Mated Dragon's Fury

by Marcy Jacks

  “He helped you get away, and he left everyone else behind,” Rey said softly.

  Aiden wasn’t having it. His opinion wouldn’t be swayed. “No. That’s different. I mean what did you expect him to do? He couldn’t get everyone out. It had to be one at a time.”

  “And you don’t know why he chose you?”

  Aiden’s face flushed as he shook his head. He seemed to blush a lot. “I think I just got lucky. I was one of the first picked. You think I wanted that? My mother and father are still back there.”

  Silver sighed then rubbed the back of his neck.

  “I want to think the best of him for your sake, but Lightning’s pretty convinced he’s lying about something. I’ve got a mate of my own and a hatchling on the way. I’m sorry, Aiden. I won’t presume his innocence just because you want me to.”

  Aiden shook his head. “You’re supposed to think people are innocent until they’re proven guilty. Not the other way around.”

  “We’re not the police or a court of law,” Lightning replied. His words weren’t exactly gentle like Silver’s were.

  Rey growled at the man, a slight warning.

  Aiden continued to fight, unwilling to let it go as he glared fearlessly at Lightning.

  “Only savages say stuff like that. You want to be an unruly and lawless mob and then act like you’re better than the people who put me away? What are you doing to Tim? Where is he?”

  Lightning’s red eyes flashed. He got to his feet, staring down at Aiden with a fight in his eyes.

  Rey rose up just as quickly, his fists down on the table in front of him, getting the man’s attention.

  They stared at each other. Each one of them daring the other to make the first move.

  “Sit your ass down.” Rey wasn’t going to ask again.

  Lightning glared at him now. “The next time that little idiot calls me a savage—”

  “Call him an idiot again and I’ll—”

  “The both of you, shut the fuck up,” Silver snapped. The man rubbed at his temples now, as though he were on the verge of a headache.

  Rey didn’t sit down. Neither did Lightning. They were at a stand-off.

  And Rey wanted to beat the piss out of him for daring to say something like that to Aiden.

  He had to let it go. Aiden was sitting right here. If Rey leapt over the table to attack, he could end up hurting his mate by accident.

  Not wanting to look as though he was backing down, however, Rey glanced down at his mate.

  “I thought you said you barely knew him. Why defend him so much?”

  Aiden ducked his head, as though the question caught him off guard.

  “I…I don’t know. From the sound of it, he knew my dad, and my dad pretty much begged Tim to take me with him. He was…”

  Aiden’s voice changed. For a hair of a second, he looked so much smaller and more vulnerable than Rey had seen him.

  That was saying something, considering how Aiden had looked after first waking.

  Rey nearly crumbled. The sight of tears got to him on a level he never before knew possible, but with Aiden, it was proving to be a weakness.

  Aiden cleared his throat and straightened his back, pulling himself together before Rey could get down on his knees next to his chair and wrap the man up in his arms.

  “I want to see him. If you’re hurting Tim, I want you to stop.”

  Aiden looked pointedly up at Rey, shaking his head. “Mate or no mate, if you’re just as bad as that dragon clan, I’m out of here.”

  Rey’s chest clenched. Everything inside him, his guts, all of it, twisted so painfully he thought he would be sick.

  He barely held himself together. “You would leave.”

  Aiden glanced away from him. He nodded quietly.

  Aiden thought about that.

  From the sound of Aiden’s heartbeat, his body language, and the fact that he couldn’t hold Rey’s gaze, Rey figured that, if he tried hard enough, he could talk Aiden out of it. He could convince the man to stay.

  It was clear he didn’t want to leave in the first place anyway.

  But if Aiden wanted to go…

  Fuck, Rey didn’t want to think about that. He didn’t want to be put in a position where Aiden thought the best thing for him would be to leave at all.

  He wanted his mate to stay here, with him. He wanted Aiden to know he had a safe place to lay his head down here. That he could count on Rey to protect him.

  That he could count on the people around him to not be like the dragons he’d escaped from.

  Rey looked to Silver. He wouldn’t look at Lightning. “Where’s the prisoner?”

  “In Lightning’s room.”

  “What?” Aiden looked to Lightning. “Why’s he in your room?”

  Lightning shrugged. He still hadn’t sat down. He looked almost bored.

  That annoyed Rey all the more.

  “Where else was I going to put him?” Lightning glared down at Aiden. “We’re not savages. We don’t have a dungeon or anything.”

  Aiden’s face colored.

  Rey was beyond pissed off. “All right, that’s enough. You say that shit to him one more time—”

  “I’m fine, Rey,” Aiden said quickly. “I’m sorry for causing more trouble.”

  Rey’s heart broke as he looked down at the man.

  Aiden was trying so damned hard to be strong about this, but he kept his hands pressed between his knees, his shoulders hunched. He looked like a beaten man.

  He’d even stopped eating the food put out for him.

  Rey sighed, shaking his head. “Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. The story Tim told us checks out so you don’t have to watch over him anymore anyway.”

  Lightning shook his head. “He’s mine. I’m not giving him up.”

  “But why?” Aiden asked.

  “Because fuck you, that’s why,” Lightning snarled.

  Rey went into a strange sense of weightlessness just then. His brain no longer thought about the consequences, and his body seemed to be entirely out of his control.

  He leapt over the table.

  Glasses of orange juice toppled over and shattered. The table wobbled beneath Rey’s weight, but then he had his hands around Lightning’s throat and they were down on the floor.

  Silver yelled at them.

  Aiden pulled back from the sudden shock of it, and Rey slammed his fist again and again into Lightning’s stupid cheek.

  The man’s white scales came out. His eyes and snout changed. Rey was forced to change with him, to bring his scales out.

  He had to. Lightning’s little prickly horns along his face were cutting into Rey’s knuckles.

  Silver boomed long and loud. “That’s enough!”

  Rey still didn’t listen. Lightning hooked his legs around Rey’s and, with a twist, hurled him over to the side.

  Lightning was a complete asshole, but he knew how to wrestle one on one. Rey had forgotten that about him when he’d jumped the man, and now he was the one getting his face crushed in.

  He didn’t feel the pain. Not really. He just felt the fury. The anger. And then he felt hands beneath his armpits. Lightning was being yanked off Rey by Drake and Gold while Silver and Storm pulled Rey out from beneath the other man. Blaze stood back with Aiden, as though making sure the other man wouldn’t get caught in the crossfire.

  And Rey felt like a complete idiot. He rubbed at his jaw, his throbbing, aching jaw, and noted the wide-eyed look of his mate.

  His mate who was new to this place, who was already worried he might be in another clan of dragons just as bad, or worse, than the last one he’d escaped from.

  The man’s spine couldn’t get much tighter than he looked right now. He looked ready to flee.

  Fuck.

  “Aiden.” Rey pushed himself to his feet. He stepped forward.

  Aiden stepped back.

  Rey stopped. Something trickled out his nose.

  He wiped his hand beneath it. It came bac
k red.

  Goddamn it. Fucking goddamn it.

  Silver got right in Rey’s face. Rey had almost forgotten all about the other alpha. “You idiots are going to cut this shit out, right now.”

  Silver glared between Rey and Lightning. “Lightning, go and get Tim.”

  Lightning shook his head. “I won’t give him up.”

  “Jesus Christ, Lightning, I don’t care if you won’t. Just get him over here.”

  Lightning growled at Silver. Rey couldn’t figure out what his fucking problem was.

  Aiden had pretty much confirmed Tim’s story. So there was nothing else for them to fight about as far as he was concerned. It was done. Tim was innocent.

  Maybe. Mostly.

  But now Rey had to worry about his mate. And the way Aiden looked at him.

  “Aiden, I’m not…fuck, that wasn’t what you thought it was. We don’t always do that.”

  “What are you talking about?” Gold asked, arms crossed and chuckling to himself. “We all fight all the time.”

  Rey rolled his eyes, shoulders slumping.

  “Worst timing ever, Gold. I swear to God.”

  “He’s your mate.” Silver walked up to him and gripped Rey’s shoulder. “He’ll get used to it soon enough. I have to let the rest of the clan know about this. It was one thing when Erin came, but now there’s two people here the Dog Catchers, and even another dragon clan, might be looking for.”

  Rey nodded, acting as though he’d already expected to hear such a thing, but in truth, he’d completely forgotten about it.

  The rest of the clan was going to have to be made aware that there was another omega wolf here.

  This clan was known for keeping to itself. There was some grumbling when Erin, Silver’s mate, had arrived. No one wanted trouble from the Dog Catchers, and then there was the problem that arose when a couple of idiot warlocks showed up and tried to bring him in.

  Families with children lived here. The parents had been upset enough to learn of the warlocks.

  For someone else to come in…they were going to throw a fit about this. People would be demanding to know what plans were being put in place to protect them and their young. Of course, no one would be satisfied with the plans given. Everyone would have an opinion. Everyone would think they could do the job better.

  And Rey was going to have to refrain from busting in any more heads if someone said the wrong thing to Aiden.

  The way Lightning seemed keen on doing.

  The man had a fucking thorn up his ass about something, and Rey wasn’t in the mood for it.

  Not right now.

  Thankfully, Lightning came back from his home in short order. He had the omega with him. Tim. The man had his hands tied together in front of him while Lightning led him around on a leash.

  Silver shook his head, covering his face with his hand. “For fuck’s sake, Lightning. Really?”

  “Yes, really.” Lightning narrowed his eyes at everyone before he pointed at Tim. “He’s lying to us about something. I can smell it all over him!”

  Tim no longer appeared afraid like he had when he’d first come here. He looked more…bored.

  Of course, he didn’t deny that Lightning was right about him lying about something.

  Aiden stepped forward. “Tim, are you okay?”

  Time blinked. He looked toward the other man, and life came back into his eyes. “You…you made it.”

  Aiden nodded. He looked at the leash and at Tim’s bound hands. He narrowed his eyes at Lightning. “Do you have to do that?”

  “Yes.” Lightning tugged on the leash a little. “I do.”

  Aiden looked as though he was about to say something to that but then thought better of it.

  Right. He didn’t know how this clan operated yet. He didn’t know the rules or the way he should behave.

  Or the things he could get away with yet.

  But they weren’t monsters. Rey needed to make sure his mate knew at least that much. “Lightning, just untie him.”

  “No. He knows my father and stepmother. He was part of my clan. He said so himself.”

  “So what?” Rey didn’t care if he was playing with fire. His jaw still killed, and he was in no mood to be gentle with Lightning’s stupid feelings or his dumb trauma.

  “He could have been in your old clan all he wanted. That doesn’t mean he was one of the people to shun you.”

  “They all shunned me. I could have died with every winter that came and went. I was lucky I didn’t!”

  “So fucking what. You’re alive now. Get over it and stop taking your aggression out on an omega. Look at him. He couldn’t have been much older than you were when that shit happened.”

  Most likely younger. Lightning had just turned thirty.

  This guy still appeared to be in his twenties. Mid or late. It was hard to tell, and Tim had said virtually nothing else about himself since he’d come here.

  “Please just let him go,” Aiden said. “He saved me.”

  “I don’t care,” Lightning said.

  Once again, Rey was struck with the need to jump at the man and kick his ass for daring to say something so horrible to his mate.

  He wanted to fucking rip his head off for being so callous and cruel.

  Lightning smiled at him, an annoying little smirk, as though asking how well Rey enjoyed the taste of his own medicine.

  Rey wanted to kill his own friend. That was how much he enjoyed it.

  “Lightning, we can watch over him just fine without you needing to keep an eye on him,” Silver said, looking over the albino dragon. “At least not like this.”

  “Tim, is he hurting you?”

  Tim shook his head. He sucked back a deep breath. “Wouldn’t mind getting this collar off.”

  “I won’t let him go,” Lightning said.

  “Are you on repeat or something?” Rey couldn’t handle this anymore.

  Gold stepped up to look the omega over. “Hey yeah, why do you want him so bad? You in love with him or something?”

  Lightning’s face changed. He looked neither dragon nor human as he punched Gold right in the face.

  Gold flew back, somehow managing to stay on his feet. Of course Silver stepped forward, his fangs out, ready to defend his younger brother as he grabbed Silver by the throat and threw the man down.

  Tim would have gone with him since Lightning held his leash. Rey quickly stepped in, grabbing it and yanking it out of the other man’s hand while Silver put him in his place.

  “Don’t you ever do that shit again! You hear me? Never again!”

  “Get off me!”

  Silver wouldn’t get off him. He stayed on top of Lightning, pinning the man, refusing to let him move as Lightning struggled and thrashed.

  Rey untied Tim’s hands. He took the collar off next.

  Tim rubbed his neck and wrists. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t thank me yet.”

  Rey had only really wanted to release the man because he knew it would annoy the hell out of Lightning. He didn’t actually trust him yet, and as much as he was pissed off at Lightning right now, if Lightning said he sensed a lie from Tim, then Rey was prone to believe it.

  Lightning was weirdly good at sniffing out when people were being dishonest with him about something.

  Aiden went to Tim. The two hugged each other.

  Rey pulled back his jealousy over that.

  They’d said they didn’t really know each other, and here they were embracing each other.

  Maybe a narrow escape from Dog Catchers and dragons was bound to bring about that sort of bond.

  “He’s mine! I said he’s mine! You’re not taking him!” Lightning raged.

  He was still fighting beneath Silver.

  He actually gave Silver a good run for his money, but the other man refused to let him go.

  Rey looked at Tim. “What’s going on? Are you actually lying about something?”

  He wanted to give this guy the benefit of the doubt. H
e really did, but when Tim looked away from him, down at his feet, yeah, there wasn’t much more in the world more suspicious than that.

  No wonder Lightning suspected him.

  “Can I tell you both something?”

  Rey blinked. “Uh, you can tell it to the clan if you want.”

  So he was keeping secrets. Not good. Lightning was right. What was he doing here? Was he a spy? Was he tracking where Aiden would be taken so the Dog Catchers could come here and pick up both him and Erin?

  That seemed like a lot of work for them to go through, but Rey wasn’t willing to put much of anything past those fuckers.

  Not after they got the warlocks in on their dirty work.

  “It’s not what you think it is, but I do know Lightning. I…” Tim trailed off, tilted his head to the side a little, watching as Lightning kicked and screamed, as though Tim were running away from him right now and he had only a limited time left to grab onto the man.

  To keep him from getting away.

  “All right. What is it? Spit it out while he’s still throwing that tantrum.”

  Rey doubted the man would hear a jet landing behind him with the way he screamed. Gold had to step in and help Silver contain Lightning’s rage.

  Tim nodded. “Don’t tell him. He’s mad. Fuck, I think he might kill me if he knew.”

  “Knew what?” Even Aiden pulled his hand back from Tim’s shoulder, looking at the other man as though suddenly unsure of him.

  “I…” Tim briefly pressed his lips together. “I didn’t just work in his parents’ house. His stepmother, the woman who had him thrown out during the winter time, she was my aunt. I lived in that house. I was the one who took his bedroom.”

  Tim held his arm, as though trying to make himself look smaller.

  And Rey’s eyes flew wide as he stared down at the man.

  “You and Lightning…you’re related?”

  Tim shook his head. “No. Not related. But he did hate me. He never knew who I was, though. I was the one…”

  He cut himself off there. “It doesn’t matter. Just, please. I know he hates his father and wants to kill my aunt and my cousins. He can be mad at me all he wants. I’ll let him. He wasn’t hurting me anyway.”

  “He was tying you up and leading you around on a leash,” Aiden said, aghast.

  “And if that’s what he needs to do to make things right, he can do it. He’s right to suspect me. I am hiding something from him. I just…if this is what it takes to make amends so he doesn’t kill my aunt, then I’m fine with it.”