“You are. She knows she can come to you. Doona pressure her, Phelan. Everyone else is. And trust me, you doona want to know who it is. It makes everything worse.”

“If you had a sister, would you no’ do everything in your power to make her sadness go away? Would you no’ want to hurt the man responsible for breaking her heart?”

It felt as if someone had slammed their fist in Thorn’s chest. Memories he hadn’t allowed to surface in millions of years began to shift and move. “I did have a sister.”

Phelan glanced away. “I didna know.”

“You couldna have. Believe it or no’, I do understand. I sent my sister and my family away to protect them. I have to trust that they’re all right. I had to push thoughts of them aside and focus on my duties as King, because if I didna, I’d have gone daft with worry.”

“But Rhi is here.”

“Aye. She lost her family and her King in short order. It almost killed her, Phelan. It wasn’t long after that her world crumbled again when Balladyn disappeared. You’re her family now. Be the shoulder she needs. When the time comes, she’ll tell you who it is.”

Phelan closed his eyes as he shook his head, battling with what he wanted and what he knew he should do. He opened his eyes and looked at Thorn. “Tell me if I’ve met him.”

Thorn clapped him on the shoulder as he walked off. Some things were better off not said.

CHAPTER

THIRTY-FIVE

Dmitri growled when Kellan dove from above him, his wings clipping Dmitri’s.

“What the hell, Kellan?” Dmitri said through their mental link.

“Listen,” Kellan yelled.

Dmitri soared through the clouds over Dreagan. He listened past the rain and wind, past the beat of dragon wings and the animals in the Dragonwood.

There. He caught it. It was faint, so faint he wouldn’t have heard it had he not been listening. A scream.

He dipped a wing and turned, following Kellan’s path that took them over the distillery. Dmitri glanced to his left to see deep turquoise scales. Arian had heard it too. That must mean … Dmitri’s heart skipped a beat. The mates.

Kellan’s voice boomed through their link. “Kings, be at the ready. Keep to your posts and your eyes open. Arian and I are going to make a pass over the distillery. Dmitri, take a look at the border near there.”

“Four more Dark have shown up at the northwest side,” Anson said.

Cain growled low in his throat. “Another two on the east.”

“Six more on the west,” Roman stated in an irritated voice.

Dmitri saw Arian flying faster. He and Kellan each had mates. Knowing Arian’s woman, Grace, she was in the manor writing. But Denae was another matter entirely.

It wasn’t just those two women either. There were eight other mates on the grounds. It was the duty of every King on Dreagan to protect them as fiercely as they protected Dreagan and their secret.

Dmitri shifted slightly to give himself a direct path to fly over the border near the distillery. He flapped his wings to climb, using the fast moving clouds to keep him hidden.

His first pass brought him around quickly again. Dmitri tilted his wings so that he hovered over the driveway leading from the main road onto Dreagan. He saw nothing that would cause alarm there. Yet, the idea of Dark beginning to arrive on Dreagan didn’t bode well for anyone.

Dmitri soared above the long, winding driveway leading to the distillery and shop. To his surprise, there were many cars still in the parking lot when it should have been deserted. It was the last day the distillery was open to the public until spring.

“We have a problem,” Kellan’s voice rang out through their link. “There are Dark Fae in the shop.”

Dmitri fisted his hands, his talons itching to slice some Dark Fae in half. “How many mates are in the shop?”

“Three. Jane, Shara, and Cassie.”

“I’m heading to the manor,” Arian said.

Dmitri circled around the distillery. He could see Kellan’s bronze tail disappear into the clouds below.

“Keep them there, Arian. The Dark doona get into the manor no matter what,” Kellan ordered. “Anson, doona get far from Con’s mountain. If you see a Dark, kill him. If you see anyone—mortal or no’—near the mountain, kill them.”

“Gladly,” Anson replied.

*   *   *

Lexi laughed in Gorul’s face, though inside she was frozen with fear. Not for herself, but for Thorn and everyone on Dreagan. If she had only kept her mouth shut, but she hadn’t and she needed to think fast.

“Mate? What are you going on about?” she asked, derision in every syllable.

Gorul ran a finger along her cheek. He laughed when she jerked her head away from him. “Who else but a mate to a Dragon King would know such things about us?”

“Fine,” Lexi said with a bored expression. She might have failed theatre in school, but she was about to put on the performance of a lifetime. “I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

Gorul got so close their noses were touching. “Then get to talking.”

“I’ve known it was you who killed Christina. I saw all the others with red eyes and began following them around the city. I figured one would lead me to you eventually.”

Gorul’s expression darkened. “Humans really are pathetically stupid.”

“So stupid that I had a map showing your movements and where you liked to congregate?”

“That’s when a Dragon King found you,” he guessed.

“After what I saw you do to my friend, do you really think I would trust a man?” Lexi made a sound at the back of her throat. “What I did learn was that I wasn’t the only one following your kind. There were two other men. I saw them easily kill your people.”

“The Kings,” Gorul said between clenched teeth.

Lexi held her blanket tighter. “I don’t know who they were, but I learned a lot from them. That’s how I discovered you were Dark Fae. I went to a pub where they were and eavesdropped on their conversation. It’s how I know of the war and everything else.”

“A likely story.” Gorul gripped her face and turned it to the side. He licked her neck up to her jaw. “It doesn’t explain how you’re here now, does it?”

She was repulsed by his touch. Lexi tried to pull away from him, but he held her tighter. In his red eyes she saw the confidence that stole whatever courage she had.

“Let her talk,” came a deep voice behind Gorul.

Gorul’s face went slack. He dropped his hand and spun around, going to his knee. “My king.”

Lexi’s day kept going from bad to worse. The king of the Dark now stood in front of her. His black and silver hair hung midway down his back, and he was missing his left arm from above the elbow. He wore solid black from head to toe.

Next to the king was a tall Fae who looked as if he couldn’t care less to be there. His black hair hung well past the middle of his back, and it was liberally streaked with silver. He also wore all black, but the inside collar of his silk button-down was dark silver.

There were a few other Dark Fae with them, but Lexi knew those two were the ones with the most power.

She was in deep shit now.

The king waved Gorul away, his focus locked on Lexi. Why did all the Fae have to be so damned gorgeous? She might not be begging them for sex, but she couldn’t deny the effect the king and the man with him had on her. If she let herself, she could give in.

Then she thought of Thorn and was able to look the king in the eye.

He smiled slowly. “Some of my people love when humans are meek and weak. For me, I crave the spirited ones. Like you, my dear.”

Lexi refused to move when he touched her. She would show him nothing. The more defiant she was with him, the more he would want her. And that was one place Lexi didn’t want to find herself.

“You were telling a very curious story.” His Irish accent was defined, but not guttural. “I’m curious to hear how you came to be here.”