Fate of Dragons

by Olivia Ash

  And with the entire Spectre organization fully equipped and after me, heading into the wilderness with so few resources would be a bad idea.

  Movement by the window below that leads up onto my patch of roof catches my attention, and I tilt my head enough to see who’s about to join me. Two strong hands grip the edge, and seconds later, Drew pulls himself effortlessly onto the dark shingles.

  Yet again.

  Doesn’t he realize this is my place to think?

  Without a word or even a glance in my direction, he nears. His strides are slow and smooth, utterly at home two hundred feet in the air. Without so much as a nod in my direction, he sits beside me, propping up a knee and leaning an elbow on it casually. He scans the horizon without ever acknowledging my existence.

  I sigh in frustration. “I’m really not in the mood to be teased.”

  He chuckles. “Can’t I just keep you company?”

  “I don’t think you know how.”

  With a laugh, he lays down on the roof tiles and tucks his hands behind his head, staring up into the sky. “Why are you so certain it’s the Vaer?”

  “This isn’t Zurie’s style.” I shrug, surveying the world around us as we speak, keeping an eye out for anyone who could overhear. The dragons below are out of earshot, and there are no cameras or mics up on this roof. I’ve checked.

  We’re clear until the next scout circles by, but that won’t be for another ten minutes.

  “What if Irena woke up?” He peeks through one eye to gauge my reaction.

  I’m tempted to hit him hard in the stomach for the sheer audacity to ask such a question, but I refrain. “She would just knock on the door.”

  “She’s still a Spectre. If—”

  “Do you have a brother?” I ask, interrupting.

  He frowns. “Yeah.”

  “Just one?”

  “Just one.”

  “Older?”

  “Yes,” he says hesitantly.

  “Would you kill for him?” I lock eyes with the mysterious Drew, ready to drive my point home.

  Drew frowns and leans up on his elbows, his eyes darting across my face as he tries to guess where I’m going with this. “I have, yes.”

  “To keep him safe?” I don’t let an ounce of emotion show on my face. “To save him from himself, if you had to?”

  This time, Drew doesn’t answer. He goes silent, that stern expression on his face as he waits for me to make my point.

  “Irena and I are all each other have.” I drape one arm over my knee and stare off into the sunset. “I would kill for her. I have. And she would kill for me. It doesn’t matter what I am, or what she is, or what mistakes either of us makes. Blood is thicker than regret, and we would burn cities to the ground if that’s what it took to save each other.”

  I wait, watching the dragon shifter, studying his face as he takes it all in. Eventually, his expression softens, and he nods. “Point taken.”

  “So, no,” I finish anyway. Even though he’s made it clear he understands, I want to make my stance on this absolutely clear. “Even if she somehow woke up and escaped without us knowing, it’s not possibly Irena.”

  “Could be the Knights.” He shrugs. “They have firepower.”

  “Yeah, but not the finesse.” I let out a humorless chuckle. “We would have noticed. They would have made a big scene out of it. They always do.”

  “True.”

  “That leaves the Vaer.”

  “The rebel dragon factions—”

  “About that,” I interject. “Who are they? What do they want?”

  Drew rubs his jaw. “They all want different things, mostly to overthrow the current Boss. Every dragon family has had their own rebel faction pretty much throughout time. Where there’s power, there will always be opposition.”

  He stares off into the sunset, and it takes me a moment to realize he just let his guard down.

  It was so subtle, so understated that I almost missed it.

  This man has always carried himself with authority, and I’ve known he had access to intel most could only dream of. But the way he just spoke—he accidentally revealed an intimate understanding of what it means to run a dragon family.

  Somehow, Drew knows the ins and outs of daily management, of wielding power, of putting dragons in their place.

  I’m speechless.

  It doesn’t really make sense, either—he’s not a dragon Boss. I know their names, and no one named Drew has ever come up in a mission profile.

  For a moment, I simply stare at him. When I don’t respond, he turns to me and seems to realize his mistake. He frowns, but neither of us say anything.

  Every time I talk to him, I’m reminded of how little I know about his past. About his abilities. About his life. I have no idea who this man even is, and I need to be careful.

  Though he came for me when Tucker and I attacked the Vaer stronghold, I honestly don’t know if he can be trusted.

  But I want to. I want to trust him. The way he listens, the way he gives me space—he knows what I can do, and he respects it.

  He respects me.

  Deep down, I want to tell him about the pit. Ask about the magic there, about the voices I heard in the mist. I want to tell him everything and see what answers he has, but a little flicker of doubt holds me back.

  It’s hard to tell if this is my intuition telling me to trust him, or if I’m just lonely. Irena and I usually work through our problems together, and it’s been rough to do this mostly solo. After all, Tucker can’t usually go two minutes without cracking a joke or trying to take off my shirt.

  In the silence, Drew leans toward me. Every one of his movements is so subtle, so smooth. Confident. Sure of himself.

  He radiates muscle and power, and it’s clear every motion has a purpose. Every tilt of his head, every frown, every expression is meant to serve him in some way, to get a desired effect.

  Usually, I suspect his goal is to intimidate others. He just does it naturally.

  But as he leans toward me, his rock-hard chest getting closer by the second, this motion feels intimate. Like there’s so much he wants to say, to do, and he can’t.

  He looks… tortured.

  His eyes drop briefly to my lips, and he sighs in frustration. He pauses, looking at the roof tile, avoiding my gaze completely.

  It’s strange to see such a powerful and commanding man look almost shaken. Like he’s barely holding himself back, barely restraining a compulsion and desire that’s virtually overtaking him.

  “Who are you?” I ask. “I mean, really? Tell me your full name.”

  “What, and break the rules?” A small smile breaks across his face, and he shakes his head. “It’s impossible to keep the secret much longer, Rory. One way or another, you’ll find out soon. And when you do…” He rubs the back of his neck, and his warm eyes finally lock with mine. “When you find out who I am, you won’t want anything to do with me.”

  I laugh. “Why, are you a Vaer?”

  “No, no,” he chuckles and waves the thought away.

  “Then what could be worse than what I am?”

  His smile fades abruptly, and that familiar stoic frown settles into his face. He doesn’t answer, and that concerns me most of all.

  I knew there were secrets about Drew that I would never unravel, that this powerful and influential man knows far more than he lets on. But it seems I will get at least one answer about his mysterious past—and when I figure it out, it’s pretty clear I won’t like what I discover.

  Chapter Five

  I walk through the halls of the embassy, lost in my thoughts. With my hands in my pockets, I let my eyes slip out of focus as I weave through the passageways with practiced ease.

  This place already feels familiar. A little safe, even, but not enough to let my guard down. I don’t know if I would go so far as to call this home, but it’s close.

  The list of things going wrong is miles long. Irena is still gone. Sick. Maybe dead. I grimac
e at the thought and shove it from my mind, but what comes next isn’t much better—because Zurie is still after me. The Knights are after me. The Vaer are killing dragons to get to me.

  Oh, the joys of being popular.

  But worst of all, Drew’s secret past is truly starting to concern me. It’s pretty clear that, when I discover the truth, my world’s going to shift.

  I’m not too thrilled about the idea.

  Before long, I find myself overlooking the courtyard Levi has been using as his home base since we arrived. I lean on the balcony railing to find the blue dragon curled on the ground, his wings tucked in, sleeping as Tucker sharpens a sword at his side.

  For a brief moment, cold adrenaline shoots through me. That sword is alarmingly close to Levi’s face. I don’t believe for a moment that Levi’s really sleeping, but to be so near, and with such a deadly weapon—

  I tense.

  Tucker’s mumbling under his breath and, to my surprise, they both chuckle at the same time.

  My shoulders relax slightly, and it takes me a moment to process what I’m seeing.

  They’re… bonding.

  I frown. That’s just weird.

  Tucker hasn’t seen me yet, lost as he is in his story and the weapons he’s cleaning. Careful to stay low and out of sight, I dart down the stairs to get closer, trying to hear what he’s saying before he realizes I’m here.

  “…and then Dad told me I needed to shape up or ship out,” Tucker says with a shrug. “Guess he didn’t like the stunt I pulled in Serbia.”

  Levi chuckles again, thin spirals of icy mist shooting from his nose as he laughs. Eyes still closed, he looks relaxed and at ease despite the weapons master sharpening a sword beside him.

  Tucker grins and lifts the blade. It glints in the setting sun as he examines his handiwork. “But he’s an ass. We both know that.”

  Levi nods, eyes still closed.

  I’m so thrown off by this whole exchange that it takes a minute longer to realize the worst part of this interaction—Levi knows who Tucker’s father is.

  William Chase.

  General of the Knights. Commander of the strongest anti-dragon terrorist organization in the world.

  And they’re talking about it in a freaking dragon embassy.

  “What are you doing?” I practically hiss at Tucker, furious, astonished that he would be so careless about possibly blowing his own cover.

  Tucker flinches. In seconds, he’s on his feet, gun drawn from the hidden holster at his side, the sword perfectly balanced in his left hand as he reactively prepares for a fight.

  Levi, however, is calm as always. He opens his eyes and lifts his head, watching me with the relaxed expression of someone who heard me coming a mile away.

  It’s not him I’m mad at, though.

  When Tucker’s gaze meets mine, he relaxes and holsters the gun. “Rory, you shouldn’t sneak up on people like that.”

  “I could have been one of Jace’s guys.” I gesture to the castle, huffing in frustration. “I mean, I overheard you. Why wouldn’t they? What were you thinking, talking about that here?”

  He shrugs. “Levi asked about home.”

  For a moment, I simply gape at the two of them. “You told… about the…” I relax a little, genuinely impressed at the way he placed his trust in a dragon, of all creatures. “Wow, really?”

  “Yeah.” Tucker shoots me one of his dazzling, disarming smiles, but I’m determined not to let him off the hook for this just yet. He sets his hands on his waist and nods to the great blue dragon next to us. “He’s pretty cool, once you get over the god-awful dragon breath.”

  Levi snorts in annoyance and flicks his tail, hitting Tucker square between the shoulder blades. The weapons master falls off balance but laughs as he recovers.

  “We’ve got a code and everything,” Tucker says so quietly I can barely hear him. “And he has a freaky ability to hear people coming, so he always stops me long before someone gets within earshot.” Tucker pauses and shoots Levi a little glare. “Usually by hitting me, come to think of it.”

  I cross my arms. “You know you can just think things to him, right? Might be safer.”

  Levi chuckles and shakes his head, like this is a familiar conversation, one he’s sick of having.

  “Yeah, but I can’t keep it going for long.” Tucker shrugs and sheaths the sword he was sharpening earlier. “Besides, he’s a good listener.”

  “Well yeah, he can’t technically talk.”

  Tucker laughs. “Details.”

  With my momentary surge of anger now fading, I’m still kind of blindsided that Tucker told Levi his greatest secret—one he didn’t even tell me at first. I had to stalk him to figure it out.

  I smirk and gesture between them. “So, are you guys dating now, or…?”

  Levi bats me with his tail this time, but I just take the hit and laugh as Tucker playfully shrugs. Levi’s blow is a love tap, if anything.

  Briefly, the gorgeous blue dragon brushes his nose against my cheek, and the mental connection between us opens. A surge of affection flows from him into me.

  I pat his jaw. “Good to see you too, buddy.”

  I expect a conversation. Thoughts. Something, anything else but silence. Instead, he abruptly breaks the connection and trots off a short distance before soaring into the air without another word.

  As the gusts from his wings rustle my hair, my smile falters. I watch as he disappears into the sky without so much as a word.

  Just feelings. Just emotions.

  Only the dragon side of him spoke to me, just now. And even though he’s still my Levi, the implications are terrifying.

  With each passing day, he’s beginning to seem more dragon than human. I see the feral connection taking over, and it concerns me. If the dragon consumes him, Levi will be gone forever, trapped in his own body and unable to regain control.

  No one has ever come back from going feral, but I don’t want to lose him.

  Tucker sidles up to me, apparently oblivious to the danger Levi’s facing, and sets his hands on my hips. With a powerful, fluid movement, he burrows his face in my hair, trailing kisses along my neck. Each brush of his lips on my skin sparks a flurry of gleeful desire, reminding me of all the hours I’ve spent between his bed sheets.

  But we can’t do this here.

  “Someone could be watching,” I say, scanning the sky and windows around us as I try to ignore the way his touch burns through my core. “I don’t do PDA, babe.”

  Part of me hates that I care at all. In the Spectres, you screwed who you wanted—as long as it didn’t interfere with a mission or a direct order from Zurie.

  But here… there are eyes everywhere.

  Sure, it’s not Jace’s business who I spend time with, but it’s not like I’m trying to undermine him in his own embassy, either. Everyone thinks of me as his mate—even if I had no say in that matter. Seeing me with another man will just make Jace jealous and undermine his authority. Besides, I have enough to deal with right now as it is.

  “Well, is anyone watching?” he asks without stopping.

  “No,” I admit after finishing my scan.

  “See? We’re fine. I’ve got you on lookout.” He runs his strong palm along my stomach, teasing me as he dips his fingers past my belt, his hot skin igniting sparks along mine as he slowly explores my body.

  “Tucker, keep it in your pants,” I say with a laugh.

  He laughs, the sound dark and deep, his mouth pressed against my ear. “But I want to be in yours.”

  God, he turns me on.

  As much as I want to jump his bones, I’m even more curious to know what’s going on with him and Levi. “When did you tell—”

  “After the raid on Mason’s place.” Tucker’s hand slips up my shirt, still teasing, still exploring, still pushing my buttons in all the best ways. “Almost dying has a funny way of bringing people together.”

  “You should tell the others, too.” I scan the sky to ens
ure we’re still alone.

  I’m always alert. Always in control. I just don’t know any other way to be.

  “Jace? Drew?” Tucker snorts. “No chance. I like living.”

  “This isn’t the kind of thing you should leave to be discovered.” I frown. “They’re good at figuring out what they shouldn’t know anything about.”

  “Did you forget the part where this entire building is full of dragon shifters? I don’t think I would get a warm welcome.”

  “They accepted me.”

  He laughs. “Well, yeah, they’re madly in love with you.”

  I playfully smack his shoulder and pull away from him, my skin instantly cold now that he’s no longer holding me. But I need to drive this point home, even as those brilliant green eyes of his snare me, trap me, dare me to come closer once more.

  “Tucker,” I say quietly.

  Seriously.

  “They need to know,” I insist. “Now.”

  “Are you going to tell them?” His smile falters slightly, but he lifts his eyebrow in genuine curiosity. It’s as though he’s testing me, as if he’s trying to see the lengths to which I’ll go for him.

  By now, after everything he’s done for me, I would go just about anywhere and kill just about anyone for Tucker Chase.

  And he damn well knows it.

  “No,” I say softly. “But you should. Before it’s too late.”

  “I’ll think about it,” he says with a small sigh. He looks off, eyes on the ground, clearly fighting this decision. He’s going to put it off, but at this point there’s nothing else to be done.

  I can’t force him to tell Jace and Drew the truth. Well—scratch that, I could, but I don’t want to. He’ll do it when he’s ready, but he had damn well better hurry.

  “Are you sure about your sister?” he asks quietly, in a painfully obvious attempt to change the subject. “I mean, after Mason’s place—”

  “I’m sure,” I say with a resolute nod.

  How frustrating. I wonder if they’re all going to bring this up, but I’ll give the same answer every time.

  “Okay.” He nods, and I’m a little caught off guard by how easy that was.

  He wraps one arm around my shoulder and pulls me close, holding me as dusk settles on the mountainside. The last rays of sun are burning the mountaintops, and he simply watches the show in silence.