by Eva Chase
Vamps. I grimaced. “After that encounter on their territory, I can’t blame them for being pissed off.”
“Well, we didn’t have much choice in tangling with them, did we? And now we get to tangle with the fae. Although to be fair, in that case the fae started it.”
One of the other feline shifters tapped Marco’s elbow. Marco leaned in to hear whatever comment the guy didn’t want me listening in on. As if I were all that interested in their private chat. I was happy to leave the vamp-taming to them.
Of course, I’d rather be dealing with vamps than the fae. A prickle crept over my skin as I turned away.
Ren was so set on taking the fight to the monarch. She had no idea what she was getting into. No idea how fucking dangerous the fae could be. They’d killed her mother to stop her from getting to the mysterious power Ren now carried—which meant they’d see Ren as twice as much of a threat. Going to them, no matter how horrendous their past crimes were, was only asking for trouble.
But our dragon shifter didn’t like hearing the word “no,” did she? My eyes were drawn to her again where she stood on the platform. I couldn’t deny that even in her plain human clothes there was something regal about her. Something majestic she was growing into.
Something I wanted to touch and taste and own.
A rush of desire flowed through my veins. I clamped down on it, pushing it away.
How could I know that feeling was really mine and not just a symptom of the mate-bond, which only existed because of what we were, not who we were? Every instinct was pushing me toward her, but that didn’t mean it was the right decision. She had much more to learn—so much more discipline to develop...
I just had to stop myself from giving into the urge to be the one to teach her.
My people were counting on me to make the right choice here. To lead them in whatever direction would serve them best. Ren was getting the chance to show who she was as a shifter now. As the dragon shifter all these people had been waiting for. It wouldn’t take much time to see if she’d shine or sputter out.
My gaze was still glued to her. Damn if she wasn’t shining right now. She beamed at a woman who’d come up to the platform to pay her respects, and her face turned toward me. I ducked my head before she could catch me watching her.
She’d already seen far too much of the power she held over me. I had to keep my distance until I was sure.
Ren
Aaron touched the small of my back and leaned in so I could hear him over the noise of the crowd around us. “Doing okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said, with a smile I meant. My body swayed automatically to the music pealing out across the courtyard. The nervous energy I’d felt earlier had transformed into a more enjoyable exhilaration. “Doing good. I mean, it’s a little overwhelming, but... Everyone’s so nice. What could I complain about?”
He chuckled. “Glad to hear it. They’ve been waiting for this day for a long time.”
And so had he. A little flare of pride sparked inside me. He’d led his people for so many years on his own, from when he was little more than a boy. And now I got to stand beside him.
I curled my fingers into the front of his shirt and pressed my lips to his. Aaron traced his thumb over my cheek, kissing me back gently but thoroughly, until I’d lost my breath. A jolt of desire shot through me. Suddenly I did mind the crowd around us quite a bit.
But they didn’t mind our PDA. A cheer rose up around us. I pulled back, flushed and grinning. “Sorry.”
Aaron outright laughed at my apology. “For what? They loved that.” His smile turned roguish. “And so did I. Shifters aren’t shy about showing affection any more than we’re worried about showing our bodies. Look around.”
He nodded to the crowd. I let my gaze travel over the mass of bodies around our little platform. The crowd stretched all across the massive courtyard to the ring of marble arches at its border and the stretch of trees beyond. Despite the lanterns scattered around the place, it was getting pretty dark. I hadn’t noticed the behavior he was talking about until I peered harder.
Oh. All across the fringes of the courtyard, pressed up against the columns of the arches or right in the midst of their fellow revelers, couples were going at it. Kissing, heavy petting, the works. I saw one young couple who looked ready to seal the deal right there on a stone bench between two of the arches. A woman lolled her head in bliss as her partner stroked her breasts beneath her shirt. A group of three were taking turns devouring each other’s mouths. Apparently dragon shifters weren’t the only ones who enjoyed multiple mates.
The flush on my face trickled right down my body. “Wow. Okay, I guess if I should worry about anything, it’s that your kin are going to think I’m a prude.”
Aaron looped his arm around my waist. “You shouldn’t worry about anything. They’ll take you exactly as you are. And those activities might be a little more, er, extreme tonight than is usual in public even for us. People have a lot of time to make up for.”
It took me a second to realize what he was talking about. West had told me that none of the shifter kin could have children while their alpha went un-mated. Now it was no holds barred in the baby-making department. I guessed there’d be an awful lot of new avians being born nine months from now.
An awful lot of all sorts of shifter babies, once I fully accepted all of my mates.
The thought gave me a strange twinge: giddy excitement and anxious uncertainty mixed together. I shouldn’t be neglecting the other guys, even now—I wouldn’t ignore Aaron when we were at the other kin-group estates, after all.
I searched the crowd again, this time looking for the rest of my mates. I didn’t spot Nate or West, although my innate sense of their presence told me they were nearby. Marco was standing near one of the arches, talking with a few other shifters.
And frowning, which was not an expression I saw on his face often. My stomach twisted. Was something wrong?
“Hey,” I said to Aaron. “Is it all right if I circulate around a little, or am I supposed to stay up here the whole time?”
“Go right ahead,” he said. “The estate should be completely safe. I have people checking everyone who’s arrived for their kin sign.”
I hopped off the platform and was immediately swept up in the bustle of the celebration. Aaron’s kin grasped my arms with friendly squeezes, shouted joyful comments into my ears, and beamed at me as if... well, as if they’d been waiting sixteen years just to meet me. I smiled back until my face ached with it. My heart thumped fast, but I didn’t want to leave this chaos yet.
This was the first time I’d been somewhere I completely belonged since I’d fled with my mother all those years ago.
I gradually wove through the crowd toward the arch where I’d seen Marco. When I reached it, at first I thought he was gone. Then I heard his voice carrying from the other side of the thick marble column.
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
“None of our business?” a guy retorted. “We’re your kin. And the security of our kin-group depends on you getting off your ass and locking her in.”
Locking her in. What were they talking about? I hesitated, suspecting that if I walked right into that conversation, it’d stop in an instant.
“I’m working on it,” Marco said. “I’m sure it was a hell of a lot easier for the alphas whose mates knew what they were getting into more than a couple weeks in advance.”
Someone else, this one a woman, snorted. “Where are those charms you always speak so highly of? You know how many there are who’d happily take your place if it looks like there’s an opening. And until you’ve consummated that bond—”
“I know,” Marco snapped. “Thank you so much for your concern, but I assure you I’ll get the job done. And before wolf boy or our resident grizzly gets in there too.”
His tone was so callous my hackles rose. I backed up, merging back with the crowd, suddenly hating the thought of any of them notici
ng I was there.
It was me they were talking about, obviously. They were hassling Marco about our uncertain bond. But he hadn’t exactly defending me, had he? He’d made it sound as if... as if being my mate was some kind of competition. Or a job. That word he’d actually used.
My mind darted back to the way he’d talked to me the other night when we almost had consummated our relationship. He’d gone on about how much he cared about me, about the life we’d have together...
My stomach turned. Had he really meant any of that? Or had he just thought a bunch of sweet nothings was the best way to get me to give in to his “charms”?
More avian shifters greeted me, and I managed to smile, but a sliver of pain jabbed at my gut. I’d assumed if I could trust anyone, it was my mates. Even West, despite his gruffness. What if I’d been wrong?
Without meaning to, I wandered back into the vicinity of the platform. Aaron hopped down to meet me. He took in my expression and brought his hand to the side of my face. I leaned into his touch, taking as much comfort from it as I could.
“Is the celebration getting to be a bit much?” he said.
No. I wasn’t going to let some stupid remarks stop me from making the most of this moment. I could decide how to deal with Marco later, when I could speak to him alone. Tonight was about celebrating what we’d gained.
I wrapped my fingers around Aaron’s palm. “I’m fine. Want to dance?”
“I’ll never turn down that request from you.” He set his other hand on my waist and twirled me around, fast enough that a laugh jolted out of me despite myself. Then he pulled me close to him, both of us turning together with the melody spilling through the air.
“How soon can you reach out to the fae monarch?” I asked. I couldn’t forget that reason for coming here either. I wasn’t going to be able to feel right until I’d gotten some sort of justice for Mom.
“I already have,” Aaron said. “I sent one of my people to her citadel about an hour ago. We should hear the answer by tomorrow.” He squeezed my hand tighter. “And if she tries to refuse to hear us, believe me, I’ll make sure she changes her tune.”
Chapter 13
Ren
The sky had deepened to near-black over the garden, twinkling with a dusting of stars. I tipped my head to them, letting their faint light soak into me, as I meandered down the path.
The avian kin celebration was only just starting to wind down. Music and chatter still carried over the hedges from the courtyard. I’d finally slipped away through one of the arches into this quieter space a few minutes ago. Sometimes a girl needed room to breathe.
The warm, salty air was such a relief after all that time in the mountain’s cold. I closed my eyes, drinking it in. A faint breeze rustled through the flowers and hedges around me. A sweet perfume rose up from the blossoms to mingle with the ocean scent. The crash of the waves sounded from the other side of the house, just barely audible to my shifter ears.
As I breathed in again, another scent reached my nose. Something darker, earthier with a prickle of pine. I knew before I opened my eyes that I’d see West nearby.
The wolf shifter was standing by a wooden latticework. A flowering vine climbed across the interlaced slats over a stone bench like the ones around the courtyard. West was facing away from me, toward the far end of the garden and the top of the estate wall visible beyond it. His hands were slung in the pockets of his jeans, and his head was tipped to the side at a thoughtful angle.
I hesitated, the mate-bond urging me to go to him while what was probably common sense suggested I leave him be. If he’d wanted company, he wouldn’t be all the way over here while the party was still happening. And it wasn’t as if he’d ever acted all that excited to spend time with me.
But maybe that was exactly why I should go to him. He was a jerk to me some of the time—okay, a lot of the time—but I could understand why. I’d seen how much he cared about his kin. The shifters’ dependence on the ties between dragon shifter and alphas had gone terribly wrong after my mother’s disappearance.
He felt the same draw I did. Maybe being a jerk was the only way he knew how to fend that desire off while he made his decision.
He should know that I wanted to give him a chance, at least. That I would do everything I could for his kin as well as Aaron’s and the other guys’ if he met me halfway. If he decided to forsake the mate-bond and look to form a new one separate from tradition, it wasn’t going to be because I pushed him away.
And maybe a little part of me was remembering that one kiss he’d given me, after the rogues’ first ambush. The passion in it that had left my head spinning. And the way he’d looked at me the other night in the tent...
My skin flushed a little just at the memory.
I ambled around a clump of red and pink rose bushes and a magnolia tree. I wasn’t trying to be quiet, and West could probably smell my presence just as well as I’d smelled his, but it still startled me a little when he spoke.
“Did being the center of attention get a little old, Sparks?” he said without turning around.
I rolled my eyes at his back, even though he couldn’t see my expression. “I spent most of my life practicing not drawing attention. I think it’ll be a while before stuff like this feels totally comfortable.”
He made a non-committal sound. Well, he hadn’t told me to take off. That was some kind of progress.
I walked up beside him, peering in the same direction he was looking. “Don’t you trust Aaron’s sentries to keep a close enough eye on things?”
“You can’t be careful enough with the fae,” West said. “I heard he’s already sent someone to request the parlay. She has to know you’re here, and where we were before now. She’ll know what the request is about.”
“Do you think she already knows some of her people killed my mother? Do you think it was her idea?” My chest tightened. If the ruler of the fae had ordered the murder of the ruler of the shifters... That would be an act of all-out war, wouldn’t it? Why would they hate us enough to do that?
“It’s unlikely,” West admitted, to my relief. “The last thing the fae are is stupid. But the monarch will have set the tone of conversation that made her underlings think it was a good idea. And I have trouble believing seven years could have gone by without word getting back to her. But she’s stayed quiet. No interest in filling us in.”
“What will happen if they decide they want to start some kind of war?” I asked. The image of the fae blasting Mom with their magic flashed through my mind. I shivered. “Can we really fight back?”
West’s mouth curled into a grim smile. “Shifters are strong. It takes at least a few fae to tackle just one of us, weaklings like that weasel rogue aside. And there are a lot more of us than there are of them. We’d give them a good fight. But that doesn’t mean we should be begging for one.”
“I don’t want to fight,” I said. “I just want some answers. I want the fae who killed my mom to face some kind of consequences. I don’t think that’s asking a lot.”
“You don’t know the fae,” West said.
In the pale moonlight, his handsome face looked suddenly haunted. Maybe I didn’t know the fae yet, but it was clear he did. The pain I could sense echoing through him made my own heart squeeze. I swallowed thickly.
“What did they do to you?”
His gaze jerked toward me for the first time, his penetrating green eyes meeting mine. “What makes you think they did anything?”
I raised my eyebrows. “Other than the fact that it’s written all over your face and in your voice? I’m a newbie shifter, not an idiot.”
He turned, bringing his lean body that much closer to mine. Close enough that a rush of heat washed through me from head to toe. He cocked his head with an expression I couldn’t quite read, somewhere between curiosity and anguish and defiance. His voice dropped, the clear throaty tone tingling into my ears.
“Do you really care? Or do you just think you should?”
“I care. Of course I care. Do you really think I’d put up with half the shit-talking you do if I couldn’t see there’s a hell of a lot more to you than that—more that I want to know?”
“What makes you think the rest will be any different from what you’ve already seen, Sparks?”
My own voice dipped lower to match his, with a slightly teasing edge. “I don’t know. But I’ve heard dragon shifters tend to be extra perceptive about these sorts of things. And by the way, I’m actually starting to like that nickname, so if the point of it is to annoy me, you’ll have to find a new one.”
“I’ll give that some thought,” he said with a twitch of his mouth. I couldn’t tell if he’d suppressed a frown or a smile. I was too busy being distracted by how close his mouth was to mine. Not much more than a foot of space between us. Practically nothing at all. And then some genius part of my brain came up with the perfect excuse to touch him.
“That scar you’ve got. The one that almost glows. Is that from fighting with the fae?” I reached for his chest, holding my breath as I did.
West caught my hand an inch from grazing his pecs. His fingers closed around mine, firm and hot. There was so much heat radiating off him that for a second I thought I might melt.
“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?” he said, so dark and low it was almost a whisper.
An ache had formed between my legs. I wet my lips. Fuck it. “No,” I said. “I want this.”
I tangled my other hand in his silvery auburn hair and pressed my mouth to his.
A groan reverberated from West’s chest. He kissed me back hard, letting go of my hand to grip my waist and pull me flush against him. The heat of his body enveloped me, as if we weren’t two people but two parts of one whole. Two parts desperate to meld back together.
