Page 48 of Claimed By the Sinful Dragon
Landon twisted with a snarl of fury, lashing out at the enforcer. The rising sun glistened on his elongated claws, and before any of us could react, before the enforcer could get out another word, Landon’s lethally sharp claws slashed across the man’s neck, opening a wide, bloody gash. Jake’s mouth popped open in surprise, a wheezing gasp escaping, then he clamped his hands to his throat, and fell to the blood, bleeding out before his shifter healing could save him.
I blinked in surprise. I’ll admit, I didn’t see that coming. What the fuck had he been about to say, that Landon had been so desperate to keep secret?
“He, who?” I demanded coldly, but Landon shook his head, the sneer back in place.
“Kill me or my beta, and you’ll never know. My enforcers were weak, but you won’t break either of us. Not in time, anyway. She’s alive—for now. But if—”
I was in front of him before he could finish, my hand closing around his throat. I didn’t squeeze, not yet, but his eyes widened with panic as my dragon’s heat radiated from my palm, searing his flesh.
“What the fuck do you mean, for now? I suggest you thinkverycarefully before you answer, wolf.”
“He means, ‘for now’,” the beta said calmly. “If you want her to stay that way, then let. Him. Go.”
I canted my head, considering the words, then my lips twisted into a sardonic smile and I released the alpha, shoving him away and raising my hands.
“Barely a mark on him,” I said, fully aware of my handprint burned into his throat. “Now speak.”
The beta flicked a glance at Landon, who was rubbing at his throat.
“Let’s be clear,” I said, when he kept silent. “Just in case you’re both too dumb to have worked it out yet. Whoever you’re waiting for isn’t coming. Whatever ace youthinkyou’re holding has expired. As has my patience. I will ask you one more time, and you will answer, and then I willconsiderallowing you both to leave.”
A lie. Their remaining days were numbered, and that number was zero. I switched my attention back to Landon, whose eyes didn’t leave me.
“Where the fuck is my Tribute?”
Landon backed away a step, his mouth twisting into a smirk. “You’re too late. She’s gone. We sold her.”
I surged forward, but Landon shook his head. “Uh-uh. Clock’s ticking, dragon. You can kill us, or you can save her before she’s beyond your reach—but you can’t do both.”
Dread trickled down my spine.
“Who did you sell her to?”
“Uther.”
Chapter 25
Kaylee
My hands were, once again, bound—this time behind my back—and my entire body felt like it was ready to lie down and give up. Except my heart, which seemed on some kind of mission to beat so hard it would explode. Neither of those options seemed particularly appealing to me…but I supposed my opinion on that might change in the next few minutes.
The dragon that had flown me out here had said nothing to me, either before he’d scooped me up, or after we’d reached this place and he’d set me down again, and returned to his human form.This placebeing an actual castle, complete with towers and turrets—oh, and about a dozen dragons milling around the place. I’d thought one had been bad enough, but I’d have given just about anything to see Rook right now. Because Landon had told me I was being traded to Uther—as in,KingUther, who granted I hadn’t even heard of until a few hours ago, but if he was even one tenth as menacing as his home, I was fucked.
My escort-slash-guard had landed inside the huge wall surrounding the place, and not that size was everything, but this wall was twice the size of Rook’s. Scaling it was out, even if someone eventually had the decency to unbind my hands before they fell off. I glanced to my left as we walked, my eyes widening as they landed on a pair of wolves, one completely white, and the other jet black, even its eyes. I’d never seen wolves of that color before. No, not wolves.Shifters.A shiver ran through me as the pair watched miserably from their chains. Why didn’t they shift back to human? Why were they just lying there, accepting their fates? I’d never seen shifters act that way before. Broken.
The guard pushed me firmly and I took the hint, forcing my legs into motion again and wrenching my eyes from the tethered pair. Landon had called Uther a collector, and I was starting to understand the kinds of things he collected. Living things. My stomach churned as I walked. I didn’t want to be collected. And I didn’t understand why anyone would want to collect me. I was just a null. Surely nulls weren’t that unusual? And nothing to be prized, in any case. I’d heard it said more than once in the pack that nulls should be killed—a lot of them had been unhappy that Landon had allowed me to live. It was hard to imagine Uther would feel differently.
We reached the towering front door, and my escort dipped his chin to the man standing guard, who promptly stepped aside, opening the door to allow us inside.
“He’s in the war room,” the guard said to my escort. “He’s expecting you.”
I shivered as I crossed the threshold, despite how warm it was inside, but my escort gave me no time to adjust, pushing me between my shoulder blades again when I hesitated.
“Alright, I get it,” I snapped, but my stand was undermined by the shiver that ran through me again. Stupid body. It’s almost like not keeping any food down for thirty-six hours, not sleeping for twenty-four, and being dragged around on the end of a tether through the freezing cold was enough to weaken me. Funny, that. The flight here hadn’t done much for me, either, aside from make me grateful that I hadn’t eaten.
“Move, or I’ll drag you,” my escort grunted.
“Oh, so youcanspeak. I was starting to wonder. I thought maybe you only spoke to asshole wolves.”
