Chapter Thirteen

 

 

As Ben, together with his father, stepped out of the wide double doors of the mansion's main entrance, the first thing he saw was Reive's motorcycle, not looking any the worse for wear after its adventure in the creek, parked in the sweeping front drive. Reive stood at the bottom of the steps, looking up with his hands shoved into the pockets of his black leather jacket and the night wind from the valley ruffling his dark hair.

Reive hadn't come any further because Maddox stood at the top of the steps, arms folded and wide shoulders bulging at the seams of his suit.

Ben had a feeling that Reive could have taken Maddox easily—whatever Maddox shifted into, it probably couldn't beat a dragon—but hadn't tried for the same reason that Darius hadn't run Reive off yet. The state of relations between the different dragon clans was fragile. None of them wanted to be the one to break the peace.

"Reive Corcoran," Darius said. He glided forward, and Maddox moved out of the way. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"I think you know," Reive said. He stood with his legs apart, body loose but tense, ready to move if he had to. "I'm here on behalf of my clan. I believe you have something that belongs to us."

Ben had to stop himself from looking up at the mansion, trying to figure out which of the lighted windows belonged to the Lilac Room.

"Ah yes, the girl with the rather important necklace," Darius said. "I'll turn her over to you in just a moment, although—"

"The hell you will!" Ben shouldered his way between his father and Maddox. His cat was snarling inside him, struggling to push its way out and claw at this threat to their mate. "She's not yours to give, and she's not going anywhere."

"She's not mine to conceal, either," Darius pointed out mildly. "May I ask why you want her, Reive of clan Corcoran?"

"She's a thief and a traitor," Reive said.

"She is none of those things!" Ben snarled. "She'd never heard of dragons until I told her about them. She didn't even know what her necklace was. She's blameless in all of this."

"Not my call." Reive sounded regretful, though Ben couldn't exactly muster up sympathy for him. "I'm under orders from my clan leader. Just give me the girl and we can all—"

"Orders to do what?" Ben demanded. "To kill the person who has the necklace, regardless of who it is or how they got it? Does your honor permit you to go around killing random bystanders who just happened to get their hands on a piece of jewelry when they don't even know what it's for?"

Reive gave a short, humorless laugh. "It doesn't work like that, trust me. The person who has the necklace is the only person who could have the necklace. Which means she's guilty, sad to say." He looked up at Darius. "You're Darius Keegan, the head of this clan, correct?"

"That is correct," Darius said.

"You can stonewall me, and you can negotiate for the girl's life with my clan head if you want to go that far out on a limb, but it won't change the outcome. Trust me, my clan leader is not the type to change his mind on a whim."

"Nor am I," Darius said with a trace of a smile. "He's right, Benedict. This is a matter of honor. You'll recover from the loss of your mate; she's only a human—"

"Reive Corcoran, I challenge you to a duel," Ben said.

There was a moment's pause, when the only sound was the wind rustling the leaves of the trees along the edge of the cliff, and then Reive said, "Pardon?"

"A duel. I challenge you to combat, me and you. I may not be a dragon," Ben said, with a hard look in his father's direction, "but I grew up around them, and I know how dragon culture works. All of you live your lives according to ages-old traditions, and one of those traditions is the resolution of disputes between clans in single combat. Father? Am I wrong?"

"It ... has been done," Darius admitted. "But this isn't a matter between our clan and theirs. It's strictly between you and them."

"It's a matter for the clan now. Since I brought her here. At least, Heikon Corcoran could easily see it as one."

Darius's eyes flashed; Ben glimpsed his father's dragon for an instant. "You played me."

"No, I didn't. I hoped you'd help me, because I'm your son and I do still believe, deep down, that means something to you. But since you won't, this is the only path you've left me." Turning to look down the steps at Reive, Ben called, "Do you accept my challenge? Just between you and me, I don't think you want to kill her. Give her a chance to escape with your clan's honor intact."

Reive took his hands out of his pockets; he wore fingerless leather driving gloves. "Or I'll simply kill both of you. There's no honor in this. A mere panther shifter against a dragon? That fight will be over in moments. I refuse."

"So what would make it honorable?" Ben asked, his heart beating heavily. "What if we agree to fight in our unshifted bodies? You against me, human-form? We're about the same size. You couldn't ask for a more level playing field."

"Dragons are still stronger," Reive said. He smiled faintly, an expression that made Ben think of his father. "And I don't know how long I can contain my beast once I really let myself go."

"I don't either." Ben could already feel his panther struggling inside him, wanting to be let out to claw that smirk off Reive's face. "So we'll fight as humans for as long as we can keep our beasts leashed. And then it's panther against dragon—but not if I defeat you first."

"This will not be a fight to first blood," Reive said, his voice cool. "I know my clan head won't accept that. It will be a fight to serious injury at the very least. Perhaps to the death."

"I know," Ben said. He didn't look at his father, and forced himself not to worry about Tessa. If I lose, Melody will protect her. She's already proven that she's willing to defy draconic honor and Dad's orders to help us.

"Then I accept," Reive said quietly. He stripped off his jacket and slung it across the motorcycle's seat.

 

***

 

"We can't let him do this! He'll be killed!"

On a glassed-in balcony high above the action happening below, Melody caught her friend to prevent Tessa from throwing open the sliding glass doors and screaming her rage at the men below. "Tessa, stop! If you show yourself, there's nothing to stop him from shifting and taking you back to his clan for execution. Or simply flying you high into the air and letting you fall to dash your brains out on rocks in the valley. He's your executioner, don't you understand?"

"I don't care!" Tessa cried wildly, struggling against Melody's powerful grip. "Let him! At least that way Ben won't have to fight him and die!"

"Listen!" Melody gave her a shake and gripped both Tessa's upper arms, turning the other woman to face her. "Think of it as Ben buying time for us to find another solution, one in which no one has to die. Think!"

Tessa took a few deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down. What could they do? Who could stop this? Her father clearly wouldn't. And there was only one other authority she could think of to appeal to.

"Can we somehow get in touch with the head of the Corcorans?" she asked Melody. "This Heikon guy."

"I ... don't know." Melody hesitated, some of her usual mousiness creeping back into her manner. "I don't know if he'd talk to us."

"But we're in your father's house, right? What if he thought your father was calling him? I don't know how all of this works, but I guess it'd be like the leader of another country calling our President, right? He couldn't not take the call."

"Well, sort of," Melody admitted. "But we still have to find out where to call, and—"

"So let's get moving! Your dad was just looking into the Corcorans, so there should be somewhere around here that we could go to get their number and all that other useful information, right? Where would that be?"

"His office," Melody said immediately. "I can take you there."

Tessa looked down at the drive, and her throat tightened at the sight of Ben and Reive squaring off against each other. It looked like they were going to fight right there. They'd both shed their jackets, and Ben had taken off his shoulder holster.

Please don't die, she thought as she turned away to hurry after Melody. Please hold on. You can win this fight, I believe in you—but if it doesn't work, we need a backup plan.

I'll find something. I promise.

I love you.