“Let me go, Malvern. Whatever you’re thinking, don’t. You’ll be sorry. If you hurt me, I will hurt you. I’ll find a way.”
“You are in no position to make threats.” He flopped on top of her, the full weight of his body pushing her down into the mattress. “Now, where were we?”
Chapter Thirty
Nick dreamed he was floating down a river in a canoe. A very uncomfortable canoe. A bumping, clinking canoe with two men in the canoe ahead of him arguing over where to turn. He came awake in the back of a cargo van to the smell of gun oil and ammunition.
“Gabriel, I’m telling you that was the turn!” Tobias yelled.
Nick sat up, rubbing the knot in his back that had formed from lying on the floor of the van. He got his bearings and stuck his head between the two dragon males, eyeing the setting sun and their surroundings.
“Yep, you passed it,” he said. “You wanted that unmarked lane a half mile back.”
Tobias scoffed. “I told you. You never listen to me.”
Gabriel pulled a U-ey and headed back toward the entrance.
“So, uh, was I unconscious this entire time?” Nick asked, trying to sound casual but feeling every bit inadequate between the two huge men.
Tobias chuckled. “Harriet drugged you. The old bird gave you some kind of tonic to make you sleep a ‘hero’s sleep.’ She told us to tell you that you may find your natural talents are accentuated tonight, but it will only last until the next time you sleep.”
Nick narrowed his eyes. “She drugged me. She fucking drugged me. I’ve been poisoned by grandma fashionista!”
“Grandma fashionista insisted on reading our palms,” Gabriel said. “Felt like I was back in New Orleans.”
“You didn’t let her, did you?” Nick scratched the back of his head. He was starting to feel weird, hyped up like he’d chugged a thirty-two-ounce espresso.
“We didn’t want to be rude,” Tobias explained. “Besides, nothing she said made that much sense anyway.”
Nick shook his head. “Don’t tell me. Rowan told me never to let Harriet read my palm. She said she has a knack for causing self-fulfilling prophecies.”
“As a doctor, I feel compelled to inform you that palm reading is a bunch of hooey with no basis in science whatsoever,” Tobias said.
“Says the dragon who probably just carried me out of a magical land that can only be reached through a sapling in an alley.”
Tobias shrugged. “I was trying to be nice.”
Gabriel grunted. “Excuse my brother. He’s the compassionate one. It comes from his years of acting as a healer for humans in Chicago. I am not as nice. I will hand your ass to you on a platter if you don’t pull it together and help us get our sister back, no matter what our palms say.”
Nick nodded slowly, feeling every syllable of what Gabriel had said in his “oh shit!” sensor. Gabriel had turned down the unmarked road, and Nick motioned for him to slow down and pull off between the trees. They rolled to a stop, and he led them to the tree that overlooked the wall. The sun had started to set, but the level of security hadn’t lessened in the least. If anything, there were more humans patrolling the property. The place was absolutely buzzing with security uniforms.
“So what’s the plan?” Nick asked. “Where did you get all the firepower anyway?”
Gabriel shot him a dark look. “It’s better if you don’t know.”
“Okay. As a proud member of the NYPD, that makes me really uncomfortable.”
“You could be dead soon. Then you won’t be uncomfortable.” Gabriel handed him a bulletproof vest. The thing was loaded with magazines. More ammo than he’d seen in his lifetime.
Tobias raised a hand. “Hey now, we are not getting our sister’s mate killed before we even have a chance to razz her about how she mated a human.”
“About this mate thing…” Nick wanted to ask exactly what it meant. What had he signed up for? Clearly he had signed up. People didn’t rush forth into a heavily armed fortress knowing they could die for someone they weren’t completely sure about. But when he began to ask the question, the looks on her brothers’ faces gave him pause. Gabriel especially would doubtless be enraged by any indication that Nick hadn’t completely mated his sister. “I… I want to be the one to kill Malvern.”
The brothers’ smiles were dual images of each other, the way only siblings can be. But then Tobias’s expression morphed into an expression that made Nick instantly uncomfortable. He hated pity.
“Did she feed you her tooth?” he asked.
Gabriel raised an eyebrow in Tobias’s direction. “Personal much?”
