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In the end, Simone slept through the entire flight. She had fallen into the torpor that Matt had warned Andre about at the beginning of their journey. He suspected it might be days before she woke up. The journey and fights, combined with stress, had taken their toll on her.
When they arrived in Las Vegas, Simone had to be carried off the plane by one of his guards. Andre didn’t like the fact that he couldn’t carry her. But his chest wound hadn’t fully healed, and he would have done himself a great deal of damage with the strain of carrying her.
Since it was afternoon when they landed, the party entered blacked-out SUVs from inside the hanger and took off for the hour ride to Sascha’s estate.
Andre called Matt as soon as they were on the road.
“What’s been happening?” Andre asked as soon as the dragon picked up on the other end.
“I’m sure Lisa told you about Imka?”
He closed his eyes briefly. “Yes. It’s even more important that we get the artifact locked up.” He thought about what his second had told him and nearly swore again.
“Does Simone know?” Matt asked in a low voice.
Andre glanced down at the sleeping Simone. He had her tucked against his side with his arm wrapped around her.
“No. She fell into a deep sleep once the plane was in the air and hasn’t woken up since.”
Matt swore briefly under his breath. “I’ll have a doctor waiting.”
“Is the torpor that serious?”
“Only if she isn’t seen by a doctor who knows how to treat it. She’s probably going to be out of commission for several days.”
That wasn’t good. They might need Simone during the rescue of her mother.
“I want to be in on the rescue.” If his shadow couldn’t be there, then he would have to do it. But first, he needed blood and rest.
“I heard someone injured you in the fight.”
“I was, but Simone gave me some of her blood. It healed most of the wound, but I need more.” He might need to see the doctor himself to make sure that everything healed correctly.
Matt chuckled darkly over the phone. “Well, the shifter who shot at you is still sitting in one of the holding cells.”
Andre’s fangs grew with the news. “Yes, wolf’s blood will do nicely.” The power alone in that should be enough to finish his healing.
***
A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER, Andre sat in a room that only held a chair and table. The room was white; both the walls and the floor were covered with cheap ceramic tiles. There was a drain in the center of the floor.
The door to the room opened, and a young-looking Nightshade walked in, dragging a chained-up wolf shifter behind her. The chains were coated in silver.
Andre could smell the wounds from the silver. Silver poisoned shifters and prevented them from shifting into their alternate forms.
“Hello, Lynda. Are you here to partake as well?”
Lynda was a Nightshade who was turned when she was fourteen by a Nightshade descended from a demon. She had eventually killed her sadistic sire. Her sire left her with a “gift” of receiving power from fear and pain.
She didn’t indulge often because she admitted it was like a drug. She would want more and more until the acts consumed her. In fact, it was that desire that caused her sire to turn her so young for sex.
“It’s been a while since I’ve used this room.” Her eyes flashed yellow as she gave a vicious yank, sending the wolf sprawling to the floor.
Andre stood up and walked around to the shifter. He kicked him, sending him flying into the wall. The shifter cried out as he landed back on the floor. Lynda shivered as his pain fed her resources.
“Raphael sent you to die,” Andre said in an almost pleasant tone. “Did you honestly think that you would get away with killing me?”
The shifter looked up at him with dull eyes. His captivity had not been good to him. There wasn’t much intelligence or sanity left in him. That didn’t bother Andre in the slightest. He was just a source of food and power to the two Nightshades.
“No answer?” Andre knelt down beside the wolf. “No matter. I’ll send your head back to Raphael as a message.”
He stood up, walked back to the table, and sat down. “Ladies first.”
Lynda smiled. “Fast or slow?”
Andre waved his hand. “I don’t care. Just make sure that I can feed afterward.”
Screams rang from the room for over an hour before they ended forever.
***
ANDRE JOINED MATT, Lisa, and Sean in the library. Sascha was off attending some other business elsewhere on the estate. The council and their retainers had left for their own territories before they had returned from Paris.
“You look a lot better.” Lisa stood up and gave her lord a hug.
He smiled and returned her hug. “Thank you.” He eyed his second. There was something different about her.
After he had drained the broken shifter dry, he had cleaned himself up and taken a nap. The couple of hours’ rest next to Simone had done wonders for his body. He was back to full strength. He sat down in the empty chair next to Matt. The three were seated around a table with a map spread out on it. “When are we going after Imka?”
Sean leaned forward in his seat. “In about an hour. We can’t risk them moving her.”
“I wish Simone was awake, but Dr. Wilcox says she will sleep another day or two.” Matt frowned. “And even then, she will have to eat and sleep more to recover her strength.”
Andre winced. Normally, he could feel Simone’s presence, even if she were asleep. But with her in a coma, their bond felt empty.
He missed her more than he would admit to anyone alive.
“And when I mean eat, she will eat. One of the local conclave is on standby to fly her to one of our ranches in California, where they have stock set aside to feed her.”
Lisa’s eyes grew slightly wide. “Stock? Like still-living animals?”
Matt nodded. “A dragon her size can decimate an entire cow. Or if she’s a dainty eater, several chickens.”
It was hard to picture Simone munching on a cow. The image that it brought to mind was a cartoon dragon eating a cow like a candy bar. Andre decided that, one day, he would have to see that.
“Damn.” Sean let out a low whistle. “I thought that wolves could eat.”
“Let’s get back to tonight,” Andre said with some sharpness in his voice. He did not want to spend the rest of the evening discussing draconic eating habits. He wanted to retrieve his shadow’s mother and get back to the Estate.
The group got down to the business of planning a rescue.
When they broke apart to get ready, Andre held Lisa back until the library had emptied. “What’s going on between you and Sean?” The tension between the two was so thick he thought he could physically touch it.
To her credit, Lisa didn’t brush him off. “We’re having compatibility issues. It’s hard for two dominant personalities to work together.”
Andre raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. Lisa’s excuse was bullshit, and they both knew it. There was something going on between them. Throughout the meeting, he could feel the sexual tension they were putting off.
“Really, Lisa? I’m pulling enough energy from the two of you to light up Las Vegas.”
Lisa snorted. “Then you’ll be well-fed for the mission.”
He really wanted to know what happened between the two of them during the search for Imka. They didn’t have the time for long explanations right now, but after the rescue was complete, he would get some answers. He had his suspicions about what was going on but wanted them confirmed.
“You won’t let the compatibility issues,” here, he used his fingers in the quote gesture around compatibility issues, “interfere with the rescue?”
“We’ll be good.” Lisa looked away, and Andre could have sworn that she looked sad for an instant. When she looked back at him, her face was normal.
He would let it go for now. “Fine. Let’s get this show on the road.”