by Abigail Owen
“Ladon’s coup. I couldn’t risk them taking Maddie from me, so I took her and ran.”
Holy shit. “Is everything…okay?”
Fallon’s grin came through loud and clear in his voice. “Yeah. We’re mated. Everything’s great.”
Finn leaned against his dresser, not willing to acknowledge the small tremor in his hands as relief crashed through him. He hadn’t killed his brother’s mate all those years ago. Thank the fates for that small mercy at least. “I’m glad, little brother. Give her a hug for me and tell her welcome to the family.”
“I will.”
“When are you coming home?”
Before Fallon could answer, a panicked shriek had Finn whipping around. Delaney sat in the middle of the bed staring at a fire. The t-shirt he’d pulled off her body earlier sat on her lap blazing away.
With another shriek, she scrambled off the bed, pushing out from under the blaze, then grabbed a pillow and beat the flames until all that was left was a smoldering pile of ash and remnants of her shirt. Thankfully, his bedding was fireproof.
“What the fuck was that?” Fallon’s small voice called from the device that Finn had lowered in shock.
Delaney’s hands flew up to cover her mouth and her face crumpled. “No.”
Finn raised the phone. “I have to go.” Then he hung up on his brother and dropped the phone to leap the bed and pull Delaney into his arms.
“It’s me,” she sobbed. “I’m the bad guy. I set all those fires—”
She started to shake in his arms, reaction setting in.
“No.” Maybe, but she didn’t need to hear that right now. He tightened his arms, running a hand over her silky hair while his mind spun.
He continued to hold her while Delaney babbled and cried, doing his damndest to soothe her. Dread started to tug at him, the unfamiliar sensation feeding itself. He didn’t do panic. He was the steady one, the calm one who always knew what to do.
But the woman in his arms was bringing the entire weight of guilt down on her shoulders, and he couldn’t get her to stop. She shook so hard her teeth started to chatter.
“Maybe that’s why Graff is after me. I’m dangerous. What if I killed—”
“Don’t.” No way was he letting her go down that road. “I’ve looked at every record associated with you, and your family was killed by a drunk driver. The fire was secondary.”
He grabbed her by the shoulders and held her back so she could see his face, see how serious he was. “Tell me you believe me. Your family was not your fault.”
Red-rimmed eyes, still welling with tears, stared back at him. Finally, she nodded, taking a deep, shuddering breath. “But all those other fires—”
“May have been you, but maybe not. That barn fire smelled like Graff, just now smelled like…you.”
She quieted, and relief oozed through him. At least she wasn’t flipping out still. He hated how helpless it made him. He couldn’t fix this for her easily. Though he had explanations, at least.
On the heels of relief came his own darkness. Mark or no mark, setting a fire was a dragon sign. And that meant he was going to have to let her go, and not after they ended Graff.
Now.
“What’s wrong with me, Finn?” she asked. Those big gray eyes remained steady on him, absolute faith in him reflected there.
Damn, she might as well cut his heart out of his chest, because no way could he let her down. Not when she looked at him like that.
“Graff isn’t after you because you’re dangerous.”
She pulled back. Out of his arms. Away from him. “What do you mean? What does he want?”
Finn swallowed. “He thinks you’re his mate, and we’re keeping you from him. He’s been trying to trigger you to show dragon sign with those fires. And now, he’s also warning us off.”
“Am I a mate?”
He couldn’t read her expression at all. “I don’t know for sure.”
The marks. No mate in the history of their kind had been without at least one. Maybe she was a different kind of fire creature. Except all the ones he knew of were born into their powers, not made.
No. Finn was 99 percent sure the woman in his arms was a dragon mate.
He was so incredibly fucked.
Chapter Twenty-One
A dragon mate.
Delaney waited for hysteria to strike. That’s what she should be feeling. Hysterical, panicked, or something along those violent lines. Instead, what came over her was an overwhelming sense of…peace. Rightness.
Like the last piece of a puzzle clicked into place. She was where she was supposed to be. She wasn’t crazy. She wasn’t a pyromaniac. If torching her shirt was a sign, she wasn’t even human, not really.
But Graff as her mate? Hell, no.
She needed more information. First, she needed clothes. While Finn watched in silence, she stalked to the dresser and yanked out the first things that came to hand, pulling them on quickly. Vaguely, she was aware of Finn doing the same.
Dressed, she turned, hands on her hips. “Explain.”
“The guys should be in on this.”
He was totally stalling. Why?
She jerked her head. “No. Just tell me, Finn.”
“Okay… You already know that dragons born female are sterile.”
She nodded, thinking of Lyndi.
“Dragons find their mates among human women who show something called dragon sign.”
Like fire? She waved a hand for him to continue.
“Proximity to a dragon shifter triggers her system to respond as soon as she is…” He paused and grimaced.
“Is what?”
“Breedable.” He winced.
Wow. Okay.
“Dragon sign can be different things—we never know what to look for since each woman manifests them differently. Your eyes might flash dragon or reflect flames. You might smell like smoke. Or you might—”
“Start random fires,” she finished for him. She looked away, needing to think, something she couldn’t do while looking at him. The man muddled her mind.
“Stress usually brings it on faster. But you showed zero dragon signs when you told me about the fires, when you moved in here, when Graff attacked Aidan, when I turned into a dragon. Those all should have set you off. Plus, usually, once dragon sign starts, your scent changes, a smoky undertone being added to your natural odor.” He shook his head. “You only smell like sunshine to me.”
Sunshine? She gave herself a mental shake. Stay on track. “Is there no other way to tell?”
Finn looked away at that. “The definitive sign is a mark that glows on the back of your neck.”
She reached a hand up to finger the slicker skin at the side of her neck. “Would my scar have covered them up?”
He shook his head. “It’s on the side, and the mark shows at the nape when dragon fire is blown across the skin.” Another shrug. “Manifesting fire is a sign, but you’re still missing the mark.”
Delaney’s mouth turned down as her mind spun. “How would you know? You haven’t done that to me.”
Finn’s expression froze. “I did.”
“But I’d remember that…” She trailed off, eyes narrowing as a dark anger fizzed through her blood. “No, you fucking did not.”
Finn said nothing, his silence an admission of guilt.
“You erased my memory?” she gritted between clenched teeth, her hands fisting at her sides so she didn’t punch him in the face.
“We had to know. Being a dragon mate changes the situation dramatically.”
Delaney shook with her anger. “How many times have you erased my memory?” she demanded.
He held up both hands. “Just the once. I swear it.”
A little of the anger bled off and she released a long breath. “Well…hell,” she muttered. What did she focus on first?
Finding out what she was.
She needed to know for sure. Delaney turned and pulled her hair off her neck. When Finn didn�
��t do anything, she glanced over her shoulder at him. He stood there, jaw tight.
“Shouldn’t we check again?” she asked. “I just lit a fire, so…”
With jerky movements he stepped closer. She faced forward and waited. A sound, like a low rumbling of air sounded just before a deep warmth penetrated her skin.
“Oh.” The moan escaped her before she could stop it as the need to orgasm slammed through her system. No build up, no warning, just the need for release. Immediate and raw. She grabbed the edge of the dresser.
“Fuck,” Finn muttered.
The warmth cut off and he stepped back. Delaney took a moment to breathe through the waning sensations buffeting her body. Finally, she turned to face him. “Well?”
“Nothing.”
Nothing. What did that mean? “Am I some kind of…freak?” she asked quietly.
“No,” he snapped, taking a step closer. But she held up a hand and he visibly took a breath. “I don’t know what the lack of a mark means, but the fire likely means you’re a dragon mate.”
Delaney closed her eyes, and again the peace of the idea flowed through her, soothing the anger and the fear and the confusion and the uncertainty. She’d never felt settled until she’d come here. Was there a reason? Was this what she was meant to be?”
“So…” She opened her eyes and dropped back, leaning against the dresser. “I’m a dragon mate.”
Oh, my sweet lord in heaven. I’m a dragon mate.
Implications slammed home along with a ton of questions. Did she get to pick? Would she turn into a dragon? Would she stop lighting things on fire unintentionally? Did Finn want her as much as she wanted him? They hadn’t talked about forever, only casual. Temporary. He’d said he couldn’t give her more, couldn’t love her.
But now that she was a dragon mate…
Unable to voice everything at once, she went for the most basic. “What happens now?”
…
Finn stared at the woman he’d been inside not fifteen minutes ago. But the space between them might as well have been an ocean, because he could no longer cross it. Risking seeing Phoebe’s death all over again was one thing. An unbearable thing that had held him back for years.
Risking Delaney dying the same way in his arms? No. Fucking. Way.
What happened next?
What he wanted to happen next was for the two of them to get back in bed and forget this happened. He wanted to hold her a little longer, because he was having to let her go too soon.
I’m not ready.
He ran a hand over his short hair. “We inform the team first. Then I call the Alliance. They’ll make arrangements.”
Delaney frowned. “Arrangements?”
“To take you to France where you’ll go through the mating process.”
She crossed her arms. “English, Finn. Pretend like you’re talking to a human who doesn’t know what you’re saying.”
“All dragon mates are taken to a Council in France. They determine the dragon shifters who are most likely to be your mate. That’s where Fallon has been, actually.”
“And then?”
“You have a week to get to know the…er…candidates, and figure out who is your destined mate.”
“Destined mate,” she murmured with a frown. At the same time, he could almost feel the tension creeping over her. Her hands had formed into fists, her shoulders stiffening.
He looked away, the sight of her upset bothering him. This was supposed to be a good thing. An exciting thing for her.
“Dragons can only mate their destined mate. Most believe there’s only one.”
She straightened to pace back and forth, pulling his gaze back to her. “Wait. So I don’t get to choose my mate?”
“It’s not like that. You’ll feel a rightness. You’ll want them to be your mate.”
“A total stranger?” Her voice squeaked on the last word and she paused in her pacing. “Does anyone ever choose wrong?”
Fuck. He didn’t want to have this conversation.
Finn walked across the room and opened the door. “I’ve told you most of it. Let’s get the rest of the team in on this development.”
She didn’t budge from where she stood in the middle of the room. “Answer my question, Finn.”
Shit. He did not want to be the one to tell her this. “If you’re wrong, you’ll die in the mating process.”
She stared at him, completely blank. What was she thinking?
She opened her mouth to speak a couple of times, only to close it and keep staring. “Lyndi mentioned that, but not details. How would I die?”
Finn’s hands curled into fists at his side, the action unbidden, pulled out of him by the thought of the how—not just because of Phoebe but because the thought of that happening to Delaney left him hollow in a way that gutted him.
Just tell her. “During sex, the dragon will push his fire into you. If you’re destined, you become a made dragon. If you aren’t, you—”
“Burn?”
He swallowed but nodded.
“I see.” She tipped her head back. Wow, she mouthed. Then dropped her chin to look at him. “Is there a way to know for sure? Before the burning?”
Finn shook his head. “No. Mates have been…lost…before.”
She stilled and searched his face. “Is that what happened to you?” she asked slowly. “Did you lose her?”
At first, Finn considered not answering. Except her dove-gray eyes compelled him, pulled the answer from him. How could he not share this with her? “Her name was Phoebe, and I thought she was it. I’d never felt a connection like that before…” He swallowed around the rock taking up residence in his throat. “She burned in my arms.”
“I’m sorry,” Delaney said quietly.
He swallowed again. “It happened a long time ago. I thought I found the right woman. I was wrong.” But until recently, he hadn’t thought about the why of his wrong decision, just that he had been. What had he mistaken as destiny? Phoebe had been delicate, frightened. Maybe he should figure it out. To help Delaney.
He gazed at the woman in front of him, desperate that it not happen to her. “I used to see her burn every time I tried to make love to a woman.”
“Oh God. Finn, that’s awful.” Delaney blanched, and her eyes went wide. “Did you…? When we—”
He jerked upright. “No. You’re the only one that didn’t happen with.”
She dropped her head forward, relief in every line of her body. They were both quiet for a while, lost in their thoughts.
“Has a woman ever refused to mate?” Her question dropped into the silence.
“Not that I know of. The Mating Council describes it as an undeniable urge. Like you’re compelled to find your mate and start your life with him and as what you were born to be. The dragon sign you show will only increase in violence and frequency until you do. Or a shifter, like Graff, could try to force you and kill you in the process before you find your mate.”
“Well…shit.” She flung her arms in the air. “I’m not ready for forever, Finn. Dammit.”
That pulled a grim smile from him. “You won’t feel that way when you finally meet him.”
“My mysterious mate?” She rolled her eyes, then paused and narrowed them as something about his words and expression seemed to register. “What about us?”
Finn wanted to yank her into his arms and say, “Nothing. We keep going.” But he couldn’t do that. Now that he knew, she could no longer be his. Another dragon out there was waiting for her, and once she found that man, she’d regret it if they continued anything.
So he shrugged, trying to play it off as no big deal. “I made a vow that I would never try to mate another woman. I can’t risk what happened to Phoebe happening again. A man who goes through that loses a part of himself in the process, like a corner of my soul got torn out and burned with her. If it happens again…” He shook his head. “I’d turn into something like Graff—obsessed, sociopathic with no emotions. So,
I’m not it for you. I can’t be.”
Delaney crossed her arms, though he couldn’t tell if from anger or as a shield against those words.
He continued, trying to play it cool. “This was always temporary. We end it sooner than expected is all. I’ll have the other guys stay in here with you until Graff is handled, so it won’t be weird.”
Her chin went up. “No.”
“No?” What the hell was going through her head?
“No. I’m not having this mysterious process dictate my actions. I want you in my bed.”
He jerked his head in denial. “You’ll regret that when you find your destined mate.”
“Are all dragon shifters sitting around celibate, waiting for their mates to appear?”
He clenched his jaw. “Obviously not.”
“Then if I find the guy, I won’t hold his past against him either. But I don’t know him, or if he even exists. What if I choose wrong and go up in flames? I’m not giving up something…” She twitched her shoulders and took a deep breath. “Something real, and here, on that kind of off chance.”
“That’s a choice I can’t let you make. I won’t let you ruin what you could have for something that you don’t have. Not really.” If she could be stubborn, so could he. He knew better than she what was best in this instance.
With narrowed eyes, she glared at him for a long moment. “We’ll see about that.”
Delaney stalked across the room, and he held his ground, watching her closely. But she bypassed him without a word or a touch and sailed out the door. “Let’s go tell the team,” she snapped over her shoulder.
Holy hell, the fates must hate him. If dragon shifters didn’t live so long, he’d wonder what he’d done in a previous life to deserve this.
He followed at a more reluctant pace, which meant she beat him into the kitchen, from which the rich scent of coffee drifted. Most likely, most the guys were in there eating breakfast.
“You’re shitting me.” Levi’s exclamation punched out to where Finn was making his way down the hallway.
Damn. Apparently, Delaney hadn’t waited for him to make the announcement.
He quickened his steps to hustle into the kitchen, only slowing once he was inside.
