Page 6 of Bound to the Dragon (Wild Fated Shifters #3)

BLAZE

M y transformation is instant, and I burst forward across the veranda, my massive dragon form scattering chairs and overturning tables. I scan the fleeing guests as unfamiliar shifters attack ruthlessly, without rhyme or reason, teeth and claws slashing.

Dozens of thoughts pop through my mind, but none of them are clear enough to make me understand why this is happening or who is responsible.

My enforcers jump into action immediately, fending off the shifters as they come through, hiding the children, and trying to organize the mess the best way possible without any comprehension.

How can they understand when their Alpha doesn’t have a clue himself?

I fall back on my haunches and inhale as deeply as I can before unleashing a spray of fire over the closest group of attackers. Screams permeate the air, and through my peripheral vision, I see some of them trying to retreat.

I spin around to confront the escapees, snatching one by the nape of the neck with my razor-sharp teeth.

He squeals, and I tighten my grip on him, carrying the wolf shifter like a newborn kitten in its mother’s mouth.

I lock eyes with Vigo, my Beta, as I pass, and he seems to understand my unspoken command. Get as many as you can alive.

I bound across the veranda, my tail knocking over tables and pushing everything in my way out of my path.

A black bird flies overhead, and it takes me a minute to recognize it’s Madison following after me.

A smidgen of relief rushes through me to know she’s out of harm’s way up there, but I’m vaguely annoyed she’s useless at a time like this. I can’t worry about that now.

Through the house and into the kitchen, I pull my captive, blood dripping along our path as the staff gasps and scurries out of our way, their faces twisted in shock.

At the basement door, I kick as hard as I can, breaking it open. I don’t want to risk shifting into my human form and losing my hold on my prisoner. Another door splinters into a thousand pieces.

“Let me help you, Alpha!” One of the braver staff members hurries forward to give me a hand, but I give him a subtle shake of my head.

Down the stone steps I slink, my shoulders brushing each side of the walls, head bowed to keep from hitting the ceiling, the wolf still whimpering in my hold. I refuse to unlock my jaw, even slightly. His body goes limp, and I silently curse.

You better not die on me, you bastard, I think . You have some explaining to do.

By the time I reach the dungeon, he’s fully out, and Madison flutters around nervously in her crow form, jumping from one perch to the next. I wish she hadn’t followed me, but I can’t do much about it now.

Tossing the prisoner in the cell, I shift back into my human form and tower over him.

“Go find me some clothes,” I order my mate.

I don’t look back to see if she obliges, my attention fully fixed on the semi-conscious wolf at my feet. I kick at him roughly.

“Get up.”

He groans once, and I kick him again.

“Get up or I’ll kill you.”

His eyes flutter open, and he stares at me, the fear in his eyes tangible.

“Who are you?”

He tries to bare his teeth, but the effort is pathetic. Footsteps reverberate behind me, and Madison resurfaces with a pair of pants, which she tosses at me. Her black hair hangs loose around her shoulders, wild and sexy. What a strange thought to have at a time like this.

The wolf refuses to shift into his human form, and my temper flares again. “I will not hesitate to kill you.”

The defiance on his face is tangible, but he stinks of fear. I don’t need my dragon instincts to smell it on him. He knows his time is running out.

“One way or another, I will get my answers.”

Madison steps forward. “What pack are you from?”

Her question gives me an idea, but I put myself between her and the wolf.

“Get back,” I instruct her. “In fact, go upstairs. I don’t want you down here in case anything goes wrong.”

“No!”

My head whips toward her. The defiance in her limpid brown eyes is unflappable. Didn’t we just talk about this? “Just let me talk to him.”

“Can’t you see he’s not talking to anyone?”

The wolf hisses at us, and I lash out at him again. It subdues him for the moment.

I turn back to Madison. “Do they have it under control up there?”

“Yes.”

“Are there more captives?”

Before she can answer, there is more noise on the steps, and a line of pack members pushes several shifters along the cement stairs toward the dungeon cells.

“This is your last chance to talk,” I tell the wolf warningly. “If you won’t tell us, one of them will, and I won’t have any use for you, will I?”

Finally, he appears to understand the predicament he’s in and morphs into his human form. Naked and quivering, he glowers up at us, teeth chattering.

“Congratulations on your mating.” His sneer is directed at Madison for some reason.

She balks and steps back further.

I’m not amused. “And this was what? A little present?” I sneer.

“Something like that.”

His smugness confounds me. He has to know his life is in my hands, but it doesn’t seem to faze him in the least, even with the gleam of worry in his eyes.

The other captives are flung inside the cell, their bodies collectively hitting the floor in a pile of hair and fur.

“One of you will talk to me. The rest of you will die.” My voice is emotionless and determined. I mean every word I say.

Whatever they see in my face turns them all human and quivering. In unison, they start talking, but in such a way that I can’t understand any of them.

“One at a time!” My stare stuns them into silence.

I turn to the wolf. “Now, do you have something to say?”

He spits on the floor, but again, he stares balefully at Madison. “Why don’t you ask your mate?”

I resist the urge to look back at Madison. I don’t have to in order to feel the tension radiating off her. What does he mean?

Backing out of the cell, I nod at my enforcers. “Stay with them. Do not let them speak to one another. If they open their mouths, kill them.”

Vigo takes a stand in front of the cells, and I grab Madison, pulling her up the stairs toward the main floor. She barely resists, stumbling alongside me.

“What the hell is going on here? What did you do?”

Madison’s eyes widen. “Me?”

“They seem to think you orchestrated this.” I step closer, my voice low and accusatory.

She wrenches her arm out of my hold, her eyes popping in dismay.

“Are you out of your mind? My pack was harmed up here, too!” she fires back, her cheeks flushing red. “I would never do anything to endanger my pack!”

The passion in her voice is sincere, but I can’t help but think she knows more than she’s saying.

As we step back onto the veranda, I see she’s right. No one was spared in this entire attack. The few strangers among the carnage are none I recognize.

Madison’s mother sobs quietly in a corner, and my mate looks at me helplessly. “Can I deal with her?”

I almost refuse, but even I’m not that cruel. “Make it quick. This conversation is not finished.”

She hurries away to attend to Lynelle, and I survey the disaster before me.

My pack flocks around me. They’re waiting for directions, and I don’t know where to start.

Some of the members have already begun to tend to the injured without my direction, and I suppose that’s as good a place as any to get going.

The attack was so sudden, so unexpected.

There’s no protocol for this, an attack at a mating ceremony. Who would be this brazen, so cold?

“Get this cleaned up.” It’s not a necessary order, but I say it all the same, and the remaining pack members get to work clearing the veranda.

I glance over my shoulder. Madison huddles with her mother, where Lynelle continues to shake, the two speaking in hushed voices. I strain to hear what they’re saying over the din. Something tells me that whatever they have to say is pertinent to what happened here today.

Snatches of the conversation reach my ears. “…again… the rogues… us…”

Hair on my arms rises as Madison’s head jerks up, and her dark eyes lock with mine, a gleam of fear sparking inside them. What is going on here?

I command her closer with my stare, but she deliberately ignores me and returns her attention to her mother.

Annoyance flashes inside me. She will never submit to being Luna, not in the way I need her to, anyway.

To do that, she needs to trust me fully, and I don’t think we’ll ever get there, not the way we’re starting.

Dealing with Madison will have to wait, though. For the moment, my pack needs me, and I have to see what the shifters in the cells know. But Madison and I will definitely be having a sit-down before the night’s end.

Ensuring that the enforcers have everything under control on the veranda, I retreat to the basement to find my Beta exactly where I left him, standing in front of the cells.

“Has anyone said anything?”

Vigo shakes his shaggy blond mane, and I unlock the jail cell to let myself inside. “Let’s try this again, shall we?”

The group cowers upon my arrival, but this time, they’re much less talkative.

“Well?”

No one moves, their eyes darting between one another.

I suck in a breath and spin away. “Fine. Kill them all.”

A meek male voice chirps out. “No! Alpha, wait.”

Without turning, I wait. “What is it?”

“Please, let us go, and I’ll tell you whatever you want?—”

“Shut up, you idiot!” another captive demands. “He’s just going to kill us, anyway!”

A stab of disappointment pierces me as I recognize this was probably my only chance to get one of them to talk to me.

“Kill him.” I point to the assailant and storm out of the cells as he yelps in protest. “Kill them all but two. I’ll be back in an hour and see if one of them is ready to talk then.”

“Which two, Alpha?” Vigo asks, but I wave a hand dismissively.

“Whichever two might seem the most willing to talk.”

Again, I scale the stairs, determined to find Madison, but when I reach the veranda, she and Lynelle have disappeared. I search for my pack members, noting that the carnage has been cleared substantially since my last visit.

“Where is Madison?”

No one has an answer for me, and a spark of panic strikes me. Have all of the rogue shifters been accounted for? Could one of them have taken her?

I pace the halls of the estate in search of my mate, my pulse quickening as I check each room. Stopping every pack member, I ask about Madison, my chest tightening when no one has seen her.

Where did she go? I don’t want the moment of hysteria to overtake me, but I can’t help it, my eyes darting everywhere as I look for her.

“Everyone!” My cry booms across the estate and stops both packs in their tracks. “Find Madison!”

I’m irrationally afraid for her and her mother. I can’t still my rapidly beating heart.

“Alpha, she’s in her suite.” The call comes from the second floor, and the relief sweeps through me with so much force that I’m out of breath.

“Good. Good.” I rush toward the staircase, willing myself to calm down, ignoring the curious looks of the others. “Get the Silver Glade pack members out of here. There’s no reason for them to remain now.”

I’m not sure I can trust them on my property, either, after this. We need to regroup and figure out what just happened.

But first, I need to talk to my new mate.