Four men entered. Their long, gray jackets shifted with a life of their own.
Two of the men remained on either side of the door, as if standing guard. One walked to the table of guys that had made fun of the old man. Anna expected him to strike up a conversation. Instead, he stared at them.
An itchy sensation crawled up her spine as the guys at the table fidgeted and cast panicked glances at each other. After a moment, one stood, threw a few bills on the table, and scurried between the two men standing by the door. Seconds later, the other guys at the table followed.
The fourth newcomer stopped mid room and drew his fingers through his short, brunette hair as he scanned the tables.
The old man’s lips thinned before he stood. “You are not welcome here.” His accent tripped over a marked shake in his voice. His hands formed fists.
The guy in the center of the room lifted his nose into the air and sniffed as the third shoved the old man back into his seat.
Asshole. Anna moved to intervene, but Joe drew her back.
“This is a Seventeen Year, elder,” the third guy said. “We’ll search where it pleases us.”
“Enough.” The one in the center of the room set his gaze on Sybil. “The elder deserves honor, whether or not his tongue is forked.”
The old man shifted in his seat. His gaze jumped between the two newcomers. “You’ll not find the South’s hopeful in these villages. They are at the base of Aoraki. You waste your time here.”
“We’ll see.” The one who seemed to be the ring-leader sauntered toward Sybil with a gait not unlike Connor’s. He reached out and fingered one of her curls.
Sybil gasped, but didn’t move until Connor edged between her and the lead asshole, who probably had six inches on her date’s already impressive height. “This one is mine, Galeptopnor. You can look elsewhere.”
The guy—was his name Gale Topner?—laughed. His dark gray coat shifted around his waist. “Brave words, for a twilight born.” He leaned past Connor, taking a deep breath, as if smelling Sybil behind him. “Luckily for you she is nothing.” He straightened. “Unlike the careless, languid greens, the children of the mountain take the Seventeen Year seriously. We’ll entertain ourselves once the hunt is over.”
Connor reached back, shoving Sybil further behind him. “Then get on with it, and let the rest of us enjoy our night of freedom.” He pointed his chin toward the old man. “As the elder said, the offerings are on Aoraki.”
Gale stepped back. “As they always are, but it has been ten cycles since they’ve presented anything of value.”
Offerings? Value? What in goodness name were these people talking about?
The newcomer stepped toward Anna, and Joe jumped between them in an awkward recreation of Connor’s protection of Sybil. Gale towered over him by over a foot. Anna smashed against the bar as Joe backed into her.
“We-we’re not in the hunt,” Joe said. “Just leave us to our entertainment.”
Anna cringed. Entertainment? She was no one’s entertainment, thank you very much.
Anna pressed her palms against Joe’s back, ready to shove him away, but he didn’t budge. She could feel the sculpted ridges of muscle beneath his T-shirt, and her attention drew from the man advancing, to the one standing between them. His skin warmed under her hands as if his body reached toward her, beckoning. Her sight blurred before refocusing on Joe’s back, and his thick, distinct platinum hair.
Gale smirked. “What are you hiding back there, runt?”
Joe straightened, trying to make himself bigger.
Where did he get off trying to be her protector? She’d dealt with assholes before. She didn’t need some guy to jump in like a knight in shiny platinum armor.
“Cain.” Gale’s word came out as a command, and the jerk who’d scared off the guys grasped Joe by the shoulders, picked him up, walked him across the room, and set him down beside the empty table.
A chill swept through the door, sending a shiver across Anna’s skin as Gale gazed down on her.
She was vaguely aware of Cain pointing at Joe as he shouted: “Stay.”
Joe’s eyes saddened before he lowered his gaze to the floor. Part of her felt naked without him sheltering her; which was ridiculous since they’d only met a few minutes ago.
Her breath hitched as the tall stranger reached for her. She willed her hands into fists. She tried to punch, but her body didn’t react. She stood frozen as Gale twirled her hair around his fingers.
“That one’s just a child, a plaything,” Connor said. “Leave her to the runt. Maybe she’ll keep him busy and out of your way.”
“I have no need to keep a runt out of my way.” Gale continued his perusal. “His participation in the Seventeen Year is a waste of his people’s meaningless hope.” He leaned closer to Anna, his nose grazing her neck as he breathed her in. “You, though, precious one.” He cupped Anna’s cheeks. “You are very interesting.”
The pupils in his eyes seemed to swirl, dragging her to infinity. Something deep in her mind prodded that she wanted to push him away, to stand up, pull back her shoulders and tell this asshole that she wouldn’t just stand there and let him… let him…
Let him what?
Damn, he was handsome, and his hands, so warm against her skin. She could melt under his touch. Anna eased toward him, but someone batted Gale’s hands from her. The room instantly chilled.
“Back off,” Joe said. “She’s mine.”
The two men guarding the door snickered, while Gale’s face twisted into a snarl.
“He’s right,” Connor said. “The boy found her. He has first rights.”
“Really?” Gale shoved Joe, slamming him against the bar as if he weighed no more than a loaf of bread. “Are you willing to fight me for her, runt?”
Joe lunged for the taller man, but Connor shoved an arm between them, grabbing Joe.
“This is not the place,” Connor said.
Gale crossed his arms. “Would you rather we challenge on the mountain? I can humiliate him now, or eviscerate him later. It makes no difference to me.”
Joe twisted in Connor’s grip. “Let go of me.”
“Calm down, little one,” Connor said. “There’s no reason to die today.”
All three of them glanced at Anna, and she could tell from the looks on their faces that there was probably a perfectly good reason to die today, as far as they were concerned. Whatever it was, she didn’t travel all the way to New Zealand to get in the middle of some stupid pissing match with the locals.
She shuddered, eyeing the door.
If you get the opportunity, run like your life depends on it.
The other two men still blocked the exit. Had the bartender answered when they asked about a back door? Why were they all still staring at her?
“Enough.” Gale turned to Connor. “Keep your little pet grounded or I will ground him for you.” He grabbed Anna’s wrist and wrenched her toward the exit.
The soles of Anna’s shoes slid along the slick hardwood. “Wait. I’m not leaving with you.”
Gale didn’t turn. He just pulled harder.
“Stop!” Sybil cried out. “That’s my sister.”
The night air chilled Anna’s face as the tavern door closed behind them. “Please let me go. I don’t have any money.”
Well, not much anyway, but she’d give it to him, if he’d just leave her be.
Gale pulled her behind the building and shoved her against the wall beside the dumpster. He pressed her shoulders into the cool brick. A huge, flattened courtyard sprawled out behind him, big enough to house a bazaar or a circus, but now lay eerily empty. Damn that freaking curfew.
He stared into her eyes, and the tension slipped from her muscles.
He ran his nose up the side of her neck, again. “Your scent is intoxicating.”
Her scent?
Gale held her face. A trace of smoke carried on his breath. “You are special, did you know that? Your blood is very hard to find.”
“My-my blood?” Her blood was a hindrance, a curse. What was he talking about?
“But now that I’ve found it, you will be mine.”
Anna’s head lolled to the side. She groaned as he dragged his tongue along her collarbone.
Something deep within her screamed. This man was insane. Yet she eased closer to him, languishing in his touch. She slipped her hand behind his neck and ran her fingers through his soft hair. Voices shouted somewhere in the distance, but she tuned it out, soaking in only the sound of Gale’s breath, heated to a pant.
“For the next ten months, you will be queen.” His eyes consumed her. She couldn’t move. “Would you like that,” he asked. “Do you want me?”
“No, she doesn’t want you.”
A bored expression crossed Gale’s face before he turned and faced Joe standing in the courtyard behind him. “Haven’t you learned, runt? Bugger off before I put you down.”
“Let her go. This isn’t right.”
The cold air swept through her now that she was devoid of Gale’s warmth. She pawed at the back of his coat.
He slipped his arm around her shoulder, and she cuddled into his embrace.
“See,” he said. “Does she look unhappy?”
Unhappy? How could she be unhappy with such strength around her, such warmth?
“She has no idea what she feels. You’re compelling her.” Joe stepped closer.
Anna smiled at him. He was sweet, but she didn’t need him anymore. Gale was what she needed, no one else.
Sybil appeared, screaming Anna’s name while Connor held her back. She must be jealous. She must want Gale, too, but it was too late. Anna had already given herself to him.
“Let her go,” Joe repeated.
Gale snickered, walking behind Anna. “Here she is,” he said. “Come and take her.”
Anna swayed, lost like a dandelion puff drifting on the breeze as an odd sweeping crackle sounded in the darkness behind her. Any other day she’d be terrified of the courtyard’s darkness, but Gale was here. She belonged to him. He’d protect her.
A scream shrieked from Sybil’s lips. Still in Connor’s grip, she reached for Anna, pointing.
Anna blinked, startled when the cool air touched her cheek.
What were they doing outside?
A deep, guttural growl echoed through the courtyard. Anna spun toward the sound and froze. A huge figure loomed inches from her, dwarfing her slight form. Monstrous gray wings fluttered on the edge of the darkness before two bright, yellow eyes fixed on her.
Time froze for a moment while her mind took stock and tried to separate fantasy from reality.
What she saw wasn’t possible. It wasn’t real.
That certainly didn’t change the fact that something huge and sinister stared back at her.
Heart racing, she ran, passing Connor and her sister, heading back toward the front of the tavern.
As she cleared the corner, Cain snatched her in a vise-like grip. “Don’t leave now,” he said. “The excitement has barely started.”
He shoved her back toward the rear of the building, where the huge gray beast reared up, bellowing in fury over a smaller, silvery-white… God, could she even say it?
They were DRAGONS.
Cain’s grip on her tightened. “Do you know how few human beings have seen dragons spar?” He whispered in her ear, “You should be honored.”
Honored? Was this asshole out of his mind? Two more gray dragons dropped from the sky, one on either side of the small, pale dragon.
“When they disembowel the sniveling runt, Galeptopnor will offer you his seed to seal your union.”
This was insane. She must have gotten a spiked drink at the bar.
Connor leaned out from behind a stack of empty vegetable crates and beckoned to her. She struggled, but Cain’s grip dug deeper into her biceps.
Further inside the courtyard, the smaller dragon snarled and snapped, whipping one of the larger creatures with the edge of his tail. The gray howled, backing away, while the first dragon lashed out with one muscular, clawed arm.
A dull thud sounded through the air as the largest gray slammed its reptilian arm into the little dragon’s chest. Cain yanked Anna back as the small dragon stumbled, but its wing hit them with the force of a baseball bat. Cain lost his grip and Anna thudded to the ground.
She ignored the pain, scrambled to her feet, and sprinted toward the stack of crates.
Connor held out a hand to her while dragging Sybil behind him. He grabbed onto Anna like a vise.
“Dra-dragons,” Anna whimpered.
“So I see.” Connor yanked, propelling her into a sprint beside him.
Sybil grunted with each clop of her chunky heels on the pavement. Anna thanked God for the foresight to wear sneakers.
As they slipped from the alley, Connor skidded to a stop a few feet from a line of three more men in gray fanned out in front of the tavern. The door opened, and the bartender stuck his head out. “I’ve called the police.”
Connor didn’t even glance in his direction. “Fine. Get inside and pull down the shades.”
When they were alone, one of the gray-clad men smiled. “Hello Quenor.”
Connor’s nose flared. “Zeph.” He backed Anna and Sybil up a step.
“So, that’s your game, is it?” Zeph walked toward them. “Wait until Gale is busy with the runt, and you slip out with the prize? That’s not playing fair.”
Connor tugged the women closer. “That’s not what’s happening here.” He glanced at Anna. “She’s too young for my tastes.”
Zeph held his hands out to his sides. “Yet here we are.”
The silence seemed to echo along the sidewalk as Connor’s gaze roamed the streets. If he was looking for a way out, Anna prayed he’d find it.
Zeph’s face morphed into a feral sneer. “Hand the girl over. You know this won’t end well for you, my friend.”
Sirens sounded in the distance, drawing Zeph’s attention away from them. Connor shoved Anna and Sybil down the alley opposite the tavern. “Run. Don’t look back.”
The wood and brick walls provided little protection from the biting wind, and even less from the roaring snarls that filled the night behind them.
Anna and Sybil stopped beside a dumpster.
“Oh, God. What were those things?” Sybil clutched her chest. “Who were those guys?”
Anna shook her head. She didn’t give a damn about the guys, but she’d gotten a damn clear look at the creatures fighting behind the tavern. And no, she hadn’t been hallucinating. There were actually dragons in New Zealand!
Sybil started to hyperventilate, and Anna grabbed her shoulders. “Stop. I need you to focus. Can you do that?”
Tears streamed from her sister’s eyes. “Those things, they were monsters.”
“I know, but we have to get out of here. Panicking isn’t going to save us.” She looked over her shoulder. No one else came down the alley, but the roars of the creatures heightened, as if there were even more of them now. She turned back to her sister. “We need to get to those sirens. I need you to run with me.”
Sybil gulped, then nodded.
“Okay then, let’s go.”
They sprinted down the alley. Pungent smells from the dumpsters rose through the air, turning Anna’s stomach. She ran faster, dragging her sister behind her. Their only chance was to find protection, and the sirens seemed as good a chance as any. She darted to the right, and down a deserted street.
Whooting beats filled the air, sounding like someone repeatedly snapping a towel. Anna blotted out the sound and concentrated on the sirens. If she dwelled on what might be flying toward her, she might succumb to a sobbing hysteria.
Something dug into her shoulders. She cried out as sharp claws punctured her flesh.
This wasn’t real. This couldn’t be happening. Why wasn’t she waking up?
Her stomach flipped as the ground dropped out from below her. Sybil screamed, falling to her knees, looking up and reaching for Anna as she rose into the sky.