A Star Crossed Fate (Great Plains Dragon Feud Book 4)

by Emilia Hartley

  But she wasn’t alone. Adrien would always be there for her. She was the one person who ever gave back to him. Raven gave her whole heart and made Adrien feel loved. More than that, he felt appreciated when he was with her. He wasn’t just a resource to her. He wasn’t the person who would dig her out of any situation.

  She cared for him. She wanted the best for him.

  Adrien knew that she would rather he go back to the party where it was safe, but he wasn’t going to let Bastien get away. Adrien got ahold of Bastien’s tail and tugged. Bastien wobbled. The air threatened to drop him, but the dragon managed to keep his wings steady.

  On and on they flew. Adrien wasn’t sure where Bastien was trying to run off to. It didn’t matter. Adrien would pounce on the man the moment he touched ground. There was nowhere this man could hide that Adrien would not follow.

  A panicked roar screeched behind him. Bastien’s tail slipped out of his grip as he looked back. Raven’s firelight illuminated a patch of the blizzard. Adrien didn’t understand what she was trying to signal. He hovered in the air, caught between giving chase and falling back.

  Now wasn’t the time to balk. He turned back to his quarry. Bastien had gotten ahead of him, but he wouldn’t lose him now. The dragon’s scent was thin in the air, but Adrien tracked it until he caught sight of black scales again.

  Raven’s roars became even more frantic. He hoped they weren’t over any homes because the humans below would be able to hear her. She needed to be more careful.

  Adrien wasn’t thinking as she followed Bastien toward the ground. All that he knew was that Bastien had made it back to wherever he wanted to hide. Adrien wasn’t going to let Bastien get far. He adjusted his flight path so that he collided with Bastien the moment they touched ground. The impact made the ground shake.

  “Son of a bitch!” Raven shouted.

  Adrien’s heart flipped. Why had Raven shifted back? He didn’t dare let up. He bit the back of Bastien’s neck so hard that he heard scales crack. The sound was nearly swallowed by the howling of the storm, but not completely.

  He knew that because lights flicked on. The bright windows were closer than Adrien would have liked. He studied the house now coming into sight, his stomach turning to lead with every passing second.

  “I was trying to stop you!” Raven shouted against the wind. “I was trying to tell you that this was a—”

  Trap.

  A door blew open. The Old Lizard himself stepped out into the gathering snow. The sour scent of him curled in the air despite the blustering winds.

  “Raven?” Quincy asked with a hint of venom in his voice. “Why have you brought the trash to my doorstep?”

  Adrien pressed Bastien into the earth. The dragon bucked beneath him. The movement made Adrien’s teeth tear through flesh, but he managed to get Adrien off him. Blood dripped from Bastien’s neck and Adrien’s muzzle. When Bastien tried to slink toward Quincy, Adrien lashed out.

  His claws hit impenetrable yellow scales. He didn’t know when Quincy had shifted. It happened in the span of a blink. One moment, the Old Lizard stood in the doorway. The next, he was between Adrien and Bastien.

  Quincy struck Adrien and sent him careening across the ground. The Old Lizard slammed his tail into Bastien’s flank and knocked him down, too.

  “Damn it,” Raven screamed.

  Quincy ignored her curse. He prowled toward Adrien, but Adrien couldn’t act quick enough. He barely had his feet beneath him before Quincy struck him down again.

  Raven’s sounds of frustration were eaten by the wind, but Adrien caught a glimpse of the horror on her face before he went down. Her frustration turned to anger. He could hear it as her voice grew louder.

  Adrien had been a fool. He’d walked right into Bastien’s trap. Even though Bastien would pay the price for this trick, Adrien would be the one to die tonight. The Old Lizard suffered no fools. Only numbers could stop him, and Adrien had no numbers behind him tonight.

  Only Raven.

  He wanted to tell her to run and leave him to his fate, but he couldn’t speak in this form. He couldn’t tell her that he loved her or that he wished he could have been better for her.

  Then, just as Quincy was closing in on him, a figure stepped between them. Raven spread her arms wide, blocking Quincy’s path. Quincy’s gaze dropped to her. He lowered his head and issued a warning growl. Her knees trembled, but she didn’t move.

  Adrien nudged her with his nose. The gesture left a smear of blood along her back. She glanced back and revealed the determination in her eyes. Adrien wavered, uncertain. Knowing that Quincy was not the sort of man to spare anyone, Adrien wanted to shove her out of the way. She couldn’t pay for Adrien’s mistakes.

  “Go back inside,” she said to her uncle.

  Adrien was impressed with the even tone of her voice. Here was the woman he always knew she could be. It was too bad that now was not the time. Adrien could feel Quincy watching him. His skin burned with the threat of violence. He wondered if Quincy was imagining the taste of Barnes blood on his tongue. Couldn’t Raven see the hunger on her uncle’s face?

  “If you want to punish someone, then punish Bastien. He attacked me, his fiancée. Then he had the gall to lead Adrien to your doorstep and cause a ruckus. Bastien is the one responsible for this.”

  Quincy growled. His lips twitched. Adrien tensed, ready to push Raven out of the way. After Adrien had learned about River’s incident with her uncle, Adrien wasn’t about to trust that Raven would be safe with him. Quincy was a monster. They all called him the Old Lizard for a reason.

  “You heard me, damn it!” Raven’s voice boomed.

  The snow shook with the force of her command. Everyone in the area paused, stunned. A surge of pride swelled in Adrien’s chest. He always knew she had it in her!

  He rose to his full height behind her. If anyone made a move, he would go down fighting for her. Raven was his everything. She was the only shifter who could stand beside him.

  Quincy rocked back and regarded his niece for a long moment. Then, he shifted his attention to Bastien. The man still lurked in the snow like an oil stain on the white carpet. Bastien’s eyes widened the second he realized that Quincy’s quarry had changed.

  The yellow dragon chased Bastien into the blizzard. Raven’s shoulders slumped. She dropped to her knees and covered her face with her hands. Adrien crouched low beside her and wrapped his body around her so that the blizzard wouldn’t be able to reach her.

  She threw her arms around his neck and sobbed. The bit of courage she’d summoned to stand up against her uncle must have given way. Adrien waited patiently. When she seemed ready, he backed up and gave her the space she needed to shift. They would have a long flight back to Logan’s.

  Everyone would be worried about her. River was probably wondering where her sister had gotten to. If they trusted Adrien to keep her safe, they had put their faith in the wrong man. He regretted not listening to her. If he’d been smarter or more in tune with Raven, then he never would have led them into this mess.

  Raven put a hand on his scales. She sighed and looked to the manor, still illuminated from the inside. There were scaffolds everywhere. It seemed like every time Quincy caused a fuss, someone came to the manor and destroyed another wing of it. Adrien wanted to laugh at the thought, but Raven’s tension hadn’t yet disappeared.

  “I’m going to stay here,” she said. “I have some clothes inside. I’ll call my mother and have her pick me up. You should go home before Quincy gets back.”

  Adrien tossed his head.

  “I mean it. Mom and I will be able to keep Uncle Quincy from going after you when he’s finished with Bastien.”

  She was right, of course. Adrien didn’t have to like it, though.

  “Go,” she whispered.

  Adrien didn’t back up. Not at first. Then he took Raven’s advice and opened his wings. He knew which direction was home. Now that he wasn’t chasing Bastien, his sense of direction had returned to
him.

  Adrien glanced back before he left. Raven watched him go with a sad smile on her face. He wished he could turn it upside down, but now was not the time. Raven had a mission ahead of her.

  And she was doing it all for him.

  Once she was sure that Adrien had made his escape without alerting her uncle, Raven stepped inside. The manor was warm, despite all the holes in the walls. They had been covered, of course. On her way to get clothes for herself, she stopped near the wall that River had demolished recently.

  Raven had surprised herself. Seeing Adrien in trouble had given her a courage that she’d never felt before. It’d propelled her forward regardless of consequence. She was still surprised that her protest had worked.

  Quincy listened to no one but her mother. Alice Montoya was the only person to get Quincy to back down. Yet, Raven had done it. The thought made her wonder what she was capable of.

  She grabbed a black sweater from a spare bedroom and rummaged a bit longer before coming up with a pair of knit tights. They weren’t pants, but the sweater was long enough to be a dress. She donned both, then went to find the phone.

  How was Bastien faring, she wondered?

  Had he learned his lesson? Or would he strike back with even more fury? Raven was so close to not caring. A trickle of fear turned her chest cold, but it didn’t linger for long. The sensation faded. Exhaustion took its place.

  Ten minutes after Raven called home, Alice swept through the door. Her eyes blazed with the light of her beast. It was an inhuman red tonight. Raven wondered, for the first time, if her eyes did the same. Most of the time, Alice had firm control over her beast. Every once in a while, that control slipped, and the beast manifested as a red glow in her mother’s eyes.

  Few ever saw this happen. Raven surmised that she was one of the lucky few to have witnessed this phenomenon. Perhaps that spoke to how often she and her sister pissed their mother off. The last time Raven saw it happen was the day that River moved in with her Barnes mate.

  Alice fixed those red eyes on her daughter. “Where is he?”

  Raven shrugged.

  Alice shook her head, clearly exasperated. “Men. Why are they always picking fights?”

  Says the woman who strikes with her words, Raven thought. Alice was a force to be reckoned with. Not only was she unusually strong for a female shifter, but she knew how to use every tool in her arsenal. That’s what truly made her strong.

  “Let’s raid Quincy’s kitchen while we wait for him.” Alice spun on her heel and led them out of the room. “I know he has a stash of gourmet ice-cream in the back of the freezer. It would serve him right if we ate it all while we wait.”

  Raven tilted her head. Something had changed. This was a kinder side of her mother that Raven wasn’t used to. Raven wasn’t sure what brought this out of her mother. When Alice paused and glanced back to make sure that Raven was following, Raven’s heart flipped. For the first time in years, she felt a connection to her mother.

  Alice sighed. A look much like regret flitted across her face. It was there and then gone. The mask that Alice always wore came right back up.

  “Don’t think I haven’t noticed the fact that you aren’t yelling at me yet,” Raven said as she followed Alice into the kitchen.

  Her mother kept quiet while she rummaged through Uncle Quincy’s expensive, vintage style refrigerator. She came up with two pints of special-order ice-cream and yanked open a drawer to pluck out two spoons. She set them on the breakfast nook table and paused.

  “This needed to happen. That fiancé of yours is headstrong. He needs to learn his place.”

  Raven’s stomach pinched tight. She realized that she hadn’t exactly shared all the details with her mother. The version of what happened that Raven had told her mother had been greatly doctored. For all Alice knew, Bastien had come to challenge Quincy despite Raven’s warnings.

  Alice didn’t know that Bastien had led a Barnes dragon onto Montoya territory with the plan to kill him—or get him killed.

  “I hope you know that I’m trying to do what’s best for you,” Alice said softly.

  Raven nearly choked. She managed to keep quiet despite the words caught in her throat.

  “I know Bastien isn’t the best choice right now, but hopefully Quincy can show him some humility.” Alice half-turned and gave her daughter a small smile. “He might be a little easier to bear after that. You should still remember that you’re stronger than him. Though I would never willingly choose a husband for you that is stronger, you should also know that there aren’t many men in this world that could defeat you.”

  Raven hated how her mother was suddenly backtracking over years of saying exactly the opposite. Alice had never believed her daughters to be strong. She’d thrown a fit every time River passed out. She’d called Raven weak-willed for being unable to lose weight. This woman was willfully ignoring all those times she’d hurt her daughters.

  Alice asked her to sit. Raven did as she was told, but her limbs felt stiff. She stared at the pint of ice-cream on the table before her.

  “Do you still think River is going to get hurt?”

  Alice popped the lid off her ice-cream. She mused for a moment, a mound of spiced chocolate and marshmallow ice-cream on her spoon. Raven leaned forward and stole a spoonful. Cinnamon and chocolate melted across her tongue.

  “I realized that your sister never felt loved,” Alice said after a long while.

  The confession nearly floored Raven.

  “That’s why she latched onto the first love-sick Barnes boy that she came across. The two of them aren’t mates. She’ll see that in time.”

  Well, that wasn’t what Raven had wanted to hear. She hid her disappointment behind a mouthful of cherry bourbon ice-cream.

  “Your father and I aren’t mates, either. We knew we would never find true love, so we entered into a union of convenience so that we could have a family. I chose him because he was agreeable, not because I have any strong feelings towards him.”

  Raven understood why her mother acted the way she did. This woman had never known love. It had always passed her by. So, when Alice saw others in love, she couldn’t comprehend a reality in which it was sincere. Raven didn’t want to live that same kind of life.

  She wouldn’t have to. She’d met Adrien and loved him for a while. Adrien had shown her what it meant to be loved. Now, Raven had to leave that behind. At least, she wouldn’t turn out like her mother. Raven would always hold that experience close. She would remember that love when it came time to love her children.

  The thought of having Bastien’s kids turned her stomach. The ice-cream melted in front of her. She put the lid back on and shoved it aside.

  Before Raven could tell her mother that she didn’t want this, the front door banged open.

  “Ah, it seems they’ve exhausted themselves finally.”

  Here we go, Raven thought. Then it occurred to her that Bastien and Uncle Quincy would be able to poke holes in her story. While she doubted Bastien would fully explain what had happened, Uncle Quincy would not hesitate to expose Raven’s lies.

  Though she wanted to stick around and watch her mother berate Bastien, Raven knew she had to leave. She waited for her mother to fix her hair and step out into the hall. Once Alice’s back was turned, Raven snuck toward the kitchen door, jammed her feet into a pair of unclaimed boots, and slipped outside.

  It had stopped snowing. The air had taken on a chill. Raven stoked her beast’s fire and felt it suffuse her from the inside out. Winter could not stop a dragon shifter who needed to make a quick escape.

  11

  Adrien passed out for the second time that day. Despite the volume level in Logan’s house, Adrien hit the couch and let the darkness claim him. He didn’t wake until the wee hours of the morning when the front door creaked open.

  He blinked, his vision bleary from sleep. The figure in the dark moved closer. He tensed until a familiar scent reached him. His beast purred happily. He rol
led onto his side and made room on the couch for Raven.

  She hesitated, then took the offered spot, her body fitting against his as if she’d been molded for him. He wrapped his arm around her and held her tight. She was stiff for a while. He wondered what had happened while they’d been apart.

  He pressed a small kiss to the back of her neck. She made a sound and moved away from him. If she could hear the crack that rippled through his heart, she didn’t show it. Adrien swallowed his torment and pressed his eyes closed. He would savor this moment for as long as he could because he didn’t know when he would lose it forever.

  He only knew that he would.

  Despite all the courage she’d shown tonight, she still could not reject her family’s expectations. He could tell from the way she leaned away from him. The sliver of space between them drove him wild. He wanted to pull her closer and hold her tight. He would promise her everything so long as she chose to stay.

  He couldn’t force her to make that decision, though. It was hers to make. She would hate him forever if he made any kind of demands. The only way they could be happy was if Raven wanted to be with him.

  He believed that was what she truly wanted. Her mother’s overbearing nature frightened her, though. Just because River had gotten out from under their mother’s control, that didn’t mean Raven would make it out unscathed. He couldn’t protect her from that kind of harm. That was a battle only Raven could fight.

  That didn’t make him feel any less useless.

  Adrien didn’t know how long he could bear this feeling. He couldn’t stand beside her and watch while his hands were tied. His beast thrashed once more. Only her scent, proof that she was here with him right here and now, calmed the damned beast.

  He was a man in deep. There was only trouble on his horizon. If it wasn’t Bastien, then it was Alice. If it wasn’t them, then he had to face himself. The beast wanted one thing. But Adrien could not force mate bonds. With fate out of his hands, he could only wait.