“What’s happening?” Kalynchuk sounded as close to terrified as Graham had ever heard him. “Damn it, talk to me!”
“It’s here.”
David raised a hand and the falling dirt and rock dropped harmlessly around them. Allie couldn’t even feel him pulling power. She’d worry about how much power he seemed to be holding another time—here and now the last thing she needed was a concussion. All right, maybe not the last thing, but close.
Open as she was, she could feel the power coalescing in the center of the hill.
Not quite entirely Dragon Lord. Actually, only about half Dragon Lord…
As she realized where she’d felt the second power, she started to run. No time for explanations. No breath to spare. No option but to reach his side the moment he took physical form and pray Graham took a moment to aim.
No question her family would follow.
The light remained for a moment or two after gravity had taken care of the dirt, then it collapsed in on itself.
“The instant the light vanishes, take your shot!”
Graham’s lip curled. Usually, the boss left him alone to do his job. Trusted him to do what he needed to. The backseat driving was fucking annoying.
The light had condensed to a pillar two meters high. Maybe a little less. It narrowed as he watched. Darkened.
He drew in a breath. Held it.
The light became a man. No, a boy, no more than twelve or thirteen.
Allie dove forward while the boy was still partially light, got an arm around a narrow waist, and took the slender body to the ground with her. Rolled as fire splashed against the jumbled dirt next to her legs.
He sneezed, clutched her shoulders, and squinted up at her from under messy bangs, looking a little shocky. His eyes were a swirling mix of color. “You’re not my dad.”
“Graham!”
“He’s down!” No time to wonder why he left out the pertinent details. Like the way Allie had appeared for an instant in his scope and nearly stopped his heart. “I have no shot.”
“Then get a shot! Put the gun to his fucking head if you have to!”
Graham had dropped out of the sling before Kalynchuk finished speaking.
“Allie! What are you doing?”
She rolled again. “He’s just a kid!” Standing and pulling the boy up into her arms, Allie drew charms on damp, sulfur-scented skin as she locked herself down to Roland’s anchor and reached beyond. A red Dragon Lord swooped low out of the clouds, mouth open and belching flame. Viktor, if the twelve didn’t double up on colors. Didn’t matter who he was. Allie cut out the middleman and slapped the flame back at him.
Dragons can’t fly on their backs.
Dragon Lords, however, were able to stop themselves from crashing by disappearing in flame.
“Allie!”
Right. David. She needed to let David handle the offense while she worked to protect the boy. She felt Roland’s arm go around her, felt Charlie pick up the strands of power, felt David slap another Dragon Lord out of the sky.
If they had any of the first circle with them, they could have called up a wind strong enough to remove the cloud cover.
There’s twelve of them! Why are we even attempting this without the aunties?
Then Graham appeared out of the night, weapon raised and Allie remembered she had more immediate concerns.
She locked his gaze with hers. Thought about saying, I won’t let you shoot him. Decided, all things considered, that was fairly obvious. Thought about saying, It’s time to pick a side. Remembered how badly he reacted to ultimatums. Finally let his name escape on an exhaled breath.
Saw him lower the weapon.
Over the thirteen or so years he’d protected the sorcerer, necessity had required Graham to do a number of things that might be considered cold. Even brutal. He did his job, and he walked away. But shooting a naked boy—even if it wasn’t a real boy—who stood blinking and trembling, all knees and elbows, wrapped in the arms of the woman he…
… cared about, that was outside his job description.
As of right now.
“Graham! What the hell is going on? Is the boy dead?”
He reached up, eyes still locked on Allie’s face, pulled the earpiece out, threw it to the ground, and crushed it under his heel.
Allie had no time to savor the victory. She felt another rush of wings and lifted her head to snarl, “He is under my protection!”
David pulled power through the family link; held it ready.
A pair of Dragon Lords dove in from the west, but, impossibly, before David could react, Adam dropped from the clouds and drove them off. He was larger than his brothers, his gleaming black scales an absence of color against the sky.
When he landed, the ground shook. He hadn’t been that large on the street. Couldn’t have been.
When he roared, Allie felt it in blood and bone.
“David! No!”
She saw David’s muscles lock as he fought to ignore the challenge.
When Adam changed, the ground smoked under his feet.
“You’re making a mistake, Gale girl. If he lives, his mother will follow a road of blood to the MidRealm and destroy everything in her path just because she can.”
Allie turned the boy so Adam could see the charms she’d drawn. “And if you kill him…”
“Yes, yes,” He waved a hand. “You’ve claimed him. Are you certain you know what that means? His life, his death, are your responsibility now.” His lips pulled back, his smile all teeth. “What did I say about you…” A nod to David, acknowledging another power. “… and yours, interfering in the business of our family? It seems,” he continued without waiting for a response, “that you may meet your big bad after all. Let us hope I can convince my brothers you’ve made a move so foolish we have no countermove unless we want to go to war with your aunties. I’m not ruling that out, by the way.”
Above the clouds, someone shrieked a challenge.
“If you’ll excuse me, Ryan requires my assistance. Some of my brothers are trying to curry favor by protecting the boy, and Ryan isn’t aware we’ve changed sides. Should he ask…” This Adam directed specifically to Charlie. “… I had every confidence in his ability to survive. Good luck, Gale girl. Good luck, nephew.” The boy stiffened, beginning to fight off the effect of emerging into another reality. “Let’s hope there’s enough luck to go around.” Another flash of teeth. Another tower of flame. Allie braced herself against Roland as Adam took to the sky.
“Allie, I don’t understand.”
She looked past the boy’s head at Graham, who’d lowered his weapon because she’d needed him to. “He’s Kalynchuk’s son.”
“But he’s a…”
“He’s that, too. That lot up there…” She jerked her head toward the battle raging above the clouds. “They have a sister.”
“What are you doing answering Charlotte’s phone, Michael?”
Michael moved the phone away from his ear. Auntie Jane achieved impressive volume when annoyed. “She left it with me.”
“When she went where?”
He frowned as he parsed the sentence. “I can’t tell you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” It sounded like a warning.
He could feel himself starting to sweat. “They went to a park.”
“They?”
Oops. “Charlie and Allie.”
“Charlotte and Alysha went to a park? I see.” He was horribly afraid she did. Right through the phone. “And the boys? Wherever they are, they’re not answering their phones. Now, you don’t want their mothers to worry, do you?”
“No?”
“Are they with Alysha?”
Yes or no questions couldn’t be faked. “Yeah, but…”
“So, the whole family is in a park. Has Alysha involved them in something dangerous or have they decided to take up midnight picnicking?”
Midnight. He glanced at his watch. “It’s got to be past three AM where you are, Auntie Jane.”