Climbing down from Noah’s back, Kyle cradled Angela close to his chest. He ran his fingers down the ridge of her spine. Thankfully the flight hadn’t woken her. He’d spent the entire ride back thinking about how he was going to deal with her father and dreading how she would take it. Please don’t let him be involved.
If the minister was involved with the death of dragon citizens, Kyle was going to have to do something about it, no matter how Angela felt. His dragon cringed at the idea of upsetting his newly acquired mate. Kyle cupped his hand over the small dragon and squeezed her lightly. My mate.
He’d avoided the possibility of a mate for most of his life. His title and responsibilities made finding love very hard. How was this going to work? His dragon may have bonded with her, but he barely knew anything about her. That did not bode well for their future.
Kyle looked up at the minister’s mansion and tried to collect his thoughts. The events of the last few days had left his mind scattered. He had too many things to deal with at once. Taking a deep breath, he focused on the task at hand and pushed everything else back.
Standing up straight, he pulled the slouch out of his spine, held his head high, and squared his shoulders. No matter how bad they looked, a good leader always held himself with respect and dignity. Kyle could only imagine what others would see when they looked at him right now. Bloody and covered in grass stains. His nose twitched in disgust. A mess. Not how he wanted to face the problems awaiting him. Confidence can get you far. Standing tall, he marched into the house as if nothing interesting had happened. Retracing his steps, Kyle found his way back to Eugene’s office. He paused in the doorway to take in the scene.
Things hadn’t changed very much in the short time he’d been gone. Eugene was sprawled on the floor. His hands and feet were bound with thick black ties. Minister Lewis sat in a chair next to him, tied down with more straps. Terra stood over them as Daniel and Kara shuffled through the desk and shelves.
Kyle wrapped his knuckles on the door. “Sorry about that,” he said as he came in. “What did I miss?”
“Where is she?” the minister snapped before Kyle could get very far into the room. He jerked on his bonds.
Kyle stopped and met the minister’s gaze. He held it for a minute, taking the measure of the man. There was fury, but Kyle didn’t sense any guilt in the man. He rested his arm over Angela and scratched her head like one would a cat. “Your daughter is safe.”
The minister’s eyes flashed a warning. “If you’ve done anything to her,” he growled.
“I haven’t done anything to her,” Kyle snapped back. He turned away from the minister and made his way over to the desk. Carefully, he laid the small dragon down on the table top. He spent a moment tucking her wings in before turning around to face the minister again. “But I do have some questions for you.” Kyle rested his backside against the desk and crossed his arms over his chest.
Lewis stared at the small dragon with wide eyes for a moment before closing his mouth and glaring daggers at Kyle. “How dare you?” he screamed and yanked on his bonds again. “I will sue you for this!”
Rage straightened Kyle’s spine. “Me,” he snapped and dropped his arms to his sides. “I’m the one that’s been wronged here.” He pushed away from the desk and took a menacing step towards Lewis. The last strands of his self-control ripped through and he poured all of his anger out at the minister. “It was your aide that kidnapped me, locked me in your barn, stabbed me in the heart,” he grabbed his open shirt and pulled it back to show off the new scar on his chest, “stole my dragon, and left me to die. And now you want to prosecute me.” A hand landed on his arm pulling him back.
“Kyle!” Daniel snapped. “You’re out of line.”
Kyle let Daniel turn him around. The red at the edge of his vision faded as he met his friend’s eyes. Kyle glared at him for a long minute before shrugging off Daniel’s hold and going to stand by the desk again. Staring down at the sleeping dragon, he brushed his fingers over the small horns at the back of her head. “My apologies, minister,” he said as he touched the boned crest on the back of Angela’s head. Just touching her eased his anger. “This week has been very trying, and I fear I lack some self-control.” He glanced back to find Lewis staring at him in shock.
The man’s eyes dropped to the table where Kyle’s hand rested on Angela. “What happened to my daughter?” he asked in a worried voice.
Kyle let out a sigh, turned around, and held out his hand. “This is your daughter.”
Lewis stared at the dragon before meeting Kyle’s eye. “What?”
That one word and the shocked look in the minister’s eyes told Kyle everything he needed to know. The minister wasn’t involved. He knew nothing about dragon hearts and turning humans into dragons. Grabbing a pair of scissors from the desk, he went over and cut the man loose. “It’s a long story.”
Rubbing his wrists, Lewis stared at Kyle with wide eyes. He stood up and went to the desk.
The need to protect Angela raced up Kyle’s back, but he clenched his teeth and let the man reach for the small dragon.
“My Angel?” Lewis whispered. His hand hovered over her, not quite touching her scaly wings.
Unable to keep his place anymore, Kyle came over to stand next to the minister. “Yes.” He ran his hand down her tail and picked up the fringy end.
“What happened to her?” the minister asked as his fingers finally touched the back of her neck.
Kyle concentrated on the feel of the tuff in his hand to keep from brushing the minister’s hand away from his mate. “She was helping me reclaim my dragon,” he explained. “There was an accident, and she ended up bonded to it instead.”
The minister’s eyes widened in disbelief. “How is that possible?”
“Ancient magic,” Kyle explained. “Forgotten, but recently rediscovered. Originally, the spell was used to divide a dragon’s power between mates, but someone’s figured out how to use it to steal the power altogether. Unfortunately, the victims don’t survive the process.”
Lewis went still. “The missing dragons,” he whispered.
Kyle nodded.
“Why would anyone do that?”
Releasing Angela’s tail, Kyle let out a sigh. “I don’t know.” He turned around and looked down at Eugene. “But, I’m hoping your friend here can tell us.” Walking across the room, he knelt down next to the bound man. “Want to talk?”
Eugene glared at him. “Go to hell.”
Kyle chuckled weakly. “I’ve already been there this week.” Weariness pulled another sigh out. “Cooperating would make this a lot easier on all of us,” he coaxed. Kyle really didn’t want to do this the hard way.
Eugene scoffed and turned his face away from Kyle.
It had to be the hard way. Letting out another sigh, Kyle stood up. The morning had been too emotionally taxing to put up a fight right now. Later, after he’d had some rest, Kyle would grill everything he could out of Eugene. He left the man alone for now and turned to where Daniel and Kara were still shuffling through the room. “Find anything?”
“Not really.” Daniel slid one of the lower desk drawers back into place. “There’s a lot of information here, but I’m not sure how much of this is official business and how much of it is personal. If the minister is willing, I’d like to bring Alex in here to go through this.” His eyes flashed towards Minister Lewis before coming back to Kyle.
Kyle raised an eyebrow at the minister.
Lewis gave them both a worried look. “Some of this stuff is classified.”
A weak smile curled the corner of Kyle’s mouth. Nothing was ever easy. “Of course,” Kyle said. “Alex is one of Eternity’s top agents. He is both thorough and discreet. I assure you, your classified information will remain so.”
The look on the minister’s face was still unsure.
“But if you prefer, we can push this through more official channels,” Kyle offered.
The minister’s eyes narrowed. “How so?”
Kyle considered his options and picked the most distasteful of all. “We could take it to the Panel of Ministers if you would like. I’m sure they would be more than happy to launch a full investigation. Of course, that would involve an audit of your affairs over the last—” he paused and looked over to Daniel. “How long have dragons been coming up missing?”
“First official report was just over a year ago, but I have a feeling that this ties into the discovery of that new designer drug,” Daniel said thoughtfully. “So about three years.”
Kyle looked back at the minister and cocked an eyebrow at him. “Three years is an awful lot of time. The investigation could take months. And, of course, there would have to be a public committee set up to oversee it.” He gave Lewis a sharp smile. “To make sure everything is done properly.” He tried to keep the delight out of his eyes as horror filled Lewis’s face.
“Let’s not do that,” Lewis agreed.
“Then you’ll help us?” Kyle asked, relieved. Taking the problem to the ministers would force Minister Lewis to help, but it would take time and things would be made very public. They would lose any advantage they had at the moment.
Lewis let out a hard breath and turned back to Angela, sprawled on the desk. He stroked her golden scales as he spoke. “You have my full cooperation.”
“Excellent.” Kyle turned his attention to Daniel.
“On it,” Daniel said before Kyle could make his request.
Relieved, Kyle let out a sigh and watched his friend head out. He had more important things to deal with than the investigation. Focusing his thoughts, Kyle went over to stand next to Lewis again. “Thank you,” he muttered. His hand joined Lewis’s in stroking Angela’s scales.
The minister nodded but remained thoughtful. “Now what?”
Kyle took a moment considering his next course of action. “Damage control.”
Lewis turned his head to look at Kyle again. “My daughter?”
“Yeah.”
“Can you fix her?”
The minister’s words irritated Kyle. There was nothing wrong with Angela. He looked down at the small dragon, sleeping on the desk and let go of his irritation. In a way, she was broken. They both were. “We will try,” he admitted. “But the dragon’s energy has bonded with her. It’s unlikely that we’ll be able to break that bond completely.”
“So, she’ll be a dragon.” Grim acceptance rang through Lewis’s voice.
“Yes.” Kyle twisted to face the minister. “But, I assure you, she will have all the help she needs adjusting to the changes in her life.”
The minister’s face went tight and he nodded. “Please, do what you can.” He patted Angela one more time and stepped back.
“Of course,” Kyle said as he gathered up the small dragon. A feeling of completeness slipped down Kyle’s spine relaxing him. He hadn’t even noticed the tension building up. Closing his eyes, he held Angela close and swallowed down his emotions so they didn’t show on his face. Once he was back under control, he turned to face Angela’s father. “I have the leading expert on dragon hearts at my disposal. I assure you, we will do everything we can for your daughter.”
“Thank you.”
Kyle nodded once more and made his way out of the room. The afternoon pressed on him, and he was ready to get back to Patrick’s house so Noah could get to work. He wanted Angela and his dragon sorted out as soon as possible.
Kyle held Angela close as he climbed down from Byrd’s back. Glancing around the clearing outside Patrick’s house, he waited for Noah to shift back. “So how do we do this?” Kyle asked as soon as the mage was human again. He was anxious to have his dragon back, even if it meant splitting it with Angela.
Noah raised an eyebrow at Kyle. “I know you’re eager to get this over with, but it’s going to be a while before we can begin.” He came over and reached for Angela.
Having her in his arms felt too right and Kyle was reluctant to hand her over.
“I need to see how much damage was done,” Noah explained.
Forcing himself to let her go, Kyle held her out for Noah.
Noah lifted her gently, cradled her in his arms, and headed towards the house.
An uneasy feeling tightened Kyle’s stomach as Noah moved away from him. “Wait!” he cried out after the mage had taken a few steps. The cramps in his stomach hurt so bad they made him double over.
Stopping, Noah twisted towards him.
Kyle staggered the few steps and latched on to Noah’s arm. Now that he was close to Angela again, the pain subsided.
Noah pressed his lips together. “That’s what I was afraid of.”
“What?” Kyle asked, rubbing the lingering ache.
“The link between the two of you is strong.”
Kyle scoffed. “I could have told you that.”
Noah chuckled. “The bond between you two is strong,” he said again. “Much stronger than any mating bond I’ve ever seen.”
Worry made Kyle’s heart skip. “Meaning?”
“That you, Angela, and your dragon are currently linked as one entity,” Noah explained. “What one of you experiences, the other will feel.”
“What?” Kyle asked confused.
“Tell me, you felt pain in your stomach, yes?”
Kyle’s brow furrowed. “Yes.”
“What part of you caused the pain?”
Rubbing his hand over his stomach, Kyle tried to pinpoint what had hurt, but he couldn’t put an exact name to it. It felt as if his gut had cramped, but it wasn’t related to his stomach or intestines. “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “It just hurt.”
“I don’t think that was your pain,” Noah admitted.
Fear made Kyle clutch Noah’s arm. He had an idea of what Noah meant, but he needed more information. “Explain.”
“When I moved away, I felt Angela tense up,” Noah explained. “But I didn’t have much of a chance to investigate it before you cried out. The tension released when you came close. I think she was having a physical response to being away from you.”
That makes sense. Kyle rubbed his stomach. “She had that same response near the lake.” He moved to take her from Noah’s arms.
Noah let Kyle have her. “Then, maybe it’s best if you two stay close.”
“Level with me,” Kyle said as he settled Angela back in his arms. He gave Noah a worried look. “What’s going to happen when we split my dragon?”
“Honestly,” Noah said. “I don’t know. Byrd is sure he can draw out the dragon’s energy and split it properly, but he can’t tell me what to expect after that. The unpredictability of dragon hearts is why they aren’t used anymore. If all goes well, you’ll both be independent dragons. If things go bad, well, we might want to wait until everyone gets back before we try it.”
Kyle swallowed, knowing what could happen if things went wrong. “And what if I just wanted to take my dragon back? How would that affect Angela?” The dragon in him roared its displeasure, but Kyle kept his jaw clenched against letting the noise out.
“I’m not sure,” Noah admitted again. “This isn’t really my strength, but the bond your dragon has formed is unlike anything I’ve seen. Even Byrd is concerned over it.
“I don’t think it would be a wise idea just to take the power from her. She may survive without it, but I don’t think it would be good for her, and it would definitely leave the two of you bonded strangely. She may continue to react badly to separation. At the very least, her life will be tied to yours.”
“I see,” Kyle said as he stroked Angela’s back in thought. He could think of no way around it. They were going to have to split his dragon unless he could talk the dragon into relinquishing its bond with her. The growl that echoed up from his chest answered that question before he could ask it. Mine.
“This has been a long morning for all of us,” Noah said. “Why don’t you take her inside and rest for a while.” He turned away from the house and started down the path to the cabins. “I need to take care of a few things before we get started.” He threw a glance over his shoulder. “Besides, I need you both human before Byrd can draw the dragon out.”
Kyle let out a sigh and watched Noah hurry down the path. He patted his hand over Angela’s back and headed up the steps into Patrick’s house. He wanted to get things done, but Noah was right. It had already been a long day and he could really use some rest before facing what would be either the end of their lives or the start of new ones.