Page 3 of Dragon Enchanted (Secret Kingdoms: The Draquonir #1)

CHAPTER 2

K ing Erik, Five Hours Later

The northern winds bit into Erik’s skin as he stood on a hilltop near the edge of the small town, arms crossed. He’d brought three guardians with him, the three who knew about Prince Vector’s Death Decree. The three whom Vector—the stubborn bastard—had forced to attack him or die. Talon, Kael and Lorien remained at his side to finish what they started.

The report had come in an hour ago. Someone had found Vector. Not just any someone, a human. Somehow, the stubborn prince was still alive and had been transported to a human hospital. The humans were not allowed to know about any species in the kingdoms. Any human who discovered them—and was not accounted for and controlled—was executed.

Now the humans had their hands on Vector. Taking his blood. Doing scans and running tests. Doctors. Nurses. Lab technicians. Cleaning staff. Fuck. Too many.

Talon cursed under his breath. “This is bad.”

Kael’s silver eyes were calculating. “We can’t kill them all. Not without raising suspicions. We have to get him out of there.”

Lorien cracked his knuckles. “We get in. We get him out. No mistakes.”

“Every record must be erased. Every test result. Every note. Every memory.” Erik exhaled slowly, looking toward the town below.

“We’re gonna need the elves or the vamps for that.” Talon rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “I knew we should have sent his ass back to Italy. You never should have agreed to see him.”

Vector sighed. “It would have been an insult to King Ryker.”

Kael had the nerve to chuckle. “We did just kidnap his mate.”

“That was business.” Erik took a deep breath and hid a snarl as his dragon paced within.

Humans stink. Go home now.

Erik couldn’t argue. At home he was surrounded by wild meadows and ocean cliffs. There was no stench of asphalt and sewers, car exhaust and garbage. They had no choice. To leave Vector in human hands was not only against his personal code of honor, but could get his people killed. “Get the car,” he ordered.

Tires spun against the dirt as their vehicle headed toward the hospital. They had to go in as humans. Take Vector before morning came. He sent a message to the closest vampire clan and hoped the bloodsuckers would be discreet. He and his guardians would take care of the dragon. The vampires would have to take care of erasing memories, hacking into the humans’ computers, deleting all traces of Vector’s existence.

But vampire gifts often didn’t work if the human’s memory was linked to powerful emotion. Terror. Rage. Love. If the woman who had found Vector was still there, she would need to be dealt with, too.

Prince Vector Draquonir – Midnight, Human Territory

Pain.

It dragged him back to the surface, slow and merciless, like claws raking against stone.

His breath came in shallow bursts. Each inhale was thin, weak. The air around him was wrong. Sterile. Cold.

Not the mountains. Not the battlefield.

A slow pulse of unease crawled up his spine.

Then, voices. Muted. Human.

His body went rigid.

No.

The memories hit him all at once. The cliffs. The fight. The blood.

And her .

His breath shook.

He could still feel her hands against his wounds, pressing down, urgent and warm. He didn’t understand why she hadn’t left him. Why she had tried to save him.

No human should have been there. No human should have cared. And yet?—

Her scent still clung to him. Wild roses and sea salt. Like a storm just before it hit the shore.

His fingers twitched, fisting against the hospital sheets.

Who was she?

Didn’t matter. She would be gone by now.

Pain rolled over him, thick and unrelenting, keeping him trapped in this fragile form.

The chain at his throat—his magical leash—was all that kept his dragon locked down. Draquonir healed fast. But not in human hospitals.

Not when using their own magic was forbidden.

If the humans found out what he was—if they ran his blood, ordered tests?—

His heart slammed against his ribs. Panic. How long had he been unconscious? What had the humans done to him already?

I cannot stay here.

His limbs felt like lead. His muscles refused to obey.

He forced his fingers to twitch. The effort was excruciating.

Move. Now.

He gritted his teeth, tried again. Pain flared. A warning. A threat. He reached for his dragonfire, for the dragon within that made him powerful. Immortal. Unyielding.

Dragon lifted his head. Snarled a warning. Gave him nothing. You tried to kill us.

Damn it. He was trapped in his own body. Weak. Vulnerable. Rage curled through his gut. You are too powerful. No one would be able to stop us. Vector was not technically the most powerful dragon alive in the current era, but he knew the strength of his will, the power of his intellect, the iron control he exerted over his dragon—and had—for hundreds of years, all to save his brother, save the Draquonir line. To serve. That purpose had kept him alive. Now it was gone.

Dragon considered, sharing Vector’s mind, reading his thoughts. True. I would kill them all. I am born of you, Vector.

Exactly the problem.

Footsteps. Fast. Purposeful.

Not human.

His senses reeled, sluggish from blood loss, from the magic dampening his body.

Voices. Too deep. Too controlled. The truth clicked into place.

Draquonir.

Not his brother, Ryker. Not Vector’s clan. Then who?

His pulse pounded. The door swung open. Four imposing male figures stepped inside the small hospital room, their movements fast and deliberate.

King Erik. Talon. Kael. Lorien. Cold, familiar faces. Dragons.

And one other. Erik had brought a fucking vampire to erase the humans’ memories. Clean up his fucking mess.

Talon cursed under his breath. “He’s worse than we thought.”

Kael moved first, quick hands assessing the damage, eyes sharp.

“IVs need to come out,” he muttered. “He’s burning up.”

Vector tried to sit up. The room spun. “You shouldn’t be here,” he growled, voice rough, barely audible.

Erik leaned over him, expression unreadable. “Neither should you.”

“I told you…” Vector clenched his teeth. “To finish me.”

Erik’s gaze hardened. “I don’t take orders from dead men.”

Vector snarled, but it lacked strength.

Kael yanked the IVs from his arms, pressing a steadying hand to Vector’s chest. “Can you walk?”

Vector’s teeth bared. “I can fight.”

“Not what I asked.”

The door burst open behind them.

A nurse gasped. “What—who are you? Get away from him!”

“Move,” Erik snapped.

Talon stepped between them, cutting off the exit.

The alarms began to blare.

“We’re out of time,” Kael said, dragging Vector upright.

The room tilted. Vector’s body threatened to collapse, but they kept him standing.

A doctor shouted from the hallway. “Security?—!”

Lorien moved before the man could finish, his fist slamming into the doctor’s temple.

The man crumpled.

“Unnecessary,” Erik muttered.

“Expedient,” Lorien corrected.

The vampire actually rolled his eyes like a human teenager. “Brutes. I will take care of this. Just get him out of here.”

Vector hated everything about this moment, about what he’d become.

Hated the way his body gave out, how he had no choice but to let them drag him forward. Dragon! He called out inside his mind.

Dragon’s response was cold silence, as if he were already dead.

Dammit. He was so weak he couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag. There was nothing he could do to stop Erik and his clan from hauling him around, half-naked, through the human hospital. He couldn’t even summon the magic to clothe himself. Erik and his guardians could kill him. Lock him up. Ransom him back to his family.

Or, worse, they could take him back to King Erik’s estate and force him to heal…the human way. Slowly. Punish him for forcing their hands, for trying to force them to execute him.

Fuck. He should have waited for the elf. One quick stab to his dragon’s heart and he would have been gone from this world.

But dragon had been too strong, too determined to fight. To survive. To live. Not like he was now.

Somehow his dragon was gone. Vector had never heard of such a thing happening to a member of the Draquonir species. Ever. The elves, if they heard of it now, would probably want to make him their newest experiment, lock him deep in an underground cave and torment him with summoning spells and death magic. Fuck that. He’d take his chances with the humans before he allowed those ancient elven mages to get their hands on him.

Vector hadn’t believed anything could be worse than losing control of the dragon, becoming a monster, a mindless killer. He’d been wrong. Losing the dragon completely was worse. Without dragon, without his magic, he was…nothing. Weak. Pathetic. Vulnerable.

Practically human.

Humiliation burned through him as they push-dragged him through the emergency exit, cold night air slamming into his bare skin under the hospital gown like a slap.

Dragon hated the cold. Curled deeper into himself. Didn’t bother to protest.

You tried to kill us…

They should have died on those cliffs.

The northern guardians dragged him across the parking lot. Sharp rocks bit into the bottoms of his bare feet. Stitches tore, blood soaked his hospital gown, sticky and wet, making him even colder. Normally, the scent of his own blood would drive the dragon mad with the need to attack, defend him, heal. There was nothing but a dark void inside his chest where his dragonfire should be.

“You’re a fucking mess.” King Erik helped the others shove him into the back of a large vehicle. Everything hurt. He’d never felt this exhausted or frail, not even when he was a young boy. Even then, dragon had been with him. Always within, strong and fearless. Indestructible.

His head hit the back of a freezing cold seat rest. Doors slammed.

King Erik climbed into the front passenger seat. Talon drove. The others piled into the back, surrounded Vector. Someone covered him with a blanket that did nothing to hold back the chill.

“Ah, there he is.” Erik’s relieved tone had Vector opening his eyes.

Lorien nodded in the seat next to him. “Guess the vamps really came through.”

“Indeed. Now I’ll owe that asshole a favor.” Erik turned in his seat to face to the others. “Lorien, stay behind with the vampire. Make sure he doesn’t miss anything. The humans need to forget any of this happened.”

“Now I’m babysitting a vampire?”

If Vector hadn’t been in so much pain, he would have laughed.

“Yes. That bloodsucker needs to make sure every nurse, every doctor, and every security guard forgets they ever saw Vector. Don’t forget the human authorities. The digital records the humans love so much. Delete everything. I don’t want any loose ends.”

Erik’s gaze flicked back to the hospital.

“And the woman?” Lorien asked.

“Don’t touch her,” Vector growled. The human woman had saved his life. She didn’t deserve to suffer for it. Vector’s warning fell on deaf ears as King Erik didn’t even acknowledge that he’d spoken.

“Erase her memories, clean her up, and put her back where she came from.” Erik’s voice was cold, his orders absolute as he spoke to one of his Draquonir guardians. “You know the law.” Erik’s gaze landed on Vector, though he spoke to Lorian. “She was never here.”

“As you command.” Lorien inclined his chin and got out of the vehicle to join the waiting vampire on the sidewalk outside the hospital.

Vector slumped into his seat, his protest taking far more strength than he had to spare.

He cursed his weakness to the sound of tires peeling out. The scent of burning rubber, damp asphalt. The hospital disappeared in the side mirror, swallowed by distance.

Just before the car turned onto the main road, Vector’s blurry gaze caught on a flash of dark hair through the glass doors. Raven stood just inside the glass doors, staring out into the night, unaware of what she had stumbled into.

Her.

She was still there.... Still waiting.

A fresh ache settled deep in his chest.

She should have left. She should have let him die on that cliff.

Why hadn’t she?