After two hundred years. Leaving you at the mercy of enemies you couldn't escape until you could fly again.
He glanced over his shoulder toward Illarion. "It taught me to be a stronger fighter. Now leave it. This isn't about me or the past. It's about my dragonets and their survival today."
Illarion moved to stand at Maxis's back. He placed his hand on his brother's shoulder. You are the only parent I've ever known. And you're my best friend. I will not let you fight alone.
Blaise nodded. "Three dragons are better than one."
Scoffing, Max dropped his hand from Seraphina's face. "Two dragons and a mandrake."
"What exactly is a mandrake?" she asked, not quite sure of the exact difference between them.
"They're the children of dragons seduced by Adoni who wanted to tame them. Born from the womb of an Adoni mother, they were hybrids of the two races at first ... until they became a separate species by themselves."
Blaise nodded. "My father was the leader of the mandrakes under King Uther Pendragon. When I was born looking like this--" He held his hands out to show off his face. "--my demonic mother decided she had no use for her special mandrake son. She handed me over to my father, who then took me out to the woods and left me to die."
"I'm sorry."
He shrugged. "Don't be. Got over it. And given my mother's wonderful personality, and my father's oh-so-kind temperament, prefer it to having been kept by either of them. Normally, I just tell folks I know nothing of my parents and leave it at that. It's easier than dealing with their pity for something that really doesn't affect me."
Like Maxis. It'd never bothered him, either, that his mother had abandoned her nest and left him to either die, or survive on his own. Something Seraphina hadn't known about him until he'd seen one of the women in her tribe nursing her infant.
He'd stopped in his tracks to stare at them with a curious scowl. "What is she doing to that poor child?"
Seraphina had laughed at his shocked question. "Nursing it."
Perplexed, he'd deepened his frown even more as he looked back at Seraphina. "Why? Is it ill?"
Seraphina had paused to stare up at him as she realized he was in earnest. "It's what a mother does with her young to feed them. Were you not so nursed?"
"No. Never. I was only fed by demons whenever I was ill and I only met my mother once, when I returned to my nest to bury my skin, and she was laying more eggs there. At first, I thought her an interloper. As I went to drive her away, she clipped my wings as punishment, and told me who she was."
It'd been her turn to be completely stunned by the disclosure. She couldn't fathom what he described. "Why did she abandon you?"
He'd been as baffled by her as she was by him. "Why would she stay?"
Aghast, she'd laughed nervously at his inability to comprehend basic human decency and the role a parent played in their children's development. "To feed you. Clothe you. Protect you."
"I was fully drakomas then. I required no clothing. As for food, I found my own, and was more than able to scurry and hide from or fight whatever pursued me." There'd been no animus or condemnation for his parents in his tone. Simple acceptance. To him that was what a mother did.
She birthed her children and left them behind to fend for themselves. Whether they lived or died was solely up to them.
Seraphina had struggled to comprehend it. But as an animal, he couldn't understand why she was so baffled.
As they'd headed for her tent, he'd glanced back at the nursing mother one last time. "Should we have children, would you nurse my dragonet in such a manner?"
What an odd question. "Of course."
A slow smile had spread across his handsome face.
She cocked her head at the curiousness of it. "What?"
"I'm glad to have an Arcadian mother for my dragonets. Perhaps the gods have finally forgiven me."
"For what?"
"For surviving what should have killed me."
She'd never really understood what he meant and he'd refused to explain it further.
Now, Seraphina stared at the three dragon brothers who'd never known a mother's tender loving touch. Never known what a real family was. Not that she had that much experience herself. Her own family had been brutally slaughtered by a dragon raid when she'd turned fourteen. Her mother's last act had been to wrap her dragon cloak around Seraphina and shove her into a small knoll where the dragons couldn't reach her. Made from the scales of the dragons her mother had slain, it had protected her young body from their dragonfire as they razed her village.
But that act had left her mother exposed to their fury and attack.
And she'd died in agony, trying her best to save her daughters and tribe.
It was why Seraphina hated the Katagaria so much and had vowed to see them in their graves.
When she'd learned that she was mated to one ...
"Kill me." Maxis had handed her his own dragon-headed dagger and lain back in bed, arms spread, his throat offered in sacrifice. "If you can't bear this union, then free us both from it. I'd rather be dead than damned to no comfort whatsoever."
Growling in fury, she'd straddled him, fully intending to take his offer. But as she looked into those calm, receptive, human eyes that waited for her killing blow, she'd been unable to deliver it. While she, like her mother before her, had slain countless dragons in battle, she'd never murdered a man.
Not in cold blood.
As if reading her thoughts, he'd fearlessly covered her hand with his and pressed the blade against his throat. So close, he'd drawn his own blood.
"Finish it, dragonslayer. Free yourself from the Fates' curse."
Her gaze had gone from his eyes to the scars on his body from his own battles against her people. Every thought in her mind had screamed at her to take his life, to end him right then and there.
He's an animal. An enemy ...
His muscles had tensed as he pressed the blade even deeper into his neck.
With her battle cry, she'd pulled the dagger away from his throat and thrown it aside. Then she'd buried her hands in his hair and kissed him, rolling in bed until he was on top of her.
His body wedged between her legs, he'd held himself completely still as he stared down at her, waiting for her to change her mind.
She'd wanted to curse him. Hate him. But she'd lost her heart to those tormented, pain-filled eyes. To the sweetness of his lips and hair the color of honey and laced with small braids and feathers. He didn't touch her like an animal. He touched her like a tender man who saw only her and no one else.
Knowing she was consigning them both to an uncertain future, she'd drawn a ragged breath. "Finish the mating, dragon. May the gods have mercy on us both."
But they never had.
Rather, they'd taken perverse pleasure in driving a wedge between them every day until Maxis had finally had enough of her and her people, and walked away with his heart as shattered by betrayal as hers.
It'd tied her mother's death for the worst moment of her life.
Until she'd discovered his escape from her tribe, she'd foolishly thought that his death or absence would be a relief. That it would restore her life to what it'd been before she found him, and make everything right again.
It hadn't. Instead, it'd almost destroyed her.
Too late, she'd realized what she'd held in her hands and not seen. What her dragon lord had actually meant to her. Everything wonderful he'd brought to her life.
A dragon hunting party had taken her family and childhood innocence in the span of one brutal night. But a single, fierce dragon lord had given her a soul and a heart. He'd taught her to smile and love again.
To trust.
Most of all, he'd taught her to laugh and to live in ways she hadn't known existed.
Then, in one single act to save himself, he'd banished her back to darkness, leaving her there bereft and heartbroken.
And she couldn't even blame him for it. He'd endured more than any creature
should have to.
Tears gathered in her eyes as she stared up at him again and those memories haunted her anew. He was as beautiful now as he'd been then. "Gods, I thought this would be easier to do."
"What?"
"Consign you to death. Again." Seraphina bit her lip as she glanced between them. "I don't know what to do, Maxis. Even though they can't use our children for the spell they have, Nala will gut them if I fail to deliver the Dragonbane's heart to her."
Why him? Illarion asked.
She shrugged. "The spell they have requires the heart of the father of our race. The firstborn Apollite-dragon who drew first blood."
The Dragonbane.
Max met Illarion's gaze and knew the secret the two of them had shared for five thousand years. They weren't just bound by their mother's blood. They'd been bound by one prince's and pantheon's savage cruelty.
Blaise cleared his throat. "You know ... having been raised around the queen bitch of the fey folk and watching the nasty shit she's pulled on everyone. The backstabbing. The lies. Half-truths, et cetera, I just have to ask one simple question.... Has anyone bothered to find out what this spell will actually do once it's cast?"
Max laughed bitterly. "I have a really good idea since they have Hadyn's Emerald Tablet."
Blaise's eyes bugged at the mention of that. "Combine that with what you guard--"
And your heart, Illarion finished.
"Bishhhh!" Blaise made the sound of an explosion as he flung his hands out.
Seraphina scowled. "I don't quite understand what you're saying."
Max locked gazes with her. "They're not just planning on destroying this Stryker. They're planning on releasing the Destroyer, reuniting the gods of Chaos, and reestablishing the old order."
Blaise nodded. "If they succeed in this, honey, it ain't just your kids they'll kill. It's every creature who has an ounce of light energy in them."
Illarion let out a silent sigh. Which means all of us and everyone we love, and a few we're not that fond of, either.
5
"You fed the children to your demons while we were gone? Have you lost your mind?" Completely slack-jawed, Nala stood in the center of the dimly lit room, staring at Kessar. While the red-eyed demon towered over her, she refused to be intimidated by him. Especially right now when she was so furious.
He had fed the children to his demons. She just kept repeating that over and over in her mind, because she couldn't believe he'd do something so dumb the five minutes she'd left him alone.
This matter was far more serious than he could guess. One didn't just lightly go for Seraphina's throat.
One only did so with a huge army.
And he was shy a few thousand demons.
He scoffed at her anger. "You would do well to choose another tone, lest I add you to our menu. Remember, but for my good will, you'd still be collecting bird shit out in an open field where your gods left you to rot."
"And you'll find yourself in the middle of a massive shit storm when Seraphina learns of this! She'll never lead you to her mate now. You can forget ever finding him."
"She won't have to. Once we control her spawn, they'll be able to sniff out their sperm donor for us. It's a much easier and quicker solution than yours." A slow, evil smirk twisted his lips. "Besides, she hasn't returned. I'm thinking she's already betrayed us."
Nala struggled not to roll her eyes at the bastard, but given what he'd done to the last member of her tribe who'd made that mistake, she didn't want to test the demon's patience. While she might be basilinna and a fierce warrior in her own right, she was no match for the ancient demon and his terrifying skills. And that only pissed her off more.
She and her tribe had once made the gods themselves flee in terror. But the gallu were another entity entirely. And they'd been birthed for no other purpose than to end pantheons and shatter the gods.
Which made them extremely lethal, even to the Scythian Amazons. The only member of her tribe who could stand against them was Seraphina. No one was quite sure why. While Seraphina had always been extremely skilled, something had happened after she'd mated to her dragon that had kicked her abilities up to an entirely new level.
Since then ...
It was why Zeus had frozen them in stone. That had been the only way to stop them from defeating the Greek gods they'd fought against.
"My lord?"
They both turned to see Kessar's second-in-command, Namtar, approaching with a nervousness that didn't bode well.
Especially not for Namtar. Grateful to get Kessar's ire off her, Nala let out a relieved breath at the demon's timing.
Bowing to Kessar, he gulped audibly as a bead of sweat rolled down his dark caramel skin. It was obvious he'd rather be anywhere else in the world than right here, right now.
He cleared his throat and finally spoke to Kessar. "We have a slight problem, my lord."
The expression on Kessar's face was one of barely restrained murder. "How so?"
"The children..."
"Turned gallu."
Namtar shook his head slowly. "No, my lord. They appear to be immune to gallu bites."
Nala wasn't sure which of them was the most stunned by that disclosure. "Pardon?" she gasped before she could think better of it.
Namtar cut his handsome gaze in her direction. "They are not completely Greek. Nor can they be completely vrykolakas-kynigos. They appear to be something else. We're not sure what."
Now there was a word she hadn't heard in a long time. It was the original term for her species that the Greeks had used.
Ignoring her question, Kessar stepped forward. The red in his eyes intensified as he raked a sneer over her. "What information have you withheld from us about your champion?"
She swallowed hard. "None ... I swear!"
Kessar refused to believe her denial. It was too convenient. How could she not know? These were members of her tribe, born into it. Had lived with her for years after their father ran off. Their mother was her primary champion.
Surely Nala knew who and what she'd harbored amongst her people?
Pissed, and cursing under his breath about how he should have left her and her Amazon tribe to rot, Kessar headed from his small throne room to the cell where he'd tossed Seraphina's children. Since the gallu were being hunted by the Daimons who were preying on them and using their blood and souls so that the Daimons could walk in daylight, they'd been driven underground and into virtual extinction.
For the last few years, Kessar and his handful of loyal demons had played a deadly game of hide-and-seek with their former allies. And all because of a "small" falling-out he and Stryker had had over who to kill when and how. And the fact that Stryker had taken issue over Kessar going after his wife, daughter ... and, well, him.
Though why it would bother the Daimon, Kessar couldn't fathom. That was what happened in war. Goals changed. Borders shifted. Battles were won and lost, and new ground gained, while some was lost.
It happened and should be expected. As a commander, Stryker should know that as well as anyone.
In the end, friends and allies didn't matter. Only your cause did.
Your allegiance.
But sadly, their alliance against the Olympians had dissolved after Stryker had awakened the Greek god War, and the ancient trouble-making entity had turned them against each other. They were no longer unified or after the same things. With one particularly bad night, they'd turned on each other and had splintered.
That was the problem with friends.
When the time came, and it always did, for the friendship to dissolve, those friends turned to enemies. And they knew the best place to strike to cripple you.
Yet now the tables were turning. When Stryker had allowed the Dark-Hunters to place the Sumerian amulet around Apollo's neck and temporarily drain the god's powers, he'd unknowingly opened a door for Kessar to slip in.
And brought to Kessar a whole new group of allies to play with and feast upon.
J
ust like Stryker, Kessar knew exactly how and where to make the coup de grace against the Daimons who'd turned on his gallu brethren. And he wouldn't hesitate to take it. An eye for an eye. Throat for a throat.
Testicle for testicle.
It wasn't in the nature of his species to let any slight go. The gallu had been bred as the final "fuck you" of their ancient gods to destroy the world should the world destroy them. Knowing that, Stryker should never have turned on them and declared them a food source for his people.
That was the ground the Daimon was going to be buried upon.
At least that was Kessar's thought as he opened the door to the cell where the young Were-Hunters had been chained. He'd expected to find both of them where he'd left them.
Instead, the sight of the smoking remains of three headless gallu greeted him. Stunned by the sight, he cocked one regal brow. The chains that had held the young dragons had been ripped from the walls and the metriazo collars that he himself had placed around their necks to block their magick and keep them tame were laying in pieces on the ground at his feet.
"What the hell?" he asked slowly.
There was no sign of either young adult dragon. Gaping to the point he exposed his fangs, he turned toward the Amazon queen.
Eyes wide, she stared at the damage they'd wrought. "What happened?"
Namtar shook his head. "I honestly don't know. By the time Neti and I got the door open, this was what we found. How could they do this?"
Kessar toed the remains of the gallu closest to him. There were very few creatures capable of this. And only one he'd ever fought against who could do such. A chill went down his spine at the prospect of facing that hairy bastard again. "What is the name of their father?"
Nala scowled. "I'm trying to remember. We never really used it. Um..."
You've got to be shitting me? She really couldn't recall something so banal?
Or something so vital?
He met her vacuous gaze. "Was it perchance Maxis Drago?"
"Yes!" But the joy quickly faded from her gaze as she realized it wasn't a good thing that he knew the dragon's name. "How did you know?"
How did he know ...
Sick to his stomach, he exchanged a glare with Namtar. "Son of the lilitu."
It figured.
Still, she had no clue of the monster she'd unknowingly harbored. "What's that?"
He laughed at her stupidity. But then, being female, she wouldn't have ever drawn the attention of a lilit demon. They preyed exclusively on males, and in particular, male demons and gods. "In short, our mothers. The gallu were originally hatched in the eggs of the lilitu."