Leonidas
Gale and I were just about to pull the SUV around to the front of the building to pick up Flint when it hit me. An emptiness, a void that consumed me so completely I nearly lost my mind. My hand flew to my chest and I sucked in a breath.
“Are you all right?” Gale asked.
“No,” I said. I didn't know what this feeling was, but I wanted it to stop. I needed it to go away. For a brief moment, I'd wondered if I had been poisoned. “Flint. Get to Flint. Now.”
I scrambled for my telephone to call him. It rang and my pocket buzzed. Fuck, I'd taken his phone to stop him from searching for more cribs. I'd never given it back to him. Big mistake.
Gale hit the gas and turned around the front of the building, slamming on the brakes directly in front of the entrance.
I dove out of the car and ran inside, looking around frantically for my mate. He wasn't there. Gale followed behind me and we marched to the restroom. I kicked in every stall door. Empty. No Flint in sight.
“Calm down,” Gale said. “Maybe he got distracted looking at something.”
“I can't feel him, Gale. Something's wrong. I don't know where the fuck he is.” I felt the heat rise within me and scales broke out on my arms.
Gale grasped my shoulders. “Breath. Focus. You cannot freak out right here. Do you understand me? Calm down.”
I took deep breaths. Inhaling through my mouth and exhaling through my nose. Steam came out.
“Now, let's go to customer service, see if we can page him. If we need to maybe we can persuade them to let us see the security cameras.”
I nodded though I barely understood what he was saying. My mate was missing, and I couldn't feel him. My dragon just wanted to bust loose and torch the place until we found him, until whoever had him gave him back to me.
“It's them,” I said. “The sirens. They have him I know it.”
“Calm down,” Gale said. “Go wait in the car and I'll talk with the humans.”
“No,” I growled. “I'll go with you. I promise, I won't freak out.”
He stared at me for a long moment. Just as I was about to let loose, he nodded. “All right. You don't say anything. I'll do the talking. You text Broderick or Merek or Armant and let them know what's going on.”
“Okay,” I said.
I stood back as Gale spoke with the employees at the customer service desk. I counted my breaths, one in one out, two in two out, to prevent myself from going mad with terror, grief, and anger. I couldn't even begin to sort out what exactly I was feeling. Empty. Alone.
Fingers snapped in front of my eyes and I focused to find Gale in front of me, his hands on my shoulders.
“No one saw anything,” he said. “But they're going to let us review the security tapes.”
Every minute that passed was another minute that my mate was in danger. “Now?” I asked.
“Yes, right now. Maybe you should—”
I glared at him, silencing whatever he was going to say.
“Okay,” he said. “You can watch the tape with me. But I'm going to be prepared to knock you out in case you start losing it.”
That made sense. I don't know what sort of bribe Gale gave the manager of the store, but she led us into her office where the security monitors were.
We stood behind her as she rewound to just ten minutes ago. Had it only been that long? It felt like an eternity since I had had my mate beside me.
We watched as Flint entered the bathroom, then came out. A few moments later, he began walking down the aisle, then stopped, shook himself, and continued walking. A person in a hooded sweatshirt came up behind him with something in her hand--I couldn't tell what. The person covered Flint's mouth with one hand and with practiced ease pushed something into his neck with the other—a needle, I assumed. Flint slumped, and the person hoisted him up like he weighed nothing and carried him out of the store.
How no one saw, I'd never know. Perhaps it was a magic. I didn't know the sirens had that sort of ability, but the result was the same. They had my mate and I had no idea where to find them.
I saw red, heat rising inside me, but I bit it back down. Flint needed me to be strong, to keep my head, and I needed to stay sane for him, to bring whoever had him to justice, to seek my revenge. If any harm came to Flint, all bets were off. If God forbid they had killed him, nothing on Earth would stop me from killing those responsible.
***
An hour later, the five of us were in my penthouse. Merek and Gale had laptops out, hacking God knows what to find something, anything on Molpe that we could use. Some indication of where she might be keeping my mate.
I paced, pulling my hair out, trying desperately to keep control of my dragon. Broderick stood silent in the corner. Anger radiated off him as well. Armant held a book it looked old, no doubt looking for information we could use against the sirens when the time came. I trusted my fellow dragons to help me in this time of need.
“Why don't we just go to the club? Storm the place?” Broderick asked.
That was a plan I could get on board with.
“We can't go in without an idea of where she has Flint. I'm afraid that if we go in guns blazing, that harm will come to him,” Armant said. “I think she will reach out to us.”
I shook my head. “I can't wait that long,” I stared at Armant.
“I know,” he said. “I understand. I—”
“Got it. I'm in,” Merek said.
I didn't know what that meant, but I went to his side anyways. On the screen of the laptop was a view of Molpe’s club from the outside.
“She has security cameras, and I found a way into her network”
Whatever the fuck that meant. “Are they there? Is Flint there? What can you see?”
Merek navigated through the various cameras, showing the outside of the club, the front door, behind the bar, and then finally, some sort of cellar that held stacks of liquor and in the center of the room, sat Flint, tied to a chair.
“Oh, Christ.”
His head hung down with his chin resting on his chest. My dragon threatened to break free, I fought the change, but it was a losing battle. Broderick huge arms hugged me tight, containing my dragon in my human skin.
“Keep calm, keep calm,” he said. “You'll do him no favors if you lose it right now. We'll get him back. Okay?”
I nodded, keeping my dragon at bay, and he let me go.
“You guys don't have to do this,” I said. “If things go south, and a fight ensues, we risk exposure and with that will come retaliation from the Fates or even others like us that want to keep their existence under wraps.”
“We aren't starting this fight,” Broderick said. “But we're going to finish it, together. When they threatened your mate, they threatened all of us. Flint is family. You guys would do the same for my mate, heaven forbid I ever find one.”
I met the nods of all my friends. He was right. We would all fight for each other's mates, no matter the cost.
“All right,” I said. “Gale and I will go to the club. Armant will stay in the car monitoring the surveillance cameras. Broderick and Merek will be at the exit in the back alley. We’ll have two cars, whoever gets Flint takes him out of there as soon as possible, okay?”
“Well,” Merek said. “I had a feeling sooner or later some of the tech pieces my company manufactures would come in handy. So, lucky for all of us, I have headsets that we can talk through, make this a real spy mission.”
“All right,” I said. “Let's go.”
***
We approached the club about twenty minutes later. Apparently, they were closed for the night because the place was empty, and parking wasn't an issue.
Merek and Broderick parked in the back to have a view of the back entrance.
Gale, Armant, and I stayed in the front. Armant sat in the driver seat, laptop open looking at their surveillance system. I observed from the backseat as he navigated through the cameras. My mate still sat in the room by himself, head down.
“What did they give him that has kept him out so long?” I asked.
“Any number of things, really. But it really hasn’t been that long, Leonidas,” Gale said.
“Feels like an eternity.” My skin itched, and my dragon clawed below the surface, begging to be released and reunited with our mate.
Knowing that only two hours had passed since I’d last seen my mate didn’t make me feel any better. I needed to keep my head, to keep my cool to save my mate.
“Is there any way to know if anyone else is in the building?” I asked Armant.
“No,” he said. “I can't see any other rooms. But you would think the place would have some sort of office in there. The sirens could be in there. There's no way to know how many there are.”
“No more than five,” Gale said. “There's only ever been five sirens.”
“That's if they're working alone,” I said.
He nodded.
“All right,” I spoke into my earpiece. “We're going in.”
Gale and I exited the SUV. The doors were locked on the club, but I wasn't about to let that stop me. I kicked them open and we walked in. There was no one around. I walked with purpose to the main area. Tables and chairs filled about half of the space, in the very back was an empty space that I assumed was the dance floor. Directly ahead of us was the bar and a doorway that probably lead to the backrooms.
I knew my mate was in that direction. Something stirred within me, it took me a moment to realize that Flint was beginning to awaken. I felt an ache in my chest, his consciousness slowly seeping back into mine. I resisted the urge to shout out to him, to let him know I was there. Instead I concentrated on sending positive thoughts through our bond. I didn't know if he could feel them or even understand them, but it was worth a shot.
“Leo!” I heard and felt the shout from the back of the building. My mate called out for me and I ran without thinking. The distress in his voice tore me apart and I couldn’t hold back any longer.
When I entered the room where they held my mate, his eyes flew to mine and he relaxed against his restraints.
“Leo! What the hell happened? Where am I?”
“Hush, baby,” I said. “I'm going to get you out of here. Okay?”
He nodded. “Is it the sirens?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “We’re at Molpe’s club, we've got to act quickly. We don't know where they are or how many of them there are.”
“Okay,” He struggled against the ties that bound his wrists. I rushed to his side, transformed one hand into a claw and cut the zip ties. Once he was free, he stood and wrapped his arms around me.
“Oh, thank God,” he said. “I woke up and I was terrified. I—”
I hoisted him into my arms. “I know, baby.”
“I'm sorry.” He sobbed into my shoulder.
“It's not your fault. It's mine.”
“I should have never—”
“It's not your fault,” I said.
“Come on. Let's go,” Gale said from the open doorway. “Let's get him home.”
I carried him out to the main area of the club. Gale updated Merek and Broderick to let them know that we had Flint and he was safe.
We were almost to the door when a melodious voice filled the room. “Well, well, well, look what the dragon dragged in.”
I turned, still holding my mate in my arms.
“Real original,” Gale said. He stood between me and Molpe.
I pushed him aside and handed him Flint in the process.
“I'm going to torch this bitch,” I said. Flame flew out of my mouth directly at Molpe, but before she could go, a barrier stopped the flames. I stopped, looked at Gale. “What the fuck was that?”
Molpe laughed. “I've learned a few things in the last few years.”
“What do you want? Why did you kidnap my mate?” I asked.
“For the fun of it,” she said.” I wanted to know what I was up against.”
“Up against? We're not interested in fighting you, but if you insist then we will take you and the rest of the sirens down.”
She laughed. “That's cute that you think I'd be working with them. You may have your mate this time around. but rest assured I'm not done with the five of you. Now that I know what I'm up against. I can prepare for next time.”
“What is it that you think you know?” I asked.
She narrowed her eyes. “I know you've got a little witch on your side and I know that you'll all be finding your mates soon, which means you'll have little dragons running around. If I can't have that one as a pet,” She pointed at Gale, “I suppose some of your offspring will suffice.”
Gale growled and lunged, but I held him back. “It's useless,” I said. “Something's protecting her.”
Just then, a man appeared out of thin air. One moment, Molpe was alone, then the next moment she had a man at her side. I didn't recognize him. And the two of them weren't there long enough for me to determine what sort of creature he was. I caught one evil smile before he wrapped his arms around Molpe and the two of them disappeared from sight.
“What the fuck was that?” Gale said. He held a hand to his ear. “Broderick, Merek are you there?”
The two of them burst through the back entrance and rushed to us.
“What happened? Where did she go?” Broderick asked, looking around the space, ready for a fight.
“I don't know. She's working with someone.” I gathered Flint into my arms. His body so warm it nearly burned my skin and he shuttered. “What is it, Flint. What's wrong? Did she hurt you?”
“No,” he said. “I think—" He took a deep breath. “I think the baby is coming.”
“What? It's early.”
Armant came through the front door. “Did she just disappear into thin air? What the fuck happened?”
“Armant, get over here,” I said. “Flint’s having the baby.”
“What? He's early!”
“Well, try telling that to the egg.” I lay my mate down on the floor and I kneeled at his side. “Flint are you sure it’s time?”
Sweat broke out on his forehead, and both hands held his abdomen. “Yes,” he said. “I feel like I'm being ripped apart and I'm burning up. It's exactly like Valerie said it would be when it happened. He's ready.”
“Holy shit,” I said. “I'm not.”
“Do we have enough time to get you back to the manor?” Gale asked, and Flint shot him a glare that stopped him in his tracks. I’d never seen a look like that on my mate.
Flint groaned and arched his back. “No,” he bit out. “Now. It's happening now. Trust me. I'd rather be back at home where we could do this like we planned, but we don’t have time.” He groaned again, writhing in pain.
“Oh, fuck,” Gale said. “Either you do it or I will.”
I started stripping off my clothes, hoping to God, there'd be enough room in here for me to fully transform. Gale pushed all the tables and chairs out of the way to make room for my dragon.
I closed my eyes and reached for the fire within me and changed into my dragon. The transition didn't take long, he was ready to get out, to help his mate and meet our child. Once I opened my eyes I saw my mate and met his gaze, full of trust and love.
“Do it, Leo. I want to meet our son.”
I reached out one clawed forearm, and with no prior knowledge of how this was done, I operated on instinct alone. My claw pierced the skin of my mate, but somehow, he felt no pain. In no time at all, I reached in and held our child in my hand.
Flint's stomach healed and flattened before my very eyes, and it looked like he had never been pregnant at all. I had no time to focus on the miracle that was my mate. Instead, I changed back into my human form, still holding our son. Someone, Merek, I think, handed me a towel, and I wrapped my son in it.
My little boy let out a piercing scream, and I laughed through my tears. I showed him to Flint.
“He's strong and has good lungs.”
Flint sat up, reached his arms out and I placed our son in them. “He's beautiful,” Flint said. “I can't believe we did that.”
“I can't either.” I kissed Flynn's forehead. “You did great. I’m so proud of you.”
He looked up at me. “You did too,” he said. “I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
I helped Flint to his feet, his arms still wrapped around our child.
“Does the little guy have a name?” Broderick asked, leaning his bulking frame over my mate, trying to get a look at the baby.
Flint smiled. “Keegan. It means little tiny flame.”
“That’s cute,” Gale said.
Flint took my hand. “Take us home, Leo,” he said.