Smoke and Fire: Part 4 by Donna Grant Read Free Book Online Page B

been the one to kill you. Kinsey, please come back to me. Find your way back. I need you.”
    *   *   *
    Ulrik listened to the exchange in Kinsey’s cavern with interest. So Mikkel was using a Druid. What had he said to convince the Druid to help him?
    He needed to discover who the Druid was and in what way they were helping Mikkel. Because if the Druid was as powerful as Ulrik suspected, it could put a serious cramp in his plans.
    Ulrik remained where he was, watching Ryder with Kinsey after Con left. Con didn’t seem that upset that another King had found his mate. Some might think Con was becoming accustomed to such things.
    But Ulrik knew it was just Con being Con.
    Everything would be completely different had a tracker not been implanted and magic used on Kinsey. Ryder wouldn’t be whispering affections to Kinsey.
    He’d be burning her dead body.
    Ulrik drew in a deep breath. It was time for him to leave. He’d learned all he needed. Just as he was about to step from the cavern, Con walked into the tunnel and simply stood there.
    He watched his nemesis and onetime friend. Con’s gaze searched the shadows as if he were looking for something. Ulrik smiled. Did Con sense him? Why not have the Kings scour the mountain for him?
    Ulrik expected that exact reaction, but Con remained silent. He looked first one way and then the other. His attention returned to the area Ulrik was in. Not everything was in place for him to challenge Con, but if his old friend wanted to battle now, then Ulrik would do it.
    Except Con didn’t come his way. Ulrik was confused by Con’s actions. First he didn’t outright kill Kinsey, and now he wasn’t coming for Ulrik.
    Was he getting weak?
    Or was Con up to something?
    If there was one thing Ulrik knew above all else about Con, it was that Con was one of the most intelligent people he knew. Con never let emotion rule him, and he looked at every situation with multiple possibilities.
    It was one reason he’d become King of Kings.
    Ulrik stood silently for several minutes as Con stared his way. Then Con turned on his heel and walked into the cavern where Esther slept.
    After ten minutes, Ulrik left the cavern and took the long way around to his Silvers. When he reached them, he hurried to the cage and placed his hands on two of the four.
    “I’m here,” he whispered.
    He felt them pushing at the magic keeping them asleep. Ulrik wanted to wake them and see them soar, but he couldn’t. Not yet.
    “Know that I’m here and will free you verra soon,” he promised.
    He moved to the next two and repeated his words. Then he spent the next few moments running his hands along their warm silver scales.
    Ulrik then thought of his mountain and was instantly teleported there. He removed his suit jacket and shirt and folded them atop a boulder. Next he took off his shoes and socks before he removed his pants.
    He stood naked deep in the middle of his mountain, the place he’d passed centuries asleep. It was so long ago. His time as a dragon felt like a distant memory.
    But no longer. It was time for him to remember who he truly was. It was time he recalled what ruled his heart.
    He drew in a deep breath and slowly released it. Despite having all of his magic returned, he’d not shifted into dragon form. The way Mikkel watched him made it impossible, and there simply wasn’t room at his store.
    Here, however, was another matter entirely.
    Yet Ulrik hesitated. He wasn’t sure he even remembered how. Eons had passed since the last time he shifted. Then it had been a mere thought for it to happen. What would it take now?
    He looked down at his hands. Human hands. It was all he’d seen for thousands of years. He needed to see and feel himself in his true form, the form he’d been born to.
    Ulrik closed his eyes and thought of shifting.
    Nothing happened.
    But he refused to give up. He focused on his breathing, on feeling his dragon magic move through him as thick as blood and as powerful as