Fated Dragons Complete Series: Books 1 - 5

by Emilia Hartley

  Killing Raphael wouldn’t heal any of those wounds, but it would help Rhys sleep at night. He would lay his head down knowing that there was one less threat against his family. Knowing that one of the people that hurt his sister was in the ground.

  It was all he wanted.

  But, Farida reached out and spun him so that he would face her. She kept her eyes on Raphael while she spoke.

  “He asked for forgiveness,” she hissed. “Either he has a plan, or he truly means what he says. If it is the latter, we cannot risk harming him. Pulling the two clans together will heal your country.”

  He hated that her words made sense. He hated that she could be right. That he couldn’t kill the white dragon yet. Rhys turned toward the man hiding behind the tree and snarled. His legs tensed, like he would leap. But, his feet stayed glued to the ground.

  Farida was right.

  ***

  Raphael fell to his knees, raising his hands in the air to back up his claims. His face scrunched into an expression that expected pain to be coming soon. Farida saw Rhys tense, like he was ready to give Raphael what he wanted, but she laid a hand on his arm for him to stop. He wasn’t looking good. His face was drawn, color leeching away from his skin as he over exerted himself. She knew that he was somehow drawing on his beast’s power when he shouldn’t be able to.

  She worried that this exertion was going to kill her mate before she even had a chance to get to know him. If it came down to a fight, she would do it. She would take the stand to save his life. But, if she played this right it would not have to come down to that.

  “I-I-I came to apologize,” Raphael stuttered, his eyes still squeezed shut.

  This was either a clever play, or the white dragon meant the words he was speaking. Farida did not know what this dragon was like, had not dealt with him before, so she could not guess which could be true.

  “You? Apologize?” Rhys’s exhaustion had made him hysterical. His voice jumped and cracked. “You kidnapped Wesley’s mate. Your people brutalized my sister. Do you really think that I’m about to let you apologize?”

  Farida chewed her lip. Had she made the right decision? What kind of a person had she just saved?

  The white dragon shuddered and let himself fall prostrate, his forehead touching the ground. Neither of them could understand the mumbling that was going on between him and the ground. Rhys cast a sidelong glance at Farida, a silent question passing between them.

  What do you want to do about this?

  Farida sighed. It had already been such a long and violent day. She hadn’t allowed Rhys to kill Karim after all. There was still a speck of hope inside her that Karim could be the man he’d once dreamed himself to be. She knew that it was founded on dreams and wishes, things that did not come true in the real world, but she also didn’t want the man’s death to hang between her and Rhys.

  “He asked for forgiveness,” Farida reminded her mate. The man was flattening himself to the ground between them. The very least he deserved was a chance. A chance for them to hear him out, to gauge the weight of his heart.

  Rhys tensed. She could see that the idea repulsed him. She opened her mouth to apologize, but before the words could come out, Rhys dipped forward and wrapped more of the zip strips around the white dragon’s wrists.

  “How did you get those?”

  “Nicked them off one of your damned dragons while he was trying to tie me up,” Rhys answered.

  She was impressed. He’d been caught off guard, tied up, and he still managed to make the best of the situation. Through this crazy day, they had made it out and made the best of it. That’s what Farida could tell herself.

  “Let’s get him to another holding cell. We have more important things to attend to.” Rhys’s eyes touched her body, following the dips and curves, and she knew one of the more important things he referenced. It made her cheeks warm. “I’d like to begin by getting your fiancé’s bullet out of my chest.”

  Rhys pushed forward, holding the now bound dragon by the scruff of his neck. Farida’s feet stuck to the earth where she stood. Rhys’s words bounced around her head, the way that he said fiancé, the biting venom in it. It felt like a barb shot through her.

  No. She would not allow him to hate her for the things Karim did. Farida marched over to her mate and the captive white dragon. Her heel connected with the back of the white dragon’s knees. He collapsed and fell, face first, into the earth. It was a good way to make sure he didn’t run or make any sudden moves while she said her piece.

  Just for extra insurance, she planted her foot between his shoulder blades. With the silver shrouding both of them, Farida was the strongest creature in the clearing. It was a heady thought, but she had other things to attend to.

  “You can stop calling him my fiancé or my husband to be,” she growled. “I did not choose him. My parents did and I spent my life running away from that, from the man he became. Do you think I wanted that for the rest of my life? You saw the way he treated me. No one in their right mind would have asked for that. I do not love him, nor do I hold any kind of love for him. At least, not in the way I hope to love you.”

  Rhys glowered at her. It was the best way to explain the heated look that he gave her. He stepped forward, the bound dragon on the forest floor sandwiched between their feet now.

  “Karim is not my fiancé.”

  “You were ready to throw me away and go home with him,” Rhys said, his voice low.

  Her heart stopped. That’s what he was mad about? She hadn’t made that decision for herself. She hadn’t wanted to go home, a place that was only home in name not in her heart. That decision had been one to help him, help the Embassy, help find the dragon now beneath their feet.

  Rhys’s hand darted out, gripping her chin. He brought her mouth to his. The other hand moved to her hip, fingers digging into her skin with desperation. Her own hands rose so that her fingers tangled in his dark, auburn tresses.

  She wished she could say that she was not going anywhere. She wouldn’t. Not if she had anything to say about it. But, so often in her life, she didn’t have anything to say about it. If a choice she had to make would save her mate’s family, their place in the world here, she would make it.

  “I will not stop you if you want to leave,” Rhys managed to say into her lips. “But, I will not be happy about it. I will not roll over and lie. I will not say that my heart will not break. You are my mate. Fate bound us together for a reason, one that I would like to see through to the end, no matter how long that takes.”

  “I don’t want to leave,” was all Farida could say before she returned the kiss with all the ferocity she could muster.

  How long until it could be more than a kiss? Until it could be one body entwined with another? Farida wanted to know the feel of him inside of her, to know what it meant to lay with a man, before she was dragged away from this happiness.

  “Could you stop snogging on top of me?” a muffled voice said into the ground.

  Rhys laughed into her lips. Farida jumped back, straightening her blouse and skirt. Neither were meant for the hike through the forest. There were much more convenient ways for her kind to get around.

  Without warning, she took shape. Her snake-like body twined between the thick trunked trees, fitting herself where a thick bodied dragon might not have. Her talons sank into the ground and cracked through fallen trees beneath her feet. She grabbed both men in her hands.

  The white dragon carefully schooled his face, but not before Farida caught the ghost of a smug smile. Her heart clenched.

  Back home, her kind were a bad omen. The first dragon, Apophis, was the embodiment of chaos and turned that upon Ra in a bid to win godhood from him. Farida couldn’t help but wonder if her kind were not comprised of creatures much like Apophis. She wondered what kind of chaos the white dragon had planned. She had saved his life.

  Was it the wrong choice?

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Chapter Nine

  “Well,” Farida said as she ran a hand through her hair and shook it out. He liked the way it fell in waves around her face. “That was a crash course in getting to know your mate. Now we know how the other reacts under distress.”

  With Farida in her dragon form, they had made it back to the Territory far faster than they would have on foot. It must have been a small relief to her because someone was finally able to tend to the silver trapped in Rhys’s chest. He could see it on her face.

  When they landed, a great number of human shaped dragons had emerged from the forest all around them. Only Rhys’s weak calls had kept them from attacking his unfamiliar mate. Even as she folded back into her human form, they watched her with a wariness that they both understood. As of late, there had been a number of dragons causing trouble for Rhys family. Thankfully, she let Rhys do all the talking while trying to remain as still as possible.

  Liana broke away from the group and threw her arms around Rhys’s neck. He returned the gesture and sank into his sister. It was the most emotion he’d seen out of her in weeks. Behind him, he heard the faint rumble of Farida’s growl. His mate’s jealousy warmed his chest. He released his sister and reached for Farida’s hand, squeezing it to reassure her and show his family that she was not the enemy.

  Of course, no one was happy to see the white dragon on their territory. Wesley emerged and grabbed Raphael by the scruff of his neck. Drystan jerked his head in the direction of his cottage. Rhys knew what that meant for the white dragon. He would have a talk with Drystan when he had a chance. Even if the rat had begged for forgiveness, for a second chance, he wasn’t sure if he deserved it.

  Drystan led Rhys and his mate back to Rhys’s home, Liana following on their heels with a look that seemed distant. Now, Liana stood back, leaning against a nearby wall as she watched the red painted silver being drawn from Rhys’s body.

  The corner of Rhys’s eyes crinkled in a smile before he winced in pain. Drystan pulled another piece of silver from Rhys’s chest and tossed it into a stainless-steel pan. Not that the silver in Rhys’s skin had made much difference. The beast might not have been there, but against all odds, Rhys had summoned his strength.

  “I’m starting to question letting any of you off the Territory at all,” Drystan muttered at Rhys’s chest. “I certainly didn’t expect you of all people to go out and find trouble.”

  Rhys opened his mouth to say something, but Farida cut him off. “It is my fault, your grace. They never would have come here if it were not for my presence.”

  Drystan cut her a sidelong glance, one eyebrow jumping toward his hairline. His lips were pressed in an effort to keep from laughing, something Rhys hadn’t expected. There were so few times anymore that the dragon leader smiled. He’d become serious and somber as of late.

  Behind him, Liana’s laughter was a bark that seemed to break through the air.

  “You don’t have to call me that,” Drystan said, following it up with a laugh. “We do not wear crowns and fancy titles here. Just honor.”

  Farida swallowed and nodded, her eyes moving to catch Rhys’s. He reached out and gripped her hand. He was young, by dragon standards, yet here she was. An arm’s length away, his mate. A princess. A woman he probably didn’t deserve.

  What had Rhys done in his short life to earn her? He hadn’t been of much help in the past months. Before that, he was just a rake that liked the movie theater, not once thinking that he would need to become more. Not thinking that he would want to become more.

  “They won’t stop,” Farida whispered. Her gaze sought out the window and the world beyond, an impossible distance planting itself between Rhys and his mate. He reached out and gripped her hand in his own. When she turned to him, her eyes were filled with sadness. “My family, Karim and the group they sent with him. Neither will stop until I’m back where they think I belong.”

  Drystan tugged a tiny piece of silver from Rhys’s chest. He hissed, a sound that was more a whoosh of air being sucked in than anything else. “Then we go to them. But, you make it known that what they wanted is no longer what they can have. You have a mate.” He squeezed her hand for added effect. “A husband, if you wish.”

  “That’s a bit premature,” she joked before running her fingers through her hair. He was starting to see why she kept it pinned back. Finger combing those soft tresses was a kind of nervous habit, a tic that gave away the anxiety roiling inside of her. “I’m afraid that… even if I go home, no one will listen to me. I’m afraid that I cannot be the leader I want to be because my family will not respect me.”

  “You may be right. About the husband thing, not the leadership. The latter will come with time and respect earned over said time. So, tell me. What does this mean for us?” Rhys asked through the throbbing pain in his chest. With each tink of the silver shrapnel against the stainless-steel bowl, he could feel his beast surge closer and closer to the surface. “For you and your, uh, title? Are you still running from it?”

  Farida pressed her lips into a thin line while she studied Rhys’s eyes. She seemed to become lost in the deep blue of them because she waited a long while to answer, all the while Rhys held on to her hand like she might float away in that sea.

  “My family cannot take you away from me, nor can they take what we are. If I was to return with my mate, they would not be able to make me marry against my will and that was what scared me so much that I left my people. I wouldn’t allow them to tear me away from you.” Farida squeezed his hand. “I could return… And I could lead them with your help.”

  Rhys groaned. Not from the pain, “I will warn you, I don’t think I want to be a king.”

  “That’s probably for the best, brother.” Liana pushed off the wall. “You couldn’t lead your way out of a paper bag even if you had a map.”

  Rhys pouted at his sister, happy to see some semblance of her snarky self attempting to return. He worried that it had less to do with him and more to do with the presence of the American dragons. He wasn’t ready to lose her, lose his best friend, to them.

  This time, both Farida and Drystan laughed. The last of the silver was extracted from his chest and he felt the beast slam against him like a creature breaching the surface of a body of water. He gasped for air. His senses sharpened, the world becoming louder, brighter around him. A weight was removed from his shoulders.

  “You wouldn’t have to,” Farida suggested, her voice sounding as though she were suggesting something awful, fearing reciprocation. He turned to face her again and found her face lined with worry as she looked back at him. “I could be their leader, if you would let me. If they will let me.”

  “I don’t let you do anything. You are your own woman, and what you do with your life is not up to my permission. Although, I will have to say my part if I’m forced to follow you into uncertain situations. Following you home is not one of those. I will…” Rhys hesitated, “would set aside my life to follow you everywhere.”

  “If it were not for his sister,” Drystan filled in the gaps. “Do remember, Rhys, that she will be leaving us soon, too. Liana will go to the States. She will get a fresh start and a new purpose.”

  He watched Liana’s gaze move toward the window near her. The two of them, his sister and his leader, must have had a conversation about Drystan’s decision thus far. He wondered if his sister had argued, or if she had withdrawn and agreed to whatever decree he’d laid down.

  Rhys’s jaw clenched at the thought. Farida pulled her hand from his and he turned to find worry lining her face again. Why couldn’t he have both? Why couldn’t he take his sister with him to Egypt? Why should he listen to Drystan’s decision?

  Because Drystan was his leader. He was only doing what he thought best for his family, each and every one of them. Not as a whole, but individually. Drystan was stern and often doled out tough love to keep them in line. To be fair, being rambunctious males, many of them had needed it at the time.

  When Drystan made the decision t
o send Liana to the States, he did it with her best interests in mind. Did Drystan see something between her and one of the American dragons? The thought made a growl cause tremors through his chest. So far, Drystan had done well to send his dragons in directions that had earned them mates, the exception being his own son and the headstrong American woman that Maggie had found.

  Drystan slapped him on the shoulder, right over the now healing wound. “You will be fine. Take your mate home. Introduce her to your sister. Learn more about one another before you make any decisions. You have time.

  “In the meanwhile, I have a white dragon to interview. This ought to be interesting. I’ve had to ask Wesley to take his mate out for the night.”

  Rhys managed a bark of a laugh. He would have paid good money to see the young, human mate stare down the white dragon that kidnapped her not too long ago. She’d also shot Raphael with one of GOE’s anti-dragon taser guns. She could face Raphael again, but they weren’t so sure Raphael could survive another encounter with the tough as nails human.

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  Chapter Ten

  Drystan left Rhys and Farida alone. She glanced out the window and watched as the sun finally ducked below the horizon. The dark purple of the sky clashed against the sharp and bright pink and orange the sun painted along the horizon.

  Rhys fell to the couch, a whoosh of air escaping his lungs. She couldn’t imagine the vice that the silver must have put him in. She’d never experienced the effects of silver on dragons. His eye cracked open and found her, leaning against a door frame with her arms wrapped around herself.

  His sister, the distant eyed dragon woman, had retreated elsewhere within the large house. The gaze of the dragon woman reminded Farida of the look of a beast that could kill you if you fumbled too close. The beast had no real desire to kill you, but it would if it had to. That was how the dragon woman looked at the world.