by Lola Gabriel
Oryn took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I love you, too.”
“I can’t explain to you how amazing it was to fly with you. I was terrified, of course, but it was so exhilarating, and I felt so alive and free. I’ve never felt like that before. Ever. I can’t even begin to describe the feelings that I have when I am with you. I don’t think I will ever understand how fast I fell for you, but I did. And it’s not just a stupid kind of crush, you know. It feels real, all-consuming, but without me losing myself,” she explained. “Does that even make sense?”
“It absolutely does,” Oryn stated. “And I can explain exactly what you felt when you saw me for the first time, because I felt exactly the same thing. When dragons find their True Mate, it’s their mate for life. It can happen at any time, at any place, with anyone.”
“Is that what happened with us?” Adley asked. Oryn nodded. “And it doesn’t matter that I’m a human?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“How would that even work? You’re five thousand years old, yet you look like you’re no older than thirty. You age so slowly. I don’t. I’m going to be old and frail, and you’ll still look like you do right now.”
“We’ll figure something out.”
“Like what? Can you turn me into a dragon?”
“No, I can’t do that. Only…” His voice drifted, and she frowned at him.
“Only what?”
“Only witches can do that, but they have to be direct descendants of this really powerful witch, Livia Ambrosios. Only they can turn a human into a dragon shifter.”
“Okay, so then we find one.”
Oryn glanced at her with a frown. “So, you’d be willing to give up your life as a human, just like that? You’d watch your mother and Jeremy age before your eyes and ultimately die? You want to see the world pass you by, era after era, always staying the same? Is that what you want?”
“Is it such a curse to be what you are?” she asked.
“It’s not a curse, no. I just want you to be sure that this is what you want. If there is one single shred of doubt in your mind—”
Before Oryn could complete his sentence, Adley leaned forward and kissed him. Her mouth tasted sweet, like the wine in her glass, and Oryn completely forgot what he had been saying.
Their lips parted slowly, and she whispered, “I want to be happy, and you make me happy. You’re my home, my safety, my happy place. Becoming like you wouldn’t be a sacrifice. At least not to me.”
Oryn nodded and gently stroked her cheek. “There’s something else.”
Adley sat back on the couch and waited for him to continue. His phone vibrated in his pocket, but he ignored it.
“You can answer that, it’s okay.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. You’re an important guy, right? Your Highness.”
“Don’t do that. I’m still the same person as before.”
“Only much more important,” she added.
His phone continued to ring, and he stood from the couch. As he retrieved it from his pocket, he glanced at the number. He didn’t recognize it but decided to answer it anyway. It could be something important.
“Hello?” he said, stepping out onto the terrace.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the Dragon Prince himself,” the voice snickered.
Oryn’s jaw clenched as he immediately recognized the voice on the other end of the line. The distinct Russian accent was unforgettable, and a shiver ran down Oryn’s spine. “What do you want?”
“I want vengeance, but you should know that, little prince. This time, your brothers are not here to protect you or make you stronger.”
“I’ve had about enough of you, Osteric. Your threats don’t scare me, and neither do you.”
The Russian alpha’s laughter resonated against his ear. “You foolish beast. You don’t know what you got yourself into.”
“I assure you; I do. And I will gladly crush you, like I did your son and your wife.”
“You will regret the day you hatched, little prince, and that human pet of yours, too.”
“You stay the hell away from her!”
The alpha laughed again, and the line disconnected. Oryn slowly turned around. Adley stood in the doorway and looked worried.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “Who was that?”
Oryn lowered his gaze. For the sake of her safety, he was torn between telling her exactly what was going on and pretending that everything was fine. Maybe he could get her to stay with Naomi until he came back from his trip.
“Oryn? Is everything okay?”
“No,” he said, glancing at her. “Everything is not okay.”
Her eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
“We better go inside,” he suggested, and they went back in the house. When they were seated on the couch in the living area again, Oryn cleared his throat and took a deep breath.
“You’re kind of scaring me, you know,” she mumbled.
“I’ll tell you everything, right now.” Adley nodded wordlessly. “When I was younger, and much more stupid, I did something that has finally caught up to me,” he admitted. “I killed the son and the wife of the alpha wolf in Russia.”
“What?”
“They were coming after my brothers, and they actually managed to capture Pyre, and I killed them. I only killed them to protect my family. I killed a lot of them. I was a little more emotionally unstable back then. I was the oldest, the strongest, and I took it upon myself to rectify the situation. When I finally found Pyre and got him out of the cage, they had put him in, they surrounded me, and I took most of them out with an earthquake, including his wife and son. He’s been hunting me ever since.”
Adley’s face was pale. “You mean he’s still looking for you?”
“Yes, and he’s found me. He and his pack are heading up to the North Island to find me.”
“You have got to be kidding me!” she exclaimed.
“I wish I was.”
“So they want to kill you?”
“Pretty much,” he cringed.
“Oryn,” she began, panicked. “Do they know about me?”
“They do, but they don’t know we’re serious. They think you’re just my pet.”
“So what should I do? What if they come after me?”
“They won’t. It’s ultimately me they want—”
“But if they really want to get to you, they’ll come after me,” she stated, and when Oryn’s brow furrowed, she continued. “The best way to get to someone is by hurting the one thing or person they care the most about.”
“They’re not just after me. They’re after my company, too.”
“Why?”
“Information,” he answered simply.
Adley’s eyes widened. “Of course! On your servers!”
“But they can’t get to it without me. The data is heavily encrypted, and only I know the password to decrypt it. It’s also locked with my fingerprint, so it can only be opened by my hand.”
“Or if someone chops your hand off,” Adley said with terrified wide eyes. The worried expression on her beautiful face broke Oryn’s heart, and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her against him. He raked his fingers through her dark hair.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said.
“How can you be sure?” she whispered, pulling out of his embrace.
“Because I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise you that,” he vowed sincerely and touched her cheek. “I want you to stay with Naomi until I get back.”
“What? No!”
“I already asked her, and she is fine with it.”
“Really? I was under the impression she hated me,” Adley said.
“It’s funny, she said the exact same thing to me,” Oryn chuckled.
“And it’s really okay with her if I stayed with her? Is there enough room for me? I wouldn’t want to intrude—”
“She’s okay with it. She could do with
a little female company, she said so herself.”
“Okay,” Adley sighed. “Is she a dragon, too?”
“No, she’s not.”
“What is she?”
“It’s not really my place to say what she is, but she’s definitely not like you,” he answered.
“And I am safe with her? You trust her, right?”
Oryn took her hands in his and gazed into her brown eyes. “I trust her, yes, and I know you’ll be safe with her. When I come back, I’ll take care of this whole mess.”
“You know, if I were a dragon, I could help you,” she pouted.
“I know, Adley, but we have to make do with what we have right now.”
Adley pressed her forehead against Oryn’s. “I know I shouldn’t be afraid, but I am.
“Don’t be. You never have to be afraid.”
She kissed him urgently, like it was the last time she would ever do it.
“I love you, so much,” she whispered against his lips. “And no matter what happens, my heart will always belong to you.”
Her words resonated in his mind, and he couldn’t help but feel anxious about leaving her alone. Luckily, he knew that Naomi would not let anything happen to Adley while he was away.
“I’ll be home before you know it. Just don’t be afraid.”
Oryn wasn’t sure whether his words were aimed solely at Adley, or if they were directed to himself as well.
10
The credits rolled on the television screen, and Adley wiped her eyes. It was only after eight, but her eyes were already on fire. It had been a tiring few days, though she had enjoyed the time with Naomi. They had talked about a lot of things, drunk wine together, and even watched a bunch of reality shows, which Adley had never even considered watching by herself. Naomi was great company and not at all the bitch Adley had thought she was.
The two women got along really well, laughed late into the night, and Adley finally knew what it felt like to have a girlfriend. It felt nice, and it took her mind off the whole situation with the wolves and off Oryn. She missed him like crazy, and they spoke twice a day, but it wasn’t enough. She felt the distance between them, and she realized that if anything were to happen to him, she wouldn’t be able to function properly. Although she had promised that she would never again be dependent on anyone, this was different. She needed him just as much as he needed her.
Later that night, Adley lay in bed, unable to sleep, and stared up at the ceiling. She couldn’t stop thinking about the alpha wanting to kill Oryn and break into his office to access the data they needed. She remembered Oryn had told her about a hard drive located under his desk with all the access codes in it. It was also the main server to the entire network, and if anyone were to break into his offices, that would be the most valuable thing that they could take.
Adley sat upright in bed and had an idea, but it was a dangerous one. If she sneaked into Oryn’s office, using Naomi’s keys and staff access cards, she’d easily manage to take the hard drive with her. No one would be able to steal if from his office then, because it wouldn’t be there to steal.
She climbed out of bed, slid on a pair of skinny jeans and a sweatshirt, and put on a pair of sneakers. She snuck out of her bedroom, into the hallway, and peeked into Naomi’s bedroom. Naomi was sound asleep, and Adley breathed a sigh of relief. She retrieved Naomi’s keys from the shelf where her keys were kept and quietly left the house.
She climbed in her car and drove to GreenVeil, her heart pounding against her ribs. She wasn’t sure that this was one of the smartest things she had ever done, but she knew that it would be dumb to do nothing.
She stopped her car in front of the building and pushed through the doors. There was a security guard sitting at the front desk, and she walked directly to him.
“Can I help you, miss?” the security guard asked.
“Hey. I’m Mr. Veskovic’s assistant, and I just came to get a hard drive from his office.”
The guard narrowed his eyes slightly at her. “I can’t let you onto that floor. It has its own set of keys.”
Adley held the keys she had taken from Naomi’s house. “I’ve got the keys right here. I’ll just be five minutes. You can even come with me if you want.”
The guard studied her for a few seconds.
“Go on up,” he finally agreed, pressing a button on the panel in front of him. The security regulated gate buzzed open, and Adley hurried through it.
“Thank you. I really will be just a few minutes, I swear.” She rushed to the elevators, and the doors opened with the first press of the button. She walked inside and selected the floor number. It took only a few seconds until the doors opened again, and she stepped out into the dark floor, lit sparsely by a few computer screens. She made her way through the front gates using Naomi’s keys, hurried past reception, through a keycard activated glass door, and finally walked down the long hallway towards Oryn’s office.
Adley bit down on her lip as she unlocked the door and stepped inside. She walked straight to his desk, crouched down, and found the hard drive in a hidden shelf below it. She slid the hard drive out, disconnected all the wires and cords, and stood from the floor. When she heard a sound coming from the elevators, she peeked over the desk into the hallway.
There were three shadowy figures coming down the hall.
Adley crouched down as quickly as she could and crawled under the desk. Luckily for her, it was a massive desk, and she was able to easily hide in the shadows.
The three figures were talking in a foreign language. Adley couldn’t be sure where they were from, as she didn’t recognize any of their words. It didn’t even sound familiar at all. All she knew was that they were definitely not from around here. She dug her phone out of her pocket and quickly dialed Oryn’s number, but it just kept ringing. When the call eventually connected, she sighed.
“This is Oryn Veskovic, please leave your message after the tone.”
Beep.
“Oryn, it’s Adley! Three men just broke into your offices at work, and they’re clearly looking for something. How do I know? It’s a long story. Now that I think about it, I should have just called the police, right? Okay, I’m hanging up now. Just wanted to let you know. I love you.”
The footsteps grew louder but stopped all of a sudden. The figures spoke again, and Adley covered her mouth with both her hands. She didn’t want them to know she was there, or she would surely be killed. The footsteps left the office and continued down the hallway, and Adley peeked over the desk. There was no one there.
Clasping the hard drive against her chest, she quietly made her way through the shadows, trying to remain undetected. Everything was quiet around her, and just as she reached the reception desk, her heart sank into her shoes when she realized that she had left the keys on the floor of Oryn’s office. Her shoulders slumped, and she silently scolded herself. As she turned around, she was startled by one of the men, standing directly in front of her, holding her keys.
“Looking for these?” he asked with a strong accent Adley could not place, dangling the keys. Before Adley could respond, he grabbed her by her hair and shoved her head against the thick glass. She let out a shriek, but a sharp pain erupted on the side of her head where it had hit the glass, and her vision went blurry.
“We’re going to visit that boyfriend of yours,” his accented voice told her as she felt she was being dragged through the hallway.
Then everything went completely black.
The pain in her skull woke Adley from her unconscious state, and she groaned painfully. She tried to shrug her shoulders, but she soon realized that she was taped to a chair, in the middle of Oryn’s living area. Her eyes widened as the man from the GreenVeil offices stood before her, and his two companions were seated on the couch. A laptop rested on the coffee table, with the hard drive from Oryn’s office connected to it.
“What are you doing?” she muttered.
“Oh, you’re awake, my dear. I was afraid I hit y
ou so hard that you would stay asleep for longer,” the one standing in front of her smirked.
“Who the hell are you? What were you doing at GreenVeil, and how the hell did you get into Oryn’s house?”
“I feel insulted that you do not know who I am,” he scoffed. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ivan Osteric. Those two over there are Dimitri and Draco.”
Adley glared at him.
“I am surprised Oryn has not told you about me, or my pack.”
Her eyes widened, and she gasped. “You’re the Russian alpha.”
“So he has mentioned me.”
“Briefly.”
Osteric smiled bitterly and took a few steps towards her. “Did your beloved dragon tell you the story of how he killed my wife and my son?”
“He did.”
“Did he leave out the part where he tied them up and wiped their limbs from their bodies?” he asked.
Adley froze, and she bit her bottom lip.
“Of course he didn’t. He never does,” Osteric scowled and started to circle around Adley’s chair, like a shark, ready to attack. “He only tells people what he wants to tell them. Like with you. He would never tell you what a terrible person he used to be. Burning villages, murdering innocent people, destroying lives, tearing families apart.”
“You’re lying!” Adley yelled. “Oryn would never do things like that! He’s not that kind of person!”
“I have absolutely no reason to lie to you, little human. You have not done anything wrong, except believing his lies.”
“What do you want with me?”
“At first, we didn’t want anything from you, but you conveniently led us to the hard drive,” Osteric replied. “We were parked outside the building, trying to find our way in, and then we saw you entering. We figured that you were after the same thing we were, so Draco over there made up a story of how we were there with you, and he let us through the gate. We were planning on killing him if it didn’t work, but you, little human, saved his life.”
“Why do you want the hard drive?” she demanded. “What could possibly be on there that would be of interest to you?”
