Tipping The Scales: Knox (Mate Craze)(42)

“Well, there’s not much left but the root of everything that corrupts. You want our clan’s treasure.”

Turning my attention back to Kallie, I sniffed the air. If she was dying, the sourness would permeate the air and sting my nose. There was no such smell, which either meant she wasn’t hurt or something else entirely was going on. There was no denying that my mate was hurt, so there must’ve been something else.

“Yes or no?” I pressed further.

“Yes and no, little dragon.”

My dragon paced like a caged tiger inside my skin. He and I were on the same level, wishing we could get to get Kallie and fly her the hell out of here, away from all of this. But she was hurt and we didn’t know if we would cause more damage, and then there was the chance that the real animal in the scenario would get to her first.

“For the love of Odin, just tell me what the fuck you want and let’s get this done.”

“We need your blood spilled and we need your treasure. Simple as that.”

I squinted. “What do you need my blood for?”

“Come now, you don’t expect us to give up all of our secrets, do you? Well, I could tell you. After all, when this is over, you won’t be able to tell anyone anyway. You will be too dead to be able to breathe.”

I thought of Kallie and nothing else in the moment. If I gave myself for her, what would stop them from killing her once I was gone. She knew too much. Once I was gone, there would be nothing stopping them from killing her just for sport and no one to stop them from doing it. I had to do something, whether or not I’d turned her away. She was still my mate and I’d give my own life in place of hers in a heartbeat.

“The only way you can bleed me is in my dragon form. My skin is too thick for any knife you have. I have to turn.”

I was bluffing, of course. I had human-like skin just like anyone else. I was betting on the fact that Rhi wasn’t as knowledgeable about dragons as she thought.

“Is that true? I’m not so sure. I guess it would make sense.”

Got her. She was overthinking now, distracted by the difference between what she wanted and knowing that I would swallow her down in one gulp the second I turned to dragon.

Her skin turned to pallor. She had no choice and she knew it. I’d trapped her between a hard place and my dragon’s teeth.

“Okay, but know this, Alpha, if you do anything to me, I will make sure she dies. One word spoken and the spell I’ve already put on her will take effect. Her very skin will fall from her bones before she burns alive.”

Connecting with the beast inside, I called him forward, willing to allow this wretched being to cut into us in order to save our mate, yet he would not come. He refused to heed the call.

Not right. Not our mate.

The Mate Craze must’ve altered his thinking or lack of thinking. Clearly, Kallie was right in front of us.

Scent. Not ours. Not ours.

The last words were shouted into my consciousness, the roar of his gruff voice reverberated in my chest. It was louder and stronger than even when he proclaimed to me the first time that Kallie was our mate.

Something was very wrong.

“Kallie, can you speak to me?” I asked her while stalling Rhi.

“I’m here!” From my left, coming into the clearing from the forest, Kallie and Rhi. Wait.

“Kallie?” I looked back and forth between the Kallie who was tied up and the Kallie who had just entered the forest with a second Rhi. Some shit was going down and I had to take a step back and allow my dragon to figure it out.

Mate.

Somehow my beast forced my eyes to the left where the latest Kallie had appeared. I could smell her now, not like the blood and stench I’d smelled on the other Kallie. I was so stupid. It was all a fa?ade and there I was about to transform into my other form and allow them to take my blood. Dragon’s blood, along with our treasure, would’ve funded a family for tens of generations.

“Kallie, don’t move. Who is this?” I demanded, now afraid for the real Kallie. Though she was bleeding from several places on her face and arms, it was not near to the degree that the fake Kallie was. I’d been tricked.

“I’m sorry, Knox. I didn’t know. I mean, I knew, but they forced me. I would never hurt Kallie.”

“Shut up, Rhi.” Kallie and I both spoke at the same time.

“Who are you? Reveal yourself now before I turn and chew you both up.”

Before my eyes, in a matter of seconds, were two older people, but the woman noticeably looked like Rhi and I assumed the male, the one who had so well played my mate, was her father.

“What is to stop me from swallowing you alive right this second?” I steadied myself against the onslaught of the transition. As much as my dragon was fiercely against turning before, now he was ready to come out and play, and by play, he meant to kill.

The woman strolled forward, but I could smell the fear coming off her. “Come on, Knox. What kind of witches would we be if we didn’t do a little treasure searching, especially when the circumstances lent themselves so beautifully to our plan? Our daughter was the best friend to a dragon hunter’s ancestor, who was the mate of the most powerful dragon Alpha in this part of the country. It was so easy. Plus, your big brother, oh, his jealously practically spilled out of his pores when we met him for the first time. We just slid right in and he gave us the information we needed. He didn’t mean to, of course, but his envy gave us the door we needed to penetrate his thoughts. It was like we were meant to have the treasure all along.”