by Abigail Owen
The spicy scent of pine struck Sera the second she stepped out of the car, the scent carried on the strong breeze also bringing the hint of rain with it. The mountains here were steeper, sharper, than the more rolling part of the Sierra Nevada mountains where she lived.
With a whoop, Blake burst out of the car and ran after Titus and Hall who’d gone to unlock the door. Drake grabbed her suitcases and the few small bags the guys had loaded in the back of the SUVs. He paused, looked at her, then at Aidan with an inscrutable expression, before leaving her alone with Aidan.
Before she could follow, Aidan put a hand on her arm. “You okay?”
She forced a sunny smile. “Of course.”
He frowned down at her, broad shoulders blocking out the sunshine. “You sure? No…doubts?”
Sera twitched a shoulder. “Tons, but I’ll be fine.”
“Can I do anything?”
Sera froze, his words so like what he’d said in her dream, she was having trouble separating the fantasy from the reality. His rejection from the darkness skidded broadside into her. She sucked in a sharp breath as her heart contracted with the pain. “No. Like you said, you’re not my destined mate.”
She turned to walk away again, only this time he snagged her arm and spun her around a little harder. “What did you say?”
He searched her face with an almost frantic expression.
She scrambled to catch up with what she’d put into words, then grimaced. Oh, hell. This entire situation had her so damn overwhelmed she was starting to blend fantasy with reality. Of course, he’d never said that in real life. That conversation had been a dream. She shook her head. “Forget it.”
He stepped in close and bracketed her face in his hands in a way that real-life Aidan would never, ever do, but she wanted him too much to quibble. “It couldn’t be…” he murmured.
Then, with no warning, he claimed her mouth in the softest kiss. Familiarity was an undercurrent to stark want, her body short-circuiting her mind.
Before she could lean in, though, Aidan jerked away. “We shouldn’t.”
She slowly blinked, the haze of need still blanketing her. Oh God. Not again. She swallowed. “You don’t want me?”
Denial—of her or the words, she wasn’t sure—tightened the skin over his cheekbones. Those thick dark eyebrows lowering, and tension riding his body like electricity as he stared at her.
“Fuck,” Aidan groaned and yanked her against him. He possessed her lips, his arms plastering her against the length of his body.
Aidan’s kiss wasn’t just about a connection, it was about acknowledging it.
Taking.
Possessing.
Giving.
As he plunged his tongue into her mouth, tangling with hers in hot, heavy strokes, he used those big hands to press her body into his, the hard ridge of his erection unmistakable against her belly.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
Titus’s harsh voice exploded in the brisk air. Like a guilty teenager caught by his girl’s father, Aidan jumped back from her, leaving Sera to shiver at the unexpected loss. Hope died with the distance, turning into thin razors on the underside of her skin. The way he was looking at Titus—with a strange sort of guilty defiance—and the way he was not looking at her, hit like a sledgehammer, smashing her up.
She’d thought for a moment…just for a moment…that maybe he was hers.
…
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Those dreams couldn’t be real. They couldn’t have both been in them together. Could they? But her lips, the taste of her in his mouth, had been familiar in a way that shouldn’t be possible. His thought spiraled down that path as reaction buffeted him—triumph, elation, and fucking terror.
Because everything in him was screaming that Sera was his.
This can’t be happening. I should call Finn—
Aidan raised his head and stilled, his dragon rumbling low in his mind as he faced Titus’s dark glower. The explosive rage was already turning the black dragon shifter’s eyes to flame.
I fucked this up bad.
Aidan swiftly took in the man in front of him. He couldn’t miss how Titus’s hands clenched and unclenched almost compulsively, as if he was trying to keep his dragon contained. His voice, lower and smokier, also indicated a lack of control. Never, in the years since he’d known this team, had Aidan ever seen Titus anything but fully in control.
Obviously, Titus had something to lose here.
But if I’m right, he’s not her mate.
Aidan shook off the thought. All that mattered was keeping Titus from losing it or he could hurt Sera. Instinct told him that Titus was on the verge of tumbling over a precipice into full-on monster. Before he could address his own revelation, Aidan had to douse this fire first.
What the fuck do you think you’re doing? the other man had asked.
“I’m kissing Sera,” he answered, trying to play off what they were just doing as no big deal.
“No shit. The question is why? She’s not yours to kiss.”
“To be sure she’s not my mate,” Aidan said in a slow, measured tone.
Saying those words out loud physically hurt, as if his entire being violently shunned the idea. The misgivings he’d been holding inside since the moment his flames awakened his mark on the back of her neck solidified into a full-blown suspicion. What if they were mates? Could she actually be his? Were they so connected that they’d met in their dreams? She seemed to be as drawn to him as he was to her…
Titus jerked, still riled, tension pouring off his big body in waves, the scent of smoke hanging heavy in the air around him. “What does that mean?”
Aidan held up both hands. “I wanted to make sure we didn’t have something before we get to France.”
Titus’s hands continued that clenching thing, but the blistering flames in his eyes banked, turning to smoldering embers. “And there’s not something?”
Gods forgive him for this, but Titus couldn’t handle the truth until he calmed. “No.”
Even as everything inside him compressed, cramping, Aidan held Titus’s gaze. He forced himself to ignore the small whimper Sera emitted behind him. He’d hurt her with that rejection as much as he’d hurt himself.
But he couldn’t focus on that or fix it yet. Not while Titus still rode that edge of control like a bicycle on a tightrope. Thankfully, Sera also kept quiet, instinct probably warning her of danger.
After a long, dead stare, Titus’s broad shoulders dropped, and he expelled a deep breath, his eyes returning to normal. “Sorry, rookie. I knew you couldn’t be.”
Aidan pasted what he hoped was an easy grin on his mouth. “For a dragon mate, I figured it was worth checking.”
Titus didn’t smile back, but his body loosened more. “I get it. You’re young. You have years yet.”
True. A sliver of doubt wormed its way into Aidan’s suspicion like a splinter under his skin. Titus and Drake—his teammates, practically brothers, deserved a mate so much more. Not to mention the rotting king.
Titus held his hand out to Sera and Aidan did a quarter turn. He held back a flinch at the glare she directed his way as she passed by to accept Titus’s hand. “It was a stupid thought, anyway,” she said as she allowed the other dragon shifter to escort her away.
Aidan took longer to follow because those words—her own rebuff—hit him hard in the solar plexus, combining with a sudden, violent urge to rip Titus’s arm off for touching her at all.
Gods above and below and sideways…what if they were mates? Fuck.
Titus was right about him being young, though. Other shifters had been waiting for centuries longer than he to find their mates. It shouldn’t be his time. Not yet.
Unless Sera asked that he be included?
Hope expanded in his chest like an inflating life raft.
Would he be this ripped up if she wasn’t his?
He had to find out. Tonight. Before they took her to the Alliance.
For the first time since meeting her, he knew what he wanted, what he had to do.
Aidan pulled out his phone and dialed Finn.
Chapter Fourteen
Sera closed the door on the room she was sharing with Blake with a quiet snick. Not that he was asleep yet. These days, she knew he lay in bed awake for at least a half hour before finally conking out, but habit from years of sneaking out of the room, since he was a tiny baby with colic, stuck with her.
Closing her eyes, she put her hand on the door, worries about her child and his place in this new world she was supposedly about to take her own place in wrapping around her. All tangled up, like creeping vines, with thoughts of Aidan.
How could he not feel that? Her emotions and physical response to that man were indescribable. As if every part of her—mind, body, heart, and soul—called out to the same in him.
Only to be rejected. In real life this time.
Damn that hurt. Even now a dull ache remained inside her ribs where her heart should be. Sure, they’d been caught in the act, but there had been a surety in his voice when he denied being her mate that told her he believed those words.
Which meant she’d got it horribly wrong.
So why did it hurt this much?
“Sera?” The word was couched softly, but she jumped regardless, spinning to face the man standing at the end of the hallway with a gasp.
As soon as she recognized him, the air whooshed from her. She put a hand to her chest. “I swear you’re all like Prius cars, you’re so freaking quiet.”
Hall grinned, his snakelike eyes glittering with amusement, even in the darkened hall. “Sorry. I tried not to.”
Sera sniggered. “I know. Someone needs to teach dragon shifters how to walk with sound so that you don’t frighten unsuspecting humans half to death.”
He cocked his head in a move that reminded her even more of a snake, the impression increasing as he walked toward her in a smooth slither. “Why would we do that? Scaring our prey is half the fun.”
While slightly smaller than the other members of the team, his lean muscles and the way he moved with inherent grace and power made it clear he was just as deadly. Hall was usually friendly, almost innocuous because of it, except for his tendency toward sarcasm, and pushing Drake’s buttons. However, right this moment, the predator in him became obvious as he took up most of the hallway, looming over her. That combined with his words and she had to catch her heart from bolting out of her throat.
Sera tried to keep from backing up. “You guys…don’t…eat…”
Hall burst out laughing, and the predator disappeared behind his easy smile. “You should see your face. No, we don’t eat humans. You’ve seen us eat regular human food.”
Thank heavens. She smacked him in the arm. “Don’t say things like that.”
“I didn’t say anything. You’re the one with the sick mind.”
He winked and she smiled. Couldn’t help it. She’d always been a little fascinated by the combination of Hall’s human ancestry—dark hair and smooth, honey-bronzed skin of an ancient Asian lineage—with those lime-green eyes. Eyes that were currently full of humor.
Sera shook her head, laughing with him. “I didn’t have a sick mind until I met you guys.”
Together, they turned to walk down the hall and into the family room, which sported the massive windows faced out over the scattered lights of the town below. The growing thunderstorm still lurked in the distance, covering half the sky now, the mountain rising across the way a shadowy gray indicating a torrent of falling rain had reached that part of the valley.
The low rumble of a voice outside snagged Sera’s attention. It took her a second, but she discovered Aidan standing in the gravel drive beside the cars. He was on the phone, probably reporting their arrival to Finn.
“Aren’t I supposed to be able to feel the connection to my mate?” She asked herself the question as much as the man at her side.
Hall followed her gaze and grimaced. “Do you feel a connection to any man on the team?”
Sera deliberately turned her back to the scene outside and gave a slow shake of her head. “Everything about this is foreign to me. I don’t know what I think…or feel for that matter.”
“Makes sense,” he said. Except the speculation in his gaze told her something was churning behind those startling eyes. Then he tipped his head to the door. “Want to go for a walk?”
Sera blinked. “A walk?”
He gave an easy shrug. “Isn’t that what you humans do when you need to think?”
“Or not think,” Sera grumbled. She gave him a cockeyed look. “Isn’t this what serial killers say to their victims? Come with me into the woods, little girl, says the wolf to Red Riding Hood. And…it’s about to rain.” She glanced pointedly at the view through the windows.
Hall rolled his eyes. “I am not a wolf, and that rain won’t come this way. The wind is blowing northwest, away from us.”
He could tell what the weather would do from in here? Could all dragons do that? Sera paused, frowning. “Are there wolves?”
“Wolf shifters, yeah, among other things. Mangy mutts.” He extended his hand again. “Come on. It might help you figure some things out.”
Maybe getting out the pent-up energy determined to twist her into knots could help?
“Or we could fly if you don’t want to walk.” He waggled his eyebrows.
Sera snorted. “No, thanks.” She had yet to get on one of their backs to try it. She wasn’t really looking forward to later tonight, either.
“I figured. ”
Sera glanced toward the hallway, down which her son—the most important part of her—slept in peaceful ignorance.
“Hey.” Hall must’ve caught her glance. Sera turned back to face him. “He’ll be safe. Those men out there would protect him with their lives.”
She had zero doubt of that. “Actually, a walk sounds good.”
Hall brightened. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
To her surprise, he led her not out the back door, but right out the front, where Aidan was still on the phone. “Sera wants to clear her head, so I’m going to take her on a short walk.”
Aidan froze and his sharp gaze—with flames flickering, if she wasn’t mistaken—zeroed in on her.
“Are you okay?” Aidan pulled the phone away from his ear to ask.
He crossed the drive to stand right in front of her, not touching but suddenly they existed in their own bubble of nuanced communication. Mate or not, this man cared. His actions spoke louder than words, or was she still caught up in seeing what she wanted to see?
“Blake’s asleep, and I can’t sit in there all cooped up and waiting.” She gave a shrug. “After traveling all day, a walk would be nice.”
Aidan and Hall exchanged a glance. “It’s starting to get dark.”
Hall waved that off. “We won’t be long, and I’ll keep her close.”
After a measured stare, way more penetrating than it should have been over a simple stroll through the woods, Aidan nodded.
Sera let out a silent breath and moved off with Hall. The fresh scent of pine swirled around her, a smell she’d always associated with her home and comfort and beauty. Right now, that was the only thing giving her comfort as they moved deeper and deeper into the forested mountainside, skirting boulders. They hefted up the steep slope, and Sera was grateful she’d gone with more comfortable jeans and white T-shirt with running shoes to travel, rather than dress up for these Alliance people.
“Have you been chosen as a possible mate before?” she asked, her mind still on their earlier conversation. Then a thought occurred. “Maybe I shouldn’t ask that. Is it rude?”
Hall patted her shoulder. “Not rude exactly, but it can be a sore topic.”
“Oh.” She winced. “Sorry.”
“It’s not sore for me.” He shrugged. “To answer your question, I was selected once, but I felt nothing for the woman, though I wanted to. She chose a different
man and they successfully mated.”
A smidgeon of relief that she didn’t need to eat all of the foot she’d stuffed in her mouth had her smiling. “I’m glad.”
Hall grimaced. “Don’t ask Titus—he had a bad experience. And Drake is one of the oldest on the team, but he’s never been selected.”
Ouch. “Got it.”
Maybe this would get easier after she found her mate. It felt as though she was navigating an ocean of mines without any idea of where to go—up, down, right, left. Hell, even diagonal seemed the wrong direction right now.
She turned her head to find Hall watching her, that speculative look back, and raised her eyebrows in question. “What?”
“I’m sorry about this, Sera.”
Before she could ask, he stepped closer with a speed that made him blur. A prick of pain flared in her neck, and immediately, her world started to blur.
“This is for your own good.” Hall’s voice came at her like hearing him down a long corridor.
He drugged me? Sera didn’t even have time to be scared before darkness closed in on her and she was out.
…
Aidan paused in his conversation with Finn and lifted his chin, sniffing the air, reaching for any sounds surrounding the cabin. Instinct told him something was off, but nothing his senses could pick up.
Maybe this mating thing had him paranoid.
“You there, rookie?” Finn’s voice sounded over his phone.
Aidan dragged his attention back and put the phone to his ear.
If he wanted to pursue Sera, find out if they truly were mates before the Alliance was involved, he needed to persuade Finn first. He’d been easing into the conversation, but now he needed to say it straight up. The thought of having to ask permission about his woman grated like a shredder over soft cheese, but he had no choice. The others would follow their leader’s decision.
“Yeah. Boss…I have something I need to tell you.”
“Hey.”
Aidan spun to find Titus and Drake coming out of the house. He had to hold back a roar of frustration, because he damn sure hadn’t planned to have this conversation in front of them. “Hey.”
“Where’s Sera?” Titus asked.
