Five blasts of energy slammed into them. Lucan took the brunt as the attack sent him sliding across the slate on his back. Immediately, he leapt to his feet. Fire flared from his mouth as he sprayed the bevy of Djinn with flames.
Another strike propelled Lucan into a wall, and terror slid through Meda. The cavern that had so recently echoed with the sounds of passion now resounded with the cacophony of mayhem. Lucan shook with each barrage, but refused to give quarter. He’d seemed so invincible before, but now, the attackers had him outnumbered as their power held him pinned to the wall while they continued to strike as one, their strength quintupled by their number.
“You Dragons think you’re so special and so superior,” one of the Djinn ground out. “You’re nothing but bullying squatters. Before your kind came here,
we
were the kings of the underground. The caverns and the subterranean warrens were our domain. Then you Dragons,” he spat. “You came along and pushed us from our homes, started mating with the Elvish, our women and
human
women. Then you protected your dwellings, the homes your people stole from us, with your magic.”
“We stole nothing,” Lucan replied evenly. His arms tightened around Meda, making it clear he believed
they’d
steal her.
“For a long time, your spells kept us out,” the leader continued as if Lucan hadn’t spoken. “But Dragons must be lazy. Complacent. All we had to do is wait. And finally, your wards began to crumble. We can get inside your lowest levels. Before long, we’ll infiltrate your entire compound. Too bad, you’ll be dead and unable to tell anyone.”
The enemies closed in, but there was nothing Lucan could do to escape while he held her protected to his chest.
“Just let me go,” she pleaded. There was no way, both of them could survive this confrontation, but one of them could. He could live. He could warn his people. Obviously, they wanted her. Their kind had attacked her at the school, too. She knew there was a connection.
“Never,” Lucan responded. With some difficulty, he turned under their onslaught though they pummeled him with their fiery balls of energy. With his back to the Djinn, his wings opened, unfurling behind him. Lucan gathered her high against his chest, protecting her with his arms and the curve of his body. Wind whistled harshly around them as his large wings propelled them into the air. He headed for the doorway that would lead them from this place.
“Aim for the wing,” the one in charge commanded. “Follow my lead.”
Meda screamed as a net of glowing energy landed over them. It seared into her flesh, and sizzled around Lucan, hampering his flying but not bringing him down. Suddenly, an explosion of blood rained to the cave floor beneath them. Lucan bellowed, and they careened at breakneck speed for the ground. She saw part of his wing already there, still slowly moving but beginning to curl on itself.
Lucan landed on his back, and she flew from his arms. Her cries echoed around the cavern as her skin scraped the rock. The Djinn who seemed to be in charge raced to her. His hand closed on her arm, roughly yanking her to her feet. Frost seeped into her body at his icy touch. He dragged her further from Lucan as his men closed in on her husband. Now, from the distance, she could see they’d sheared off half of one of his wings. His scales curled from much of his back, exposing bruised and bleeding skin. He was barely moving, though he struggled to get to her, his gaze locked on her.
The Djinn scooped one of the shirts from the floor and shoved it at her.
“Finish him,” he instructed his men, “then follow.”
“No!” Meda screamed. The Djinn pulled her backward as the others stood around Lucan. Their hands raised, and four thick streams of energy flowed forward to twine into one. It wrapped Lucan’s neck, squeezing tight and cutting through his scales.
The leader yanked her into a swirling chasm of dark clouds. It closed around them, stealing Meda’s air and vision as they were sucked through an otherworldly pneumatic passage.
Chapter Six
Maks! Maks, help!
Lucan screamed through his thoughts as he prayed that the cavern wasn’t too far from the main compound for his scion to hear and locate him. Panic tore through him as the band around his throat grew tighter, but it was terror that overrode all. As Lucan’s vision dimmed and the energy lash sliced into his throat, the Djinn leader
transporated
with Meda.
Lucan’s attackers pulled their power lash even tighter. It cut through his throat, disconnecting him from his body. As his pain disappeared, it left Lucan in complete despair as death loomed a moment away. His vision grew dark, his last sight the enemies’ self-satisfied looks of victory.
* * * *
It was cold. She was freezing. Meda shuddered as she regained consciousness beneath a pile of thick blankets. She should be warm because of them, but she wasn’t. Instead, she was chilled so bone-deep, she thought she might never be warm again.
And it didn’t matter. A sob shook her as her last vision assailed her—Lucan, nearly ripped apart and helpless, struggling to get to her as she’d been sucked into a vortex. She’d been conscious then, but remembered nothing after the opening had shut and the air closed in on her and the Djinn who’d grabbed her.
She did a mental inventory of her body, unsure how much she could or should move. She didn’t want to attract attention, and she couldn’t tell if she was injured. The pain she’d felt earlier from the energy net and the skid across the floor had disappeared. To her surprise, other than the deep cold, she didn’t ache.
Cautiously, she looked around. Now that she’d assessed her physical condition, she needed to determine her situation. To her surprise, she was in an opulent room, adorned with precious gems and infused with glowing light, though she couldn’t identify the light source. It actually appeared to be coming from the walls. She was lying on some sort of settee hewn of onyx but covered with numerous soft pelts. Brilliant gems lined the upper edge of the seat back. Similar furniture had been placed around the chamber, along with tables that appeared to be made of gold and were also inset with gems.
So…the Djinn really were some sort of underground royalty. And she was alone in the room. Carefully, she sat up and found none of the aches returned to her body. Her brow furrowed. She should have burns, scrapes and bruises. Someone had dressed her in Lucan’s shirt, and she pulled aside the edges to look at her body. There were no battle signs. Her body had been healed. Was it Djinn magic or a residual effect of the medicine Maks had given her earlier?
The thought of Maks brought images of Lucan and what she’d seen when she’d been stolen away. Tears filled her eyes as emotional pain slammed through her body. They’d killed Lucan. She’d just gotten him back, she hadn’t told him how much she loved him—she hadn’t even told him she’d stay with him—and he’d been ripped from her life again. And to God knew where.
Determined to find her way out of here, no matter how nice the surroundings, she climbed off the settee, shuddering at the cold beneath her feet. Though someone had clothed her and placed her under the blankets, the Djinn had proven more than once that they didn’t have her best welfare in mind. They wanted to kill her. Not if she could help it!
She’d only made it two steps, when the door creaked open. The leader of the Djinn party stepped inside, now dressed in a sapphire-blue tunic and loose pants trimmed with silver threads. Against his swarthy, olive-toned skin with his dark eyes and black hair, he appeared to be a wealthy Middle Eastern sheik. His eyes perplexed her, but she had no time to think on their difference.
She backed away as he came inside and shut the door behind him.
“I thought perhaps you’d be awake by now,” he said. “Humans have no tolerance for
transporation
.”
He swept an arm around him, and she cringed having seen the killing power emanate from her hands.
“Welcome to my home. I’m Tawren.”
“Why am I here?”
He smiled, but she didn’t sense anything truly pleasant about the gesture.
“Would you care for something warm to eat?”
“No.” She wasn’t eating jack from this place.
“You’re chilled. It will help your temperature adjustment. Your body will soon acclimate, and you’ll be quite comfortable here.”
That gave her pause. It certainly didn’t sound as if he planned to kill her. At least, not right away.
“Why am I here?” she repeated.
Tawren sighed and crossed to an armoire she hadn’t seen before. He opened it and withdrew a bulky, crimson-colored dress. She eyed it. It had to be several layers of thick velvet and she wondered how it would feel if she put it on. Warmer than the thin button-down she wore now. She didn’t want to remove this shirt. It smelled of Lucan, and was all she had of him.
“I’m claiming you,” Tawren answered.
“Like hell.”
“I’ll make it like heaven. Far better than that Dragon could have provided.”
“
That Dragon
was my husband,” she spat.
Tawren shook his head. “Strange. You don’t bear the mark of a mate. I checked.”
What the hell? She drew the shirt closer to her, and backed further away. What had he done to her?
“On your arm,” he clarified as if she were a small, stupid child. “You know nothing of Dragon mates?” He laughed. “How amusing.”
His eyes started to glow blue and terror strung through her. This was the look of a killer. He’d eliminate her as he had Lucan. Once more, sorrow hollowed her out. Lucan was dead. Again. Wrenched from her life when she’d only just regained him. Now, she’d be killed, too. At least, she’d find her ending with the man she’d always loved.
Tawren shot out his arm and a stream of dark-blue light shot out. It wrapped around her, cold but not painful. It pulled her back in his direction and propelled her onto the settee where she’d awoken. His other hand lifted and a separate bit of power pulled one of the pelts around her.
He took a seat across from her and crossed one leg over the other, his eyes going back to their normal dark color.
She forced back her mournful tears, knowing she’d cry plenty as soon as she was alone—if she lived. She wouldn’t give this man, Djinn, whatever, the pleasure of seeing how deeply he’d wounded her, how much he’d taken from her.
“The mark of a Dragon mate,” he said. “You don’t have it. The intimate contact with
him
should have brought it out.” With a sweep of his hand and a slight glow of his eyes, he brought up a hazy image of an arm with a light-colored, filigreed tattoo wrapping it from the back of the hand to shoulder.
Yeah, she would have noticed that. Still, the Djinn could be lying to manipulate her. She and Lucan belonged together. Some mark couldn’t dictate that. Lucan would have known—
The memory of the way he’d hidden their hands behind them when they’d spoken with Janos contradicted her initial thought. He had known. He hadn’t let it stop him.
“But,” Tawren continued, “I can feel you’re a Dragon mate, and you must have ingested some sort of Dragon blood. It’s the only way your wounds could have healed right before my eyes. No matter. It will leave your system soon. I won’t let that taint deter me.”
“How benevolent of you,” she muttered.
His eyes glowed fiercely blue and suddenly he was crouched before her, merely disappearing then reappearing in a blink. His fingers gripped her chin. “Make no mistake,” he growled. “I mean to claim you. A Dragon mate is fated to unite with a Dragon. Not if someone else takes her first. Many of my people are turning to a new race order. My order. Killing women who bear the mate markers isn’t necessary. We’ll take you for our own—”
“You hate humans. Your people have made that clear.”
That self-serving smile returned. “A means to an end. How will the Dragon-kind react when they learn their future is laced with Djinn blood? We mean to procreate to spawn a new race. The Dragons will not tolerate our ilk, and it will mean their end.”
Bile rolled into Meda’s throat. And it meant, he intended her to be his slave. How much farther into unreality would she spiral before this nightmare ended?
* * * *
“Lucan. Can you hear me?”
“Maybe he was without oxygen too long.”
“Even if he was, his regenerative systems would have repaired his brain.”
“Gods, he’s beat up. I’ve never seen dragon scales so flayed.”
“Why hasn’t he shifted back to human form?”
The questions circled around Lucan, but he couldn’t respond. His body wouldn’t react to his commands to move. He recognized the voices of Maks, Janos and Niko, but couldn’t open his eyes to see them or where he was. Maybe he was dead and no longer corporeal.
“He’s got too many injuries to shift,” Maks said. “If he changed, they’d kill him. Give it time. His head was nearly severed when I found him. Thank goodness they didn’t realize they’d left a few threads or he’d be gone.”
“How did this happen?” Janos demanded. “They were inside the compound.”
Maks,
Lucan thought weakly, suddenly remembering he could communicate telepathically with his scion and hopeful it would work, despite his state.
Maks, you have to find Meda.