Page 31 of Queens Ride Horny Dragons
"Hello!" I called.
Someone screamed. Shrill. Terrible. And it sounded a hell of a lot like Asa.
Terror splintered down my spine, and I broke out into a run. "Asa!"
"Yara!"
My bare feet slapped against the carpeted floors hard. My blood hummed with fear, and my heart ricocheted between my ribs.
I followed the curve of the hallway and then skidded to a stop when I saw Asa. He stood rigid outside the art room door.Relief poured over me at the sight of him but chilled when I saw his ashy complexion.
"What is it?"
He pointed over my shoulder, not even daring to tear his wide eyes away to look up at me.
I turned. Across from the art room was Tavis's bedroom, the half-open door swaying slightly with a gentle breeze. I pushed it all the way open—and gasped. Where the window used to be was a jagged hole in the wall with wood chunks sharp as dragon teeth.
"Tavis." His name came out soundlessly. Without turning, I flapped my hand behind me until I gripped Asa's shirt in my fist. I pulled him to me, then thought better of it because I didn't know what else I would find in Tavis's room.
"Tell me… Tell me what did you see?" I asked when I could find my voice again.
"Nothing. But I heard three of them."
Three of them. Oh no.
I stumbled inside. The room was small and simple for a castle, was neat and clean, but empty of my favorite head of blue hair. I peered through the hole, and giant tire tracks ripped through the grass outside the castle and disappeared when they hit the road.
"You said you heard three of them.” I dragged Asa along with me down the hall to Calhoun’s room. No sign of him in there. Just another hole in the wall. We moved down the hall toward Vance's room. “Three of them what? What exactly?"
"Three explosions. The walls shaking. And the three sets of chains rattling outside.” He stared up at me with his big blue eyes. “Like ghosts, Yara."
Chains, like what were used when my shifters were plucked out of the car on our way to Evenza. They'd been kidnapped then.
My stomach curled in on itself at the sight of Vance's room, same as the others’. All three of my harem were gone. Taken. By who? The fae? Were they dead already?
I gagged on the thought, crumpling against the wall in a cold sweat.
"Yara." Asa plucked at my arm. "Yara, listen. Tavis and I put cameras everywhere. We can see what happened, even from the outside."
"Cameras." I pulled in a loud breath, my lungs feeling much too small. I'd forgotten about the cameras.
Asa nodded his head back the way we'd come while he rubbed my back. "Come see."
He was always the concerned caretaker during my mental breakdowns, always the face of calm. He definitely hadn't learned that from me, though maybe that was how he coped with everything—by taking charge of his big sister's freak-outs, of which there were many.
God, I didn't deserve this kid in my life.
We clung to each other as he led me back to the art room, which had changed some since the last time I'd been in here. A computer sat in the corner with a grid of different live views of the castle. Asa sat down in front of it and started clicking and typing like he'd done this a thousand times before.
"Look." He pointed to the screen. "Who are they?"
I peered closer. The full-screen picture was grainy, but I could make out three wrecking balls attached to three large cranes. Then seconds after the debris cleared, three figures with chains in their gloved hands rappelled down from the rooftop and into my shifters’ rooms. It had all happened within seconds, and then they’d sped away, surprisingly fast for three cranes. On the final shot, two faces turned to throw one last look at the castle. Petra and Rio, enemies over the crown, but united against me.
I dug my fingernails into my palms. What a pair of petty, ugly, basic bitches.
"Do you know them?” Asa asked. “Did they take Tavis, Vance, and Calhoun?"
"They'rebarbaric stovetops that horde assholes. And yes, they took them."
