Dev cracked a wicked grin. "I'm tossing the dragon over my shoulder and running for the door. You gonna cover my retreat, kid?"
Sighing heavily, Samia pressed her gloved hands to her nose. "I wish he was joking with that threat. Instead, I have this awful vision in my head and an ulcer in my stomach."
Dev kissed her cheek. "I promised you that living with me would never be boring."
She let out a tired breath. "That you did. You are definitely a bear of your word."
As they started to leave, Illarion stepped forward to go with them to the Omegrion.
"No!" Max roared, pushing him back toward his brothers. "Blaise, keep him here."
Illarion was aghast. You can't leave me out of this. I'm part of it.
"I can and I will."
Illarion shook his head in denial. He tried to step around Max, but Max wasn't having any of that.
Max pushed him back again. "I mean it. You go and I'll run." He looked to Falcyn, then Blaise. "He's not allowed to go. You have to keep him here. No matter what."
Seraphina gaped at Illarion. "You killed the prince, didn't you? It wasn't Maxis. It was you."
"Sera," Max growled. "Stay out of this."
Releasing Max, she went to Illarion. "Tell me what happened."
"It doesn't matter." Max swallowed hard. "I'm the Dragonbane, not Illarion. Leave him alone." He glared at his brothers. "Do not let him leave here."
Before she could say anything more, Max vanished.
"No!" Terrified and shaking, she turned on Illarion. "Tell me the truth. What happened?"
It was an accident.
She met Acheron's gaze. "We've got to get the others to listen. Somehow."
Vane agreed. "Don't worry, Sera. They can't start the council yet. Four of the members are still here."
She arched a brow at the number. "Four?"
"Me, Fury, Alain's mate--Tanya, and Wren Tigarian, who's behind you."
Like Illarion, Wren held that same disturbing aura of quiet predator that said he was eyeing everyone around him like prey. Sizing up their every movement to detect the weakness he was about to use to bring them down for a kill. The most disturbing thing was the way his eyes changed color depending on the way the light hit them. They went from a light gray to a vibrant turquoise.
Highly disturbing.
Until he unleashed a friendly grin that made him appear boyish and shy, and around the same age as Hadyn. "Sorry. My wife Maggie is always getting on to me for making people uncomfortable. Although she seems to enjoy my doing it at her father's cocktail parties. Sometimes she even puts me up to it, but it's a bitch at the playground. I've sent three of my daughter's playmate's nannies into therapy."
Illarion laughed. He could just imagine. The tigard was indeed a rare breed.
Tanya moved closer and rubbed Seraphina's arms comfortingly. "Don't worry. We won't let them take your Max, any more than we let them hurt Wren a few years ago when they called for his head. We always watch after our own."
But as they arrived in the Omegrion council room on the mysterious Neratiti island home of Savitar, Illarion wasn't so sure she could keep that promise.
The large circular chamber was decorated in burgundy and gold. Through the open windows that spanned from the black marble floor to the gilded ceiling, he could see and hear the ocean. Oddly enough, the entire room reminded him of an ancient sultan's tent. Lavishly decorated, it had an enormous round table in the center that was presided over by Savitar, who wore an angry, pissed-off grimace.
Still dressed in a black wetsuit, Savitar sat on his throne with damp hair and his arms crossed over his chest. So silent you could hear the wood drying on the walls around him.
Yeah, that wasn't creepy or disturbing at all.
Composed of one representative from each individual breed of Arcadian and Katagaria Were-Hunter, the Omegrion council made the laws that governed their races.
It should have had twenty-four members.
But one chair at the table remained conspicuously empty. An eerie warning and eternal reminder that back in the day, it'd belonged to the Arcadian Balios, or jaguar patria. Legend had it that centuries ago, the Regis of that group had run so afoul of Savitar's temper that he'd single-handedly destroyed every member of their species.
Total annihilation.
Which said it all about the power and temperament of the disgruntled Chthonian sitting in judgment of them all. And today, Savitar glared at the group with a particular air of I've had it, folks. "How nice of you to join us. I trust all of you had a nice nap after I summoned you?"
Acheron had the audacity to laugh. "Miss a gnarly, awesome wave, Big Kahuna?"
"Don't start, Grom. Not in the mood." Savitar sat back on his throne. But it was the collection of Arcadian and Katagaria dragons and the Arcadian Kattalakis wolves on his right-hand side that set his jaw ticcing.
Savitar let out a long, exasperated breath. "Hear ye, hear ye ... ah, fuck it. We're here today for bullshit and we all know it. So let's dispense with the usual formality and get on with this witch hunt before I lose what little grip I still have on my patience." He ran his thumb along his goatee. "So, Dare Kattalakis, state your case and demands to the council. And do it fast, with as few words as possible."
As a littermate to Vane and Fang, he bore a remarkable resemblance to his brothers.
Too bad they all hated each other. Passionately.
Clearing his throat, he moved to stand in the center of the open round table to plead his case. "First, I want to restate what a travesty it is that my family's seat is taken by--"
"Wah, wah, wah ... quit crying at the tit," Savitar snarled. "Your brother Vane is the head of the Arcadians and Fury leads the Katagaria. Seek a therapist who gives a shit, or if you'd like to challenge either of them for their position, we can do with some entertainment. Hell, I'll make popcorn for the show. Otherwise, bitch, get on with it."
Illarion passed an amused arch of his brow to Blaise. Damn, Savitar was in rare form, even for Savitar.
Dare lifted his chin, but wisely kept his gaze away from the surly ancient. "Fine. We all know why we're here. Maxis Drago as the Dragonbane is the cause of the war between the Arcadians and the Katagaria. Because of his actions alone, all of us have lost family and been scarred and cursed into perpetual war. Now he's unleashed the gallu and Apollo on us! He's--"
"That's not true!"
Illarion was shocked that Seraphina finally rose to his brother's defense. It was about time she did so.
Savitar's features finally softened, as if he approved. "The dragonswan speaks."
"She's his whore!"
Savitar slung his hand out and caught the Kattalakis dragon who'd insulted her with an unseen force that lifted him up and pinned him to the wall between two of the open windows. "Only I'm allowed to be an insulting asshole in this room. Understood?"
The dragon nodded.
Savitar dropped him straight to the floor, where he landed with a pain-filled groan and in an unceremonious lump. Then he returned his attention to Sera and spoke to her in a kind, fatherly tone. "You were saying, dear?"
Yeah, his kindness was even scarier than his nastiness.
"It's okay, Sera," Max said, reaching out to touch her hand. "You don't have to speak up for me."
"No, but someone does. I don't know who released the gallu--"
"That would be us," Zakar said, raising his hand. "Oops. Sorry about that."
Illarion snorted at the Sumerian god's effed-up humor. They'd unleashed them centuries ago. Not for this particular misadventure.
Savitar rolled his eyes. "Sit your punk ass down and shut up. You and I will talk later."
Zakar laughed good-naturedly. "Hope you take your Abilify first, old man."
Yeah, only a god could get away with that.
Or Acheron.
Savitar started to wag his finger at Zakar, then gave up and waved him away. "Shut up." He returned his attention to Sera. "You were saying?"
r /> "Just that my mate is innocent. The gallu came after him first. And neither of us have a clue about Apollo. We don't even know what you're talking about." She tucked her marked hand into Max's.
He winced before he laced his fingers with hers and clutched her hand tightly in his.
Savitar watched that single gesture closely for several heartbeats without comment.
"I demand he pay for his crimes!" Ermon Kattalakis--one of the Arcadian dragons--demanded. "It was the blood of my grandfather he spilled!"
Like hell--Illarion barely kept that explosion to himself as he met Savitar's gaze through the crowded room.
Without a word, Savitar stood and closed the distance between him and Max. "It occurs to me, Maxis, that with our historian, Nicolette Peltier, gone, there's no one here who knows the history of this council. She died before she could pass the origins along to her only daughter, Aimee." He turned toward Tanya. "I suppose you should inherit that part of her job as well, no?"
Tanya looked as frightened to be under that fierce scrutiny as Sera had been. "It would be my honor to record it, my lord."
Savitar glanced back to Max. "What do you say, drakomas? Have I your permission to break our pact?"
Illarion saw the indecision in Max's golden eyes as he debated. He glanced to Illarion, then to his mate and their children.
It's time. Illarion inclined his head to him. Tell the truth, brother. Let them decide for themselves.
With an audible gulp, Max nodded. "Although, I would remind you both that when the truth was told last time, it didn't help. No one cared."
Ignoring that, Savitar stepped back then so that he could walk a circle around the table. "Some of you have been coming here for centuries. You occupy seats you inherited from your family or won through combat. All of you know what an honor it is to sit here and represent your independent species. Both those who hold human-Apollite hearts and those born with animal hearts. Two halves of a single whole. Both sentient, and forever condemned by the gods to war against each other for no real reason, other than the fact that the gods are assholes. Everyone knows that part of the story. What none of you know is why you answer to me. Why you answer to this council specifically..."
Savitar gestured to Max. "You blame the Dragonbane for the war that divides your two branches of the same species, but he didn't do this to you. That belongs to the three bitches who cursed your race in the beginning. To Zeus and Apollo and their childish tantrums that made them cry to the Fates to do something because they felt cheated that you were spared the Apollite curse that would have required all of you to die horribly at age twenty-seven over an event you had no part in. But as with all history, that is only one tiny, bit part that you've been told, which was colored by those seeking to sway your opinion and make you hate for no real reason. To keep you divided when you should be whole and focused on the real tragedies you have in common. The ones that unite you as a single, sentient species. Follow me, children, and let me show you what you've never seen, but what you need to know."
With that he threw his hands out. The doors crashed closed and darkness fell into the room so completely that for a moment, Illarion felt as blind as Blaise.
When the light finally came up, he winced at the sight of a much younger Max.
Of a much younger him. It brought back forgotten memories and emotions that he'd intentionally buried. Now, those old wounds bled anew.
The two of them were locked in a cage, starved and ragged. Filthy. Damned to remain in human form by the collars Dagon had fastened around their necks. Collars that were humiliating and choking. And as they sat starving and freezing in their misery, another man stared in at them. Unlike them, he was impeccably groomed and wore royal princely garb.
An identical copy of Illarion.
It was the face he despised most. A face he wore only to please Edilyn, because of how much he hated it and because of the bitter, hated memories like this that it stirred within him.
Half the room turned to stare agape at him as they realized that Illarion was the prince and not Max, as they'd all assumed before this.
Max had been created from the son of the prince's bastard half brother. A slave.
And beside that despised prince stood an elegant dark-haired lady. While they'd seen the prince numerous times since they'd been caged here, the woman was a new addition to their drab, dingy home.
"Eumon?" she whined, trying to pull the prince away by his arm. "Why did you bring me here? Don't you grow weary of looking at them all the time? It's so creepy!"
They were creepy? Really? Personally, he'd much rather be an immortal dragon than one of those disgusting creatures who'd been cursed by Apollo to die painfully on their twenty-seventh birthday. There was nothing creepy about being a dragon.
Human-Apollite bodies?
That was the stuff of nightmares. They were weak and pathetic. And smelled to the highest level of Olympus.
The prince smiled at his beautiful, petite wife, but his gaze never wavered from the two inside the cage. "Look at them, Helena. But for the fact that he doesn't speak, you'd never know he wasn't me. And the other ... he is the very image of Pherus. It's as if I'm still looking my brother in the eye."
She wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Pherus was never your brother. He was the son of a slave."
"Slave or not, he was my brother through my father. And I loved him as such." And he'd died as soon as they'd tied his life force to Max's. Eumon licked his lips. "Do you think they can understand us?"
"No. They're animals and you're lucky you survived the merging your uncle did to you. Now, can we go? I don't like it here. It smells." She pressed her dainty hand to her nose to illustrate her point.
Only thing that smells, bitch, is you.
Instead of leaving, Eumon knelt down and held his hand out to Illarion. "Here, boy ... come to me."
Tempted to bite him, Illarion scooted closer to Max before he gave in to that urge.
Eumon lowered his hand and sighed. "It seems like we should be able to train them. Doesn't it?"
Illarion slid a snide grimace to Max. He'd like to learn the prince a few things himself.
"Maybe so as not to wet the rugs or their beds, but I wouldn't hold out hope for any more than that. As I said, they're stupid animals, incapable of thought or civilization."
Oh yeah, they were the problem in this equation....
"You are terrible, Helena!" he teased.
All of a sudden, a large number of guards stormed into the dungeon. Illarion narrowed his gaze on them. That never boded well for those kept in cages.
Anytime that many came in like that ...
One of the prisoners got seriously hurt.
Or seriously dead.
Prince Eumon shot to his feet to confront the stone-faced soldiers. "What's the meaning of this?"
"Orders from the king, Highness. We're to destroy all the experiments to placate the gods."
Oh like hell ...
The prince's face went white. "What?"
The guard nodded. "The dictate came from the head priest this afternoon. The gods are demanding that all the abominations be put down. Otherwise, they'll kill your father and you, and your brother."
Illarion exchanged a furious glower with Max.
Never fear, brother. I won't let them take you, Max promised.
But that wasn't Illarion's fear. No, he wasn't going out without a fight.
By the gods, he'd take them with him. As many as he could.
With a mighty roar, Max rushed at the bars.
The prince stumbled back with a fierce gasp, dragging his wife with him.
Screaming, she fell to the floor. "I told you! He's an animal! Kill him! Kill him now!"
Fury tore through Max with such ferocity that he lost complete control of his magick, even with the collar on to control it. The howls and screams of the others filled Illarion's ears as the soldiers set about carrying out their orders to murder them while they were helpless and caged.
This was utter bullshit! Illarion threw himself against the bars, over and over. When that wasn't enough, he and Max summoned every bit of magick they could and held their concentration. Then they sent it out into the air around them.
Like a thermal shock, it rolled and released a pulsating wave. One that shattered the cage and sent the guards, prince, and princess tumbling.
Weak, but determined, Max grabbed Illarion. "Free the others. Be damned if those bitches are going to take their lives for this!"
It's not our place! He had no interest in risking his life for them. Not after the way they'd treated them.
But Max misunderstood his protest. "I don't answer to the Greek gods. They can kiss my scaly ass." He grabbed the keys from the guard who was closest to him. Baring his fangs, he took the man's sword, then moved to free the Arcadians and Katagaria. "Illarion! Move! Save everyone you can!"
Disgusted by his brother's Arel ways, Illarion finally conceded. This would come to no good. He knew it.
Max always got them into trouble with shit like this.
Always!
As soon as they had the doors open and had started to leave, the guards moved to stop them.
"We have to talk to the king first. No one can leave here."
To his complete shock, Eumon stepped forward. "Let them pass."
"Highness--"
"Do it!"
Reluctantly, the guard stepped aside and ordered his men to stand down.
Max inclined his head to the prince. "Can you show us the way out, Highness?"
The prince narrowed an evil glare at him. "I knew you could speak! I need you to show that to my father."
"And we need a guide before your father learns of this and kills us.... Please. My brother and I have always been overtaken whenever we've tried to escape. I know there's a way to the forest, but we haven't been able to locate it."
Without hesitation, he nodded. "Follow me."
"Eumon!" his wife breathed. "You can't do this. If the gods have spoken--"
"They're sentient, Helena. Look at them." He gestured at Max and Illarion. "Half of them are Apollite. I can't condemn them to die, and especially not by execution in a cage after everything else we've done. It would be wrong. I'm their prince. It's my place to protect them."
"And what of your son I carry? Who will protect him when the gods kill you for this hubris?"
He kissed her lightly on the forehead. "Relax, precious wife. No one's going to kill me." Pulling away, he led Illarion and the others through the dark cavern. "Follow me and I'll see you to your freedom."