Sword of the King (25 page)

"I'd be amused to see how the fuck you get out of—" Rust stopped.

"Kneel," Amr ordered, and even Blaze felt the ripple of that order.

His jaw almost dropped when Rust obediently knelt, as well as every other man and dragon in the place.

"The Frenzied ones won't last long," Amr said, voice sounding faintly strained. "Do something about them. No one will challenge you."

Blaze nodded. "Can you order their masters forward?"

"You heard him," Amr said sharply. "Master of the Frenzied, rise."

Thirteen men stood up and moved forward. Blaze looked at them. "Can any of the dragons be saved?"

One of the men shook his head, the others just kept their heads bowed. Blaze fought an urge to shoot them. Instead, he gestured to Erie. "Kill them, Erie. Do it quick."

"Nev, go help," Ken said, voice tight.

Ken made a soft, rough noise as Nev and Erie began to kill the broken dragons, tearing out their throats while the dragons remained tethered by Amr's power. Blaze watched throughout, but made no comment when Ken finally had to turn away.

When the dragons were done and returned to their sides, scales smeared with blood and their eyes dull with agony, Blaze raised his gun and put three bullets in Rust. "I'm leaving," he said. "I'll get my shit some other time."

Not waiting for a reply, he strode out of the warehouse. He could feel the eyes on him as he left, but ignored them all, breath tight in his chest until he left the warehouse. When they finally reached his car, Blaze sank to his knees, gun tumbling from his fingers as he wrapped his arms around Erie. "I'm sorry, Erie. Thank you."

Erie whined and growled, so hot that touching him hurt, would probably leave Blaze just short of burned. Blaze held him tightly a little while longer, until the heat left him unable to breathe. Finally withdrawing, wiping sweat and blood and tears from his face, he stood up. His clothes were covered in blood, and he gave a tired laugh. "What a mess. We'll get stopped for sure if someone sees this. Come on, let's hose off." He opened the car long enough to grab the duffle bag, then led the way to the yards on one side of the warehouse.

Stripping off his clothes, he turned on two of the outdoor showers and quickly rinsed off, helping Erie to scrub away all the blood and gore clinging to his scales. When they were more or less clean, he quickly pulled out clothes and got them dressed.

He shivered in the brisk breeze blowing off the water, and increased his stride back to the car. Reaching it, he opened the passenger door and threw the bag into the back. Erie growled softly behind him, and Blaze turned, bracing one hand on the roof of the car as he drew Erie close and kissed him slow and deep. "Good Erie," he murmured, so close his lips brushed against Erie's as he spoke, drawing him back into another kiss.

"Good Blaze," Erie said when they finally drew apart.

Blaze smiled and ruffled his hair. "Let's go home, huh?" He waited until Erie was comfortable in his seat, then closed the passenger door and walked around to the driver side. Sliding into his seat and doing up the seat belt, Blaze started the car and drove off.

He expected ... something, as they left the city behind. But his only thoughts were for Amr and Ken, hoping they didn't have too much trouble doing whatever they intended. He should probably stay and help, but he was fucking done with the place.

When they stopped at a gas station a few minutes outside city limits, Blaze pulled out his phone and sent Rafael a text.
On way back, will arrive late.
He lingered a few extra minutes at the gas station, tidying up the car and pretending he wasn't waiting for a reply.

Sighing at himself, and out of reasons to stall, he finally got back on the road. Erie quickly fell asleep in the passenger seat, occasionally rumbling or growing softly. Blaze reached out to ruffle his hair, smiling fondly.

By the time they reached Rafael's house several hours later, Blaze was ready to fall over. He parked in the same spot he'd taken before and fumbled open the door. Finally getting it open, he half climbed, half fell out of the car, holding onto the door for balance.  What the fuck time was it?

Probably should have stopped for the night, but no fucking way did he want to stay away longer than necessary. He stumbled toward the front door—and froze reflexively as lights kicked on, reaching for his gun before his brain caught up and realized it was only Rafael on the stoop.

"You idiot," Rafael said softly, coming down the steps to meet him, dressed in just a loose pair of sleep pants. Blaze stopped, not quite sure what he was supposed to do, but Rafael just kept approaching. When he reached Blaze, he looped his arms around his shoulders and dropped a sleepy kiss on his mouth. "You didn't have to make it all the way home tonight."

Blaze felt his face heat, but embarrassment wasn't enough to keep him from wrapping his own arms around Rafael's waist and submitting to a much more forceful kiss. "I wanted to make it back, wanted it done."

"Glad you came back," Rafael said softly. "Want anything to eat?"

"Food can wait, I just want to sleep," Blaze said, reluctantly drawing back, shivering in the cold night air.

If the cold bothered Rafael, he didn't show it, just led the way back inside. He locked the door behind them all, and they both watched in amusement as the dragons wandered away to curl up together in front of the living room fireplace, where a small fire still burned. "Fell asleep on the couch," Rafael said, and turned off all the lights before leading the way down the hall.

"You seem to be feeling a lot better," Blaze said quietly. "I didn't think you'd be walking around so easily."

"Alec's lover showed up and cast a healing spell," Rafael said. "It was more than a little disconcerting, seeing magic thrown so casually about. Conway didn't like it at all."

Blaze smiled faintly at that, but he was distracted from thoughts of dragons and magics by the sudden realization that he had just followed Rafael into his bedroom. He hovered in the doorway, suddenly unsure. 

Rafael paused by the bed. "Something wrong?"

"Uh—" Blaze blinked. "I—where am I sleeping?" he finally asked, feeling stupid.

Smiling, Rafael crossed back over to him and cupped Blaze's face, drawing him into a kiss that left Blaze breathless and incapable of thinking. "Get in bed," he said, and drew back, vanishing into the bathroom. "There are more pants in the bottom drawer."

Blaze sat down to unlace his boots and pull them off, setting them aside before standing up and stripping off the rest of his clothes. The bathroom door opened just as he was fetching pants to sleep in.

Rafael smirked, and went over to the dresser himself. He grabbed a pair of dark blue pants and threw them at Blaze. "You don't have to get dressed again on my account."

"Don't tempt me," Blaze said, pulling on the pants. "I'm too fucking tired."

Laughing, Rafael motioned for him to get in bed, then killed the lights. Blaze wasn't used to sleeping with anyone but Erie, but it didn't feel anywhere near as odd as he expected to curl up with Raf, head on Raf's chest, his arms heavy and warm around Blaze. "I'm glad you came back."

"I'm glad I could," Blaze said quietly, then closed his eyes and finally fell asleep.

"So what now?" Ken asked after Blaze was gone.

"Get the dragons locked up," Amr said, and Ken could see that he was reaching his limit. Forcing a hundred men and dragons to their knees was not actually as easy as Amr made it look.

Nodding, Ken motioned to Nev and they slowly began to herd all the dragons out of the warehouse and into the back rooms where the holding pens were located. When the dragons were all locked up, he headed back out to the main warehouse.

Amr looked at him, then turned and started walking. Ken followed a few paces behind him, Nev behind him, guarding the rear until they were well away. "They won't stay that way much longer," Amr said. "Not now that I'm out of sight."

"We'll take your car, but I'm driving," Ken said. "You're in no fucking shape." To his surprise, Amr didn't argue, just tossed him the keys. Sliding behind the wheel of Amr's Lincoln, Ken waited until the others were all settled and then drove off as quickly as he could manage.

He waited until he was fairly certain they weren't being chased down, then turned to ask Amr where the fuck they should go—and stopped short when he saw Amr had passed out. In the backseat, Cam was also out.

Ken shook his head. The next time Amr tried to accuse him of being reckless, Ken was going to punch him in the face. So where should they go? After a moment of pondering, he pulled off onto a side street and pulled out his phone. Pulling up Blaze's number, he hit call.

A few minutes later, he closed the phone again, grinning in satisfaction. Getting back on the road, he drove across the city to Blaze's apartment building. Leaving the car at the curb, all of his passengers still dead to the world, Ken went inside.

"Hi," he said to the guy at the desk, smiling brightly. "I'm a friend of Blaze's—"

"Of course, Mr. Cross. Blaze called us," the man said, and slid a spare key across the desk. "Please let us know if there's anything you need. You've been cleared for the garage, you should have no problems."

Ken nodded. "Thanks." Returning to the car, he drove to the garage. He glared in disgust at his still-unconscious passengers. "Ridiculous." Gripping Amr's shoulder, Ken gently shook him awake. Brilliant gold eyes blinked at him, and Ken realized he was staring. "Uh. Come on, man. You'll sleep better in a bed. Can you make it up on your own? Cause I'm not carrying your Mordred ass."

Amr rolled his eyes, and then climbed stiffly from the car. In the back seat, both of the dragons growled, and climbed out as Ken opened the door for them. He didn't bother telling them to shift to human form; it would probably drain whatever energy they had left.

Halfway to the elevator, Amr stumbled. Ken lunged, barely catching him before he hit the ground. "You're a fucking dumbass," he said, dragging Amr's arm across his shoulders, sliding his own around Amr's waist. "Come on, Mordred."

"One of these days, you're going to have to use my name," Amr said as he slumped against the back of the elevator.

Ken snorted and punched the button for the floor they needed. "Don't count on it. Not like you'll see me after another day or so, after I know you can walk without falling on your face and your people get here."

"You're leaving?" Amr asked, sounding confused.

"I'm staying?" Ken countered, equally baffled. Amr looked at him through his long lashes, and Ken couldn't for the life of him figure out why the fuck he noticed Amr's lashes. Who the fuck cared about that kind of thing? "What the hell are you talking about?"

Amr's eyes fell shut again, dusky skin washed out from strain and exhaustion. "We'll discuss it later, brat."

"Shut up," Ken muttered, barely biting back a sigh of relief as the elevator finally stopped and dinged open. He hated being alone with Amr; it made him twitchy and nervous. What the hell Blaze saw in him, Ken would never know.

He ignored Amr's grousing and helped him down the hallway and into Blaze's apartment. Ken was completely unsurprised to see the place had about as much personality as a motel room. "Come along, Princess. We'll put you to bed."

Amr pulled away and gave him a weak shove. "You really need that spanking."

"You clearly need to be punched in the face again," Ken retorted, too tired to put all his usual heat behind the words. "Stop being bitchier than usual." Ignoring Amr's continued protests, Ken hauled him down the hall to the bedroom and pushed him down onto the bed. "Get undressed, Highness, unless you want to sleep in those clothes. I'm not undressing you, my servitude stops there."

To his surprise and confusion, Amr just laughed as he began to slowly strip off his suit. By the time he removed his blaze, tie, and vest, he looked exhausted. Ken swore softly and bent to work on his shirt, slowly undoing the buttons. He pushed the shirt off Amr's shoulders, acutely—annoyingly—aware of the way he smelled, warm and male with a hint of sandalwood and metal.

Kneeling, he pulled off Amr's shoes and threw them aside. Standing again, moving back, he said, "Get in bed, Princess."

"You're going to pay for calling me that," Amr said, but he was nearly asleep before he finished the sentence. Ken rolled his eyes and walked back over to the bed, tugging the blankets out from under Amr and pulling them up over him. Rolling his eyes, he flicked the light out as he left and wandered down the hall to the living room.

Cam and Nev were fast asleep in the middle of the living room floor, curled together, tails coiled around each other. Ken yawned, eyes watering, as he went to make certain everything was locked up.

He stood in the living room for a moment, feeling momentarily lost. Rick hadn't called or texted once, which had his gut in knots over what might have happened when they went to stall the clan officials. But Rick and his brothers could handle themselves, and they'd made an art of defying the clans.

Sighing, he deposited his gun and phone on the coffee table, then stripped down to his jeans and flopped down on the couch. He shivered and looked around the room, rolling his eyes when he found an afghan right on the back of the couch. Pulling it down, he draped it over himself and almost immediately fell asleep.

He was jerked awake some time later by someone grabbing him by the hair and yanking him up. Ken swore and reached up, calling, "Nev!" The man who grabbed him threw him to the floor and placed a booted foot on his back. Another boot put pressure on his right hand, not quite to the point of pain. Ken craned his neck to look up, scowling at the silver eyes that stared down at him. "Where the fuck is my father?"

"Lord Richard and his brothers have been detained," the man said, then looked at men Ken could hear but not see. "Where is the Pendragon?"

"Not sure, my lord. No dragons are in the apartment."

The man looked annoyed. "Where are they, then?"

"We're figuring it out, my lord."

"Do it faster."