Hot Blooded (21 page)

She put her hand to her forehead and dragged in an unsteady breath. “Dragons? You're a dragon? Oh, my God.”

“A Dragon King, actually.”

“Shit. Dragons,” she mumbled again.

Laith had to get her past that, and the only way he knew how was to explain more. “There were dozens of dragon factions.”

Her gaze focused on him as she dropped her hand. “Factions?”

“It's what we always called them. Each set was divided by color and size. The strongest dragon of each faction, the one with the most magic was chosen as King. We were the ones able to shift from dragon to human and back again to keep the peace between our kind and humans. We took an oath to protect humans.”

She swallowed hard. “Since I've never seen a dragon, I'm betting something went wrong?”

“There were some Kings who chose to take human females as lovers. Ulrik, King of the Silvers, was one of those. We discovered that his woman planned to betray him by leading him into a trap to start a war.”

“Why would she do that?” Iona asked in confusion and shock.

Laith looked out over the land. “There were some humans who were jealous of the power we had, so they wanted to be rid of us. The humans didna realize the Kings couldna be killed so easily.”

“What did Ulrik do?”

“He and Con were as close as brothers. It was Con who sent him away on a mission, and while Ulrik was gone, every Dragon King descended upon the female. Each of us sank our swords into her. We were protecting Ulrik and ourselves, but that day we broke a vow that had dire consequences for each of us.”

 

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR

Iona searched her mind for the right words. What did one tell a Dragon King? A dragon. Her mind still reeled from the knowledge that Laith wasn't human. Not to mention there were apparently Fae as well.

Until she saw a dragon for herself, she wasn't sure she could believe Laith. Her mind—no, her world—was rooted in facts, proof. She had to have proof of a dragon and Fae before she could so blithely accept them. Besides, there was no way such beings could exist in the world and others not know.

But others did know. Her father had been one of the few. No wonder he hadn't put it down on paper. She would have thought he had lost his mind. Of course, she was in doubt about her own mind at the moment.

She rubbed her hands along her arms and looked at Laith. “You broke your vow to help one of your own.”

“Ulrik didna need help. None of us did. We have magic, Iona, the humans didna.”

“So you're saying the only magic on Earth was yours?”

He started to speak, then paused. “Nay. There is other magic.”

“Like the Fae?” she asked.

Laith gave a small shake of his head. “The Fae hadna found this realm at that time. The other magic came from the Druids.”

Would the surprises ever stop coming? Iona waited for him to laugh and tell her it was a joke, but he didn't. “You're telling me there are Druids as well? Real Druids?”

“Real Druids. Doona always believe everything you read, especially history written by the conquerors of a nation,” he cautioned.

Druids, Fae, and Dragon Kings. “Are there any other type of … beings around?”

His gaze held hers a long time, but with the darkness Iona couldn't make out his emotions. “There are Warriors.”

“There are warriors everywhere.”

“Nay. Warriors.”

She rubbed her temple as her brain clogged at all the information. “Forget the Warriors or warriors or whatever for the moment. Let's get back to the story. So, if there was other magic, was it enough to hurt one of you?”

“Nay, but we didna want a war, and she was determined to start one. That's why we put a stop to the female.”

“What was her plan?” she asked.

Laith rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “We didna know at the time, but the humans had begun hunting and killing dragons. They were going to try and kill Ulrik. It was Con who called us to action.”

“Con? Who is he to you exactly, except the CEO of Dreagan Industries?”

“He's the King of Kings. Most of us didna want that position. We were content to rule our own dragons, but Con wasna like us. He wanted to be King of Kings.”

Somehow Iona wasn't surprised to hear that about Con. She might not know him personally, but it took a certain type of man to run a company such as Dreagan. “What does it take to be King of Kings?”

“You have to fight anyone who challenges you to the death. You also have to be extremely powerful. There were only four others who ruled as King of Kings before Con, and each came from either the Golds, which were Con's dragons, or the Silvers.”

“Which are Ulrik's,” Iona said as comprehension dawned. “Did Ulrik challenge Con?”

“Nay. Ulrik was happy ruling his Silvers. He was the only one who matched Con in strength and magic. I suspect it had something to do with them being so close, but Ulrik was much different back then.”

Iona heard the pensive tone in Laith's voice and tried to picture what the world would have been like with dragons. It seemed as alien to her as Druids. “So Con became King of Kings, and it was his decision to bring Ulrik's lover to justice.”

“We could've—nay, we
should've
—handled things differently, but no other human had ever sought to betray one of us.”

“It wasn't just any human. This was Ulrik's lover, the woman he claimed as his own.”

One side of Laith's lips lifted in a wry grin. “Are you defending us, lass?”

“It appears so,” Iona said with a soft laugh. “Betrayal is betrayal no matter if you're human or dragon. Ulrik took the woman as his, sheltered her, clothed her, and fed her.”

Laith gave a grim nod. “That was Con's argument as well. I doona regret thinking action needed to be taken, but I regret how we went about it. First, Ulrik wasna there.”

“Why didn't Con want him there?”

“Con claims it was because he was looking out for his friend.”

“That wasn't right.”

Laith blew out a deep breath. “Aye. It was an action by every Dragon King save one. It was a show of force to the humans that we will live in harmony, but try to harm us, and we'll take action.”

“What happened when Ulrik discovered what all of you had done?”

“He was furious with us, but it quickly shifted to the humans who bore the brunt of his wrath. The humans wanted to rule everything, and they truly believed they could be rid of us. Ulrik and his Silvers decimated the humans in quick order to an extent that shocked all of us, but still the humans sought to kill every dragon they could. And they killed so many.”

Iona swallowed hard at the sorrow in Laith's voice. “How did you stop Ulrik?”

“With difficulty. First, Con tried to talk to him, but Ulrik didna listen. Then we tried a surprise attack, only to subdue Ulrik. The result was a huge divide in all dragons and the Kings. Half sided with Ulrik, and the other half with Con.”

“Which side were you on?” Iona asked in a low voice, enraptured by the story.

“Ulrik's, for a while. We battled humans and our own, but it felt wrong. Con came to each of us individually and convinced us to return to him one at a time. While Ulrik was reminding the humans how we had been on this realm for over a millennia alone, Con was protecting them. Protecting humans who slaughtered dragons.”

Iona wrapped her arms around herself and looked at the ground. She couldn't imagine protecting someone who was murdering her family. It was wrong in every sense. No wonder Laith sided with Ulrik at first.

“Even when Ulrik was the last one fighting the humans, he and his Silvers couldna be reasoned with. We were charged with keeping the peace, and yet we couldna manage it. In order to try to find some harmony, the killing had to stop. The humans, however, had become more aggressive in their killing. Drastic action had to be taken.”

She lifted her gaze to find Laith looking at her. Half of his face was visible by moonlight, and the remorse and regret that lined his features made her heart clutch. “What did you do?”

“The humans were finding our dragons no matter where they hid. No matter how small or how large the dragon, the humans were out to divest themselves of every last one. We began to use magic to hide them, but the dragons hated being confined. We were protecting them, but they felt it was a prison. We couldna keep them locked away, and we couldna allow them to fly free, so we had no choice but to send them to another realm.”

“And Ulrik?”

Laith smiled, but there was no humor in the action. “We surrounded him and the Silvers. Many of the Silvers we were able to send with our dragons, but three of the largest refused to leave Ulrik's side. We declined to kill them or let the humans have them. By that time we had already been using Dreagan as our home. We brought the Silvers back with us and used our magic to make them sleep, caged deep within a mountain.”

“There are dragons here?” she asked in shock with a little fear mixed in.

Laith leaned back against a tree and lifted his eyes to the sky. “They've been there for millions of years. You doona have to fear them. We willna let them wake, because if they do, they'll return to killing humans.”

“You still haven't told me what happened with Ulrik.”

“Because I hate to even think about it, but it seems it's all I've done of late.” Laith exhaled loudly. “Without his Silvers, Ulrik was like a madman. He felt we betrayed him by killing his woman without him present, turning against him in the war, and then taking his dragons. He wasna wrong. We did betray him.”

“How is it a betrayal if you were trying to save the world, and he wouldn't listen?”

Laith glanced at her before returning his gaze to the sky. “We could've done things differently. Perhaps if we had, our dragons would still be here. Regardless, we had to stop Ulrik. Since he wouldna halt his killing of humans, we Kings once more gathered and banished him from Dreagan.”

“Why do I get the feeling he wasn't just forbidden from returning to Dreagan?”

“Because it was much, much more than that. We took his magic, Iona. He can no' shift into dragon form, his true form. He's had to remain as a human for untold eons. He can no' communicate with any of us, and we doona talk to him.”

“That's … extreme. Is he one of your enemies?”

Laith pushed away from the tree and looked down at her. “We believe so, but we've yet to find proof. Ulrik shouldna have any magic, and yet there's no denying there has been dragon magic used.”

“Maybe one of the other Kings used it.”

“Nay. We live as one with many of the Kings sleeping away the centuries. We've all been accounted for.”

She gave a small shake of her head as she shrugged. “Perhaps there's another Dragon King roaming around out there.”

“I wish. It would make things simple, but that's no' possible. Every King is inexplicably drawn to Dreagan. There are only so many Kings, and we know all of them.”

“One could've been killed and someone else took over.”

“It isna that easy,” he said and slowly walked around her. “Only a dragon can be a Dragon King. Since all the dragons are gone, that makes it impossible. Then there is the fact that we can no' be killed by anyone or anything other than another Dragon King. When something like that happens, every King knows of it.”

Iona blinked, her mind still whirling from everything. “This still comes back to my father and his murder, doesn't it?”

“Aye. Our enemies want onto Dreagan. Our magic prevents that from happening, except in one spot.”

“My land,” she guessed.

Laith gave a single nod.

“What's so special about Campbell land?” she asked, unsure if she really wanted to know.

“Because that's where we killed Ulrik's woman.”

She blinked and shifted her weight to her other foot. “And?”

“You guard a doorway onto Dreagan land, Iona. Anyone can pass through and we'd never know they were there.”

 

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE

Laith's words haunted Iona even in sleep. Dreams of a dragon chasing her woke her several times during the night. At one point in her dream, the day faded to a night so black not even the moon could penetrate the darkness. A silver dragon parted its mouth and issued a roar as it dove from the sky toward her.

Just before she was clamped in its jaws, a dragon with scales the color of onyx swooped in and knocked the silver one away.

That was Iona's last dream. After that, she hadn't bothered to attempt sleep again. She rose and changed so she could walk the property.

If the woman who had betrayed Ulrik was killed on her land, then there had to be some kind of marker to indicate the space. At least she assumed there was. How else would Dreagan's enemies know where to go?

Before she walked out of the house, she sent a text to Laith asking him to meet her later. Her mind was still full of all the information Laith had imparted. She wanted to deny there were dragons, but why then would her father urge her to look to the skies? If only she had been brave enough to ask Laith to see him in his true form the night before. Iona hadn't let the words past her lips, because she was afraid he would've done just that.

Once she saw him, there would be no denying the truth. The fact she knew that meant that in the back of her mind she had already accepted his words as fact. If it hadn't been for her father's letter, Iona wasn't so sure she would have taken Laith seriously. The letter, combined with her father's murder, and the men chasing her put everything into perspective.

Iona packed some food and her mobile into her camera case and left the cottage, making sure to lock it behind her. She faced the woods and let her eyes roam the trees. More men might be out there, but if someone wanted her dead, no amount of hiding would change that fact.