One by one, he hunted his Valkyrie's enemies all over the desert southwestern United States. She wasn't his yet, but he needed her so desperately that he refused to think of her in any other terms. Maybe that mindset was what it meant to be dragonesque.
It didn't matter. He was a dragon knight with a mission. He caught up with one man in Phoenix, another in Vegas. One was in L.A., and the last man he found in Albuquerque. It took time to find them all.
He was driving a rental van with four criminal rapists tied up in the back and his car behind it on a hauler when he rolled into Draoithe on a Thursday afternoon. He was a day late for his dinner date with a mouse. But the first part of his mission was a success. There was no one that had hurt his lifemate left free.
A couple of centuries working with the dungeon master and using his ability to break men had made his task easy once he had them. He would pay for using the gift that way, but it had been worth it. For Mouse, any price would have been worth it.
Somewhere just before Ft. Worth, Winter felt the magic crawling under his skin pulling him to serve a Ri tuaithe. An underking needed a war council and he was meant to serve. He smiled as he drove. He was already on his way.
Winter McLyon, the red dragon Flash, would serve. Blaze had convinced him. He owed the Dungeon Master. If Blaze was right, this time his service would matter.
Still, what he wanted was to see her, Misty Todofer. She was a treasure like no other. If he could claim her, nothing else would ever matter. Service or no service, she would make him more than he could have ever been.
He'd been talking with Blaze and receiving emails from Duncan O'Sullivan for nearly a week. He had far more information than he ever wanted on his enemy and the situation wasn't good. Peter Elliot was a serious issue.
He realized that he wanted to serve. Misty would be avenged properly, but he would require help to see it done right. The men he'd captured should serve his Valkyrie. That was only right.
Fox had assured Winter that he would be allowed to swear fealty if he wanted, and Luke had accepted his oath. His dragon no longer slept. His magic all worked once again.
It was still Mouse that he needed most. He needed her to join minds with him, to finish the magic of his gift. She would free him. He would make her a Queen of the Mind.
"You should have warned me about the queen of dragons. I damn near fell on my face." Flash laughed as he found Blaze in the garage after meeting with the Inner Circle and the ranking dragons along with an archangel and a white dragon.
Blaze looked good. It had been far too long. Exactly why he'd once believed he never wanted to see the man again had faded into the past.
"You brought us presents and a car. I take it that the van is a rental?" Ash asked as Blaze let him out of a bear hug. Smoke leaped into the van as Char nodded at Ash and stepped into the garage office.
Winter clasped forearms with the Lord of Dragons at Draoithe. Ash was a good man. He would use the magic to see justice done.
"Yeah, I refused to allow filth in the car." Flash grinned.
Misty smiled the ghost of a smile even if she had attempted to blend in with the darker shadows of the garage. Flash noticed. About her, he noticed everything.
He spoke with the men before him, but it was Mouse who held his attention. It was as if his mind was split between his conversation with Blaze and Ash and his need to remain focused on her.
Ash laughed then nodded as he looked at the rapists with a far more serious expression. Blaze had pulled them from the van. Men like them deserved their fate. Mouse would have servants as befit the Queen of the Mind that she was.
Smoke was still in the van tidying up. The man was nosy as hell. He made for an excellent cleanup guy because he missed very few details. The rental company would have no idea that any immortals were ever inside.
Char stepped back out of the garage office. He was a no-nonsense kind of man. He knew his role and accepted it. His job today was to ensure Misty's safety and grant her the strength to accuse her abusers.
"Shall we get this confession over with, gentlemen? Blaze can question them before they serve and make his report to Fox."
Ash asked calmly, but Winter knew the Lord of Dragons was itching to confess them and make them pay. Smoke dropped lightly from the back of the van to the garage floor as if on cue.
Ash already knew their guilt. Blaze was likely just looking for more information. He had questions that Flash hadn't been interested in at the time.
The Valkyries of all the grey dragons had been hurt by men like these under orders from Peter Elliot, the same man who had ordered the abduction of Misty. It was personal to them all.
He was as of yet not as apprised of the situation as he would like to be. Still, he'd sent reports to Blaze and Fox detailing what he'd learned so they would know what to ask next. He owed Blaze a debt that could never be repaid. A few reports would never be enough. It was just a start.
"Misty, dear, I need identification. Do you recognize any of these men?" Ash asked her gently.
She jumped, startled. She had hoped to remain unobtrusively hidden. Only the entire scene was for her benefit. Misty didn't want to be on center stage, but she needed to be this time.
She likely wouldn't see his need for her accusation. The men were kneeling on the garage floor. They looked up at Misty, and she froze. This was their last time ever looking at any woman. Even so, Winter was suddenly very irritated that they could still look at her.
Even though she'd been drugged, Mouse knew their faces. Her gift had given her their names. Winter had helped her. Still, it was clear that she had suffered. These men had brutalized her and the trauma was being relived in her mind once more.
They would lose more than the ability to look upon the face of a woman as part of the punishment for their crimes. If she chose, they would answer to whatever name she decided to call them and have no will but to serve her in whatever capacity she decided. Or if she refused that, they would be executed. But only after they had been tortured as gruesomely as the dungeon master could manage.
Smoke and Char stepped up next to her flanking her on either side, and Flash was behind her. They wouldn't allow any harm to come to her. She would see justice served. He saw her fear lessen with the presence of other dragons whom she saw as protectors. Draoithe was good for his Mouse.
Misty would get closure on a terrible event in her life. She would be able to move on. These men would help make whatever she did easier and more comfortable for her. Her job at the library was about to gain some free labor.
"I know them," she whispered.
Her voice quavered with fear and pain. Flash hissed his anger that she'd suffered. She wouldn't suffer further.
"Can you tell me how?" Ash asked her kindly.
He knew she'd been hurt, but he needed her accusation for his magic to work. Misty belonged to Draoithe. If the men before her had hurt her, Ash's magic had jurisdiction over them.
Winter had learned that her friend, Miles Hansen, was Ri tuaithe. When she was taken, he'd made it his mission to get her and the others free. They had met with Leo Carzoli who was another Ri tuaithe and both had witnessed the situation.
Where they walked, their law went with them. Neither of them had been happy with what they found. Judgment had already been passed upon those who'd been located. This was simply a formal continuation of the sentence formerly rendered.
"They were in the house where they took me and Brenda. They were with the others at the beginning. They hurt me." She said the last words in the softest whisper.
Mouse had told Winter the full story, and he'd seen the details that she couldn't voice in her dreams. That they had hurt a weaker person, forced a woman, that was what Ash had needed. That she had belonged under the protection of an underking of the realm was already established.
Ash had needed only for her to accuse them, then he could take over. He was the Lord of Dragons. He had the power to sentence immortals and humans involved in crimes against the laws that Luke and his council set. Luke had accepted the old hierarchy and his Tiger Queen had ordered the dragons to police the realm by the oldest laws.
Women were not to be harmed. Winter claimed Misty as his Valkyrie. She was the friend of a Ri tuaithe of Draoithe under his protection when the crimes were committed against Misty. Their fates were sealed.
They would pay. She'd given Ash exactly what the magic needed.
The power of the black dragon rose and took the four men before him. One by one, he confessed them of their crimes. One by one, they admitted their guilt. One by one, he asked Misty if she would prefer death or service.
Flash saw her fear and her great compassion. Mouse was beautiful inside and out.
One by one, she refused to have them executed, and one by one, they were turned into dragonsworn servants for her. She didn't look away as the men were stripped before her, gelded by dragon claw and fire, and turned into servants.
Flash felt her determination and her courage. They had hurt her, damaged her, but she wasn't dirty or worthless. They had been evil. She was a Queen of the Mind.
None who had harmed her was free. They had all paid for what they did. Justice had been served. All of Misty's enemies save the man who gave the orders had been vanquished. She was safe from his reach at Draoithe. Mouse could move forward with her life.
When Blaze led them away for questioning, Misty looked up at Ash. "Thank you for that. I needed to see it."
Ash shook his head.
Thank you for reading Ch 13. Please be kind and leave your review! -OK