“I’m letting him out.” She tried to pull her hand away, but his grip, for even an average-size man, was surprisingly strong, keeping her from escaping.
“No. No, no, no!” At that, Henrick’s arm wrenched her back, throwing her down to the ground away from the van and into the freezing snow. But she couldn’t feel the sting of the ice, just rage and determination focused on a singular purpose.
“I’m going to check on the specimen. After that, I’m going to call someone to get us out of this mess you’ve put us into,” he said, brushing his hands off as if she’d been trash in need of taking out.
Talia looked around her for options. In front of her, half covered in snow, a large branch poked out from the ground. Praying it wasn’t a root or too big to handle, she grasped it and yanked it up, breaking through days-old ice as she did. The branch, probably three of four feet long, would just have to do.
She whirled on Dr. Henrick and hefted it above her head.
“Get away from the van,” she ordered, adrenaline making her insides tight, her muscles strain.
“What’s come over you, Talia?” Henrick turned to face her, eyebrow raised, looking as annoyed as he was unamused.
“What’s come over you, doctor? This isn’t right, and you know it! That’s a person in there. Not some lab experiment you can sell off to the highest bidder.” A single tear bit at the corner of her eye. Frustration coursed through her—for not having done something sooner, for not having anticipated this, for not having been able to prevent it from happening.
But she sure as hell was going to do something about it now.
“You’re acting awfully strange about this. Were you really stupid enough to fall in love with a science project? You think he actually wants you back?”
The thought hurt. But denying her feelings, hiding them now, was pointless.
“Yes, I do love him. But that’s not the point. Alek is a good man. And whether he wants me or not, I’m going to do the right thing and free him before you have a chance to ruin his life.” Talia’s teeth clenched, chattering as the unforgiving cold around her seeped past her unfit clothes and into her bones.
Henrick, his expression colder than the ice crunching beneath their feet, stepped forward, advancing on her. Fear surged through her veins, and she shrank back, holding the stick before her. But he didn’t stop, advancing gradually until he stood only a few feet from her.
“You’re not going to hit me, are you?” he exclaimed with a frown, eyes unblinking.
“Yes, I will.”
Then, before she could react, he reached forward and grabbed the end of the stick. Using both hands, she tried to pull it away, but he wrenched it free, tossing it aside. Just as she looked back, pain lashed through her as Henrick struck her with the back of his hand with such force it knocked her to the ground.
The pain in her face radiated, warm and red. But she could barely feel it against the hurt of Henrick’s betrayal. Against not being able to stop him.
Tears in her eyes, she looked up at the man that had once been her mentor and teacher.
“Defy me again, and a bruised cheek will be the least of your worries, Talia,” he said with sociopathic coolness, his silhouette illuminated by the faint taillights behind him.
Suddenly, the sound of metal being forcefully wrenched asunder resonated through the forest, followed by a blast that was unlike anything Talia had ever heard. Instantly, both she and Dr. Henrick turned toward the noise.
The back of the normal white van looked as if it had exploded from the inside out, the thick aluminum siding curled in on itself like a burst tin can. But instead of fire or smoke, long, razor-sharp icicles formed a halo of blue and white, emanating outward from the center. Through the translucent ice, Talia could make out the pod where Alek had been contained, now torn into several chunks, frozen in place by whatever anomaly had caused this.
Alek. No!
But before she could collect her thoughts, a thunderous roar several times louder than the explosion resounded through the forest, shaking snow loose from hanging branches and rumbling the ground. With it, Talia could hear the whoosh of air like heavy wings beating, followed by the crash of something incredibly heavy landing on the ground.
When Talia finally looked up, she didn’t believe her eyes.
A humongous dragon, longer than a trailer and as tall as a house, stood before her. It appeared entirely frozen, glowing in a fluorescent blue and frosted at the ends of its scales in white. Huge wings fanned out then tucked into its side, making small crystals of ice scatter like diamonds around it.
Could it possibly be?
The gigantic beast took a step forward and then looked down at her. Bright eyes with glowing white irises appraised her. Eyes that seemed to soften slightly at the sight of her.
“Are you unharmed?” Its deep voice rumbled the forest. And despite the unnatural sound, it was too familiar to ignore.
“Alek?” Talia reached her hand up as if expecting the giant creature to disappear like a dream. But it didn’t, instead lowering its head to meet her hand.
“Yes, it’s me. I’m sorry, Talia.” The dragon’s head was so much larger than she was. Yet she felt no threat, no danger from the creature that her mind was quickly accepting was somehow Alek.
“No, I’m sorry, I—”
“What the devil is going on?” Henrick’s shrill voice interrupted from the other side of the clearing. The doctor emerged from behind a stump, brushing off bits of mud and snow. But when his gaze fell upon the gigantic dragon next to Talia, he froze.
Suddenly, the air around her felt cold as a freezing blast of wind shot through the forest. Yet somehow Talia didn’t feel chilled from it, as if she was aware of the drop in temperature but unaffected by it.
Alek turned on Henrick, leaning forward and looming over the incredibly small man while keeping himself close to her.
Out of nowhere, thick sleet appeared, carried on the wind that blew in heavy circles around them.
“You pathetic worm. How dare you harm my mate? How dare you deceive us into believing your lies? That this was for me or for her when it was all for you. When you would hurt her.” Alek’s voice was furious, the bellowing growl from his throat rattling the air around her.
“I… I…” Henrick was speechless, arms tucked close in surrender as he stood agape.
Talia ducked herself into Alek’s side, somehow untouched by a single snowflake even as it thickened into a blizzard so dense she could barely see from one end of the dragon to the other.
The boom of something hitting the ground next to her made Talia jump, and Alek extended a wing protectively around her, not blocking her vision. When she looked to her side to see what it had been, she saw a gigantic icicle that had appeared from seemingly nowhere protruding from the earth. Another boom near Henrick, followed by another, signaled more falling to the earth.
The lord of winter. Talia had heard him say it so many times. Only now did it somehow make a supernatural sort of sense.
“I should end you for your calumny. Rid the world of your filth,” Alek threatened.
“Please… Mercy…” Henrick’s whole body was shivering from head to toe, his words barely intelligible as torrential snow swirled in an angry vortex with him at the center of it.
Alek’s jaw opened, and white breath emanated from it. For a moment, Talia really thought he was going to breathe some horrific icy dragon fire on her former mentor. Then suddenly, everything went still. Snow fell from its place in the sky, the wind stopped, and the sky cleared once again.
Henrick, covered in ice and half buried in snow, stood stock still, eyes closed, waiting for the end.
“Begone before I change my mind.” Alek grimaced, showing rows of long, icy white teeth. “And if you have the audacity to even think about coming near Talia or telling anyone about this, I’ll make you wish you had been frozen on this very spot.”
“No one would believe you anyway,” Talia said coldly. “You�
��d never be trusted again if you went raving about a dragon.”
Henrick looked like he was inclined to agree. “I won’t. I promise. I’ll disappear. You’ll never see me again.”
“Good,” Alek said, raising another wave of icicles behind him. “Now run.”
With a hysterical scream, Henrick broke free of the pile of snow and ran away as fast as his feet could carry him, disappearing into the forest where he would probably call for help.
Talia was confident that would be the last they would see of him.
High above, stars twinkled in the night sky and a half-moon cast a blue glow over the almost regal shape of Alek’s dragon.
She pulled away from its side, still amazed how she’d been completely untouched by the whiteout blizzard, wanting to get a better view of him, and he turned back to face her.
“So you really are the lord of winter,” she remarked, still feeling slightly in shock.
From nowhere, a bright white flash surrounded the dragon. And in an instant, where it had once been, Alek stood next to her, a halo of twinkling ice crystals drifting slowly to the earth around them.
He reached for her, and she leapt into his embrace, surrounded with his arms. “No, I’m just Alek who’s in love with you, if that can be enough.”
“It’s perfect,” she said, just happy to hold him close.
Chapter 20
Alek couldn’t believe Talia had somehow awakened him from the ice again—or that he’d fallen for Dr. Henrick’s lies in the first place.
He’d still been confused by his memories and only wanted to do the right thing.
But when Dr. Henrick had threatened Talia, Alek had immediately known and awakened. His heart hadn’t been able to let go.
Perhaps he was always meant to be here with her. Protecting her. Seeing to her safety. Perhaps it wasn’t up to him to save the whole world by being part of an experiment.
Perhaps he could just make his own world with her.
“I love you, too,” she murmured against him. “Why would you go with him? Why would you sacrifice yourself like that?”
He rested his head on hers, keeping the cold back, which was easy now that he again had control of his powers. He could bring the cold and remove it at will, and it had nothing to do with being lord of winter. He was simply an ice dragon, and that was enough. “He said I would make things unsafe for you. That I would hold you back and be unable to keep people from hurting you.” He brushed her hair back, melting any remaining snow. “I couldn’t let anything happen to you, and I didn’t have my powers back yet.”
“But you do now?” She looked up at him curiously.
“Yes. As you saw. They didn’t come back with my memories, but they came back because I needed to return to you. To help you. I guess that tells me where my place is.”
“I still can’t believe you are… I mean, it’s as unbelievable as anything. Those blood tests… I never could have imagined.” She shook her head. “Though, I’m grateful you were able to make him back down.” She looked into the woods nervously. “Do you think he’ll be okay out there?”
“He should be, but I don’t care,” Alek retorted. “He hit you. I should have killed him for it. No one will ever hurt you again.”
She wrapped her arms around him and sighed. “You can’t prevent everything. That’s not what I want from you. You aren’t perfect. You don’t have to be.”
He sighed. “Maybe not, but I still won’t let anyone hurt you.” He set her back from himself a bit. “We should get you inside, though, before we talk more. Do you know if you remember seeing any shelter on the way here?”
“There was a lodge a few miles back,” she said. “We could stay there.”
“Okay,” Alek said. She gasped as wings sprouted from his back, sending ice shards scattering everywhere. “It’s going to be a bit cold for a minute, but this is the fastest way to get you inside.”
And then he scooped her up in his arms and kicked off the ground, flying low over the forest, dodging taller trees, following the road until they got to the lodge Talia had seen.
When he set her down, she was speechless, and snow glittered in her hair.
“You okay?”
She nodded, still gaping. “I mean, I knew there was something… unexplainable about you. But I never knew you were made of pure magic.”
He laughed, pulling her in against him as they walked up the steps to the lodge. “I’m not pure magic, as you’ll see in a moment when we talk. But for now, let’s focus on getting you warm.”
They checked in, lucky a room was available. Alek let Talia handle things with the hotel manager, who kept looking at them curiously, and then gave them the keys to their room.
The only room left happened to be a suite at the back of the lodge, offset from any other rooms, with two stories and a huge window that looked out on the snowy landscape. Snow was falling quietly, illuminated by the lights from the balcony and the bright moon. Beautiful white on the ground as far as the eye could see.
And the bed was right in front of the window, the perfect place to sit with his mate.
But first, he had to make things even warmer here. He flipped a switch over the fireplace, recognizing it to be similar to the one in Talia’s apartment that the dragons liked to sit around at night.
As the fire lit the room with a warm glow, Talia sat on the bed and looked out the window with a sigh. Then she noticed the fireplace. “Will you melt?”
“I control the ice. I’m not made of it,” he said, smiling as he joined her on the bed. He pulled her in against him and flopped down so they were lying on their sides, face to face. “Talia, everything has been wonderful. But it’s been hard for me to not tell you that almost from the moment I met you, I wanted to make you mine.”
She flushed and brushed a hand through her still-damp hair, though most of the snow had melted. “I… I’ve wanted you for some time, too. I didn’t feel like I had any right to—”
“You’re my mate,” he said, cupping her cheek gently. “You’re the reason I awakened. The reason I broke the ice both times. I’m glad I froze in the past so I could wake up and be with you. You’ve given me a life I never deserved. In my past…” He felt shame wash over him. He didn’t want to remember, let alone say it aloud.
“Do you want to tell me?” she asked carefully. “Because I have to tell you it doesn’t matter to me who you were hundreds of years ago. It matters to me who you are now.”
He shook his head. “No. You deserve to know everything. I’m not who I thought I was. I was raised spoiled, the son of a king, told I would be the lord of winter. I was young when I was given my first village. I didn’t do well there. I was selfish and driven, and… everyone left.”
She simply watched him.
“I’d been isolated from everyone but Dmitri and Luka. I wasn’t raised to know any love. Without my identity as ruler of something, I didn’t know how to live. I couldn’t control myself. Something went wrong.”
She pressed her lips together. “It sounds awful.”
“I… accidentally froze myself. Dmitri and Luka, too. They didn’t do anything wrong. They were trying to help me. To let me know we could have a second chance. I was stubborn. I didn’t want to face my father.”
“But wouldn’t he have loved you anyway?”
Alek shook his head fiercely, pain lancing through him as he did. “No. It wasn’t like that for us. He loved what he thought I could do for him. How much pride I would bring when I ruled. He would never have accepted me. I think, deep down, I knew there was nothing left for me in that world. But still, I never would have intentionally hurt myself, Dmitri, or Luka.”
“And do they know about this?”
Alek grimaced. “They remembered the whole time. It makes me ashamed to think of it, how they have been protecting my feelings all this time. They are good friends, and I never deserved them.”
“Well, they seem to think otherwise. Because they stuck around, regardless.”<
br />
“They tried to save me when I lost control of my powers. I tried to tell them to go—” He closed his eyes in pain, still hating every time he recalled it. He sat up, rocking forward, and the bed rustled as Talia sat up beside him.
She grabbed his face in both hands and forced him to face her. “You have to forgive yourself. It was a mistake. After everyone else left, you said they followed you. You may not see the good you did for them throughout life, but they do. Trust them. Let them be with you, and be better to them from now on.” She pressed a kiss to his forehead, and it was so warm he felt he could actually melt. “That world is gone, and you can be who you want.”
He trapped her hands in his and brought them down to rest on the bed between them. “I want to be with you. I don’t want to rule anything. I don’t know if I ever did. That world, the people who left, the father who never loved me… You’re right. They’re gone. And maybe I was always meant to be with you. Maybe I needed to lose my memory to discover who I am.”
“And who are you?”
“Just a dragon,” he said. “Meant to mate with a woman named Talia and protect her forever.” He lifted her palm to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the inside. “Say you want to be with me, Talia, and we can make it forever.”
She nodded. “I mean, I’m human. I don’t know about mating. I don’t know about dragons.”
“Not much to know. The myths are true. We exist, and you’ve seen my other form now. I don’t imagine you’ll see it again, unless we go somewhere secluded to try it. So as long as you accept me as a man, that’s what matters. I’m the same man you’ve known since I woke up and wrecked your lab.”
She laughed. “Okay, I’ll try to accept that. Though, I don’t know how long I can resist the urge to study you.”
“I’m fine with that, at some point, as long as we’re careful about it.”
“Of course,” she said eagerly. “After all, the one thing Henrick was right about is that someone like you would be an oddity in our world. But even if I never get to study that side of you, I’m fine with where we are right now.” She sighed. “All I know is I love you, and I can’t imagine life without you here.”
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