Page 148 of Centaur Bolt

As soon as we entered the mansion, I knew Isobel and her coven were gone. By the look in Tyrez’s eyes, he knew too. Their distinctive energy was nowhere in evidence.

They’d gone and taken their crystal stash with them.

All that was left was the mercenaries unlucky enough to be deemed the cleanup crew, moving the last of the supplies out through the gate.

Which I no longer sensed. The bitch must have closed it down as soon as we attacked, abandoning these mercs to their fate.

They still fought like hell. I bathed in their blood. Their weapons pierced and slashed at me, but I didn’t feel it. Not one bit.

Eventually, I found myself in the mansion, standing at the top of the stairs. My human fingers on one hand had talons with a coating of gore to the elbow. The other held my equally encrusted tailspike.

I stared down the stone steps to the cavern below. The smell of the place gusted up at me. Dampness and mold. And for just a moment, I could swear someone stood with me.

Riley. Her scent swirled around me—or was it only in my mind? She wasn’t here. She was back at the academy. But I sensed her…

As I debated, another female came up the stairs. Her mates, the ogre, and the canid were with her. It only took a brief glance at her stricken features for me to realize that Isobel had taken Rafael. To wherever the fuck? Could be anywhere by now.

Tyrez loomed up beside me.

“She’s closed off the gate, too,” the Bellati confirmed. “Bess’s working on it, but Isobel’s too crafty to be caught that way.”

I turned away—the sudden sensation of emptiness within surprised me. I’d known he’d likely be gone, but the certainty upset me more than I’d thought it would.

I killed a few more mercenaries in an attempt to make me feel better. Their bodies littered the floor by the time Tyrez and his brother managed to rein me in.

“That’s enough, Havoc,” the big Dragon said. “You’ve done enough.” His gaze widened as it raked over me, seeing the gaping wounds and my own blood coursing over my scales. “Bess is down by the gate. She can heal you.”

“Don’t need her,” I growled, stalking past him. The monster hammered at me as I passed straight through the building and out the front door. Where I dropped my tailspike and embraced my Dragon.

The energy I’d absorbed pounded through me, demanding the usual release. Thoughts of the mini bitch almost sent me over the edge. I wanted her with a desperation that choked my breath. But I refused to accept the chains that she would snap on me. What we’d had—what we’d done—could never be repeated.

I landed high on the cliff. Forced myself back to human and stared down at my temporary cohorts as they searched the stronghold for any clues as to Isobel’s whereabouts. A small group of battered mercenaries stood off to one side, guarded by Dragons.

They would likely know where Isobel and Brock had gone. Those two were still out there, and they had Rafael. As long as they lived, I could not be free.

Wings cracked open above me, and the indigo Dragon landed with a controlled grace that spoke to training. It reinforced my opinion that he was Guild, as did the speed with which he embraced his own human. Every scale of him was alert, aware of me in a way only a trained assassin could manage.

“Do you always go berserk when you fight?” he asked.

He was the exact opposite of me. Trained for control regardless of the mayhem breaking loose around him. With the lust riding me hard, all I managed was, “Yes.”

“Will she come looking for you?”

“Maybe,” I growled. “If she doesn’t, the Dragon who’s fucking her will.”

His eyes widened. “She has roped Dragons into this?”

“Sadistic bastard named Brock,” I said.

He went very still. “Bronze Dragon?”

My human brain perked up. “He’s Xumi’s—“

“Son,” he finished, and there was no mistaking the venom in his voice.

“You know him?” I ground out.

“Intimately,” he hissed.

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