Chapter 171: The Zoo Delivered

Kael blinked a few times. Whatever the fuck he saw had drained every drop of his usual annoying swagger. He met Maddox’s eyes.

"Did you read the black ops file?"

"Yes."

"Blair. Earmuffs," Kael ordered without looking at her.

"Fuck you. No," she snapped.

Kael’s gaze stayed locked on Maddox. He opened his mouth, about to order everyone out of the room in the Draconic register, when the door opened.

Landon entered, glowing as bright as Guinevere’s hair.

The old healer shuffled in behind him.

"You are looking better, young dragon," the healer said warmly. "Most men with your injuries would be unconscious for a week. You are, without question, the most stubborn patient I have treated this century, and I say that as a compliment, because the century has been long and full of very stubborn men who were less impressive than you."

He turned to Landon. "You were right. He is a strong one, Your Majesty."

Kael looked at the old healer, then at Landon. The grin that crossed his face made Blair and Maddox both close their eyes at the same time, as if that would protect them from the incoming bullshit.

Landon crossed to the bed in three strides, his face stripped of every ounce of the composure he’d been wearing like armor all morning. What replaced it was concern, raw and unguarded.

He exchanged a glance with the old healer.

Maddox looked down at Guinevere and the world tilted.

Three marks. Gold, his. Silver, which was Shadowfell’s. And white, brilliant white, woven between both, luminous, completing a pattern that hadn’t existed a day ago. His concussed, sleep-deprived, twice-fallen, dragon-marking brain had somehow missed it until this exact goddamn second.

The dragon king’s vision went solid gold.

"YOU MARKED MY WIFE."

The sentence hit the room like a detonation.

Blair and Ryker’s jaws both dropped. Everyone else didn’t seem surprised in the slightest.

Maddox was too narrowed in on Landon’s face to give a fuck.

The King of Light didn’t flinch.

"I saved her life, Drakencrest."

"Is THIS what you call saving?" Maddox’s arms tightened around Guinevere. "She’s on fire. And your mark is on her neck glowing like a goddamn beacon. What part of this is saved?"

Landon’s eyes flared brighter. "When did the wolf king mark her?" he growled, ignoring Maddox’s question. His usual calm voice was gone, replaced by something dangerous.

At that moment, runes ignited across Guinevere’s skin, surging white-hot in perfect sync with Landon’s eyes. The light burned so bright it bled through her thin silk robe, tracing every curve of her breasts, the dip of her waist, and the swell of her hips.

Maddox’s dragon rumbled loudly in his chest. Without putting her down or looking away from Landon, Maddox grabbed the ripped blanket on the bed and covered her.

Landon closed his eyes, swallowing down the light. Under the blanket, she dimmed with him.

"My mark shouldn’t have manifested fully on her for months," he explained, forcing his voice calm. "That’s how Luminari marks work. But she is taking to it faster than anticipated because she is my fated mate, Drakencrest, and the matebond accelerates the integration. Let me stabilize her before the fever does permanent damage."

Landon took one step towards her.

Maddox lifted his palm and gold flame exploded forward, aimed straight for Landon’s chest.

Right before it made contact, Landon’s body ignited in Guinevere’s flame. A barrier. Protective. Complete. The fire wrapped around him like a second skin as if Guinevere’s flame had decided, from across the room, while she was unconscious, that the King of Light was under her protection.

Maddox had read about this. Page forty-seven of the black ops file. When both Kael and Maddox tried to hit Nicholas Shadowfell with flame, Guinevere’s flame snapped around him too, protecting him.

His wife’s fire was shielding the man who’d marked her.

DIGNITY REMAINING: Zero. His wife’s subconscious just blue-balled him in front of everyone.

Landon stood completely unburned. He glanced down, a flicker of shock crossing his face, then looked at Maddox with pure, exhausted annoyance. His silver-blue eyes said it all: Really? We’re doing this? She’s dying and you’re throwing fire at the man trying to save her. You absolute fucking idiot.

Maddox passed blanket-wrapped Guinevere to Kael, who accepted her with the grim realization that the man handing her over was about to do something stupid.

Kael’s body began to glow white and gold, matching hers.

"Maddox," he started.

The Dragon King was already moving.

Maddox shot forward in a blur and unleashed a right hook. Landon sidestepped it effortlessly, like he was dodging a drunk toddler.

A look of pure, evil delight spread across Kael’s face. He was never, ever letting Maddox live that down. Not in this life or the next.

Maddox was back up in an instant.

It dawned on him that Landon was just as fast as he was, and he processed that information about as well as expected, which is to say, like a man who’d just been told his dick was average.

He swung again. This one connected. Knuckles met jaw, Landon’s head snapped to the side, and the gold flame around him flickered for one satisfying second.

The King of Light straightened, then rolled his jaw once. "Have you ever considered the fact that you married my fated mate, asshole?"

"She’s MY fated mate. MINE! I claimed her weeks ago."

"I’ve seen her soul, Drakencrest. That’s deeper inside of her than you ever will go," Landon said flatly. "Deal with it."

Maddox lunged at him.

Landon raised both palms and white light blasted forward, hitting Maddox in the chest.

To everyone’s surprise, including Landon’s, Maddox lit up in white light.

The same white that had detonated from Guinevere on Diplomat Row wrapped around Maddox’s body like it belonged there, settling into his skin. The Dragon King stood in the middle of Kael’s brown bedroom glowing white and gold simultaneously and looking as confused about it as everyone else.

From across the room, Jaxon and Lux wore matching expressions of wonder. Neither of them was making any effort to intervene. The zoo had delivered.

"Fascinating," Jaxon murmured.

"Isn’t it," Lux agreed.

Sterling entered through the door, took one look at the room, saw two glowing kings mid-combat, and looked at Ryker, who was standing against the far wall at a distance that was decidedly, deliberately, comfortably outside the blast radius.

Ryker shrugged with zero shame.

Sterling let out a breath, knowing full well what this fight was about. He ran between the two kings.