Bound in Blood (Broken Bloodlines Book 3)
Bound in Blood: Chapter 15

We sit around the table, making small talk and smiling politely, doing our utmost to maintain the pretense of grateful house guests while every cell in my body screams at me to tear out our host’s throat. Even back to full strength, I would likely fail, but I’d still give my life to try. What I won’t give, however, is Ophelia’s heart. Or her safety. And I made her a promise that I wouldn’t do anything stupid and get myself killed. But even without that promise, she needs all of us because we need to replace our sire, and I will be fucked if I let his piece-of-shit brother get his hands or his fangs on my girl, and I would tear his body to shreds before I’d let him rape her.

Axl, calm down, baby, she cautions through our bond. If I can hear your heart beating like that, so can he.

I know, princess. I just fucking hate him so much.

And now he’s glaring at me like he knows exactly what I’m thinking, and part of me doesn’t give a single fuck if he does.

“You know we’re supposed to have a meteor shower tonight,” Malachi says, snatching our host’s attention away from me. Giorgios offers him a forced smile that’s quickly followed by the ground shaking. The windowpanes rattle in their solid wooden frames.

We all look to Ophelia. “That wasn’t me,” she insists.

“An earthquake, then?” Malachi asks.

Giorgios frowns. “They are very uncommon here.”

None of us have a chance to speak again before Imari rushes into the room, her face etched with concern. “Sir, the guards asked me to inform you that there is someone at the front gate.”

The spike in his heart rate is immediate, and my interest is certainly piqued. Please fuck, let it be someone who can help get us the hell out of this place.

Imari presses her lips together like she’s afraid to speak again.

“Spit it out, Imari. Who is at the gate?”

She bends her head and whispers, but not low enough that I don’t hear. “A dragon, sir.”

“A dragon?” Xavier barks a laugh.

Ophelia yelps with excitement before she contains herself and clamps a hand over her mouth. My eyes dart between her and Giorgios.

“What on earth …” Giorgios grumbles and tosses his balled-up napkin onto the table. “Stay here. All of you.”

“Not a fucking chance in hell I’m missing out on seeing a dragon,” Xavier says, standing up. The rest of us do the same, and Giorgios is too distracted to stop us. Or perhaps, based on his accelerated heart rate and the faint smell of fear emanating from his pores, he’s too afraid.

Is this one of your and Alexandros’s dragons, princess? I ask her, unaware of any other kind, but still, it’s good to check. I wouldn’t put it past Lucian or the Order to have a dragon stashed somewhere.

She nods excitedly. It’s Anikêtos. I just said hi to him.

Dear fuck, I love this girl. I slide my hand into hers, and we follow Giorgios and Imari along the hallway and out into the courtyard. Sure enough, sitting before the gate on his haunches, large enough even with his wings tucked into his sides to obscure our view of the mountain in front of us, is a fucking dragon. All shimmering black scales and silver horns. Smoke unfurling from his nostrils, he trains his huge green eyes on us. With the exception of the pink-haired girl standing next to me, I have never in my life seen anything more magnificent.

“Anikêtos?” Giorgios gasps, his usually olive skin paler than the snow covering the mountaintops.

“He said to tell you he’s not here for you, Giorgios,” Ophelia says, her shoulders rolled back and her jaw tipped defiantly. I have never been prouder of this girl, and that’s saying a lot given how she impresses the hell out of me every single day.

He blinks at her. “You can talk to dragons?”

“Oh, yeah. Did I not mention that? Cool, right?”

He shakes his head. “You cannot take her from here, Anikêtos. I made Alexandros an oath to protect her.”

The dragon blinks his bright-green eyes at Ophelia. “He says he’ll take care of me now. Of all of us. You’re relieved of your duties, Giorgios.”

“No!” he bellows. “You cannot. Guards!”

The few dozen guards standing at the perimeter of the courtyard step forward, but their reluctance and fear are palpable.

“Ani says if they take one more step toward us, he’ll turn them all to ash.” With a single, perfectly aimed plume of flames, the dragon scorches the large tree that towers over the left wall. It crumbles to ash. “Just like that,” Ophelia adds.

Giorgios holds up his hand and orders his men to stand down.

“You will not get away with this. You will die out there on your own without my protection,” Giorgios spits, practically frothing at the mouth. I mean, who can blame him? How often does a dragon rock up at your door in the middle of dinner and put a huge-ass dent in all of your carefully laid plans to rape your brother’s fated mate?

“I think we’ll take our chances,” Ophelia says with a sweet smile. Then she turns to the guards. “We’ll be needing some of your furs. Jackets and hats.”

They stare at her, frozen, until Anikêtos sets one of their hats on fire. Once they finish scrambling to give us what we need, Anikêtos, via Ophelia, demands an extra set for his friend. Which makes me smile like a fucking idiot because I know who that friend is.

I keep a wary eye on Giorgios, unsure why he hasn’t teleported out of here yet.

He can’t, Ophelia reminds me. He can transport in but not out. The hallowed ground thing.

I vaguely recall her mentioning something about that now, but it was while I was under the influence of blue poppy and feeling decidedly not my best. But he’s a vampire.

Yes, but his transportation power isn’t vampiric. He simply let everyone believe it was. It was how he was able to mask his mind-control powers so well.

I shrug on the fur jacket and ignore the faint smell of body odor that wraps around me. Ophelia’s attention is now back on the dragon. By the look on her face, I can only guess I’m not going to like the outcome of the conversation they’re having.

She turns to me with a frown, and trepidation curls its way up my spine. “What’s wrong, princess?”

“Ani says that the minute we leave here, Giorgios will leave the grounds and transport straight to Alexandros. And then we won’t have a chance of getting to him in time. It’s going to take us all night to reach him.”

Xavier runs his hand through his hair. “So …?”

“I don’t like this any more than you’re going to, but he says it’s the only way. A dragon is incapable of harming a son of House Drakos, so the only thing we can do is detain him. And the best way to do that without killing everyone here⁠—”

“I’m not against that,” Xavier says.

“I am. There are at least fifty guards, maybe a hundred, and none of them have ever done anything but follow Giorgios’s orders. We’re not slaughtering them all because of that.”

“Fucking pacifists,” Xavier mutters, but he silences any comeback from her by wrapping his arm around her neck and kissing her forehead.

I roll my eyes at him, but I can’t help but smile. I’ve missed this side of him.

“So what do we do?” Malachi asks.

“Ani is going to take me to Alexandros. He’s sure he knows where he’s being held. And you guys will make sure Giorgios doesn’t leave.”

I suck in a breath. “I mean, I’m all for kicking some ass, princess, but as you pointed out, there’s an entire army here.”

“Oh, don’t worry.” She smirks. “You’re going to have some help.”

We follow her gaze to the sky, and fuck me if there isn’t another goddamn dragon circling overhead. Not quite as big as the black one, but still big enough to decimate a city with a flick of its tail, I reckon.

“Guys, meet Elpis. She’s Ani’s mate. And she’s going to be your ride as soon as Ani and I have Alexandros.”

The dragon swoops lower and, with a single flap of her wings, causes a mini tornado that has Malachi and me holding onto our newly acquired hats. Then she lands and tucks her wings into her side in the same way as Anikêtos. Her scales are green with flecks of amber, and her golden horns shimmer in the moonlight.

I stare at her, enthralled. “She’s fucking beautiful.”

Ophelia giggles. “Ani says she’s his, so don’t get any ideas.”

I glance back at the imposing black dragon still looming over the courtyard, unaware if he’s joking or not despite Ophelia’s laugh. He doesn’t look like he has a joke in him. He looks mean as fuck.

“I’d feel better if one of us could come with you, sweet girl,” Malachi says, and both Xavier and I voice our agreement.

“Ani says he doesn’t know what we’re going to replace when we get to Alexandros. Or what kind of magic might be there to disable or harm a vampire. It’s safer if he and I go alone and you travel with Elpis once we have Alexandros.”

I’m not sure I can let her go without me. I never want to let her out of my sight ever again. The thought alone is enough to have me feeling like I can’t fucking breathe.

Her sparkling blue eyes hold my gaze. “I know this is hard, but I know it’s going to work and we’ll all be together again before you know it.” She slides one arm around Malachi’s waist, the other around mine, and we grab Xavier so we’re all in a huddle, our faces pressed close together. “Anikêtos will protect me, and … Well, have you taken a good look at him?”

“Yeah, he’s pretty fucking fearsome, Cupcake, but no one will protect you like we can.”

“I know that, Xavier. But you have to let me protect you all sometimes too. We can be in touch the entire time. He says this is the best way, and I think he’s right.”

I press my forehead against hers, inhaling her familiar intoxicating scent. It’s only been a few days since we fed from her, and already I’m craving the sweet nectar of her blood. What if something goes wrong? What if we lose her? What if …?

“It will be okay. I promise,” she whispers. “Ani is getting impatient. We need to leave.”

She gives each of us an all-too brief kiss, and I reluctantly let her go. She pulls the fur-lined hat onto her head so it rests directly above her dark eyebrows, and that along with the coat that’s two sizes too big makes her look downright fucking adorable and way too vulnerable to be out flying on the back of a dragon all alone.

She glares at Giorgios. “Elpis may not be able to harm you, but she asked me to remind you that she can stand on you to trap you here. And if you try to leave these gates, she’ll burn this fortress to the ground and everyone besides you in it,” she says, her voice full of authority and confidence. I’m so fucking proud of her.

His jaw tics as he glares at her, his hands balled into fists at his sides and his eyes full of impotent rage. Then our girl turns back to us. “Ani and I are going to Peru. He said we should be there by first light if the wind stays behind us.”

Malachi groans. “Peru? That’s over ten thousand miles away.”

“I know.” She pulls on a pair of fur-lined gloves, her face lit up with a smile that’s imploring us to trust her. “But Ani says he’s fast.”

I study the intimidating dragon again. “Maybe that’s what we’re worried about. You traveling at insane speeds on the back of a fucking dragon doesn’t inspire confidence, princess.”

She glances back at him, and her smile grows wider. “He says it’s safer than a horse.”

Malachi drops his head into his hands. “Horses aren’t all that safe, baby.”

But there’s no talking her out of this. It’s the best plan we have. Besides, the sooner she leaves, the sooner she gets to Alexandros. And the quicker we can get out of this fucking prison.