“C’mon, Captain, let’s go get your mate. Opal can lead the way,” Magnus said, bumping Liam as he rushed into his car, starting it and pulling up to Liam.
Liam got in, and they sped off, making a left and following the direction they had seen the getaway car go a moment ago. The road quickly narrowed into a single lane, winding up into the hills as Magnus shifted and pealed around turn after turn.
So the noble dragons were back. But how?
Regardless, the steel dragon was going to show them exactly what he did best.
Protect his mate.
16
Kate looked between the men who had taken her with a scared, silent glance.
She’d fought as they’d tried to drag her to their car, but she’d quickly had a hand put over her mouth and been thrown in the backseat of an elegant, black luxury vehicle, and then they’d taken off immediately after.
After meeting Liam and his friends, she supposed she should be more used to seeing weird, weirdly hot men by now, but she wasn’t. Especially men like the ones surrounding her on both sides now.
But they didn’t seem instantly evil, either, so she couldn’t say she felt in immediate danger, even if she knew being kidnapped wasn’t a great situation.
The man on her right was a few inches over six feet, with refined, elegant features and a boyish beauty to his face with its pointed nose and stubborn chin. He seemed younger than the other dragons she’d met. Maybe in his mid-twenties rather than early thirties. He turned to her with a little, “Hmph,” and then went back to watching out the window, as if she wasn’t worth his notice.
He was wearing a fitted, tailored suit in warm light gray, which contrasted his pale skin and his light, silvery hair that was almost white it was so bright.
He glared at her with silver irises rimmed with light eyelashes. “What are you looking at, human?”
She gaped, and backed up from him only to bump into the large man on her other side.
He was no less intimidating, his height at least six and a half feet, at least as tall as Liam if not a bit taller. He had broad shoulders and lots of muscle. Even the slim man in the suit next to her was well muscled, extremely strong and fit. Like a male fitness model rather than a body builder. Even if his suit downplayed it.
His jaw twitched. “You’re looking again.”
“Calm yourself, Silver. This is for Gold, not us.”
“I know, Platinum, but I’m never patient. You know this. Besides, she’s practically getting her dirty human self all over it.”
Platinum, as the giant on the other side of her must be called, let out a snort. Looking over at him, it made sense. His eyes were a dark, shimmery gray, and his hair was a steely color that was still rich. It was shaved on the sides and long on the top, pulled back into a long braid. It was thick and slung over his shoulder, so she couldn’t make out exactly how long it was.
Unlike like his friend, he was dressed casually in a carefully distressed gray tee shirt and fitted jeans. And designer shoes.
“As I said, patience, Silver.” Platinum appraised her with a cold glare. “I doubt there is much dirt on her. Despite her questionable choice to ally herself with the more common, dirty metals.” He crossed his legs nonchalantly.
“Nonsense, I can smell earth all over her.”
“She did almost mate with the steel dragon,” Platinum replied.
“I’m right here,” she said. “I can talk for myself.”
“Aren’t you scared, human?” Platinum asked. “We could break you with one free hand.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t find you that threatening.”
Silver turned to her, putting a hand on the seat in front of her and leaning in. “That makes you very stupid, human. We aren’t all lapdogs like Steel.”
Was that Liam?
“Yes,” Silver said, startling her by reading her thoughts. “That’s the same stupid person.” He looked visibly ruffled as he sat back in his chair. “How long until we’re there?”
“Almost,” said a pleasant, familiar voice in the front seat.
Her skin prickled. Was that Gold?
“At your service,” he said, looking back at her as they pulled onto a private drive to a big mansion that looked to be in the middle of renovation. Like the other castle, it was hidden up in the hills with tall trees all around it.
Unlike the other, it was very oddly put together, with a mix of newer, modern elements in metal over a very old-fashioned brick building beneath.
Gold got out and opened the door, and Silver stepped out haughtily.
Part of her wanted to make a run for it, knowing these guys were with Gold, who had broken into her house the other night, but she knew they’d catch her in an instant. She’d seen Gold fly with his wings.
He seemed to notice her urge to dodge, and his eyes moved to Platinum. “Bring her.”
Before she could bolt, she felt a hand around her waist and then gasped as she was hauled off the ground and over Platinum’s shoulder like a bag of sugar. She kicked against him. “Put me down!”
Why oh why hadn’t she listened to Liam and stayed home? Why hadn’t she realized it was a trap? Why hadn’t she—
“A little late for regrets now,” Platinum said in a low voice.
She shuddered. Had she read this all wrong? They were snobs, sure, and big, and super pretty, but they just didn’t read as evil. Not like the presence had the other night.
But since it was Gold, she supposed she had to stop being delusional and just realize she really was in danger and had no way to let Liam know.
“What are you doing with me?”
“Gold wants you, for whatever reason,” Platinum said. “I couldn’t care less.”
“And I don’t want a dirty human in my house at all,” Silver said, marching ahead to keep up with Gold, who didn’t seem to want anything to do with him.
When she’d seen Liam with Magnus, they’d seemed almost like brothers they were so close. The men who made up this group weren’t anything like that; she could tell even at a glance.
So what kept them together?
“It works well enough,” Platinum said, reading her thoughts again. “Where we are from, you cannot survive without a crew. Not well anyway.”
“Right, another time,” she said, rolling her eyes.
He just shrugged, jostling her as he carried her up the front steps and into the main lobby. When the door was closed behind them, he set her down, and she looked around.
It was kind of mess with dust and debris from construction, along with some very old furniture mixed with some new. But there was also odd bits of gold and silver ornamentation in seemingly random places, on edges of frames or columns or even furniture.
Obviously, these dragons had a very specific, slightly questionable sense of taste.