by Alisa Woods
“Ember!” my sister cries out from the phone. Her face looms, tear-streaked, mascara everywhere, lips cracked and trembling. “Help me. These creatures have me. They have pointed ears like—” She sees something off-screen, and the video clip just… stops.
Like my heart. I look up at Niko, and his shock is the same as mine.
Oh, my God.
Six
Niko
Everything changed in that instant.
That moment when my heart opened, and I was swallowed whole by Ember Dubois.
Soul mate.
I’ve lived with those words my entire life, but they’re empty sounds compared to the reality of meeting your other half—raw, pure, hungry. Complete. Words are failing me with how desperate I am to have her back in my arms.
I can’t stop touching her. Her hand in mine, my hand on her back, her burying her face in my chest with the two sobs she allowed herself before we scrambled to return to the lair. She’s frantic, and rightly so—the Vardigah have her sister, and that’s lighting up the panic in my brain, too. But all the way back to the lair—in the cart, the boat, up the back stairs—all I can think is how to get my mate in my bed and finish what we started.
Not yet. It makes me growl.
“What?” Ember asks as we hurry through the lair to the main meeting room.
“Just frustrated.” My need for her is short-circuiting every other rational thought. I should be soothing the terror in my mate’s eyes, but all I want is to haul her to my apartment, throw her on my bed, and fuck her until she screams. Again and again. Like a barbarian. Never mind that she’s terrified for her sister, that we legitimately need to figure out how the fuck the Vardigah got hold of her, and the small matter that Ember has to actually love me for the mating to take hold. None of that matters to the primal dragon that’s awoken in my belly. He wants her squirming under him while he claims her with his cock, his mouth, and his… love.
Holy magic, I love this woman. I was falling for her before, but that kiss tossed me right off the cliff. Yet all the decency in me has evaporated like mist in front of the raging storm of my lust. What the fuck is wrong with me?
“Okay, now what?” she asks, breathless. We’ve reached the meeting room. Aleks is on his way. I have two seconds to speak this unspoken thing between us—because we haven’t said a damn thing about it in our frantic scramble to get back.
“We’ll find your sister.” I take hold of her shoulders because I just can’t stop touching her. “But Ember, I’m on fire inside. You’re my soul mate! It’s fucking blowing me apart—”
“I’m sorry, what?” She looks at me like I’m insane. “What the hell are you saying?” Her eyes are wild.
It strikes me like an iron pole to the chest. I drop my hold on her and stagger back as if I’ve been physically struck. “You don’t feel it.” My voice is a whisper.
“The kiss? Fuck! Nikolais! We need to focus. My sister is—”
“Captured. I know.” I’m struggling to breathe. She doesn’t feel it. What the fuck does that mean?
She’s still looking at me with something between fear and anger. No… terror. That’s what it is. And it’s overriding anything else at the moment. Maybe she felt the connection between us. Maybe she didn’t. But right now, she needs something entirely different from me.
“You’re right.” I’m still struggling to catch my breath. “We need to focus on your sister right now.”
“Yes!” She’s frantic. “Oh my God, those fucking things have her—the ones hunting your people!”
“Hey.” I catch hold of her shoulders. She’s shaking. “It’s okay.” I pull her into my chest and wrap my arms around her. “We’ll get her back. Safely. And when everyone’s safe again, we’ll talk about… other things.” I swallow. It feels so right to have her in my arms. And she’s shaking less now. That has to mean something, right? But an idea nibbles at the edge of my brain, and it’s giving me chills. Ember is a twin—her sister Cinder has the mark, too. What if that means… something? What if she can’t bond the same way? Or what if her Dragon Spirit is split between the two? I can’t even conceive of what that would mean, so I shove that thought away. I’m in love with Ember… and she needs my full attention right now.
“But how are we going to get her back?” Ember’s sobbing into my chest, which just rears up the beast again, wanting to drive away those tears with pleasure.
I stuff that away too and focus on her. She wants a plan, and we need a plan, so that’s what we’ll do. I pull back, holding her by the shoulders again. “We know where the Vardigah are. We know how to get there. It’s fucking dangerous, but we’ve got no lack of dragons who’ll lay down their lives for one of the Dragon Spirited.”
Remarkably, that calms her a little. “They would do that?” She blinks and pulls back. “How dangerous?”
“How dangerous is what?” Aleks asks as he strides into the room.
Having him here makes everything feel stable again. “The Vardigah have Ember’s sister.”
“What?” He looks rapidly between us. “How?”
Ember fumbles to get out her phone and play the video again.
He gives me an incredulous look. “How did they find her? Was it the mark?”
“I don’t know. But I’m not willing to lose a Dragon Spirit to them.”
Aleks’s eyes narrow. “The mated dragons.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“Hold on,” Ember says. “What are you talking about?”
I tip my head to Aleks for him to explain. I’m still trying to sort this in my head. Because we haven’t tried an assault on the Vardigah since the first time, which was such a disaster and almost wiped out what was left of dragon kind. I can’t ask my brother dragons to take on such a mission without leading them myself. But if Ember is truly my soul mate, I can’t afford to risk one of our few chances to grow the lair. It’s all so messed up and tangled with my own urgent, growling need to claim her, I’m not sure I’m thinking straight on any of it.
Aleks is explaining the details of mating powers to Ember. “So a mated dragon’s venom can kill a Vardigah, but that’s not the key to this, I don’t think. I mean, it will help…” He’s throwing me worried glances, probably wondering why I’ve fallen silent.
“What’s the key?” Ember demands.
“Transport.” Aleks turns back to her. “Mated dragons can move inter-dimensionally. And they can bring the rest of us to where the Vardigah live.”
“Ketu and Renn,” I say to him.
“They’re the only ones who… you know.” Aleks looks pained by it. As am I.
“The only ones who what?” Ember’s voice hikes up.
“I’ll explain,” I say to her but turn to Aleks. “Tell them I need to talk to them. You can brief them before I get there. Give them some time to think about it.”
He nods quickly and takes off.
Ember watches him go. “I don’t understand what’s happening.” She turns back for explanation, and those curious, intelligent eyes stir the primal beast inside me again. I would have fallen for this woman even if she weren’t my soul mate. Which is reassuring in a strange way. Because, despite my dragon’s insane lust for her, maybe the mating won’t actually work between us. Maybe being a twin will interfere. Even if it worked, the mission is insane.
I take a deep breath before explaining. “We’ll need a mated dragon to get to where the Vardigah are holding your sister. They not only can travel through the portal, but they’re also attuned to that realm. They’ll be able to find her no matter what part of that dimension the Vardigah stashed her in. But it’s a dangerous mission, even with surprise on our side.”
She’s soaking it all in. “So Ketu and Renn are the mated dragons?”
“We have several pairs who have mated over the centuries.” Several as in six pairs. Hardly much of a showing. A stronger leader might have found a way to improve those numbers. But I did all that I could. “Ketu and Renn are
the oldest. They mated just before the Vardigah destroyed our lairs—they happened to be away, honeymooning you would call it now, when the attack happened. They’ve passed the time when they can have children. The other pairs are still in their prime—still adding to the lair. Renn had her last child three years ago. She told us her fertility had come to an end. We held a party for them…” I trail off because the full horror of it is sinking in.
“Wait, they have a little kid?” The distress on Ember’s face makes me move closer, touching her again, almost involuntarily. “You can’t send them on a dangerous mission like this!” she says.
“We can’t do it without them.” I cup her cheek with my hand, running my thumb across it as if I could brush away her concerns that easily.
“Can you… just send one of them?” She grimaces because even that’s a horrible choice.
I shrug with one shoulder. “Doesn’t matter. They’re mated. If one dies, the other will perish. That’s what mating means, Ember. They share a soul. They’re joined.”
“That’s crazy.” Her face is scrunched up. Does she understand?
“It’s how we’ve lived throughout all the lore. And I know Ketu and Renn—there’s no way one would go without the other.”
She shakes her head.
“I know you don’t want to talk about soul mates,” I say, gently cupping her other cheek too. Then I can’t help it. I kiss her, tender and fast, just barely brushing lips. I still feel it zing throughout my body. The beast rumbles through my chest. “But you need to know a few things.”
“I don’t think…” She swallows and whispers, “I don’t know if I believe in all this, Niko.”
I smile, but it hurts. “I know. But it’s real. And I know beyond any doubt you are the only woman I’ll ever love.”
Her lip trembles, and I wish I didn’t have to burden her with knowing this. Not now. Especially since I’m not 100% certain about how being a twin affects things. But it can’t be avoided.
She’s shaking again. “I don’t… I don’t know if…”
“Shhh.” I run my thumb across her trembling lower lip. “You don’t have to know anything. Or say you love me back. None of that matters. Here’s what does: You are my soul mate. I will lead this mission—I’m Lord of this Lair, and I’ll not send dragons into battle with the destroyers of our people without leading the charge. But if I die, the Dragon Spirit within you will perish. We’re not mated, so you won’t die, my sweet, sexy, fiery little Ember. You’ll live out your natural life as a human woman. But the dragon within you will be gone.” I grimace because I don’t know how bad that could be, not really. I only know one case where an unmated Dragon Spirit’s soul mate perished—he died in the attack just before they sealed their mating. She went mad, but I can’t be sure that wasn’t a broken spirit, not merely a broken heart. I say none of this because it cannot help to know. And besides, this mission is to return her sister to her side. Her twin. They must have a special bond—I can see it in the frantic desperation to save her—and maybe that will see her through if losing her Dragon Spirit is terribly hard.
“This is all crazy,” she protests, but there are tears in her eyes.
“Perhaps I’ll live,” I say brightly. “One of us will bring your sister back. If I return, then you’ll have all the time in the world to turn down my advances.”
The tears shine brighter, so I kiss her again. Stronger this time. I can’t help the rumble deep in my chest—the beast wants her so badly. But it’s not my inner dragon that holds me hostage. It’s the desperate way she’s pulling me in, running her hands into my hair, and returning this kiss that’s growing hotter by the second.
I pull back. “Not too much of that,” I tease, already out of breath. “We take this too far, and we’ll end up mated before I go. And that is not okay. Not at this point.” Her tears break loose, so I brush them away. “Come on. Your sister’s counting on us.”
Seven
Ember
My heart feels on the edge of shattering.
It’s a physical feeling, deep in my chest, a quivering that feels half heart-attack, half panic-attack. Cinder’s captured. Niko’s in love with me. Some mated dragons I don’t know will risk their lives—with a little kid at home!—to save my sister. All because they think she’s the key to saving their people.
They don’t know how damaged she is—or was. And that was before these creatures kidnapped her. That video and her terrified face are on an endless loop in my head. I’m desperate to save her, but these people? Risking their lives? Cinder can’t have the pressure of being their savior on her! If she’s not already hopelessly broken, I know my sister—that will be too much for her.
And this is all my fault.
My heart lurches again as Niko knocks on the door of the mated pair we’re here to see. It’s a painful spasm that makes me fold my shoulders in slightly.
It grabs Niko’s attention. “You okay?”
I’ve never been so stressed in my life. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I’ve been embedded with troops in actual combat that was less panic-inducing than this. But then that would only kill me—not the people I love. And somehow that category of people is quickly expanding to include the handsome dragon holding my hand and scowling at me like he doesn’t believe a word out of my mouth. “I’ll be fine,” I say. “Later. After we rescue Cinder.”
He nods with that.
The door opens. Another Greek-looking beautiful man greets us. He has a few tiny lines at the corners of his eyes, but that’s the only thing that seems older than the other gorgeous dragon men that fill the lair.
“Renn is in the main room with Aleks,” he says by way of terse introduction. He gives me a small smile.
“This is my soul mate, Ember Dubois,” Niko says, casual-like as if it’s just a given.
Ketu’s eyebrows fly up, and he stumbles to a stop. “Aleks didn’t mention—”
“We just found out.” Niko’s calm pronouncement is sending my heart into convulsions. I smile weakly at Ketu. The man smiles in return then grasps hold of Niko’s arm and pulls him into a hug. It’s fierce, on both their sides.
“Then this mission just got even more critical.” He pulls back, a shine in his eyes. “Have you sealed the mating?”
“No.” The catch in Niko’s voice almost kills me dead on the spot. We’re holding hands, so I just squeeze his because I have no idea what to say.
“Well, then.” Ketu’s expression falls solemn. “We both have something to come back for.”
Niko nods, and that lifts the panic a tiny bit. Maybe this will all be okay. Maybe they’ll come back and bring Cinder and then… what? Niko and I can become mated dragons? It would take the pressure off Cinder at least. But half my heart palpitations are the panic that all this is moving too fast, too crazy, and that I have no idea what I’m getting into.
“Come inside.” Ketu ushers us away from the door where we stalled out.
In the main room, a beautiful woman—stunning, actually, with long blond hair and Marilyn Monroe curves—is perched on a couch with a little boy in her lap. He’s a baby. Niko said three years old, and it’s not like I hang around babies much, but this kid is small. And he’s hanging onto his mother’s neck, staring up at Aleks, who’s hovering nearby, with wide blue eyes.
“So it would be right away…” I hear the woman, Renn, saying before she notices us.
The boy wriggles in her lap and points at me. “Who dat?”
“That’s our new friend,” Renn murmurs and rises up from the couch, shifting the boy to her hip. His chubby legs dangle as she adjusts him. The boy stuffs his pointing finger in his mouth to chew. He’s adorable. Big black lashes, tiny nose, little fingers getting all wet with slobber.
“But who dat?” he repeats, pointing a now-wet finger at me again.
The kid wants specifics.
“This is Ember,” his father says, smiling too big because everyone in the room knows this isn’t a time for smiling. “Say hello lik
e a polite little dragon, Lukaz.”
Lukaz reels his hand back in and ducks his head into the crook of his mother’s neck. Probably just shy, but it feels like an indictment. Like he knows I’m going to get his parents killed. I try to smile at Renn and Ketu, but it just feels false, so I stop.
“How about you go with Uncle Aleks?” Renn says to her son. “See if he can find some ice cream in the freezer.”
Lukaz pops his head back up, eyes alight. Then he flings both arms back over his mom’s shoulder, reaching for Aleks. “Ice keem!” he declares.
“You know it.” Aleks scoops him out of Renn’s arms and swings Lukas up and around so the baby lands on the back of his neck, feet dangling forward. “Let’s get your brothers some, too.” Only when Aleks troops out of the room with the baby laughing and digging into his hair with pudgy fingers do I notice the other boys. Three of them. Like little solemn stair-steps in height, lurking at the edge of the room, near the hallway that must lead to the kitchen. They can’t be more than a couple years apart, the youngest only a few years older than the baby. How many children do Renn and Ketu have?
My heart is already breaking at the thought of these boys losing their parents. Either one. But it won’t work that way. Niko said that if one dies, the other goes. These boys would all be orphans. I feel a numbness come over my body. This can’t happen. It’s so wrong it feels like the world should make it impossible.
Renn waits until the boys are well down the hallway with Aleks. “We need to discuss guardians,” she says to Ketu. She barely looks at me, and who can blame her? “And not your brother. I know what you’re thinking, Ketu.”
“You’d break his heart,” he says, but it’s not harsh. Almost teasing. “You know that.”
She waves that off. “He’s unmated. They need a mother.” She says this like she’s a statue—no emotion. No tears. I don’t know how it’s possible, but I don’t think for a second that it’s real. Her heart is already shattered, just like mine’s threatening to do.