by Minx Malone
Kia locked the hotel room and climbed behind the wheel of the car she still wasn’t used to driving. The directions Hailey had sent her were pretty straightforward but they led to a parking lot near a huge wide open field. She’d mentioned that you had to walk in to their territory but Kia hadn’t expected that much of a walk. She started walking and then the field dropped down slightly. Her mouth fell open. A row of houses, set into a loose semi-circle were built directly into the ground but that wasn’t what captured her attention.
A gold dragon flew overhead, its large wings momentarily blocking the sunlight. Joy suffused her system until Kia felt like her own heart would take flight as well. She blinked back tears as she watched the dragon circle lower and lower until, in a flash of movement, it shifted into a man who landed on his feet before her. A very handsome, very naked man.
“Oh my god.” It took her a moment before her manners kicked in and she turned around to give him privacy.
“It’s okay, you can turn around.”
When Kia turned she saw that he’d pulled on jeans but no shirt. Heat flooded her cheeks and she yanked her gaze back above his shoulders. The few men she’d been around were older, her father’s contemporaries. And the men she’d met since then certainly didn’t look like this.
“Hi, I’m looking for Hailey. Is she here?”
He gestured with his head toward one of the doors built into the ground. “She’s inside with my mate. I’m Ian. You must be Kia?”
“Yes, that’s me. I’m Kia. And you’re–” She swayed as a bolt of pain struck her.
Ian put a hand on her arm to steady her. “Are you okay?”
Kia curled over, trying to brace herself against the rolling waves of pain crashing through her. It was like being struck by lightning repeatedly. Her head swiveled to the left. As crazy as it is was, she sensed the pain was emanating from one of the doors hidden in the hill. She started walking, aware of Ian following behind her. He called out to her but she ran faster. Something, someone was behind that door and they needed her.
The door wasn’t open and she beat against it helplessly. Part of her knew that she was acting crazy but her mind was running on some primal instinct that wasn’t in her direct control. Suddenly the door opened and she fell through, following the invisible thread of pain that only she could see. That’s when she saw him.
He was on the floor, surrounded by broken glass. He was older now, tall and broad shouldered but her heart recognized him immediately.
The imaginary boy she’d loved was very real.
Gavin gripped the test tube in his fingers tightly and took a deep breath. The liquid inside bubbled and roiled and he knew he only had a few minutes to decide. The potion had to be ingested at exactly thirty-seven degrees Celsius to be effective.
He thought back on all the years alone, the years pining for the love of the one woman he could never have. His last memories of Kitaana were brutal, images that no man should have to live with. His mate had been struck down in the chaos of battle when he was too young to protect her. Life for him was a constant state of agony. Not only was he forced to exist without her but he didn’t even have the comfort of knowing she’d died peacefully.
Now he was finally in the position to be able to end the agony.
He raised the test tube. If this went wrong, it would hurt his brothers. It was the only thing that gave him second thoughts. After coming to an unexpected peace with the King, he’d been granted access to the royal archives. Dr. Warren’s research had been invaluable and led him to several breakthroughs. He’d left extensive written notes and Gavin had used all the information to help him understand the workings of dragon bonding and attachment.
With the help of his apprentice, Jonas, he’d developed a serum that should break the mate bond. If it didn’t work, the boy could continue his research and one day find a cure. But they’d never find the cure if they didn’t test the potion.
And honestly, he was ready for it, whatever the outcome. Because dying sounded better than living another day without his mate.
Before he could change his mind, he put the tube to his lips and gulped the contents down in one mouthful. Heat spread down his throat and through his torso. The tube in his hand fell to the floor and shattered as his entire body spasmed. Pain wracked his body and tears leaked from his eyes as he curled into himself. He fell forward onto the table and then slid to the floor.
Gavin wasn’t sure how much time passed before he was pulled into a warm embrace. He opened his eyes. A familiar pair of gray eyes stared down at him.
That’s it then, he thought. I’ve passed over to the other side. I’m with my mate again. Mi tesarik.
But his mate didn’t look happy, the way he always imagined she would be in heaven. If anything, she looked pissed off. But her touch was gentle as she stroked his hair back. “What the hell were you thinking, Gavaanik?”
Gavin closed his eyes. He wouldn’t have thought it was possible for him to experience any greater pain but he would have been wrong. Because all this time, it seemed that his mate hadn’t been in heaven.
She was alive but just hadn’t wanted to be with him.
Another bolt of pain hit and then he was floating. When he woke again, he was in his own bed. Alone. Alarmed, Gavin tried to sit up and found he was too weak. Then he heard voices.
Stay away from my brother.
I need to see him. I need to see that he’s real.
Where have you been all this time?
No, let me go!
Strength gathered from some unseen place and Gavin rose from the bed. Everything ached but he pushed through the pain. His mate was here. She was alive. She needed him.
He stumbled to the doorway, holding on to the frame to keep himself upright. The world swam and he shook his head, trying to shake off the fog clouding his mind. The sound of feminine crying gave him another burst of energy and determination. Using the wall to hold himself upright, he walked down to the living area. Ian had his arms around a blonde with eyes like a cloudy day.
His scales came out.
“Release my mate.” The deep grumble of his voice carried across the room and they both looked at him in surprise. Ian let go and raised his hands. Kitaana raced across the room and into his arms. The force of the hug knocked them both over backward.
“I’m so sorry!” She cradled his face between her hands gently.
He grabbed her hands and in that moment, he felt it again. That current of energy that connected them. It was so strong he wondered if others could see it. Suddenly nothing else mattered, not where she’d been or why she hadn’t come to him sooner. The only thing that concerned him was his mate’s safety and happiness. He was still weak from the serum he’d ingested but the sight of his brother with his hands all over her had given him a surge of rage.
Gavin struggled to his feet, keeping Kitaana behind him. Ian watched him warily from the doorway.
“We don’t know why she’s here,” he started. At Gavin’s low growl, Ian backed up slightly. “Gavin, you’re not thinking straight. I’m just trying to protect you here. We found you passed out on the ground and I wasn’t going to leave her alone with you when you couldn’t defend yourself.”
“I wasn’t going to hurt him!” Kitaana spoke up from behind him and just the sound of her voice was both agony and ecstasy. Agony because it had been so long and ecstasy because he’d been sure he’d never hear it again.
Ian glanced at her briefly before dismissing her. “Considering that we’ve all thought you were dead for years, you’ll have to understand if I’m a little skeptical. I have to protect my brother. Until I know exactly what’s going on here, I can’t trust anything you say.”
Even though his rational brain knew that what Ian was saying made sense, his dragon only heard a threat to his mate.
He wants to hurt our mate. We cannot trust him!
Gavin struggled to get his dominant instincts under control but so many years without them being triggered
left him weak to defend against them. When Ian took a step toward them, Gavin’s scales came out.
“You need to leave. Now.”
Ian looked like he was struggling with what to do. Finally he glanced at Kitaana. “I’ll leave but I’ll be watching.”
“Go! I’m not sure I can hold it back,” Gavin roared. He squeezed his eyes shut and only opened them when he heard the front door close. When a soft hand landed on his chest, he looked down into worried gray eyes.
“What now?” she asked, glancing behind them at the closed door. “He isn’t going to come back, is he?”
Gavin brushed her cheek gently with the back of his hand. She leaned into the caress, her eyes closing like she was savoring the touch of his skin.
“You don’t need to worry about him. The only thing you need to worry about is in here.”
The wariness returned to her eyes. “What do I need to worry about in here?”
Even though he was still slightly unsteady on his feet, he lifted her easily. She squeaked and wrapped her legs around his waist.
“Me.”
chapter three
It was all Kia could do to hold on as Gavaanik carried her down a hallway and into a room. She tried to look around but he dropped her on the bed and then climbed on next to her. Her thoughts stalled as he pulled her close to his body, molding them from hip to thigh.
Shock held her immobile, all her senses attuned to the unfamiliar sensation of being cradled next to a firm masculine body. For years, her father had kept her isolated from others, only allowing her to have contact with the other researchers who worked with him. She’d gotten used to being alone, comforted by her books and her imagination but real, human contact was something that she couldn’t get from the pages of a book.
A soft sigh escaped her lips and the little whimper was almost embarrassing but she didn’t care. It felt so good to be pressed against his warmth, like nothing in the world could ever hurt her. She buried her face into his neck and almost moaned aloud at the decadent sensation of her skin brushing his.
“I can’t believe you’re real. Am I dreaming?”
Gavin pulled back slightly. “What do you mean?”
She drank in the sight of his handsome face greedily, taking in every aspect of his appearance from his thick, dark hair and his warm brown eyes, to the strong jaw that made her itch to trace it with her fingers. He was her Gavaanik but different, a strong masculine version of the sweet boy he’d been. It was like finding out that unicorns were real or that cows could actually fly over the moon. Except this discovery brought a world of pain because it meant that for years she’d been kept away from the truth and that her father had stolen something from her even more valuable than just her health.
He’d stolen the love of her life and had almost succeeded in stealing her sanity.
Something in her face must have changed because he suddenly looked dangerous.
“Kitaana, where have you been all this time?”
Even isolated as she was from dragon culture, she could read the energy coming from his body. Instinctively she knew his anger wasn’t directed at her but was instead on her behalf. He was going to destroy anyone who hurt her.
“My father… I was living with my father. He took me back into the human world. He wanted me to fit in there.”
Gavin’s hand came up to her face again. His eyes dropped to her lips as she was speaking and Kia shivered at the sudden wash of heat that rolled through her. His eyes didn’t move down her body but the little quirk of his lips told her that he knew what he was doing to her.
“Your father told us that you were dead. He blamed us for not protecting you.”
Tears welled. All this time she’d been longing for him and he’d been mourning her.
“I had no idea. When I asked about you, he told me that it was my imagination. That I’d never played with a little boy who could turn into a dragon. He made me think I was crazy.”
“Kitaana–“
“Why do you keep calling me that? My name is Kia.”
His eyes softened with something that could only be pity. “I call you Kitaana because that’s the name you were born with, my love.”
She stared at him, reading the truth of the statement in his eyes. Then it was all just too much and she covered her face with her hands.
“Everything has been a lie. My whole life. I almost wish he’d killed me instead of just using me to experiment on.”
His body tensed against her and Kia opened her eyes. Her breath caught in surprise. His pupils had changed and he blinked at her with gold-slitted eyes.
“Who experimented on you?”
She pulled back and wrapped her arms around her middle. Talking about the way she’d been raised was something she’d never done. For years, she’d been warned by her father to keep her mouth shut around the few outsiders she was exposed to, such as doctors and nurses, because they’d take her away if they found out she was different. He’d instilled a deep fear of outsiders and taught her not to trust anyone with the details about her deformities. That was how he’d classified them, defects that needed to be fixed. Kia hadn’t fully realized until that moment just how much she’d internalized those ideas.
There is nothing wrong with me, she thought. I’m not a freak. I’m a dragon. She peeked up at Gavaanik. Just like him.
She took a deep breath. “He wanted me to be human. He spent his life trying out different drugs that would keep me from developing any dragon traits. It worked for a while. But once I got older, there were things that he couldn’t fix. It didn’t stop him from trying though. After a while everything just sort of blended together and I wasn’t sure what was real and what was my imagination.”
Gavaanik’s eyes narrowed. “Someone drugged you?”
It wasn’t a question so Kia just shrugged. His head dropped and then a second later his scales came out. When he opened his eyes again, the gold-slitted pupils burned with passion.
“Who is he? I will tear the flesh from his bones. I would gladly kill anyone who gave you even a moment of fear but this, this cannot stand. Anyone who would dare steal a dragon female from her family and harm her this way doesn’t deserve an honorable death. I need to avenge your pain.”
Kia gasped when he leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers. She could feel the soft puff of his breaths against her cheek. Her lips parted, aching for a taste of him but she didn’t dare lean up and take what she wanted. It was already sensory overload being so close to him.
“I don’t want you fighting for me.”
He slid his arms under her torso and held her against his chest. She felt like a doll as he cradled her so gently. His hand trailed over her hair, threading through the strands.
“I need to fight for you, my love. I will make him feel every bit of pain that he caused you. Just tell me who he is. I will avenge you and your family.”
She gazed up at him. “That’s just it. It was my family. The man who drugged me was my father.”
Gavin wanted to burn everything to the ground. The rage he’d felt listening to her describe her life had roused every protective instinct he had. His anger needed an outlet and in his mind, he was already planning a mode of attack to give her the peace of mind of knowing her captors were dead.
Never would he have guessed that the brilliant Dr. Warren he remembered would harm his own daughter. He’d blamed the dragons for not protecting them so why would he then hurt his own child? Even though her father had been human, he’d spent years in dragon society and had seemed to adjust completely to their ideologies and ethics. Protecting the females was one of the core tenets of dragon society.
Due to the difficulty in finding mates and the delicate nature of dragon births, over the years the dragon population had suffered greatly. There were fewer dragon females born every decade so those who were left were protected and treasured. The idea of a father hurting his own draakling was unheard of.
“Your father did this to you?”
/>
She swallowed and looked away. Gavin kept playing with her hair, sensing that the gentle touch was calming her.
“Kia?” He tried out the name, hoping the name she was used to would help her trust him. It had to be frightening for her to discover so many new things at once.
Finally she let out a soft sigh. “Yes. I don’t really remember a lot of my childhood. I’ve never even shifted.”
“Never?” He abandoned any attempt at staying neutral and let his shock color his voice.
He’d been shifting since he was a child and even though half-bloods usually couldn’t shift as early, even they would shift in early adolescence. It sounded like torture, having a dragon locked inside you with no way out.
“No. I weaned myself off the drugs but since my father started me on suppression drugs so young, there’s a possibility that I can’t ever shift. But I do have scales.”
After one last tentative look in his direction, she closed her eyes and pursed her lips. Thin scales slid out and covered her arms and neck. She opened her eyes and beamed when she saw them.
“Look! I did it again. Usually it only works if I’m angry or scared.” She looked so proud of herself that Gavin just wanted to kiss her.
“You are perfect,” he whispered.
Kia bit her lip and looked away. “Hardly. I feel like I can barely put one foot in front of the other most days. There’s so much I don’t know and I’m not even sure where to start.”
That gave him an idea. There were so many things that he wanted to do for her. Now that they were reunited, he wanted to take care of her, provide, protect and love her. But all the things he wanted to do would only overwhelm her. So he would give her the thing she needed most. Certainty that she wasn’t broken.
