Page 81 of Hunted
“Our little agreement ended the moment you broke it by running away,” she said smugly.“The naga’s location will be a powerful asset for me to have when I take over the syndicate.I’ll need strong soldiers and servants.”
I hissed.If she wasn’t wearing Josh’s body as a shield right now, I’d rip her fucking head off.
“Don’t worry,”Sanka said, winking at me and giving Acacia-Josh a slow shit-eating grin as he signed without speaking aloud, leaving Acacia in the dark.“I have spells that can blind him and cut off all his other senses.Our boy here and his little parasite will arrive at our destination without ever knowing where they are or how to get there.”
But Acacia must have gotten the gist of it from Sanka’s smirk.Josh was on Sanka in an instant, one hand wrapped around the bigger man’s throat and his fangs bared while blood oozed from his ears now.
“Don’t try any of your tricks, sorcerer.”Acacia ignored the visible jolt of electric energy Sanka sent through her, let Josh’s body take the damage while she felt nothing.
I moved toward her, but Robin got in my way.The slender dragon alpha grabbed Josh by the nape of the neck and yanked him away from Sanka, then tossed him like a doll, flinging him across the crumbing factory lot with the ease of a much larger paranorm.
“Cease!”she snapped, rounding on Acacia-Josh and putting herself between the possessed vampire and the rest of the court.I quietly moved into position beside and just slightly behind her, shielding our court members and offering my support, though I doubt she’d appreciate it.
“Speaking of broken agreements and null bargains,”Robin said, her graceful hands signing for my benefit as she spoke, now that she was facing away from me,“you play dangerous games, vampire.And I’m out of patience.Did you set the witches on us?Send them to destroy my nest?”
Acacia scoffed.“I don’t need witches.I already have your little court scurrying at my beck and call.”She gave Robin a nasty smile.“Don’t threaten me, mongrel.You need me to carry out your silly little revenge.If you side with the snake in this naga business, I will never tell you where the emperor is hiding.”
Smoke curled from Robin’s lips as she spoke.I edged forward further so I could read her lips, but Cicely’s voice came alive inside me, whispering into my mind everything the dragon alpha said.“You have given me nothing of value.We’ve done nothing but play assassin for you, Acacia.Even now, with my nest in ruins and my court on the run from a second enemy, my contacts and resources are working on ferreting out the emperor’s location.Make no mistake.I will find him.Theonlyreason I ever agreed to your useless demands was because I thought it might speed things up.Every day you fail to deliver information is a day I draw closer to ending thisalliance.And the emperor is not the only one on my hitlist.”
Acacia prowled well outside of Robin’s striking range, posturing, but clearly aware she wouldn’t win a fight against the alpha in her borrowed body.“I know where he is.Right now.And how to get to him.Allow me to observe your route, and I promise not to share the naga’s current location with syndicate.”
No, she’d just wait until she was in power and use the information herself.But Robin didn’t intend to let her live long enough to make that happen.
“You will be with us,” Robin drawled, studying her long, glossy nails.“But you will not observe the route.You can draw what conclusions you will from that.It will have to be enough.And once we arrive and are safe, youwillgive me useful information about the emperor before my patience runs out.”She lifted her gaze to Acacia again.“If you refuse, I will simply kill your annoying little vessel right now and be rid of the whole hassle.I do not strictlyneedyou to achieve my goals, Acacia.You and your little toy are expendable.”
The air was tense.I saw Ruya shift her weight out of the side of my eye, preparing to intervene if Robin was serious about harming Josh.Sanka casually stepped in front of my omega, blocking her path.
I watched from the dragon’s side as she stared down the vampire queen.
Acacia simply gave her a caustic smile.“You’re all bark and no bite, shifter.I know how precious this body is to some of your court.”She slid a glance my way and ran Josh’s hands over his body in a sensual, cocky manner that made my blood boil.
Robin just looked bored.“Submit to the spell or this game ends right now, damn the consequences.I won’t ask again.”
Acacia underestimated Robin’s ruthlessness when it came to ending the emperor—and right now Acacia was more of a hinderance than a help.“I won’t allow him to submit,” the vampire said happily.“And you’ll never get the spell to work without my consent, not with my control over him and his vampire strength.Not with the sorcerer I have inmyemploy.”
Robin calmly took off her earrings and handed them to me.“Don’t lose those.”She signed to make sure I got the instructions.Then she stepped forward.
In that single step, a tidal wave of fiery magic burst from the dragon shifter, her lithe, willowy body becoming a massive, sinuous red dragon in the space between one step and the next.
I don’t think Acacia really known what Robin’s shifted form was until that moment, or if she had managed to glean it from Josh’s mind, she hadn’t believed the information.She barely had time to widen Josh’s eyes in surprise at the vision in front of her before Robin was on them, darting forward with all the swiftness of a striking serpent.The dragon’s jaws closed on Josh’s leg, dragging him across the ground toward her as Ruya shouted and Acacia scrabbled at the ground in shock and dismay.
I forced myself to stand my ground as the deadly predator trapped the love of my life in her jaws.But I couldn’t stop my flinch when she bit down, crushing Josh’s legs like twigs between her powerful jaws.
Josh didn’t scream.Acacia’s hold on him dampened his reactions and shielded her from the consequences.Still must be feelingsomethingas the dragon began to devour her puppet, since she writhed and tried to escape.
“Stop!”the vampire queen shouted as Robin bit down a second time moving higher up the leg, crushing both thighs.“I submit!Do your fucking spell!”
Robin paused, then shook her head with Josh still clamped between her teeth, like a dog shaking prey to break its neck.Then she spat out the vampire and stood over his body, her red scales glinting in the dying afternoon light, sparks raining from her nostrils and blood dripping from her sharp teeth.“Don’t play games you can’t win,” she said in a deep, reverberating voice that I couldn’t hear, but could feel through the soles of my feet as it rumbled the earth, somehow speaking human words with a dragon snout.“Remember that, leech.”
Acacia bared her fangs in a silent hiss.Then her arura faded, leaving Josh crushed and bleeding in the dirt.
The moment Josh’s consciousness returned to his body, he opened his mouth and started screaming.I had never been so glad to be deaf.It was a sound I never want to hear.I swallowed down bile as I rushed to his side, ignoring the wave of magic as Robin returned to human shape.“Shh...”I said, forcing myself to sound calm when my heart was hammering in my chest.“You’re okay now.You’re okay.”
“Howcouldyou?!”Ruya shouted, her fury evident even to my deaf ears as she shoved past Robin to fling herself down at Josh’s side.“You fuckingmonster!”Her unseeing eyes crackled with rage, and her omega nature soured the air around us, making the alpha in me want to curl up and die.
I did my best to watch their faces so I could follow what was going on, even as everything in me wanted to focus solely on Josh.“Knock him out.Now.”Robin snapped at Sanka, ignoring Ruya’s fury and Josh’s sobs of pain, which seemed to be easing as Ruya’s touch poured healing into him.
Sanka stood over them, muttering a spell and casting powerful magic.Weaving a curse that would leave Josh essentially comatose, unable to sense anything around him.
