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  And with it, he sent his children to Sanctuary where their mother would be waiting for them. He tried to follow after them, but he didn't have enough strength left for that. Damn it! Electricity was the one thing that was brutal for his kind. It not only played havoc with their physical bodies, it wasn't the nicest friend to their magick either.

  Right now ...

  He'd kill for three seconds of control.

  Panting and weak, he tried to find shelter. Or roll over on one of those mutant bastards.

  It was useless. They were too quick to scurry like the rodent cockroaches they were.

  He barely made it ten feet before they had him surrounded. At least twenty Arcadian dragons and wolves were there. Male and female warriors armed and ready to slay him. Or worse, tie him down.

  Even so, he would fight them to the end. He sprayed as much fire as he could in dragon form, but it quickly fizzled as he turned human.

  He braced himself for the battle as one of the Drakos who had long dark hair neared him. The man glared his hatred for Max. Back at you, bitch.

  Yet as they exchanged their mutual disdain and sneers, there was something oddly familiar about the Arcadian. Max cocked his head, trying to place him.

  "Do you recognize me, dragon?"

  "No," he lied, not wanting to give him any kind of satisfaction.

  With a furious shriek, he backhanded Max. "It was my grandfather you murdered!" Stepping back, he jerked his chin at the others gathered around them. "Summon my cousins. Tell Damos that I've finally located the bastard Dragonbane. Tonight we avenge the Kattalakis bloodline! And tomorrow we're going after his children to finish what he started. Sanctuary or no Sanctuary. We will burn them all to the ground!"

  9

  Seraphina turned at the bright flash, expecting to find Maxis there. The sudden shock of seeing her children ...

  Relief and love poured through her. Tears filled her eyes. Shrieking in gratitude, she ran to them and grabbed them in the tightest hug she could manage even though Hadyn immediately let out a verbal protest that she was hurting him. She shook so badly, she feared her legs would buckle.

  Had Hadyn not held her against his chest, she was sure she'd have crumpled at his feet. Not even his bedraggled condition and the fact they needed a bath and fresh clothes took away that they were the most beautiful things she'd ever seen in her life.

  "It's all right, Mama," he breathed as he rested his chin against the top of her head. Like his father, he towered over her. "We're fine. It's all good."

  She wouldn't go that far. Her poor baby was covered in blood and bruises. His homespun clothes torn and filthy. And that made her want the throats and hearts of whoever had dared touch him. How dare they lay hands on her children!

  Her breathing ragged, she pulled back to examine Edena. Like her brother's, her tunic and breeches were torn and covered with filth and blood. Seraphina felt the color drain from her face as an even worse thought went through her.

  Edena was the prime age for a mating dragonswan....

  I'll kill them. Every one of them with my bare hands and mount their heads to my wall ... Sanctuary, no Sanctuary.

  Mercy be damned.

  "Hadyn kept them from me," Edena assured her quickly, as if she could read her mother's thoughts and knew the source of Seraphina's building fury.

  "Barely." He staggered back and collapsed to sit cross-legged on the floor. Hard.

  Raking a hand through his short auburn hair, he let out an exhausted breath, then winced as he grazed his knuckles against his bruised cheek. He glanced up at her with an adorable frown that was identical to one Max had used when he lived with her and she used to confound him with her strange "Amazon" ways. "Where are we?"

  Seraphina didn't answer his raspy question as she stepped over his legs and glanced around, looking for Maxis to join them. He should have been here by now.

  How far behind them could he be? What was taking him so long?

  Afraid something would tear her babies from her again, she kept her hand on Edena's. "Where's your father?"

  "I knew that was him!" Edena smacked at her brother, who grimaced and shoved lightly at her so that she wouldn't hit his shoulder again. "Told you!"

  "No you didn't."

  Ignoring his ire, Edena met Seraphina's gaze with sadness in her eyes. "They attacked him and he sent us here while he fought them. I don't think he was able to follow."

  Blaise cursed.

  It was only then that her children realized there were others in the room with them. Edena pulled back as Hadyn rose to his feet to put himself between them and his uncles.

  Seraphina smiled at the sweetly protective gesture that was so similar to what Max would have done. Though to be honest, there wasn't much the poor boy could do right now in his wounded condition, except fall down and trip them on their way to attack her. But God love him for trying.

  She let go of Edena to gently take Hadyn by the waist and scoot his enormous teen body aside.

  Rubbing his back, she smiled proudly at him to let him know how much she appreciated his sweet thoughtfulness. "Edena, Hadyn ... meet your uncles. Blaise and Illarion."

  "Hi." Blaise gestured toward the wall.

  Bemused by that, Hadyn scowled at her and Edena.

  Illarion ignored them all. Screw the pleasantries. We need to get to Max. Where is he?

  Hadyn's frown melted to a mask of shock. "Anyone else think it odd that one uncle can't see and the other can't speak? Is there a reason for that?"

  Blaise shot a jolt at him that left him yelping. "Careful, whelp. I don't need my sight in this form to spank your ass. As for the voice, Illarion had his vocal cords cut by moronic humans trying to stop him from breathing fire when he was a kid. Be glad they didn't get their hands on you."

  He immediately hung his head. "Sorry. I didn't mean to offend either of you. I'm an insensitive idiot who doesn't always check with my brain before I engage my mouth, especially when I'm hurting. If it makes you feel any better, in the last twenty-four hours, I had three demons try to eat me for dinner, a dozen Arcadians kick the crap out of me, and my sister scream my eardrums to bleeding. Pretty sure I lost some testosterone along the way. Definitely a shit-ton of pride and dignity."

  "Hadyn! Watch your mouth!"

  "Sorry, Ma."

  Shaking her head, Seraphina went and grabbed Maxis's battle sword from the hanger that secured it to his wall near the door. As she started to leave, Illarion caught her. What are you doing?

  "You and Blaise watch the kids. I'm headed after Maxis."

  "That would be a profoundly bad idea."

  Seraphina glanced over her shoulder to see Fang standing in the now open doorway. "Excuse me?"

  He stepped aside to show her the tall, dark-haired Arcadian Sentinel behind him. Only this wasn't his brother Vane. It was another Drakos.

  One she'd never met before. Dressed in medieval chain mail and yellow surcoat, and with his hair pulled back in a ponytail, he had an aura of regal refinement and fierce, arrogant warrior. While most Sentinels chose to hide their facial markings with their magick, his were more than apparent.

  Fang gestured between them. "Seraphina Drago, meet Sebastian Kattalakis, Prince of Arcadia."

  Her jaw went slack as she realized that this was one of the royal princes. A direct descendant of Lycaon, the Arcadian king who'd founded their race.

  But before she could bow to him, Illarion snorted disdainfully. So-fucking-what, Fang? You're a Kattalakis, too.

  Sebastian arched an arrogant brow at his rude dismissal. "Yes, but my grandfather was the king's son. The original Apollite heir born from his queen, Mysene."

  Well la-di-da, Mr. Fancy Pants. Aren't you special? You want a hero cookie to go with that title?

  Blaise feigned a coughing fit. "Excuse me. I'm having a weird Kerrigan flashback. Should I leave now before lethal things start flying?"

  No, I'm the one leaving. My brother needs me and the air in here is suddenly stale.

  "Wait!" Sebastian ordered in a tone that left Illarion with a soured expression on his handsome face. One that said Sebastian was about to be in serious pain.

  Or in a burn ward.

  "I came here to warn Fang about what was happening. A few minutes ago, I received a summons from my cousin to attend a harrowing for the Dragonbane he's captured."

  Seraphina gasped at his words.

  Why did you come here?

  Sebastian shrugged at Illarion's belligerent question. "I thought you might want to get word to Savitar to stop it. As a limani, Fang has the ability to contact him. I don't. And having been harrowed, myself, I don't condone it against another. Ever. I find the whole practice of it distasteful and beneath both our species."

  Seraphina couldn't agree more.

  Illarion glared at each of them in turn. What did you people do? Take out ads? For thousands of years, Max stayed hidden and safe. He pinned that hostile glare on her. You come back into his life for five minutes and it starts falling apart again. Everyone now knows who he is and they're all attacking him. Why do you have to ruin his life every time you come near it?

  "That's not fair!"

  No, it isn't! He never did anything to you, except try to protect you. I wish you'd do him a favor and get out of his life before you kill him.

  Blaise gasped. "Illarion..."

  Don't, brother. It's the truth I speak. We're all thinking it. I just said it. I'm sick to death of watching my brother bleed for her.

  Seraphina took a step toward him, intending to make him eat those words, but before she could, a loud thump sounded on the other side of the curtains.

  All of them froze.

  In unison, they turned toward the unexpected rustling. An exasperated sigh was punctuated by the curtains parting only enough to launch a round object from between them. It shot across the room and landed with another wet, squishy thump on the floor before it rolled a few feet.

  Edena shrieked and danced toward her brother as the object came to rest near her and turned out to be a disembodied human head.

  An instant later, a huge, spiny dragon poked his head out from between the curtains to offer a lopsided grin. "Sorry, love. Didn't realize anyone was here."

  Seraphina gaped at the sight of Maxis lying there as if nothing unusual had happened.

  He arched one dragon brow at Sebastian. "Hope that's not a friend of yours. And if it is, tough shit. He was an asshole. Anyone got some extra-large dental floss on them? I've got a chunk of Arcadian dragonslayer stuck in my teeth. Nasty-tasting stuff, that. And Illarion, you're wrong. It does not taste like chicken. More like three-day-old rotten ass."

  Blaise and Fang burst out laughing. Sebastian looked offended. Hadyn and Edena gaped.

  "If I said that, I'd be on restriction forever," Hadyn mumbled to his sister.

  "Yes, you would. And don't forget it." Shaking her head, Seraphina closed the distance between them so she could check on Max and make sure he was all right.

  That she wasn't hallucinating his sudden appearance.

  Max didn't move as he watched his dragonswan walk toward him with a slow saunter. He waited for the condemnation he was sure would follow for his having killed one of her people.

  But honestly? He was too tired and in way too much pain to care. Let her hate him. The bastard deserved it. They'd tried to skewer him.

  Next time, they should bring more men. Larger spears. And marinate themselves in some soy sauce.

  Gah, what kind of piss-poor diet were they on? Rotten cat meat? Cabbage wine?

  Yet instead of condemning him, she sank down on her knees by his face and fell against his snout. And when she threw herself, weeping, to hold him close, he wasn't real sure what to think or do. It was so unexpected that for several heartbeats, he was rather certain he was dreaming.

  Or dead.

  "Sera?" he said from between clenched teeth. The way she had him held, he couldn't open his mouth without harming her.

  Still she didn't move. She clung to him with an iron grip as her hot tears fell against his scales. Worried and a lot hornier than he should be given the amount of pain he was in, he forced himself to return to his human body so that he could hold her and not risk damaging her. He took care to conjure a blanket and jeans for himself so that he didn't scar his children or brothers.

  He brushed her hair back from her damp cheeks. "What's wrong, Seramia?" he asked, using the endearment he'd made up for her long ago.

  She was so upset she couldn't speak. Instead, she rose up on her knees and wrapped her body around his, and held him in a tight embrace with her cheek pressed against his heart. She had one arm draped around his neck and the other beneath his arm, and clutched her hands behind his back so tight, he wasn't sure she'd ever let go.

  Completely baffled, he met Illarion's gaze over her shoulder. Help?

  For the first time, Illarion looked at her with something other than unreasoning hatred. If Max didn't know better, he'd think his brother finally approved of his dragonswan.

  Just hold her, Max. She needs to know that you're really here and whole. It's how women are sometimes.

  Having been mated to a human female who loved him, Illarion would know better than he. But Max wasn't so sure about the whole part. He ached so much that he could barely draw a deep breath. And being in a human body was all kinds of special hell.

  Not to mention ...

  "Fang, it won't take the Arcadians long to track me here and demand you turn me over to them." As the Dragonbane, the laws of Sanctuary didn't apply to him. He was the one creature they could legally deny shelter to. It was entirely up to the owners if they wanted the heat of it.

  And his personal experience said that no one wanted that kind of misery, and he definitely didn't blame them for not wanting to go against another patria to shelter him. Especially since he wasn't family.

  Having lived here for over two centuries, he couldn't ask the Peltiers to go to war for him. They'd already lost enough to this madness of Katagaria versus Arcadian.

  "If you'll protect my family for me--they're innocent in all this--I'll make sure I lead the others away from your door. I just need a minute to catch my breath, and collect a couple of things. I promise I won't draw Sanctuary into the cross fire of my mess."

  Snorting, Fang tucked his hands into his back pockets. "Boy, don't you dare insult me with that shit. They can kiss my furry wolf ass, which is exactly what Aimee would skin alive if I dared let them have you. I don't give up family." He paused. "Well, they could have Fury. I'm not that attached to him. But they'd only keep him till he opened his mouth, then launch his ass back to me with a catapult. He's like a bad boomerang that way."

  Max laughed at his surly tone, knowing it for the bluster it was. Fang would kill for his brother. "You really don't want this kind of heat. Trust me."

  Fang glanced around at the other dragons in the room. "You were one of the first residents the Peltiers took in when they moved here. When Eli and his pack used their witch to set fire to the first bar, you're the one who saved Aimee, Dev, and Cherif from burning alive in it. And you're the only reason that fire didn't spread to Peltier House and trap the others who were sleeping there, including a Dark-Hunter who would have been trapped inside by the daylight. I know the stories, too. Brother, there ain't a shifter in this place who wouldn't fight for you. Now I don't know what happened to cause you to get marked and I don't really care.... The one thing I do know is you. And if you killed him, he had it coming. So you're free to stay. If they're dumb enough to attack, I know a bar full of hungry Charonte over in the Warehouse District who would love to chomp dragon meat." He glanced over to the head on the floor. "And unlike you, they don't care if it tastes like chicken or not." Then he scratched his chin. "You are picking that up, right? 'Cause I don't want to have to explain it."

  Rubbing his forehead, Sebastian let out a slow breath. "I hope you know what you're doing, wolf."

  Fang arched a brow. "Have you met me? Of course I have no idea what I'm doing."

  Ignoring Fang's surly comment, Max rose to confront Sebastian. "Go to your Regis and tell him that I'm calling hazard on the ones who took and held my dragonets. They want the Dragonbane? I want their throats. Fair combat. In the circle."

  "No!" Seraphina gasped.

  "No?" Max arched a brow at her.

  "I want to kill them."

  He smiled at her. That was his dragonswan. Ferocious to the end. "Too late. I called challenge first."

  "I birthed them. I should have the honor of avenging them."

  "And in the event this goes badly, I'd rather they lose the parent they don't know than the one they're attached to."

  "I'd rather not lose either," Edena said. "No offense."

  Hadyn nodded his agreement.

  "I'm concurring with the kids." Blaise smiled.

  Ignoring the comment, Sebastian met Fang's gaze. "If you want me to issue the challenge, I will do so. But watch your back. I have a bad feeling about all this."

  Fang sighed. "We will. Give Channon my best."

  Sebastian inclined his head to them before he vanished.

  "Channon?" Seraphina asked.

  "His mate." Fang gestured toward the blood on Max's body. "You guys need me to get Carson?"

  Max shook his head. "I just need to rest. I'll be fine." He glanced to Hadyn. "What about you, kid?"

  Hadyn glanced to his mother and bit his lip. "Are you good, Matera?"

  "How do you mean?"

  "About our father?"

  She scowled, still not sure what he was talking about.

  Edena stepped forward to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Tell her, Hadyn. It's time."

  Nodding, he bent forward onto all fours as Edena stepped back to give him plenty of room. A second later, Hadyn sprang into a dragon form that was almost indistinguishable from Maxis's.

  With a deep, relieved moan, he rolled over onto his back and let his tongue hang out of his mouth. "Thank the gods. I needed this." He panted and groaned his misery. "Ah, gah, it was so hard to stay human!" His tail swished like a happy puppy's.

  Seraphina wasn't sure what to make of him or his comments. "Hadyn?"

  Laughing at his anguish, Edena moved to rub his belly. "He'll be fine, Mom. He's just a big baby."

  "Baby, my ass. That shit hurt!"

  "Hadyn!"

  "Sorry, Matera. It was brutal!" He draped one claw over his snout.

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