The Cursed King by Abigail Owen

Chapter Thirteen

Well, that was…whatever it was.

Angelika tried not to think about how hard she’d come with only Airk’s hands down her pants, or the fact that no way could the wolves not have at least heard. She hadn’t exactly been trying to be quiet. Even now, her body was still buzzing from the aftereffects, and she didn’t even want to think about how they could smell her desire.

Airk, meanwhile, stalked through the woods at her side, not even turning his head once to check on her. She’d like to pretend he was too busy watching all the shifters around them—after the first sentry, they’d picked up another, then another, until six trailed before and behind—but she was pretty sure he was just avoiding her gaze.

Like last time.

As soon as she got him alone, they were going to have a chat, because either he was into her or he wasn’t, but this back and forth needed to stop. After all, she’d been teasing with her comments about getting creative. He was the one who’d trailed those provocative fingers over her skin, brushing her breasts with the backs of his knuckles, then inching up her shirt to tease the sensitive skin of her belly before pushing lower. As though compelled.

Best to stop thinking about it, or she might spontaneously orgasm off the memory alone.

The castle chose that moment to rise up out of the dark, and Angelika paused, mouth open. Dragons hid inside their impressive mountains, but nothing from the outside gave a person warning.

This…this was different.

Built into the side of the mountain, the structure blended with the crags and spires and valleys of the rock almost as though the rock itself had built it, pushed it out of its own body. Difficult to tell in the dark, but to her it appeared as though some parts were crumbling while others had been added to recently. Either way, she almost expected the first vampire himself to come flying over the top in the moonlight. Or maybe a rush of bats.

No vampires here, though. Not anymore.

A howl went up off to her right, and Airk paused to listen and assess. At least he didn’t growl. She’d thought the sentry might pee himself earlier when he’d…errr…come upon them.

Gods, she hoped her sisters never heard about that.

A second howl sounded in front of them, followed by a third to the left. Basically, an alarm network.

“This way,” one of their escorts said and pulled back a curtain of vines leading down a dark hole. Angelika paused only long enough to check with Airk. His vision in the dark would be light-years better than hers. So would his other senses.

Shock skittered through her as he took her hand, pulling her behind him as though using his body to shield her, then stepped into the darkness.

His hand wrapped around hers was pure strength, totally steady. To help keep her balance, she placed the palm of her other hand flat against his back, syncing her steps to his so she didn’t trip them both. Her rock in the dark.

Without her sight, beyond a very vague ambiance to allow her to walk, impressions hit her all at once: the cooler, dank air; sounds of dripping; and the mineral taste of humidity on her tongue. This might be a cave or an ancient tunnel formed into the bedrock of the mountain itself. Either way, it seemed to be leading them into the castle.

Hopefully not the dungeons.

Even then, she had faith that her friends wouldn’t allow her to remain there long. Airk, being a dragon shifter, was another matter.

Their guide stopped ahead of them, and Airk pulled her to a stop behind him. Practically up against him. The man was a mass of contradictions. Fuck her but don’t talk to her after. Bring her the most shattering pleasure, ignore her, then protect her. Put himself between her and whatever happened next.

The guide banged on what looked like a wall to her in the dim. A second later, a crack of light appeared and widened as what now was clearly a door was swung open. Angelika peeked around Airk’s bulk, and he tightened his hand on hers in a nonverbal protest. But she smiled at the man she found standing there.

“About time you came to your senses and took us up on our invitation,” Bleidd said, totally expressionless.

The leader of the pack she’d been sent to, the older wolf and her mother had had an understanding, though he’d never told Angelika what or how that understanding came to be. Still, the familiarity of his tall, lanky form, deep gray shadowed eyes, and his beard—dark gray with lighter, almost silvery stripes in the hair at his chin, which matched his coloring in wolf form—made her relax. Her shoulders, which had been up around her ears without her even noticing, dropped.

“It’s good to see you, too,” she said with a grin. She wanted to hug her friend, but with all the sentries around, not to mention the warning light in his eyes, she held back.

He glanced from her to Airk. “I don’t remember inviting dragons, though,” he said, mouth under his trim beard flattening.

“She insisted,” Airk said, just deadpan enough to make her wonder.

Was that… Was he making an actual joke? While confronted with predatory shifters not his kind, even.

My, my, my. We have progress.

Bleidd grunted what might have been a laugh, eyeing Airk with a light in his eyes that looked suspiciously like respect, or maybe commiseration, since he knew her well. Difficult to tell, backlit as he was. “Follow me.”

She went to move around Airk, but he didn’t let go of her hand, sort of tugging her back to him so that they walked side by side, their escorts falling in line behind them as they traveled through a long, narrow hall. They were clearly now inside the castle, because the walls and even the rounded ceiling over their heads were formed from thick rectangular stones rather than the smooth continuous rock of a cave.

Eventually they turned into an even narrower alcove that housed a medieval-looking winding staircase that reminded her of sections of Ben Nevis. While most of that dragon mountain had been styled after the more ornate French castles, felt even through the general air of neglect after centuries of their wealth being stripped, older parts had a more medieval feel like this one. Definitely a castle.

Up and up and up they wound, passing a few entrances that would take them to a landing or maybe another floor, but they kept going until finally Bleidd peeled off into a hallway. To fit his shoulders through the opening, Airk had to turn sideways and duck like a contortionist. White dragons tended to be taller than most, though not as broad as gold dragons like Brand, who were the biggest of the bunch on average.

This area of the castle was more ornate. Almost as though the vampires had not only abandoned it but taken nothing with them when they went. The original décor seemed to remain, giving one the sense that the building hadn’t been touched by centuries of time—rich tapestries, coats of armor, iron weapons on the walls, and she even spotted a room lit up in myriad colors thanks to intricate stained glass windows.

Definitely not dungeons, so that was something.

“In here,” Bleidd said.

He opened a thick wooden door and ushered them into a room with a single piece of furniture—a glass-and-steel table, a modern monstrosity that felt so incongruous after the ancient hallway, Angelika even paused.

A conference room rather than a cell. She could work with that.

Bleidd came in with them, turning at the door to address the sentry who’d found them in the woods. “Tell Madrigan we’re ready.”

The sentry gave a sharp nod, then flicked his gaze to Angelika. “And Jedd?” he asked.

Jedd didn’t know she was here? She tried not to wince. She’d been trying hard not to anticipate what his reaction would be, particularly to her showing up with Airk in tow.

After a telling pause, Bleidd nodded, then closed the door.

As he turned slowly on his heel, his face broke into a broad grin, and he opened his arms wide. With a sigh, Angelika walked right into a strong, all-encompassing bear hug. “We missed you,” Bleidd said, his voice a rumble against her.

“Me, too.”

She really meant it.

Several years living with the pack, being protected by them, getting to know them and love them, trying to fight with them even when they wouldn’t let her—they might not be blood, but they were her community, her extended family. More so than the dragons, even. The fire breathers hadn’t even known who she was until recently.

“As happy as I am to see you…” Bleidd stepped back, his expression turning serious. “Why are you here?”

For a second, Angelika debated not getting into the details with Bleidd, waiting for the leader, or maybe leaders, he’d no doubt summoned to join them. But if this was going to work, she needed Bleidd on her side. “My dragons need allies.”

Bleidd rocked back on his heels in the closest thing to shock she’d ever seen from the calm wolf. Answering surprise sparked in her chest. Did he really think she’d changed her mind and chosen to come here to stay with them? To take them up on their offer of a permanent place in the pack? To take Jedd up on his offer to mate?

Well…shit.Maybe she should have thought of that. She’d break her friend’s heart all over again.

The door handle turning had her stiffening, readying herself for the confrontation with her friend. Only the man who stepped inside wasn’t Jedd.

This had to be the leader of the Federation of Packs.

Taller than Bleidd, and broader, too, he could almost pass for a dragon shifter in human form. Except his features were more pointed, sharper, and his body leaner. Onyx-black hair, skin a light olive shade, and eyes the color of jade in the sun—she’d bet he was also striking in wolf form.

“My name is Madrigan,” the man said in a thick accent Angelika guessed hailed originally from eastern Europe, maybe even from this region of what was now Romania. “I am the head of the Federation.”

No specific title.

The small detail got lost as a soft but dangerous warning growl came from the corner of the room where Airk had tucked himself.

Madrigan’s gaze snapped to him, though he didn’t otherwise move.

“You are not a wolf shifter,” Airk stated, low and certain. “You are something else.”

Madrigan, however, didn’t bristle. He didn’t even change expression, though she thought maybe a hint of surprised respect flitted over his features. “True.”

A non–wolf shifter was leading the worldwide federation of them? How was that possible?

What are you? The question bubbled up, but she swallowed it back. Asking that was considered rude, and she needed to start on the right foot with this man.

“What are you?” Airk asked.

So much for the right foot.

Before Madrigan could reply, Airk raised his head as though scenting the wind. “Canine of some sort. Powerful. Ancient.”

Still no visible reaction from the leader. “You have a good nose. Most don’t pick up on the difference.”

Airk crossed his arms and waited for his answer. Beside her, Bleidd didn’t move, but the tension rolled off him all the same. Or maybe the way he subtly scooted so that he was between her and both men was a sign. One of the strongest men she knew was nervous? Why? Was Madrigan dangerous?

Madrigan tipped his head slowly, jade eyes glinting. “I am a berserker.”

She blinked rapidly, not expecting that answer. “Really?” She didn’t tamp down on her interest fast enough, and it came out in her voice.

Luckily, the man didn’t take offense, sending her a smile that might have been amused if it weren’t so stiff. “Really.”

The ancient species was said to be extinct, or so the stories went. Longer than phoenixes had been gone. Almost two thousand years without a sighting. Legends now. Even more than phoenixes had been.

“That’s not possible,” Airk said. “Berserkers are—”

“Choose your words wisely,” Madrigan warned.

Airk’s lips pressed together, but he gave a sharp nod, a show of respect from one apex predator to another. “All my readings would indicate that a berserker is even more dangerous than a feral dragon. How are you not a threat to others?”

Actually, the tiny bit Mama had told them about his kind had been the same. The children of Odin’s immortal wolves Geri and Freki, berserkers were thought to be ancient warriors who fought in a trance-like fury. Supposedly the first werewolves and then, later, wolf shifters had descended from this ancient race, their blood diluted by the eons and by mixing with humans.

Madrigan’s lips quirked. “We are a thing hideous to behold…but only if we scent blood and battle.”

Which meant what? They really went into a frenzy? “How much blood, exactly?” Angelika wondered.

That actually pulled a small smile from the man. “It’s not just blood on its own, but the combination of that scent along with adrenaline and the pheromones released by rage.”

Rage triggered them?

“Seems dangerous to be around shifters in that case,” Airk commented. She nodded, thinking the exact same thing.

Madrigan shrugged.

“Actually,” Angelika murmured, offering the man a small smile, ignoring how Airk’s jaw popped. “That’s exactly the kind of warrior we need.”

To give him credit, Madrigan’s only response to that was a slight raise to his thick brows. “You may regret thinking that,” he said. “But I’m intrigued now. Why have you come here, if not for asylum, little firebird?”

The glance he shot Bleidd, who’d stood silently back during the introductions, wasn’t angry, and yet at the same time it carried a hint of accusation. Her old friend shrugged, then flicked a glance at Airk as though saying, “I thought that’s what this was about until he showed up with her.”

Showed up with his hand down her pants, finger-fucking her into a glorious orgasm, no less. At least they’d left that bit out in the commentary.

Angelika drew herself to her full—though, compared to these men, rather dainty—height, gaze steady on the berserker’s. “The dragon shifters need your help.”

Madrigan stared for all of two heartbeats before he threw his head back and laughed. Not a harsh bark but a full-bellied laugh that took him several moments to curtail while she glared.

“Why is that funny?” she demanded when his laugh was finally reduced to chuckles.

“Dragons asking wolves for help is fucking hilarious, princess.”

That pulled her up a bit short, and her own sense of humor, as well as her knowledge from the wolves’ side about the way dragon shifters thought of them, kicked in. He wasn’t wrong. Her lips started to twitch. A glance at Airk showed him stone-faced, which only made her want to giggle. But for him she managed to swallow it down, instead saying, “That should tell you what kind of shit we are in now.”

That sobered the room right up.

“We?” Madrigan questioned slowly. “I believe you are the unmated phoenix, unless things have changed.” Another glance at Airk.

She wouldn’t lie to her allies the same way she wouldn’t lie to the dragons. “I am not mated.”

I’m not even a phoenix. I’m nothing.

“You’re not mated?” another male voice, a familiar voice, queried softly from behind her in a voice edged in painful hope.

Angelika whirled around to find Jedd standing in the open doorway.

Hazel eyes wary, her one-time friend didn’t come closer. He also looked…thinner, maybe. Reduced somehow. Jedd’s Spanish ancestry still showed through in swarthy skin and darker coloring, not to mention the aura of a warrior. Even his black hair screamed “no funny business,” cut military close, a tad longer on top. She used to tease him by saying the way it stood straight up made him look like a fuzzy teddy bear that needed a cuddle.

She didn’t dare tease him now. “I’m not mated yet,” she said. The “yet” gentle but deliberate. She couldn’t let him get any ideas or give that hope soil to grow in. That wouldn’t be fair to him.

The way his strong jaw tightened slightly at the word, he caught her meaning. Her warning. “Why are you here, Angelika?” he asked, harder and harsher than a moment ago.

“For help,” she said simply, trying to be gentle with it. “For allies.”

Jedd glanced at Airk, and she almost expected a growl from that corner. None came, but a muscle in Jedd’s jaw started to tick. “We don’t need allies,” he stated in a rough voice she’d only heard from him those days before the wolf pack left her with the dragons. Without another glance at her, he turned and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

…

Airk caught Angelika’s wince and the way she glanced at Bleidd.

“Give him a day,” the older wolf shifter advised.

She nodded.

“He is wrong about not needing allies,” Airk said.

Madrigan’s gaze narrowed on Airk, and the dragon inside him tried to break out of the dark hole he had him stuffed down. Even the air was more electric around this man, the ancient, wild magic running through his veins turning to sizzling ozone in Airk’s nose. Lightning in a bottle. Fucking dangerous to be anywhere near, especially for Airk.

“I don’t believe we’ve been introduced,” Madrigan said.

No mistaking the severity underlying the veneer of politeness. Airk considered him for a brief second. “But you know who I am anyway.”

Not a question.

Was that another flash of amusement in the ancient wolf’s eyes? “I do. Making a gambit for the throne of the White Clan?”

“No.”

The categorical, if brief, denial set Madigan’s glossy eyebrows winging. “What else are people to believe when you are personally…attending to…one of the phoenixes?”

Airk stilled. Was attending to a euphemism for what he’d done with her in the forest? Because that topic was off-limits. Angelika’s wince and the way color flared into her cheeks only pissed him off more, because she’d caught it, too.

When Airk didn’t respond, Madrigan shrugged. “So what is your role here?”

Rather than continue to answer questions this man clearly already knew the answers to, Airk pushed back. “If you think, after taking down the Blue, Gold, and Black Clans, that Pytheios will not come for wolf shifters when he’s done with dragons, you are delusional.”

Bleidd stiffened.

Madrigan cocked his head. “He has no reason to come for the wolves—”

Airk held up one hand, ticking the points off on his fingers. “Your headquarters is located directly between the dragon strongholds in Everest and Ararat. Dragons already think less of other shifters, but especially wolves. Your rather newly formed Federation is a personal strength that will be seen as a threat. And Pytheios will have wiped out a good portion of the people who do all the work within the clans. Workers that societies build on, cannot function without, and take for granted—plumbing, sewage, food services, childcare. Infrastructure. He will need to replace those losses—”

That finally got a visceral response from the berserker, whose hands balled into fists at his side and lips curled into a sneer. “If that rotting fuck thinks he can enslave my people—”

“He may or may not succeed, but many will die in the fight.”

Madrigan’s stare turned rock hard as he worked through the likelihood of that happening and the impacts in his head. The man was too ancient and too much a leader, given his position now, not to have already thought of this. Had he already made alliances with other shifters? Bears, maybe? Lions? Coyotes? Hyenas? Tigers? Or perhaps he’d gone outside the shifter community to other supernaturals?

“And your kings would be different?” Disbelief coated the words, making them sticky. Making them harder to argue with.

“Yes.”

“Why would I believe you?”

“Because of her.” Airk nodded toward Angelika.

She startled, though she didn’t move. He could still see it in her somehow. Did she doubt him? Or doubt herself as a reason worth mentioning? Didn’t she know what she inspired? How those white dragons all fell under her spell? Believed in her? Hells, pledged themselves to her in such a way they were bound for life?

“Me and my sisters,” she qualified.

Airk stared, waiting for her to shift her gaze his way so he could shake his head. Angelika alone was enough. But she didn’t or wouldn’t. She kept her focus trained on the berserker.

“Phoenixes,” Madrigan mused. “They’ll bring their kings to heel.”

Before a growl could rip up his throat, Angelika made a sound that was close enough. “My sisters and their mates are partners,” she insisted. “Not…dogs with masters.”

The pause said she’d been deliberate with that word choice.

“Good for them.” Madrigan’s voice was pure sarcasm.

Angelika ignored it—deliberately, Airk would bet—shooting the man a suddenly placid smile that seemed indestructible. One Airk was closely familiar with. “Yes,” she said. “We all think so.”

As though she’d taken the wolf’s words as sincere.

Madrigan’s tiny frown said her response threw him, but Angelika didn’t give him a chance to recover. “My brothers-by-blood are good men. Fair men. They want peace. They want Pytheios gone. And that is all. Maybe this is a chance for the Federation to start a new relationship with dragons. We can be powerful allies, rather than distant acquaintances at best.”

Acquaintances was putting it mildly. Enemies wasn’t quite right. A wary standoff was probably closer. No love lost between the species, for certain, and that had been true since before Airk’s incarceration.

Madrigan blew out a long breath, gaze sliding to Bleidd, who had remained silent. Then back to Angelika. “I assume you wish for me to speak with these kings and their phoenixes?”

Instantly, her body vibrated, though not visibly. Almost as though he was so attuned to her, he could sense it on the air. Could the others feel that? Excitement. Hope. The woman was incorrigible.

“That would be best,” was all she said.

Madrigan nodded, then addressed Bleidd. “Help her set it up via the most secure channels we have.”

“Of course.”

“I’ll wait to address the Federation leaders until after I meet with the kings.”

He gave Airk a curt nod, then took Angelika’s hand and offered a courtly bow over it, even clicking his heels. That should have been the end of it, but the berserker looked up, a light in his green eyes that sent tension stringing through Airk’s spine.

“Possibly the best way to solidify any kind of allyship between our people would be through mating.”