith. If she doesn’t get enough rest, she’s incredibly cranky and more feisty than usual.”

“Same,” Willow says, causing us all to chuckle, and it breaks up my awkwardness.

“Switching topics completely here, but I haven’t had a chance to bring it up to you, Keeper. I need to ask you about the ritual the Summum-Master performs to steal the gifts. You had mentioned that it was a concoction of things that he did to create it. Have you seen it performed? Also, the family that’s betraying us led Oakly’s parents to believe she wouldn’t die from this, only be left without any of her blessings. We already know that’s bullshit based on everything Darstein said, but can you confirm it?” Tillman asks, bringing everyone right back into serious moods.

“That’s far from the truth. I heard whispers about it countless times, but only seen it happen once. The individual who loses their gifts most certainly perishes. Actually, in the instance I watched, both individuals passed, and the Summum-Master absorbed the gift. This was many, many years ago, and I have no doubt he’s strengthened the acceptance rate of transferring the power.”

“Do you remember what happened?” Willow asks .

“I do. It was like nothing I’d ever seen, nor did it feel like anything I’d ever felt. The energy wasn’t right with the magic he was using. It was as though the relic he uses was attempting to fight him off. Many relics are sentient and know when they are being used improperly.

“The Summum-Master and the scientist knew this was an experiment going wrong and they were still trying to force it. Ale brought the man who was infected to the forest in a rush, complaining to the Summum-Master the infection was taking root far faster than he assumed it would. So the Summum-Master went to the nonmagical realm and returned within minutes. It was as though he had the other waiting for his call because they didn’t fight back or anything, just laid down as he told him to.

“With a dagger much like the one used to mark people, he sliced both of his palms, then a hand each of the men’s, and began chanting. Not in the language of old from here or my realm. I’m not sure where the dialect originated, but the more he said, the relic he placed between them began to glow. When it was as bright as a Star gem, he aligned his sliced hand over the infected man’s cut, and his other directly to the relic.

“You could see the lifeforce pulling from the man. It was as though his soul was being snatched from his body. I’ll never forget the sound of his last breath. His throat gurgled, chest wheezed painstakingly so, as if it was one last plea, then he fell still.

“Moving that same hand that was covered in both their blood, he joined it with the man who was intended to receive the gift. Never taking his other off the relic. That man at first just inhaled sharply, but it didn’t take long for the screaming and thrashing to start. Ale had to sit on him to hold him down not to break the Summum-Master’s connection.

“Ale tried yelling at him, telling him it wasn’t going to work, to pull the gift back, but the Summum-Master just stopped his chanting and said, if he can’t withstand it, he’s not worthy. Well, he couldn’t withstand it. After shaking so violently, I could feel it through the earth and into my shoes, the man fell still as well.

“The Summum-Master placed his bloody hand directly on the relic, and a burst of power surged from it, into him. I thought, well, hoped really, he was going to die as well, but he was obviously strong enough to accept what had been stolen.”

The faraway gaze in Keeper’s ruby eyes makes this feel like a haunting nightmare he’s replayed repeatedly in his mind. The anger, regret, and sadness pulse off him. I couldn’t imagine watching that and not doing anything.

Not that I’m accusing him of not doing anything. I’m sure he tried multiple times to stop shit that happened in that forest. With a cord that could cut your head off implanted in your neck, though, what really can you do?

“What did the relic look like?” my little wander asks softly.

“A small glass globe that sat within a bronze casing. It’s nothing more than a ball that could sit in your palms, but it’s powerful. Incredibly so.”

His sobering tone hits home for all of us.

It’s gut-wrenching to realize how close Oakly was to experiencing this and it also makes me think of another perspective that makes my stomach turn inside out.

It’s very possible, more so probable, Willow was never going to be on the giving end of this ritual, but what about the receiving? If the Summum-Master is trying to pump up Primaries, she’s the strongest and could really be a weapon if she was given three, four, hell, however many more gifts.

“I’d be him,” she whispers, looking at me with glossy eyes.

Shit. Thought that too loudly.

“But that’s not the case, nor will it ever be. Never will you or Oakly be placed in those situations again. I’m prepared to lock you both away and guard you until this is all over,” I say firmly.

Fuck, I wish she’d let me do just that.

She smiles at me tenderly and brings my hand up to her lips to lay sweet kisses on. “We both know I can’t do that, but the offer is still endearing.”

Endearing…I’m being so serious.

“I got to get back to the room before Oakly wakes up. I’ll see you all in a few,” Ry says, rubbing the back of his neck. He looks like ten different shades of shit. I didn’t think about how hearing that, knowing what the process actually entails, would make him feel.

“Thank you for telling us all this, Keeper. It’s a big help,” Willow says. It’s hitting her hard as well.

“Of course, Adored. I vowed to you I would help any way I could, and I always will.”

Cutting his eyes to me, I don’t turn away from the affection reflected at me. I nod, acknowledging him, because at the end of the day, he is helping. Tremendously. And he puts my little wanderer first.

If he keeps it up, she’s not going to let him go, and I’ll just have to accept him fully then.