“Yeah. You guys didn’t warn me it was this hard to be apart.” The pain in my chest worsened with each passing moment.
“You’re talking to the wrong brother about that. I’m not mated, remember?”
Yeah and I’m only mated where rituals stand, I almost said, but kept that sad fact to myself. I mean, who mates, then refuses to share a bed with you, can’t stand to be around you, and curses the fact they ever met you?
Oh yeah, me. I was the lucky, or in this case, unlucky, recipient of that mate.
Mattias clapped my shoulder, “It’ll get better brother.”
Why were they all so sure of that?
As it was, Ronan would be home any time now. It’ll be interesting to see what mood he’s in after being on his feetall day. Maybe a bit of pampering, in the form of a full body massage, might bring him around.
One can always dream…
Ionus and Alex tore out of the house and Alex wrangled the kids and took them inside.
“Brothers, Mable just texted. She and Ronan were ambushed. He’s been kidnapped.”
I tore through my clothes, pieces flying in every direction as I shifted and took off toward the diner. Daylight be damned, this was my mate we’re talking about.
We’re behind you, Odem. She said there were three of them waiting behind the diner when Ronan came out.
Ronan!I reached out through our connection but received no response. Fuck!
We reached the diner in a matter of minutes, and the Jeep was still parked behind it. “Mable, who took them?” Her wife Cicily was tending to her wounds.
“There were two dragons,” she winced as Cicily dabbed at the rapidly healing gash on her head. “Marge was with them.”
“Larkin,” Ionus barked. “Do you have any leads?”
Fuck, my scales itched and the anger raged. I called out again,Ronan, I’m begging you, please answer me.
“Thanks to Mable, we got the plates of the van they took off in, but it came back as stolen.”
“Were they dragons? Why didn’t they fly?” This made no sense. Why use a vehicle when road rules stood in your way?
“What’s more disturbing,” Larkin said, “Was that they didn’t set off the wards. For Marge that means she never left Dragon City, and it could possibly be the same for the others.”
“If I had to guess,” Ionus said, “It’s the Gorynych dragons she helped escaped from their cell.”
Caro growled. “Which means my mate is in their line of fire too.”
Protocol. I’m sure Caro ordered Emerson and Cade into their safe room, most likely a horde room, and Alex and their four had done the same. Once Ronan was safely back in my arms, I’d add him to the scanner for the horde and make sure he knew where to go in times of emergencies. Nothing would be worse than coming home after battle and being unable to find my family.
Tire tracks.
“Larkin, stay behind in case they come back,” Ionus told him as he and our brothers followed the trail, scanning the area as we did. I’d never been a fan of violence though I did understand the need at times such as this. And right now, the urge to rip the kidnappers, and Marge’s, heads clean off weighed heavy.
We’ll find him, brother.
Yeah, but in what state, Ionus? I swear to fuck, if they harmed him or our eggs there will be hell to pay. Mark my words.
My admission was met with silence. I wasn’t the angry brother, though right now, there’d be no controlling my gift when we found them.
Remember, we need to interrogate. Contain now, remove from existence later.
Clearly, these three, Marge included, wouldn’t make it through the proposed rehab plan we’d hope to achieve with the Gorynych. I hoped Ionus understood that.
