Chapter Twenty-One

Victoria had known their location had been compromised, but she honestly hadn’t expected Caine to be close enough or prepared to launch an attack. She’d underestimated the man.

Sergei bolted into the room with Katherine right behind him. “Is it Caine?”

Luther nodded. “Has to be.”

Katherine rubbed the back of her neck. Victoria noticed the bandage was gone and the skin was smooth. Sergei must have made her drink some of his blood as soon as they were alone. She’d expected it. He obviously loved his wife and wouldn’t have been able to bear to see her in any discomfort when he could prevent it.

“We need to get outside,” Luther told his father. “Oscar, you stay inside with the women. Caine will be expecting two drakons, not four.”

She looked at Nic and Tarrant, wondering if they’d fight. They had women of their own to worry about. She wouldn’t blame them if they decided to slip out the back door.

“We’ll go out back and around, try to flank them so we can squeeze them.” Tarrant looked to his brother, who nodded his agreement. Then they were gone, moving quickly and quietly for two big men.

“We’re out the front,” Luther told his father. “No survivors.”

Victoria’s heart clenched, but she didn’t object. She knew they really didn’t have any other choice. Caine would never leave them alone. And there was no way she wanted Sergei and Katherine back under his control. And the thought of Luther being caged made her sick. But also determined.

“I need a weapon,” Katherine stated. Sergei looked as though he was going to object but decided against it. Probably knew it wasn’t a good idea. Katherine was a very strong woman. She’d had to be. Of course she’d want to arm herself.

“I’ll take care of it,” Oscar stated.

Sergei went to Katherine and kissed her. Victoria looked at Luther. He was watching his parents. Then he turned to her.

“You stay safe,” he told her. He hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her close. “Promise me.” Tension filled him, and his eyes were so dark they were more gray than blue.

“I’ll do my best.” That was all she could promise.

He cursed and slammed his lips down on hers for a quick, almost brutal kiss. Then he was gone out the front door with his father behind him.

Victoria placed her fingers on her lips and tried to catch her breath. It wasn’t easy. Luther had stolen it along with her heart.

In the background, she heard Oscar and Katherine discussing her options for weapons. Victoria shook herself out of her sensual stupor. This was no time to moon over Luther. Plenty of time for that if they survived.

When they survived, because they would. They had to.

“Are you all right?”

Katherine had come up beside her and placed her hand on Victoria’s arm. She wondered what Luther’s mother thought about their relationship. “I’m good. You?” Katherine had been through a hell of a lot more than she had.

“I’m fine. Don’t you worry about me.”

But she was. How could she not be worried?

Katherine sighed and worry clouded her gaze. “I have to believe we’ll win. After all these years, we’re so close to freedom.”

Victoria wanted to comfort her but didn’t know how. “Luther and Sergei are both strong. And they’re not alone.”

“No, they’re not. Thank you for all you’ve done for us.”

Victoria nodded, uneasy with the praise. It wasn’t why she’d done it.

Katherine gave a sad laugh. “I’ll probably fall apart once I know this is over. I think I’m still too afraid to believe it’s real, that we’re finally free.”

“It will be over.” Victoria drew her gun and went to one of the windows.

“Don’t stand in front of it,” Oscar cautioned. “And get low and stay there. If I tell you to run, you hit the back door as fast as you can.”

Victoria crouched beside the window and watched as Katherine did the same on the other side of the room. There were no vehicles or men in sight, at least none she could see, but they were out there. And so were Luther and the others.

Her stomach was in knots. She forced herself to take deep, slow breaths to calm her nerves.

Oscar used the butt of his rifle to smash out one of the long narrow windows on the side of the door. Then he raised the weapon and held it steady.

Victoria wished she could get a glimpse of Luther, but she decided it was probably better she didn’t. Her nerves were pulled so tight it wouldn’t take much to snap them.

When this was over, she wanted to go somewhere peaceful and quiet. Maybe the beach. Somewhere warm where she could sip exotic drinks and lounge on the sand. Or maybe the mountains, a rustic cabin where she could watch the sunrise and sunset while enjoying the crisp, cool air.

She noticed Luther was beside her in all her fantasies. She didn’t want to leave him. She loved him.

And that was never going to change.

She knew Luther cared deeply for her. But was it love? Or was it proximity and their shared quest. They hadn’t really spent that much time together, and all of it had been fraught with danger.

Where is he?

She shifted position slightly, careful to keep her head out of view. How much longer was it going to be? How did men in war handle the tension of waiting? It was unbearable to know Luther was out there, that the others were out there, exposed and vulnerable to whatever Caine had planned.

All she could do was trust them. And wait.

…

The first thing Luther did when he was out of sight of the front windows was shuck the sweatpants he was wearing and tuck them under a dense shrub. His father was right beside him.

“How do you want to handle this?”

It was weird to have his father deferring to him, but Luther wouldn’t fail him. He couldn’t. The lives of Victoria and his mother depended on it.

“We need to split up. Nic and Tarrant will be flanking them. They know the land. We don’t.” And that was a huge oversight on his part. He’d been so focused on Victoria and sleeping with her, he hadn’t taken the necessary precautions like learning the surrounding terrain.

He could beat himself up over it later. Right now, he needed to make up for his oversight as best as he could. “There’s not much cover.” That was an understatement. A lot of rock and dirt. There were trees, but most of them were short and many were gangly.

Sergei studied the ground. “I’ll go to the right and dig in.”

That was a good plan. “I’ll take the left.” Luther pointed to an outcropping of rocks. “Go. We’re almost out of time.” The vehicles were getting closer. Luther had no idea if they would simply drive right up to the door or if they’d try to sneak up on foot.

Both men went in opposite directions. Luther sprinted across the open ground and hunkered down behind the rocks. He looked for his father but there was no sign. Sergei had always been a master of camouflage, but most of his experience was in the snow and mountains, not the desert.

He tried not to think about Victoria, but he could still taste her on his lips. He touched his fingers to his mouth and swallowed heavily. He could not lose her, not when he’d just found her.

Luther didn’t need his preternatural senses in order to hear the vehicles now. There were multiple ones, some of them heavy and large from the sound of it. There was no telling how many men Caine had brought with him, or the stories or lies he’d told them. Most of the Knights were dishonest, unless it served their purpose to tell the truth.

Some of the men would be here for the money. There were always the mercenary types. Some would think they were defending their country against a threat. Whatever their reasons, these men had made their decision, had brought the fight to them. Now it was up to the drakons to finish it.

The vehicles stopped, and the land went quiet. All the wildlife was silent or gone. They’d sensed the predators among them, as well as the tension in the air. It was chilly, but Luther didn’t feel the cold. He’d grown up in a much colder clime, plus, his dragon side kept his body temperature regulated at all times.

Luther raised his head and sniffed the air to locate Tarrant and Nic. He couldn’t scent his father. He grinned. The old bastard was as wily as ever.

He’d missed his family. Now he wanted to expand his family to include Victoria. He dug his fingers into the rock so hard some of it started to crumble. He swore under his breath and forced his attention back to the task at hand. He could not, would not underestimate Evan Caine.

He heard the shuffle of footsteps and knew men were emptying from the vehicles and deploying around the area. There was no talking. They were trying to be stealthy. But thanks to Nic and his paranoia, their presence had already been detected. Nic didn’t rely on his drakon senses alone, but also on technology, proving he was a smart man, adapting with the times.

A lone vehicle started slowly down the dirt road toward the house. Either the person inside was arrogant or had a death wish.

Luther’s head began to throb. What the hell? He stumbled to one side before righting himself.

The vehicle rolled into sight. Luther bet it was armor-plated and bulletproof. It was also covered in a shiny metal and covered in archaic symbols. The same symbols that had been carved into the cell walls where they’d kept his father. Luther would bet anything the symbols were being electrified somehow.

Caine, the bastard, was brilliant.

“You might as well come out.” Caine’s voice came over a speaker system in the vehicle. There was no doubt he was inside. “It was easy to find you,” he went on, as though having a conversation. “There’s a tracker inside Katherine. It’s also electrified, so if you don’t give yourself up, I can kill her remotely if I choose.”

Sweat rolled down Luther’s face. He was more grateful than ever for Tarrant’s paranoia and him insisting they all be scanned. And he was doubly thankful to Victoria for removing that thing from his mother. If they hadn’t found it, Caine would have them over a barrel right now.

It was bad enough he had that vehicle, which was a weapon in its own right.

“Come now.” A hatch in the top of the vehicle opened, and Caine actually stuck his head out. The man was out of his mind. “You’re beasts, not men. You can’t win. Not against me.”

Luther made a decision he hoped he didn’t live to regret. He resisted the pull of his dragon side and walked naked out from behind the boulders to face Caine. His only hope was to get close enough to take out the man before he shot him with whatever drug they’d used to subdue his father.

His goal was to provide a distraction to allow the other three men to kill the rest of Caine’s people. He strolled out in front of the vehicle as though he didn’t have a care in the world. Caine gasped, and Luther could see the avarice gleaming in his gaze. He thought he had a drakon.

…

“What is Luther doing?” Victoria couldn’t believe her eyes. He was walking out from behind cover to confront Caine on his own. And he was naked, not in his dragon form.

“Distraction,” Oscar replied. “The symbols on the vehicle have to be making them all weaker. This Knight is smarter than the rest.”

What went unspoken was that wasn’t good for them.

Katherine was rubbing the back of her neck, a look of pure horror on her face. “Caine would have used me to trap Sergei. Again. And my son.”

Victoria wished there was something she could say or do to comfort Katherine, but there was nothing. She was profoundly grateful they didn’t have to worry about Caine using the device he’d planted in Katherine to kill her.

She risked raising herself up enough so she could open the window. She needed to be able to hear everything that was going on out there, and not just snippets from the window Oscar had smashed out.

Oscar glared at her. “Get down.”

She hunkered back down again as voices drifted in. She peeked out and watched intently.

Luther tipped his head to one side and studied his opponent. “I’m here. What do you plan to do next?” The question sounded so calm and controlled. Victoria was anything but. Her heart was racing, and her palms sweating. She wiped her hands on her thighs and slowly pulled the gun from the holster. She wanted to be ready in case she needed to defend herself or the others.

She honestly didn’t think it would come to that, not with four drakons outside, but she’d learned it was always better to be prepared.

Caine raised his hand, showing a remote of some kind. “I’ll kill Katherine if Sergei doesn’t show himself. I know he’s here somewhere.”

Luther only smiled. He was trying to piss Caine off. On purpose, she realized. They hadn’t spent long in his company, but Luther had noticed the same thing she had. Caine didn’t like it when things didn’t go according to his plans. He was quick to anger. And that led to mistakes.

Even understanding Luther’s plan didn’t help her relax. He was still out there facing down Caine on his own. She had no idea how the symbols were hurting him, but they had to be. She felt nothing, but all the drakons would.

She was afraid to blink. Almost afraid to breathe. Luther had to survive. They had to have a chance to explore what was between them.

“If you kill her, you lose all your leverage against us,” Luther pointed out.

Caine’s smile slowly disappeared. Temper sparked. “You will do as I say.”

Luther crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t think so.”

Caine brought his other hand up, and quicker than Victoria thought possible, he shot Luther with a dart.

But Luther seemed to have been expecting it and ducked.

…

Luther was a split second too slow. He avoided a direct hit, but the dart grazed his shoulder as he went down.

He hoped to hell his plan was working. He had no idea what the other drakons were up to. He couldn’t sense them and concentrate on Caine at the same time. Not with those damn symbols weakening him.

If he survived this. No, scratch that. When he survived this, he was going to start researching those symbols. There had to be a way to counter them. Maybe with tattoos inscribed on the other half of his body. Definitely something to consider.

On his knees, he pulled every ounce of strength he had inside him and shifted. The familiar plate-like scales slammed over his skin, his body grew in size, his wings exploded from his back. He stretched his legs and arms and lowered his flat, wedge-shaped head.

Caine was crowing in glee, believing the dart had struck home and the drug had forced Luther to shift.

Luther knew he’d only get one chance. He was an air drakon, and he pulled on every bit of power in his body. He sucked air into his lungs and released it. The powerful blast hit the vehicle, rocking it and knocking Caine to the side. The gun slid out of his hand when he was forced to steady himself to keep from falling.

“What the hell?” Caine yelled.

Luther was already taking a second breath, this one deeper. He knew he could cause a lot of damage if only he was at full power.

He roared, channeling all his anger, all the rage he’d bottled up over these past twenty years. Like a volcano exploding, fire erupted from deep in his belly. But it wasn’t just fire. It was also a tsunami of air that washed over the vehicle. Caine ducked back inside, but that didn’t stop the heavily armored vehicle from being shoved back about fifteen feet.

He saw Caine moving and knew he had to finish this. He was running out of strength. Between the symbols and the slight dose of whatever was in that dart, Luther was weakening with each passing second.

But he couldn’t give up. Victoria was inside the house. And he knew that Caine would either kill her or capture here. Either way, Luther could not allow that to happen.

He inhaled deeper than he ever had before. His lungs burned. The weight of his large body was too much for his legs to hold, and he sat down hard but kept his head raised.

Luther’s bellow shook the ground beneath him, sending shockwaves outward. Cracks formed in the dirt and radiated in all directions. One crack went beneath one of the tires of the SUV. The weight was too much, and the ground gave way and the vehicle lurched to one side.

But this time he wasn’t alone. His father rose up from the right, shifting as he did. He gave a primal roar and added to the wind and flames shooting toward Caine. They were both feeling the effects of the symbols, but they were powerful together.

Flames shot over the vehicle and inside the open hatch. Screams echoed in the air, but neither Luther nor his father stopped.

One of the doors opened, and Caine stumbled out. His back was on fire, and he rolled around in the dirt to extinguish it. The wind shoved him back until he brought up solid against some rocks. He was still screaming. Luther wasn’t sure if it was from pain or anger.

Finally out of breath, Luther slumped forward and shifted back. He was on his hands and knees in the dirt. He heard his name being called but couldn’t manage to raise his head.

Then he smelled Victoria’s sweet scent and felt her warm hands on his skin. “Luther, are you okay?”

She put her arms around him and hugged him. Wait, what is she doing out here? It isn’t safe. Not yet.

He surged to his feet as adrenaline and the primal need to protect his mate powered him. “You need to go inside.” Where is Oscar? I’ll kill him.

“I’m not going anywhere.” She scowled at him, and he was enthralled. She was beautiful when she was mad. “Luther?”

“I’m okay.” Except he wasn’t. That damn drug was still in his system, and he’d only gotten a tiny dose. It gave him a small taste of what his father had gone through all these years. As the vehicle burned and the symbols began to melt, Luther felt somewhat better.

“Caine.” Luther struggled to his feet. This wasn’t done. Not until Caine was dead.

“Lean on me.” Victoria slid beneath his arm and helped steady him. She was one of a kind—beautiful, intelligent, loyal, determined, giving, and sexy as hell. There was no other woman like her. And he’d never love another.

He tucked her close, the better to protect her. If she thought she was helping him, that was fine by him, because he knew it would make her happy. And that was all he wanted in life.

He saw his mother and father embracing as he trudged toward Caine. The man had burns on a portion of his body, his arm was hanging at a strange angle, and his breathing was labored, but he wasn’t dead yet.

“It’s over. You lost,” he pointed out, needing to drive the point home. This man had robbed his parents and him of years of their lives. And he’d stolen his father’s blood for his own gain.

“I never lose.” The words were gasped out, but there was no mistaking them.

“How do you figure that?” Victoria asked him. “You’re dying, and we’re free.”

Caine raised his uninjured hand triumphantly to show them the remote clutched in his fingers. “Not all of you will live,” he muttered before he pressed the button. Caine looked toward Sergei and Katherine who’d come up alongside them. When nothing happened, he pressed it again. “No.”

Luther leaned down so their faces were almost touching. “We found the chip and removed it. You can’t hurt her or my father. Not ever again.”

Caine tipped his head back and screamed, using the last of his breath to vent his anger. His eyes rolled back in his head, and his body went limp.

Tarrant and Nic, both dressed and in human form, strode toward them. “It’s done,” Nic told them. “The rest of the men are dead and disposed of.”

Luther knew they’d used drakon fire to dispose of the bodies. It burned hot and fast and would destroy all trace of the men.

“I got some identification off of a couple and took pictures of all of them.” Tarrant looked down at Caine and shook his head. “It will help me track all known associates, which will hopefully give us more members of the Knights.”

Luther was grateful for all their help. He rolled his shoulders and held out his hand. “Thank you. For everything.” Without them, his mother might be dead, and they might not have been able to defeat Caine and his men. Nic and Tarrant had been far enough away from Caine’s vehicle and those damn symbols that they hadn’t been as affected.

“What now?”

Nic looked around the area and whistled under his breath. Luther followed his gaze and winced at the damage. The ground had several trenches that hadn’t been there before. Rock formations had cracked or come tumbling down, and a lot of trees had been uprooted.

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

Nic laughed. “Not the first time, but hopefully the last. We can’t depend on this as a safe place any longer. I don’t know if Caine told anyone else about his plans or where he was going. Knights are usually secretive, but we can’t take that chance. We’ll get rid of the vehicles and Caine and tidy up the place best as we can. You need to get out of here.”

“That is a lot of vehicles to handle. You’ll need some help.” It felt wrong for someone else to clean up his mess.

Nic shook his head. “Fire drakon,” he told Luther. “It’s no trouble for me to take care of clean up.” His expression softened when he looked at Victoria. “You have other priorities.”

Nic was right. A fire drakon’s fire burned even hotter and longer than a normal drakon, and Nic wouldn’t find it nearly as draining to use his power. Nothing was more important than getting Victoria and his mother to safety. But there was something more to be said.

“We’re stronger together.” He wouldn’t have been able to defeat Caine on his own, not without his father. And they might not have been able to do it if Nic and Tarrant hadn’t dealt with all the other men. Luther had no idea how many there’d been, but there’d most likely been dozens of armed men.

“We are.”

“What about containment?” Victoria asked. When they all looked at her, she squared her shoulders. “They were expecting to remove two drakons from here. Where are the men and the trucks needed to do that?”

“Damn good question.” Oscar stepped up and handed Victoria the keys to the vehicle they’d used to get here. “Take these and get out of here. I’ll take one of the SUVs down the road if any of them are still functional.” He glanced at Nic and got a nod. “I’ll find out what’s going on.”

“You can’t handle it on your own,” Luther pointed out. Oscar was exceptional, but he was human, only one man.

“He won’t be on his own,” Nic reminded him. “You need to get out of here.” He rattled off a phone number. “If you want to talk or need anything, call that number.” Luther memorized it and knew his father was doing the same.

“Thank you.” Victoria slipped away from him, went to Oscar, and hugged him. “For everything.”

Oscar closed his eyes and hugged her back. “Anytime.”

Luther resisted the urge to rip her away from the other man, even though he knew there was nothing sexual about the embrace. They all owed Oscar.

Luther went up to him, and Oscar released Victoria and took a step back. He was obviously familiar with overbearing drakons and how they felt about their mates. Luther held out his hand. “Thank you.” They shook and then Oscar turned away and started to walk down the road with Nic beside him.

“Leave as fast as you can,” Tarrant reminded them. “And call when you’re settled. Because you’re right. We are stronger together. That is something my brothers and I have always known.”

Victoria caught Luther’s hand in hers as they watched Tarrant, Nic, and Oscar walk away. “Brothers? There are more of them?”

Luther chuckled at the combination of wonder and worry in her voice. “Seems like it.” He was feeling more himself by the second as the drug worked through his system. “I need to get dressed, and we need to get out of here.”

“It won’t take long to gather the few things Oscar bought us as well as our old clothes. We need to make sure we take everything we might need.” She started to move away, but he pulled her back.

“I love you, Victoria.” Before she could say anything, he kissed her. It was quick and passionate. He walked off to get the sweatpants he’d stashed without waiting for her reply. Maybe it was cowardly, but he didn’t care.

They needed to get out of here. And he needed time to recover from this battle. Once he was back at full strength, he’d put all his effort in convincing Victoria to stay with him.

Forever.