Fox barely stiffened beside me, and Phillip’s eyes fully narrowed, “Do you know what Drake means?”
I smiled slightly, “Dragon.” I took a bite of my dessert, not bothering to look up at him.
“What are you doing?” Fox linked me.
“I’ll explain later,” was the only thing I linked back before blocking the connection.
“Do you come from a long line of Drakes?” He asked.
“I do. We’ve traced our lineage back to colonial days. It’s believed my ancestors came to the colonies to escape persecution,” I responded before eating my last bite of cake and looking up at him.
“Really? So your family has always been in Virginia?” Fletcher chimed in either oblivious to the tension or attempting to relieve it.
“My dad’s family has yeah, but my mom’s family came over later and settled in the Montana region.”
“What does she do? You mentioned your dad, but not your mom,” Fletcher continued.
“She died in a car accident when I was little,” I said, masking the truth.
“I’m so sorry,” Fletcher told me.
I waved him off, “It was a long time ago. I don’t really remember her.”
“Still it’s not easy to lose a parent that young,” Viola piped up, “Jack’s dad passed away two years ago and he still has nightmares over it.”
I noticed Phillip had stopped paying attention to us and was on his phone. I figured it was with his hunter buddies, but got confirmation of this when my butt started buzzing. I pulled out my phone to see Daniel’s name displayed across the screen. “Sorry this could be work,” I said, excusing myself from the room.
“Amaya, what is going on at Fox’s parents’ house?” Daniel asked right away, not bothering with pleasantries.
“Nothing much. Pretty standard meal and dessert, oh yeah, and his mom used to be a hunter and her brother, who still is, showed up. I told him my last name was Drake because why wouldn’t I? And now since you’re calling I’m guessing I’ve got a lot of hunters incoming?”
“I would say so, yeah. Tell me he didn’t see your mark on Fox.”
“Yeah he saw it, which is why I told him my last name was Drake.”
“Do you want backup?”
“Nah, I can handle it. Have Lavi on standby though.”
“Fuck. Be safe.”
“I will. Love you dad.”
“Love you too.”
Fox came into the room, “Hey. What is going on in there?”
“He’s a hunter. He noticed my mark so I decided to poke the beehive, and now we have a shit ton of angry bees on their way here.”
“Like here, here?”
I nodded, “By ‘on the way here’ I mean they’re basically here and just waiting on marching orders from their boss, your uncle.”
“I thought you weren’t going to investigate my family.”
“I didn’t. These are things that I found out by happenstance and context clues.”
“What do you mean happenstance and context clues?” He said, clearly getting more and more annoyed with me.
“I can’t tell you. I made a promise, but I did as you asked; I didn’t investigate anyone beforehand.”
“So it has something to do with my mom, and she made you promise not to tell me.” I nodded and he blew out a frustrated breath, “Okay. Is it necessary for me to know right now?”
“No. Probably. If you do, I’ll tell you, regardless of the promise,” he just nodded, grabbing my arms to pull me closer to him. He gave me a kiss on my forehead and I wrapped my arms around his midsection. “I love you,” I said into his chest.
“I love you too,” he said into my hair as his head was resting on top of my head.
“Ah young love,” Phillip said, entering the room, “Of course how can you know it’s real when it’s pre-fated, supposedly.”
“Is that what you think? Hm,” I said before making my way around Phillip.
He grabbed my arm roughly, “You’d be wise to come with me. My hunters have the house surrounded,” he said quietly so only I can hear him.
“You’d be wise to let me go,” I said in a low growl, giving him a glare.
He kept his face neutral, but I heard his heartbeat pick up as he tried and failed to hold his ground. He released my arm and I headed back into the living room. He blocked Fox as he tried to follow me, “Go. I’ll be fine,” he mind linked me.
Audrina looked worried when I walked back into the living room without Fox. I gave her a squeeze on the shoulder as I passed by her. “Was it work?” Sutton asked.
“Yeah, but hopefully nothing that can’t wait,” I responded. I tried to listen in on whatever Fox and Phillip was doing in the kitchen, but they were speaking too low for me to hear, which made Niamh and I both feel uneasy.
I was in the middle of taking a drink when Phillip walked in with Fox in front of him, a knife pressed to his throat. I barely stopped the growl that threatened to come out and managed to keep my face neutral. “Phillip, what are you doing?” Audrina asked.
“You know what she is, Audrina. This is the only way.”
“What the fuck is going on?” Sutton demanded.
“Viola take Jack to whatever room is farthest from this one,” I told her.
“No. Everyone stays here,” Phillip said.
“No. They will be going, and you will not stop them,” I commanded. His head bowed slightly under the dominance I put in my voice, causing me to smirk.
Viola rushed out of the room with Jack in tow. “How did you do that?” Phillip asked.
My smirk widened a bit, “You should have figured out who you were dealing with before showing your hand Phillip,” I leaned back looking deceivingly relaxed.
“Oh and who are you that I should be scared, filth?” He sneered, pressing the knife a little harder to Fox’s neck.
“Someone you shouldn’t have fucked with,” I said in a cold voice. I reached out to the water in his body, allowing Niamh to come forward just enough to help, and began boiling his blood. He started screaming, dropping the knife allowing Fox to escape his grasp. I stopped once Fox was free and walked over to him, “If you had just left this family alone you could’ve lived, but you threatened my mate and the people he cares about, for that you will die a slow and painful death.”
“What are you?” He rasped out the question.
“Queen of the Dragons,” I whispered.
His eyes widened a little, “Queen or not this is still going to hurt.” He stabbed me in the thigh with a syringe and injected me with oil.
I laughed, “You would think so wouldn’t you, but it doesn’t even tickle.”
“That’s not possible.”
I smiled, “You have no idea what’s possible.”
He tried to punch me, but he was still weak from my first attack. I slipped around him and put him into a choke hold, just long enough to knock him out, I dropped his body to the floor. As I started searching his body, Sutton piped up, “What the fuck is going on here?”
I let out a sigh, “What do you want me to do here, babe?” I mind linked Fox.
“Fuck! I don’t know,” he linked back. I found one thing I was looking for on Phillip’s body, a wire. I crushed it with my boot.
Author: Kailan Counahan 