by Lili Zander
“Pete Solomon was killed. Two wolves. One of them was the wolf who cornered Aria at Cellar.”
My hand flies to my lips. They must have gone to Uncle Pete’s apartment right after they fled Central Park. They must have been looking for Silas.
My heart breaks. Uncle Pete is dead. My fault. All my fault.
Blood is roaring in my ears. “I have to see Silas.” I stumble out of bed, naked and pick up my bloodstained clothes. Bastian, his expression radiating concern, gently pries them out of my grip and replaces them with a soft gray t-shirt.
I pull it over my head and take the shorts he offers. They’re several sizes too big. I pull the drawstring tight and hope they stay up. “Silas,” I say again. That’s all I can think of. I have to see Silas. I have to make sure, with my own eyes, that he’s okay. Only then will this tight feeling in my chest disappear. Only then will I be able to breathe again.
“Come, mausezähnchen.” Bastian leads me down the hallway with a comforting hand on the small of my back.
We enter the living room. For two seconds I’m rooted to the doorway, and then my brain finally registers Silas. His eyes are red, and his face is lined with grief, but he’s here. He’s okay.
I launch myself at him, and he catches me around the waist in a tight hug. “I’m so sorry,” I choke out on a sob. Those tears that I never let loose break free for the second time in less than twenty-four hours, streaming down my cheeks.
He pats my back. “It’s okay, little cub,” he says. “We’re okay.”
38
Aria
Shit just got very, very real.
Uncle Pete is dead. No matter how many times the dragons insist that it’s not my fault, I know the truth. I did this. I got involved with Drakkar Raedwulf, and I put everyone I love in danger.
“Raedwulf must have guessed that I’d send Silas to Pete’s place.” My voice is a whisper. I swallow back a lump in my throat. My eyes are stinging. Exhaustion and grief are threatening to overwhelm me, but I can’t allow it.
Silas just lost his best friend. I have to stay strong for his sake. I can’t imagine what he’s going through right now. If anything were to happen to Bea, I’d… “Bea,” I yelp, sitting up abruptly. “What if they go after her?”
“Tomas is on it, love.” Rhys smiles at me. He’s trying to be cheerful, but I can sense his worry under the surface. “We wouldn’t leave your family and friends unprotected.”
I stare at him, at all of them. While I’ve been acting like the lone wolf, they’ve been taking steps to protect me. Erik watched over Silas last night. Bastian followed me to the park. They even remembered Bea.
“I can never repay you.” I stare at the mark on my wrist. You’re ours, Rhys had said. I hadn’t put much stock in that simple phrase. Words are easy. But now I see what it means to belong to the dragons, and it feels like a very warm, very fuzzy, very comforting blanket draped over my shoulders.
“There’s nothing to repay,” Mateo answers quietly. “You are our mate, tesoro. We will move heaven and earth to see you happy.”
We sit in the living room, each of us lost in our own thoughts. In many ways, I feel like the foundations of my life are crumbling. Every Sunday, Uncle Pete would come over to Silas’ apartment at one in the afternoon with two six-packs of beer, and the two men would watch football all day. The Norm guys I went to school with were always very impressed with my sports knowledge.
Silas will watch the playoffs alone this year.
Hold it together, Aria.
If the men have somewhere else to be, they show no sign of it. They wait with me, clearly reluctant to leave me alone. The sky slowly lightens. The sun rises, throwing its golden rays over Central Park. Finally, Bastian gets to his feet and offers me his hand. “You need to rest.”
I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to fall asleep, but Silas is nodding in agreement. “He’s right, little cub. You look like hell. A few hours of sleep is just what you need.”
“I look like hell?” I make myself sound indignant, but inside, I want to cry with sheer relief. If Silas is up to teasing me, then maybe we’re all going to be okay after all.
Bastian’s assistant, Tracy, has arranged an apartment for Silas in the same building as us. Erik takes him there. Casius curls up on the couch with a book, and my insides flutter. Guys who read are so fucking sexy.
Mateo gets to his feet and stretches lazily. “Come here, tesoro,” he says to me. “You’re wounded.”
I am? I glance down, and there’s a scratch on my left arm. “I don’t remember getting it.” I hold my arm out to Mateo, expecting him to wave his fingers over me, the way he did with Bastian. He doesn’t. Instead, he laces my fingers in his and tugs me closer, and his lips graze the wound. A warm glow fills me, and every nerve ending tingles in arousal. I feel the same fierce ache again, the same ache that filled me when I tasted Bastian’s blood. “More blood magic?” I murmur.
He nods. “You should form the bond with all of us,” he advises.
“It can wait,” Bastian interjects. “Aria needs to rest now.”
I wink and salute him. “Yes Sir,” I say mockingly. “Whatever you say, Sir.”
He growls in his throat. “Keep that up, and you won’t be sleeping.”
Desire flares sharply, and I push it down. Pete just died. It feels wrong to be thinking about jumping Bastian’s bones.
“Come, love.” Rhys puts his arms around me and tugs me in the direction of his bedroom, Bastian on our heels. He pulls back the covers for me, and I get in. “Join me?” I ask the two men. “I don’t want to be alone.”
Bastian’s eyes soften. “Of course, mausezähnchen.” He undresses to his boxers, and I watch greedily. What? I’m not going to touch, but I can look, right?
“Sleep, love.” Rhys gets into bed and pulls me into his embrace. I close my eyes and relax, spooned against Rhys’ warm body, my arm curled around Bastian’s waist. I don’t expect to sleep, but before I know it, I’m out like a light.
I can smell pancakes in my dream. There’s a tall stack of chocolate chip pancakes on a plate, maple syrup dripping down the sides. I reach for it, my stomach rumbling and my mouth watering, and I hear a rich, male chuckle. “You can’t eat them in bed, love. You’ll get my sheets sticky.”
I rub the sleep out of my eyes and sit up, resisting the urge to make dirty jokes about sticky sheets. I’m not going to scare off the guy holding the pancakes. Not until I wolf down a half-dozen of them. “Rise and shine,” Rhys says cheerfully.
“Coffee,” I groan. Why is he so fricking happy?
His grin deepens. “Not a morning person then. Come on, lazy bones. There’s a full pot of coffee in the kitchen, and Mateo is cooking breakfast.”
I swing off the bed. “Mateo? I thought you’d have an entire housekeeping staff cooking your food.”
“Normally, we do,” he admits. “But as long as Drakkar Raedwulf is still out there, it seems safer to restrict access to only essential personnel.” He winks at me. “Housekeeping access cards, as we’ve found out, can be stolen by nimble-fingered thieves.”
I flush, but his tone is teasing. “Is Silas awake?”
“Everyone is up except you, love. Silas even went back to his apartment and brought you some clothes.” He points to a suitcase in the corner of the room.
Clean underwear. Happy dance.
“And your phone has been beeping non-stop,” he adds.
Bea, probably. I’m willing to bet that my bestie is going crazy that she hasn’t got an update from me. I need to call her back, but I still have to figure out how much I’m allowed to tell her about the dragons.
“Okay, I’m going to take a quick shower first.” I grab a pancake off his plate and run into the attached bathroom, slamming the door shut so he can’t follow me, giggling as I hear his volley of curses.
Hey, I’m a thief. Rhys should have been prepared.
Silas, who was clearly just waiting for me to wake up, leaves shortly
after I show up. “Pete has a nephew in Queens,” he says. “Somebody should call him.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” I ask him.
He shakes his head immediately. “It’s not safe. You stay here where these guys can keep an eye on you.”
That’s Silas. Worries like an Olympic champion. “I don’t want you going alone.”
“I won’t be alone,” he replies with a grimace. “Lukus Hyde, the Alpha of the Eclipse Pack, is going to be with me, and a trio of panthers are going to be prowling around too. All this security is enough to drive a thief crazy.”
“You’re welcome,” Bastian says, his voice dry.
Grinning at Silas’ disgruntled tone, I attack the food. I’m scarfing down my fourth pancake when Tomas Vallin shows up, a little after two. The poor guy. I wonder if he got any sleep last night. Probably not. “The wolf-shifter we took into custody has woken up, Lord Jaeger,” he says.
I pour Tomas a cup of coffee. He takes it from me with a surprised smile of thanks. Erik’s eyes narrow, and he looks faintly displeased. What? Now it’s a crime to give the guy a cup of coffee? I’m tired of Erik’s grouchiness. I get it—the whole ‘mate’ thing is freaking me out too—but you don’t see me biting people’s heads off, do you? Because I’m not a jerk.
I lift my chin and glare back at him. We’re locked in a silent staring match until Mateo clears his throat. “I’m going to question him,” he announces. “Who’s coming with me?”
“I will,” Bastian says at once.
“Control freak,” I murmur under my breath. I take a sip of coffee and feel life seep back into my body.
Tomas hears me and laughs out loud, hastily turning it into a cough when Bastian swings his head to glare at him. “The Norm police are also downstairs, Lord Jaeger,” he says. “They’ve requested an audience with you.”
Bastian sighs. “Fine. I’ll deal with them. Casius, can you go with Mateo? Find out why they’re after the Bloodstone and what their connection is with Gideon.”
I give him a puzzled look. “I expected you to tell the Norm cops to go to hell. Most shifters I know treat Norms like they’re beneath them.”
Erik frowns. Again. “That’s foolish,” he says. “Typical shifter arrogance. There are more Norms than magical, and most of the time, cooperation is better than conflict.”
Okay, I might not think very much about Erik, but I can’t disagree with his sentiment. Most shifters are arrogant assholes, but I didn’t expect to hear that from one of the Dragon Princes. Maybe Erik isn’t all that bad under that gruff exterior.
“It’s more than that.” Casius’ voice is soft. “Norms are a consequence of the curse. Before Gideon Zyrian cast his curse upon the magicals, most people in the world had magic, but it leached away as a result of the Dark Dragon.”
There’s a pit in my stomach. It’s that name. Gideon Zyrian. It nags at my subconscious, and it makes me uneasy. Because they’re talking about the curse that’s draining magic from the world, Aria. That’s heavy-duty stuff.
I decide to focus on the dragon princes instead. “I thought you’d be more arrogant,” I tell them. I leave off the word asshole. “You’re the insanely wealthy dragon princes. Honestly, I’m kinda shocked you aren’t jerks.”
Tomas almost chokes on his coffee. Bastian’s lips twitch. He seems amused by my honesty, which is reassuring. When I first met him, I thought he took himself too seriously and was incapable of laughing at himself, but over the course of today, I’ve learned that’s not true at all.
“We’re perfectly capable of arrogance,” Mateo replies. He slides another pancake off the skillet and onto my plate. If we’re keeping count, that’s pancake number five, and I don’t care. Nom. Nom. Nom. “We are dragons. We’re obsessed with treasure.” Those penetrating blue eyes rest on me. “Of course,” he says, lowering his voice, “sometimes, the most important treasure isn’t gold or gemstones.”
I blush hard. I’m not used to this. Five guys looking as if I’m their dream come true? It’s just surreal.
Well, four guys. Mate or not, I’m pretty sure Erik hates me.
Of course, I’m not above taking advantage of their attention. “I want to come with you,” I tell Casius and Mateo. “This wolf’s buddies killed Pete. I want to be there when you question him.”
I’m expecting them to tell me that it’s not safe, but to my shock, the dragons just look resigned. “I thought you’d say that, tesoro,” Mateo says. “We’ll leave as soon as you’re done eating.”
Bastian rises to his feet. He comes around to my chair and puts his hands on my shoulders. “Control freak?” he whispers, his breath tickling my ear.
“You know it.”
He chuckles warmly. “Oh, you have no idea, mausezähnchen.”
A pleasant shiver runs down my spine. He’s right. I have no idea. But once this is all over, I’d love to find out.
39
Casius
I hand Rhys the Bloodstone before I go. If push comes to shove, I’m pretty confident in Mateo and my ability to protect the stone, but we are going to interrogate someone who might be an associate of Zyrian’s. It seems wiser to leave the stone behind.
“What were you reading yesterday?” Aria asks me as we head downstairs.
I clear my throat awkwardly. “It’s a Western,” I confess, feeling a flush creep up my neck. “It’s not serious at all.” Next to me, I can feel Mateo hold back an amused snort.
“So what? Does everything have to be serious all the time?”
“It is if you are Lord Casius Slater,” I reply. “I’m the level-headed one. The voice of reason. The one who’s supposed to know everything about everything. Westerns,” I grimace, “are a frivolous waste of time.”
“Casius really does know everything,” Mateo tell Aria in an aside. “Seriously.”
She tilts her head to one side and surveys me. I can feel my blood inside her, our essences touching, combining. It’s a powerful aphrodisiac, more potent than any drugs the Norms have invented to make up for their lack of magic. “I like that you read Westerns,” she says at last. “It makes you feel less intimidating.”
I give her a startled look. “You think I’m intimidating?”
“Umm, Casius? You’re a dragon. You’re good-looking. Rich. And immortal, if the rumors are right. Of course you’re intimidating.”
“You think I’m good-looking?” I can’t help it; I smirk a little. Hordes of women throw themselves at Rhys and Bastian, and I’ve been content to stay in the shadows. Until now. Aria is my mate. “I’m flattered.”
I trace the outline of her jaw with my fingertip, and she shivers. “Casius,” she groans. “Please…”
The elevator lurches to a stop, cutting her off.
I can sense Aria’s need, but also her confusion. I feel a surge of sympathy for her. In the last twenty-four hours, Drakkar Raedwulf has tried to kill both her and Silas Archer and has succeeded in murdering Pete Solomon, their Norm friend. Aria’s holding things together admirably, given the circumstances. The last thing she needs right now is pressure of any kind.
Mateo holds the elevator door open for us. As I follow Aria out, he places his hand on my arm. “I’m used to saying this to Rhys, not you,” he says, his lips twitching. “Adjust yourself, will you?”
I look down to see my cock tenting my pants. Gritting my teeth, I will it to soften. I might not want to pressure Aria, but it appears that my body has other ideas.
Damn it.
40
Aria
To my surprise, we head to Preston Memorial. “Either you or Bastian flung the wolf pretty hard against the tree,” Mateo says when I ask why. “He had a concussion.”
“I didn’t know wolves got concussions.” Okay, that might not be the smartest thing I’ve ever said. “It was Bastian who did the flinging. I’m Norm, remember?”
Both Mateo and Casius give me searching looks. “What?” I demand. “What aren’t you telling me? What’s that look for?
”
Mateo answers. “Are you sure you’re Norm?”
I stop in my tracks, and someone almost collides into me, but before they can, Casius moves in a blur, placing himself in the way. The harried woman mutters under her breath about people who don’t have enough sense not to block the doorways, but I ignore her. I’m still processing the fact that they don’t think I’m Norm. “But I am,” I mutter. “I have to be.”
Casius takes my arm and gently tugs me toward a small waiting area. “Now is not the time for that discussion, Aria. We don’t know anything for sure.”
I let herself be tugged. “But you think so.”
“An instinct, nothing more.” Mateo tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “Tesoro, for hundreds of years, we have looked for you. And now we’ve found you. Everything else is unimportant.”
A mysterious curse. An unknown prophecy. Now, lingering doubts about my heritage. “It doesn’t feel unimportant.”
He draws me into a corner. “Aria,” he whispers, looking into my eyes. “Remember the club? Remember the connection between us? It didn’t matter if you were Norm or magical. I didn’t know anything about you then, but I couldn’t help myself. Something drew you to me.” He kisses my wrist, and for a second, it feels like he’s in my head, and though it should freak me out, it doesn’t. It feels right. “The next day, I begged Erik to track the wolf threatening you. Hell, I almost started a magical war.”
“You did?”
A smile tugs at his lips. “I did. Rhys had to remind me that I couldn’t go about threatening wolves without the pack Alpha getting his fur ruffled.”
“Hang on. Is that why the Eclipse Pack’s Alpha is going with Silas? So we can question this wolf without interference?”
He grins and presses a kiss against my forehead. “You, tesoro,” he says, “are far too clever for your own good. Now, shall we go talk to our prisoner?”
