by Connor Crowe
He was going to kiss me. Oh Goddess, he was going to kiss me.
The door clattered against the hinges so loudly I jumped and knocked my head against his. I yelled at the pain and shrunk backwards, my hand rushing up to the rising knot on my forehead. Arric wasn’t unscathed either, though. He glared at me, but the smile that crept across his lips was contagious.
He was right. The moment was gone, but it was pretty funny.
“What is it?” Arric growled. “Little busy!”
A cleared throat. “Ah, Second Hand Arric. We didn’t know—“
Arric wrenched open the door and stared down at the messenger. “Enough with the formalities, out with it.” He snapped at them through the door, and at all at once he was no longer the kind, sensitive lover I’d glimpsed for a precious, too-short moment. He was all alpha, all power and command.
Had I only imagined the moment we’d shared just now?
“I’m sorry, sir, but it’s very urgent—there’s someone at the gates causing trouble. We’ve tried to get her to leave but she says she’s here to see someone.” The messenger’s eyes flicked past Arric and rested on me.
She.
Oh. Oh no.
I took a step back, all the air suddenly fleeing the room.
“She’s demanding this one personally.”
A growl echoed through the small room and startled me even further. It was not the growl of any human I’d ever heard. It was a battle cry of a true warrior. A beast.
And it had come from the alpha standing in my doorway.
“Take me to her,” Arric demanded. “Now.” His tone left no room for argument.
“Arric, wait!” I called out, leaping from the bed and grabbing some clothes. If my dream was correct...
“What?”
“I think I know who’s out there,” I breathed.
4
Arric
My wolf reacted before I could. It snarled to the surface, and nothing could stop it.
Especially not when Elliot was in danger.
“I’m coming with you,” came a voice from behind me. I looked back in shock to find him there, arms crossed, face set in the most adorable little pout I’d ever seen.
“You’re not coming,” I hissed at him. “If someone out there means to do you harm...” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “It’s not up for debate.”
“That’s right, it’s not,” Elliot agreed, pulling on a pair of pants and a coat. “Now come on. I think I know who we’re dealing with.”
He pushed through both me and the guard and stormed down the hall, still pulling his arms into the sleeves of his coat. I stared after him for a moment, mouth open. The messenger, Milo I’d learned his name was, flicked his gaze to me.
“Well don’t stand there, come on!” He pressed, and we took off after the omega.
Once we were out of the living areas we fell into step with a group of guards making their way to the gates.
Markus was among them, along with his mate Felix and several of the new command Markus had appointed. They were green, sure, but snakes like Galt and Cade couldn’t be allowed to live after Felix had uncovered them preying on members of their own pack. We’d had to recruit new guards, and fast.
“To be called out in the middle of the night over a single female at the gates?” I asked Markus when we met up with him. “How much of a threat could she be?”
“See for yourself.”
Elliot clung to my side every step of the way. What was he so scared of?
I wanted to ask him, but maybe when we were in more of a private setting. Just as I’d sensed his pain from the nightmare, there was something connected about all of this. Something I couldn’t put my finger on. The missing piece.
“You okay?” I asked under my breath when they unlocked the gate and it slowly creaked open, yawning like a mouth. “Something you need to tell me?”
“It’s her,” Elliot whispered, and clenched my arm even tighter in a death grip. “Someone from my old flight—er, pack.”
And as soon as the gates opened and we stepped out into the lands beyond, I saw just what he was talking about.
This was no innocent, harmless female. She was a dragon shifter, standing tall and fierce against the handful of guards subduing her. Bright red scales flashed in the moonlight and the moment she set eyes on us, an ethereal screech ripped through the night.
“Elliot!” She cried in a terrible, high-pitched timbre. “You thought you could hide from me with these wolves?”
“What is the meaning of this?”
Markus stepped forward, between us and the snarling dragon shifter.
“What business do you have with Nox Bay?” He growled. Even from this vantage I could see the beginnings of the shift overtake him. He hunched over, ears poking free from his hairline and his hands lengthening into paws and claws. “And why have you come alone, in the dead of night?”
The dragon woman hissed. Restrained by the shackles the guards had forced on her, she shrunk back down to her human form, which, to be honest, was no less intimidating.
She was tall and beautiful, if ‘can roast your ass and dance on the ashes’ was a form of beauty. My wolf clawed its way to the surface when I felt Elliot tense up once again beside me. He practically hid behind me, using my body as a shield.
It didn’t matter who she was or where she came from, no one threatened him when I was around.
I snarled back at her, holding Elliot close to my body. “What claim have you over him? He’s not your plaything, nor anyone else’s. He’s here under the protection of Nox Bay, and you’d do well to acknowledge that. State your business in a civil manner and we might let you live. But if you seek to sow the seeds of discord among our people...we will not show mercy.” I bared my teeth, showing my fangs so she’d get the message.
“Oh, shut up with your formal bullshit. I’m here to collect my mate, and that’s that. We were arranged to be mated, and then he ran away from me. Thought he could escape our little agreement. But he’s mine by rights, and I will have what is mine.”
A murmur passed through the gathering crowd as Elliot clenched my arm ever tighter. His spirit, I could tell, was all but in full panic mode. And I wasn’t going to let her push him around that way.
“He’s mine,” I snarled before I could think better of it. My wolf came to the fore and snarled with me, eyes flickering to wolf form and back in the pale moonlight. “And you will stay away from my mate.”
She stared at me for a few moments, blinking. I held her gaze and refused to back down. If a staring contest is what she wanted, then a staring contest was what she would get. No one messed with my mate and got away with it.
Mate. There was that word again. It flickered through my mind with every beat of my heart, and I knew without question that this was the one the gods had made for me. Not that I’d had a chance to talk to Elliot about it, or that he even wanted me, but if it could buy us some time, get her off our backs for long enough...
“Excuse me?” She spat at last. “I am Tiratina Nor of the Emerald Isles Flight and I demand a hearing!”
Her eyes flashed gold once more, smoke and steam roiling from her nostrils. She couldn’t do much more than that in this form, but I still took a step back. Or rather, Elliot pulled me back. He was the one thing keeping me grounded to reality. Without him? I would have already been in wolf form, ripping out her throat.
“Enough.” Markus boomed, motioning to the guards. “You have a choice, Miss Tiratina.” The guards forced her to her knees and she looked up at him, eyes aflame with hatred.
“How noble of you,” she sneered. “Let me guess: a fast death or a slow, painful one.”
Markus huffed. The air hung thick with tension, the only sounds my thudding heart and the eerie cry of the crickets.
“Death would be more than you deserve for threatening my pack. But I will give you this: leave our lands at once and I shall let you live. Or stay, and find your judgment.”
; Tiratina gave a final snarl, but seemed to relent at last. “Fine,” she spat. “But I will return to take what’s mine.”
I lunged forward with a growl, teeth turning to fangs as the transformation began, but this time it was Markus that held me back. “Let her go,” he commanded.
“If she returns, we will know she has decided her fate.”
“But Alpha—“
“That is my command. Now go, take Elliot to safety. You will not throw your life away this day.” He looked past me to Elliot, still standing thunderstruck in the grassy area outside the gates.
Right. I had an omega to protect. More so than my own pride. More so than my alpha urges. Fighting against my instincts was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do, but I pushed back my wolf for long enough to regain reason.
“Yes, Alpha.” I saluted him and returned to Elliot, taking him in my arms. Goddess, he was shaking. It didn’t matter who was watching or what they said. I would have done anything in that moment to take his pain away.
I held him close to me, a hand stroking his soft hair. “Shh,” I soothed. “Let’s get you home.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but only a choked sob came out. It broke my heart, right then and there. I pledged, with all the stars as my witness, to be the alpha he needed. Not a brutal, violent one beholden to primal urges. But the protector he needed.
I would protect his body with my own. I would protect his heart.
5
Elliot
“Excuse me?” I asked Arric as soon as we were out of earshot. “What was that about? Your mate? Really?”
I didn’t mention the surge of excitement in my heart the moment he’d said it. Nor did I mention the way my soul seemed to reach out and react to his announcement, fueling a fire inside me that had long since died.
He couldn’t just claim me like that, even if it was saving my ass from the Queen Bitch. I was done being someone’s property.
Arric glanced down at me and shrugged. “And you’re going to need to tell me what happened between you two. There’s something going on and I think it’s going to affect all of us.”
I frowned. The memories were still there, of course. Burned like a brand into my heart. That didn’t mean I wanted to reopen those old wounds and relive those moments all over again.
Besides, I was still reeling from the way he made me feel just by being around me. And then when he stuck up for me like that? It changed something inside me, and I wanted him to know just how much that meant to me.
I plopped down on the bed and buried my face in my hands. It was too much. It was all too much. Losing my home and my friends. Seeing the compound burn. The nightmares. Moving to a new place, a new pack. And then her.
My body rocked with shaking sobs and this time when Arric put his arms around me, I didn’t resist. I let his strong, steady warmth ground me, and the sensation of our touch race through my veins like quicksilver.
“Okay,” I said at last, in a shaky voice. I wiped my eyes and sat up straighter, looking him in the eye. “You know how you found me in the Black Hands, right? Well, most of the people there were, shall we say, volunteered for the job—like Felix. They went out and found omegas with nowhere else to go. Took ‘em in. But not me. If you can believe it, I actually joined of my own accord.”
Arric raised an eyebrow. “Even knowing what they did?”
I sighed. “It’s...complicated. I needed somewhere I could disappear, and I’d heard the rumors about the Black Hands, so I sought them out.”
“Disappear,” Arric repeated. “From her, then.” It wasn’t a question.
I nodded.
“What did she do to you?” Arric asked softly. He took my hands in his, holding them close and letting me feel his warmth.
“Well,” I swallowed. “I come from a flight of dragon shifters. That’s what our packs are called,” I amended when Arric opened his mouth to ask. “Flights. Anyway, I grew up among dragons in the Emerald Isles, and when they found out I was different...” I shrugged. “Thought I was too much of a liability, I guess.” I wiggled my fingers and toes, shrugging again. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Guess I was born different or something, but I can’t shift. Never have. They took that as a sign of weakness. And that, along with presenting as omega when I came of age...”
“They tried to marry you off against your will,” Arric realized. “I’ve heard of such practices.”
“And not just that,” I added. “They chose the meanest, most arrogant alpha in the whole flight to mate me with. Said it would be good for me to get a bit of discipline, whatever that meant. I was nothing to her. To any of them. They said as much.” I hugged myself, feeling the tears starting to come again.
Arric didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. He wrapped me in his embrace and held me there, soothing away the panic.
He wasn’t like the other alphas I’d interacted with—male or female. He actually seemed to care about me, which was a new concept. One I liked. And so what if he was a man? My body didn’t seem to mind the way his hands caressed my skin and left me breathless. Why should I?
“Elliot,” he said at last, tilting my chin up so that I could meet his gaze. “I want you to know something. You are not nothing, you hear me? Those who would tell you that have no right to call you family.”
I sniffed, blinking through the tears in my eyes. “I know, but without them…what do I have?” The same old insults came back to me again and again. I couldn’t make it on my own. I was weak. I was helpless. I needed someone to take care of me and make sure I didn’t get into trouble. The world was a scary, unsafe place.
I clasped my hands to the sides of my head and moaned, squeezing my eyes shut.
What if they were right?
And then a little voice from deep inside me spoke. One that I’d never heard before.
And what if Arric is right, instead?
“They are wrong, and they are blind.” Arric rested his forehead against mine, his breath hot on my cheeks. “To not see what’s right in front of them…”
He pressed into me further now, his arms going to either side of my chest. I was pinned. I watched him with wide eyes, my heart stuttering out a frantic rhythm. And for once? I wasn’t scared.
I should have been. It wasn’t the first time an alpha had cornered me. But behind Arric’s bravado, there was something softer. Something kind.
Something that my heart wanted very much.
It came on like a summer storm.
First there was nothing, just the buzzing current between our bodies. Then all at once, the rumbles started. The thunder.
And yes, the lightning.
I sucked in a breath when Arric touched me again, this time his skin impossibly cold against mine.
Arric drew back with a gasp, as if burned. “Elliot...are you all right? You’re burning up...”
The cloudy fog of my mind cleared just enough for me to process his words. Burning up.
Me.
Heat.
“Shit,” I muttered. I ducked under his arms and skittered away, pressing myself against the opposite wall. Breaths came in heavy pants as the heat worked its way over my body.
“What’s wrong?” Arric cried, whirling around. “Did I hurt you?”
“No,” I muttered, hiding my face. “No, it’s just...they had us all on suppressants...I’m sure I’ve got some around here somewhere...” I practically dove for the small bag of possessions I’d salvaged from the compound. Clothes and trinkets flew as I looked for the heat suppressants. They had to be in here. They had to be...
“Where are they?” I croaked out when I reached the bottom of the bag and came up empty. “I thought I had more...”
I could still feel Arric’s eyes on my back. Could still feel his concern. And more than ever, I could feel the surging torrent of need clouding my body and mind. I needed to get out of here. I needed to get out of here, now.
“Hey,” Arric said, his voice gentle as
a feather. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay!” I shrieked, tears beginning to well up in my eyes. “I promised myself I’d never fall prey to this. That I could be strong.”
Arric’s face fell to confusion for only a moment, then returned to recognition. He let out a breath. “Who told you that you’re not strong?”
I winced.
“My poor angel,” he breathed, not waiting for a response. “If only you knew how I see you...”
“Then tell me,” I breathed, my heart quickening once more. I was playing with fire and I knew it, but if it meant he could keep saying such lovely things...
“I’d prefer to show you,” he rumbled, advancing on me. “But only if you want me to. I cannot undo the wounds of your past, but if you’ll give me a chance, perhaps we could share some sort of future.”
There it was again. That hope. That beautiful, blossoming feeling that maybe, for once, everything would work out.
So I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and took a step forward.
I was omega. I was in heat. And there was no one I would rather have had by my side.
“You’re not like the others,” I murmured, taking another step forward. “You’re different.”
A shadow passed over his face then. Was it recognition? Sadness? “That’s not the first time I’ve heard that.”
The reality of the situation broke down upon me when my cock strained against my pants, hard and aching. I’d never been so turned on in all my life, and we hadn’t even touched...
I held my breath, realizing how silly I would sound. A big alpha like him probably had all kinds of suitors. What made me any different?
“I’ve...” I stopped and chewed my lip, second thoughts forcing their way through my brain. I pushed through and finished the sentence, but not before my face was full on flaming red. “I’ve never done this with a man before.”
Arric’s lip quirked upward. “Well you’re in luck, then. I’ve never done this with anyone before.”
