by Reus, Katie
Glancing in the rearview mirror at the farmhouse, she hoped the people who owned it were okay, but… She couldn’t think about that now. Instead, she was simply grateful that there had been a sedan in the garage with a half-full tank of gas. It had taken two tries but the engine had started.
The GPS wasn’t working and she figured that had to do with some towers being down. She knew some were still up because a lot of cell towers were still working, but not all of them had survived.
She knew where she was though. It would just take some figuring out how to get to a main road. She just wished there had been a phone or something because she had no clue where hers was—maybe it had been destroyed in one of the portal jumps.
There were no lights out here, just a fading moon and stars and of course her headlights. She kept the brights on, since there was no one else out here that she could see, and holy shit, blinding another driver was the least of her worries right now.
Half an hour later when she pulled onto a two-lane country highway that she knew would take her back to a main road, she blinked in surprise to see a lone figure walking along the road.
From the slight build it was clear she was a woman. Worried for her safety, Avery started to slow down, rolled down the window as she did. “Hey,” she called out, surprised the woman had turned at all when she’d been driving up on her.
When Lindsey freaking Baird turned to look at her, her eyes going wide at the sight of Avery, her fangs descending, Avery shook her head. “Nope.” She rolled the window back up and pressed on the gas. She didn’t care why Lindsey was out here, she wasn’t helping her.
No way in hell.
As she sped up, a thump rattled her trunk.
Avery let out a scream as she saw Lindsey in the rearview mirror, poised like a cat on the trunk. Her eyes were wild, her fangs out as she punched her fist into the trunk again.
“Holy hell.” Avery pressed on the gas and started swerving the car back and forth, trying to dislodge the vampire, but the female was supernaturally strong.
Suddenly, Lindsey disappeared from sight, and for a moment Avery experienced a tiny thread of relief.
Until a hand punched through the roof as if it was made of papier-mâché. The vampire grabbed the wheel and yanked hard from above as Avery tried to hold on for dear life.
It was useless. Lindsey was too strong. She wasn’t touching her, so she couldn’t hurt her that way, but she could sure as hell kill Avery with a head-on collision.
She hit the brakes, trying to slow down as Lindsey swerved the sedan into a one-eighty, her wicked laugh ringing through the air as she tried to kill Avery.
Avery finally slammed on the brakes as Lindsey wrenched the car straight toward a cluster of trees. She clutched at Lindsey’s arm, tried to tug the woman’s arm free, but she couldn’t budge the vampire.
Heart thumping out of control, Avery threw open the door and curled into herself as she dove out onto a patch of grass.
She winced at the second impact to her hip but managed to jump to her feet. Probably because adrenaline had taken over.
The sound of crunching metal filled the air as the car slammed into an oak tree. As smoke started billowing out from under the hood, that adrenaline surged. She started to run, but jerked to a halt when Lindsey slid quickly in front of her.
Stupid vampiric speed!
Lindsey’s eyes glowed wildly, her fangs and—oh shit, were those claws?—extended. “I don’t care how long it takes, I’ll kill you. I don’t care what’s protecting you, I’ll keep you captive and just starve you to death,” she snarled as she started circling around her. Her blonde hair was wild and unkempt around her face and flecks of dirt and blood streaked her neck.
Then Lindsey picked up a rock and hurled it straight at Avery.
Avery ducked on instinct but was too slow. It hit her in the shoulder, making Lindsey blink.
Oooooh, shit. Avery started running, even as she knew that it was likely pointless, her flight instinct kicked in. She couldn’t take on a vampire in a fight and she knew it. Neither could she escape from one on foot, but she was damn well going to try.
Her feet slammed against the grass as she raced across the field. With each step, Ozias’s vial in her pocket rattled.
She shoved her hand in her pocket as she reached the desolate road.
A wisp of noise flew past her and suddenly Lindsey was standing in front of her. Grinning like a wild hyena. “I’m going to have so much fun killing you,” Lindsey snarled. “I had to fuck that bag of bones for years and pretend to like you.”
Yeah, like that was Avery’s fault.
“I’m going to make you pay for every single—”
Avery didn’t want to hear this cartoon villain rant and rave at her. She tossed the green liquid straight at Lindsey’s face, having no idea if it would actually do anything but she had to take the chance.
She had to survive this.
Lindsey stared in shock at her, her eyes going wide as her skin started… Oh God, peeling off her face!
A scream died in her throat as she started disintegrating, just… Turning to ash right in front of Avery. She was like a pillar of salt, crumbling, crumbling, crumbling, the wind carrying pieces of her away.
“Oh my God,” Avery breathed. “Oh. My. God.”
She sucked in a shaky breath. Then another. But she couldn’t give in to the panic as gray ash fluttered on the wind away from her. She was going to have nightmares about all of this, she had no doubt.
She just wanted to get home. To find her brothers. To make sure they were safe. And she had to get to Mikael.
Because he had to be okay. They all did. She’d survived too much to deal with any other outcome.
As she started walking along the highway, she froze when she heard… Was that wings? There were so many of them.
Feeling crazy, wondering if it was even him, she started screaming his name anyway. “Mikael!”
As the sun peeked above the sky in the east, a brilliant, smoky gray dragon, wings sparkling like jewels, ascended over the tops of trees, arrowing straight for her. A sob caught in her throat as she veered left, running off the road and across the field toward him. He was moving so fast that he made her feel as if her legs were trapped in molasses.
He dipped toward her, the span of his wings incredible. That was when she saw little Hunter flying above him and angling downward as well. They were both okay!
The moment Mikael landed, colors exploded everywhere and moments later the man she loved stood before her. The warrior god turned from dragon to man, all hard muscles and wild gray eyes as he ran for her.
“Mikael!” she cried out again as she raced at him.
He met her halfway, pulling her into his arms and crushing his mouth to hers even as she sobbed out his name.
Far too many emotions bubbled up inside her and she pulled back and buried her face against his neck. “I thought I’d lost you,” she cried. She couldn’t stop the stupid tears.
“Never,” he growled, his grip crushing. “I love you, Avery.”
“I love you too! And I wanted to tell you first.”
“You can tell me as many times as you like,” he said, cupping her face with his big, callused hands, swiping all the wetness away.
“I killed her,” she said suddenly, the words tumbling from her. Everything felt so surreal, as if she was coming down from a high.
He frowned. “Who?”
“Lindsey. She attacked me on the road. I don’t even know how she got out here.” Avery was vaguely aware of a cluster of dragons landing all around them but she didn’t care. She only cared about Mikael.
His expression hardened, even as his eyes shone with pride. “She deserved to die. And your brothers are alive and safe.”
As she digested his words, another cry tore from her throat, one of relief and happiness. All her fear and worry exploded out of her in more and more tears until she couldn’t stop herself at all. He hugged her tight, rubbing a
soothing hand up and down her back as he murmured calming words to her. She had no idea what he actually said, just that he was okay and so were her brothers.
Next to them, Hunter was making sweet little crooning sounds as he patted her gently on the back with one of his wings. Which just made her cry even harder. At some point she realized she was crying for everything and everyone she’d ever lost.
Eventually, completely wrung out, she lifted her head, so damn grateful that this big dragon had chosen her for his own. She’d held back because of fear and insecurities, but she wouldn’t allow that to dictate her future—their future. “I really want to go home,” she whispered.
His gray eyes were bright under the rising sun. “Me too.”
Chapter 41
Avery wasn’t sure how long she’d slept, but when she managed to sit up in Mikael’s bed, she saw that it was dark outside. She took a moment, sitting there, just being quiet and savoring the peace. Though she wished Mikael was next to her, she knew he hadn’t likely gone far. He’d probably gone downstairs to grab food and she wasn’t far behind him.
She stood to go find him, and as she did she saw a flash of material peeking out from the nightstand drawer. She opened it and started to tuck the material back inside and…blinked.
Pulling open Mikael’s drawer fully now, she stared and started sifting through all of her things. Her mouth tugged up into a smile as she saw multiple hair clips, some plain brown, others sparkly. There were some of her missing buttons too. And one of her hair dryer diffusers! “What the heck?” she murmured. She picked up a lightweight silky purple-and-cream-colored scarf she’d gotten at a craft fair years ago. She hadn’t even realized this was missing. Was Mikael…hoarding her things?
He really was wonderfully weird.
Laughing to herself, she shut the drawer and finally stumbled downstairs, ready to see her dragon. By the time they’d gotten back to New Orleans proper, it had been close to eight in the morning—then she’d gone to see her brothers and hugged and kissed them to the point of overkill. After that she’d had to talk to King, and finally she and Mikael had come home and crashed together.
And she still felt like she could sleep for another… Who knows, maybe another day or two. She felt physically and emotionally exhausted, but she didn’t want to go back to sleep alone. No, she was only going back to Mikael’s bed if he came with her.
She found him outside on the back patio with his brothers, her brothers, and Rhys and Dallas—as well as Willow, who was currently doing figure eights in the air around a frustrated Hunter, who was chirping at her as if telling her to slow down.
Mikael of course spotted her first and crossed the few feet to her, pulling her into his arms and holding her tight.
She closed her eyes for a long moment and buried her face against his chest. She was so happy he was alive, that they were both alive. And he was warm, wonderful and all hers. Soon she was going to fully claim him forever. Soooo soon. “So, I think we need to talk about the fact that you’ve been stealing my things,” she murmured against his chest.
He froze then looked down at her, a bit of guilt flickering into his gray eyes.
She giggled slightly. “I’m not mad. Is this like a dragon thing?”
“Yes. We like treasure.”
“And my buttons and hair clips are treasure?”
“They smell like you.” His words were so simple and made her heart expand three sizes. Oh, this male was too much.
“Oh, Mikael.”
“Avery!” She pulled back at Dallas’s voice, hating the interruption even though she loved her friend. “We joined the search for you!” her friend said, pulling her into a hug.
“Thank you so much,” Avery said as she stepped back, immediately missing Mikael’s warmth. Right now she was already close to feeling overwhelmed. But she was so glad her friend was here.
Dallas watched her carefully, looking her up and down worriedly. “How are you doing? Truly? Do you want me to whip up a special tea brew?”
“I’m dealing with everything.” Her father’s ex-wife had tried to kill her, she’d also learned that said ex-wife had killed her father, her brothers had been kidnapped and saved, she’d gone to a Hell realm and survived, and she was wildly in love with a dragon shifter. Avery had no idea how to emotionally handle all of that right now. She kind of just wanted to go back to bed.
But she did not want to go alone. Whatever was on her face must’ve been pretty clear because Dallas gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and then turned to her mate. “Let’s get Hunter back to King. And I think it’s time we get Willow home anyway.” Then she turned to Avery. “Honey, get some sleep and call me when you’re awake. I’ll come back into town so we can talk. Or you can come visit us on the farm for a break—with your dragon, obviously,” she added, giving Mikael a look when he started to growl.
“You are truly the best.”
Zephyr, the male she didn’t know well but really appreciated in that moment, said, “And the rest of us are going to head over to that lion’s place. We’ll hang out there for a while,” he added, looking between Avery and Mikael pointedly.
Anthony started to say something, but Riel elbowed him, and not subtly.
She laughed to herself and leaned into Mikael. Having some alone time in the house right now sounded amazing.
So did a hot shower. And…other things.
“I need a shower,” she murmured to Mikael, watching as his eyes went all smoky gray. “I hope it won’t be alone.”
“Dude, we can still hear you,” Anthony mumbled as he walked by, but not before kissing her on the cheek.
“Then you better hurry and get out of here,” Mikael said dryly.
“I’ll be upstairs,” she said quietly as Zephyr pulled him aside for something.
Feeling slightly more awake, she hurried back up the stairs. She had a lot of questions she wanted answers to, but the Dark Mage, or hybrid or whatever he was, who had been turning vampires and letting them run loose on the city, was dead. And so was Lindsey. Something she wouldn’t lose any sleep over. That lunatic had tried to kill her. If there were still vampires running wild, she figured King’s pack could take care of it. She also needed to check into her jobsites, but right now she was going to let other people worry about the details.
She wanted to get naked with Mikael more than anything. They deserved it—they deserved a happily-ever-after.
She didn’t wait for Mikael, instead stripped off her clothes and tossed them into his hamper before starting the shower. As soon as the steam rose she stepped inside, sighing at the force of the jets cascading over her body. This was heaven.
As she was wringing her hair out and getting ready to lather it up with shampoo, the gray-and-white-striped shower curtain jingled slightly as Mikael stepped inside—thankfully fully naked. Yes, please.
His biceps flexed as he pulled the shower curtain closed and she stared at each wonderful ripple of his muscles as he moved. The male was walking art.
Her gaze raked over his body once, twice, as she tried to drink him in. He was already rock-hard, his cock curving up thick against his abdomen. She tried to look everywhere at once, couldn’t get enough of her male.
He immediately reached for her, his big hands settling on her hips as she stepped into his body. “I only left you alone because you were sleeping so hard,” he murmured. “I’d planned to be back upstairs before you got up.”
She slid her hands around his waist, pulling him to her so that her breasts rubbed up against his chest. Oh, she liked that. “I know. I didn’t think for one second that you’d left me. I’m glad everyone’s gone though.”
“Are you hungry?” He was holding her close and gloriously naked, but hadn’t made a move to touch her other than the gentle hold on her hips. “You have to be starving.”
Oh no, no polite and nice dragon. She wanted something else from him right now.
He abruptly stopped when she reached between them and wrapped he
r fingers around his thick length. “I’m hungry, but not for food.” She wanted to be filled by him, claimed by him. She wanted forever with him and she now understood what being mated to a dragon meant. He’d explained everything to her once they’d gotten back to the house. They’d be linked to each other, and if one of them died, so did the other. She was his weak link—not according to him though. Even though she didn’t like the idea of being a weak link, she loved him too much to walk away. They were meant to be together. And her life span would be expanded so she’d live as long as he would, so at least she wasn’t depriving him of that.
He let out a low growl as he pinned her to the slick tile wall. “What exactly are you hungry for?”
“Everything.” She paused. “What you said about me being your mate—”
“I meant every word. You are mine. Don’t want to scare you, but I’m not letting you go. If you let me claim you, you’re stuck with me forever. Not that I’m going to give you a choice, regardless,” he added, as if he needed to clarify. There was the sexy, possessive dragon she knew and loved.
Maybe that kind of possessiveness should scare her, but he was so damn protective and he had shown her who he was in a thousand different ways. Not being claimed by him scared her more than anything. Not having him in her life terrified her. He was this subtle force of nature who’d quietly ripped down her walls one by one until she had nothing to hold between them. And she didn’t want to. Being vulnerable with someone else was scary, but it was worth it.
“What does claiming involve, exactly?” Because he’d been vague on that one point. Though he’d already showed her that he liked to get creative in the bedroom, so maybe it was something kinky. Oh, yes please.
As if he read her thoughts, or more likely he’d just scented the sharp spike of lust that rolled off her, he said, “I would give up my entire trove of treasure to know what you’re thinking right now.”
