43. Rehan

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

REHAN

I woke to a feeling of wrongness.

Yesterday changed something fundamental inside of me. My dragon felt alive for the first time in my life. I was still me, but the world was sharper. The emotional beast I’d spent my life controlling didn’t exist curled up in my mind, but flowed with my thoughts.

It took me less than a heartbeat to douse Tyson’s flames during my hunt for Jay. I knew, without a doubt, no one could evaporate my water or extinguish the fire prince's flames again. My human and dragon senses blended more thoroughly than I’d ever experienced. Instead of needing to call on my elemental magic, it tingled at the tip of my fingers.

A new awareness of my other mates gave me a sense of their intentions.

Right now, one of those intentions wasn’t right.

I opened my eyes. Jay still slept curled under my arm. Og’s head rested on my stomach, his fingers curled with Jay’s, while Lux slept on his back on Jay’s other side.

Tyson was missing.

We hadn’t quite figured out our dynamics. Although Tyson clearly enjoyed sharing Jay’s body, I couldn’t imagine him resting his head on one of us or letting us rest our heads on him. I reached down and brushed Og’s hair. For that matter, if it weren’t for Jay, I would have pushed Og off me hours ago. The earth dragon felt like a heated blanket in the middle of an already hot sleep.

Footsteps sounded on the wooden deck outside our door. A slight breeze carrying Tyson’s sweat-covered scent whipped into the room. The feeling of wrongness doubled.

I watched him approach in the dark. A backdrop of stars left his human body in silhouette. His usual cocky gait shuffled slightly, and his shoulders hunched. A recently familiar object was tucked under his right arm. The shotgun’s long barrel ended just below his thigh.

Wrong. Every instinct I had inside me screamed with the world.

The fire prince stepped into the room and raised the rifle, pointing it directly at Jay.

Adrenaline surged through my blood. I pushed Og, forcing his barely awake body off the bed, before wrapping Jay in my arms and rolling, which I prayed woke Lux.

A bullet exploded the pillow I’d just been sleeping on.

Jay hit the hardwood floor, with me on top of her, while Lux sat bolt upright, still in his human skin. His air instincts still told him safety was, up. His entire life, his father had dropped him into pits. Getting lower would never be his first instinct.

“Down,” I yelled, just as Tyson fired another shot.

Blood sprayed from Lux’s chest. His scream cut through the quiet night as fast and hard as the rifle blast.

I reached up, grabbed Lux’s arm, and pulled him off the bed. Jay softened his fall as much as she could. Tyson fired again, and feathers exploded from the pillows. Og crawled under the bed towards us, desperately trying to get to the bleeding Lux.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Jay cursed as she stuffed the gaping hole in Lux’s chest with whatever she could reach.

The air prince clung to consciousness. Blood bubbled out of his mouth with each breath. There was no way he could shift. We needed Og.

We learned the hard way that our scales were no match for a rifle firing armor-piercing rounds from point blank. I covered myself in scales anyway and charged Tyson. He shot again, the kickback knocking his right shoulder back. I hit his unbalanced side and sent us both flying through the glass door and onto the wooden deck beyond. I didn’t see the rifle land, but I heard metal skid away from us.

Although Tyson hit the wood under me with enough force to crack the planks, if he felt it, he showed no sign. His usual fiery gaze looked at me dully before he punched me hard in the side. I gagged but didn’t let go. He hit me again, and I snarled, ramming my scale-covered knee into his balls.

No reaction.

Not pain.

Not indignation for using a cheap shot.

Tyson was a shell, and he fought like one. Although his blows hurt, it was like he suddenly only knew basic punches. In minutes, I had him rolled onto his chest and his arms restrained behind his back.

My sense of Lux was still strong. Og must have gotten to him. In fact, if I closed my eyes, the sensation of Og’s warm healing magic tingled my skin.

I had always been a dragon who enjoyed my alone time. I always would be. But this new awareness, this connection, felt like acceptance. In the short time I’d had it, I knew I’d never be able to live without it.

I squeezed my brother’s hands. “Why, Tyson? Do you not feel it, too?”

He didn’t respond.

Wrongness.

Jay’s light footsteps came through the door. Blood covered half her face and neck. She’d pulled on the T-shirt I got in Ireland. More blood had already soaked through her shoulder and breasts, making the fabric cling.

“Lux will be okay,” Jay said softly. “The bullet shattered a rib and made a large hole but went clean through him. Og will toss him out here to shift as soon as he is conscious again.”

She looked down at Tyson. “There were zip-ties in the kitchen. I’ll be right back.” She stood before putting a hand on my shoulder. “You okay?”

I grunted. “No. What is going on?”

Jay squeezed my shoulder. “I don’t know yet.”

I tracked Jay’s movements through my mark. She was powerful and capable; she could walk across base camp alone but worry still ate at me. Gorm had seen us arrive and probably felt us kill his demons. We were idiots for staying here tonight. But I didn’t know how to make a portal, and we didn’t know a safe place where our dragons could fly and land without being seen.

Now, something happened to Tyson.

What was wrong with him? Could it happen to Jay? To me? My mind raced.

It felt like I held my breath until my mate returned. She flicked on the lights, and the buzzing of the bug catchers hummed to life, along with the occasional zap zap as they did their job. In two motions, she efficiently zipped-tied Tyson’s hands together, like she’d done this hundreds of times, and we rolled him over. His wide-opened eyes stared up, occasionally blinking into the night sky.

Jay ran her hands down his body, looking for marks or objects, I assumed.

“Is he drugged, like you were?” I finally asked.

Jay shook her head. “I think it’s worse than that.”

Grandson. Tukaqu’s voice faintly sounded in my head. Come home. Gorm’s shown his hand. He has help.

I froze, straining to hear more. At this distance and with the shield still around our island, he shouldn’t be able to project his thoughts at all. For all I knew, that little bit used up every bit of power inside him.

“Call Oliviarose,” I demanded.

Jay held her hands out. “I left the phone with Caoimhe. The portal would have fried it.”

“Tukaqu just spoke to me. He said: ‘Gorm’s shown his hand.’ That means he’s acted.” I pulled my hair, wishing I had my hair tie to get it off my neck.

“Even if we had a phone, conversations can be overheard by the wrong people… and the wrong people are on your island.” Jay turned to Tyson and thumped his shoulder. “Can you hear me, Gorm?”

I jerked back, though Tyson didn’t respond.

Jay rubbed her face and rocked. “Gorm lured us here. He didn’t stick around because as soon as he saw Tyson, he knew he wouldn’t need to. He could make Tyson do his dirty work.” She sucked in a harsh breath and rocked. “I left Tyson’s blood in your refrigerator, Rehan. Remember when I took it on the beach? I just left it for anyone to find. Tyson’s fucking blood.” Still rocking, she grabbed the sides of her head and squeezed. “How stupid can I get?”

It took me a moment to catch up. “When you were staying with me?”

Jay took a few deep breaths and stopped rocking. “He’s taken control of Tyson’s body, maybe even his mind. Blood is powerful. What was I thinking?”

I grabbed Jay and pulled her to my side. “A volcanic eruption almost killed you. I didn’t think of it either.”

“The orphans.” Lux croaked from inside.

Jay stiffened. “Shit. Doctor Raba had their blood.”

She sucked in a breath and stood. She took one step toward Lux before pausing to look at Tyson. I stood as well and took the zip-ties from her. They weren’t strong enough to stop his dragon strength, but after a few clumsy attempts, I got the ties around his ankles and dragged him back into the cabin.

Lux lay in a pool of blood. Og had torn the air dragon’s shirt off to get to the clean bullet hole going through his upper right breast. The air dragon struggled to take even breaths. Og sat next to him, his back against the little side table.

“We can’t keep doing this,” Og said. “It’s just a matter of time before something hits Lux I can’t heal fast enough. Or hits me.” Og squeezed his eyes shut. “And the pain. He doesn’t complain because his dad got him used to pain, but he’s almost died twice in three days.”

“I’m not dead yet,” Lux croaked. “It’s just a flesh wound.”

Jay let out a dark laugh. “Fuck, Lux. Fuck, if we had my magic…”

“Can you shift?” I asked Lux.

“I hope,” Lux responded.

I picked the air dragon up as Jay dropped to Og’s side. Lux’s shift was so slow, his human body almost too weak to support it, but he managed. After only a heartbeat as his dragon, he shrank into his human form. Leaning heavily on me, we walked back to Jay.

Lux sank to the floor, his eyes already drifting closed. Og wasn’t in much better shape. I couldn’t sit, but I couldn’t stand still either, and I found myself pacing a small line.

“Ryker, maybe all of fire, is working with Gorm,” Jay stated. “And based on Caoimhe’s info and my time under Doctor Raba’s table, Ryker’s special forces are the grown-up orphans with mixed elemental magics.” She looked up. “Gorm has an army, much stronger than any other element on your island.”

Jay pressed her palms together and pushed them into her forehead. “My magic’s still gone... and without it, the only way to break a blood bond is to kill the mage that made it.”

We all looked at Tyson, lying deathly still on the ground.

“Can’t he just break those zip-ties?” Og asked.

Jay nodded. “Probably. But since Rehan put him down, he hasn’t moved. My guess is Tyson’s fighting back. We keep him close, we watch him, and we let him know we believe in him. It’s all we can do until we find Gorm.”

“How long will it take to get back to the island?” Og asked.

Jay looked at me. “If you can carry all of us all the way to the coast, then we can fly tonight. Damn the consequences of a human seeing a dragon. Assuming Oliviarose has a boat for us, we can reverse Caoimhe’s escape and be there this time tomorrow.”

“And if she doesn’t?” Og asked.

Jay let out a harsh breath. “We cross that bridge when we get there.”

I knelt at Tyson’s side and clapped him on the shoulder. “You felt our link. You felt it more deeply than all of us combined. Fight, Tyson. Your mates need you.”