by C. M. Owens
Dice looks at me like I somehow know what the fuck a Mirena is just because I have a little dragon in me.
Darius grins at her then snaps his teeth, biting the air. She flushes but looks back at us.
“My Budair also asked me to express his concerns about the dominion,” she says calmly. “We remain under his rule and our Audair’s. We will segregate ourselves from your people. The region we’ve selected is vacant and uninhabited by humans or immortals. Our numbers will not impose upon you, and we will all remain within our own boundaries. If you need to speak with us, we ask that you make a formal request. We will do the same with you.”
She bows again.
“Such a good little diplomatic serf. Why do you never show me such respect when your Budair sends you into my territory to broker arrangements?”
“I only respect those who have not given me a reason to detest them,” she states flatly.
He seems to love the fact she’s insulting him. I’m more annoyed and confused than anything.
“So you’re not hostile, but you come in, claim territory, and decide to inform us that you will not abide by our law because you have your own reign?” I ask, once again garnering their attention.
Darius moves his cold glower to me, and his lips twitch when he stares for too long.
“You’re one of us.”
“Only partially.”
“I mean one of us in particular. You’re not the red with yellow.”
Teya bristles, her eyes flicking between us.
“Dagans must have stayed behind during the first purge,” he adds.
“You mean dragons,” Dice interjects.
“Dagans,” Darius says again. “Black dragonites. The red with yellow are called the Purtains.” He measures me with a wary eye. “Our people seek refuge, not domination. I will defend them, but I will not wage an unnecessary war when our numbers are so few in comparison to yours. However, I will not bow to no Budair or Judair who is not mine.”
“Let me guess, Judair is queen? What’s a princess? Because we have one of those too.” Dice is just baiting them now.
Teya’s eyebrows go up. “You produce royal females?”
Darius studies her as the hope in her eyes seems to bubble.
“That’s all that seems to come from the royal line,” Dice tells her.
Teya grins broadly, and Darius steps back, still watching her face. “Our race is male dominant. Most of our women died during the fever that started after our world began dying. Only myself and a handful of others survived, but no female royal has ever been birthed.”
“You’re telling them a bit much,” Darius chides, but there’s no heat to his tone.
She ignores him.
“Your people have greatly evolved too, just as ours have. I think we can negotiate peace without any blood being drawn,” she goes on.
A squawk comes from the dragon still behind her, and the light in her eyes dies.
“I must go. Please inform us when your queen has reached her decision.”
Darius’s jaw tenses.
“What just happened?” Dice asks as Teya steps close to the red dragon. Sure enough, there’s a thin yellow line right down its spine.
The dragon wraps its claws around her shoulders, and she winces. Then it takes off with her in tow. Darius looks colder now, more hardened.
“Be wary of the males who send a fragile female in their place. Not all beasts bite the hand. Sometimes they sting you from behind,” he tells us before he launches himself into the air, leaping at least thirty feet up before he shifts in less than a couple of blinks and darts off like an onyx rocket of scales and a long tail.
“Well, that was underwhelming,” Dice says dryly. “Makes your desperate declaration of love a little anti-climatic.”
When I cut my eyes to him, he shrugs.
“Just saying, you told her you loved her too. She never said she loved you.”
I don’t bother telling him that Kya was freaking out, showing more concern than ever before. She didn’t say the words, because she doesn’t understand the words. But she said enough for me to know exactly how she feels.
“Then we get here and it’s all peace talks and cryptic tension. By the way, serious sexual tension going on between those two. And what’s up with all the similar royal names? And all dudes? Can you say hashtag—sausage party? Are they a male on male race? I guess they’d have to be, considering the distinct lack of pussy. I’d go ahead and slit my own throat if I didn’t have pussy. What would be the point of living? All that—”
“Dice,” I interrupt, growling.
“What?” he snaps as I grab his shoulder.
“Shut the hell up.”
We land in the center of the cabin, and I’m immediately slammed into by someone as everyone yells at me at once. Before I can hear what anyone is saying, I feel my body splitting the planes as someone dematerializes me.
I hit the ground hard, and then there’s suddenly a black boot about to slam into my side. I catch the familiar leg, stopping the attack as my eyes widen.
“Kya?! What the he—”
My words end on a hiss when she spins out of my grip, and her other booted foot connects with my side. My eyes catch sight of the cabin where everyone has stepped outside to watch, given the fact Kya didn’t move us too far away.
“You don’t get to do that!” Kya barks, furious as I flip to my feet, dodging the fist she throws at my face.
She’s lost her damn mind!
“Kya!” I snap, but she launches another attack, a flurry of kicks and punches that I don’t have time to dodge.
Her fist connects with my stomach, doubling me over, and a boot comes across the backs of my knees, knocking me down to the ground as I hit hard on my back.
“You don’t get to just tell me you love me and disappear as I’m begging you to stay!” she goes on, emotion choking her throat.
She comes down on top of me, straddling me with an iron grip between her legs as though she’s bolting me in place. Her fist slams down, aimed at my face. I catch it before it connects, and then I catch the other one, stopping it from colliding as well. Restraining her that way, I look at her tear-filled eyes as she glares at me.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her, still stunned and taken aback.
“You don’t get to just go and risk your life without me, understand?” she seethes, though the words are strained. “You don’t get to ignore me when I speak.”
My look softens as a tear falls from her eye, and she curses as she looks away, her body heaving as it shakes. My thumbs caress her still tightly clenched fists that are trapped in my much larger hands.
“I’m sorry,” I say again, softer this time.
Chapter 31
KYA
He’s sorry? That’s supposed to make it all better?
I’ve been sick, terrified of every possible scenario, and no one would let me go after him for fear of putting him more at risk for breaking the two-delegate rule.
My chest is so painful that it feels as though an ogre is pressing down on me, pushing all the air from my lungs. I’ve never felt so fucking crazy in all my life, and I’ve never been so pissed about something so... so... Gah!
Damn emotions. Damn heart. Damned I am.
“You’re infuriating,” I growl, hating the fact more tears are leaking out without my permission.
His lips twitch, pissing me off all the more.
He drops my fists so fast that I don’t notice it until he jerks to a seated position, grabs the sides of my face and presses his lips to mine. I struggle, grabbing his wrists and trying to break away, but he doesn’t let go.
He’s stronger, and my entire body aches from the physical attack. I did more damage to myself than him. Which also infuriates me all the more.
Chaz holds me in place, and angrily, I kiss him back as I stop struggling. My hands release his wrists, and I take a painful grip on his head—at least I hope it’s painful to him.
He
growls into my mouth, kissing me harder, and I grind against him, trying to ignore the even more ridiculous reactions I have. I’m pissed. There’s no way I should be kissing him. I never understand anything that goes on when we’re together.
“Well, that shifted quickly. I’m going to go piss Karma off now. Hashtag—angry sex,” Dice says somewhere as more arguing erupts, everyone chastising him for disappearing with Chaz when no one had decided who was going.
I break the kiss, panting for air as my forehead falls against Chaz’s. His hands stay on either side of my face, holding on like he’s worried I’ll leave if he lets go.
“You don’t get to do that,” I tell him again, the words nothing more than a broken whisper. “Not unless you take me with you.”
His lips brush across mine, sliding over to my cheek as his touch turns reverent.
“You’re right,” he says, his eyes opening to mine. “It won’t happen again.”
“Where you go, I go,” I say, just to make sure we’re both on the same page.
“Always,” he promises, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips.
That damn smile makes me want to hit him again.
“I guess that means you do love me,” he says, his grin spreading.
My stomach tightens just as it did when he said those words earlier. Words shouldn’t harness the power to make me feel a thousand things at once. Empowered and helpless at the same time, I glare at him.
“I sort of hate you right now.” It’s just petty defiance at this point, but with the way his smile grows even more, I can tell he knows it.
He laughs, his nose brushing mine. “That’s one step over the line from love. I’ll take it.”
“You’re such an arrogant ass,” I murmur against his lips as I kiss him again. “But I’m pretty sure the madness going on inside me must be love.”
There’s nothing more perplexing in all the world than the emotions that continue to batter me every time I think of him, kiss him, or touch him. I’ve never been more worried about someone not returning.
“Don’t ever make us restrain her again,” Thad tells Chaz as he stands, keeping my legs strapped around his waist as he walks us toward the porch where Thad is nursing his bloody nose.
I grimace. I might have crossed a line with that one.
“You’re welcome, by the way. We didn’t tell your mother what you ran off to do when she showed up. So what happened?”
“Dice can fill you in on what happened. I’ll be back in a while,” Chaz says to him.
My legs tighten around his waist, anchoring myself to him as tightly as possible, as dread hits me. Chaz’s eyebrows go up as that smile curves his lips again.
“You’re coming with me,” he says, fusing his lips to mine in a kiss that returns me to my dumbest.
I cling to him, kissing his with just as much fervor as we land in his room. He drops me to the bed, and my head hits something. Chaz has gone still, his eyes wide and his mouth twisted in horror.
When I stick my hand behind me, I feel firm flesh...
I screech, darting off the bed as a woman squeals and a man curses.
“What the fucking hell?!” Chaz demands.
My eyes widen when I see what’s in front of me.
His mom is clutching a sheet to what I assume is her naked body, and Frankie is naked in front of us, his eyes wide as he looks over his shoulder.
Oh damn. It was his ass I just touched... Not cool.
“Chaz!” she gasps. “What are you doing in here?”
“This is the damn room I took. And you’re fucking someone in my bed?” he barks. Then I’m pretty sure he gags.
“I’m soooo sorry. I had no idea! Dice said the second room to the right was empty! He swore it wasn’t being used by anyone when I called yesterday to tell them I was coming.”
Chaz’s eyes narrow, and he disappears, leaving me behind to awkwardly back out of the room.
“Save me!” I hear Dice yelling as I turn and dart away the second I’m out of the room. “Hashtag—it was just a joke. Hashtag—Mommy needs some too. Hashtag—now you’re scarred like me.”
A blur of incubus races by me, leaping off the porch as Chaz chases him, growling the entire time.
“Think he’ll hurt him?” Gage asks dryly.
“Nah. They’re brothers now, since Chaz is with Kya,” Thad says, grinning.
“Hashtag—brotherly love! Show me the love!” Dice yelps, running around in a circle in the front yard just as Chaz stops chasing.
When Dice speaks again, his voice is a cat’s meow, and his eyes widen in horror.
“Three weeks!” Chaz snaps, pointing his finger at Dice. “You can’t have your voice back for three fucking weeks!”
Dice meows louder, panicking, and I laugh, covering my mouth when the surprise hits me.
I’ll never abandon Slade, but I think I’ll get used to being around these people. People who allow their emotions to rule.
As Chaz reaches me again, threading our fingers together, his lips brush my ear. “Let’s grab something to drink. I need to drink a truckload to erase those memories from my head.”
I start to answer, when he catches my wrist, studying it. He slides his wrist up beside mine, and the symbol on my arm aligns with his—which I didn’t know he had. The two symbols apart look like nothing more than a couple of blobs of ink. Together, they make a black dragon coiled in a striking position, ready to fight.
My breath catches as his lips run across the proof we’re somehow bonded together for eternity.
He pulls back, his eyes on me, and something profound occurs to me. I’d do anything in my power to keep him safe. He’d do the same for me.
Emotions don’t make someone weaker.
They give us a reason to fight.
Chapter 32
MASTER
Hannah paces, furious. Her entire plan to open the portals had failed.
“Why?” she shouts at the worthless Lokie.
Her visionary is gone. Her plan is ruined. And she’s done everything right, prepared for any possible outcome... Except those dragons.
The Lokie glares at her, his cuffs digging into his flesh. Those cuffs aren’t chained to anything tangible, but they’ve tethered him to be her slave for longer than he can remember.
He’s just as furious about the plan failing as she is. He was promised freedom, and those damn pests ruined it all, stole his chance at finally being freed from his constant prison.
“You still have two more opportunities before all hope is gone for another few hundred years. Give me my freedom. You promised.”
Hannah growls at him, seething. “They know Morgana is my vessel now. She’s weak, pointless, and yet they still plan to save her. If they take her away from me before I can finish what I’ve started, I’ll never get my chance. You will help me, or you will rot in one of those cells you’ve helped me keep my prisoners locked away in. Understand, Lokie?”
He bites down on his tongue, hating her for everything she’s ever made him do. He stayed behind on purpose when his people left, almost died when he fought the spell the first circle used to cast the Lokies out. He didn’t want the violence or injustice any longer. Yet she’s used him, made him remain the monster he never wanted to be, damaged his soul more than his kind ever did.
Several more faces appear in the large room they’re in, all of them demons hosting immortal bodies. Something the Lokie was forced to teach Hannah to do.
“We failed. He should die,” one bites out, glaring at the Lokie who has fought his entire life to keep breathing, praying for his own release one day.
“We still need him. The stars will align two more times before the window is sealed again,” Hannah says, regaining her composure.
“You said losing their lycan would weaken them. We told you not to risk using the Gemini. The prior ring owners broke the bond between them before we could ever gain the rights to their power. They feared their strength, and now it is gone,” a coven membe
r states, spitting the words out. “The princess is the strongest. She’s the only way to open the correct portal and gain access to the—”
“We will succeed,” Hannah barks, her eyes blazing with fury as the coven member steps back, lowering her eyes from the master.
“The immortals will be wiped from the earth, and we will transfer ourselves to our new bodies before we die alongside them. Then, and only then, will we be the true, reigning power. Then and only then will we taste eternity. I haven’t planned for all these centuries to have it stripped away now. It is our birthright to be the dominant species! It is we who should reign and live to see our world changing and evolving. Not them!”
The coven bows, nodding in acceptance of their leader.
“No one told me the half-blood demon twins could unite,” Hannah says, her scathing glower returning to the Lokie. “Your job was to break them to their weakest, to find out what happened to them when you pushed beyond their limits. I said no surprises.”
“I told you to kill them all instead of testing their powers,” the Lokie growls.
“I needed to know what they were capable of in order to prepare for others like them. If I could catch and kill every immortal in the world, I wouldn’t need you to help me open this damned portal, now would I?”
The Lokie tightens his lips before preparing his next words, carefully measuring what to tell her.
“Perhaps the lycan wasn’t a strong enough member to weaken them. They’d never survive a true loss... such as the princess,” the Lokie tells her. “And the Gemini will work. Tap into one, and you tap into both. Their bond is not completely broken. The two of them combined are stronger than the princess. The tree caused the displacement of the first-bloods... It was the only hitch this past time.”
She’d prepared for all magical interference, only to be brought down by a bloody tree.
Hannah looks thoughtful, running a finger over the lips she stole from a helpless witch, a witch that has been silent for so long. She stays hidden, never trying to overpower Hannah. Morgana was the servant’s face so many saw, never suspecting the master laid just within, using the pretty eyes and bashful demeanor to her advantage.
