by Kimber White
My head spun.
“Gideon and Xander have found mates. They’re...they’re cured.”
My heart twisted. It got hard to breathe. Finn sensed it and reached for me.
“Gemma, whatever we are...I never want you to be afraid. I never want you to think you have some obligation to me. I’ve told you something that just upended your life. Mine too. I’m not asking you to decide something that’s forever. Not now.”
I saw his truth in his eyes. Finn Brandhart was my fated mate. If I turned away from him, he would die. No. Worse. He would become something so dangerous, even the most powerful covens in the world may not be able to stop him. My chest felt heavy. I ached for him.
“Finn,” I said. “Why did you bring this stone here? You know how dangerous it is. This coven...we only deal in light magic. By interfering with coven lands, don’t you see what you’re doing? You’re courting danger.”
“I know,” he said. “My mother is convinced that the dragon this stone belongs to might still be out there somewhere. She sent me here to see if I could find out where. And she knew your coven would never agree to help me unless…”
“Unless you held something over our heads?” Bile rose in my throat. He didn’t have to keep explaining. Oh, God.
“Yes,” he said. I suppose I should have been grateful for his directness. But, my head spun. It was all so much. I was made for Finn. If I didn’t fully mate with him, he’d go mad, becoming a dangerous, feral dragon that no coven or shifter could stop. He came here to provoke my coven.
“A bargaining chip,” he said. “Gemma, be honest with yourself. If I just showed up here with this dragonstone and asked for your coven’s help, what would have happened?”
“We would have…” My voice died in my throat. We would have what? I could almost hear Miles and Benny’s voices in my head. On this they would have been in rare immediate agreement. Circean covens don’t just loan out the kind of magic Finn’s request would require.
“My mother believes you have the power to perform a spell,” he said. “That you can source the magic from this stone.”
“And then what?” Rain pelted the roof. I caught a chill in the air. Finn’s eyes blazed with blue flame.
“If the dragon that came from this egg was born after my brothers and me, then they may still be out there somewhere. That matters. If he’s like me, then he may be losing control too.”
“He? But, you don’t know that.”
Finn dropped his head. “My mother thinks you might be able to determine that too. If it was a male dragon and there’s a chance he’s still alive. Gemma, if he’s alone, he’s vulnerable. I’ve always had my brothers and my mother to fight by my side and watch my back. A lone dragon is something else altogether. If he were ever captured. There are Tyrannous Alpha wolves out there that would use him. Weaponize him. And if the dragon is female...well…”
“Then she could be a mate for one of your brothers,” I said. “Finn, that’s sick.”
His jaw tightened. “And none of us would ever force ourselves on an unwilling partner. I made you an oath pretty much the day we met. I will never let any harm come to you. Not even from me. I’d rather go mad from mating sickness and have my brothers incinerate me in the volcanic fires of Knoydart before ever making you do something you didn’t want.”
I was torn. I wanted to go to him, take him in my arms and tell him I would never turn him away. I wanted him. At the same time, my loyalty to the coven burned through me too. This magic he wanted from us, it wasn’t what we did. I wasn’t even sure we could pull it off. And it wasn’t just my coven I worried about. A spell of this nature was bound to draw attention from others. Dark mages. The exact kind who had taken my mother and father from me fifteen years ago.
I shot up, walking to the other end of the room. “You should have told me. Finn, they won’t trust you. You can spin this any way you want, but you’re still talking about interfering with coven lands to get what you want. They won’t respond well to that. They haven’t been responding well to that. It’s bringing out the worst in everyone.”
“They’ll respond,” he said, rising. His face grew serious. “I wasn’t sent here to take no for an answer.”
His words struck me like a blow to the chest. “Are you threatening me?”
“Never,” he said. “But, this matters. I’ll fight to protect my family. I’m asking you to help me. I need you. I wish there were some other way. And you’re right. We were ready to threaten to get what we wanted. That’s how important this is. But, I’m coming to you instead. You know me. You’ve seen my soul. So, I’m asking you to take my case to the coven.”
I crossed my arms in front of me. “And if they still say no?” A muscle jumped in his jaw. I hated this. He wouldn’t say it. God. Would his family really deprive mine of their own lands?
The blow came from the side. The window burst open, spraying glass all over the room. Finn reacted. He threw his body between mine and the source of the danger. The wind screamed in protest. Something sucked the air straight from my lungs.
Finn threw me to the corner of the room. He took a protective stance in front of me, facing the broken window. He saw nothing. His eyes went wild as he pushed against his dragon. I knew if he shifted now, he’d tear the room...the whole house apart.
Another blast of wind hit him square in the chest. He rocked to the side, but the force of it was nowhere near strong enough to put him off his feet. I knew by instinct it could have ripped me apart.
“Where is it?” Finn shouted. He turned left then right trying to see something that wasn’t there.
I tried to get my feet under me. This was strong magic, but familiar. Finn’s eyes were pure blue fire. A growl rumbled through him. He wouldn’t need to fully shift to do deadly damage if the mage actually showed himself.
“Stop!” I yelled. I summoned my own fire. Another orb of light shot from my fingertips and hovered in the center of the room.
“Illuminate!” I said, rising. The room brightened. Little tongues of flame played on the surface of the orb I’d created. The inside of that room became a cyclone. Pictures pulled from the walls. The bed spun. Finn got me behind him again.
A shadow moved to my left. It was enough. I could make out the form.
“Jonas? Show yourself!”
“Traitor!” Jonas’s disembodied voice filled the air. Good God. How had he gotten so strong?
I stood my ground and put a hand on Finn. I don’t know how long Jonas had been out there. Long enough to hear things that he couldn’t possibly understand.
“Jonas,” I said. “Listen to me. This isn’t what you think. I’m not your enemy. Neither is Finn. I need you to get a hold of yourself so we can talk. Finn won’t hurt you and you can’t hurt him.”
Had he been there long enough to hear that Finn was a dragon? I felt torn in two trying to save my old friend from himself. At the same time, the threat to my mate was real.
My mate. Instinct took over and the orb I’d made turned into a fireball. I started to lose control. I felt Jonas lose control too. The wind picked up.
“No!” I screamed. Then, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Jonas reacted. I felt the crackling energy of the attack spell he threw at Finn. I felt Finn’s pulse quicken. His fire rose with mine.
It happened so fast. I didn’t think to counter. But, Finn’s fire rose and joined with mine. The orb of fire became a bomb. He blasted it against the source of the threat. Jonas.
Jonas screamed as light exploded all around him, revealing him. He was thrown against the wall so hard, part of it caved in. Then, he slid to the ground with all the wind and light knocked out of him.
The storm came to an end.
“Oh, God!” I pushed my way past Finn. His dragon eyes blazed. He breathed heavily, trying to regain control.
Jonas landed on his back, staring at the ceiling. His pupils had gone pure white as his own magic, thrown back, held him suspended between this world and
the next.
“Is he dead?” Finn gasped.
I shook my head. “No. But, I think it’s worse. Oh my God. Finn. What have we done?”
Finn came to my side and pulled me to him. I felt the call coming from all sides. The coven had sensed what happened here.
“We have to go,” I said. I acted on instinct to protect my mate. Finn grabbed the dragonstone from the ground and put an arm around me.
“Come on,” he said. “Let me get you somewhere safe.”
Shouts came from outside. Finn threw a cloaking spell as he took us through the blown-out window and let his wings unfurl.
Chapter Fifteen
Finn
Danger came from all around. I shielded Gemma with my body. Her magic broke free in a shower of sparks as we cleared the rooftop. She was screaming something, but I couldn’t hear it under the beating of my wings.
I would kill for her. I would die for her. I would take on her entire coven if it meant keeping her safe.
Instinct burned through me and I banked hard right, leaving the hazy vista of Mount Shasta far behind.
“Finn!” Gemma screamed. She beat against my chest. She was angry with me, but she was safe.
I went supersonic. I felt the breath leave Gemma’s lungs and her anger melted away. She felt the full force of my magic as I spread my wings. This was as fast as I could fly. I’d given no conscious thought to where I would go, but instinct drove me all the way. We’d left one ancient volcano behind; I was drawn to another.
Just before dawn, we broke through the clouds and left the ocean below us. The lush green Scottish Highlands spread before us and I began to glide.
Knoydart.
The volcano rose below us in mist-shrouded magic. Gemma gasped as I picked a rocky place and landed. There were caves behind us, leading down the slope. A river of lava churned below and steam came up from the ground.
Gemma stepped to the ledge on shaky legs. Her eyes glowed with fire. Her hair whipped up, caught in the magic as she looked down. Then, she turned to me. Her skin glistened. Her fire surged. Little sparks shot from her fingertips and swirled around her body. And yet, I felt her control.
It was this place. Witches connect to the Source. It’s a bit like that for dragons too, I guess. The well of my magic came from this place. My heart. My blood. And now I could share it all with her.
“Finn,” she said.
“Are you all right?”
She blinked hard. Tears glistened in her eyes. “You know I am. Is there anything I’m feeling that you can’t feel too?”
I smiled and went to her. “It works like that, I guess. But, we’re not mated, Gemma. Not fully. I meant what I said, I would never force you to…”
She put a hand up to silence me. “No. Not now. I can’t. Please. Finn, what have we done? I have to go back.”
“No!” My voice thundered, stirring the lava below us. The wind picked up and I felt my fire rage.
“No,” I said more softly. “It’s not safe for you in Durness. You’re right. There’s nothing you feel that I can’t feel right along with you. That mage…”
“Jonas,” she said. “His name was...is Jonas. And he’s been like a brother to me.”
“He wasn’t acting like a brother,” I said. “And I think there are some things that I can feel that you can’t. He came there to do harm. And he didn’t care who got in the way.”
Her tears fell. “He was scared. Confused, I think. I don’t know how much he heard. Enough to know your plans to use the coven.”
“I would never use you.”
“He doesn’t know that. Finn, you...your magic. It’s so pure, so powerful. It called to me the second you set foot in Durness. I understand why now. But, we can’t stand here and pretend that it hasn’t changed me. Jonas has been sensing that change all along. He was the one who took his concerns to the coven.”
“And they submitted you to a challenge because of it,” I said. Things may have gotten out of hand back there, but I knew in my heart Jonas would have hurt Gemma, badly.
“He just doesn’t understand. If I’d had a chance to explain.”
“There was no time,” I said, my voice booming. “And I will never apologize for protecting you. I don’t care where the threat comes from.”
“I do! Oh, Finn. This is impossible. I think there’s a reason why dragons and witches aren’t supposed to be together. When I’m with you, God. It’s everything. It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before. I’m stronger. It gives me access to something I never knew existed.”
I went to her. “That’s what being fated mates means. We’re both stronger together than we are apart.”
“But, witches don’t work like that,” she said. “There’s a reason why we formed covens. Why we have a Council of Five. Checks and balances. One witch with too much power over others is dangerous.”
“Your magic is light,” I said. “I’ve seen the essence of it.”
She touched my face. “I think you are the essence of it. And that’s what I’m afraid of.”
I kissed her palm. “You don’t draw strength from me, Gemma. And I don’t draw it from you. We draw it together, I think. But, you let me control mine better than I could without you. And I know it’s the same for you. I don’t know how it works. I just know how it feels.”
She ripped herself away from me. “Oh, God. This is so hard. Why does it have to be so hard? I feel like...I feel like I have to choose. I can’t be in the coven and be with you.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Don’t you? Then why have you been so willing to coerce them? Your mother knows the truth, I think. She knows the coven will never agree to help you. They’ll never willingly give you access to the kind of power you need. Especially when they find out there are dragons out there who are losing control.”
Anger raged inside of me. “And whose fault is that? We don’t want to talk about ancient history. But, it matters. What’s happened to me and those like me is the fault of witches and shifters. Not you. Not your coven. Never mind the coven lands. You owe us. Maybe this is the first step toward making that right.”
She sat down on a flat boulder. Her tears flowed freely. “Oh, Finn. How did everything turn into a mess so quickly?”
I went to her. I pressed my lips against her forehead. I felt her pain. It became my own.
“I won’t say I’m sorry. I meant what I said. I’ll never apologize for protecting you. You have to trust me. Jonas would have hurt you. I don’t care if it was based on some misunderstanding of what he heard. He saw us both as a threat. I did what I had to do, and I’ll do it a thousand more times to keep you safe.”
“I just can’t turn my back on everything I ever was before you came into my life,” she said.
My heart shattered. “I would never ask you to do that.”
“Being here is doing that,” she said. “Jonas needs me. I don’t know what happened back there.”
“Are you honestly going to sit there and tell me you didn’t feel what I felt? That you didn’t sense the darkness in him too?”
She pulled away from me and turned back toward the mountain. “I think maybe he started out trying to protect me too. Or at least the coven. It’s what I would have done. If I’d just been honest, maybe he wouldn’t have been so suspicious. I’ve been hiding what’s happening to me for months. This is my fault. I can’t see it any other way.”
The lava bubbled up, belching flame. It sent goosebumps over Gemma’s arms. She turned to me.
“You were born here. All of you. I can feel it. This place feels so familiar. Finn, I’ve seen it before. I think I’ve dreamt of it all my life.”
I smiled, putting a gentle hand against her cheek. “And I’ve dreamt of you, my love. You belong here. We both do.”
“But I belong in Durness too. I wish my parents were here.”
I was going to tell her I did too. I hated for her to suffer any pain, especially when I couldn’t stop it. The tiny hai
rs rose along my spine. The wind shifted, and I knew we were no longer alone.
I put a protective arm around Gemma and pulled her away from the ledge. Her breath went out of her as another powerful dragon shot up, born seemingly from the lava itself. She was bold, beautiful with shimmering blue scales tipped in silver. She landed hard, but gracefully, shaking the ground.
“Finn!” Gemma gasped. I saw my mother through her eyes as if for the first time. Avelina shifted in one seamless movement, drawing her black flowing robe around her as it whipped in the fierce wind. She wore her hair long, platinum white. She was the oldest living dragon in existence and before my brothers took their mates, she was by far the most powerful.
“Gemma,” I said. “This is my mother. This is Avelina Brandhart.”
Avelina’s eyes sparkled as she stepped forward and extended her hand to my mate. I felt a little of that protective fire, but a slight nod from my mother put me at ease. She hadn’t come here to start a fight.
“You must be Gemma Hayes,” she said. My mother’s voice had a silky, smooth quality. Though her hair was the purest white, her brows were darkest brown, almost black. She arched one high to the sky.
“I am,” Gemma said. She stepped out of my arms and straightened her back. Two women. Both strong, bold, and the last of their kind.
“Have you come here to help us?” Avelina asked. I opened my mouth to say something, but my mother held up a finger. Her message was clear. She thought this conversation should be just between the two of them.
“Mrs. Brandhart,” Gemma started.
“Avelina,” she corrected.
“Right. Avelina. I’m not sure I can.”
Avelina’s expression darkened. “Can’t, or won’t?”
“Maybe both,” Gemma said. She amazed me. My mother was giving her the full force of her gaze. I’d seen her cut kings and warriors down with it. She’d faced up to the most powerful shifters in the world. But, Gemma matched her strength of character. She wasn’t the least bit afraid.
“You know what’s at stake for us,” Avelina said. “I trust my son has explained it.”