Elven Doom (Death Before Dragons Book 4) Read online

  The kid spat on the puddle-drenched roof and showed me his fangs. They were impressive compared to a human’s canines, but nothing like a vampire’s or shifter’s. And they lacked the fear-inspiring quality of orc tusks.

  “What were you doing sneaking down into the bar?” I pulled out the money clip I kept for bribing informants and slid two twenties off the stack.

  Someday, Willard would accept that I spent most of the money she paid me on replacing broken equipment, buying ammunition, and bribing people. Maybe then, she would give me a raise.

  His stone-gray eyes watched the money. “I left something there when we had to leave. I think those nokgorooks stole it.”

  “What was it?”

  The rest of the orb? Did he know who had taken it and where?

  “My LEGO speeder bike.”

  “Ah, yes. I hear those are catnip to homeless people.”

  He scowled at me.

  “Where do you live now?”

  “I’m not telling you.”

  “Are you sure?” I pressed the twenties into his hand.

  He hesitated, then took them and stuffed them into a pocket. He didn’t ask for the shard back or even react to it. Maybe he believed it a simple piece of junk he’d picked up to add to his collection.

  The kid started to open his mouth but then whirled toward the edge of the building. Afraid he would jump, I grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. But he didn’t jump; he stared into the solid gray sky to the north.

  “Dragon,” he whispered, awe and fear mingling in his tone.

  Zav? I couldn’t see his black form against the clouds, nor could I yet sense him, but a full-blooded troll would have better range for that than I.

  “It’s all right.” I assumed Zav was coming to see me. He was also searching for the dark-elf scientists. Maybe he’d found something. “He won’t—”

  I halted as my senses picked up the powerful aura in the sky. A dragon was flying this way, but it wasn’t Zav.

  3

  The dragon grew visible against the gray sky, a shadowy shape at first, the rain making it hard to pick out details. Most of the humans going about their lives in the city below wouldn’t sense it, wouldn’t even see it unless the dragon wished to be seen. But the troll boy and I had no trouble detecting it.

  The dragon’s scales were purple. No, lilac. With a start, I recognized the aura. I’d seen this dragon on the rocky slope of a ski mountain in Idaho. Zav’s sister. She had come through a temporary portal with Zav’s mother, and for a time, there had been seven dragons on Earth, six of whom had been determined to take me back to be punished for killing Dobsaurin, even though it had been honorable and in battle. By claiming me as his mate, at least in the eyes of his people, Zav had found a loophole in their laws and kept them from collecting me.

  The sister—I’d never gotten her name—had only telepathically spoken a few words that I’d heard. It had been right after he claimed me, and they had been a warning to Zav not to make the same mistake again.

  Tendrils of unease slithered through my gut as the lilac dragon flew straight toward us. What if she’d come to kill me or take me to her world while Zav wasn’t around? To make sure he couldn’t repeat the same mistake.

  I released the troll and drew Chopper. The kid didn’t hesitate to drop to his belly, slither over the edge, and climb down the side of the building. He sprinted across the street, almost being hit by cars, and disappeared into another alley.

  “I guess that won’t work for me.” The dragon would chase me if I fled, and she could fly faster than I could run.

  She ignored the troll and arrowed toward me. She pulled in her leathery wings—they were as lilac as her damp scales—and dove toward the rooftop, as if I were a fish she planned to snatch out of a lake to eat.

  “Sindari.” I touched his charm and summoned him. “I may need some help.”

  While he formed in the silvery mist that appeared, I trotted toward a metal door in a cement stairwell structure, the only access to the building below and the only place I could put my back to. I thought about picking the lock and running into the building, but I doubted I could avoid facing Zav’s sister. None of my charms could keep a dragon from using its magic to hold me in place—as I had found out several times.

  Sindari solidified into the great seven-hundred-pound tiger he was, but when my visitor landed on the corner of the rooftop, she made him appear small in comparison. Her eyes were the same color of violet as Zav’s, but they lacked the haughty calmness I usually saw in his. She looked pissed.

  I do not think I can give the kind of help you require, Sindari spoke telepathically into my mind as he took in the situation.

  I was afraid of that.

  Despite his words, he loped over to stand beside me, and we faced the dragon together. She hadn’t moved since she’d landed, and an uncomfortable scraping feeling raked at the mental barrier of my mind. Was she trying to read my thoughts? The way Shaygor had?

  I suggest you be very polite and acquiescing. Sindari must have read the same anger in her eyes.

  “Hi!” I waved my sword. “I’m Val. This is Sindari. We didn’t catch your name. Who does your scales? You’re a less gloom-and-doomy shade of dragon than most. Is it natural or kind of like dying your hair?”

  Sindari looked at me.

  What? That was polite. And friendly. Girls like to talk about fashion.

  I have never heard you discuss such things.

  Well, I’m not a typical girl. I can fake it though.

  The presence in my mind faded, and the dragon shifted form, melting down into a human woman. A human woman with purple hair—no, lilac hair the same color the scales had been—black leather pants and jacket, and two silver rings in each of her outer nostrils.

  “Oh.” So that was who’d stolen my file from Mary.

  How could some strange dragon from another world have known about my therapy? Or where it took place? Or anything about me at all?

  She walked slowly toward us, her violet eyes narrow.

  My phone buzzed. Normally, I would ignore it when a dragon was stalking toward me, but I pulled it out, having a hunch. It was my general practitioner, Dr. Brightman.

  “This is Val. Are you reporting that someone came in and stole my file this morning?”

  After a startled pause, he said, “Yes.”

  “Purple hair? Nose rings?”

  “Yes. We couldn’t stop her. She had some kind of power.”

  “No kidding. I’ll update you later.”

  I hung up, stuffed my phone in my pocket, and leaned Chopper’s tip against the rooftop beside my foot. Zav’s sister stopped in front of me, ignoring Sindari altogether. I lifted my chin and met her hard gaze, refusing to appear intimidated.

  “Is there a reason you’re researching me like an obsessed stalker?” I asked when she didn’t speak. “Are you a fan of my work? Maybe we could get coffee and I could sign a napkin for you. Do dragons drink coffee? I haven’t seen Zav do so.” Maybe bringing up Zav’s name would be helpful here. “I’m not sure he needs caffeine though. He’s a little high-strung already.”

  Sindari swatted me in the back with his tail. A warning to be more polite? What was I supposed to do? Prostrate myself in the puddle between us and kiss the tips of her pointed boots?

  “Zav,” she spoke her first word, which was followed by a lip curl. “You disrespect him by not using his proper name.”

  “I can’t pronounce his proper name.”

  “That is pathetic. At least the elf princess used his full name.”

  “The elf princess who tried to assassinate him? Yeah, I’m sure she was a big step up from me.”

  Her eyes flared violet, and I braced myself for magic that would fling me off the rooftop—or incinerate me.

  “My name is Zondia’qareshi, and I will not allow you to harm my brother.”

  Oh, good. Another name I couldn’t pronounce. Someday, a dragon named Bob would introduce himself, and I woul
d fall over in surprise.

  “I hadn’t planned to, so we’re good.” I smiled and leaned casually on Chopper. Showing weakness only got you in trouble with predators. “You can go find someone else to stalk. And if you wouldn’t mind returning the records you stole, that would be fabulous. I’m a deeply layered and complex individual. Without my medical history, my providers will be flustered and helpless.”

  “You have little wealth as your world measures it, mediocre health, and no power in your society. Your ruse is clear to all those who are not smitten by human female attributes.” She curled her lip again and waved at my chest.

  “My ruse?”

  “To pretend loyalty to my brother until such time as you can coerce him into a compromising position and murder him. Then you will have power and fame among your people.”

  “My people don’t know dragons exist, so that can’t be true.”

  “Impossible!”

  “Look, Zav is the one who claimed me. Not the other way around. I don’t—” I caught myself before saying I had zero intention of obeying him, having sex with him, or anything else that being claimed entailed. If I let any of the dragons know that Zav had only claimed me to protect me, and that we weren’t actually rutting like rabbits, I might yet end up in front of their Dragon Justice Court. “I don’t plan to kill him. I’m pretty sure he would laugh at the idea that I could.”

  “Males often let their egos put them in danger.”

  “Oh, you’ve noticed that too?”

  Her eyes narrowed further. “Shaygorthian did not get all of your thoughts.”

  “No, and that’s fine with me.”

  She—Zondia, I decided to call her—strode toward me, lifting her hand toward my face. Sindari growled and stepped between us. She flicked her fingers, and a burst of power hurled him across the roof.

  Snarling, I dropped into a fighting stance and whipped Chopper up, but my hand froze before I got the blade fully pointed at her. Though I gritted my teeth and tried to use my weak half-elven power to break the hold, nothing happened. My entire body froze. I couldn’t even move my eyes.

  “I will take your thoughts.” She lifted her hand, and this time, her slender fingers, cold and damp from the rain, reached my temple.

  I seethed inside, tired of dragons doing this to me, but a part of me wondered if it would be for the best if I let her have whatever thoughts she wanted. Then she would know I didn’t intend to betray Zav. So far, Zav was the only dragon I’d met that I didn’t detest. Why would I hurt him?

  But she would also see that Zav’s claiming had been a ruse and wasn’t anything I’d agreed to. Could that get him in more trouble with his people?

  Glaring into her eyes, I willed my mind to stay away from those thoughts and tried to keep her from digging in.

  She lowered her hand. At first, I thought I’d done something to convince her to leave me alone, but she sighed and gazed off toward the west, toward the sky above the downtown skyscrapers. Dare I hope that her mother had stuck her head out of a portal and was calling her home for dinner? If her human form was anything to go by, Zondia was young. Like a teenager.

  I sensed Zav flying this way from the west, and triumph and relief flooded through me. But only for a second, until I remembered that the female dragons ruled their society and the males served them. At least that was what Zav had hinted at. Whether that was because the females were more powerful or that was simply how their society had developed, I didn’t know, but it might mean that his lilac little sister was stronger than he was.

  He came into view, powerful wings carrying him toward us faster than a car would have ripped down a speedway. As he dipped toward the rooftop for a landing, Zondia stepped back and propped her fists on her hips.

  A flutter of anticipation teased my stomach as Zav’s gaze met mine. Not, I told myself firmly, because I hadn’t seen him for several days and missed him. But because he had put a stop, at least for now, to his sister’s machinations.

  Sindari returned to my side. That was embarrassing.

  Being thrown across a rooftop by a dragon? That happens to all of us. Thank you for trying to stop her.

  Zav was arrowing down at me, not his sister, and even though I trusted him not to accidentally send me flying off the roof as he landed, I braced myself.

  He seamlessly transformed into his human form and dropped down at my side, his shoulder touching mine as he faced Zondia.

  As usual, he wore his silver-trimmed black robe, but vibrant yellow-, pink-, and green-colored sneakers poked out from under the hem. Later, I would ask him about them, but now, I merely looked at his sister with him and hoped he could handle this.

  “You will speak out loud so she can hear you,” Zav said, making me realize their discussion had already started. His violet eyes were hard, his strong jaw set. Power radiated from him, crackling over my skin with its usual intense energy. “And you will not attack her, threaten her, or touch her without my permission.”

  I lifted a finger. “Ideally without my permission.”

  Which I would not give.

  “I will communicate with you as I see fit.” Zondia’s lip curled again, and she ignored me as she glared at her brother. “How can she be the daughter of a powerful elf king and not be able to grasp a telepathic conversation going on around her?”

  “She is half human and does not know how to employ her elven power.”

  “Are you sure about that? Maybe that’s what she told you, so you’ll think she’s helpless.”

  I lifted my finger again, irritated that they were ignoring me. “I’m not helpless, and your mom knows more about my elven heritage than I do.”

  Something that I was starting to resent. If some of this elven power I had supposedly inherited could be used to keep dragons out of my mind, I would love to learn how to use it. But so far, I’d only met one light elf and only in passing. My elven father had left Earth long ago.

  “If her feminine wiles sway you when you are in human form,” Zondia went on, still ignoring me, “then remain yourself for a time. You will forget that she interested you.”

  “It is not her wiles that interest me.” Zav wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

  Though I hated being the recipient of the this-female-is-mine behavior, I didn’t move. He was risking his reputation and more to make his people believe we were an item and all to protect me. Besides, even if it wasn’t wise, I didn’t mind his touch or having the magic of his aura running over my skin and sparking my nerves. The electric presence of other dragons never felt appealing to me. I didn’t want to think too much about why Zav’s always had.

  “Val has battled at my side several times now, and she has proven her loyalty to me.” Zav’s voice was fierce, almost a growl, and it sent a little shiver through me. “She vexes my enemies and pleases me. That is why I have claimed her.”

  His gaze shifted from his sister to me, his eyes smoldering. They reminded me of when we’d been nude in that hot tub and where things might have gone if that goblin hadn’t shown up.

  You don’t need to make this quite so convincing, I thought quietly in my mind, worried Zondia would be as apt to hear my thoughts as Zav.

  He did not look away. The intensity of his focus should have been off-putting to someone like me, who saw a stare as a challenge and didn’t care for hugs, but I found myself stepping closer to him, resting a hand on his chest. To convince Zondia that I had feelings for him, nothing more.

  Zondia rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers, trying to pull Zav’s attention back to her. A petty part of me liked that he was ignoring her now. Let her see how it felt.

  “Of course she is pretending to be loyal to you for now. Wasn’t your elf princess the same way? She let you bed her for months before she tried to kill you.” Zondia gave me a triumphant look, as if she thought the information was new to me and it would make me angry to learn that Zav had enjoyed the embrace of some previous lover. No, what made me mad was that the elf had pretended
to care for him while secretly plotting to kill him. Who would do that and why? There were so many more obnoxious dragons one could plot against.

  Not that Zav didn’t have his obnoxious moments, but he wasn’t cruel, just arrogant. And, as I’d learned, he cared about doing the right thing.

  I reached up and ran my fingers along his jaw, rubbing my thumb over his short, neatly trimmed beard. Zav froze, his gaze growing even more intense. His mouth wasn’t far from mine now. It would be easy to kiss him.

  Zondia made an unfeminine noise akin to hacking up a loogie. “How can you not see that she’s using you, brother? You are supposed to be older and wiser than I, but you are being a fool in this matter. What will Mother do if she loses you as well?”

  “She will not lose me.” Zav glanced at his sister, and some of the spell that had held me captive weakened.

  I lowered my hand from his face back to his chest and put notions of kissing out of my head. This ruse was going to end up getting me in trouble. I didn’t think Zav was intentionally using his power to compel me to want to kiss him or please him—I well remembered what it had felt like when he had magically coerced me to do his wishes—but a dragon’s magnetic allure was problematic even without magic being involved.

  “She will if this mongrel drives that blade into your chest when you’re in the middle of some gross human sex act. Have you seen into her mind? Has she let you? Do you have any idea what her plans truly are?” Zondia turned her glare on me, and her fingers twitched, as if she wanted to rip me out of Zav’s embrace.

  “Whatever her plans,” Zav said, “they are mine to worry about. I have claimed her. You have no right to question her or force your way into her mind. If you do so again, I will challenge you.”

  I expected Zondia to sneer again and tell him to bring it on. Her face was flinty. But it softened slightly, the glow fading from her eyes.

  “I do not want to challenge you, brother. I want you to be safe. Treachery is all over the Cosmic Realms now, and you better believe it is also on this backward vermin-infested planet.”