Call of the Siren(85)

He couldn’t disagree, but at the same time, what other options did they have? Belpheg and Mammon had Aegin. They had to get him back.

“It’ll be okay, sunshine,” he murmured, taking her hand.

She shot him a grateful smile, but just as she began to lean toward him, there was a flash of white in his peripheral.

Ronin.

Jerking his hand back, Dagan turned to see his brother touch down several feet away. Ronin absorbed his full, white wings with a snap.

When his hawkish gaze raked over the both of them, Dagan knew he’d have to face his brother sooner rather than later. Would have to explain about him and Lina, because not touching her was like not breathing…impossible.

But now wasn’t the time for that. Saving Aegin was the most important thing.

Ronin’s gaze went past them and settled on Brynn. His eyes softened. “I saw nothing out of the ordinary.”

“This is ridiculous. I can’t wait anymore.” Brynn stalked past Ronin, Amara, and the remaining succubi, heading in the direction of the castle.

Taeg rushed across the clearing to close his arms around her waist, pulling her back to him. “No, Brynn. Wait.” When she gave him a wild-eyed glare and tried to break free, he whispered, “I know how much you want him back. We all do. But we need to get everything in place first. Otherwise, you’ll be walking into a death trap. Aegin is going to need his mother.”

His last words penetrated. Slowly the fight left her body, turning her once more into an empty, ragged shell of her former self. Facing Taeg, she allowed him to envelop her in his arms.

“I can’t stand it,” she whispered in a broken voice. “Imagining what they might be doing to him…it’s killing me.”

Taeg’s grief-stricken gaze indicated he felt the same, but all he said in response was, “He’s going to be okay, Brynn. We’re gonna find Aegin. Safe and sound. I promise.”

Angry tears welled in Dagan’s eyes. Knowing that their sadistic father and the dark fae had tiny little Aegin caused a physical ache in his body that he couldn’t quite dispel. If anything happened to his nephew…

As if she sensed his train of thought, Lina whispered, “Your brother’s right, Dagan. He is going to be okay. I won’t accept anything else.”

He gave her a grateful smile. This had to be tough on Lina, too. Although she’d never said it, he could understand how Aegin’s capture might lead her to draw parallels to her loss of her daughter Sara. But she was toughing it out. Being strong. For them. And man, he really appreciated that.

A moment later, Keegan flew through a copse of trees, his leathery dragon-wings swooshing as he landed in the clearing. The rayamara mercenaries they’d hired were hot on his trail.

“Keegan,” Brynn gasped, breaking away from Taeg to run to her shirtless husband.

He threw his arms around her, and his gaze landed on Ronin. “How did it look?”

“Normal,” Ronin murmured. “Quiet. I spotted one of the ishtaris outside the front entrance, but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary.”

“Same here,” Keegan said, his mouth tight with worry. “Ran into the guys on my way back.”

“And we come armed,” said one of the rayamaras.

No shit.

Each of the three men carried a large sack on his back. As they dropped them to the ground, Dagan made out the distinct rattle of bones. Even though the castle grounds itself was bound to be littered with corpses, they hadn’t wanted to take chances on the number of zombies they had to work with, so the rayamaras had gone to a local cemetery to gather as many bodies as each could carry.

“Good,” said Brynn, her eyes going hard at the sight of the sacks. When she pulled from Keegan’s grasp and stalked toward the bags, Maya voiced the question they probably all had in mind.

“Um, how do we know these zombies are going to attack the right people, instead of the first hunk of flesh they see?”

“Because I control them. They follow my commands.” Brynn knelt in front of the sacks and lifted her hands over them. Without further warning, she began to chant in a language Dagan had never heard before. Though he couldn’t understand the words, a shiver of foreboding wound through his body.

The earth began to rumble.

“Oh, shit,” Lina whispered. Her fingers wound through his, and she took a step closer as the sacks began to move and take form. Around them, various mounds of dirt began to kick up, and dirty, crusty objects that could only be bones spilled forth from the ground.

“Whoa.” Dagan gave an appreciative glance around the field. Though he’d witnessed the zombies before when he and his brothers had fought Mammon at the Great Pyramids, it was another thing to see the exact moment of their generation. Now he could understand why so many people were interested in the power Brynn held. It was formidable, to say the least.