Coven: (A Steamy Dragon Shifter/Vampire Romance) (Dragon Bound Book 1)

by Serena Akeroyd

  He’d managed to settle the House business for a week at least, and had arranged with Alexa to visit him if anything cropped up that was urgent.

  Truth was, he was in two minds about how long they’d be staying in this realm.

  On the one hand, he hated how dependent his mate was on him. Not for his sake, but hers. It killed her to be so reliant. And though, as she’d called it, the ‘learning curve’ had done a great deal for him in teaching him to think and care for her above his own needs, it was time for the use of her legs to return before she truly went crazy and started blaming him for it.

  On the other hand, the longer it took for the bond to settle, the deeper it meant their connection was. Which could only ever be something to celebrate...

  The bond was a funny thing. A few nights of incapacitation and the Dragon’s marking would appear like a tattoo on a leman’s body.

  A week, and the markings were deeply etched. More like an engraving than a tattoo.

  More than a week, which is where they were heading now, the marking would appear embossed. Like she had developed scales.

  While he thought of her comfort above his own desires, the knowledge that their connection was so strong was more than pleasing to him.

  It made his heart weep.

  After being alone for so long, after having to sleep half his life away in the misery of not knowing if the Mother would ever grant him a leman, she’d gifted him Mia.

  Not just any leman, but one who was cleaved to the other half of his soul.

  “You’ve gone quiet,” she murmured softly as they drove down the highway, finally heading toward Manhattan island. Though her tones were, for Mia, dulcet, he could hear her joy at being back home.

  “I’m just thinking,” he told her, smiling at her and reaching over to clasp their hands.

  She squeezed his fingers and shared a smile with him. Her beauty stunned him, at that moment. Her porcelain skin glimmered in the moonlight that peeked in and out of the windows. Her eyes glittered and sparkled in the depths too.

  As she looked at him, she murmured, “I promise, you’ll like Tribeca. And we’ll do whatever we can to make you comfortable.”

  He firmed his lips. “It matters not, dearling. We will spend half our time here and half our time in the other realm. This way, both our House and coven’s needs will be addressed.”

  She cocked a brow. “As easy as that?”

  He grinned. “Aye.”

  “I can tell you don’t like it here.”

  “What gave it away?”

  “The way you’re scowling out the window.” She blew out a breath. “I have to admit, the other realm certainly has a beauty of its own.”

  “This place will be difficult to acclimate to, but it will be worth it.” The words for you went unspoken.

  She tilted her head to look at him properly. A question appeared in her eyes that had him rearing back a little, not liking what it could mean.

  When she stayed silent, he asked, “Is there something you wish to know?”

  She pursed her lips. “It’s silly.”

  “I have many silly thoughts.”

  A laugh burst from her lips. “I wouldn’t believe it. You look so serious.”

  He grunted. “I’m not all the time. Things have been stressful and tense these past few nights. When you can walk again, and when things have settled down, you’ll see...”

  She held up a hand to stall him. “Sweetheart, that wasn’t a complaint.”

  “Wasn’t it?” He winced, though he did appreciate the endearment. “I have many responsibilities. They eat into my time when I’m awake.”

  “I understand. I’m the same.”

  He nodded. “What was it you wished to ask? I saw the question in your eyes.”

  “How many Sanguenna cede their position to the council and remain in the other realm?”

  He clenched his jaw. “That’s not a fair question.”

  “Isn’t it?” Her brow rose again. “I’m curious if your generosity in stating we can split our times equally between the two realms is because you know something I don’t.”

  Her lack of trust should have stung, but her instincts were too impressive for him to be hurt or irked.

  “Each leman is different,” he said after a few moments of deliberation.

  She huffed. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.”

  He shot her a look. “Most wish to live in the other realm permanently… after a while. But each Sanguenna is different. And forget not that we’re speaking of different times and different customs. Nowadays there’s Wi-Fi. Even I grew accustomed to it during my stay in this universe. It truly is a miracle. Yet, the last leman was found when Tudors ruled in England. Would you prefer to live in the other realm where, in your home cavern, there’s a hot spring to constantly warm your hearth, or in a drafty castle?”

  She snorted at that. “We don’t feel the cold.”

  “No, but Dragons do.”

  For some reason, she laughed. “So,” she pondered, “they made the move permanently to stop their mates from bitching?”

  His grin was like quicksilver. “Undoubtedly. However, I’m sure things will be different for us. And Georgios too, when he pulls his finger out.”

  “His finger out of what?”

  He blinked at her then wafted his hand. “It’s a saying.”

  She nodded her understanding then pursed her lips. “I haven’t had to sup as much since I was here last. Why is that?”

  “The hunger will return soon. In the other realm, you don’t need to feed as much.”

  That had her gawking at him. “Why?”

  He shrugged. “No one really knows. We think it’s to do with the way time passes over there. It confuses your body clock.”

  “But I sleep through the day, and when I awaken, it’s always moonshine.”

  He nodded. “I know. But that will change too. Your hours of waking will soon extend a little further. An hour before sunset, an hour before dawn. Some lemans have two hours extra in the morning, nothing in the evening, and vice versa. As I said, each leman is different.”

  “Wow.”

  He chuckled. “Another advantage to life in the other realm.”

  “No shit, Sherlock.”

  He frowned. “Who is Sherlock?”

  She laughed. “We need to get Netflix over there. You can’t be asking me questions like that.”

  “Why not?”

  “You’ll stick out like a sore thumb,” she teased.

  “Does sticking out matter?” he asked, raising a brow at her. “After all, your daily interactions are with supernaturals.”

  “True, but do we want people to know you’re a Dragon?”

  “Why wouldn’t we?” he asked, amused. “I can handle myself.”

  “Dragons are prized,” she retorted. “Too prized. You’ll be walking around with a target on your back, if everyone knows who you are.”

  He frowned. “Are you being serious?”

  “You said it yourself. It’s a different time,” she explained. “You’ve visited in different eras when things were simpler. Less complex. Now, the world is in chaos. The humans have created a situation where war looks imminent, and supernaturals always try to make money from those situations.”

  “What are you saying, Mia?”

  That she was troubled on his behalf was almost touching. Well, it was if it didn’t prick his pride.

  “I don’t know. In the past, if someone tried to attack you, you could just shift. A Dragon could be explained away. People would think the eyewitnesses were insane, or it was just a conspiracy theory or some crap like that. Now? They’d video it, and it would be all over the internet. You shifting to protect yourself isn’t a viable option anymore.” She bit her lip, then peered out the window. “You being here is a danger to you.”

  Quiet fell among them, and Remy murmured, “I suppose the days of knights felling Dragons are long since over.”

 
; “Yes, they are,” she said sadly. “I suppose I’ll have to take that into consideration whenever I come to this realm.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means, maybe, I should come alone.”

  This time, the silence that drifted between them wasn’t just contemplative, it was hot with his anger.

  “Do you seriously think…” he seethed, “that we’ve been waiting lifetimes for one another, and I’ll let you go? Simply move back to this realm when the need takes you?” He shook his head. “Where you go, I go. And vice versa.” He reached for her, grabbed her chin. “Do you understand me, Mia?”

  Did she? Did she understand him?

  Yes.

  Without a doubt.

  But… shit, there was always a but, wasn’t there?

  She studied him in the rapt darkness. Taking in features that were already becoming inexplicably beloved. What else could she do but nod?

  But, as she did, she knew it would mean she would have to relinquish her coven.

  Could she do that?

  She’d worked for centuries to attain her position in the Vampire court... Only for her to throw it away now?

  But, this, with Remy, was more than she could even understand it was so complicated. Perhaps that was how a mate bond worked, though.

  Nothing else made sense outside of its limits. The things that had once mattered suddenly no longer did.

  How many times had she thought about her coven over the nights spent in the other realm?

  How many times had she worried about Brady and if he was getting enough blood?

  Zero times.

  That’s how many.

  What had once driven her nights no longer mattered. Being in the cavern, being with Remy, time had passed at a rate where even though she’d been immobile for most of it, the minutes had slipped through her fingers. She’d awoken at moonshine, but dawn had seemed to break within seconds. Or it had felt that way, at any rate.

  When the situation with Georgios had arisen, she’d been in her element.

  How would she feel when she was fully functioning again? When she and Remy could explore the land together and rule his House as a pair?

  Would the coven and its needs fall on the back burner as it had done this trip?

  It seemed that many Sanguenna had wondered the same if they had eventually ceased visiting this realm. That meant she ought not to be ashamed of the weakness.

  “Your thoughts are heavy,” he groused, his words irked by his irritation with her.

  “Yes, they are,” she replied simply. Heavy was an understatement. Did she bother to explain? Could he understand? If he wasn’t to sulk with her for the entire length of their trip in this realm, she guessed she needed to show him reason. To make him understand what was bothering her.

  She sucked in a huge breath and, on its release, murmured, “The Vampire court is all I’ve known since I was a little girl, Remy. My father was an emissary there, but you know places at the court aren’t hereditary. It’s might over genes in my world. I had to fight to get a place in it. Had to fight even harder to make Sanguenna.”

  “I know you have,” he retorted, sounding just as angry as he had moments before. “I’m not asking you to give it up, dammit.”

  “No!” She held up a hand. “Wait. I need to explain... You don’t understand. My point is, I’ve fought so long for my position. The coven has been on my mind every waking moment. But since I crossed into the other realm with you, it’s been pushed to the back.” She frowned then rubbed at her temples with strong but delicately small fingers. “How can I go from something consuming my life to it just being so unimportant that I don’t even think about the daywalkers in my care? Or the businesses I run that support the locals?”

  Her confusion had him sighing, but she sensed his anger had leached away. He reached for her fingers, entwined them with his as the car finally veered onto the city roads. Tribeca, the home that didn’t feel so much of a home anymore, was an hour away.

  “The mate bond consumes, dearling. That is how it should be.”

  “It doesn’t consume you,” she retorted, hating the pout in her tone but unable to disguise it.

  He snorted. “Doesn’t it?”

  “It didn’t stop you from worrying about the House, did it?”

  “No, but it didn’t stop you from getting involved with House matters either.”

  His retort had her frowning at him, as well as conceding, “No, it didn’t.”

  “You were a Vampire. Now you’re a leman. There’s a difference.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel better,” she retorted coolly. “I’m far more than just a receptacle for your lust.”

  Another snort. “Are you willfully trying to misunderstand me?”

  “I don’t know,” she snapped. “It seemed like you were willfully trying to misunderstand me, when I was explaining my concerns about you being in this realm.”

  “Touché.” For a second, he fell quiet, and then he murmured, “Look, what I meant was, you’re a leman now. You’re no longer just a Vampire. You’re the mate of a Dragon, and this new world of yours is what concerns you, quite naturally.”

  “People find mates all the time. They don’t immediately cast off their past,” she argued, uneasy with the way her priorities were changing, and so swiftly.

  “No, I know, but it’s different with a leman and their mate. Most supernaturals don’t mate with other species. Dragons have no other source of mates other than Vampires. A male Dragon mates with a Sanguenna, and a female Dragon with a Sanguen. That’s how it works. Our bond is unusual. Isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” she said slowly. “Wolf Shifters usually find other wolves for mates.”

  “Exactly. Either that or humans. But Dragons can’t. No other subspecies of supernatural has ever been a leman.” He blew out a breath. “We have no idea why that is. Of all the books we have in our possession, none of them explain the true why of it, and believe me, I’ve looked. When the Mother was punishing us, I looked hard. I wanted to find a solution, but I didn’t find one, and as a result, I knew sleep was my only option until you stirred, and I could find you.” He shook his head. “Some things aren’t meant to be understood. Some things can’t be understood. But, the way your needs are changing is just you adapting to new circumstances.”

  She squeezed his hand. “I don’t want to forget who I am.”

  “And you won’t. We’ll keep coming back here until you’re ready to be done with it. And if that never happens, then, it never happens.”

  “But it will,” she said softly. “That’s why other lemans have stopped coming over, isn’t it? This world stops holding interest to them?”

  He hesitated for a second but nodded. “The other realm is all consuming. Just as this one is for its members. When you switch over, and half your world splits between two places, one has to take precedence. Especially if your mate belongs on one side, and you have enough family on the other.”

  “I do have family here. You know that my parents still live.”

  “I know that, but I don’t believe you’re close to them. Am I wrong?”

  Begrudgingly, she admitted, “No. We have a distant relationship.”

  He cocked a brow at her. “That’s hard to believe. You’re affectionate by nature. I don’t think being separated is your choice.”

  “No, it isn’t. It’s theirs. They weren’t affectionate. When the Vampire court asked him to be an emissary in Russia, my father took the position with delight. My mother too. I haven’t heard from them since they moved. Aside from what I read in the papers that is.”

  Her words were met with silence. “How long ago was that?” he finally asked.

  “About eighty years ago.”

  He growled. “Eighty years?”

  She could feel his anger brewing and stared at him with some concern. “Remy? It’s okay. I came to terms with it a long time ago. I’m just not a priority for them.”

  He growled again.
This time, saying nothing though. But she could feel his annoyance surging.

  His rage at her parents’ abandonment warmed her, heated that cold place inside her. “That’s what Vampires do. We make our own families,” she tried to explain. “They become our coven.”

  “That is not how our family will work,” he retorted, squeezing her hand so hard that she knew if she weren’t a Vampire he’d have hurt her. “We will be a close unit. We will always be close.” He spoke more than just words. He breathed life into them. Made them a vow she knew he’d keep with his last breath.

  A shiver rushed down her spine at his oath to her, but now wasn’t the time to be melting into a pool of goo at the emotions he drew from her. Not when she had to force herself into Sanguenna mode.

  Remy was right on that score. She was still wearing her ‘leman’ hat, and that would never do in front of her coven. Though they were family to her, that wouldn’t stop them from pouncing on any perceived weaknesses they saw in her.

  The Vampire world was dog eat dog, after all.

  Trying to get herself under control, she grabbed onto another topic with both hands. “I know your parents still live, but I’ve yet to meet them. I thought they’d have visited by now.”

  “They’re sleeping.”

  She blinked at the blasé comment. “You all do a lot of that, don’t you? And for a very long time too.”

  He snorted. “When they awaken, you shall meet them. They won’t sleep as much once their grandchild is around so I thought it would be wise to let them rest until the birth. My parents are weary with this world. Only a ‘ling will revitalize them.”

  “Talk about pressure to procreate.” Her nose wrinkled. Children had never been a priority in the past, but she could sense Remy’s parents weren’t alone in believing that children were the only things to live for.

  Dragons definitely had odd perceptions of life. Well, odd to her, at any rate.

  He laughed. “You’ll be grateful for the babysitters, trust me. Dragonlings are a bundle. Most couples bemoan the fact they can only have one, until they have one and realize that’s enough.”