by D T Dyllin
Tears swam into my eyes, and I blinked furiously to keep them at bay. It was the type of thing my brother responded with when faced with the truth of his actions. He twisted things around and tried to make me feel guilty for not letting him do whatever he wanted completely unencumbered. “How can you not see how you’ve made me suffer all these years? And what about Kade? He doesn’t deserve this.”
“Suffer?” Mikla grabbed Kade under the arms, grunting as he dragged him across the floor to chain him back to the wall. “Again, your perception is tainted by your emotions. This is why you’re flawed as a Galvraron. You can never fully understand what it’s like to see things free of such limitations.”
I give up. I’ll never be able to convince him that he’s wrong. “So what’s next? More of the same?”
Swiping his brow, Mikla bent over, catching his breath. “No. It’s time to remove the plate.”
I nodded, my gaze locked on Kade’s still form. We’re about to find out, Kade. We’re about to find out what you had to know at any cost to yourself.
“I’m going to release you, Zula. Can I trust you not to do something rash?”
“I want this plate out of my head. You know that.”
Nodding, Mikla strode to the table, and hit the button underneath the far corner by my feet. The bands slid away, hidden once more. “Roll over.” Complying, I rested my forehead on my arms. “This may hurt a bit.”
“Yeah, like that’s ever stopped you from—” With a click and a pop, pain spiked from the base of my skull down my spine, the sensation identical to when the plate had been rammed into my head. My body convulsed, my muscles twitching and shaking, darkness pushing down on me. I fought to stay conscious, but just like before as well, my body trumped my brain.
“LaLa, baby, look at me.”
“You need to stop saying that. I might get used to it,” I mumbled, chuckling to myself. It was the truth. Lately, whenever I found myself swimming back to consciousness, it was Kade’s voice, his tender tone, welcoming me back to reality. A girl could get used to the gentle rousing.
Warm breath tickled my ear. “Get used to it. Please just want to get used to it.”
The plate. Mikla removed it. Sitting straight up, my forehead narrowly missed smashing into Kade’s nose. My gaze darted around the lab, my brother noticeably absent. “Where’d he go?” My eyebrows flew up. “Did he let you out of your chains, or did you escape again?”
Smirking, Kade lifted his blood-encrusted wrists. “Your brother isn’t as smart as he thinks he is if he convinced himself those things could hold me when I needed to get to you. Even when he reinforced them after the first time I broke free.”
“I could have let you out when I woke up.”
“I thought … I thought you were dead. The way you were laying there so still ... I didn’t know, I panicked.” He clutched me to his chest, smothering me.
Tapping on his shoulder, I squeaked, “Can’t breathe.”
He loosened his hold, peppering kisses along the top of my head. “D-do you feel any different … about me?” His voice was steady and strong, but his heart sped up, the erratic beat betraying his nerves.
Pulling away from him, my gaze darted around this face, studying his strong features with clinical detachment. Nothing about him had changed, he was still devastatingly attractive, and yet … “I don’t think I’m going to be able to give you the answer you want. I—”
His lips slanted over mine, his tongue pushing into my mouth to dominate. Fisting my hands in his hair, I attempted to wrench away, the desire to put distance between us wrestling with … What? What’s this? As if I was peering into my brain, I could almost see a sealed box rattling, begging to be unlocked. Fear kept me from opening it. Fear? As a Galvraron, I shouldn’t let fear stand in the way of discovering the truth, no matter what it was.
Something clicked open within me, sending lust roaring through my veins. Leaning back, I brought Kade with me, his weight pressing me into the table as he clamored to cover my body with his.
My feet slid down the back of his leather pants as I wrapped my legs around his hips, gyrating against him. “Off. Off. Off. Take these off now,” I panted into his mouth, the words hardly discernable.
Somehow, he figured out what I was saying, and he lifted up, shoving his pants to his knees. I palmed his erection, moaning when the hot shaft slid against my fingers.
“Fuck, LaLa. Feels so good.”
With my other hand, I shimmied my own pants down, kicking one leg out. Bringing Kade’s cock to my entrance, I pressed the tip of him inside of me. Hissing in pleasure, he rocked back on his haunches, breaking all contact between us.
“Tell me how you feel about me, LaLa. I need to know before I do one more stupid thing when it comes to you.”
My hips lifted on their own accord, searching for reprieve from their torment. “I thought actions would speak louder than words in this case.”
Palming himself, he jerked as his gaze trailed down my body. “Tell me.”
“I love yo—”
He yanked me up, shoving the full length of his rock-hard cock into me in one go. Flinging my arms back, I squeezed my eyes shut, overwrought with the sensation of being filled up by him. I can’t believe this is actually happening.
Kade moved slowly at first, stroking in and out hesitantly. “Aaah, so good. I never thought— Fuck, so good.” His fingers digging into my hips, he slid us down the table, repositioning himself so he had better leverage. Picking up speed, he swiveled in a circular motion each time he was seated all the way inside of me.
More than just the physical sensations were overwhelming. As my body coiled tight, pleasure suffusing through every molecule of my being, my metaphysical heart opened wide to accept Kade fully into it. I want him. I want him for keeps.
Arching up, my breath caught in my throat as I hung on the edge, my eyes fluttering open to meet Kade’s smoldering golden gaze. Trapped there, I watched as his pupils dilated to twice their size, his expression fierce.
“I’m never letting you go,” he growled. “Mine now.”
Under the circumstances, his possessive nature served as kindle on my internal fire, and my moan turned into a scream as I spasmed around him, losing control. Scratching and clawing at his back, I bucked under him, one orgasm rolling right into the next.
“Mine,” he snarled. “Mine.”
A moment later he roared at the ceiling, the veins in his neck straining as he pumped his scalding release inside of me.
Panting, he scooped me up, and rolled us over, remaining inside of me the entire time. I pressed my cheek against his slick chest, the scent of him alluring. Too tired to think or analyze, I fell asleep in his arms, content for maybe the first time in my life.
A high-pitched squeak pierced my peace, jolting me awake. Sitting up, I came face-to-face with my brother. His expression scandalized, he backed up a few steps, dropping a glass beaker, it and the contents shattering on the floor.
Kade shot up, moving to stand in front of me, but ended up on his naked ass since his pants were still around his ankles.
“You weren’t supposed to copulate with it.” Mikla scuttled back a few more steps. “It’s a Talsen dragon hybrid! What were you thinking? You can’t hope to have offspring with its genetic makeup!”
Straightening my clothes, I slid off the table, glaring at my brother. “I love him,” I said simply.
“Galvrarons don’t … well, they don’t— Sex and love— No!” Mikla shook his head harshly. “No. I don’t accept this. He was meant to be the prototype for a new type of bodyguard. And the rest was simply meant to explore the extent that plate effected your emotions. You weren’t supposed to copulate with it!”
Kade slung his arm around my shoulders, tucking me into his side. “So you’ve already said, twice now. But we did. All you accomplished with your little experiment was helping LaLa realize what her true feelings for me are. Thanks for that, by the way.”
Stalking fo
rward, fury twisted Mikla’s features, spittle flying from his mouth. “You don’t know what you’ve done. As a dragon hybrid, you mating with another species spells disaster. Disaster for my sister!”
Huh. Maybe he does care deep down. Deep, deep … way deep down.
Kade tensed, pulling me impossibly close. “Explain.”
“Dragons are driven for a need to claim their intended mate. When paired with another of the same species, once they couple sexually, claiming one another, a mark appears on the back of each of the mated pair’s necks. If for some reason the claiming mark can’t be created, the dragon, specifically the male, will become violent and jealous. Sometimes he’ll even bite or scar his intended mate, the need to mark and claim becoming unbearable. I’ve read much about the subject.”
Uh … that doesn’t sound good. “I thought there wasn’t much known about the secretive dragon clans. I thought—”
“I lied!” Mikla shouted. “And for the first time in my long existence, I’m regretting one of my choices.”
Nibbling my bottom lip, I glanced up at Kade, who hadn’t so much as twitched. “You okay?”
He grinned suddenly, the smile not reaching his eyes. “I’m not feeling any sudden urges to bite or scar you, if that’s what you mean.”
“I’m sure it will be fine. You’re DNA was fused with a dragon’s, making the outcome of your reactions unpredictable. It’s not like you’re a true hybrid, born of a dragon and some other species.”
“No,” Mikla interjected. “But the bulk of his genetic makeup happens to be that of a Talsen. A fierce warrior culture made up of men who are aggressive and dominate. Men who are possessive and—” He dropped his face into his hands, groaning, “You weren’t supposed to copulate with it.”
“Okay, well, what’s done is done.” Not that I’d take back what had happened between Kade and me. “Now we have to figure out how to deal with the possibility of Kade—”
“Losing my shit over you?”
“You won’t lose your shit over me. Like I said, the chances of anything so severe happening are slim to none.” My thoughts went to Jane, who was a human spliced with phoenix DNA. For all intents and purposes, she was a phoenix. She had the temperament and abilities, which had enabled her to bond with Ash, who was a full-blooded phoenix. Shit. Maybe Mikla’s right. Maybe it’s time to start panicking.
No. Mind over body. Just because I’d been restored to my former glory, didn’t mean I hadn’t been altered by my experiences. No longer out of control, I could subjugate my emotions, and rationalize out a plan, even though the newly discovered depth of my feelings for Kade colored my initial reactions.
“We have to make it so Kade can bond with me properly. It’s the only way to avoid any possible future problems.” Wait. What am I saying? Bond with me? As in forever? Like Ash and Jane. Sure, I love him, but what if things don’t work out between us?
My brother, who had been rocking back and forth in his chair, lifted his head, a small smile tipping his lips up. “The solution is so simple. I’m glad I thought of it.”
Kade leaned down to whisper in my ear, “You’d do that? Bond with me?” Before I could respond, he gathered me up in his arms, his mouth nipping at my neck. “I like the idea of you bearing a mark from me. I like it more than I thought I would.”
I wriggled out of his hold. “Mikla, you went from ‘Oh, no! You weren’t supposed to copulate with it!’ to ‘I’ll help you bond permanently. Brilliant plan.’ rather quickly. Why?”
He waved me off, his attention riveted to his computer. “I’ve realized you’re a lost cause as a Galvraron. I might as well use the both of you to further my knowledge of what could happen with my line of bodyguards. It’s not unrealistic to think that one of my clients might form a similar attachment. I need to have a protocol in place to avoid a catastrophe.”
Tugging on Kade’s hand, I led him into the hallway. “We need to—”
Lights flashed, red and white blinking along the walls, sirens wailing in the background. Several loud booms shook the building, rattling my teeth. I glanced around in confusion, not sure what any of it meant.
Mikla rushed into the hall, a small case under his arm. “Xianfrey is under attack. We have to get to one of the shelters.”
I froze. “Attack? From who?” It had never happened before, at least not in my lifetime.
“I don’t know. I just received the emergency notification. Plus, you know …” He waved his arms around, motioning to the swirling lights.
Kade flung me over his shoulder. “I’m getting you out of here.” He took off at a sprint, my brother dashing behind us.
“Wait!” he called. “Wait for me!”
“Put me down, Kade. Right now. We’ve been through this before. I’m more than capable of running on my own.”
Palming my ass was his only response. Gritting my teeth, I peered around, waving at Mikla, who was struggling to keep up with us. “Do you have any idea if our defenses have been breached? Or is this merely a precautionary measure against an imminent attack?”
“Who’d be stupid enough to attack Xianfrey?” Kade muttered.
“Who indeed.”
Huffing and puffing, Mikla rasped, “I don’t see anything out of the ordinary aside from the alarms and our military mobilizing.”
Swinging my head back and forth to get a look from my position over Kade’s shoulder, I was able to confirm what my brother said. No buildings or landmarks were smoking or on fire, no foreign spacecraft loomed in the sky. The only commotion was caused by dozens of our military transports zooming past us, heading in the direction of our launch pads. My second heart slowed, and stopped beating, my nerves calming. Xianfrey had unparalleled defenses. But even Galvrarons make mistakes sometimes, like trusting the wrong people.
“Hey!” I pounded my fists against Kade’s muscular back. “Where are you going? The main shelter is—”
“We’re not going to the shelter. I said I’m getting you out of here, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. What happened in that lab threatened my oath, and I won’t take that chance again. I wasn’t thinking clearly before because I had to know. But now … we’re getting out of here.”
“But what about the bond between us? If we leave—”
“We can come back. I’m not risking you.”
I sensed there was no reasoning with him. His eyes had been half-crazed back at the lab when the sirens had gone off. “And how do you plan on getting past whoever’s attacking Xianfrey? They most likely won’t let us simply leave.”
“Baby has a fully functional cloaking device.”
“Of course it does.”
Mikla skidded to a stop, his head thrown back and his eyes wide. “Look!” He pointed at the sky.
Wriggling around, I turned my face skyward. “Holy shit!” Something large and metallic was hurtling straight for us. “Kade!”
“I see it.”
My brother hadn’t moved, he was muttering something about this entire debacle being impossible. Huh. Sounds familiar. “Mikla, let’s go! You need to move now!” Ignoring me, he continued staring and muttering. “Kade. He’ll die.”
Stringing together obscenity after obscenity, Kade whirled around, sprinting for my brother. With me dangling over his right shoulder, he scooped up Mikla, throwing him over his left shoulder. Racing forward, Kade carried us with the ease only someone of his size could do.
Straining my neck to see, I blinked repeatedly, thinking I was hallucinating, as more unidentified objects threw shadows over the land. What’s happening? My duel pulse roared to life, thrashing painfully against my ribcage. “Kade,” I whispered, “we’re not going to make it.”
He roared, moving faster, his long strides eating up the ground. Yards away, the first object impacted, exploding dirt and gravel into the air. Then another, and another. The air filled with debris and smoke, making it difficult to see anything.
“We’re almost there. Hang on, LaLa, we’re almost there.”
The ground vibrated, the scent of things burning tickling my nostrils.
“I can see her, I can see, Baby. Just a few more steps …” Metal pinged underneath Kade’s feet as he raced into Baby, his relief palpable. Dropping my brother onto his ass, I was deposited gently on my feet before the Talsen took off in a blur. He slammed the outer door and airlock shut, and then clamored up the few steps to the control room.
“Shields are up. Strap yourselves in anywhere, takeoff is immediately,” he yelled. “And we don’t have the time to make this a smooth ride.”
The engines roared to life as I scrambled over to a harness hanging on the wall in the storage area. Mikla remained where he was, his expression blank. “Mikla, strap yourself in.” He didn’t so much as blink at the sound of my voice.
Scowling, I finished securing myself just as Baby lurched into the air. Mikla slid across the floor, banging into the wall. He pressed his hands to his hair and tugged, mumbling under his breath. “Mikla, strap yourself in. That was just the small thrusters, once we get into space and hit a light slide—”
He bared his teeth at me. “No! I won’t strap myself in. I don’t accept this. I don’t accept any of this. It’s impossible! Impossible!”
Shit. I’d seen this before in Galvrarons. Because of the unlikely odds of Xianfrey being attacked, and the even smaller odds of the defenses being breached, somewhere along the line my brother had eliminated the possibility of it ever happening. And now it was. His mega brain would have been smoking if it was an actual computer. The attack was illogical to him, and unlike me when I’d been on Telvin, he was unable to go from thinking it impossible to realizing that the probability of things being unlikely didn’t make them in fact impossible.
I infused my voice with calm. “The attack on Xianfrey is a fact. It’s happening right now.”