Defender Dragon (Protection, Inc 2)

Fury burned within Lucas, but he restrained himself from struggling. Thrashing around and exhausting himself would get him nowhere. But even chained and unable to shift, he had his voice and his wits.

A dragon’s tongue is sharper than a dragon’s tooth, spoke the sweet remembered voice of his mother.

His father had added, Do not forget, Lucas. Words are weapons.

“Heed my promise,” Lucas said. “I speak to both of you, the man who stands before me and the man who whispers in his ear. If at any time you release me and leave Journey unharmed, I swear on my honor that I will not take revenge. If you harm Journey or do not release me of your own accord, remember my other promise. Dragonsbane has an antidote. I will not be a man forever.”

The masked man twitched nervously. He took a step toward Lucas, then another. His head darted this way and that. Then he suddenly thrust his hand into his pocket, bringing out a key.

“You will not regret this,” Lucas promised.

The cell door was flung open, and four more masked men burst in. One grabbed the man holding the key and hustled him out. The other two grabbed Lucas and pinned him tight to the wall, while the third shoved a gag into his mouth.

Lucas was ready to explode with frustration. He’d been so close to escape!

“Your tongue is as deadly as your flame,” remarked the man who had gagged him. “You may not speak e

xcept to tell us where Journey is. When you’re ready to do that, tap your right hand against the wall.”

Lucas closed his right hand into a fist.

The man who had spoken reached into his pocket and removed a vial. “Have you ever swallowed dragonsbane?”

Only pride saved Lucas from letting the nauseating rush of fear show on his face. That was supposed to be the most agonizing form of torture in existence. They said that dragons who were subjected to it begged for death.

“Where is Journey?” the man demanded.

Lucas tried to think quickly and clearly, for he suspected that soon he would not be able to think at all. His family had ten castles scattered across the country, most in areas unreachable by motor vehicles. It would take a dragon days to search them all, and it would take weeks for his minions to do so. Unless Journey was very unlucky and they chose to search her castle first, all Lucas needed to do to signal her to flee was to hold out for two days.

Two days of hell, he thought. Can I bear it?

He opened his hand and tapped the wall. When the man undid his gag, Lucas said, “I flew her to the airport in Budapest. She’s halfway to America by now. I was going to renounce the throne and follow her there, but first I wanted to find out who had tried to have her killed.”

It seemed like a plausible story. It certainly would have been a better choice than what he’d actually done.

The masked man slapped him hard across the face, snapping his neck back and knocking his head into the wall. “Liar.”

“It’s true!” Lucas protested. “Don’t you think I’d do anything to keep her safe?”

“I know dragons and their mates. You wouldn’t have been able to bear parting from her so quickly. Where is she?”

Stubbornly, Lucas repeated, “She’s on an airplane.”

“Pry his jaws open.”

Lucas fought, but there was little he could do with his arms and legs bound. The men dug their thumbs into his jaw, forcing it open, and grabbed a handful of his hair to jerk his head back. Then his chief captor stepped forward and poured a stream of dragonsbane down his throat.

It burned like acid. Lucas tried to spit it out, but the men forced his jaws together and pinched his nose shut. In his struggle to breathe, he swallowed involuntarily.

The pain was like nothing he’d ever felt before. He’d thought the dragonsbane would burn his throat and stomach, but the agony only started there. Within seconds, it spread through his entire body. Lucas tried to double over, but the manacles held him tight.

Don’t scream, he thought desperately. Don’t give them the satisfaction.

A minute later, he was screaming.

“I tire of listening to him,” the masked man said. “Gag him again.”

Lucas barely noticed as the men again stuffed the gag into his mouth. He could feel nothing but agony burning him alive from the inside out. He understood now why victims begged for death.