Page 56 of Dragon Unhinged

Of course. Anything.

I’m at dinner with your father.I waffle for a second on whether I should tell her that he’s been taken over by Grey, but I don’t want to give her even more reason to be worried.He’s making me an offer on behalf of the vampire, Grey.

The vampire who is trying to destroy all the dragons.

Yes.

Okay…I can hear the confusion and concern in her tone, and it makes me want to stop this whole thing right now.

But I can’t.

Grey wants me to work for him. In exchange, we could be free. Or at least as free as he’ll allow. I could claim you, we could have a home of our own.I know I’m leaving out some major points, but I want to do this slowly, give her all the pieces, bit by bit, so she has plenty of time for the plan to sink in.

No. Tell him to fuck off.Her tone in my head is so adamant, so sure, I could kiss her if she were here.

I don’t know why but having her agree with my gut just makes my own resolve that much stronger.

Ellie and I are working on the spell. Kayden’s the only one down here, but his runes look like yours. We can get you out. We can have everything. Without the strings Grey wants to tie you up in, without the cuffs of my father’s prison, without anyone’s wishes but our own.

Chapter

Twenty-Four

BRIANNA

Twenty minutes earlier…

I find it odd my father hasn’t glanced back once at the house as he strides toward the town car. He’s always double checking the house. He even often glances toward my room as if he can tell I’m actually inside. This time, none of that. He and Declan make it to the car and they both get in. It’s odd, but I can’t think about that right now. If Fate brought us together, I have to believe there’s time to find a way to free him.

As soon as the town car disappears out of sight, I know this might be our only chance.

Ellie steps up beside me. “You ready?”

I give her a sharp nod and lead the way downstairs into the depths of the basement once again.

“Wow, there’s a lot of magic in here,” Ellie murmurs as she watches me move through the process of getting into the cells.

I was hoping Ewan would be here, but it seems they’ve dragged him off somewhere as well.

Kayden has never given me any indication at all that he would be willing to help, or that he’d even be willing to look me in the face, but he’s our only shot.

“Kayden, I know you don’t want anything to do with me, and I know you don’t trust me, but I’m not alone, and this might be our only chance to get you out of here.”

“What good would it do, dragon-mate? Even if you could somehow free me of these cuffs, of these symbols carved into my flesh, I’m not long for this world. Sooner or later, my wounds will kill me.” His voice is weak and listless. There’s no more fight, no more desire. He’s ready to give up. He’s just waiting for death to come knocking.

Ellie jumps in before I can say anything else. “They don’t have to, if you get your head out of your ass and realize that there’s help right here, outside this door.” She reaches for the handle, and I blink as the surface starts to glow with more of those symbols.

“Are you sure you should go in there?”

“There’s not a witch alive who could do the spells they’d need to keep fae from entering a room or leaving it. Besides, I don’t have to go into the room on this plane.” She winks at me, and before I can question her anymore, she completely vanishes from sight as if she were never there.

“Kayden, I’m going to come in, okay?”

“Don’t. I won’t have your dragon enraged that I’ve touched you.” He growls it, but the door swings open anyway, and I get my first look at the man who can shift into a bear.

And now that I’m seeing him, I don’t think I can blame him for his despondence, for his giving up. There’s a huge, bloody stain covering the t-shirt he’s wearing, too fresh to make me believe it’s healing at all.

“Hold out your wrists, Kayden.” Ellie’s voice is as clear as a bell, but she’s still nowhere to be seen.

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