A Lair So Primal (The Last Dragorai Book 3)

by Zoey Ellis

  “Elora.”

  Elora lifted her gaze to meet pretty amber eyes.

  “The happiness and joy you so frequently seek cannot come without heartache and pain. They balance each other. They must coexist. Your faction hid that from its children for a long time, covered over the cracks and directed the attention elsewhere. It worked for them. But that cannot be your understanding of life, especially in adulthood. You are meant for more.” She smiled, her beauty once again almost painful to look at. “A part of you has already begun to accept this. Trust yourself to find your own balance." With her final words, the golden city began to fade.

  Elora gasped. Thrilling energy channeling through her body, stimulating every muscle, swirling from the tip of her head all through her limbs, torso, straight out down to her feet. It was electrifying, and every part of her hummed, new and energized.

  She was still falling. "pü ker ko sha kosun.” Her descent slowed until she hovered in the air, her heart racing. How did she know those words?

  She found her thoughts full of words and languages and knowledge far greater than what she’d known. Most importantly, she fluently knew the dragorai language, Thrakondarian… its dialects and patterns and incantations. Thoughts crowded her mind, seemingly rearranging themselves into an order that would be useful to her.

  A screech drew her attention to the dark shadow approaching at speed. Yorgynel. She grinned at the dragon hurtling toward, but he slowed on his approach as she hovered, his large wings thrashing the air in heavy, weighty flaps.

  “Elora?” Zendyor called from Yorgynel’s back.

  The loud cracking and rumbling of the mountain boomed around them, and she navigated herself high above it.

  Taking a deep breath she began to cast. Magic responded to her command, fluid and silky, crackling and sparking in the air as it shivered and trembled. The power of it was both enchanting and explosive, and Elora breathed it in enjoying how powerful it made her feel. At her direction, the magic seeped into the mountain, saturating the rock from the top to the base, and she forced it to maintain its integrity.

  The dragorai brothers were helping people out as quickly as they could. Zendyor’s eyes were on her, but once she was holding the mountain steady, he went to help his brothers, securing the lives of his staff.

  She was pleased to see him actively supporting their escape from the mountain. He kept looking up at her with a stunned expression on his face, but he and his brothers worked quickly to locate every member of staff and lead them away from the mountain.

  She drifted closer, casting incantations, seeking all the pockets of the mountain lair to see if there was anyone left tucked away in a room who couldn't get out, but the brothers had been using their own incantations to seek out Zendyor’s staff and there was no one left.

  One of the brothers created a shield for the staff as they streamed into the valley in a long procession to another part of the range. Two of the stewards led at the front and two were at the back, and it looked as though some had been injured. Elora frowned, wondering where they were going but it didn’t really matter. As long as they were safe and far from the collapsing mountain, she didn't mind.

  Turning her attention back to the mountain, she released her magical hold on it, and it imploded in on itself, the thunderous sound resonating though the range as it crumpled, rocks tumbling down until the mountain was a lopsided heap.

  The staff had stopped to watch the destruction of their home, and Elora felt for them, but she knew they would be all right. Even if they had to stay in another dragorai lair for a while, eventually they would have another home soon.

  As for her, there was no reason for her to go back.

  With this gift, she no longer needed to be sheltered by dragorai, she had the power to live her life free of the war, free of dominant alphas, free of the community she once sought so desperately. She could certainly find somewhere to settle down in the realm, and maybe even on the other side of the Karyllean Ocean.

  Turning, she soared into the air, casting words that came to her effortlessly, strings of incantations she’d never known before but that made so much sense to her now. She looked for the queen but she wasn’t in the sky. Elora cast an incantation to see if she was still in the area, but there was no sign of her. She’d either left the mountain range or the brothers had caught her, and since they were helping the staff, at her request, they probably hadn’t caught the woman who began this cascade of destruction.

  She soared across the range, her robe fluttering behind her, finally happy to be free, even though she was facing life on her own.

  But the screech behind her told her that she wasn’t alone.

  Turning around midair, Zendyor and Yorgynel were charging toward her. Zendyor looked incredibly majestic and handsome astride his dragon, standing firm, his gaze locked onto her. A tremble fluttered in her stomach as well as a slight disbelief that she’d ever been in the arms of such a powerful alpha. Somehow he was even more attractive to her now, but Elora pushed that aside. She needed to remember why she left.

  The dragorai didn't even attempt to stop. He grabbed for her as Yorgynel flew close.

  Elora twisted out of the way as Zendyor. "What are you doing?" Her eyes flashed in disbelief.

  The dragorai rounded and headed back to her. "You're coming with me, Elora," Zendyor fumed. "I cannot believe how close I was to losing you today."

  "Losing me?" Elora said. "You never had me."

  Zendyor jaw tightened. "What are you talking about? You have been mine since you arrived at my lair, maybe even longer than that.”

  "I have been nothing to you," Elora said evenly. "Nothing worth giving a role or position to in your lair. Thankfully, I no longer need it."

  Zendyor’s gaze darkened. “Come to me. I need to explain.”

  “No need.”

  “Elora!”

  "You are not my lord anymore," she snapped. “I don’t owe you any debt and I don’t need to follow your orders. Just leave me be. Go tend to your brothers and your staff.” She turned and shot across the range, casting furiously to maintain her speed.

  She knew he would follow, but she didn't know how incensed he would be.

  "Elora,” he roared, “I need to speak to you!"

  "There's nothing for us to talk about."

  A grunt came from his throat, and he began to cast, trying to use magic to capture her or to slow her down. Elora could feel it twisting around her, responding to his command and flipping her in different directions than she wanted to go.

  Enraged, she began to cast back, and the two of them tussled, magic pulling and pushing them until they were twisting and turning in the air around each other, an equal battle of magical will and skill.

  "This is what the Goddesses gave you?" Zendyor called.

  "Yes. And I should have taken it earlier," Elora said, tears filling her eyes. "They wanted to make me powerful. And my faction would have been safe."

  "That wouldn't have changed anything about us," Zendyor said. “Except maybe I would have recognized you as my mate sooner.”

  Elora spiraled out away from him, pulling to safe distance before stopping in midair, shock pounding through her body with every heartbeat. "What did you say?"

  "You are a female dragorai now, and my mate."

  "How can that be?"

  "Look at you," Zendyor said. “You are an omega who can wield magic using Thrakondarian—in fact, you have suddenly gained expert proficiency while falling to your death. You also have a connection with my dragon. How can it not be?"

  Elora glanced at Yorgynel. He seemed to be completely content, even though she and Zendyor were fighting around him. "It is the dragon that chooses the mate," Elora recited, though she didn't know where she got that from.

  Zendyor nodded slowly. "That's right. In this time, with no female dragons, it is our dan askhas who are choosing our mates. San chose I’mya, Ryn chose Oshali. Yorgynel chose you. And he chose you so long ago, before you even en
tered Nyro’s lair, before you even met I’mya. We just didn’t know it."

  Elora shook her head, trying to organize her thoughts. Was this what the Goddess meant? Was this what was planned for her? She couldn't see how life with him as his mate would be any different than as his prisoner. He hadn’t particularly treated her like she was his mate, so how would she know if it were true? Shouldn't she know? What if he was only saying this now because the Goddesses had given her this knowledge? Was she dangerous to the dragorai having this power? It was hard to think properly with so much information floating around her head. But she had to address what he was saying. If it was true, would she want to be his mate? She looked up at him. Yes she did.

  The thought came so suddenly that it shocked her. "No," she said aloud, horrified at herself. Why was that thought so strong and clear after everything she had decided when she left the lair? Was she being manipulated? Was this all another game for the Goddesses?

  Anger seeped into her, heightening her awareness of her surroundings. She was going from one type of captivity to another, but this time as Zendyor’s mate. She wouldn't let this happen—she couldn’t let the Goddesses manipulate her again.

  She screamed, releasing the anguish building up in her, but it wasn't enough. Casting, she hurtled herself across the range, screaming out her fury, her body ablaze with the angry haze that she knew all too well in Zendyor.

  It burned her inside and out, the fury searing through her, kindling in her chest. Taking a deep breath she exhaled, and a stream of white-hot fire tore up her throat and out of her mouth, extending a few yards. Yorgynel roared in delight, the sound coming from somewhere behind her.

  Something slammed into the back of her, knocking her off course and spinning her in the air. It was Zendyor. His chest against her back, his arm around her waist, he held her to him, slowing them to drift as Elora screamed and cried and fought in her frenzy.

  He buried his face in her neck and held her against him, his thick length rubbing against her ass as she writhed, his scent deepening into that intoxicating arousal that she adored. And suddenly, she was writhing for something else and she needed it now.

  The alpha groaned into her neck, his hand reaching up to squeeze her breast, while she arched, her hands going behind her back to stroke his thick cock, squeezing the tip the way she knew he liked.

  His other hand slapped her thighs open, the sting making her gasp and moan, her slick gathering so quickly it was already smearing his hands. He adjusted her in his arms and pulled up her robe and tunic. Elora was already pushing her ass back toward him, humming in her eagerness as she guided him into her.

  She breathed heavily as he breached her, stretching her wide and dragging her flesh in one deliciously long breathtaking stroke.

  When he was fully seated, he exhaled, pinching on her nipples and grunting when she clenched around him. He circled his arms around her, lowered his nose into her neck, and fucked her. He yanked her down onto him in a rough, brutal pace, jolts shuddering through her body that calmed the agitation that had previously claimed her. His fingers found her slick bundle within her folds and harassed it as he impaled the depths of her.

  Elora closed her eyes, submitting herself to the exquisite pleasure charging around her body, her groans guttural and breathy. She climbed higher, the pleasure sweeping her up into a glorious blend of wild, volatile, luxurious heat that exploded in a blinding and magnificent climax.

  A sharp sting pricked the base of her neck while she jerked and convulsed from the power of her orgasm.

  Zendyor came soon after, pounding into her in an erratic frenzy until his knot slammed in, pulsing his seed into her clenching slit.

  The energy drained from Elora until she was limp in his arms. They remained drifting, a content calm between them as they hovered, until Zendyor’s knot shrunk. Carefully, he turned her in his arms, his blue eyes soft with concern, his mouth red with blood.

  Elora looked back up at him, drowsy with exhaustion.

  Something touched underneath her feet, and she looked down to see Yorgynel rising up from underneath them, taking their weight until they were standing on his back. Zendyor sat down, fixing Elora into his lap as the dragon flew.

  “Did you leave my lair today?” he asked. “Is that how the queen said she captured you?”

  Elora nodded, unsure what to say.

  Zendyor’s nostrils flared as he looked away, the anger clear in his hardened jaw. But when he looked back at her, his eyes were soft again. "I am sorry, Elora."

  Elora blinked, surprised by his words.

  "I did not believe you when you told me who you were, when you showed me who you were. I can only tell you that you suffered because of my own prejudice against others. That was my mistake, and one I regret." He pulled her against him, keeping her body flush against his. Elora shivered at the feel of him, taking comfort in being so close.

  "I told Marahl that you were not a member of my staff because you are not," Zendyor continued. "You never will be. You are my mate. Can you not feel it?"

  That familiar scent of his curled into her nose, soothing her into a peaceful level of comfort. This was what he was always able to do, what his scent had always done to her. But she had thought it was because he was a dragorai, not because it was anything unique to her.

  "I'm not sure," she said hesitantly, then immediately winced. Her mouth and throat were severely inflamed with burning sores all over them.

  Zendyor's fingers brushed the flaky skin on her mouth and he began to mutter an incantation to heal her sores. It was a gentle one that warmed her lips, and the healing was slow. After the pain had mostly alleviated, he ran his fingers down her neck, targeting her throat.

  Elora sighed as the pain eased. “Thank you,” she said. "I cannot believe I breathed fire.”

  "It is something all dragorai's can do," Zendyor said. "Including female dragorai's."

  "It was incredible. All that power and energy expelling from your body…. It's almost addictive."

  "Indeed, it is,” Zendyor said gravely. “As is the rage that must be accessed to even kindle it. But the results are always painful," he said gesturing to her mouth.

  Elora nodded. This represented what the Goddess had referred to, pain and suffering alongside power and joy.

  “Why were you so angry?” he asked.

  Elora was quiet for a moment. “I thought I was being manipulated by the Goddesses… going from one captivity to another if I am to be your mate.”

  Zendyor frowned. “You were not captive, Elora. You had free rein in my lair.”

  That was true. “I felt that way because I wasn’t accepted as part of your staff,” she explained.

  Zendyor nodded. “That was important to you, I know. But you won’t be captive as my mate.” He looked at her. “Can you not tell you are?”

  “How am I supposed to know?"

  "You know, Elora," Zendyor said, searching her eyes. “You know you have been my priority whenever I have been in the lair. You know I enjoy watching you when you are enjoying yourself. You know our coupling is special; intense and consuming every time. You know my dan askha is attached to you. You know you can calm me when I am in that rage. What more do you need?”

  Elora didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what more she needed, but she needed something. She lifted her fingers to her neck and felt the jagged tear. "You bit me."

  Zendyor nodded. "I did. But our bond will need more than just that to begin the process.”

  Elora nodded. She’d learned some of the information about the process of bonding between dragorai was knowledge she from I’mya, but the rest was part of her knew knowledge. “Why did you do it now? Before we had a chance to talk?”

  “It was instinct… and a choice.” He eyed her carefully. “I am going to have you whether you agree to it or not, Elora. I have been lost for centuries without the chance for a mate or young. I’m not letting you go.”

  For some reason, that reassured her, an
d she snuggled into his chest. “So I am captive,” she whispered.

  Zendyor grunted. “All right, yes. But only in the best way,” he murmured back. “You have been searching for a home, for a family too. You already have one with me. With us. My brothers and their omegas are your family as well. We are your true faction, and we will never let you be alone again.”

  Her nose stung and tears filled her eyes, and she let them fall.

  In her weakened and relaxed state, she let her mind drift and allowed her instincts to dominate. Nothing was more satisfying than being against Zendyor, being held by him, listening to his voice, breathing in his scent on the back of their dragon. And gradually, the realization dawned—this was her instinctual understanding of her place with him, and it had been since their first encounter, when he scented her.

  There was nothing more to think about or debate within herself. He was hers, and this was where she should be, always.

  Yorgynel drifted across the range taking them back to the collapsed mountain. For a moment, Elora wondered whether he realized the lair had been destroyed, but Zendyor leaned forward and placed a hand on Yorgynel’s neck and instinctively, Elora knew that he was guiding him where to go.

  "Are we going to one of your brother’s lairs?" she asked.

  "No."

  Yorgynel soared around to a different direction and lowered to another mountain close by. As they neared, Zendyor rose, lifting Elora with him and jumped from Yorgynel’s back, casting incantations so the magic buoyed them.

  Elora frowned as they soared through the air toward an opening in the mountain. Why was there another lair so close to the old one? They landed inside a large, empty room through an opening that had one whole wall as the window.

  "Where are we?" Elora asked.

  “We are at our new home," Zendyor said.

  Elora looked at him blankly. "This is another lair, inside another mountain?"

  "This is where I planned for us to relocate when the mountain became too unstable," Zendyor said, turning around slowly. “It’s still not ready, but at least all of the rooms have been made and they are safe.”