The Queen's Dance (Emerging Queens) Read Online Free Page B

wouldn’t call her on it.
    “I’d like to offer the services of me and my friends.”
    “For what?” she asked.
    The drake looked at her like she was a little dim. Remy considered shooting him again on principle. But the DU rounds were custom-made and more expensive than what the satisfaction would be worth.
    “For anything you want. Provided that you turn a blind eye to some of the cargo that we’re shipping down from Quebec. Of course, you’ll be given a generous cut of the profits, as fits a Queen of your stature. We’re agreeable to setting you up with a mansion and your own yacht.”
    “Great. I’m Elmer J. Fudd, Millionaire, now,” she muttered.
    Remy cracked a smile.
    “What cargo?” she said.
    The drake slid his eyes to the red dragon doll that she’d left behind on the air mattress. Time slid to a standstill as three things happened simultaneously.
    Remy couldn’t contain his rage and emptied the clip into the drake. Drugging humans. Killing them. Not on his watch.
    Several more drakes swarmed the camp.
    Margery screamed and tried to shift. Her form fluttered, and for a moment he thought she’d make it, but after a brief blur, she was still human.
    Out of the corner of his eye, Remy saw her bent over, retching. He exploded into his dragon form. Even though he was a fish out of water, he used his tail and mouth to keep the drakes from coming in too close to Margery.
    Stretching his long neck out, he snapped a drake out of the air in midleap and crushed him in his jaws, shaking him until he died. He threw the carcass at another drake that was thundering in. Remy’s tail slashed out and bowled over two more.
    “Get to the lake,” he roared.
    Margery turned and ran, but into the house.
    “Idiot,” he called before he remembered he was addressing a Queen. At least the drakes would have to get by him to storm the house. Four drakes launched themselves on top of him. He barrel-rolled, crushing them under his bulk. Unfortunately, that exposed his belly, and two more jumped on. He turned again. That was fine. Let them come at him. If Margery had any sense, she’d be using the laptop to call for backup. If he was lucky, the delegation was in Vermont, staying at Viola’s farm in Burlington.
    He continued to twist, trashing the camp. Remy had a thought to roll them all through the woods down to the lake, where he could end this in a hurry. But the drake who was still in human form picked up the Barrett that Remy had dropped and took aim.
    Damn it. This was going to hurt.
    “Stop!” Margery bellowed. The crazy bitch was standing on the roof of his house. “As Queen of New York State, I command you.”
    Remy groaned. She did not just declare herself Queen of New York. She was so screwed.
    The drake held up a hand, and the teeth and claws puncturing him let up. Remy had a choice. He could take advantage and kill the one with the gun and risk death for disobeying a Queen. Or he could lie still and take orders. He was never good with orders.
    “I don’t recognize your authority…bitch.” The drake took the decision out of his hands when he turned the Barrett on Margery.
    Remy lunged at him. Bit him in half. But the drake got a shot off first. The remaining drakes scattered. Killing a Queen was obviously not on their agenda for tonight. It was a terrible death sentence, a slow, agonizing one. Margery was no longer on the roof. She was so tiny and already weakened. The shot and the fall, combined with everything else… damn it .
    In less than twenty-four hours a Queen under his protection had been killed. Remy’s body curled up in a fetal position as he shifted back to human. If he could get to the cabin, he could call the embassy to send reinforcements. Trying to stand was a bust. He couldn’t even get to his knees. He lay there panting from the exertion. He needed to be back in the water to heal his wounds, otherwise he’d die alongside her.
    Not just yet. He had a little more in him.
    Crawling