The Summoning [Dragon's Lair 2] Read Free Page A

out,” he commanded.
    She was helpless to resist him.
There was a compulsion in his voice that she couldn’t seem to disobey. Parting
the hanging clothes, she moved forward to them. The larger of the two immediately
grasped her wrists, while the other man with the hypnotic voice prepared a
syringe. “It will make you sleep. We can’t have you drawing undue attention to
us.”
    “What do you want with Remy and
Philippe?” she demanded.
    He smiled. “We want them dead.
But murder is forbidden amongst our kind... we would lose everything. The only
way to see them dead is through challenge.”
    The man holding her breathed
hotly against her ear. “And you are the perfect challenge. They will fight to
have you returned to them, and having seen you, and smelled your sweetness, we
will fight just as hard to keep you.”
    “I’d rather die,” she said.
    The first man laughed. “How
remiss they have been in your education! Did your mates not tell you that if
you die, they will die as well? We have more honor than they do, or I would
simply slit your throat right here. I offer them the choice to at least meet us
on the field. It is more than they offered our brothers.”
    Lilly flinched as he stabbed the
needle into her neck. There was a rush of burning heat, and then the world
simply went black.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Entering the house, Remy knew
instantly that something was wrong. Turning on Alphonse, Remy grabbed the older
man by his lapels and shoved him against the wall. “Were you the distraction
then? Sent here to keep us out of the house long enough for her to be taken?”
    Alphonse held his hands up in a
calming manner. “Of course not. Dax and Farron were forbidden to come here, but
I should have guessed they would not follow the council’s orders. They will not
hurt her.”
    “You’re so certain of that!”
Remy said, his voice harsh with anger and fear. “If they kill her, we die as
well, and then there is no one to save her.”
    “A fact that Dax and Farron know
well,” Philippe added.
    Remy could easily recognize the
barely restrained fury that coiled inside Philippe. He could sense the
overwhelming desire that Philippe felt to hit something, perhaps because that
desire mirrored his own. He turned back to Alphonse, praying the man wouldn’t
say or do anything to make an already tenuous situation even worse.
    Alphonse continued calmly, “If
that happened, the council would be forced to exile Dax and Farron, and they do
not want that to happen. They are only trying to force your hands. We will go
to the compound immediately.”
    “You’re damned right we will,”
Philippe all but shouted. “If they touch her, if they harm her in any way,
there is nothing to save them... not the council, not you. I don’t just mean
Dax and Farron.”
    Alphonse nodded. “I understand.
Jacques’ continued feud with you and his place on the council have made matters
complicated. I do not doubt that this has all been initiated by his hatred of
you both. I will do everything in my power to be certain that Lilly remains
safe while at the compound.”
    Remy managed to reign in his
anger enough to recognize the concession that Alphonse had just made for them. “Thank
you, Alphonse.”
    The older man shrugged the
gratitude away. “Jacques and his pettiness have pushed so many of our kind away.
They leave the clan and never return. We must make changes if our culture is to
survive. I will wait for you in the car. Gather what you need, and we will use
the private jet to return to the compound.”
    When he left, Philippe asked the
question that hung heavily between them. “Can we trust him?”
    Remy shrugged. “We have no
choice. He is the only ally we have.”
     
    * * * * *
     
    Lilly awoke to strange
surroundings and an aching head. Memories flooded her, of Remy and Philippe, of
the two strange men who had entered their home and abducted her. Sitting up in
the large bed that she occupied alone, she surveyed the room