“How were the trials?” the Lord asked.
“They were a tribulation,” Cole replied.
The Lord chuckled. “I’m sure they were, but you seem well.”
“I am.”
“Good, good. And have you heard anything about your brothers?”
“That was one of the reasons I was in the human realm,” Cole said. “I’m going to search for them myself.”
“And you planned to do this at your lover’s manor?”
His knowledge of Lexi and what she was to him didn’t come as a surprise. He’d hoped to keep her hidden from this monster longer, but the Lord had probably known about her since Malakai came to hide here.
“Everyone requires a break now and then,” Cole replied.
“Of course we do. And who is this woman you’re taking a break with?”
Cole glanced at Malakai again; how much had he revealed to the Lord about her? Cole suspected it was everything.
“She is the daughter of a friend who died fighting for you during the war, milord,” Cole replied.
The Lord’s red eyes gleamed with malice, and his lank brown hair fell forward when he leaned toward Cole. “But who is she to you?”
When Cole’s jaw clenched, a blast of hot air warmed his neck. Glancing over his shoulder, he glowered at the dragon only a couple of feet behind him.
“Back the fuck off,” he growled.
The creature’s eyes narrowed, and its head lowered until only inches separated them. Its orange eyes glistened in the moonlight, and he sensed its barely controlled desire to destroy him. Cole smiled at it.
“That’s enough,” the Lord said. “I will not have any fighting in my hall. Go lie down.”
Another snort of hot air blew Cole’s hair back from his face before the dragon retreated a few feet and settled down. Resting its head on its front legs, the beast watched him with the intensity of a tiger about to pounce. Cole turned his back on it.
“So, Cole, who is this woman to you?” the Lord asked.
Cole shifted his attention back to the snake on the throne. He’d rather face the dragons than this twisted monster; at least he knew what to expect from the dragons.
Cole considered which answer would be best for Lexi. If he confirmed she was his mate, the Lord would use her against him. If he simply said she was his lover, and the Lord discovered she was his mate, it might infuriate him.
No matter what he said, he was trapped, and they all knew it.
“You know what, let me find out the answer for myself,” the Lord said.
The Lord lifted his hand and crooked his finger toward the door at the other end. With that finger, he beckoned to someone. Cole turned as the warlock who had escorted him into the room opened the door again.
Cole’s heart sank when two lycans entered the room. Each of them held one of Lexi’s arms. She struggled in their grasp as she tried to tear her arms free but stopped when she spotted the dragons.
Her face visibly paled as a couple of the dragons lifted their heads and turned toward her. She stumbled back but didn’t go far as the lycans kept a firm hold on her.
Then her eyes met his over the heads of the dozen or so dragons, and she lurched forward before the lycans pulled her back. Somehow, Cole managed to suppress the lycan seeking to break free and run to her.
He had no idea how the dragons would react if he set the lycan free in this hall, and he couldn’t risk them attacking her.
“Let her go,” he said in a low, gravelly voice distorted by the change trying to take him over.
“Why would I do that?” the Lord inquired.
“She has nothing to do with any of this.”
“Now that’s where you’re wrong. She’s the daughter of a man who fought for me, the lover of the king of the dark fae, and my very loyal vampire friend here has asked for her hand in marriage.”
Cole’s pulse thundered in his ears at this announcement. When his gaze swung toward Malakai, the vampire took a step back. His eyes darted around like he was about to run again, but there was nowhere for him to go.
“Not in my hall,” the Lord hissed. “If you fight in here, I’ll kill you.”
Cole’s breathing came faster as his attention returned to the Lord. The man’s eyes were shrewd as he assessed Cole. Then the lunatic shifted his attention to Lexi.
Lifting his hand again, he waved at her. “Come here, dear,” he called out.
When Lexi jerked on her arms again, the lycans released her. She lifted her chin, but he sensed her fear as she descended the stairs. With cautious steps, she made her way down the hall toward them.
She had to weave her way through the dragons as they remained closed in behind Cole. And the monsters were not going to get out of her way. Half of them remained asleep, a few of them kept their attention on Cole, but a couple lifted their heads to watch her through slitted eyes.
When Cole started toward her, the Lord’s words froze him. “Stay where you are.”
Cole’s shoulders heaved as the lycan tried to take control. His body started to contort, but somehow, he subdued his compulsion to change.
“Do not move, Colburn,” the Lord commanded.
When Cole’s head swiveled toward him, alarm flashed through the man’s eyes. Their gazes held until a dragon shifted behind him and Cole’s attention returned to Lexi.
Chapter Sixty-Three
Lexi could barely breathe as she picked her way carefully through the sea of huge, man-eating creatures lounging on the floor of the massive hall. She didn’t have the time to take in the beauty of the place as her attention remained focused on the dragons.
Don’t step on their tails. DO NOT step on one of them.
But that was all she could picture herself doing. And the second she did, it would swallow her like a bird with a worm. She’d probably wiggle a lot less on the way down its gullet.
Lexi tugged on the collar of her shirt as a cold sweat coated her body. When one of the sleeping dragons opened one eye to peer at her, she nearly yelped as her bladder threatened to let loose.
The damn thing yawned as she passed before closing its eye and going back to sleep. She was going to die, its friends were going to eat her, and it was taking a nap.
Apparently, it had filled up on something else today, and she was not on the menu. She should be grateful; instead, she was even tenser. If this one didn’t eat her, the next one might.
The worst was she couldn’t see Cole anymore. Once she descended those steps and became surrounded by the dragons, she lost sight of him. She’d give anything to see him one more time, especially if she was going to die in this place.
One of the dragons shifted, and its tail fell in her way. Lexi froze as it twitched on the ground before settling into place.
Then one of them released a snore. They were snoring!
It took her a couple of seconds to start moving again, and once she did, she felt twitchier than a rabbit on cocaine as she crept around that tail.
From a distance, the dragons awed and frightened her, but up close…
Up close, they were terrifying. They smelled of fire and the musk of a wild animal. And these things were about as untamed as it got.
In the moonlight, their scales shone as the beasts’ large breaths expanded their enormous rib cages. They were a variety of colors from red to green, brown, black, blue, and some were a mix of multiple colors.