Torren interrupts me by asking, “Maybe it’s her hybrid breed. We all just assumed she was human, but what if she’s something else? Something more powerful than your spell.”
“That’s not possible. There’s only one species with magic more powerful than a fae witch and they died out decades ago.” I mutter, closing my eyes to concentrate better.
“Dragons.” Remmie breathes the word out like it’s a prayer.
“Yeah, dragons. The last known dragons were a family right here in Australia, but they were all slaughtered in their -.” Remmie once again cuts me off, “No they weren’t. One survived.”
“None survived. I’m fairly certain I’d know if one lived.” Richard says in a haughty tone making me snap my eyes open to stare at him.
“How wouldyouknow?” Remmie glares at Richard for a second before shaking his head. “You know what, forget I asked, I don’t want to know what you have to say. Whoever and whatever the fuck you are, you’d just lie to us all again anyway.” He turns his back on Richard, but I actually do want to hear what Richard has to say.
The barrier spell dissipates without anyone else noticing, so I decide now is the time to dig for some information, Areyna left with those vampires willingly and the barrier allowed her to do so which means they mean her no harm. “You’d best start talking, cause the longer you hold out on us, the longer I’m going to take to remove the barrier spell.” I lie, hoping no one notices the twitch under my eye.
“You can’t do that. We have to save Areyna.” Derrin shouts at me.
“No. We don’t. Areyna left of her own free will. You should know that better than anyone considering she spoke directly to your mind not five minutes ago.” I snap. I sit down at the table and pull my phone from my pocket, keeping it hidden beneath the fabric of the table cloth as I load the app.
“How do you know that?” Derrin asks at the same time Remmie asks, “What did she tell you?” and Torren growls, “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
“Forget your petty crap. Just tell us what she said.” Richard shouts, cutting over everyone.
“She didn’t tell me anything, just that she had to do it.” He looks away from us and I just know he’s not telling us everything. I growl under my breath, but don’t bother questioning him further, whatever he’s hiding doesn’t matter, not when I know we can find her easy enough.
“Stop worrying so much, she’s wearing an ankle monitor and we know she hasn’t gone far from us, considering you’re all still not feeling the effects of the bond. I say we stop panicking and figure things out instead of going after her half-cocked.” I turn my gaze back to the one man in this room who might actually have some useful answers. “So tell me Richard, how would you know if there was a dragon descendant still living?”
“Because they’d be locked away in Laverton.” He snaps, pacing across the floor in front of the doorway.
“Isn’t that where-?” Remmie begins to question, but I cut him off. It's not time for them to know everything, but I do need to find out what everyone in this room knows before I move on with my plan. “She was in there because she killed her foster carer, not because she’s some mythical unicorn.” The lie burns on my tongue, but I keep my face neutral.
“Dragon.” Remington snaps as though the distinction makes any difference right now. He clicks his fingers, “I remember that.” He suddenly blurts. “The dragon family were royalty, but they were all murdered in their beds one night and the daughter went missing.” He pauses and frowns, “How do you know she’s not the missing dragon heir, she’d be the right age and she herself has said she doesn’t remember anything about her past. It would also explain her bond issue, dragons were rumoured to take on multiple mates.” I want to kill Remington for putting that image in my head. There is no way I would ever allow Areyna to have multiple mates, not when she’s going to be mine and mine alone.
Richard’s voice once again takes on that haughty ‘I know everythingtone’ as he says, “She’s a vampire. There’s no such thing as a dragon/vampire hybrid. It’s not possible.” My head whips around to stare at him, he’s lying, his voice dropped an octave like it always does when he’s lying.Does he know the truth about Areyna?
“Who says? As far as the world was concerned, there was no such thing as a wolf/vampire hybrid eighteen years ago, yet here I am.” Derrin states, waving his arm up and down his body. He flexes his arms, letting the wolf rise to the surface enough to make his skin mottled with fur before locking the wolf away once more. I almost envy him for that ability, all I got from my genetics was a power that consumes everything and goes wrong more often than not.
“Here’s the thing, according to the vampire records the dragon family had a daughter, yes, but she was a dragon, pure blooded due to both her parents being dragons.” Richard growls. There’s something about the way he’s so adamant she can’t be the lost dragon princess that leads me to believe he might know the truth after all.
Remmie looks at the doorway oddly before glancing at me, “Wouldn’t be the first time a woman has lied about who’s child she’s given birth to.”
“It’s impossible!” Richard shouts loud enough to make Torren and myself jump. Remington remains steadfast, simply staring at Richard as though he’s a puzzle to solve.Good luck kid, even I’m not sure what he’s hiding anymore.
FIFTEEN
Areyna
I’m notsure I’ve made the right decision, but I remain calm as the man carrying me gently lowers me to the ground beside a blacked-out SUV. “That’s a little cliché isn’t it?” I laugh. The leader shakes his head at me and presses his hand to the back of my head, guiding me carefully into the SUV.
The driver puts the car in gear and pulls away from Richard and Jason’s house the moment my captor is sitting comfortably beside me in the back seat. After five minutes of awkward silence, I huff out an annoyed sigh.
“When the boss gave me this assignment, I was under the impression I’d be kidnapping a male. I’m not happy about the fact that you are female, but I swear to you, no harm will befall you while you are under my care.”
“Does that mean you’ll remove the cuffs?” I ask, twisting my arms around and holding the cuffs towards him.
“I’m sorry, part of my orders was to cuff you to prevent you from doing anything foolish that might result in your injury.” He really does sound sorry about that.
“Ok, well I hate to burst your little bubble, but…” I snap the cuffs and bring my hands back to the front. “I have no intention of remaining cuffed. I’m coming with you without a fight, be grateful for that much.”
“If you could do that, why didn’t you do so sooner?”