Chapter One
H e would not quit.
He would not let his people down, nor his mate. The warrior inside of him would never allow it.
Cage threw a punch, ducked and weaved, then threw another. He might not be able to shift into his dragon form anymore, but he could still fight.
He growled at his opponent who treated him like a little fucking flower. “Come on, Zon. Bring it. Don’t go easy on me. My bare knuckles are all I’ve got left to fight with, I’m not quitting until they’re bruised and bloody.”
If he had to die trying, he would ensure the future of the gold dragons.
His sparring partner lunged and caught Cage right on the jaw, snapping his head back. He tumbled to the floor and spit out the blood pooling in his mouth. Served him right for navel-gazing. Warriors didn’t think, they didn’t screw around.
About time he learned that lesson.
Better late than never.
Probably.
“Sorry, sir.” Zon looked down, the telltale worry in eyes. God, how Cage was tired of concerned looks. He’d lost his dragon, but it didn’t make him a breakable baby.
He waved the offered hand away. “I’m fine. But, remind me to dock your pay later.”
That anxious look turned to shock. Thank the First Dragon, because one more second of being pitied and Cage really would start docking warriors’ pay.
That would teach them. Gold dragon warriors were greedy bastards.
“Kidding, man. Teach me that move and I just might give you the key to my lair.”
Another look of shock. Cage really needed to get his men to lighten up.
Worry was not the way to be a warrior. Action was.
AmberGris, his second in command, and Zon’s twin walked into the training room and frowned at Cage lying on the floor. He assessed the situation, folded his arms, not pleased and scowled at Zon, who shrugged.
The two exchanged glances that had a whole lot of - what the hell is going on here – I don’t know, he asked me to spar with him – well, you have to be careful with him, he’s weak – communication between them. Before Cage could smack them both upside the head Gris gave him the news he’d been waiting for.
“Sir, we have her.”
Cage ignored everything else and pulled himself up from the mats. “Good work. Put her in my office and draw the shades. We want to make our guest is as comfortable as possible.”
“Respectfully, sir, she’s been a giant pain in the ass and I would prefer we escort her to the dungeon where I, we, can keep a better eye on her.”
Gris was an excellent dragon warrior… and a little overdramatic. Cage had turned The Lindens dungeon into a wine cellar years ago. But, since this whole shit storm had started, Gris had become an overprotective mother hen.
“I'm sure you would. Put her in my office anyway.”
Gris grumbled, and Cage could practically see his feathers puffing up. “Sir.”
Cage raised up a hand to hold the oncoming objections. “I promise you and the rest of the guard won't be far away when I question her. She's already stolen my soul shard once it's not like she can get it again.”
Cage waved to his empty chest. It still felt strange to not be wearing the talisman that held a piece of his soul intermingled with the First Dragon’s.
She'd stolen a whole hell of a lot more from him than his shard, she'd taken something precious from every Golden Dragon.
And it was his own damn fault.
Gris huffed and puffed stirring up small dust devils but went back to his duties. Probably going to put about twenty more dragons on patrol around the little succubus.
Cage couldn't blame him, and if worse came to really fucking worst, Gris would make a good Wyvern. Not that he wanted the job, but if Cage didn’t accomplish this mission, well, let's just say he'd plan the coup himself.
There is only one way Cage could be the true Wyvern his golds needed. That was to get his dragon back. There was only one way to do that.
Go to hell and find his mate.
There was a lot more riding on Cage finding his mate than just his own forsaken soul. The souls of the rest of his Wyr and all their potential mates depended on it.
No pressure.
Jakob and Ky, Wyverns of two of the other dragon wyrs had already found their mates. The first in centuries. None of them had even thought it was a possibility.
Since then, in just a few short weeks, at least a dozen more dragons had found, marked, claimed, and mated women who filled their souls and their powers to overflowing. But, only Jakob’s greens and Ky’s blue dragons had been blessed.
The reds and his own golds were just fucked.
The AllWyr council had surmised that the Wyvern of each Wyr must have to be mated before the rest of his dragons would be able to.
The only thing keeping Cage from going berserk and killing every demon dragon under the sun was the fact that he already knew who she was.
Azynsa.
Such a strange and beautiful name.
It was almost all he knew about her. That and she was half mermaid.
The fates had to be laughing their asses off for coming up with that one. A flyer of the skies and a lush creature of the ocean, soul mates.
Where in the world would they live?
He’d figure that out later, assuming they both survived long enough to get together.
Azynsa already owned his soul.
Quite literally.
He’d known it the instant she’d touched his missing soul shard. She’d healed him from the worst case of man-flu in the universe. Even though they’d been on different planes, separated by miles, space, and time., he knew her and their connection.
Weirdest fucking feeling ever. Like a miracle wrapped up in an enigma sprinkled with fear and fairy dust.
Azynsa was his true mate, and he was hers.
Only problem, she’d been kidnapped by the Black Dragon, the king of hell, and when his brother wyverns had tried to save her, she’d… disappeared.
Ky and Jakob had left her on the promise from some shithead of a rogue dragon, that she too had escaped.
He knew better.
She was down there. Tortured by the heat and something that weighed heavy on her heart. He’d had dreams of her hiding, spying, crying.
No, not crying. She had yet to shed a tear.
The dreams were not his imagination. He suffered her pain and sorrow as if he were there with her. A part of him was.
He’d also known her bravery, an internal toughness that even most dragon warriors couldn’t match.
She was one badass mermaid.
Every waking hour he plotted and planned, trained his human body to fight and survive, all so he could rescue her from the pits of hell.
He had a strategy to get a guide to hell. Once he got down there he’d have to survive without his dragon in a realm filled with demons, demon dragons, the Black Dragon, and no possibility of sunshine, to recharge him, ever.
None of the dangers mattered, not if they meant he could rescue Azynsa and lift whatever spell was keeping his Wyr from finding their mates.
Cage headed to the main house and stretched out while crossing the garden, basking in the direct rays of the sun. He really ought to live on a beach somewhere, but Denmark and the Seven Pines estate had been the gold wyr seat for longer than he could remember. Besides, a big chunk of his treasure hoard was here. It would be a giant pain to move, and how did one hide billions of dollars of gold, art, gold, jewels, and more gold in the sand?
He got plenty of sunshine here and when the skies were gray and cloudy all he had to do was fly above them to refill his energy.
Except he couldn’t do that anymore.
He couldn't live without the sun and not just because he needed to work on his tan. Which meant hell…would be hell.
He was going there anyway.
He’d already decided not to ask Jakob or Ky to join this battle. It wasn't fair to them or their new mates to ask them to put themselves at risk again. Match was the perfect choice to go with, that bastard loved the dark and heat of a volcano. But, he was still recovering from a dagger to the heart, poisoned with something that had almost killed him.
He’d be grumpy the whole time anyway. He was always grumpy.
Time to get creative.
Actually, he already had.
He closed his eyes and lifted his face to the sun, for one more minute of its energy. He had a feeling he would need all he could get.
When he got back to the house, two of his gold warriors were standing guard at the entrance to his office.
Behind the closed doors someone swore like a sailor who was raised by swearing sailors.
He'd always had a thing for filthy mouths.
“You two can go, I don't think you need to hear this.”
They nodded and saluted, and then stood there like statues. They weren't going anywhere. None of his guard had let him alone for a month. Either that or the succubus allure had them constrained.
He scowled at them and they didn't even flinch.
Fine, it was their dicks.
He pushed through the door and it took his eyes a minute to adjust to the dark room. All of the curtains had been drawn and the lights were off.
“Don't you come a fucking step closer to me, Cage. I have no intention of dying today.”
Cage found his little thief stuffed into the corner of the room, hiding behind his desk. She had a letter opener in her hand, ready to use like a knife. There was a lot of bravado in her words, but the tremor behind them betrayed her fear.
She should be afraid.
“Hello, Portia. Stole any other souls lately?”
He knew full well she hadn’t done anything besides run for the past few weeks. She’d been excommunicated from every demon coven in the world. She had to be scared, lonely, and hungry. Exactly how he wanted her.
“Screw you, you gave it to me.”
That tough exterior had been what attracted him to her in the first place. That and her allure. Which she wasn’t using now. Interesting. Cage’s eyes adjusted to the dark and he sauntered toward Portia. “We've already done the screwing park, my dear.”
She held the letter open at the ready, and she knew how to yield it too. Leonard had taught her to fight. It was probably the only reason she was still alive. Succubae did not do well on their own.
“I'm not apologizing for all that. I did what I thought I had to do.”
He wasn't blaming her, never had. It was his own damn fault for getting involved with a succubus in the first place. Well, it was his dick’s fault.
He liked sex just as much as the next dragon, maybe more. Who better at sex than a succubus?
But truth be told, he hadn't been that into it lately. He figured it was just his Prime coming on. Dragons from his generation and the one before him, were well known to be horny little fucks in their younger days, but when they hit around a hundred and fifty and their aging slowed down, so did their libidos. He wasn't really ready to throw in the towel, like Match had.
That guy needed to get laid more than anyone he knew.
Cage’s latest partners hadn't been disappointed, he knew how to make a woman come, screaming his name. He hadn't got off himself in months.
Portia's allure had gotten a rise out of him though. She'd worked her mojo and he'd welcomed it, with open pants.
He'd been so under her spell, that she could have asked for the moon, and he would've flown up to give it to her. But all she asked him for was his soul shard.
Even while he handed it over to her, he knew it was a horrible idea. But, she’d controlled him completely.
Not today.
Cage flipped on the light switch, keeping her as off balance as he could. She preferred the dark.
He preferred to have a soul.
She squeaked and dove under the desk.
“I'm not here to eat you, Portia.” Although she probably would've liked it. “I'm calling in the favor you owe me.”
“I don't know you shit.” Her voice came up from her hiding place.
Cage laughed darkly. That was the most hilarious and horrible thing he’d ever heard. “Oh, I think you do. You me a whole lot more than that. But, I’ve got a deal for you. Do what I ask, and I have something in return for you.”
He kept his tone seductive, doing his best to speak her language. Portia and what was inside her head was his best and only plan to get to hell and back.
“If that something involves chopping off my head, I'll pass, and also, fuck you.”
“I hear you're homeless, without a coven. Not a friend in the world. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone on your side again, Portia?”
Her hand gripped the edge of the desk and her face slowly rose above it. “What are you offering?”
Gotcha.
“You help me find my mate, and you can live here, under my protection. We’ll find a way to feed you in any way you might need.”
It wouldn’t take much of her allure to get most of his dragons to fuck and feed her. Except maybe Gris. He had a particular hard-on for Portia, and not the fun kind.
Portia's face went paler than usual and sunk back down below eye level of the desk. “Why would you do that for me?”
Cage leaned against the desk and crossed one leg over the other as if none of this mattered to him one bit. “You have the key to getting me down to hell.”
“Oh no. I’m not going back there.”
He needed to entice her a little bit more. “I can provide you with everything your coven ever did, and more.”
“I doubt that. Leonard and Geshtianna are very old demons. They’re a lot more powerful than you or any of your dragon buddies.”
Yes, but he had a trump card. “Maybe, but I can give you something they can’t.”
Portia was playing tough, but Cage knew he had her hooked. Her incubus father was powerful, but he’d also banished her. She had nothing, and he was about to offer her everything.
Cage waited patiently for her mind to come to the conclusion all on her own that she had no other choice. Regardless of what he was offering her, it was a better option than life on her own. She knew it and so did he.
He could throw her in the dungeon and feed her on rats and she’d take it. Lucky for her he was offering something a lot better.
“What do you want from me? I can’t take you down there. I was just along for the ride and lost everything while your dragons were off saving the day. Go ask them to help you.”
“They’ve done enough. Besides, they don’t have what you do.” He had no intention of taking Portia back down into hell. She wouldn’t be able to help him, only one dragon could do that.
“Quit dicking me around and tell me what you want. My allure might not work on you or your golden retriever, but I’m pretty sure those two at the door are ready to come in here and fight you for me.”
This sparring was the most fun he’d had in weeks. At least Portia didn’t treat him like everyone else in his life at the moment. They were each vulnerable and that put them on an equal footing. “Why is it you haven’t just turned your allure on me again? We both know you could simply make me tell you my plans and take whatever you want in the process.”
“Yeah, like I haven’t tried?”
He hadn’t felt a thing.
Portia sighed. “Jada says our allure doesn’t work on dragons who are mated, you bastard.”
That may be true, but it wasn’t why she didn’t have any power over him. If he was mated, then the rest of his dragons would be finding their mates too. He was in a weird half-mated limbo.
She hadn’t been able to dissuade Gris from his task of capturing her either. Her allure must be on the fritz from not having fed. The human side of her was probably the only thing keeping her alive.
Once their deal was done, he’d have Gris bring her a nice big meal, of human food. If she wanted or needed more than that, he’d feed her himself if he had to. But, only blood this time.
Cage had drawn this game out with Portia long enough. She was desperate already, but now that he’d dangled a safe future in front of her, she’d be ready to give him the one person he needed, betrayal or not.
“I’ve got the money and resources to give you everything you need. All you have to do is help me with one thing.”
“Like I have a choice?”
“We always have choices, babe. We don’t always make the smart ones though. I’m proof of that, aren’t I?”
Portia crawled out from under the desk and stood, the letter opener still gripped in her hand, but finally she faced him. “What do you want?”
“Your boyfriend.”
She frowned and held out the letter opener. “Fuck off. Jett’s not mine to give. Never was.”
Yeah, and that black dragon bastard never should have let her think otherwise. But, he had started this and Cage was going to finish it. “But, you’ll find a way to get him here and get him to do what I want anyway.”
She bit her lip and shook her head. “I don’t know if I can.”
“You’ll find a way, because, once he and I retrieve my mate,” that was the plan, “you’ll get yours.”
She backed away. “Get my what?”
“Your mate, Portia.” Boom.
“I don’t think it was a coincidence you came to me to get a soul shard. Your mate is a gold dragon. Once I claim Azynsa, your mate will be able to claim you.”
Portia dropped down into the chair, shock and awe on her face. Cage knew the feeling.
“Jett is going to kill me for this.”
Not if Cage got to kill Jett first. But only after they went to hell and back.