Page 36 of Cruelly Fated (Princes of Avari #1)

Thirty-Two

KYON

D ragon scales rippled beneath my skin. The beast hadn’t stopped snapping in my head since we laid our hands on the vampire lord. If it weren’t for Valor’s steady logic, I’d have torn the bloodsucker to pieces already to avenge Allie’s mother, but we needed him.

I shot another glare at the vamp slouched beside me in the back seat while Valor drove like a maniac, weaving through highway traffic.

“You’re fogging the windshield. Even I can’t see through a haze,” Valor growled. He might’ve looked composed on the outside, but I knew he was just as rattled after hearing the vampire’s confession about his latest deal.

I hissed and focused on the dragon. Reign it in . The steam rising from my nostrils thinned.

“You know I’m not to be touched,” the vampire muttered, adjusting the sleeves of his suit, which I’d wrinkled when shaking the truth out of him. “I’m helping you—”

“Shut up!” Valor and I snapped in unison. Our resolved gazes met in the rearview mirror.

Right now, all that mattered was getting to the club and stopping Allie’s bastard boss before he auctioned her off.

These anonymous sales left no trail. I’d never heard of a single victim being recovered.

Maybe the police didn’t try hard enough.

Most of the missing were low fae, after all, and justice didn’t stretch that far down the social ladder. I wouldn’t risk her safety.

Her greedy boss wouldn’t have attempted the sale if he didn’t expect high bids.

Allie’s looks alone were worth millions.

Add her dance skills, and that would’ve piqued the interest even more.

He’d probably used her dance audition to lure the buyers.

Did he know about her unique gift and potent blood? I sure hoped not.

There was so much more to her. I’d pay millions just to be in her presence and hear that soft, defiant voice. The cruel dragon king would never understand that. He hadn’t married for love. He scoffed at the very idea. Love makes you weak , he used to say .

He couldn’t have been more wrong.

Valor veered off the highway, the tires squealing as we barreled into the city streets.

My dragon let out a low, guttural snarl, sensing how close we were.

It coiled, ready to strike. Emerald scales flickered across my knuckles as I balled them tight atop my thighs.

The vampire beside me flinched, very aware of the apex predator sharing his air—the top of the food chain and the only fae creature vampires feared.

A single scratch from a dragon’s claw could infect a vampire with weeks of agony. Some couldn’t feed. Some withered. Some shriveled to husks and spent eternity locked in a mummified half-life.

“If he laid so much as a finger on her, I’ll hold you personally responsible,” I growled through clenched teeth.

“How? I have nothing to do with it. I’m only facilitating…” His voice faltered when I pinned him with a death glare.

“You murdered her mother,” my voice boomed inside Valor’s toy car. We’d ambushed the vampire lord in his coven house to clear my family’s name in the death of Allie’s mom. Sure, accidental kills happened. But a vampire of his rank? He should’ve had better control.

Except he hadn’t. And he confessed, rather quickly, that Larry, Allie’s sleazebag boss, had paid him to take her mother out.

What we didn’t expect was for him to disclose that Larry planned to auction his former victim’s daughter today. Allie.

I’d been feeling lucky lately, but this? This was divine intervention. If the bloodsucker hadn’t caved, I wouldn’t have found out until it was too late. Maybe I’d let him live another day…though that decision would be Allie’s. She deserved that choice.

“That’s the building,” Valor said, nodding across the narrow intersection.

A cracked parking lot backed up to a sad patch of overgrown vegetation.

The squat, black structure with its corrugated steel roof looked more like a BDSM dungeon than a dancer’s club.

Jagged tips of a red neon sign peeked above the roofline like devil horns.

Maybe the front entrance had flash, but this?

This was rot. A rat’s nest in a pit of shadows.

Shame and fury twisted inside me. My actions had made her return here.

We rolled around to the back as directed by Larry’s message relayed through the vampire.

“Stick to the plan,” I said in a low rumble, flexing one hand until one of my fingers clicked into a gleaming dragon’s talon.

The vamp hissed under his breath and bolted from the car without another word.

Valor peered at me through the rearview mirror. “I don’t think he’ll deviate. He’s scared shitless.” Then he vanished from the car and appeared outside the back entrance, giving the vampire lord’s wrinkled suit jacket a perfunctory tug, straightening the remaining wrinkles.

I stepped out and stalked toward the front of the building, head down and casual. But as soon as I passed beyond the arc of the security camera, I pressed myself to the wall and crept along until I reached the back entrance where the vampires waited. Valor played the role of a henchman.

The lord glanced my way and gulped. Yeah, he wouldn’t deviate. I’d gotten into his head all right.

The door buzzed, and they slipped inside. In one seamless motion, Valor palmed a strip of insulated copper tape and slapped it over the magnetic lock. The door clicked shut behind them, but not fully sealed. I counted to ten. Then I snuck inside.

A misty, green halo radiated from my exposed arms in the dim light, scales flickering beneath the surface like lightning under water.

The dragon pressed forward, hungry for blood, snarling with every breath I took.

I clenched my fists, seconds away from shifting if I let the beast take over.

Not today . Walls would crumble if I succumbed to the fury inside me, burying Allie in the rubble along with other innocents.

The fear of hurting her made the beast retreat to a safe zone.

I tasted the air with my tongue. Smoke, sweat, and biting perfume prickled my senses. I flicked it out again in search of her signature scent. The moment I caught even a trace of peaches and cream, I’d rip through walls and bodies to get to her. Let the whole damn world burn if it meant saving her.

I caught a faint whiff and veered toward the basement. My hunter instinct snapped into place. Night vision flared in my eyes, illuminating my surroundings and sharpening my senses. Every step clapped like thunder through my skull .

Muffled voices drifted from behind the second, unmarked door.

I halted just before the frame, my nose nearly touching the wood.

I shut my eyes and filtered the noise. Allie’s heartbeat thrashed, frantic and fast, like a caged bird trying to break free.

She stood along the right wall, three bodies between me and her—the vampire lord, Valor, and a bear shifter.

One more paced the far side of the room, his fae imprint skittering like that of a rat.

Gradually, I let dragon essence trickle in, enough to double-coil my muscles. Bear shifters were among the toughest fae, their bodies reinforced by raw stamina and brute strength. I'd have to fight him.

I planted my heels against the corridor wall, then launched forward like a wrecking ball, bulldozing the door off its hinges and tackling the bear shifter before he had time to react.

With his kind not exactly known for sharp hearing, I’d caught him off guard.

My hands locked around his thick neck, squeezing with ferocity before his brain caught up.

He grunted and slammed his fists into my forearms, knocking me off.

Damn. Getting in that close again would be a challenge.

He bellowed a deep, guttural roar that rattled the walls. I reassessed him. Allie’s boss hadn’t skimped on his security. The brute matched me in height with a fighter’s posture and heavy frame.

I cracked my knuckles, lips curling into a snarl as we began circling each other .

“What is this?” said a squat, rat-faced fae standing by the blacked-out window. “Lord Bellure, take the girl—”

“Allie is coming with me,” I said.

“And who are you supposed to be? If you want the girl, you’ll have to join the auction—”

I growled. Scales rippled across my arms, up my neck, blooming across my face like molten armor. The bear shifter’s eyes tracked the shimmer, his stance shifting, recognition and perhaps even respect in his gaze.

“A dragon?” the rat-faced man sputtered. “Lord Bellure, explain yourself—”

Valor struck, faster than a blink, silencing the man with a precise chop to the base of his neck. The fae dropped like a sack of bricks.

“He was getting on my nerves,” Valor muttered, scooping stunned Allie into his arms and vanishing in a blur of motion.

The vamp lord calculated his odds and flashed from the room himself.

Coward. Good. I could use the thrill of a hunt—all the better when it’s hunter versus hunter.

“I can’t let you leave,” the bear said.

I nodded. “Let’s get to it then.”

He charged first—typical. All brute force, no finesse. He moved like a landslide. I sidestepped and struck low, ramming my elbow into his ribs. A satisfying crack followed, but it only fueled his rage.

He swung wide, claws out. I ducked, but not fast enough, and he grazed my shoulder. Pain flared in my collarbone. The dragon inside me roared with delight. I pivoted and buried a punch in his gut, fast and deep. He staggered back a step, winded but far from down.

“You hit like a court fae,” he spat, blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth. His verbal jab landed flat, contradicted by his roughed-up state.

I smirked and told my own joke. “That wasn’t even my dominant hand.”

He lunged again, and this time I didn’t dodge. I met him head-on, two war beasts colliding. His claws raked my side, drawing blood. My vision shimmered as I let more dragon slip free. A risky move. My patience had worn thin, though.

Green scales unfurled across my arms, hardened to armor. My next blow shattered his jaw with a wet crunch. He let out a muffled roar—half pain, half fury—and stumbled. I grabbed his throat, lifted him clean off the ground, and slammed him into the wall hard enough to dent stone.

“I said,” I growled, my mouth close to his ear, “she’s mine.”

He gurgled something in response. I squeezed tighter, then let him drop. He slid to the floor, unconscious but breathing.

I exhaled and dusted off my hands.

The scent of blood, sweat, and smoke filled my lungs. Then I darted after Valor and Allie. Nothing else in this gods-damned city mattered.