Dressed in the robes of her people, Madison held her chin high. Golden eyes flashed back at him with fire and steel. It was like being punched in the gut. His entire body trembled.
Her nostrils flared. Scenting him. She had to know. She had to sense the madness raging in him now.
Her irises narrowed to reptilian oblongs and he frowned at her stillness.
She shook her head. “You didn’t come to me. So I know it’s not me. But I won’t let them hurt you, Phoenix. No matter what.”
Confused by those words, he shook his head, ready to tell her the truth. To finally lay it all out there and confess his sins to her, to ask her forgiveness.
But then she stepped into him and slammed a rock against his chest.
At first he didn’t understand what she was doing, until the rock began to throb and pulse with deep, intense heat.
Roaring, he huddled tight into himself, reflexively trying to protect himself. What was she doing?
Soon he had his answers.
Whatever rock that’d been, there was something profoundly powerful within it. Dark magick that called to the animal in him. He shifted without consent, becoming the grizzly.
Then she had her fingers in his scruff and she was pulling him toward the door. And though he was powerfully built, even in human form she out muscled him. He roared at her, trying to get her to understand that they needed to talk, that he had the answer now. That he could fix all of this.
But his words were lost in the snarls of a bear.
And then she shifted, showing him her Breed form for the first time ever. And gods she was glorious. Sleek and sparking with bolts of lightning, her scales gleamed like poured metal and then she powered through the wall, blasting it apart.
Phoenix just barely caught a glimpse of Chance and his woman standing on the other side of the wall. Chance wrapped himself tight around her as the wooden sliver projectiles erupted in every direction.
Realizing that Madison meant to take him high into the air, he roared, batting at her legs to try and get her to release him. But her grip was absolute. And in two mighty flaps they were airborne and sailing through the clouds.
Dizzied by the rapid ascent, Phoenix knew he was about to pass out as his head rang and his vision swam in and out of focus. Days without food, and now this...he couldn’t fight the fatigue anymore.
Wherever she was going, wherever she was taking him, he just hoped she didn’t let go. And then the darkness crowded out every rational thought and just like that, he passed out.
~*~
Madison
Days she’d waited, praying to the gods and hoping against hope that she’d been his mate. That the bloody, stupid ritual had finally revealed the truth to him. A truth she’d known the moment she’d locked eyes with the asshole, he was hers and she was his. Period.
But with a sob ripped from her heart this morning the truth had settled hard and ugly within her chest. Instinct was too powerful to contain or control for this many days on end. She’d been slave to her need for him from the moment she’d latched gazes. He would be too.
He’d be sexing up whoever he’d been shown, teasing her, loving her...the image of that unnamed woman had been too much for Madison to bear. Knowing that Phoenix could no more help his need for her as Madison felt for him, she knew that unless she found him and took him far away her parents would very soon come to the same conclusion.
Urich had been in a rage for the past few days, swearing to gut him. Phoenix’s life was literally dangling by a precious thread of time. She’d had no choice.
But as she continued to wing through the skies toward a private nest she’d created years ago for just this eventuality, she began to wonder why she’d smelled no other woman upon him.
Even now, passed out as he was in her talons, she scented no female. The call of that ritual was powerful and irresistible magick. And yet...why was he alone?
A massive cave loomed in the distance. She’d flown for hours, taking her and Phoenix several thousand miles away from Kodiak to a very remote and isolated region in northern Russia. Her family would no doubt try to follow, but she’d been careful, never letting anyone know of this place.
Angry with him as she still was, she’d never hurt him purposefully either. Tucking her wings in tight as she barreled in for the landing, she kept only one set of talons hooked around him and used her other foot to grab a toehold with, bearing the brunt of the hard landing.
Releasing him the moment they touched ground, he rolled to the side, releasing a soft whoosh of breath as he settled against the packed earth.
Outside the winds blew with sheets of snow and ice, and the skies were a thick gray color, but inside was the polar opposite.
She’d tried as hard as she could to create a space as comfortable as any cave could possibly become. She’d smoothed down any sharp walls or spires, and had arranged several nesting spots. Not with twigs and sharp brambles as was the norm for most dragon nests, but with bits of wild cotton, soft green foliage, and even flowers, ensuring the leaves remained soft by sprinkling them with a bit of dragon’s powder.
Dragon powder was actually just a fancy name for crumbled talcum with a teeny bit of witch magick added to it. Not even dragons enjoyed scraping their thick hides on sharp twigs.
On top of that she’d built a corral—by hand—and filled the pen with goat and rabbits. They’d have a steady diet of meat for the next few days, at least until she could figure out just what she was going to do with him now.
Ice and snow didn’t faze her at all, a dragon’s internal temperature was always a nice and toasty hundred and ten regardless of external temps and whether she was in human or Breed form. But she wasn’t sure if the same applied to her grizzly. So she’d stuffed a few fire stones beneath the nests, ensuring the comfortable, but not overly large confines, remained a constant eighty degrees.
The shelter was nothing fancy: there were no pictures hanging on the stone walls, or pops of color anywhere. But it would keep him safe, dry, and most importantly alive a while longer. And that’s all that mattered to her at present.
Gently using the tip of her snout, she rolled Phoenix into the nest nearest him—one blooming with wild honeysuckle and studied him at her leisure for the first time since the kidnapping.
She’d known Phoenix all her life, knew his normal.
The grizzly had lost too much weight. Even in Breed form he appeared thin. And not at all like someone who had been living it up with his destined mate.
Still very upset by the situation, she couldn’t ignore the sick feeling twisting in her gut at the thought of any harm coming to him. Even one that was self-inflicted.
Inching closer, secure in the knowledge that he was still in a semi-coma from that flight, she dared to lower her broad, muscular face to his form. Normally, she’d not care if someone saw her in Breed form and died of fright. It was a scary thing to see a dragon’s face inches from yours, as her species’ appetite was well known and definitely based in fact.
She might even laugh to see the terror slink through someone’s gaze. But not his.
Gently, reverently she breathed in his scent. There was much that could be learned through scent, and something just wasn’t computing for her.
She’d thought that maybe with the driving wind blasting her nostrils she simply hadn’t been able to pick up on the odor of female. But there wasn’t even a faint whiff of one.
All she smelled was Phoenix. His dark scent of pine, moss, and that subtle thread of patchouli beneath it all.
Her tiny ear wings fluttered with confusion and a small grunt spilled off her tongue. He jerked, coming awake not even a second later.
And though she was by far the more powerful predator between them, she was snared by his dual colored eyes and unable to look away. His call of magick rolled through the cave, transforming him from beast back to man.
Her heart trembled violently.
He had several days’ worth of beard growth s
hading his strong jaw. And those eyes she’d always loved so well looked exhausted, and rimmed in purple. He’d not slept much, if at all since she’d seen him last. But for all that, he was still the most handsome male she’d ever seen in her life.
If a god had ever deigned to ask her just what she’d want in her male, Phoenix was the physical embodiment of it all. His hawkish nose. His wide, full lips that tempted her even now.
His strong arms and chest, flat stomach, and thick, powerful legs. It was reputed that there was nothing more exotic and alluring than her kind, but she knew that wasn’t true. Because it was a grizzly who’d stolen her soul.
Up until today, Phoenix had never seen her Breed form. She’d only made the shift a handful of times in her life. From the moment she’d grounded herself to be with him she’d rarely wanted to leave his side, the only times she had was to build this nest for them.
She couldn’t help but wonder what he thought. If he was repulsed by their obvious differences, or if—like her—it was those differences that drew him in.
But then she received the surprise of her life when he reached out his hand and she flinched. She, a powerful dragon who, with one snap of her jaws, could devour him whole, flinched.
Cringing and unsure what that hand might do. Until he ran it gently down her scaled cheek and a strange, whistling noise flowed like music through the cave’s interior.
It took her a moment to realize that song was hers.
Trembling beneath his touch, she felt lost and unsure of what to do next.
“Shift, Madi, we need to talk,” he said slowly.
Chapter 4
Phoenix
Holding onto her cheek felt a lot like hanging onto a grenade with the pin taken out. Madison was a monster of the highest caliber, and yet he felt her tremors roll through his palm.
And then the lambent glow of her shift rained over her massive body, twisting her from Breed to a woman he’d always seen but had never really “seen” before.
She was the same in many ways. Long dark hair. Gorgeous molten-colored eyes. Pale, ivory skin. Heart shaped face, with an adorable button nose, and rosebud lips slightly fuller at the top than the bottom. His heart clenched, because though he could have drawn her from memory he was sure he’d never actually paid attention to her the way he was now.
How her skin glimmered like shades of mother of pearl in sunlight. How her hair wasn’t just dark brown, but had rich veins of amber and inky strands of jet-black sprinkled throughout.
How when she looked at him, her gaze never wavered or shifted. She saw him. Every inch of him. She wasn’t peering just at his face, or his chest, hands, body...no, she was slipping beneath the mask to the man inside of him.
He was exposed beneath her gaze, cracked open. How had he never noticed that before? Or the fact that lingering in the air between them was her intoxicating scent of lightning and lush spring flowers.
A gust of wind blew through the cave entrance, fanning the tips of her hair in her face and he gently slid them aside, marveling at the velvety soft texture of her flesh.
“I’ve seen you my whole life, Madison Draconian, but I’ve always missed you, haven’t I?”
A flash of the reptile flared through her gold eyes as her irises slit to fine lines and she sucked in a gasp.
“Wh—what?” She shook, one of her tiny hands clutched onto his wrist, long red painted nails digging into the skin and pushing down on the vein, igniting a sharp flare of pain as she almost—but not quite—punctured him.
But he liked her fire. And if Phoenix was being honest with himself, he’d always liked her potential for anarchy and chaos. After all, it was that same recklessness that’d driven him to that cliff all those years ago.
She blinked and shook her head. “What are you saying, Phoenix?”
The way she said his name, how she caressed the vowels, made his heart stutter a beat in his chest.
Another burst of wind barreled through the entrance, and he shivered. He might be a grizzly, but in human form this cold was biting and starting to make him tingle.
Noticing immediately, Madison pulled away from him and knelt on the nest they stood on. He frowned, watching her shove aside the edge of the foliage. But when she reached inside and a second later pulled out a very thick, semi-precious stone in its raw and unpolished form he knew right away what she was doing.
The stone she held was one he’d seen Urich playing with every winter in his brother’s bar. It was called a fire stone, so named because of the bands of shimmering orange that bisected the lava red colored rock.
Urich would only have to set one of those stones in the furnace, and he could heat the whole of the Junk Yard.
Bringing the rock—easily the size of her face—up to her lips Madison gently blew on it.
And he couldn’t help but grin when he saw it come alive for her. The orange striations flickered like flame and the rock itself turned a deeper shade of red. In an instant he felt the wave of that heat shimmer around him, calming the muscle spasms that’d just begun to take hold of him.
Sighing with relief, Phoenix sat down beside her and placed a hand on her knee after she’d set the stone back down beneath the nest. Now, no matter the temperature outside he’d remain warm.
Madison had thought of everything and he was oddly grateful to her, even if she had nearly caused him to die on the trip over. It was easy enough to figure out why she’d done it, though he should have anticipated she’d make this move when he hadn’t shown up at her door panting and begging for sex.
Hanging her head, he felt her eyes bore into the hand he had on her leg. Her voice was tight, and low as she said.
“I smell no woman on you, Phoenix.”
Shame crept over him, and not just because he hadn’t gone to her right away, like he probably should have. He hadn’t really thought about her reaction to it. Damn him. That was a problem he seemed to have around her. He never thought. Never thought about anything other than himself. But this time, he really had tried to stop being a selfish dick.
Knowing it was time to make things right, he swallowed the nerves threatening to choke him and tipped her chin up, forcing her to hold his gaze.
“That’s because there isn’t another woman, Madi.” And to really drive the point home, he shrugged and gave her a self-deprecating semi-grin. “It’s you, dragon girl. It always was.”
Her lips tightened and there was a whistle of sound just before the...crack! His cheek stung from where she’d slapped him.
His nostrils flared and he bit down on his back teeth, but he did nothing because he deserved a whole hell of a lot more.
Jumping to her feet, her tiny—but lethal—hands were balled to her side as she snapped, “And you fucking just sat there! You really are a damn bastard, Phoenix Hawthorne. But then you’ve always been haven’t you! Ever since that night you made the move on me and made me feel things, want things, then you just left. You just fucking left!”
A shrill laugh, full of pain, spilled off her tongue.
So that’s what had happened. It was a relief to know that even in his drunken state he hadn’t crossed the line with her, but on the other hand, did she hate him because she thought he hadn’t wanted to?
Standing, he rushed to her side and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. She twisted and fought, slamming her palms against him, but curling her nails into his chest.
Madison fought her own battle of wills, whether to shove him off her, or bring him closer. In the end, her need for him won out, and she wrapped her arms tight around his neck, then yanked him to her and laid her head on his chest.
And though he heard nothing, he felt the wetness of her tears stain his flesh.
Her hair stood on end, electrified by the release of her powers as she lost herself to the reality of what all this meant. Never in all his life had Phoenix felt so keenly the depths of his shame, but he knew he needed to let himself feel all of it now.
She still hadn’t
said anything, but once he felt the rigidity leave her shoulders, he knew it was safe to finally speak his piece.
The dragoness had sheathed her claws. For now.
Running his palm down the side of her face, his own arm hairs electrified by the strength of her powers, he opened up to her for the first time in his life.
“That day on the cliff, when you looked at me. I knew I’d screwed you over bad.”
She said nothing, and he was grateful for her silence because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get any of this out if she started asking questions just yet.
“You were a dragon. Fierce. Powerful. Strong. Legend among the Breed. I was a lowly grizzly. I was nothing. I am nothing.”
Taking just a small step back, she palmed his chest, right over the spot of his beating heart. No longer did she curl those deadly nails into him, but her fingertips gently grazed him, and she tipped her face up, to meet his gaze directly.
“You’ve never been nothing to me, Phe.”
Those gently whispered words were like a salve to his fractured heart.
Clamping his hands down over the top of hers, he gazed deeply into her eyes. Losing himself all over again, just like he had that morning.
“I knew, even back then, when your magick took me. I knew it was right. I felt the instant tethering, the instant connection.” His thumb toyed with the tip of a dark curl.
Those gorgeous lips of hers turned down into a quivering frown. “Then why did you run? Why did you leave me behind to watch you flirt with one woman after another. And why did you fucking tease me that night? For so long I thought it was just a game for you. I was just a game.”
Those words pierced him like a dagger. But he knew she needed to speak it, and he needed to hear it. No running away this time. He was going to own up to what he’d done, even if it killed him.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he forced the damning words past his lips. “Because you were so young, Madison.” He looked at her, not exactly pleading that she accept what he’d done, but that she’d at least try to understand why he’d done it. “Because I was a grizzly. And I hardly even remember that night, I was skunked off my ass, all I know is I wanted you bad. So damn bad and I lost myself to that need for just a second, but it was never a fucking game for me, Madi. I was scared, lost, and felt like a dick about what I’d done to you. You don’t deserve—”
Phoenix (Bears of Kodiak Book 3) Page 4