Epilogue

The financial destruction of the Knights of the Dragon was easier to accomplish than she’d ever imagined. But they hadn’t done it alone. Jericho had reached out to another drakon named Tarrant. Apparently, he was Jericho’s blood brother, one he’d never met. They had different mothers but had shared the same dragon sire.

Even more shocking, he had three more half brothers.

Unfortunately, she’d recognized the name of one of them. Darius Varkas had been on her radar quite some time ago when another Knight had moved on him. He had no reason to like or trust her.

His dislike of her had been a sticking point with Jericho’s other blood brothers. But Jericho and his friends—even Sadiq—had stood their ground, explaining her unique circumstances. It had taken time to build up even a modicum of trust, but between them all, they’d taken over or dismantled all of the other Knights’ businesses.

It was a huge blow, but not a killing one. Many of them would have other stashes of money and gold. At the same time she’d been leading the charge to take over or dismantle their financial empires, Jericho and the others had attacked the Knights in their own homes. The raids had been fast and furious. Many of the Knights had fled their ornate mansions and gone underground, leaving their men to fight, flee, or die.

The Knights would regroup and come after her and the drakons at some point. Enoch had assured her that with Tarrant’s help, they’d keep an eye on all of them, draining their resources faster than they could accumulate them.

The second half of the takedown had happened when Jericho and Sadiq had shifted and used their drakon fire to incinerate manuscripts, books, and artifacts that had been recovered from each home, including her own. Many people would have cried to see such priceless items destroyed. She hadn’t shed a tear.

None of them could ever be used against the man she loved, or his family.

“Nervous?” Jericho wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

“Some.” They were meeting his blood brothers in person for the first time. She didn’t call them his real brothers. In her mind, Sadiq, Enoch, and Khalil filled that role. They’d been crisscrossing the country for about a week, directed to one location and then another before finally ending up in an isolated area of the Cascade Mountains. The other drakons wanted to make sure they weren’t being set up.

Karina respected them for that.

She patted his arm, and when he released her, she turned to face him. They were both wearing jeans and leather jackets. She had discovered she no longer liked suits and fancy clothes. They were a reminder of a past she wanted to forget.

Her homes in Boston and New York were on the market, and she expected an offer any day. Her former personal staff had all fled or been dismissed. She still held the reins of all her businesses and had them in an iron grip. In a quick raid on her secret lab, they’d seized and destroyed every record, every drug that could be used against a drakon.

Then the five of them had hit the road. It surprised her how much she enjoyed seeing the country from the back of a Harley. She had a new sense of freedom and purpose. One that suited her.

Reaching up, she touched the ruby nestled at the base of her throat and then the one that dangled beneath. The necklace was a talisman, a reminder of Jericho’s love for her.

“Someone is coming,” Sadiq called out as he came toward them. Khalil and Enoch flanked them. Karina took a deep breath and tried to calm her frayed nerves.

A large truck, which had seen better days, came down the dirt road and stopped a fair distance away. The door opened, and a big man got out. This had to be Tarrant.

…

Jericho took a step forward, ready to defend Karina if necessary. He should have stashed her somewhere for this first face-to-face meeting, but figured she’d be safer with him in the long run.

“Tarrant?”

“Yeah.”

Jericho smirked. His brother was a man of few words. They stood and studied each other for quite some time, neither of them ready or willing to make the first move. In that way, they were a lot alike.

The passenger door was shoved open, and a woman climbed out. Tarrant scowled and rushed around the vehicle. “I told you to stay inside.”

“No. I want to see her.”

Karina gasped and pushed her way around Jericho. “Valeriya?”

He inwardly swore. This was Karina’s sister, the one she’d had men hunting for when she’d been under Svetlana’s influence.

“Is it really you?” Karina took a step forward, stopping when Tarrant frowned at her. Jericho bristled and moved alongside his mate. The resemblance between the women marked them as sisters. They both had black hair and green eyes, though Valeriya was curvier.

“Karina.” He heard the quaver in her voice. “Is it true? What they said about grandmother, the tattoo, the drugs?”

“Yes.” That was all she said. She didn’t try to defend herself or justify her actions. He stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her in a show of support. His friends formed a semicircle around them, creating a united front.

“I knew there was good in you.” Valeriya took a step forward. Tarrant tried to stop her, but she scowled at him. “She’s my sister.”

“She tried to kill you. Or rather the man she sent after you did,” Tarrant reminded her.

“And for that, I’m sorrier than I can say. I loved you.” Karina cleared her throat. “I love you.”

Sensing what she needed, Jericho released her, and the two women stumbled toward each other. When Karina hesitated, the younger woman reached out and pulled her into her arms. Then they were both laughing and crying at the same time as the men watched.

When the women finally broke apart, Tarrant’s face and stance had softened slightly. “Can I ask you something?” Tarrant stared pointedly at Karina.

“Yes, of course.”

“Why does your family have such a hard-on for drakons?”

“My ancestor was one of the human women who bore a drakon son. She was cast out of her home. In her bitterness, she blamed the child and set out to destroy him and all his kind.” Karina sighed and shoved her hands in her jacket pockets. “Not exactly a history to be proud of. Over the centuries, various groups rose and fell, until the Knights of the Dragon came together. By then, it was more about power and wealth than vengeance.”

The sisters might have hugged and made up, but he and Tarrant were still eyeing each other. It was his turn to ask a question. “Why did you stop searching for more brothers?” It had haunted him his entire life.

“We were thinking more like humans than drakons. We were still young and didn’t factor in that our dragon sire could fly long distances in a very short time.”

“And later?” They hadn’t always been young.

Tarrant shrugged. “I guess by then, we had each other and had settled into life. When did you know about us?”

“From almost the very beginning.” He could still remember following his brothers’ path through desert and mountain terrain until he’d finally given up.

“Why didn’t you come to us?”

Jericho looked at the men surrounding him, the men who had been by his side for thousands of years. “I guess we found each other and settled into life.” He tossed Tarrant’s words back at him.

Tarrant nodded. “Fair enough. Want to meet the rest?”

His heart pounded in anticipation, but he didn’t accept the offer. Instead, he took Karina’s hand in his. “Is my mate welcome?”

“Yes. We would never hurt a drakon mate.” Tarrant glanced at Valeriya. “And my life wouldn’t be worth living if I made any move on her.” Valeriya frowned at her mate and elbowed him in the stomach. “Follow me,” he ordered.

Tarrant waited until they were all on their bikes before pulling out.

“I love you,” Karina whispered, her breath tickling his ear. His heart swelled, and so did other parts of his anatomy. For a brief second, he thought about peeling off and finding a private field somewhere for just the two of them.

With the open road before him, his family by his side, and his brothers just ahead, he had everything he’d ever wanted. But none of it topped having his mate seated behind him, her arms wrapped securely around his waist.

“I love you, too,” he told her.

She buried her face against his back and hugged him closer. Life didn’t get any better.

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Stay tuned for N.J. Walters new Forgotten Brothers series…