Dragon's Lover, Part 2 Read online

  Aegis was digging his fingers into the table’s surface, the memory of the man who’d attacked Ashlyn etched on his mind like a grim photograph. “As I told Lumen,” he said, straightening his back and pulling away, “I dropped a global positioning device in his breast pocket. We can track him.”

  “Well done,” Minach said. “Do you have access to his current whereabouts?”

  Aegis pulled his phone from his pocket and after a few clicks, he found what he’d been looking for. Despite the fact that he was situated under a deep lake, a faint red circle flashed on the screen, pinpointing the location of the Forsaken. “It seems he’s in the warehouse district by the docks at the east end of the city.”

  “Then we must head over, together,” said Lumen. “He may not stay in London long.”

  Aegis nodded in agreement, but in that moment his mind went to Ashlyn. Something was nagging at his thoughts, but he couldn’t entirely put a finger on what it was. He shuddered, telling himself that he was merely suffering the aftershocks of parting ways with her. He needed to focus on the task at hand, to help his Guild bring the enemy to its knees.

  As for Ashlyn, the Guild would soon introduce Kabal into her life. Aegis could begin the difficult task of shutting her out of his mind, and the impossible task of shutting her out of his heart.

  The East End

  The dark green warehouse perched near the edge of a concrete dock in London’s east end, under a blanket of thick grey cloud. Curving in an uneven serpentine next to it, the Thames River murkily reflected the distant skyline in its wake. A calm silence permeated the air as ten Dragon shifters stood about the derelict building’s entrance, ready to shift at a moment’s notice.

  Aegis studied the structure, noting an abundance of holes and weaknesses in its exterior. Strange. It looked as though it hadn’t been used in eons.

  “Shall we?” Minach asked. He stood on one side of Aegis, Lumen on the other.

  The Guild’s Alpha nodded, his eyes peeled for any movement. “Quietly, now,” he said. “There may be many Forsaken about. It’s impossible to tell until we get inside.”

  They proceeded in human form towards the door, which was slightly ajar as though welcoming visitors. “I’d have thought it would be sealed up tight,” Minach said softly. “This looks an awful lot like a trap.”

  “There’s only one way to find out.” Lumen pulled the door open slowly, allowing his eyes to adjust to the dark space before proceeding. At the building’s far end, a faint beam of light illuminated the ground below via a large, gaping hole in the roof.

  “Do you see anything?” Aegis asked silently.

  Lumen shook his head as he gave his tacit reply. “Only a small table in the distance. I think there are some papers on it. Come, let’s have a look. Two of you—Domnal, Aramis—hug the walls. Make sure no one is hiding in the shadows.”

  While the two men did as Lumen had instructed, the others proceeded in a bee-line towards a small folding table at the centre of the room. On top of it, as the Alpha had noted, was a messy pile of papers.

  “Someone’s been here recently,” Lumen said out loud as he sniffed the air. “And clearly they weren’t expecting our arrival. These weren’t meant for our eyes.” He rifled through the scattered sheets, which were covered in hand-written notes. After the third or fourth page, he turned to Aegis.

  “What is it?” Aegis asked, glancing over the Alpha’s shoulder to see that he was holding up a map.

  “Look closely.”

  Red circles dotted the image, and it only took Aegis a moment to realize that he was seeing London and the surrounding area, stretching as far off as Glastonbury. The Tor was circled, as was Hampstead Heath. Even the Syndicate’s Tower in London had been marked. Aegis shot his eyes towards Oxford, and sure enough a red dot pinpointed the location of his home.

  “But those are all…”

  “Locations where Guild members reside or places where Relics have been uncovered, yes.”

  “Jesus,” Minach said. “That’s fucked.”

  “They’re planning something,” said Lumen, “though if they haven’t already broken into all our homes, I can’t yet guess what it is.”

  “Oy! Over here!” A quick cry shot towards them from a far corner of the dark building. Aegis’s chin shot up and his eyes caught sight of a figure moving very fast in the opposite direction. He didn’t wait for Lumen’s signal before shifting into his Dragon form to shoot across the warehouse. Within seconds he, Lumen, Lyre and Minach found themselves surrounding the coward who’d failed to evade them, who now crouched in the corner, eyes darting about in search of an escape route. Aramis had pinned him in place with a huge talon, his Dragon threatening to breathe fire on the shady bastard.

  Immediately Aegis could see why Aramis had reacted so forcefully. His captive was the same Dragon hybrid who’d assaulted Ashlyn. He smelled of a sickening combination of human blood, Dragon shifter, and vampire. The combination was as repulsive as Aegis remembered.

  He shifted first, striding up to their victim. “So, we’ve got you again,” Aegis said, grabbing him by the collar of his long coat, his biceps bulging. “I thought I’d made it clear that I didn’t want to see you again.”

  “Please,” the Forsaken muttered, cowering in place. Why wasn’t he shifting, trying to escape? What the hell was wrong with him? The bastard was the weakest Forsaken ever, shameful for a man with Dragon genes.

  “What’s happened here?” Lumen shot out. “Where’s the rest of your coven, traitor?”

  “They’ve gone,” the man said, fear widening his eyes. But his terror shifted quickly to something else, his lips turning up, jagged teeth displaying themselves in a grim smile.

  “Gone where?” asked Aegis, squeezing the man’s collar shut with both hands so that it choked him hard. “What the hell are they planning? Tell us!”

  “They’ve gone to find her,” the man croaked out, letting out a demented laugh, “to find your lady friend. They want her. Boss wants her bad. He wants the Relic, too. And he’ll get them both, just you wait and see.”

  Aegis raised his right fist, ready to clock the fucker in the chin. But Lumen reached over and grabbed his forearm, shaking his head. Calm down, Brother.

  “What do you mean, both?” the Alpha asked, his voice calm and smooth as silver. “A Seeker can’t find the Relic without a mate. Ashlyn can’t find it on her own, not until she’s bonded with the Dragon of Fire.”

  “Seeker?” the Forsaken spat, letting out a mad laugh. “Your lady is no Seeker. As for a mate, she’ll be bonding with someone very special.” Another mad chortle erupted from his throat.

  “What the fuck are you saying, man?” Aegis snarled, shaking him with enough force to break a human’s neck before Lumen grabbed him, forcing him to stop.

  “Tell us what you mean,” Lumen said, his voice commanding but soft. “Tell us what we need to know, now, or you’ll find yourself without a head. You can see that my friend here is rather upset with you.”

  The Forsaken stared straight into the Alpha’s eyes, challenging and bright in his lunacy. “Ashlyn Raleigh is the daughter of two very powerful members of an ancient bloodline. She’s a very impressive lass, that one. Ask this fellow here.” He bobbed his head in Aegis’s direction. “He’s seen what she can do.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Aegis, his tone desperate. “What are you saying? What’s going on?”

  The Forsaken shot him a cold look, his eyes narrowing with sadistic pleasure. “She’s a goddamned Dragon shifter, you fool. And the man who leads the Forsaken intends to claim her for his own.”

  * * *

  Dragon’s Lover, Part Three is coming soon!

  Afterword

  Dragon’s Lover, Part Three is coming soon!

  Also by Carina Wilder

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