Zesstra collapsed, every muscle was shaking so hard she couldn't support herself. She had never had to stop something so violent as military-grade missiles in her training. It was a good thing she didn't hold back. If she had, there was a chance that none of them would have survived.

A big hand touched her shoulder and she pulled back, hissing in pain. "I'm sorry," came Atticus's deep, gentle voice. "Are you alright?"

"Sensitive." She croaked.

Gods, it was like her nerves were all firing all at once. The slightest touch sent waves of pain through her whole body. Nevertheless, she didn't flinch away again when he took her by her waist and lifted her back onto her feet. She slumped against his body, thankful for his strength. She didn't have the sense of smell of a shifter or a vampire, but this close to him she could smell his natural scent. It was a comfort among the destruction around them.

Nolan's outraged scream made her jump and look for the sound. She watched the vampire breaking the weapon in his hands over a spike of rock. It exploded into a thousand pieces. Lightning continued to spark off his body at his every move.

Zesstra edged closer to Atticus. "What is wrong with him?" she whispered. "Vampires do not have that kind of power."

Atticus didn't answer. He was pretty sure he knew what it was. That noise Rhia made... It was like she was summoning every dragonkin within in earshot. As adamant as Nolan had been about not having any dragonkin magic left, something inside of him had responded to that call.

He suddenly stopped his angry pacing and looked down. Several of the soldiers were still alive. Nolan grabbed one of them, lifting them effortlessly to throw them against another spire of rock. "Where are they taking her?!" he roared.

The soldier didn't answer. Nolan ripped off the soldier's helmet, revealing a steely-eyed female glaring up at him. He gripped the woman's throat and leaned close enough that his new magic danced across her face, making her flinch.

"Where. Is. She?" he snarled.

She spat at him and he went stone-still. Atticus felt the hair on the back of his neck stand straight up. The last time he'd seen Nolan like this was during the Second World War. He quickly turned Zesstra's face into his chest to shield her from what was about to happen.

The soldier's scream rang out over the yard as Nolan sunk his fangs into her throat. By the time he pulled away, her eyes had rolled back in her head and she was whimpering in pleasure. He lifted his wrist to his mouth and ripped open a vein before holding it out for the other survivors to see, dragging the woman behind him.

"You bastards know what will happen if she drinks this now!" he roared, his voice closer to that of a demon's, instead of his own. "I will turn her! I will turn all of you! Tell me where she is!"

The only soldier that made any sound was the one that Rhia had bitten. He rolled on the ground, gurgling in pain, an eerie green foam bubbling at his throat and past his lips. Nolan shoved the female in his grip to her knees and forced his wrist to her mouth. Still reacting to the high of his venom, she latched on immediately and started to moan, drinking deeply from his vein.

"You fucker!" one of the other soldiers finally snapped. He tried to get up but was stopped when another vampire kicked out his kneecap and pulled the helmet off. "She has a family!"

Nolan tossed the woman aside and gripped the man's throat. "Then I will track them down too, and I will make her turn them. Every. Single. One." He pointed to the woman squirming on the ground. "Twenty-four hours, and she will be one of my people. You can put her out of her misery. Just tell me where they're taking my family!"

He slammed his jaw shut. Nolan's fangs made a reappearance and he bit into this male too.

Zesstra trembled in Atticus's arms, raising her hands to cover her ears from the screaming. He could smell the salt of her tears over the blood and smoke. He should do something. This wasn't Nolan. This wasn't even how Constantine acted when he was angry. This went so far out of the norm... but what could he do? Rhia was gone. Nothing would ever console him of this. Not until he had her back.

"WHERE IS SHE?!"

The power in his voice made the ground tremble and lightning exploded across the sky. He threw the second soldier to the ground next to his colleague, Nolan's blood staining his lips, and grabbed a third. "We don't know!!" this soldier screamed in terror as his helmet was ripped free. "We never go to the final location! We get dropped off in the desert where we're picked up!"

"Where?"

"Thirty-five north," the soldier spluttered. "One-seventeen west. They'll be long gone by the time you get there."

Nolan snapped his neck so fast his head spun a full hundred and eighty degrees. He turned and Atticus felt his insides turn to stone. Those were not the eyes of a vampire. His eyes were bright, glowing, electric blue. His pupils were sharp, vertical slits. Those eyes landed on Atticus.

No. Not Atticus.

Zesstra.

Nolan was in front of them in a flash, ripping the girl from his arms before he could do anything to stop him. A hand went to her throat, the other gripping her arm in a bruising grip. "That elf," he snarled. "You know who he is?"

Zesstra gasped for air, trying to pull his fingers off her windpipe so she could breathe. Atticus started moving to help, but there were suddenly a dozen vampires dragging him to his knees and holding him back. The rest made a ring around them, keeping the shifters at bay. He'd almost forgotten how loyal the vampires were to Nolan. He didn't even need to make a command and they so quickly jumped to his aid, even to attack another member of the Counsel. "Nolan!" he shouted. "That's enough!"

Nolan couldn't hear anything through his own rage. His grip only tightened on Zesstra's neck. "You know him, don't you?"

"Y-yes." Zesstra's eyes were starting to roll back in her head. Her pink skin was going white.

"Then take me to him!"

A gunshot cracked through the air. Nolan stumbled, blood spraying out from his leg. Another shot and his other leg crumpled, sending him to his knees. Zesstra sucked in a gasp and coughed, a shaking hand going to her throat. Nolan's blazing eyes turned to Constantine walking calmly towards him, the gun still in his hands. "You shot m-"

Constantine cut him of with a punch to the face. He turned his red eyes on the vampires and a shiver of fear rippled through every single one of them. "Release him." Their king said in a deadly quiet voice.

They did not need to be told twice. Atticus darted to Zesstra's side, pulling her into the protection of his body and well out of Nolan's reach.

He lay crumpled on the ground, completely motionless and quiet for a few minutes before sitting back on his knees and glaring up at his king. Constantine pressed the barrel of the gun against Nolan's forehead. "Wait!" Zesstra cried.

"Be quiet, girl." Constantine said in the same deadly calm voice.

"This isn't necessary, Constantine." Atticus snapped.

"This is vampire business, shifter. Stay out of it."

"Do it." Nolan hissed. "Just fucking do it."

"If that is your wish, Nolan, I will grant it." Constantine's voice never wavered, and it sent chills through Atticus and the woman in his arms. He wouldn't actually... would he? Constantine was cruel and heartless... but Nolan was... he was Nolan.

Constantine stared down at his oldest and, arguably, only friend. How many years had they stood at each other's sides? He was not always good to Nolan, he knew that. He knew that he tested his patience over and over and over, especially when it came to the women in his life. He told himself over and over that it was for his own good... that Nolan needed strong women, not just to handle being around their work, but for his sexual preferences... But it was a lie.

It had always been a lie.

It was the raging jealousy that Nolan kept finding women willing to love him, and live with him, and have children with him over and over and over when all Constantine ever wanted was one person willing to give that to him. Male, female, someone in between or not at all... he didn't care. Luna would never truly give herself into him because she always held onto that hope that Quin would take her back.

The only thing that was supposed to be different about Rhia was that she was human. She was supposed to be easily scarred off. Nolan was supposed to accept it. He was supposed to leave her the moment Constantine recalled him, because that's what he always does. The strong ones fought, but many of them he left anyway because they weren't suited for the life of the king's second hand. No matter how much Rhia had cried and screamed and demanded... he should have left her.

But he didn't.

Then it was discovered that she was a half-blood dragonkin, something many believed impossible, and he told himself that that would be what made him leave. Nolan didn't spend any more time around the dragonkin than he absolutely had to. It reminded him too much of when he was human and had Quin's favor.

Yet he still did not leave her.

Nothing in Constantine's mind or vast experience with this man could explain why. And now Nolan knelt before his king with the eyes of a dragonkin, and magic that could not be his, and a rage that was more terrible than when they found the dark elf standing over Valentina's broken and bloodied body in the same mass grave as the other victims of the Holocaust.

After everything they had seen and been through... How did he have any room in his heart to love someone so deeply.

"What are you waiting for?!" Nolan roared, his new magic sparking dangerously and his fangs flashing in the light. "Do it already!"

"They took her alive." Constantine reminded him slowly. "Are you willing to give up so easily on her life?"

Another snarl tore from Nolan's throat. "I will rip this world apart to get her back!"

"Then you are no good to her."

In the fraction of a second for Constantine to squeeze the trigger, Atticus whirled around, completely shielding Zesstra from the gruesome sight. The strange magic that danced around Nolan sputtered out. His eyes returned to their normal shade of blue, and his pupils shrank back to pinpricks. Fear and regret washed over his features.

Click

Nolan sucked in a shaky gasp and stared at the barrel of the gun. He was suddenly very aware of the taste of blood in his mouth. He wiped his hand over his chin, and it came away bright red. His eyes followed the sounds of whimpering and they landed on a male and a female. Their necks and mouths were bloody. A third male had a snapped neck.

What... what had he done?

"Oh dear," Constantine sighed dramatically, and Nolan looked back up at him. "It looks like I forgot to reload. While I have your attention, let me ask you again; they have your woman. What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm going to find her." he said immediately.

"How?"

"The dragonkin." This came out after a brief second of thought. "Juniper... They can track her. If we find Juniper, we find Rhia."

Constantine lowered the gun and offered his other hand. "Welcome back."

His whole body was trembling. Nolan reached out to take the offered hand and accepted the help up. Between the fresh blood and... whatever that surge of power was... his legs were completely healed. He looked around and met Atticus's eyes, then down at Zesstra. "I..." he swallowed hard, trying to moisten his throat. "I am so sorry, Zesstra."

She gave him a weak smile, but he noticed that she didn't take her hand away from her neck. He finally heard sirens screaming in the distance. "Nolan," He looked back to Constantine holding out the gun and a fresh magazine. "Clean up your mess before the human authorities arrive."

Nolan took the Glock and magazine filled with silver-laced bullets. Tilting the butt of the weapon upwards, he saw that it wasn't loaded. Some time between shooting his legs and putting the gun to his head, Constantine had removed the ammunition. Nolan had been so far gone... he hadn't even noticed. A rare wave of affection for Constantine went through him and he could have collapsed all over again. Swallowing his emotions, he slammed the magazine into the gun and walked back towards the soldiers.

Zesstra watched him go and her grip on Atticus's arm tightened. "What is he doing?" she asked in a whisper.

"There are consequences for illegally turning someone." Atticus said in a low voice. "The humans will not understand the situation. He will have to answer to the Counsel in the end, but for now..."

Nolan aimed the weapon down at the female first and fired two bullets right between her eyes. Zesstra gasped and spun to bury her face in his chest. The next two shots seemed even louder and fresh tears started to pour down her cheeks.

An amphiptere flew towards them, a bright vivid orange and yellow against the black sky. It landed smoothly and shifted into a tall female. She jogged towards Nolan, looking around the area and her eyes slowly widening in horror. They spoke in low enough tones that Atticus couldn't hear.

His phone started to ring in his pocket, and he shifted his hold on Zesstra to pull it out. He watched Constantine take a phone from one of the vampires as well.

All three of them received the same report and it froze them to the ground. The dragonkin compound had been attacked. Keoni was dying. A new dragon had made his presence known in the city. The same dragon, Lysander, was demanding Nolan's presence. He was to bring Rhia with him.

~

An hour later, two cars pulled up to the wall of diamond surrounding the compound. A crowd of news network vans were parked a safe distance away with all cameras aimed at the line of wyverns perched on top of the fifty-foot wall. Nolan recognized those wyverns. They were Quin's elites. The best of the best fighters and the last line of defense for the kin. If they were on the front lines, the attack must have them scared.

Some of the cameras turned on the newcomers. The Ancients among them recognized Constantine and Atticus as Counsel members and began taking as many pictures as they physically could. One daring young shifter jogged out of the crowd, his eyes on Atticus. The excitement drained from his face when one of Constantine's bodyguards appeared out of nowhere and blocked the man. "No questions." He said in a tone that did not invite argument.

Another car pulled up behind theirs and Cameron was quick to join the group, bowing quickly to Constantine and Atticus before stopping dead in his tracks, his eyes landing on Zesstra. The already distinct shadows created by the news spotlights grew darker and the whites of his eyes tinged red. It seemed to take a great deal of effort for him to look to his father.

"Are the kids alright?" Nolan asked.

"They're fine, Ethel is taking care of them. What the hell is going on? Since when is there another dragon? And why are there dragonkin flying all over the city? Are you and Rhia okay?" He looked around for her. "Where... is Rhia?"

Nolan took his shoulder and glanced back at the news anchors. Each and every one of them had cameras and microphones turned their way. "I'll explain inside." Was all he said and jerked his head towards the wall of diamond.

He started towards the compound, the others following at a careful distance. One of the wyverns lowered themselves to the ground, storm grey scales bristling angrily, and a pinkish orange glow pulsed with its magic. A low growl rumbled in its throat and the long talons on the wing knuckles dug into the cracked earth like it were made of soft sand. A sharp pain preceded the wyvern's angry tone in Nolan's head. "We are in no mood to entertain, vampire." He snarled. "Leave this place."

"My name is Nolan, a yfeerie of Quintiles." Nolan answered slowly. "Lysander summoned me."

The wyvern snorted and looked at the others behind him. "You were to bring Rhiannon Kincaid with you. Where is she?"

"I will only speak to Lysander or Keoni."

The wyvern opened jaws big enough to rip Nolan in half and roared. The news reporters behind him all dropped to the ground in panic. Zesstra made a strained whimper and grabbed Atticus's hand. Nolan felt his temper rising again, and with it that strange power that answered Rhia's call.

"You do not make demands of the dragonkin!" screamed the wyvern. "We have tolerated your presence these last millennia for the sake of your heritage. No longer! Reveal the girl or die where you stand!"

"You have tolerated my presence because Quin commands it and no other reason." Nolan snarled back, letting his new magic take hold in him. He liked this magic. It felt familiar and right. Lightning sparked between his fingertips and the hairs rose on the back of his arms. "Lysander has called for me, so I am here. You do not have a choice but to allow us entry. Now stand aside!"

The wyvern's raised his head, jaws wide, an orange glow coming from deep in his throat... and froze.

Another, higher-pitched roar came above them, sounding more like a bird call than a dragon. Every living being turned their heads upwards and the cameras quickly followed to point at Lysander. He was a beautiful mix of pink and blue and made a deliberate effort to land gently and look directly towards the media crews before turning back to the bowing dragonkin.

Nolan felt the anger swiftly turn into nervous energy as the dragon began to shrink back into his human skin. With Quin and Ares, all he needed to do was show them and Keoni proper respect. With Luna, he needed to endure her constant sexual innuendos and wait until she found something else, or someone else, to entertain her. But he didn't know enough about Lysander to feel anywhere near calm. This was the first time he'd even seen the dragon in his human form.

He wasn't nearly as tall as Quin, not even as tall as Ares. He was closer to Rhia's height, maybe an inch or two taller, and he was deceptively thin. He also didn't dress like any of the other dragons, opting for ratty jeans and a baggy and stained t-shirt. Nolan couldn't quite describe the colour of his hair or eyes. They shimmered in shades of light blues and pinks in the low light and seemed to change with his every move.

"Nolan," he spoke in a soft, hoarse voice, so different compared to the other dragons and the kin. "We have never had the chance to meet in these forms. I do wish it were under different circumstances."

"As do I, great one." Nolan tried to keep his voice from shaking.

Lysander let out a weak chuckle and shook his head. "None of that great one nonsense." He looked past Nolan at the others and frowned. "Rhiannon is not with you?"

Nolan wouldn't meet his eyes. "We were attacked as well." His voice cracked a bit. "Rhia and two other dragonkin were taken. They were led by a male dark elf." He looked to Cameron and took a shuddering breath. "The same dark elf that killed your mother, Cam."