Page 2 of Her Silent Knight

There was only one day he was looking forward to. The day he completed his one-hundredth task. That would be a memorable day. A day worth celebrating. Until then, he would focus on surviving.

It would be a shame for him to die before he had a chance to kill those who’d wronged him. This task would bring him closer to achieving his ultimate goal. Kaede chanced another glance at his target to find her staring straight ahead at the flashing lights.

This was the first time he’d gotten this close to her. Though he had a rough sketch of her in his pocket, he’d never seen her face in person. The Deciders didn’t even have a good picture of her.

She stayed bundled up in layers of clothing. Plus, she kept a huge red scarf wrapped around her neck and her hoodie pulled low over her head, shielding her face. The only reason he knew she was the woman in the sketch was because of the red scarf at her neck.

And the fact that she rode the night train at midnight. No other creature in the Frostlands matched that description. A gust of wind blew, kicking up snow. Kaede zipped up his leather jacket then pulled his black cap down lower on his forehead.

He wasn’t fond of the cold. He was able to endure the temperatures here in the Cold Region. However, he hated venturing into the Frozen Region. There, everything was covered in ice. Being in the Frozen Region was the only time his dormant inner animal would perk up.

The temps there made his dragon shiver. It didn’t wake him, it simply made the creature protest his discomfort by shivering so hard that Kaede’s teeth would rattle. For that reason, he tried to avoid the FR.

His plan was to capture his target tonight before she boarded the night train to the FR. Kaede scoped out the area again. In about ten minutes, the night train would appear. So far, the bandits were nowhere to be found.

Neither was there any other creatures lurking in the shadows. Tonight, was the perfect night to snatch his target. Kaede reached into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around the needle that contained a sleeping toxin.

It would knock her out instantly. She’d remain that way for three hours. Long enough for a runner from The Deciders to meet up with him, take her, and give him his task completed coin.

Forty more coins and he’d be out of this frozen hell hole. Moving slowly, Kaede began pulling the needle from his pocket. A noise sounded to his left. He froze with the needle halfway out of his pocket.

His gaze darted left. He didn’t see anyone. Yet, the faint sound of snowmobiles could be heard in the distance. Bandits. Damn it. Kaede glanced down at his target. Did he have enough time to drug her and rush to the Ice Forest to hide before the bandits arrived?

Time ticked away with each beat of his heart. It had to be tonight. And it had to be before the night train arrived. Shit. He hated rushing a job. Too many mistakes could be made when a job was rushed. Tonight, time wasn’t on his side.

Though he had a truce with the bandits, he didn’t know what deal this little witch had made with them to keep them from harming her. Kaede had no way of knowing which deal they’d honor, hers or his.

Fuck it.He’d grab her now. Moving swiftly, Kaede used his thumb to uncap the syringe as he pulled it from his pocket. The female was bundled up nicely. Thankfully, there was a spot just behind her ear that was visible.

Aiming for that bit of flesh, Kaede whipped his syringe around and brought it toward her neck. He struck nothing but air. The force of his swing caused him to stumble forward. The witch had moved. He hadn’t even seen her do it.

One second, she’d been standing next to him. The next, she was standing directly in front of him. Gripping the needle, Kaede faced forward. His target’s red scarf still covered up the lower half of her face. Her hoodie covered up the rest.

But it was her stance that let him know he’d been wrong about her. Her stance was a fighting stance. Feet shoulders width apart. Gloved hands balled into fists. She was ready to fight. Normally, he was good at reading humans, supernaturals, and immortals.

Yet, he’d misjudged her. She wasn’t going to be an easy target. The sound of the snowmobiles was louder. Soon, the bandits would be within sight. This had to end now. Easy or not, he had to capture her. Kaede stepped forward.

“Sleep, wolf.”

Kaede froze. That voice. Her voice. It washed over him. It awakened him. It made him feel alive. So why the fuck couldn’t he move? Frozen in place, he felt the needle slip from his fingers.

There was nothing he could do to stop it. All he could do was stare straight ahead at the female who was slowly lifting her hood from her head. Those eyes. Brown, with a hint of gold at the center that seemed to glow.

This was no ordinary witch. He’d known there was something different about her. Why else would The Deciders want her? Even so, he hadn’t expected her to have the power to stop him.

He was an immortal dragon, an alpha. Many witches had tried, unsuccessfully, to defeat him. Both on this plane and the Mortal Plane. Their magic tricks didn’t work on immortal alphas. It would take a powerful sorceress to bring him down.

“You’re a strong one,” she whispered, voice like a melody. “I don’t have time to admire your strength. I said sleep, wolf. Now!”

Wolf? He was no wolf? Still, her words forced him to his knees. He could hear the low hum of the snowmobiles he’d hoped to avoid. The female leaned down to speak to him. That hint of gold in her eyes seemed to glow brighter.

“You’re messing up my schedule, shifter. I don’t like it when my schedule gets messed up. Now, I have to deal with them.” She nodded in the direction of the snowmobiles. The female sighed. “You give me no choice. I must force you to sleep. You’ll feel a pinch.”

A pinch, my ass!

As soon as the female’s hand touched his cheek, pain unlike anything he’d ever experienced ricocheted over his body. Even though every nerve ending in his body felt like it was on fire, that wasn’t what surprised him the most. What surprised him the most was the word he uttered as his body dropped to the ground.

“Fuck,” Kaede whispered, head hitting the concrete hard. His eyes drifted shut. As darkness reached out to claim him, his mind replayed a scene from his past. A scene he often had nightmares about.

I curse you, to never utter a word until you meet your fated mate. Which you never will, because soon, you’ll be banished to the Frostlands. There’s no way you’ll find your fated one over there. My dear Kaede, I have a feeling you’ll never speak again. You’ll never be able to tell the pack what was done this night. Mighty alpha, look how far you’ve fallen.

Those words had been uttered by his cousin’s wife. A jealous witch, powerful enough to steal the voice of an alpha. The bitch who’d banished him to this plane after framing him for a crime he didn’t commit.

And he’d been unable to speak the truth, unable to speak at all. Because of her and his rotten cousin, his pack now considered him a traitor. Because of her, Kaede hadn’t spoken a word in sixty years. Until today. Until this witch touched him. Had he done the impossible? Had he found his fated mate?

“Damn it, wolf, I said sleep.”

More pain. Then, there was nothing but darkness.