If she’d been human, Jori’s hand would have crushed hers. He seemed to realize how hard he was squeezing, and his fist jerked open, releasing her.
“Really? Anyone I know? I would love to meet a woman that could stand to be around a king for longer than a few hours. Unless of course, she’s being inspired to stick around,” she said holding up her shackles and giving her wrists a little wriggle.
“Shut it,” the thug called Clive snapped at her, stepping toward her.
The talkative guy held up a hand. “You left that mark on her face?”
“Stenlen, she was being difficult.”
Stenlen sighed. “Merwin, explain to Clive again why we don’t hit the dragon ladies.”
“Makes them difficult,” Merwin said.
“Great, now that’s explained, shall we go?” He gestured forward, sweeping his hand toward the exterior of the van, and moving aside to make room for them to exit.
Kymri moved toward the doors, but Jori gripped her hand, searching her face.
“It’s the only way to find her. Besides, Odson’s got his friend helping us,” she said softly. She hoped that actually meant something.
Expression set, he moved out ahead of her, then held out a hand to help her out. They both knew she didn’t need the help despite the circumstances, she smiled at him.
They were led to a waiting plane on a small tarmac, where a crew member signaled the pilot to prepare as soon as they came into sight. The door was barely closed and they were rolling out to the runway. Kymri had never needed help flying before and she disliked it immensely. Jori seemed nonplussed by the situation.
She strained at her shackles to stretch her wings freely. Being at the mercy of someone else’s flight habits was torture. Her dragon rumbled with discontent for the duration of the journey.
This was worse than the car.
We’ll get out of this. We’ll get out of this. We’ll get out of this.
They had to find a way out. Or she’ll have just handed Jori over to the dragon king that Elora had spent the last two decades protecting him from.
She studied his profile. He was looking out the small window, lost to his thoughts.
She wondered what they were. Surely, he was at least a little bit curious.
She’d never met her own sire. She didn’t even know if he was dragon, human or other. Kolina never said a word about him. Kymri spent most of her life trying not to be curious but deep down it ate at her, fueling some of the resentment toward her mother.
She tried to imagine what Jori was feeling, not sure that she could, really. He grew up as a human chasing myths, only to find out they were real, and they were part of his heritage. He’d lost his mother only to discover she wasn’t dead. Instead, she was living in captivity surrounded by the deadliest species on the planet. In order to keep him safe.
And here he was going into the dragon’s den itself.
No, she couldn’t imagine, not really.
She was scared, and she spent her life as a guardian for her people. Jori was an adventurer, not a warrior.
Until now. He would have to learn to be. Fast.
Otherwise, they might not survive.
The plane’s altitude shifted. They were preparing to land. Jori watched the ocean through his small window until the plane shifted again, bringing the landscape into view.
He recognized the mountain range cutting the sky from the ocean. He drew in a long deep breath, his heart racing. He’d been here before with his mother. They’d explored the lowlands, visiting villages in the valleys and along the coast.
He swallowed hard. Elora had taken a lot of risks to engage him with his heritage. Was every expedition a family history lesson?
He kept his eyes on the trajectory of the plane. He needed to know where they were going to land if they were going to figure out how to escape when they found her. How that was going to play out, he had no idea, but he couldn’t leave her there. His father needed her. What would happen to him now that he was here? Would her captivity have been in vain? Had he just destroyed her attempts to save him? He couldn’t bear to live with the knowledge that she was imprisoned for him. He would do what he had to.
The plane slid over the foothills toward the far side of the mountain and curled further inward. He looked for a runway, unable to see a strip breaking the trees far below them. The plane turned again, and he blinked.
He blinked again. Seriously? There was a fucking runway in the mountain? It was like a goddamned James Bond story. He may have considered himself an ‘international man’ but he sure as hell didn’t have the skills of a spy heading into the Mastermind’s lair. How the hell were they going to escape from a mountain lair? He glanced at Kymri.
They were so fucked.
He looked at the shackles on her wrists.
If he could figure out how to get those off of her, she had a shot at escape.
He glanced at their captors. How many of them were there?
The population of Kymri’s island had hundreds of people inhabiting it. How many of them were dragons? If there was as much security here as there’d been on that island … well, it sure as hell wasn’t going to be a cakewalk. They’d figure something out.
Jori, there’s a hell of a difference between a hungry jaguar and dragons with agendas.
Dragons.
This couldn’t be fucking real.
The plane descended into the shadow of the mountains as they approached the cave mouth to land.
His stomach tilted and moments later the wheels touched down, bumping them to a halt.
Dragons with agendas.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
19
Kymri’s senses tracked every shift in altitude and direction, as they moved through the mountain corridors. It was as twisty as the queen’s castle.
It would be difficult, but not impossible, to find their way out again. They would find a way.
She kept her eye on Jori as they walked. His tanned skin was pale, poor lighting aside. The severity of the situation was taking its toll on him. A human in a dragon lair, and his only potential allies were shackled and almost as vulnerable as he was.
The only thing to do now was meet their king and see what he had to say.
Jori had met Kymri’s queen as though it were something he did all the time.
To be fair, he hadn’t known about the dragons. Still, he had been a prisoner facing potential danger.
They turned a corner and she nearly gagged. The scent of male dragon assaulted her full force. She felt a flutter in her belly and shot Jori a glance. Male dragons were supposed to smell attractive to females, especially those in heat. But then, she was no longer in heat now, was she? Not only was she bonded, she was also carrying a youngling. Closing off any doors to other mates. Her gut rolled and she stumbled.
“Kymri?” Jori’s concerned voice floated to her through a wave of nausea.
“I feel ill,” she said, leaning against the wall as the scene before her twisted and wavered.
“What did you do to her? Did you poison her?” his voice was angry as he rounded on their captors.
“That’s stupid, why they hell would we do that?” Clive snapped.
“How the fuck should I know?” Jori snapped back as he crouched down beside where she’d sunk to the floor.