Chapter Seventeen
Corde
“I’m telling you what happened,” he growled angrily.
“You’re lying to me,” the detective accused him.
Corde looked down at the pathetic metal links that connected him to the metal table. It would be a simple act to snap them, brush past the overly cocky Detective Barnes and simply leave. Nobody could stop him. Not before he could escape and disappear.
It could be done. Just leave the station and completely disappear. Corde knew, because he’d done it before. When his village needed him and he’d failed them, he’d done the same thing. Run away. Far, far away. In distance, and as it turned out, in time. They’d been counting on him, just like now, and he’d let them down. He could still remember it now: the pair of invading dragons laughing at him as he tried to fight them off without any fire.
His cheeks burned at the memory. A red dragon who couldn’t breathe fire. Who had ever heard of such a thing? It was preposterous! The pair of onyx dragons who’d attacked had thought the same thing. Once they’d realized he was no threat, they’d simply laughed in his face until Corde fled in shame, the villagers who’d relied on his protection left to fend for themselves.
Corde thought about doing it now. Kylie would never forgive him. He’d seen the look, and the pain he’d felt when she stepped away threatened to shatter what little resistance to violence he had left within him. The only reason he was hanging on now was for her. But why should he? Kylie had left him behind.
She’d rejected him. His actions, in trying to save her world, had resulted in him losing his mate. Corde hung his head in shame. No matter how hard he tried, it seemed he was always destined to fail, to screw up and let down those around him, leaving expectations unfulfilled.
Maybe it was best he go, just disappear, go back to sleep and let the process turn him to stone for eternity like the rest of his kind. It would be easy. So easy. His eyes drifted, becoming unfocused as he thought of the peace that it would bring.
Rebellion flared deep inside him at the same time, crushing those thoughts. Running away would be the easy way out. But it wouldn’t help him win Kylie back though. The last time he’d run, he’d been young, barely little more than a teenager as dragons reckoned it. Now he was an adult, and had learned from his experiences. He was better than this.
And most importantly, he had a mate now. She didn’t know it, and revealing that truth was going to be unbelievably interesting. But she existed, and neither of them would truly be happy without the other. Corde might be willing to inflict that on himself, but there was no way he could do that to Kylie. He needed to get back to her, to tell her the truth. The whole truth.
If he was to have any hope of doing that though, he was going to have to go along with this ridiculous asshole, at least until Colonel Mara showed up. Which she would. Hopefully.
“Why were you out in that neighborhood to begin with?”
He rolled his eyes. They’d covered this ground five times already.
“The gang that burned down my…friend’s house lives there. I went to track them down, in case there was anything that could be used as evidence to put them behind bars. They’re going to hurt her before long, and it’s only after she’s dead or injured that you guys will do anything.”
“So you took the law into your own hands for a…friend?”
“It’s complicated. I’d hesitate to label her as more, because she might get upset about that. Have you never been in that situation with a woman before…sir?” He deliberately added the pause at the end to let the detective know that he was tired of the games.
“We’ll see. This isn’t about me. So, what happened with the gang?”
“I told you. They came out front when they saw me standing in the street. Things got heated, they pulled out guns. Being the non-violent person I am, I ran for the fence, jumped over, and ran along the underpass.”
“So you didn’t fight the gang?”
“No. There were more of them than me.”
“But you’re bigger.”
“Despite your insinuations of the opposite, bigger doesn’t always mean dumber,” he shot back.
Barnes scowled at him. He scowled back.
“What happened under the freeway?”
“I ran for a mile, maybe two, I honestly don’t recall. The prospect of being shot scared me enough that I didn’t pay attention. I finally decided to come back into the normal areas of the city. At that point I was attacked by someone clad in dark clothing. He was big, not much smaller than me. He had a knife.”
“So you…what, pulled out your sword?”
Corde sighed. “It’s a magic trick. I’ve told you this before!”
“It certainly seemed to cut through the brick wall okay. We have burn marks, and eyewitness testimony from passersby that they saw the tip of the sword just burst from the wall as you cut through it. Then you said you were going to kill someone.” The detective leaned in over the table, his jowls bouncing slightly as he slapped his palms on the surface for emphasis. “Around here, that’s a big no-no, Mr. …Corde. No last name?”
“No.”
“Makes it hard to track you then. Our records have nothing about you before the last time you were brought in.”
“Try checking a little farther back,” he suggested. By a few centuries.
The detective stood up, straightening his belt across his ample stomach and gave Corde another hard look.
“Look, just work with me here.”
“I’m not interested in becoming a police officer, but thanks for the job offer.”
Spittle flew from his lips as the detective sputtered for an answer. Corde rocked back slightly as far as his restraints would allow to avoid the cloud of descending liquid.
Behind Barnes the door flew open and Colonel Elin Mara strode into the room, decked out in her full military uniform, accompanied by Kallore and Vanek, both dressed all in black.
“That will be enough, Detective Barnes. I’m Colonel—”
“I know who you are, Colonel.”
“Then you’re aware that this man is coming with me.”
Detective Barnes opened his mouth, but a threatening growl from both Kallore and Vanek silenced him as the two imposing men glared at the rotund officer, flames dancing in their eyes.
Corde swallowed. He knew that the flames were there because of him. It was his fault.
I am so screwed.
Vanek’s eyes glanced toward him as Barnes began to undo the restraints. The message was loud and clear: You are fucking screwed. Idiot.
“Oh forget this,” he snapped as Barnes moved slower than molasses. He stood up, snapping the chain. Then with a twist of his fingers he dropped the cuffs from each wrist, the broken and mangled remains falling to the table with a loud clang.
Then, flanked by Vanek in front and Kallore behind, he left the room. Colonel Mara said something to Barnes and then followed them out, closing the door in the detective’s face. Corde grinned. She was pissed at him, but that was internal drama. Right now she was putting on a show for the department, letting them know they weren’t to mess with anyone who fell under her jurisdiction.
Like brothers, they would raise holy hell between them, but just as quickly band together against enemies. He wisely didn’t say anything, however, not wishing to tempt her wrath. It was already going to be painful enough.
“I feel like I just got out of one of these,” he muttered as Kallore pulled open the door to the back of a huge, black, heavily modified SUV.
The other dragon just glared, though there was humor contained in the look. He’d wisely waited until Colonel Mara was on the far side before he’d spoken.
“You’ve really fucked up now,” she snapped as Vanek slid in next to him, Kallore taking the front seat. “You three are the test, you know. The ones that will prove to everyone else whether we’re in the right or not about you helping us defeat the Outsiders. Every time you pull a stunt like this, it makes us look worse, and increases the chances they’ll shut us down.”
Corde looked away. “I was fighting the Outsider.”
Elin snorted. “Seriously, Corde?”
“I was fighting the Outsider!” he roared, the glass shaking as the cabin was filled with his voice. “It was waiting under the freeway for me. I hit it twice, splitting it open. It fled down the alley, and I pursued it. We were all alone, and I was going to kill it. It was weak. I had my sword—I went to slice it in half. At the last second it threw its own purple goop, its blood, whatever, in my face. I stumbled. Turns out the wall wasn’t to a building, it was just to block the alley off from the sidewalk.
“You told people that you were going to kill them.”
“I was talking to the Outsider. I was still blind. I didn’t know.”
Elin just gritted her teeth. “We need to kill one of these things.”
“What do you think I was trying to do?”
“Why were you out there in the first place?”
He told her all about the gang and what had been going on with them and Kylie.
“Where is she now, by the way?”
Vanek spoke up. “Back at the penthouse. I convinced her to stay there until I got back. She’s pretty distraught.”
Corde nodded his thanks.
“I’ll handle the gang,” Elin told him.
“It has to be peacefully,” he told her, catching her eye in the rearview mirror and ensuring she realized that he was dead serious about that.
“Not to worry. I have some contacts. They’ll find themselves doing hard labor for the next ten years. Charges of attempted murder against you should suffice.”
“Just like that?” he asked, astonished at the ease with which she was talking about dealing with the gang.
“Just like that. Don’t ask me if I’m breaking any laws to get them there, but we all know they’re guilty as sin. And,” she added, looking at him in the mirror again, “it will all be done peacefully.”
Corde nodded his thanks. Legalities didn’t overly concern him. In fact, they were a relative nuisance. He hadn’t had to obey any laws but the clan laws when he was younger. He knew they were scum, so they should pay. That was enough for him.
“Next time, come to me first about this sort of shit, okay? I have resources now, all dedicated to ensuring you three, and hopefully others, are ready to fight for us. Make use of them.”
“I will,” he promised, wishing he’d thought about that in the first place.
“You’re on your own about Kylie though,” she added almost apologetically.
He frowned. “If this is an ass-chewing, I have to admit Colonel, it could use some work.”
Elin shook her head tiredly. “Corde, if you fuck up again, they’re going to order me to put you back under. That’s more of a threat than anything I could say.”
Sitting back into the chair, he fell silent while contemplating her words. Back under. Back to sleep. Without Kylie. Bone-chilling cold settled into his limbs at the thought of being ripped away from his mate after being so close. If they put him back under, he might never awaken again. Certainly not before Kylie’s all-too-brief lifespan elapsed.
That could not be allowed to happen.
The car pulled up to the building that housed the suite he and Vanek currently shared. As they headed down the ramp to the underground parking his nerves started to fray. The sight of the private elevator sparked what he could only describe as fear in him.
Kylie waited at the top. He had one chance to convince her of what was going on, to prove that he wasn’t what she thought he was. If he screwed it up, then all hope was lost.
No pressure.
“Good luck,” Vanek said softly as he exited the SUV, the other two dragons remaining behind with Colonel Mara. “I’ll be back later,” he added. “Don’t go thinking you get the whole place to yourself now.”
Corde tossed him a middle finger and slammed the door.
“You can do this,” he said to himself, trying to pump up his confidence.
One chance.