by ERIN BEDFORD
“What does that have anything to do with it,” I countered. How many people were against me just because I took Firestar to my bed? Would they all be like Ned and think it would be better for me not to be the heir as long as I had Firestar at my side?
“You’ve been gone a long time, Maya. How do you know what any of us are like?” Ned stepped uncomfortably close to me. Something in his expression made a chill run through me as he placed his hands on my shoulders. “It’s not even that.” He met my eyes and there was something in them I’d never seen before. Lust. “I honestly thought you’d pick me, but ever since you got here, you haven’t even looked at me.” His lips turned into a cruel smile. “Don’t you remember what you said when we were kids? How you wanted to marry me?”
I swallowed hard, forcing back disgust. What Ned was suggesting wasn’t just vile but forbidden. Multiple partners of either sex was completely acceptable but to lie with one’s family member - even a cousin - would be the deepest of depravities. Sure, as a kid, I hadn’t known better, and neither had he, but now?
I shook my head, trying to banish the though. The fact that my cousin had even suggested it showed how right he had been in his words. I didn’t know him at all.
“Unhand me, Ned.” My voice was hard, and I shook with anger at his very touch.
“Is that really what you want, Maya?” he insisted. “Even now, you need a strong man, one with strong genes to provide you an heir. You need me.” As he spoke, I drew upon the earth around me, my magic pulling at the roots beneath the bushes. When he leaned toward me, his eyes closing as if to kiss me, the roots shot from the ground and smashed into the back of Ned’s knees.
Shock filled his face as his legs collapsed beneath him, but he didn’t release my shoulders. We both ended up on the ground, but the moment I hit the stone, I scrambled away from him. His hand grabbed my ankle, his nails biting into my skin, drawing blood. I cried out as pain shot through my leg.
I kicked with my other leg, hitting him in the shoulder and then the side of the head. I aimed for his face as I tried to focus my magic on coming to my defense once more. The roots wrapped around his legs and pulled him the opposite direction, but Ned held fast to my ankle, dragging me with him.
My magic was strong. I’d practiced it for years and had been at the top of my class, but I’d been gone for too long - too out of practice. Nevertheless, Ned was not. His magic came swift and brutal, ripping apart the roots I had taken as my own. In a matter of seconds, I found myself flat on my back with my cousin’s enraged face staring down at me, his own roots holding me down.
“Not so strong without your suitors, now are you?” Ned growled in my ear, the feel of his breath hot against my neck made my stomach roll. “It’s time you found out exactly what a real man is like.”
When Ned’s hand found its way between my thighs, my inner dragon roared in protest, she did not like this coward of a dragon who would take a female against her will let alone one he called family.
His eyes roamed over my body, and I struggled against my binds tenfold. I didn’t like him touching me. I wanted to dig my claws into his face, pluck the eyes that imagined me naked from his eyes. My dragoness growled her approval, urging me to shed blood and plenty of it.
As power roared up in me and the earth started to respond to my call, Ned was snatched from me and thrown across the walkway. I didn’t see where he landed, but the thud had a satisfying crunch to it that made me swell with glee. A crackling sound filled my ears before my binds were broken and my eyes found my savior.
Raiden stood above me, tall and full of fury. His trident held in his hand, lightning crackled around him until he was almost encompassed by it. If I ever met a thunder god, I’d imagine he would look the way Raiden did right now - powerful, terrifying, and hotter than the seventh level of hell.
“Are you all right?” My lightning god offered me his hand, and for a moment, I hesitated afraid the light covering his body would hurt me. Then I shook the fear away, Raiden wouldn’t hurt me, and if he wouldn’t, his magic wouldn’t. I slid my hand into his, the crackling light engulfing my hand like a warm caress.
Pulling me to my feet, Raiden held me to his side while pointing his trident toward where Ned had begun to crawl to his feet. Blood trickled from a cut on Ned’s lip, making the snarl on his face even more fearsome. His eyes flickered to Raiden’s trident, worry in his expression before the roots began to slither beside him.
“How dare you attack me,” Ned sneered. “Don’t you know who I am, or are the dragons in your region too stupid to care?”
Raiden’s grip on my shoulders tightened, his eyes hard and fierce. “I know who you are, but the question is. Why were you attacking your own cousin? Do you have a death wish?”
“Watch your mouth boy,” Ned snapped, stepping toward us, his roots slapping the ground violently. “You may very well be speaking to the next Western Lord.”
“That will never happen,” I jumped in, but before I could say more, Raiden’s hand on my shoulder stopped me. My eyes stayed on Ned as my dragoness filled the forefront of my mind. An unrecognizable emotion flittered over Ned’s face, and I knew that my eyes had gone gold like my inner dragon. A low rumble came from my throat as I growled, “If you ever touch me again, I will cut your hands off and feed them to you. Do you understand?”
Ned face contorted like he had swallowed something nasty. He nodded. He shifted as if to leave but stopped. “This isn’t over. I won’t let someone unworthy sit on the throne.” He promised before he turned on his heel and stomped away.
My shoulders fell, and I sighed. Like my life wasn’t already complicated enough. I'd have understood if Ned just wanted to get rid of me and my supposedly bad choices but to want to impregnate me himself? I shuddered at the thought.
“What happened?” Raiden turned me in his arms, his face full of concern but also an underlying anger. I didn’t blame him. If he hadn’t shown up, I couldn’t bear to think of what could have happened.
“Ned knows I’m not pregnant. Which just means it’s only a matter of time before everyone else finds out.” I shook my head, panic slowly making its way into my chest. “I don’t know what to do.”
“It’ll be okay,” Raiden assured me with a soft smile and then frowned. “Do you know why he suddenly attacked you?”
I frowned hard, not wanting to bring the words to life. “Ned thinks I made a mistake adding Firestar to my bed.”
Raiden’s fingers tightened on my arms, and his eyes narrowed. “And let me guess, he thought he was a better choice?” I nodded and swallowed thickly. Raiden’s face softened, and he pressed his face to my hair, inhaling deeply. “You shouldn’t have gone by yourself. If I hadn’t been here to stop it…”
“But you were,” I interrupted. “How did you find me, anyway?”
He leaned away from me and smirked, “Don’t you think I have your scent down by now? I could find you if I were blind and deaf.”
“That’s good to know.” I chuckled nervously, my mind sobered with what happened and what we should do next. I knew what I wanted to do, but I didn’t exactly know how to go about it or if the guys would want even to.
As if reading my mind, Raiden murmured, “Firestar told me you want to leave.” I stared up at him, waiting to find out what he thought of it. Would he tell me I was a coward? That I should stay and deal with my lies, and now Ned, who was gunning for me. “I agree.”
My eyes jerked up at his words. “You do?”
Sighing, Raiden ran a hand through his hair. “It's becoming harder and harder to keep this lie going. And I don't like how your father is handling it. Add your cousin to the mix. It would be better for everyone if we left.”
Chewing on my lip, I struggled to find a reason to disagree. “But where would we go?”
A knowing smirk covered Raiden’s lips. “It just so happens my father has requested my presence.” Before I could ask why, Raiden continued with a less than happy tone. “It seems my brot
hers are going to start a civil war if someone doesn't intervene.”
“Playing mediator is better than being here, I'm sure,” I muttered, surprising even myself. I hated to be in the middle. Even on Earth, I hated being stuck between my friends, Ryan and Bianca. They were constantly arguing over what movie to watch or who had the better music collection. It could get to epic proportions which sometimes ended in neither of them talking to each other for weeks. I couldn’t imagine being stuck between two warring princes. It would be a billion times worse than fighting over what to have for dinner.
“You say that now, but you haven’t met my family.” Raiden chuckled. “They might not be as intense as your father nor crazy as your cousin, but they have their own quirks that might make you take back those words.”
I shrugged. “How far away from here is it?”
“Two-week carriage ride, five days if we fly.”
“Perfect.” The more distance between my family and myself the better.
5
The wind whipped my hair around me as I held onto Firestar’s neck. His fiery wings beat close to my face, and I would have thought it’d be hot, but I barely felt any difference in temperature. The same went for the others. Each of them had taken turns carrying me since I still hadn’t earned my wings. At this rate, I wondered if I’d ever get them.
It was all so unfair.
I screw them, and they get a power boost. I still wasn’t really sure how that worked. Maybe a convergence of our powers as we made love? Some of our lore claimed that sex was like giving a part of your soul to the other person. If that were it, I wasn’t so sure I cared for that. I was the one doing all the giving, how did that make sense? I was the one putting out, shouldn’t I get something out of it? What was the point of having a magic vagina if it didn’t give me my wings?
I sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Firestar asked, taking his eyes from the sky in front of us. One good thing about flying was that you didn’t have to worry about tripping or running into anything. Not unless it was a mountain, and the likelihood you’d run into one of those was slim to none.
“Don’t you get tired of carrying me?” I asked, shifting in his arms to find a more comfortable position. Though, I shouldn’t have bothered. There really was no comfortable position cradled mid-air. It was a good thing I wasn’t afraid of heights anymore, or this would have been bad.
“Not really. I don’t mind having you this close to me. At least, I know you won’t twist your ankle.” Firestar grunted. “Why? Does it bother you?”
“Do you think I’d be asking if it didn’t?” I raised a brow at him.
“Don’t tell me you’d rather walk? It’d take weeks to get to Raiden’s home, and I, for one, don’t want to spend that amount of time in the woods. I had enough of that back home.” He frowned, and I didn’t need to ask to know that he was thinking about his time back in the camp. Thinking about all those angry men we left behind, especially the way they’d acted when they found out I could give them powers, made my stomach knot. I could see how Firestar wouldn’t want to be reminded of it, I sure as hell didn’t.
“I’m not saying that,” I finally said. “I’m just tired of being the weakling in the group. I can’t fly. My fighting is subpar at best.”
“But you were on Earth, it’s understandable you’d be out of practice.” Firestar readjusted his hold on me and signaled to Jack and Raiden, who trailed behind us, to come closer.
“That was Earth, this is Waesigar. I can’t have you guys by me all the time. I must be able to protect myself better than I do now. Or more people will try to take advantage of me.”
“Like your cousin, Ned?” Firestar growled, his teeth bared to a feral sneer.
“You told him about what happened?” I asked Raiden when he came into view.
He didn’t even pretend to feel guilty. “Of course, I did. We all need to know our enemies, and your cousin has now put himself at the top of that list.”
“Exactly,” Firestar agreed. “My father might be a thief, but at least he isn’t deranged.”
“Which is exactly why I should know how to defend myself,” I countered. “Raiden almost didn’t make it to me in time.”
“I agree with Maya,” Jack said from the other side. “We should be focusing more on her training and less on getting her pregnant. There won’t be any point in it if she’s dead.”
“Very well.” Firestar nodded toward the ground. “There’s a good place as any to make camp. We can start your training now.”
“Now?” I gaped.
“Yes,” Firestar locked his eyes with me as he began to descend. “We are going into a warring land, who knows what we will come up against.”
I’d wanted to become stronger, but I didn’t expect them to agree so quickly or want to start right away. I’d thought my suitors would be like my misogynist father and demand they be at my side all the time. The three of them never ceased to surprise me.
We landed with a thud in a small clearing that smelled of fish and trees. A stream or pond had to be near. It’d been a few days since I’d had a bath. Even a cold one was better than none, and if I was lucky, I’d get to see all three of my men shirtless and dripping wet.
“Later,” Firestar growled in my ear, his hands caressing me as he sat me down. I blushed as I realized he’d probably smelled my arousal. Moving away from him, I kept my eyes on the surroundings and not on my other suitors who had no doubt picked up on it as well.
The clearing wasn’t huge. We’d have enough room to sleep and make a fire, but that was about the extent of it. Fighting was out of the question.
“How do you propose we do this?” I asked, turning back to the three of them. “There’s not enough room to do any kind of sparring.”
The guys exchanged a look before Jack stepped forward. “Did you have much room to fight when your cousin cornered you?”
“No.” I frowned. The area with around the dragon fountain was nothing more than a walkway. Not much room for fighting there either.
“That’s because most of those who will attack you will do it where you can’t run,” Jack explained. “So, the best way to learn to fight off an attacker like your vile cousin is to pretend you are in a situation where you can't run away.”
It made sense, but I didn’t see how they could teach me that. Then again, I didn’t really have the time to think about what to do when Ned attacked. Probably because I never expected it. He’d always seemed like a good guy. Maybe a bit intense, but not someone who would try to violate his own family.
“Okay,” I slowly drew out. “What do you want me to do?”
Firestar came forward with a slight grin on his face. “Turn around. I want your back to me.”
Frowning at his command, I did what he said. “How am I going to fight you this way?”
“Do you think they will fight fair?” Firestar asked as he stopped behind me. He was so close, I could feel his body heat against me. My eyes sought out the others who had set our bags down and waited on the sidelines. Their eyes were firmly on Firestar and me.
“I already know how to fight,” I reminded him over my shoulder. “I’m just out of-”
“Practice,” Firestar finished for me. “Yes, I know, and the only way to get better is to practice. Now, prepare yourself.”
I shifted my stance ready for him to come at me. In a battle, I wouldn’t have time to think about how he would attack. I’d have to let my instincts figure it out and just act.
Without warning, Firestar grabbed me by the waist and dragged me to the ground. I didn’t have time to think about how to stop him before he had me pressed to the ground. He shoved his hips against my backside grinding into me. I had a hard time focusing on the fact that we should be training, and not ripping of our clothes to mate.
Firestar’s hands held my wrists on the ground as he murmured in my ear, “See how easy it was to get you in a compromising position? I could take your right now before you could stop m
e.”
I swallowed hard as he ground into me once more before getting up. I crawled to my feet and stood in the same position as before. This time, when Firestar came at me, I shoved my elbow into his stomach, whipped around to kick him, but he effortlessly caught my leg.
Twisting around, I lashed out at him with my elbow as I fought to get my leg out of his hold. He blocked my blow before burying his hand into my hair and jerked backward so that my neck strained. I struggled to keep my balance as he shifted us into an even more awkward position. Firestar’s hand on my leg slid up, making me roll my eyes.
“Really?” I asked turning my head to shoot him an annoyed look. “You can’t train without coping a feel?”
Firestar smirked, his fingers stroking up and down the inside of my thigh. “What can I say, I never waste a chance to touch a beautiful woman.”
I blushed and glanced down before peeking back up at him from beneath my lashes. With a coy grin, I puckered my lips as if to offer him my mouth, but when he came closer, I used his hold on me as momentum to throw my other leg up and over, driving my knee into the side of his head.
He stumbled sideways, losing his grip on my leg and causing me to crash to the ground. My shoulder ached from the impact, but I ignored it as I hurried to stand. Only, instead of attacking me, Firestar rubbed the side of his face and grinned.
“Good, you’re learning.” He shook his head and spun his finger in the air. “Turn around and let’s do it again.”
I sighed but did what he said. I listened for Firestar’s heavy footsteps and waited to see what he would do next.
Firestar’s hands came out from behind me, and I expected them to grab me and throw me to the ground. That wasn’t what they did. They came up and cupped my breasts.
“Firestar, what are you doing?” I froze in place not sure what to do. “If you keep groping me, we won’t ever finish practicing.”
“Who said we weren’t finished?” Firestar growled in my ear, his hands squeezing my chest. His fingers plucked at my nipples, causing a blast of pleasure to shoot through me.