“Congratulations, Ms. Ross. You have been awarded a new future.” Lucas nods to me with a distressed expression before walking out of sight and disappearing before Rein leaves his stand.
My guard dogs continue to stand by me until Ryan walks up. “Okay guys, your job is done for now. Time to take her home.” He picks me up and lets me rest against his bare chest as he carries me out. We follow Nick and his family out of court and through his gateway access. His gateway opens up into his home, a plush, beautiful place that welcomes you the moment you walk in.
Ryan takes me up to a room and places me in a bed. I stare at him, wanting to say so much even though I can’t. However, he seems to know exactly what I am trying to tell him without any words spoken. He leans down over me. “You’re not going to die, Sky, and you’re not going to live with this curse much longer. It’s painful, isn’t it?” I look up into his eyes, and he smiles, allowing me to use my power over him.
My body is suddenly relieved of all its pain, and for a few minutes, he takes on my burden so I can reach up and kiss his lips. “Thank you,” I breathe roughly before falling back into the bed.
“There. See, all you have to do is trust me and I will take all your pain away and for good next time.” His words are comforting and so is his strong, commanding presence around me. I don’t think I could pick a better place to die. The curse stated I would only live as long as Ramsey does. He’s gone, and now my body is beginning to perish along with him. I allow myself one more look at his smile, and then, I close my eyes …
“Sky? Can you hear me? Wake up, Sky.” My name is repeatedly whispered until I finally open my eyes fully and see Ryan and a child standing in front of me. “Hey, Badass. Nice of you to finally join us.” I shake my head in confusion without realizing that I am actually able to move. I gasp and he smiles. “I told you to trust me.”
“Am I dead or dreaming?”
“Neither. You’re fine now,” he says as the child leans in with a large, sweet smile. “Sky, this is my nephew, Nicky.”
I sit up slowly and look the child over before scanning the room and seeing Nick Jayzon and his wife, Kayla, standing at the back of my room. “What’s going on, Ryan?” I ask, fearing I walked into a trap and my worst nightmare is about to happen. I know the power of this family, and it would be easy for them to burn me alive for eternity, forcing me to forever regret trusting and believing in any of them. “No, no … please.”
Kayla moves forward and picks up a smaller child from the floor and sits him on my bed. “No reason to panic, Skylar. Just breathe and relax.” The words leave her mouth as if they were transferred from her mouth to my spine in the form of a drug, spreading out through to the ends of my extremities and pushing me out, onto a cloud. I try to fight it when the small, blond child moves towards me with a stuffed bear in his arms and a smile so sweet that I believe I have already died and managed to find the hand of my first angel of heaven.
“Hi. I’m Brayden,” he says. “I sorry you sick.”
Ryan picks the child up with a smile. “Come here, little heartbreaker. No reason to be sad. Skylar is going to feel much better here very soon. We just need to do one more thing to make sure. Don’t be scared, Sky. It’s working so far. We are only trying to make sure we don’t rush your recovery and cause more harm than good. It’s the first time we have tried curing a curse.”
Ryan steps away with the child, and Nick moves forward with his eldest. With father and son on either side of me, I want to scream for mercy, but I am so relaxed, I can’t hold onto my fear of them. I take their hands as they reach out for mine. The abrupt energy shooting through me forces my head back into a whiplash, and shakes me until I can no longer stay conscious. I slip away into my dreams.
My eyes open to a bright light coming through my windows and an outstretched Ryan sitting in a chair nearby, reading something on his phone. “Waiting for me to die?” I ask.
He instantly puts the phone down and gets up to lean over me. “About time you woke up.”
“Were you afraid I wouldn’t?”
“Stop. You’re not dying, not anymore.” I huff and throw my hand towards him to wave him off. When I realize my arm moves fast and strong, my fingers straighten out completely, and can curl into a tight fist, I sit up in shock, checking every part of my body to see if it is true. “How do you feel, Angel?”
“Amazing,” I exhale with glee.
“You look amazing.”
I smile, jumping out of bed to look over myself in the mirror. “What did you do, Ryan?”
“You don’t remember?”
I search my memories and through the fog to recall. I spin around and look at him with wide eyes. “How?”
“Nick and Kayla’s DNA formed the perfect healer, and with Nick’s power behind him, he is even more powerful. The two brought Kayla back from the brink of death, and I thought if they could do that for her then they should be able to do that for you as well. Nick didn’t want to. He doesn’t want anyone to know about Nicky’s abilities. We don’t know, as of yet, the long term effects on him of what he does or who may want to take advantage, and it’s troubling for his father and his mother. It’s unnerving, but I told them we could trust you to keep quiet and that you were worth saving.”
“I am?”
He moves to me taking hold of my face. “You are to me.” I smile wide, accepting his lips to mine with an eager embrace. He nuzzles me close to his chest while I fight the happy tears streaming down my face. Pulling away from him, I look up, ready to prove my value and that my life was worth saving. “What?”
“I have to tell you something. Ramsey was also searching for the dragon knife. He seemed to think he could gain some kind of power with it, power over you, power over your family, and I fear that somehow it was going to be used to ultimately bring back Savage.” As soon as the words leave my lips, he runs out of the room and I follow after him all the way to a sitting area where Nick and Kayla are playing with their children.
“Nick, I know what it is they need now! It is the dragon. That’s why they have been searching for him, to not only kill me, but bring back Savage.”
CHAPTER 14
Elijah
I am not sure where Ryan went off to. We still have so much to do, and I am stuck here trying to pull everything together on my own. I would rather be spending time with Cat so we can plan a wedding, or at least a honeymoon. I try to persuade her to stay for the day and help me, but she feels the need to continue dealing with Marius.
“So, what are you going to do while I’m working?” Cat asks with a nervous expression.
“Getting into trouble most likely,” Amery chimes in unnecessarily.
“Does he have to be here all the time?” I ask, gesturing a finger towards him behind my back.
“I asked the same thing, but she said, more like insisted, it would be best that we do our planning here, rather than alone, all night, at my place.”
“Yeah, here’s good,” I respond with a roll of my eyes.
“I thought it might be. So again, what are you planning to do while Ryan is held up for a while? Taking a long vacation? Please tell me, Eli, you are not going to do anything without him,” Cat suggests, worrying too much about me as usual.
“I do have a business to build, and I have negotiations to handle. We are right in the middle of making some final moves to secure our business here. We can’t stop now just because Ryan is out for a couple of weeks. I can handle it on my own. I have done this before, by myself even.”
“I know you have, but I just think it would go so much better if you would wait for someone to help you, like Ryan. Or me! Why don’t you wait for me, and we can build something together?”
“That’s … an idea, but as I said before, I can do this on my own. I am not helpless. I do know how to handle this business without any trouble.” Amery instantly begins laughing. “I really don’t like him,” I grumble.
“I know you can handle anything you set your mind
on, Baby, but will you at least be a little more cautious than usual. I think it’s fair for me to worry about the man I love, no matter how capable he might be.”
I jump to attention. “What did Ryan tell you?”
“Nothing. Why? Did something happen?” She looks over me with instant fear.
“No, nothing happened. You know how he is, always making it sound like he saved the day by himself.” I turn to Amery and fist my hands, waiting for his smartass comments, but he thankfully keeps quiet and simply shakes his head with a laugh. “I promise, Cat, I will do my best to stay away from any danger, but only as long as you do the same.”
She smiles wide. “I promise!” She kisses me and runs off with Amery who winks at me as he walks out the door. “I really hate him,” I say to Terrence as he walks in the door.
“No kidding. You have only told me that every single day that I see you. Maybe you should try telling him that.”
“Oh he knows. He better know.” Terrence walks away and instantly looks for the bar. “Rough day already, Bro?”
“Women, I swear. This one woman is driving me nuts. I hate her, and at the same time, I can’t get enough of her.”
“Oh yeah… I know her.”
“Really, what did you do?”
“Right now, she lives with me, but we plan to get married soon.”
“I don’t want to get married. I like having lots of women to choose from whenever I want.”
“Yeah, I used to enjoy that too,” I sigh, grabbing a drink for myself.
Terrence laughs at me for some reason. “So tell me, why am I here Eli?”
“To help me with the business. Ryan’s not here, and I need help growing this thing.”
“Oh no. No, I think we should hold off growing the business much more until Ryan is able to get back in.”
“Terrence, come on. This job will work out, no problem. I have done this a thousand times and have never run into problems. It’s just a matter of negotiations, and you’re the perfect one to help me with that.”
“I don’t know. I have a really bad feeling about this, and shouldn’t I be training with Ryan, not out helping you build a business?”
“It’s our business. You’re helping us all. Come on, this is the easy part. We simply go to one little meeting, plant the seed, and then wait for the offers to come rolling in. It’s not like they have much of a choice. We have already eliminated our biggest competition. The hard part is done. All this takes is getting everyone to come to an understanding.”
Terrence sighs, shaking his head. “Alright, but you promise me that if things start to look bad, we drop everything and go.”
“Sure. No problem.”
“Okay,” he sighs.
Dressed to perfection, I step out of the car, energized about the possibilities. Terrence and I walk up to the little café, and I spot our contacts instantly. “There they are.” I walk up with a large smile, my hand held out to the less than enthusiastic Copper Dornan.
“Where’s the other guy, and who is this?” Dornan inquires, looking Terrence up and down.
“Ryan’s been held up, but no need to put off the meeting for him. Instead, he sent his money guy to handle negotiations. This is Terrence.”
“I don’t like new people,” Dornan says.
“Oh come on, what kind of world would it be if we all said that? A pretty lonely one, I must say. Come on, Copper, loosen up and venture out of your comfort zone a little. You might surprise yourself and make new friends.” I sit down as he rolls his eyes. “I get it, don’t worry. You are a man about business, so am I, so let’s get right to it. I need someone to help me control all the routes and the supplies that are coming in. I am willing to pay top dollar for full control of every route,” I say with nowhere near a smile, but Dornan begins to laugh.
“Full control? Of every route? That’s not possible, and you can’t afford that. No one can.”
“Try me. Name a price,” I say, sitting back in my chair confident.
“Ten million,” he spits out without thinking.
“Done,” I agree without blinking. I nod towards Terrence, and he immediately takes out his paperwork.
“Okay, gentleman, the agreement will work like this …” Terrence begins, explaining their roles and ours while I sit back and let him handle the details. All we have to do is lure these men in, make them feel comfortable and confident, and then, we will destroy them and take over. When our business concludes, I shake their hands and walk out with Terrence at my side.
“See that went well.”
“I’m not so sure,” he says oddly.
“Why do you say that?”
“Their heartbeats stayed rapid. They were anxious, never calm, even when they were supposedly in agreement.” He glances my way, and I suddenly become uneasy.
I look back at them and notice they are watching us a little too closely. “I think you might be right. Let’s get out of here quick.” We make it to the car but not much further before we are surrounded by guns. “Fuck!”
“You know, Copper, I thought we had a good thing going. What is with all the mistrust and guns and shit?” I ask as Terrence and I are escorted into what appears to be Copper’s large estate away from home.
“I thought maybe we could make a nice deal, but then I thought someone with so much money must have a pretty strong territory somewhere, and I want it. So, give me the details and all the details, and then I will kill you quickly. Otherwise, I will torture you until I get the information I want and then let you die a slow, miserable death.” Terrence looks my way in frustration. Damn it, this sucks!
“Now Copper, do you really think that the leader of a territory so vast and with so much money would bother to come down here and meet with you personally? That would be stupid.” I try to reason with the fool.
“Who is your boss then?” he asks, switching his cigar from one side of his mouth to the other.
“We can’t tell you that, but I can tell you that you don’t want to hurt us. Literally, all hell will storm through your doors if you do.”
“Let’s just set something straight. I don’t think you understand the power I have. The man you killed was nothing but a front for me and my partner. We own this city, and soon, I am going to own your city too,” Copper says with a confident smile. “Now, I suggest you make a call and figure out a way to get me what I want. I don’t care how you do it, but you convince whoever your boss is to come down here and face me. If you manage to get me what I want then, perhaps, I will offer you a job. If not, I’m just going to have to kill you.” He nods towards one of his men and shoves my phone in my face. “Now make the call.”
“I don’t think I should do that. Why don’t you let us go? We will talk to him, and if he doesn’t come back here within a few days to talk to you then, by all means, come find us and kill us,” I suggest.
“Do you think this is a game?” he growls.
“Not a fun one,” I admit.
“You’re getting on my nerves.”
“He does that to most people,” Terrence chimes in for no good reason.
Copper takes my phone and snaps pictures of us with it. “If your guy doesn’t want to pay for you, then I know someone who will. Put them somewhere while we wait.”
“Where?” His head man asks.
“I don’t care where! Just put them somewhere out of our way,” he says, looking towards some cages. “There. Put them in the dog cages. The wife took them with her.” Terrence and I are shoved into some dog cages with our knees in our face and heads on our knees. I mouth to him to do something.
“What the fuck do you want me to do!? I don’t have that kind of power to do anything. You do something!” he mouths back.
“Let’s see who you have in contacts. Where is that Ryan… Jayzon, was it? Let’s see Jayzon …” I stare at Terrence, realizing I don’t have Ryan under Jayzon, I have him under Milio. The only person I have under Jayzon is …
“Um… excuse me, Cop
per, the Jayzon I have in that phone is not the Jayzon you are looking for. He is … well, he is someone you don’t want to mess with.”
Terrence suddenly gets it. “Oh no, you don’t want to call that one, that would be very bad for us all. He is a very scary character.”
Copper laughs. “I see, so he’s your boss. I am smarter than the average, fellas, so don’t try and fool me.”
“Oh, we would never dream of it, but please, you don’t understand. Nick Jayzon is the last person you want to get involved in this, trust me,” I plead.
“No, I think he is the exact person I want involved in this.” He takes out his own phone and makes a call. “Jeremy, do me a favor and check out a Nicholas Jayzon for me.” Copper hangs up before looking our way. “I always check people out before I make a move. Feel free to take notes on how I work. You might learn something.” I roll my eyes as he walks out, stupidly proud of himself.
I am tired, hungry, and stiff waiting for this guy to make a decision. When he finally comes back, his men force me out of the crate and throw me onto the ground along with Terrence. “Tell me about Jayzon. Tell me everything you know. The longer you talk, the longer you live, gentlemen.” Fuck. “Apparently this Jayzon is worth quite a bit of money, more than enough to supply the funds you were offering. His reputation in the area is impressive, and I find him very tempting.”
“Well, he’s married, and I have never known him to being into men, sorry. Now, if you will please hand me my phone, we will be on our way and forget this whole incident. No hard feelings. I assure you.” A single nod to his man, and I am reminded of who is in charge here.