by Ophelia Bell
Neph’s hopeful look disappeared and he shook his head. “As Dionarchs, my sister and I have come to terms with the sacrifices we have to make. Love for a partner, unfortunately, ranks lower than our race’s safety. If you indeed found someone while you were on this mission, it’s clear you understand the need to prioritize. Otherwise you would be with that person now, I’d wager.
“And I am willing to do my duty to increase our male population. It was too big a risk until now, though. Our sons are in greater danger of capture due to their affinity to the Earth and Sky. Having access to the outer world at all is too strong a temptation. Now that the Haven is secure and the ursa Sanctuary is another barrier between us and the Ultiori, we can focus on doing our duty.”
“Our duty is to make Meri pay, and you know it. You have as much at stake in this as I do, if you ever loved Aodh. And now I do, too. It’s his sister that I am fated to be with, and nothing you or Mother do will stop me from doing my duty by them, and by all the rest of the higher races who are still held captive by the Ultiori.”
Neph’s jaw clenched, his eyes focusing on some spot in the distance. The bastard wasn’t even going to acknowledge the truth, Calder realized.
“I hope you understand why it must be this way,” Neph said. “Take a few days to settle in, but we shouldn’t waste time. Third meldings have to happen within three days of the second melding to trigger the nymph’s fertile period. The sooner you get started, the better.”
“Why just me?” Calder asked. When his uncle didn’t immediately answer, he said, “How many of them have you melded with?”
“Of the twelve new Thiasoi that were of-age during the last solstice, I melded with half and Nyx with the other half. Not for breeding or mating, of course—just for safety’s sake. The mental connection is required now, but I will begin with them.” His business-like tone may have masked any feelings, but Calder knew his uncle well enough to see through the tell. If Neph had been happy about the situation, he’d have used different language.
“What are our numbers, then? If I have no choice about this, I imagine I’ll be expected to take on the half that melded with Mother.” Not that he was going to go through with it.
“There are currently around three thousand nymphs of melding age in the Haven. If you had melded with the trio who greeted you, you’d have a head start …”
Calder cursed and sped up, climbing another stone staircase and reaching the high balcony that jutted into the spray of one of the many small waterfalls that curtained the outer walls of the grotto. Nearly fifteen hundred females were in here ready to meld with him, no doubt every one of them expecting him to impregnate them with sons in the near future.
“Just out of curiosity,” Calder said when he reached the glass door to his quarters, “are male offspring possible only with satyrs, or would they happen with other males of the higher races, too? Has a nymph ever even secretly mated with, say, a dragon, and borne a child?”
Another glimmer of hope flashed in his uncle’s eyes, but as quickly as it appeared, it was gone again. “We can’t waste time wondering about such useless things. It’s just you and me now, so we’ll have to make the most of it.”
“It bears knowing, Uncle. If the other races are already cross-breeding, this lockdown is counterproductive. The two of us alone will go mad before we make it through all of them. As confident as I am that I can keep up with the desires of fifteen hundred nymphs, having backup never hurts. If not the dragons, at least leave a route open to the Sanctuary. Ursa males are every bit as voracious and fertile lovers as satyrs, and there always tends to be a surplus of them.”
“The ursa are, at that,” Neph said thoughtfully, some of the tension easing from his broad shoulders. “I’ll discuss the possibility with Nyx. It would take some pressure off the two of us.”
“You’d need to keep the path clear both ways to the Sanctuary. Surely their security would be enough to keep Mother happy, if she’s willing to depend on it to protect the entrance to the Source.”
“It would still be an adjustment. We’ve been incredibly cautious since the capture of your squadron of Thiasoi. No other races have been allowed into the Haven since. Even though the ursa are the closest to us, not even they have ventured past the Source.”
“It’s time for a change,” Calder said. “Shutting down access may seem like the only option to protect the Haven, but it isn’t addressing the real problem. If the dragons and turul are ready to embark on this kind of alliance, perhaps it’s time we did, too. I’m willing to be the ambassador, if necessary.”
He held his breath, hoping he didn’t sound too overeager to get into the Sanctuary. What the hell was he thinking? He knew it wasn’t the ursa he should be so excited about interacting with, but the idea of seeing Nicholas again buoyed his mood considerably. Besides, access to the Sanctuary could mean easier access to the outside world, and to dragon Fate had set aside for him.
He had to stay focused—it wasn’t love he was fighting for right now. It was life. Specifically, the lives of all the higher races. Love would have to take a backseat for the time being—his uncle was right about that, at least.
His uncle agreed again to discuss Calder’s suggestions with Nyx and said farewell.
When Calder entered his quarters, the brief flash of nostalgia for the old, familiar scents was quickly overpowered by the sense of profound loneliness that overtook him.
He was home, but his heart was worlds away, and uncomfortably split between thoughts of two different people, neither of whom could be his for the foreseeable future.
Chapter 6
Aurum
Nicholas’s presence tormented Aurum in the days that followed their unfortunate conversation in the bath house. The huge ursa male seemed to be everywhere she wanted to be, and just as unhappy about running into her as she was about seeing him around every corner.
The worst part was that he’d succeeded in shaving his ragged beard and his hair was now a beautiful mop of silver curls that framed his pale, clean-shaved face. With the hair gone, he was a marble sculpture of virile male flesh, from his wide, pale eyes, to his long, straight nose, down to his square jaw and strong chin with the barest hint of a cleft in the center. Even though he hadn’t changed a thing about his body, having that face exposed just made the entire imposing package too difficult to ignore.
But she needed to ignore him. Seeing him each day visiting the community areas of the monastery, where the monks and resident dragons intermingled, drove her to hide more often in her own quarters with thoughts of retreating to the solitude of the Glade. She couldn’t bear the reminder that for the last two centuries, Nicholas had likely been the object of Calder’s affection. He knew the intimate touch of the man meant to be Aurum’s mate. She couldn’t help but imagine the dark-haired satyr who’d run from her entangled with the beautiful young ursa, the pair of them pleasuring each other in ways that would make even a golden dragon like her blush.
The Glade would have been a simple solution to her most pressing problem—that of her increasing need for sexual sustenance. However, her home was unofficially off-limits until she and all her siblings completed their goals of finding the mates they’d each dreamed of during their enforced hibernation.
Several guardians now stood around the entrance to the Glade, which could only be accessed from the pavilion at the peak of the monastery’s mountain. Other than the need for energy that wasn’t required within the vast, magical spaces of the Glade, Aurum was glad to be out in the real world for the first time in three thousand years, and had looked forward to the kind of excursion into the human world that her sister Belah had embarked on to seek out her new mates. Only now that Aurum knew the identity of one of the males from her dream—even though he’d abandoned her—she didn’t have the heart to go out searching for the other one.
Now she was simply biding her time until Midwinter, when Nicholas had promised he would take her to the ursa Sanctuary and lead her to the Sourc
e. The nymphaea’s magical Haven was nearly impossible to access for those who had not been born inside the Haven, but the River they controlled and drew power from originated from the loins of Gaia, the highest mountain peak inside the ursa Sanctuary. Those rushing waters would lead her to the Haven, where she would finally have a chance to convince Calder he need not run from her in order to accomplish his mission.
Until then, she would have to do her best to avoid going stir-crazy waiting for Midwinter. Steering clear of Nicholas was integral to that plan, but she had yet again failed miserably.
Aurum lurked in the shadows of the foliage at the edge of the sparring ring near the flight clearing. She sensed the ursa nearby, but couldn’t see him, so she took a seat on a fallen log out of sight of the others to wait until the area was clear of the potent male’s energy.
She had come up here looking for her siblings in the hope of flying for the afternoon with them. It was a glorious sunny day. She was in a rare good mood after successfully staying away from Nicholas for the past twenty-four hours, and she hoped to draw out the mood for as long as possible. There were still a few weeks left before Midwinter, and she needed to make them go quickly in whatever way she could.
Her brothers were taking turns burning off some of their own energy by sparring while Numa looked on, cheering.
Her mood sank when she saw Nicholas enter the ring, square off against Aodh, and swiftly knock her brother to the ground with a series of graceful moves. Nicholas proceeded to fall on her brother’s back and pin him down.
“Not used to ground combat, are you, dragon?” Nicholas asked the incapacitated Aodh.
“Just out of practice,” Aodh said, laughing in spite of his face being pressed into the stone beneath him. Aodh’s wings abruptly unfurled, the force of the transformation throwing Nicholas off his back. Nicholas stumbled backward in Aurum’s direction, his arms flailing. He caught himself a few feet shy of the edge of the stone platform, barely avoiding stepping into the shadowy area where she sat.
Laughing, he said, “Good trick! I’ll have to remember you have those things and they’re good for more than just catching the currents.”
Nicholas relaxed his stance and crossed his arms while Gavra stepped into the ring to face his brother.
Aurum waited as still as possible, debating whether to leave and fly solo, or make herself known and go sit beside her sister. She itched for some kind of physical activity to alleviate the ever-growing craving for sexual energy, and a good, long fly would do wonders.
Nicholas’s masculine musk reached her, and her mouth watered at the scent. He smelled fertile, his aroma promising an abundance of energy if she had any inclination to take him to bed.
She didn’t, of course. The heat pulsing between her thighs was just evidence of her waning power, which she was sure would last long enough for her to reach the male who still regularly haunted her dreams even after finally seeing him in the flesh.
Males, she reminded herself. There was a second male in her dreams besides Calder, but she had begun to doubt Fate’s message, because that second dark-haired man had yet to appear. Still, that he continued to be a regular presence in those nighttime visions gave her some hope. She’d first believed that he was an ursa male, though she was more inclined to think he might be another satyr with the way he kept appearing at the river’s edge in her dreams, and was more convinced than ever that getting into the Haven was how she would find him. Maybe Calder had a brother or friend who was fated to be her second mate? And if he was indeed an ursa, then passing through the Sanctuary would give her more opportunities to meet him.
Closing her eyes, she could remember the scent of that second male, as wet and fertile as Nicholas, but the difference was that the stranger from her dream was hers as much as Calder was, and he was most certainly dark-haired and green-eyed with golden, sun-drenched skin and an aura that drew her own energy to it like a seedling reaching for the sun.
The thoughts made her cravings even stronger and she shifted on her seat, squeezing her thighs together to ease a bit of the pressure in her core.
Through the branches, she saw Nicholas rake his fingers through his hair and turn his head slightly, lifting his chin and inhaling as though savoring his freedom.
In a low, deep voice, he said, “I know you’re there, Goldilocks. And I’m guessing it isn’t watching your brothers that has you so worked up. Do you know you smell like sunshine when you’re excited? It’s the oddest thing, because I only pick that up from you. Your sister’s not shy, but she’s also nowhere near as worked up whenever I’m around her. Not at all, in fact.”
Aurum tensed, irritated by the fact that he’d sensed her presence. She shouldn’t have been surprised—he was an ursa prince, after all, being the firstborn son of Maia Stonetree. She’d just rather not have to have a conversation with him again after their failed first interaction.
“It isn’t you, I assure you,” she said. “My sister and I simply have different thresholds …”
His booming laugh stopped her and her eyes widened as he turned. His pale silver gaze bored into her as he stalked over, ignoring the scratch of branches against his bare chest. He was uncomfortably close when he bent over, his nose millimeters from hers. She leaned back, scooting as far as she could, her heart pounding. He inhaled again and grinned.
“Sunshine, Goldilocks. I bet if I spread your thighs, light would pour out from between them the same way water gushes from Gaia’s Source. Yet you seem intent on locking it up for a man who abandoned you.”
“Us …” Aurum whispered, barely able to get the word out past the tightness in her throat. Nicholas inundated her senses, heat pouring off him in waves along with that unbearably delicious aroma. He leaned closer to her, hands braced on either side of her thighs.
“What was that? I couldn’t quite hear you over the sound of that rushing river between your legs.”
“He abandoned us, Nicholas. You said so yourself.”
His jaw clenched and his irreverent, playful look vanished. “No … for him to have abandoned me, I’d have had to belong to him. But I don’t. You’re the one who does. Unlike you, I am free, for the first time in my life. Free to choose …”
He trailed off, and the flecks of green in his eyes seemed to burn with inner light, like his irises were a pair of opals filled with verdant fire. He swallowed thickly and swept his gaze over her again before shaking his head as if to clear it. He stepped back so abruptly, Aurum blinked in surprise. His eyes widened for a second, then he turned and crashed away through the brush, not even caring that there was an easy path not two steps away.
Aurum sat staring after him, her mouth agape and her pulse racing in her throat. She stood on wobbly legs, her vision swimming for a moment before she made her way out onto the sparring platform where her brothers and sister had stopped what they were doing to stare off in the direction of the ruckus of the huge ursa’s retreat.
“What the fuck is up with him?” Gavra asked. “Thought he still had a few rounds left in him. He has more energy than Kris on a good day.”
“I don’t know and don’t care,” Aurum said. “I need to fly. Are you three with me?” She spread her arms out and called on her powers to shift. Without waiting for the others, she launched herself into the air, aiming directly for the giant, glowing orb in the sky.
Sunshine. Goldilocks.
She closed her eyes and let the winds buoy her as she soared into the light. Nicholas’s voice reverberated in her ear, sending a shiver through her entire body, though her core heated even more. She inhaled the cold wind, seeking to flush the scent of him out of her head and the lust out of her body.
He wasn’t the one. So why couldn’t she stop thinking about him?
Chapter 7
Nicholas
Nicholas plunged into the coldest pool in the bath house and sank to the bottom, hoping if he stayed under long enough the aching pulse of his cock would subside. This shouldn’t fucking be happening again
so soon. Hadn’t it just been a few days since he and Calder made love? Of course, he hadn’t needed it at the time, and his pheronesis hadn’t occurred in so long he’d lost track of the frequency of it. But he’d tried jerking off and it hadn’t worked, in spite of the vivid image of a certain gold dragon’s glorious snatch spread open for him, greedily tightening around his engorged cock while he fucked her.
He definitely shouldn’t be thinking about her, either. Even if she didn’t hate him outright, she wasn’t meant to be his, and in his world, that meant he couldn’t touch her unless it was an emergency. Though knowing how his own race worked was a far cry from actually living the life of an ursa. He’d never really had the chance to do it properly, being locked up by the Ultiori since birth.
In a few weeks, he’d finally have the chance to be with his own kind. He’d have a family, one which he still knew very little about. Calder had told him some. Like that his mother, Maia Stonetree, was the ursa Queen.
With any luck, there would be other ursa there, too—ursa he wasn’t related to, who he could get to know, maybe even find love with, and eventually mate. The idea seemed so strangely foreign to him now that he couldn’t even picture it. Calder’s departure was still too raw a wound that was only exacerbated by Aurum’s constant presence around the monastery, not to mention his promise to help her get to Calder at Midwinter.
For some crazy reason, he could easily picture the pair of them together, and it only made him burn hotter. He remembered the hungry look Calder had gotten that first moment when he’d let his guard down and confessed Aurum’s existence to him.
After that night, every time they were together, Calder’s touch felt like another apology to the point that the female was always there in the bed with them when they made love. Eventually, he’d accepted it and made his own attempts at participating in Calder’s fantasies, asking the satyr what part Nicholas himself might play if the woman were there in the room with them both.
