Or if it would be better not to involve them in this vastly dangerous hunt.
Before I can decide, the golden cell phone in my hand rings. With my eyebrows rising, I answer, “Hello?” thinking it might be Heathren or Insinio.
“Yava! Thank all the gods! Don’t be alarmed; Father back-traced this number and gave it to me just now. He’s been keeping me updated on the situation in Sweden, but I’ve been trying to contain myself from storming up there and bashing down doors to find you, since you’ve been off the grid. What the hell is going on?”
My cousin Rhennic Erdhelm, King of the Storm Dragons of France, has called me. Surprise and gratefulness flood me as I hear his smooth baritone voice, which I didn’t expect on the other end of the line.
Brother to Haldfir and King Huttr’s second son, Rhennic has a personal involvement in all this; I know he would want to be apprised of the situation, no matter how much aid he may or may not be able to give.
As I speak with my cousin, filling him in on everything he hadn’t heard yet from his father, I feel Rhennic’s dark storms. He exhales, and I sense his rage and fury at everything that’s been going down—rage in support of me and our Blood Dragon kin.
And fury towards Hedda, Lithava, and our ancient Blood Dragon Ancestors, who so vastly fucked everything up.
“I’m there already,” Rhennic says as I finish telling him the Archangel’s plan. “Give me twenty-four hours to muster as many Storm Dragon warriors as I can, then we’ll meet you at the Outer Island. You will not be alone in this. We will give our all to protect you and fight this monster—and we’ll bring our storms to do it.”
“Rikyava, I will be there as well. Along with a strong Guard contingent from the Paris Hotel, and anyone else from the staff who wish to help.” I jolt with surprise to hear my boss, Reginald Durant, on the line now from the Red Letter Hotel Paris.
And know my sneaky cousin dialed others in to our conversation.
“Technically, I cannot send aid from the Hotel, as it’s strictly against the Hotel’s charter to get involved with Lineage affairs.” Reginald’s beautifully smooth voice holds gentle dominance as I practically see the Siren’s ice-blue eyes dig into me from far away, letting me know how much he cares. “But as a personal friend, I shall go on immediate leave, and offer paid leave to anyone who wants to come with me. We will be there, Rikyava—I promise. Send me the coordinates of this Outer Island. And we shall come posthaste.”
“Rikyava! I’m sending aid and coming as well.” As the former Head Concierge of the Paris Hotel and new King of the Crystal Dragons, Dusk Arlohaim, speaks on the line now, tears of gratefulness well in my eyes. His fierce, upbeat nature bolsters me. I didn’t know how much I missed Dusk, one of my few lovers at the Red Letter Hotel Paris, before he met his true love Layla.
And how much I needed a good friend, just now.
“Shh, drakaina, don’t cry…” Dusk is kind as he hears me exhale hard, trying to keep my shit together. “I’ve already called up the majority of our Plateau Guard here in Egypt. We’re leaving just as soon as everyone is ready. We’ll be there in force. You’re not alone in this, Yava, and you never were. Chin up; hold on tight to your heart, because we’re coming.”
One of my best friends ever, despite being a total pain in my ass, asearing light fills me now as I blink away tears of gratitude at Dusk’s words. Joy fills me despite all the darkness, and I can’t speak, only nod.
“Sweetie… easy. We’re here for you,” my bestie Layla Price says kindly now, as I feel her beautiful, generous energy fill me up from afar, even though we have no proper bond with each other.
“Aid is coming from Wahdi Atlamenta, too, and the Desert Dragons. We’ll never leave you out in the cold, Rikyava. You know that.” Her First Drake, Adrian Rhakvir’s, stern but kind voice comes on the line also, as I nod fiercely now, feeling so much love expand within my heart.
“I know that. I know…” I hiccough a sob as this immense feeling blazes all through me. It’s almost unbearable now as it cracks down all my inner walls, making me shine with the strength of my friends’ love pouring through me.
I haven’t seen them in ages, but my friends love me and I love them; it fills me up now, how much good I have in my life despite all the shit.
It makes me blaze so hard now that it suddenly shatters Bjorn and Ström’s walls. As my roaring fire reaches them, it hammers down their divisions; it wallops them like a punch to the gut, but a good one, as I feel both my drakes gasp.
A beautiful shock takes Mikkel and Baldur, even Lærke, as this bright white fire flares so intensely inside me. As it spills in a righteous wave of gratitude, love, and joy from my deepest heart of hearts, its tremendous sensation expanding inside me like pure sunlight, it surges into all my drakes.
Bjorn turns in my mind with astonished golden eyes, as that massive wave of love just busts down all his doors, unlocking him from his infernal rage at his father, and waking him back up to what’s most important.
As it also breaks down Ström’s walls here at Harnakje in conference with his family, I feel that beautiful wave of love inundate him. Passion sparks in my Second Bloodmate; Ström’s emerald eyes flare, vibrant, as he rises from his seat now. Turning towards me, his eyes pin me through our reopened Bloodbond.
Clear of darkness—and scorching with light, at last.
18
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Ström comes to me as I smash down his walls with my burning light. It’s only a brief minute before he arrives; his green eyes wide and astonished, he takes me in on the bed where I sit alone now, Mikkel, Baldur, and Lærke out rallying our allies for our next move.
Ström’s full lips hang open; dressed in russet battle leathers, his tawny hair is rucked up and his lithe body wire-tight as he arrives. His deep shudder of passion and astonishment is everything as he crawls onto the bed and reaches out. Touching his fingertips to my cheek, he traces my lips and jaw, then trails his fingers down my neck.
It’s sexual and intense; erotic. Like we’ve never touched before, every motion has me shivering now, despite my current exhaustion. As Ström touches me, I feel my brighter Blood Magic drakaina and my darker Bone Magic drake both rise, slithering with an intense power deep inside me. Because this ravishingly dark yet bright intensity Ström has right now calls to both sides of my power.
As I let him come to me.
