by Abigail Owen
Aidan canted his head in the direction they’d left. “On a walk. Hall’s with her.”
“That Finn?” Drake nodded toward the phone.
“Yeah. I guess you should hear this, too.” He cleared his throat. How the hell did he explain dreams that might be real? “Finn…you should know that I kissed Sera.”
Still standing across from him, Drake’s eyebrows shot up while Titus crossed his arms, a frown descending.
“Now why’d you go and do a dumb-ass thing like that, rookie?” Finn barked down the line.
“Because I couldn’t not kiss her. Because I had to see if…” If what? Putting feelings into words was not something he did. Ever. “You know what I had to see.”
While silence dropped heavy over the phone, Titus’s expression went full-blown scowl, a small growl rumbling from his chest. A spike of lightning from the storm across the valley lit the shifter’s face, giving him a sudden sinister look.
Drake ran a hand over his face. “Fuck.”
“If you’re saying you think she’s your mate,” Titus snarled, “that’s a pathetic fucking excuse.”
Aidan knew his own eyes had gone full flames when Titus, despite his own smoldering anger, took a step back.
“Give me that phone.” Delaney’s voice sounded small, like she was in the room with Finn.
A quiet scuffle sounded over the phone with lots of muttered oaths from Finn before Delaney’s voice came through loud and clear. “If the others didn’t see it, they’re blind. Then again, they’re men.”
Aidan dropped his head back, unsure if he should pump a fist that he had Delaney on his side or argue with her that his interest in Sera should’ve been obvious because he’d been fighting to keep it hidden. “You saw it?” he landed on.
“You can’t keep your eyes off her when she’s not looking. You’re always watching out for her. You’re the first to comfort her or help her. I bet you even know her favorite color, movie, food?”
Yellow. The Princess Bride. Dark chocolate paired with her winery’s Tempranillo. At least, those would be true if the dreams were real. Fuck.
The fact that Delaney was right didn’t make Sera his mate or make the dreams real. Many dragons before him had mistaken things like protectiveness or even lust as a sign that a woman was their mate—Finn and Titus included, men he respected.
But when he added it to all the other signs… At least he was finally pulling his head out of his ass to listen.
Finn managed to wrest the phone back from his mate, because his voice came over next. “What are you asking for, Aidan? The Alliance and the Mating Council will oversee this. Not me.”
“I know. But you can’t deny that my being included in her mating process is doubtful.”
“It’s a crap shoot for all of us,” Drake said.
Aidan shook his head. “I have too many marks against me. Not like you and Titus.”
Finn’s pregnant pause acknowledged the validity of Aidan’s words. “Again, what do you want?”
“Time with her. Give me tonight and tomorrow before we take her to the Alliance.”
“For what?”
“Whatever I think is appropriate to determine if we’re mates. If we’re both sure, and Sera demands I be included in the process, the Council won’t deny her wishes.”
Before Finn could answer, Titus plucked Aidan’s phone out of his hand. “If you do this, boss, then you have to give me and Drake a shot with her, too.”
His dragon already too close to the surface, Aidan lunged for Titus. “No fucking way—”
Drake slammed into him from the side, wrapping him up. “Calm the fuck down.”
Aidan jerked against the steel bands of Drake’s arms. In answer, the red dragon shifter tightened his grip, which only pissed Aidan off more. His skin crawled with the need to loose the beast inside him.
“You going to fight your teammate?” Drake demanded in a low growl. “A man who’s had your back? Shown you the ropes? Stood behind Finn’s decision to keep you on the team?”
Stilling, Aidan held in his shift with painful determination as his dragon pushed outward, wanting to take out this perceived threat to his mate. “He can’t—”
“He has every right.” Drake squeezed harder. “So do I.”
Shit. Denial and acceptance warred inside him, squeezing his chest with more pressure than even Drake could apply. She was his, but she wasn’t. And this was Titus and Drake. Titus, who’d been the first to accept him as a member of the team. Drake, who’d had his back at every turn. Men he’d wanted to emulate for much of his long life.
These men were his brothers. Why had the fates been so cruel as to pit them against each other for the same woman?
For Sera.
The fates had been total bitches to him his entire life. Of course they could be that cruel. But damned if he was going to sit back and take it. Not when his mate was involved. First, though, he had to prove himself to these men.
Sensing Aidan’s control snap back in place, though none of the tension left his body, Drake loosened his grip. “We good?”
Chest still heaving, Aidan nodded. “Yeah.”
Drake released him and stepped back. Aidan turned to find both shifters with their eyes alight with flames, watching him closely. Knowing his own eyes also reflected his turmoil, Aidan kept his arms loose by his sides, his expression calm. “I’m good.”
Despite standing twenty feet away, Aidan’s enhanced hearing picked up Finn’s objection over the phone still in Titus’s hand. “The Alliance and the Mating Council won’t like it.”
Titus put it to his ear. “They don’t need to know.”
“Fuck.” Aidan could picture Finn running a hand over his jaw. The other dragon’s voice carried his tension over the line. “We’re already under scrutiny because of how things went down with Delaney and with Fallon.”
Drake snapped up the phone. “With three of us matching the marks on her, you had to know this was coming.”
Finn remained quiet for a long beat. “One day. That’s all I’m giving you. All of you.”
Yes. He had permission. So did Titus and Drake, but at least he did, too. Anticipation fizzed through his blood.
“It’s up to Sera if she gives any of you assholes a shot at anything,” Finn continued. “The Alliance doesn’t hear about this. Agreed?”
Titus’s eyes went smoky as the flames doused. He glanced to Aidan who nodded, then to Drake who crossed his arms. “We’re agreed,” Titus answered for all of them.
“One more thing…”
Aidan waited for the final condition, hands clenched at his side.
“Hall has the final say on everything. He’s fucking Switzerland on this one.”
Chapter Fifteen
Consciousness came back not slowly but like jerking out of a nightmare. With a harsh intake of breath and a thumping heart, Sera sat straight up to find herself surrounded by trees and darkness. Hall squatted in front of her.
“You’re safe,” he rushed to assure her.
“Safe?” she squawked. Sera scrambled to her feet to glare at the man before her. “You kidnapped me, you jerk.”
Hall held up both hands and didn’t come closer. “I’ll take you back if you want.”
“I do want. Right now.”
“But first, I think you should listen to my friend.”
Sera stared at him with a frown. What was going on here? “You kidnapped me so I could listen to someone? About what?”
“About mating and things you don’t know about.”
That slowed Sera’s mind. She crossed her arms. “Why should I believe you?”
“Because I think your life is in danger. You need to know everything before you go through with this.”
She shook her head, trying to clear it. She had no clue where she was or how long she’d been out. And his knocking her unconscious to get her here screamed danger. But she also believed him. Believed he sincerely was trying to help her. “If I listen to you
r friend, will you take me back?”
“If you want to go back after what he tells you. Yes. I promise.”
She glanced around, taking in her surroundings in more detail. They were still on a mountain, which sloped away from the small, flat area where she stood. The trees made the coming evening darker, almost claustrophobic. The silence—eerie and unnatural, as though every critter held its breath and even the breeze dared not disturb the trees—made that oppressive sensation even worse.
Maybe this was instinct telling her to run.
But she had no clue where she was or how to get back, which meant she needed to, at the very least, play along for now. “Fine,” she grumbled. “Where is this friend?”
Hall stepped aside, revealing a gnarled pine that had to have an interesting story to have grown that twisted. A figure stepped from the shadows behind the tree not three feet from where she stood.
She couldn’t help the gasp that escaped her mouth.
“Sera,” Hall said in a quiet voice. “I’d like you to meet Rune Abaddon.”
What? Fear flushed through her system making her shake hard. Oh God. Rune kidnapped mates. They were going to take her away by force. She’d never see her son again.
She scrambled back, hands in front of her. “D…don’t take me,” she stuttered. With a deep breath and more force, she got out words she hoped would stop him. “I think I know who my mate is.”
Rune pulled up sharply, casting a look full of accusation at Hall who stared at her with wide eyes before shaking his head at Rune. “I didn’t know. I swear.”
The large man shrouded in darkness looked away. Eyes adjusted to the gloom, she could make out that he was tall and everything about him was dark—black hair, black eyes, teak skin. Based on what she’d been told, she knew he was a black dragon.
Rune grunted, a sound that reminded her of Finn. Then he swung his gaze back to her. “That changes everything. Are you sure?”
Sera licked Mojave-dry lips, reaching for a calm that didn’t want to come. “I think so, but he keeps saying no.”
“Who?”
“Aidan Paytah. I think Aidan is my mate.” Saying it out loud felt right, even in this fraught moment. Please let Aidan be wrong.
Rune slid a glance toward the green dragon at her side. “That might cause problems.”
“Why?”
“The men you are with don’t know everything I do.”
A low rumble of distant thunder rolled over them and Sera swallowed hard. “What does that mean?”
Rune dropped into a crouch, elbows casually on his knees. Was he trying to be non-threatening? It wasn’t working.
“The mating process didn’t used to be the way it is now,” he started. “Thousands of years ago, no marks showed on mate’s necks, and everything was handled by gut feel, instinct, and the knowing that comes with finding a mate.”
Sera forced herself to drop her arms to her sides and listen, though her wheels were still spinning.
He watched her closely. “As I understand it, the mate’s dragon sign would only be triggered when she was exposed directly to her destined mate, which helped narrow things down.”
Yeah. That would definitely be easier. Sera immediately flashed to an image of Aidan in her mind. He’d been the one to trigger her eyes shifting. Did that mean something now?
Unaware of her mental debating, Rune continued. “As humans and dragon shifters started to spread across the globe, making their homes farther away, the marks started to appear, though the process didn’t change much at first. The dragons who found a woman showing dragon sign were able to narrow the selection by the family crest and would send her directly to that family.”
His tone said that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. “What happened?”
“Fighting within families about who was or wasn’t the destined mate started a series of feuds and wars. You see, not only is a mate precious because of the bond she holds with her fated, but because she extends her fated dragon shifter’s life by almost double and protects him from mental and physical diseases that we are vulnerable to without mates.”
She glanced to Hall who nodded his confirmation.
“The Mating Council was set up as a neutral body with the goal to help connect each female to her one, destined mate by narrowing the selection and acting as the final authority.” Rune’s mouth tightened. A small gesture, but a tell nonetheless.
“You think this is a bad thing?” Sera asked slowly.
Rune stilled. “Not at first. In fact, up until five hundred years ago, the process was fine.”
“What happened five hundred years ago?” Did she want to know?
“A new High King. Five hundred years ago, when he took his throne from the previous High King, the mating processes started to change. Subtly, over time.”
This did not sound good at all.
“The men chosen since he took the throne seem to have become very…political. Strategic moves that deny mates to ‘lower’ ranked individuals, or those who could pose a threat to anyone in power.”
Definitely not good.
“Mates started dying with more frequency, though no one knows quite how many, as the Council doesn’t release the information.”
“Then how do you know?” Sera asked.
“Based on how many men report back to their clans an unsuccessful mating. Also, clans like the Blue Clan have been finding fewer and fewer mates, while the Red Clan…” He spread his hands wide.
She got the point. The Red Clan found more. But that could just be a function of the mates being found. Coincidence. Couldn’t it?
She must’ve allowed her suspicion to show, because Rune lifted a single eyebrow, hard humor crossing his harshly beautiful face. “Given the ages of the men on the Huracán team, by now at least half should’ve found their mates.”
It didn’t take a PhD in quantum physics to realize that with only Finn and Fallon mated, the team was way under what they should be.
“And mates’ deaths were a rare occurrence before. One out of maybe fifty chose wrong. As far as I’ve determined, that number has increased to closer to one out of five.”
Sera’s eyes went wide at that bit of information and her vision spotted as blood drained from her head. “Jeez.”
“Not only that, but you having multiple brands and Delaney having none aren’t the only aberrations lately. The magic that drives these signs must be changing, too. Evolving. But the process in place has become antiquated and political, not adjusting to the changes. Or perhaps the changes are because of how things work now. I don’t know.”
“Why doesn’t someone put a stop to it? The team?”
“The team doesn’t know the numbers. I’ve been gathering this information since I left.” He grimaced. “Coming from me, they probably wouldn’t believe it anyway.” Rune’s lips drew into a harsh line reflecting the disgust in his voice. “I’ve discovered all this through back channels, spies, and other means, and I have no actual proof. This is hearsay and instinct and piecing things together.”
The way he said that made a shiver of apprehension scurry down her spine. What had this man done?
“That’s not all.” Rune stood, looming over her. “You should know the red mark you carry is that of the High King.”
Shock sucked all the oxygen from her lungs and her head went light. “Pytheios?” she whispered.
She must’ve looked as stricken as she felt, because Hall put a hand on her back in a gesture she took to be comforting.
This had to be why Aidan refused to consider her as his destined mate. He already had to prove himself over and over, just to be part of the enforcer team. How could he believe he’d be hers when the High King was in the running? Lord, what a mess.
Rune and Hall exchanged a glance that she couldn’t miss, but also couldn’t interpret.
Still, she had no intention of mating a man she didn’t want. She lifted her chin. “You were going to steal me away. Right?”
He d
idn’t deny it.
“But now that I know these things, what happens if I insist on mating Aidan?”
Rune rubbed his jaw. “It’s a risk, given what I’ve told you about the politics and Pytheios. Not to mention Aidan comes with his own baggage—orphan, rookie, Blue Clan.”
Crap. “What other choice do I have?”
“You come with me, now,” Rune said. “I can hide you, protect you from any fires you may set.”
“That’s what you do with all those mates?” she asked slowly. Was he really not the bad guy in all of this? What about the fires? The attacks on his friends?
Rune tipped his head. “As often as I can get to them before they get to the Council.”
“And then what? Have the women you’ve hidden ever found their destined mates?”
He blinked. “Not yet. But they aren’t dead, either.”
Something didn’t sound quite right. “Are they…prisoners?”
Rune gave a quiet bark of a laugh. “I like you, Sera Morrison.”
She raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to address her question.
Shaking his head, a small smile pulling at the natural downturn to his lips, he stepped closer, his coffee and smoke scent suddenly filling her nostrils. “They’re safe until the mating process is fixed.”
Which could take years? Centuries maybe? She’d be dead in that time. And what about Blake?
He must’ve read her expression, because Rune sighed. “Since you think you know your mate, I’ll try to see what I could do, but you would still need to hide with us. Both of you.”
Which would destroy every goal Aidan had ever set for himself, losing his place on the team, forcing him to go rogue.
A mix of emotions and thoughts rolled through her like the violent curl of water in an ocean wave. Sera swallowed. “What if I try to do things the official way, through the Mating Council? If I feel like it’s not going to work after I’m there, can you help?”
Rune’s eyes flared black, like sparks in the recess of his irises surrounded by the darkness of the mountain and night. Had she surprised him?
She needed him to understand if he was going to let her go. Instinct told her that much. “You’ve just told me what’s behind door number two means running and hiding, which means our lives are in danger.”
