Inception

by Laxmi Hariharan

  Whatever there was between her and Aaron, it was more than just chemistry. He cared for her.

  Her dragon had recognized it right away. The woman she was acknowledged it too.

  "What you did," she swallowed, "it was stupid and dangerous. You shared your psychic energy with me." She lowered her eyes, rubbing the spot above her heart that hurt. "You risked your life to save mine."

  She knew where this was headed, had known it since her dragon had flamed without hurting a single hair on Aaron's head, but it had taken the force of his psychic strength supporting her to realize that she needed him too.

  In those hours as they had flown, Aaron had shown the true flame of his spirit.

  He had, for that brief time, bared his soul, let her dragon take of his energy to overcome her injuries and keep going.

  All that time, he'd been careful not to infiltrate her mind or soul.

  It must have been exhausting to hold back, but he'd made sure to not intrude into her emotions. To do so would’ve only form a deeper psychic bond with her.

  With that, Aaron had shown Hope how strong yet sensitive he could be. That he'd give up his very life for her.

  The thought had her pulling back from him.

  If she gave him a chance, if they formed a mating bond, it was almost certain he would die.

  He'd form the bond just because it was so right, with no thought for his own life. But that wasn't something she could bear.

  She wanted him, cared for him, and there was no way she was letting this proud warrior take the risk of dying for her.

  When she shrank against the sheets and turned her head away, she hoped he'd take the hint and leave. She hadn't counted on his stubbornness.

  Her chin was gripped and turned to him. The only warning was the heat of his searing breath across her cheek. Then his lips slanted across hers, and there was nothing gentle about it.

  His tongue plunged in, dancing with hers, owning her mouth and plundering it as if she already belonged to him.

  Too shocked to hide her response, Hope kissed him right back. Or perhaps it was the fact that they'd almost died that had her resistance crumbling.

  Under her fingers, his heart thrummed with a passion that vibrated against her skin, the sound of it harsh and reassuring.

  Then, she was free.

  Aaron slid to his feet with that characteristic fluid grace of his that drew her eyes to his hips, his muscled thighs.

  It was only when he grasped the back of his chair that she realized he wasn't as steady as he looked. He, too, was still recovering from their journey back.

  "I am not letting you go. So you better get used to it." His voice was hard, uncompromising, belying none of the weakness he must be feeling inside.

  Turning, he stalked off.

  "Stupid, arrogant man," Hope mumbled.

  Yet, a dread of fear twisted her heart. He wanted her; he'd saved her life. He'd even touched her spirit and knew how well they were matched. He wanted her for his mate, regardless that he'd die.

  The woman in her cared for him too much for that. He'd saved her life. She would do the same for him.

  She would agree to mate Jason.

  Dragon 1. Woman 2.

  The woman in her had won this round, but Hope found no cause for celebrating.

  27

  Aaron

  After returning from Hope's room, Aaron had fallen into a deep sleep, only to wake up refreshed the next morning.

  Thankful for his ability to heal fast that came with being immortal, he stretched and found his muscles willing to obey.

  After a shower, his energy levels felt almost back to normal.

  Looking at his reflection in the mirror, he tied back his long hair at the nape of his neck. After Zayn's death, he'd stopped shaving or cutting his hair.

  He looked very different from his twin.

  Zayn had always preferred to be clean shaven and had worn his hair in a military-style haircut his whole life. All those years, so had Aaron.

  Their features had been similar, yet their eyes had told them apart. Aaron wondered at the poetic justice of it all.

  All the time Zayn had been alive, they had tried their best to look like each other.

  In death, not only had they separated, but for the first time in his life, Aaron had a look that was distinctive enough for him to call his own.

  For the first time, he wondered how Hope saw him. Did she like his beard and his hair?

  His fingers ran through the hair on his chin, wondering if they were too rough for her tender skin. Not that he minded marking her. He was going to make sure everyone knew she belonged to him. But he didn't want to hurt her either.

  Reaching for the pair of scissors by the sink, he trimmed his beard. Then, lathering it up, he shaved it off.

  He'd just slipped into his one pair of formal pants and the long sleeved shirt he'd brought with him, when he heard a whistle.

  "For a man who was at death's door not too long ago, you sure tidy up well, pretty boy," Caleb said from the doorway.

  Aaron turned and gave the other man a once over. Caleb was dressed in formal black pants and shirt. "You look almost impressive enough to sweep Indira off her feet."

  Caleb tightened his hold on the doorknob until it came away with a crack. Walking into the room, he dropped it on the table by the door. "Am I so obvious that someone who's known me for just a few days is able to guess the truth?" A vein throbbed at his temple.

  "Only because I’m in the same boat as you." Aaron thumped the shelf in front of the mirror. He knew exactly how the other man felt.

  "Hope?"

  "Hope." Aaron curled her name over his tongue.

  By doing so, could he hold onto the essence of her for just a little longer?

  Caleb laughed, the sound bitter. "Look at the two of us, gossiping like old women."

  "It's not weakness to commiserate with a friend who's been laid low by his heart, is it?" Aaron's lips twisted in a smirk.

  Caleb's nostrils flared. "Hell no. It makes us brothers of a sort, I suppose."

  Aaron held out his hand. "How about we help each other. Let's strategize to find a way to get our women. Surely there must be a way for dragon shifters to mate with other species?"

  Without replying, Caleb turned to walk away.

  Recognizing an evading tactic when he saw one, Aaron grabbed the other man's arm, stopping him in his tracks. "Isn't there?"

  Caleb didn't shake him off. He held Aaron's gaze. "There is no easy answer." The rough edge to his tone indicated he'd thought about this too many times.

  Blowing out a breath of frustration, Aaron let the other man go. Of course Caleb, being a wolf shifter, would have searched for a solution. He'd lived with this impossible situation far longer than Aaron.

  Except Aaron wasn't going to stop looking until he found a way to mate with his beautiful, frustrating dragon shifter.

  Heading out of the building, they entered an open courtyard.

  On the far end, a table was piled high with food and drink. Twinkling lights lent a festive air to the entire place.

  "You all sure love to party, eh?" Aaron scanned the scene in front of him.

  "Mira's safe return is a good enough reason to celebrate."

  "How is she?" Aaron asked over the sound of a live band tuning its instruments in a corner of the clearing.

  "Physically, she is healed, but she still can't shift." Caleb rubbed the back of his neck. "Whatever the Elysian did to her is blocking her psychic abilities. The medics are confident that it is a temporary effect which should fade with time." His voice tapered off.

  Aaron wasn't surprised to find that he was looking at a woman at the far end. One with glossy blonde hair that outlined a stunning face. Indira

  His eyes came to rest on the figure next to her.

  Hope seemed recovered from her injuries.

  Simple cotton tapered pants clung to those long legs, teamed with a flowing white tunic that came to mid-thigh.
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  With the light behind her, he could see the shadow of her figure through the cloth. For a second, anger twisted his gut. He didn't want anyone else to see her figure, not until he'd claimed her and told the world that she was his.

  Her face was in profile, long dark hair tumbling down her back as she laughed at something Indira said.

  As if sensing his scrutiny, Hope turned, locking her eyes with his.

  Aaron felt something inside him give. A psychic need bled out of him and reached out to her.

  Across the length of the space, he felt her eyes widen before she started toward him.

  28

  Hope

  The hair on the back of her nape had prickled, and Hope knew he was here even before she saw him. Giving herself a moment to wrap what was left of her courage around her, she turned to Indira. "Aaron's here, isn't he?"

  Indira's eyes flicked over Hope's shoulder. She bit her lip.

  "Caleb's here too, I take it?"

  Indira’s expression didn't change.

  Indira might be younger, but she'd always been better at hiding her feelings than Hope.

  Placing her hand on Hope's shoulders, Indira whispered, "Throw your head back and laugh as if I said something funny."

  "What?" Hope's eyes widened.

  "Laugh." Indira pinched Hope's arm.

  The pain cut a path through the tangle of thoughts in her head. Hope managed to tilt her head and laugh.

  The movement sent a twinge of pain through her recently healed body. She dug her nails into her hand to stop herself from gasping out. When she turned to face Aaron, a wave of heat punched straight to her core.

  He, too, had just recovered from their encounter with the Elysians, so why did he look so rested? So, lickable.

  He'd tied his hair back from his face at the nape of his neck and shaved off his beard too.

  The unkept look from earlier had made him look rugged. But Aaron, clean shaven, was simply devastating.

  It only added to that feeling of barely leashed energy he carried about him. The attempt to rein in that dominant side of his only made his macho self even more prominent.

  She wanted to reach out and run her fingers over that firm jaw, to feel the shape of those cheek bones that would feel sharp yet soft against her skin.

  He'd left the top buttons of his shirt undone, and even at this distance, the triangle of honey-brown skin below his throat glistened in the fading sunlight.

  He looked hot and sexy, and her dragon clawed against her skin, wanting to be let out.

  Her dragon wanted to brush the underside of her wings where they were most sensitive over this man. She wanted to sniff him, to take his scent inside until it was stamped in her very pore, so everyone would know she belonged to him.

  That thought broke through the sexual haze she'd fallen into.

  If just being in the same space with him did this to her… when he had not even touched her, when all he had to do was look at her and her dragon reacted as if she was going up in flames… well, then, Hope knew she couldn't delay this anymore.

  Before her resolution could fail her, she stepped away from Indira. With the crowd at her back, she walked the short stretch of clearing that separated her from the lethalness of his presence.

  Every step she took brought her closer to that pulsing charisma he wore in such a casual fashion.

  Aaron was the kind of man who'd stand out in a crowd, the kind who'd step into a room and instantly suck up every bit of air in the space with his presence.

  Your kind of man, her dragon growled, waves of agitation from the beast twisting her inside, making her pause mid step.

  Her dragon never, ever, fought with her. Oh, she could feel the emotions of the beast all the time, but the only other time she had felt it this unsettled was when she'd been just five.

  When the tsunamis of 2014 had crashed into their island, Indira had not even been born. Her parents had shifted to dragon form and carried them to the top of the hill of the island. They'd ferried the rest of the shifters and humans to safety.

  Her mother had been caught in one of the last killer waves and died.

  Her father had hung on, missing his mate, until Eve had turned eighteen. Then it was as if his will had given away, and he breathed his last breath, leaving Eve in charge.

  Her parents had been mated for life and even after death. Too bad it wasn't going to be the same for her.

  All these thoughts ran through her head as she took a deep breath, calming her dragon.

  But it was to no avail.

  Her dragon knew what she was going to do, and this time there was no holding it down.

  29

  Aaron

  Aaron watched Hope glide toward him. Her eyes held his, her back straight, hands at her side. The easy gait of a woman at home among her own kind.

  Head held high, muscles shifting under her golden skin caressed by that thin white top that threatened to drive him a little mad.

  It was only when he raised his hand that he realized he had reached for her. He wanted to tear the tunic off her and cup those plump breasts that rose and fell under her shift as she walked toward him

  That vanilla and hot spice scent of hers wrapped itself around his senses, sending a rush of liquid heat through his groin.

  He shuffled his feet, moving his legs apart to accommodate his growing arousal. Just a whisper of a movement, but he knew she caught it. For a tinge of red laced her cheek bones.

  She stepped up to him, passing so close that the heat from her skin seared him, the hair on his forearms rising in response. As she made to move past him, his hand snaked out, grabbing her wrist.

  A tremor shook her, and he knew whatever game she was playing, she was not as calm as she seemed.

  Heat from her skin leapt into him, through him. He was sure he could feel the dragon in her try to leap from her body into his, to possess him, as he wanted to possess her.

  "Why are you fighting this, fighting us?" He'd been compelled to ask the question, but every part of him screamed he did not want to hear the answer.

  Because, hell, when it came down to it, it didn't matter that she was a dragon shifter and he was an immortal warrior.

  All it came down to was that she was a woman and he was a man, and they fit in the most basic of ways. It was just so right. There was nothing more to it other than that. Nothing else mattered. Except it did. To her.

  "Hope." He hated the defensiveness in his tone. Hated that she made him want her with such a visceral passion that a touch was all it took to inflame his already engorged senses. And yet he knew it was important that he push her to speak her mind.

  As if realizing that he was at the end of his tether, she turned to him, and he swore aloud.

  Those green eyes had turned dragon. The pupils showed verticals slit with gold specks swirling in the iris. It was the beast warring to take over. The struggle was so palpable that he could all but feel the blaze of emotions firing up inside her.

  No, whatever she was going to do, it wasn't easy for her. Her dragon was fighting it every step of the way, tearing her from the inside out.

  "You are in your own personal hell, aren't you, baby?" Reaching up with his free hand, he pushed aside a curl of hair which had fallen over her cheek.

  Her eyelids swept down, hiding the sight of those green-gold eyes for a second as she flinched.

  "You aren't going to give into your dragon, are you?" He held onto her wrist.

  Just for a few more seconds he could feel her skin on his, couldn't he?

  Leaning toward her, he bent until he was eye level with her. His breath whistled out over her cheek as he held that emerald-green gaze. The golden flecks in those gorgeous eyes twisted in tune to an inner turbulence he couldn't see. Waves of tension radiated from her.

  He sucked in a breath as the blood began to thud at his temples. "What are you going to do, you stubborn woman? You're going to regret it forever, but you are going to do it anyway, aren't you? For you
can't stand to see me hurt. Just as if I let any harm come to you, I'd never be able to live with myself." The last few words seeped out of him, the truth of it sinking into his skin.

  "I am sorry, Aaron." She tugged at his grasp.

  The suddenness of her action took him by surprise, enough to have him loosen his grip on her.

  Sliding past him, she walked on, heading toward the front of the crowd.

  His woman—his mate—took the arm of another man and walked with him up the dais. Looking up into his face, she smiled. Her features lit up as if she saw no one else but him.

  Rage burned a path through the muddled thoughts in his head.

  Jason. He recognized the dragon shifter who'd shouted out in support of Hope when they'd fought that first time.

  A quiet hush fell as the two walked up to the raised platform.

  Cold fingers of foreboding skittered down Aaron's spine. A part of him knew what was coming, and yet, he couldn’t quite comprehend what was taking place.

  Eve stepped up from the other side, walking onto the dais. "Hope has agreed to mate with Jason." She placed her arms around the couple. "Let's celebrate their union and hope for the birth of a full-blooded dragon shifter who will continue our lineage and be the protector of this island."

  Red streaked across his vision. Aaron took a step forward, only to find Caleb gripping his arm and holding him back.

  "Don't do anything stupid," Caleb hissed.

  Aaron barely heard the words

  He shoved against the arms holding him back, but Caleb hung on and didn't let go. Throwing his arms around Aaron's shoulders, Caleb tried to restrain him.

  Seeing Hope raise her face to Jason, the buzzing in Aaron's head rose until it drowned out all other thought. That primitive part of his brain which he drew on in fights kicked in.

  Fear and rage fired up his nerve endings.

  "Here's to Hope and Jase." Eve raised a glass of champagne to the crowd.

  Aaron heard the sound of someone snarling then realized the sound was coming from him.