18. How To Face An Invasion

Joey panicked.

He remembered the kidnappers all too well. The suspicious men who'd tracked him down to his Cartfalls apartment. They'd lurked outside, their presence looming and foreboding. Back then, Joey barely had time to call Liem before they'd broken through the front door.

And now they'd found Joey and Katie again.

"What do we do?" Joey yelped.

"Stay here." Blade's eyes turned red. "Protect the babies."

"What about you?"

"I'll call my friends for backup." Blade was already pulling out his phone.

Joey hadn't been around, but back when the kidnappers had attacked Yaeger and Elson, they'd known how to restrain a dragon. Elson had to take down some men so he had a chance to free Yaeger.

Joey didn't have any abilities that could disarm someone dangerous.

"We can help," Quinlan said.

Blade shook his head tightly. "You'll all stay here. You're stronger together. Hong will guard you."

With that, he turned and jogged up the stairs.

Joey cradled Katie close, following him. "Where are you going?"

"Grabbing a weapon."

"The hot rod," Hong yelled helpfully from the kitchen.

His sword?

Blade pressed his phone to his ear and spoke quietly, low and uneasy.

Joey stopped breathing when they reached the iris scanner outside Blade's hoard.

He'd never entered it before. Even though he could pass through walls, Blade hadn't brought him into his hoard yet. It felt rude to just step in.

The iris scanner flashed green, and the doors slid open with a hiss.

Blade glanced over at Joey, the worry in his eyes fading slightly. "Welcome to my hoard. I would've picked a better time to show it to you."

A massive room lay beyond the steel doors. Joey stared at the piles of glittering gold covering the floor, various necklaces and crowns and...

Ugly ceramic frogs dotted the gold. Some of them were palm-sized, some of them were wider than a large tree trunk. They held up welcome signs and fishing rods; one of them wore a chef's hat and held a spatula.

"You like frogs?" Joey blurted.

Blade flashed a crooked smile. "A while back, Hong got me hooked on a computer game called Frog Island. He made Marion and my other staff play it, too. Soon after, I found a pottery place going out of business... and they had all these frogs. I had to buy them."

Joey was hit by the mental image of Blade walking around a pottery shop, filling his cart completely with frogs. "Can we have some in the bedroom?"

Blade laughed. "Of course."

He turned to the space next to the steel doors; Joey stopped breathing.

It was an entire wall of weapons. Mostly, they were swords and daggers and spears. But there were a few guns, too, and even a crossbow.

"One of these days, I'll teach you to fight with these. But today is not that day."

Blade strapped the familiar leather scabbard to his waist. He slipped a couple of sheathed daggers into his pockets. Then he took Joey's elbow and turned him toward the exit, pausing to pick up a small ceramic frog.

"Be careful with this," Blade murmured, whispering into Joey's ear.

The instructions were simple. Joey nodded, his heart thumping.

"It's a last resort. I don't expect you to use it." Blade was already tugging Joey out of his hoard and back to the kitchen.

Wren and Quinlan's babies must've sensed their unease; they were whimpering softly in their carriers. Katie had her gaze pinned on Blade like she was waiting for something to happen.

Wren glanced worriedly at the back of the mansion. "They're attacking the barrier. It's... I don't know. It doesn't feel right. Like it's weakening."

Blade swore. "I'm heading out. Stay in here, all of you."

"But Valor and the rest are not here yet," Joey blurted. Did Blade know a trustworthy mage? Because if he didn't and the barrier came down... Wren wasn't strong enough to put it back up.

Blade strode to the back door anyway. "I can't leave my home unprotected."

Joey hurried alongside him, his heart pounding. "Be safe."

"You and Katie stay safe." Blade's eyes were glowing red. He leaned in and pressed a hard kiss to Joey's lips. Then he walked out, and Joey locked the door behind him.

He scurried to the nearest window, watching as Blade jogged across the backyard.

Before Blade reached the tall hedge on the far end, Wren cried out in the kitchen.

The hedge exploded.

The barrier was down.

Blade immediately took up a defensive stance. Joey's anxiety clenched like icy hands around his lungs.

Katie whimpered and squirmed; was she trying to watch? Joey hugged her closer, his heart pounding as several people poured into the backyard.

There were too many of them. Blade was just one man.

Blade drew his sword as the nearest enemies approached. He charged at them and swung his sword in a gleaming arc; two people fell to the ground.

Joey's heart stopped when some of the men raised their guns.

And his heart stopped even further when Blade threw himself at them.

Gunshots rang, muffled. Joey ducked in front of the window and peeked out, unable to breathe as Blade snarled and his sword lit on fire.

Blade began to move a lot faster. He wielded the sword like it was a part of himself, the blade twisting and slashing through the air in a lethal, beautiful dance.

Men fell. Joey had a moment to feel awe and pride, before more men stormed through the hole in the hedge.

A net exploded over Blade. He sliced it apart with his flaming sword, except—

It had been a distraction.

A second net expanded over Blade and fell over him, trapping him with some of the other men. He killed them.

But he couldn't cut through the net.

Before Joey could understand what was going on, water arced through the air and splashed on Blade.

Joey felt, more than saw, the surge of electricity that followed. The air crackled around the net. And Blade spasmed violently, falling to his knees.

This was bad.

Joey pressed up against the windows, his heart pounding. In his human form, Blade's skin was so much more vulnerable to an electric shock.

Blade tried to react by shifting. Right as his entire body shimmered gold, someone stabbed him with a hooked metal rod. Blade roared, his clothes ripping as his body bulked up and wings emerged from his back, his scales gleaming a brilliant gold.

Joey didn't have time to admire Blade's dragon form. Blade spasmed and roared in pain—from the rod still sticking out of his shoulder.

Then he spasmed violently like he couldn't control his body.

How many more electric shocks could he take?

Fear clawed down Joey's throat. He pulled out his phone with shaky hands, but he couldn't see enough of the group chat to know if Blade's friends were on the way. They sure as hell hadn't gotten here yet.

"Joey!" Wren appeared next to him, grabbing his arm. "We can't stay here."

"But Blade—"

Joey snapped back to the window, his stomach plummeting when the kidnappers yanked Blade to the ground. Blade staggered to his feet and blew an orange plume of fire at the men. The flames turned white hot, incinerating those who'd started to run.

Except Blade jerked again, flames sputtering out as he roared in agony.

"I can't leave him," Joey choked, his heart squeezing tight.

What if they hurt Blade worse than they already had? What if they took him away?

What if they killed him?

More invaders spilled through the hole in the hedge, surrounding Blade. Joey struggled to breathe.

He couldn't lose Blade. He couldn't lose the man who'd run around with the shopping carts just because Joey had asked, he couldn't lose the man who'd bought Joey all the food he wanted, just because he was hungry. He couldn't lose the man who was always so happy to hold Katie, the man who'd accepted Joey despite his shady past.

Blade had promised him protection and kindness, but underneath it all, he'd also promised Joey a place to call home.

He'd promised Joey his heart.

If Joey lost Blade... he wasn't sure what he would have left. He wouldn't get to see Blade smile. He wouldn't get to curl up in Blade's arms or hear him laugh. He hadn't even gotten to see Blade with all his ugly ceramic frogs, and there was so much more that Joey wanted to discover about him.

I love him,he realized.

And Blade didn't even know.

"I can't lose him," Joey said, his voice cracking. "He's in so much danger. I have to go to him. He needs help."

Wren's frown deepened. "But the babies—"

"Draw a blood spell. For protection. Use my blood."

Wren paled. But he nodded grimly and tugged Joey away from the window. "Not here."

It hurt Joey to step away from the window, and Blade. But he followed Wren to where Hong lurked worriedly, all of them returning to the kitchen where Quinlan was pacing.

"What's going on out there?" Quinlan asked.

"They caught Blade in a net," Joey cried, wringing his hands. "He can't get away from the electric shocks."

"Fuck." Hong looked extremely concerned. "I won't be any use out there. They'll take me down in a heartbeat."

"I'll go with Joey." Quinlan straightened his shoulders. "Wren, if you can draw a protection circle—"

Wren set his jaw. "I need a bowl to collect Joey's blood."

Joey held out his hand immediately. Marion showed up with a bowl from the kitchen, and Quinlan pricked Joey's inner elbow with a claw.

"No time," Quinlan explained as Joey's blood flowed freely into the bowl. He added blood from his own wrist.

Wren grimaced as he dipped his finger into the bowl and began drawing runes on the floor. "I need time."

He'd told Joey, a long time ago, that blood magic was powerful but dangerous. And he needed time to draw all the runes, carefully, so the spell worked.

"Is this enough blood?" Joey asked.

"Yes," Wren said. "But I need you to keep them away. The protection won't begin unless the circle is complete."

Quinlan and Joey exchanged a look.

"You should stay here," Joey blurted. "Protect Wren and the babies."

Quinlan glanced at Joey's baby carrier. "What about Katie?"

"I'll leave her here." It was too risky to bring her into the fight. Especially when Joey was walking straight into a horde of kidnappers.

He unclipped Katie and kissed her forehead hurriedly. "I'll be back soon, sweetheart. Don't worry about me."

She reached for him with her tiny hands, but there was no more time.

Joey left her in Quinlan's arms and sprinted for the backdoor, his heart pounding. Were Blade's friends here yet? Valor lived nearby, but it was too early in the day for him to be home.

What if something terrible had happened to Blade?

Joey choked down a sob. At the last moment, he remembered himself and swerved, skidding to a stop next to the window. He carefully peeked out so the kidnappers wouldn't see him.

Blade was struggling back onto his feet, breathing fire, his golden scales visible through the crowd of people.

There were men approaching the mansion now, several of them.

One of them spotted Joey.

Joey ducked right as they aimed their guns at him, bullets peppering the walls.