Page 55 of Hidden Fate

“Okay.” Vlad nodded. “That’s close to Mount Airy, so it makes sense they’d be near Theron’s thunder because they couldn’t risk flying for too long. They didn’t venture too far, which the warriors wouldn’t expect, but moved farther from the king’s lands in case they had to run away. Also, it’s near the mountain from which the town got its name, and the location is a draw for human hikers, so Drake’s warriors can’t search the area easily in dragon form.”

A knock came from the other end of the phone, followed by a woman’s voice calling out, “Queen Mira, Prince Drake has requested you come to the office. He wants to chat with you.”

“Of course,” Queen Mira responded with a strong voice that sounded significantly different from the one she was using with us. “Tell him I’m changing and will be down in a few minutes.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Then the sound of the maid’s footsteps receded.

There was a shuffling noise, and the queen’s more urgent voice came over the phone. “I’ve got to go. Text me when you have the warriors, and hurry. Drake won’t sit on this knowledge for long. He’ll want to attack when it’s dark to hide from the humans. I won’t have my cell phone on me. I can’t chance Drake finding it, or all of this will be ruined, but I’ll check it periodically, especially at night when I retire.”

At least, Drake was determined to keep dragons a secret from humans…for now. There was no telling what Drake might be planning for the future. Knowing him, ruling the dragons wouldn’t be enough. He craved power, and the only way to satisfy that craving was to conquer more.

“You all be safe, and Thorn…I love you,” she breathed. “I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to see the truth.”

A burning sensation slammed into me, and it felt as if I’d been stabbed in my chest near the core of our connection. If I hadn’t known better, I would’ve thought I’d been stabbed in the heart just like King Arman, but this was emotional suffering, not physical.

“You stay safe, too.” His voice was a deep rumble. “Bye.” He hung up the phone, not waiting for her to hang up first.

The silence was heavy for a few beats.

I moved where I could see Saphira and Tyson. We all wore varying expressions of dread. Whatever choice we made would be risky. This could be a trap, though I doubted it, and if it wasn’t, where the hell were we going to put ten more people? We were already out of rooms, and the couch was taken.

“It’s about damn time people realize who Drake truly is.” Tyson sneered. “Seriously, if they hadn’t overlooked his shit, maybe the king would still be alive.”

Thorn grunted so lightlyIalmost didn’t hear him, but the sadness and regret emanating from him whenever he thought of or talked about his biological father pierced between us. Errol’s mouth tugged into a frown.

Taking a ragged breath, I gritted out, “That may be true, but people here have ties to the king, and those words were hurtful. Though Arman acted like a coward by ignoring signs of the person Drake was becoming, he didn’t do those things, and he died trying to do the right thing. At least Queen Mira is still trying to fix the problem. Don’t waste your energy being mad at the wrong people.”

Flinching, Tyson stepped back. “You seem so nice most of the time, thenbam. You’re the scariest one of us all.”

“Dude, try being her brother,” Elliott called from his spot in the den.

All of them, especially Elliott, had been listening to the entire conversation.

“One day, when I was ten, I hit a beehive with a stick to see how much it would take for the hornets to spew out and attack me,” Elliott continued, confident we all wanted to hear how his story tragically ended. “Let me tell you, it didn’t take much. As I was running in the front yard for mylife, I saw Everly standing on the front porch, just watching me.Watching me. She yelled at me to run faster and opened the door for me to run inside. I got stung five times, and she rolled her eyes as she took care of me. She told me if that didn’t fix my curiosity, nothing would. She gave me no sympathy and definitely didn’t kiss my boo-boos.”

Out of all the things he could have brought up, that was the story he’d chosen to tell? I rolled my eyes. “Aswarmof hornets was chasing you. What did you expect me to do? We would’ve both wound up stung. And I’d told you the day before not to bother the hive! You had it coming.”

“Exactly! Siblings are supposed to stick together, but no, you stayed safe and sting-free on the porch, watching me.”

I pressed my head into Thorn’s shoulder. “You’djuststarted running. You make it sound like I was watching you run in circles, laughing maniacally in the background. I was about to yell at you to come in when you saw me.” Sometimes, it was exhausting to be around him. I’d forgotten that over the past six years since the twins had retreated into themselves.

“That’s the version inmyhead,” he countered.

“This is why the invention of video games was so horrible.” Tia sounded disgusted. “These young’uns don’t know reality from fiction.”

“I thought I did,” Elliott retorted. “Then I learned that dragons, wolves, and who knows what else are real! It’s all fair game now.”

“Despite the usefulness of this conversation, we should focus on the ten warriors we need to rescue.” Vlad smirked slightly and leaned against the wall between the end table and the bathroom door. “It’s a five-hour drive. We need as much time as possible between when we get there and when Drake’s team arrives so our scents won’t be in the air. They won’t be able to piece together that the men are with us.”

The lightness Elliott and Tia had provided was gone. Vlad had a good point. “What are we thinking? Do we know for sure it’s not a trap?”

“I don’t think it is.” Errol paced in the open area of the bedroom. “But I’d hate to not be wary. For all we know, Drake bugged the queen’s room and can hear everything she plans.”

“Which means we need to be careful. Luckily we have the rentals cars under various aliases of Vlad and Cassidy.” Thorn tossed the burner phone on the bed. “We’ll need both Suburbans to bring the ten new additions back with us. So, two of us in each vehicle—the driver and a passenger in front.”

“Fated mates will make the best teams so everyone can communicate quickly without worrying about dead spots.” Vlad pursed his lips. “Cassidy can stay back with the group here so we can keep each other updated, and Everly can ride with me in one of the Suburbans.”

My stomach knotted. Vlad had been nothing but great to me, but we hadn’t spent a ton of time alone. Sitting in the car with him for five hours might be uncomfortable, but his plan had merit.

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