by Zoe Chant
"What?" Theresa asked. He couldn't really mean…
But he did, didn't he. The whole picture was becoming clear now. This was what Samuel had tried to protect her from, with that whole elaborate set-up—the ad, the money, the lies: Severin deciding she was a threat.
"But—"
"Believe me, I don't want to do this," Severin said, and weirdly, she did believe him; something about the little crack in his voice when he spoke. He sounded genuinely miserable about this. "I'm a businessman. I've never killed anyone in my life, and I'd really rather not start with my brother's mate. But I have to," he added. She thought he was talking more to himself than to her now. "He'd come after Vivienne once he's the alpha. I have to make sure she's safe."
"He wouldn't," There said, horrified. "He'd never—"
"Of course he would. Don't you understand? He doesn't want to kill me. I'm his own brother. So you go after the mate. That's how it's always been done, between dragons."
He really did believe that, Theresa realized. He couldn't see that Samuel would never do anything like that. Killing a woman just to gain power for himself? Never.
But Severin would. She could see it in his eyes. He was bracing himself to go through with this.
"I need you to drink this," Severin said. He handed her a little vial. A clear golden liquid sloshed inside. "It won't hurt," Severin said. He gave a low, shaky laugh. "I'm told it won't even taste bad."
Theresa stared down at the vial in her hand. She could throw it away, shatter it on the ground. Except she didn't think she wanted to find out what he'd do then.
Severin shook his head as if reading her thoughts. "Don't," he said. "Don't make this any worse, okay? This is the easy way. You can drink this, and just go to sleep."
There'd be a hard way, too, he didn't have to add. He'd have a gun, maybe, or a knife. Or, God. He could probably turn into a dragon and bite her head off.
Theresa looked down at the vial again. "He won't even have to know," Severin said. "I'll tell him you ran away, you don't want to see him anymore. He'll be sad for a while, but he'll get over it. I'll make sure your family's taken care of. All you have to do is drink."
Theresa held the vial in shaking hands. Oh God, what was she going to do?
There was a sound in the distance, the whine of an engine strained to its limits. A car was flying down the dirt road, bouncing madly over potholes, a thick cloud of dust rising behind it. It screeched to a halt beside them.
Samuel jumped out. Her heart soared at the sight of him.
"Get away from her!" Samuel roared.
A golden glow surrounded him. His wings rose towards the sky, the flash of red limning their edges glowing like fire in the light of the moon.
Severin answered with a roar of his own. When Theresa turned to look at him, he was only a shadow in a golden cloud. The shadow grew and grew, resolving itself into the shape of an enormous dragon. It towered over her. When it spread its wings, it seemed to blot out the night sky.
Theresa's breath caught in fear. Samuel couldn't fight this. No one could.
But Samuel didn't even hesitate. He launched himself at the dragon's enormous head, claws flashing. The dragon roared in pain when Samuel's claws slashed across its face. It swung its great head around, jaws snapping. But Samuel was the faster of the two of them. He was already darting backwards, out of reach. The dragon's jaws closed on empty air.
But there wasn't any way this could end well. Severin's advantage in size and power was just too great. Samuel only needed to make one single mistake, to be a fraction of a second too slow—
A car door slammed. Vivienne climbed out of Samuel car. She must have been waiting there the entire time, Theresa realized.
Vivienne stretched out a hand. Green light rose from her fingers and caught around the edges of Samuel's wings. Theresa remembered the terrible cold that had crept up her arm from Vivienne's hand. Samuel's movements were slowing. Vivienne fell back, gasping, obviously exhausted by the effort; but the damage was already done. Frost glittered on the edges of Samuel's wings, and his movements were awkward and stiff.
The dragon swung one enormous paw and batted him out of the air, his claws rending three deep slashes across Samuel's chest. Samuel hit the ground with an awful, shattering sound.
Theresa screamed. She ran, stumbling over her dress. Fell to her knees by Samuel's side.
He was lying very still. His chest was an awful, bloody mess.
"No!" Theresa's voice cracked, a sob clawing its way out of her chest. "Samuel, no."
Samuel slowly opened his eyes. He reached out with a shaking hand to touch the side of her face.
"Theresa. It's okay. You're going to be safe now," Samuel said. His voice was soft and kind. Theresa sobbed again."He's got no reason to hurt you once I'm dead."
"No!" Theresa said frantically.
"I love you," Samuel said.
Of course he loved her. Of course he did. How could she have believed otherwise even for a minute, no matter what he'd said to Severin? He'd been showing her with every word, every action since they'd met how much he liked and respected her.
If she hadn't ran away, if she'd trusted him, maybe none of this would have happened.
"You can't die. You can't, I love you," she said, pressing her hands to the wounds on his chest, trying to stem the terrible flow of blood. She could feel the life running out of him. "I love you. Don't die. Please don't die." She was crying, hardly aware of what she was saying. He couldn't die. She loved him, and he couldn't die.
"I'll always love you," Samuel said, and she knew he meant "goodbye".
"No!" she said angrily. "No! I won't let you!"
She pressed harder down on his chest, as if she could force life back inside him by sheer force of will. "I love you, I love you," she whispered, like a magic chant, like a prayer.
A faint red glow appeared beneath her hands, threads of light running down from her wrists to the tips of her fingers, spilling out of her into him, growing brighter until the trickle of light became a torrent.
Samuel's eyes snapped open wide. He gasped.
The flow of blood slowed, then stopped. The ragged wounds on his chest started to close at the edges. Theresa pressed down harder. She felt as if all her strength was running out of her along with that flow of red light. But that didn't matter at all. Samuel was healing. She'd give him all her strength, everything she had.
The wounds were closing, his flesh knitting together beneath her eyes, first the little cuts and then the big ones, faster and faster, until there was nothing but whole, unbroken skin beneath her hands. And still the light was running out of her, filling his entire body, until his skin seemed to glow from within: health and strength filling him to the brim.
The light went out. Theresa fell back onto her hands, gasping.
Samuel stared at her with his eyes wide with awe. "My mate," he whispered.
He rose to his feet, his wings stretched out wide and sheltering above her. The golden glow of transformation surrounded him again. She could see him silhouetted against it, his shape changing, his wings growing, until a dragon was standing where Samuel had been. He was big, bigger even than Severin. His scales were dark as the night sky surrounding them, but the red glow still limned his wings.
When he roared, it seemed to shake the earth.
Severin launched himself into the air. Samuel followed.
They clashed in mid-air. Theresa watched, wide-eyed. From the corner of her eyes she could see Vivienne watching, too, her chest heaving, just as drained by the use of her powers as Theresa felt herself. Neither of them could do anything to help now.
It was a terrible fight, the dragons tearing at each other with claws and fangs; tails lashing, wings beating the air so hard trees bent all round them.
But this time Samuel was the stronger one, and he still had the advantage of speed. He forced Severin to the ground beneath him, his enormous jaw closing around the soft, unprotected underside of Severin's n
eck.
Viviene made a low, keening sound of despair. Theresa was on her feet before she even knew she'd moved.
She put a hand on Samuel's jaw, stopping him before he could close his fangs on Severin's neck.
"Don't."
"He tried to kill you," Samuel said, turning his great head to look at her. Severin didn't move. His enormous body lay defeated beneath Samuel's, bleeding from a dozen slashes and cuts.
"He's your brother," Theresa said. "You're a better man than he is. You don't need to do this."
She stroked her hand over Samuel's face, the scales smooth and warm beneath her hands. "He's your brother," she said again.
Vivienne came running up to them. She threw herself over Severin as if she could shield him with her own body. "Please," she whispered. "Please."
"You've won. You're the alpha now. Things are going to change," Theresa said. "But you don't want to kill him."
"No. I don't," Samuel said. His voice was very tired. "Severin? Swear you won't try to hurt her again."
Severin twisted his head around with obvious effort. "I won't ever hurt your mate again. I give you my oath," he said. The words rang in the silent night air like a bell. Theresa could feel them resonating inside her chest.
This was magic, too, she was pretty sure; a dragon magic that she didn't yet understand. Somehow, with those words, Severin had bound himself. She'd be safe from him forever.
Samuel took a step back, taking his paw off Severin's side. Severin changed back. He seemed very small now, a slender young man in a blood-soaked tux, shivering from cold and blood loss.
Theresa knelt down next to him, reaching out one hand. Vivienne flinched, shifting in between them protectively.
Theresa shook her head. "I won't hurt him," she said. She caught Severin's hand in hers. There wasn't much left in her, but she forced out a last few trickles of that warm red light. Severin's wounds stopped bleeding.
Samuel caught her when the world started spinning around her. He was back in his human form, cradling her against his chest.
"He'll be okay," Theresa said.
Vivienne closed her eyes for a second. The cool facade was gone from her face. Theresa could see the naked relief in her eyes. "Thank you," Vivienne said. She pulled Severin's body into her lap, rocking him gently.
"Come on, let's get out of here" Samuel said quietly. He gathered her up in his arms and carried her to the car. It had deep scratches on every side, and the fender was crumpled and dented.
"What on earth did you do to that poor car?" Theresa asked.
Samuel shrugged. "I had to get here in time." He looked down at the ruined paintwork, the dented sides. "I'm going to have to buy Gregor a new car."
"Who's Gregor?"
Samuel laughed. "Tomorrow, he's going to be the richest, happiest chauffeur in the world."
He deposited her very gently in the front seat.
Theresa hardly remembered anything of the drive. She was tired down to her bones, and her eyes kept falling shut.
Samuel carried her up to the penthouse and laid her down on his bed. He helped her out of her torn, crumpled dress. Theresa could have done this for herself. The worst of the exhaustion had receded on the drive into town. But it was nice to lie here and feel taken care of. And she was pretty sure Samuel wanted to be taking care of her. He'd kept throwing concerned glances at her from the corner of his eyes during the whole drive, and bristled protectively when the doorman had gotten too close in the building's lobby.
Samuel peeled out of his own clothes when he'd finished undressing her, carelessly dropping his blood-stained, ruined tux on the floor. Theresa reached out to touch his chest. Only three thin pink lines remained of the gaping slashes on his chest. It was a miracle that he'd survived. Magic. Magic they'd created, together.
Theresa called up a few sparkles of that bright warm power and let it flow out through the tips of her fingers while she touched the lines of his scars; just making sure, feeling that he was safe and whole.
Samuel shivered. His cock gave an interested twitch, growing and filling.
"What does it feel like?" Theresa asked.
"Tingly," Samuel said with a low laugh. "Do it again?"
She slid her hands down his chest, leaving a faint glow everywhere she'd touched his skin. When she'd been healing him, it had felt like an almost physical pull, his body soaking up every bit of energy she could give, draining her strength out of her in a great rushing flow. But now, with him healthy and strong, there wasn't any draining energy. Just a feeling of connection, a faint, almost electrical tingle beneath her hands.
Samuel gave a startled groan when she wrapped her hand around his cock. "Oh, that feels—" He shook his head, his eyes dazed, as if he couldn't find a word to describe the feeling.
Theresa stroked him slow and easy, light spilling out between her fingers. She loved the feeling of his big cock in her hand, the eager way his body curled towards hers. She sat up on her knees, bending down to give his cock a curious lick. Samuel groaned. She liked the salty taste of him, the feeling of him in her mouth, and even better were the low, overwhelmed sounds of pleasure he made when she took him deeper inside her mouth.
Samuel stroked her hair, her cheek, his big hands tender and careful on the side of her face. Theresa closed her eyes and reveled in the feeling of it, the intimate way they were connected now. Her own arousal was growing along with his, burning hotly between her thighs.
When Samuel came, it was almost as if she could feel his pleasure in her own body. It left her feeling dazed and languid. Samuel sat still for a long moment after, his hands braced on the bed, his sides heaving for breath. He looked overwhelmed, awed. He reached out to squeeze her hand, as if trying to say with the touch what he couldn't find the words for right then.
Finally, he shook himself. "What would you like?" he asked.
"Oh, um." Theresa stalled. For all that they'd done it before, she still found it hard to say it out loud. She let her thighs fall open. Samuel smiled and bent down to kiss the top of her thigh.
"Like this?" he asked.
"Mmm," Theresa said, spreading her legs wider so Samuel could lie down between them.
He kissed and licked her gently while Theresa floated on the pleasure of it. He was so amazing at this, and so patient; she didn't have to hurry to get off, she could just enjoy this, let the pleasure flood through her until her entire body tingled with it. Samuel stroked the sensitive insides of her thighs, and then slid his hands around, cupping her ass, squeezing gently while she groaned and arched into his mouth.
Her orgasm was a slow, cresting wave that left her sensitive and hungry for more.
Samuel curled around her. He was already hard again, she felt with surprise. But then she already knew that his stamina was amazing, and maybe some of her pleasure had communicated itself to him just the way she thought she'd been able to feel his, through that bond they now shared.
He pulled her back against his chest, stroking her clit with just the tips of his fingers, as if he could tell exactly how sensitive she was after her orgasm. Finally he slid inside her, slow and gentle and perfect.
They rocked together slowly, neither of them in any hurry to finish, just enjoying the closeness and the intimacy, pleasure sparking back and forth between them.
Samuel came when she did, his arms tightening around her as she cried out in pleasure.
He kissed the back of her neck. "I love you," he whispered.
"I love you, too," Theresa said. The feeling was like a fire inside her chest, raw and overwhelming.
Samuel shifted until she could use one of his arms as a pillow, his other arm wrapped tightly around her. She fell asleep like that, Samuel curled around her, held safe and warm in her dragon's embrace.
***
"Theresa!" Carolyn cried, her face lighting up in surprised pleasure. She pulled Theresa into a tight hug. "Are you back from your conference? I know you said you were going to be busy, but you could have sent a t
ext or something. I feel like I haven't heard from you in ages."
"I'm sorry," Theresa said, wincing. It was true, they hardly ever spent more than a few days without at least exchanging a few texts. Two weeks was a long time for radio silence between them."Things got… pretty crazy for a bit."
She'd never lied to her sister before, and she didn't much like doing it now. She'd told Carolyn she had to go to a conference when she'd been preparing for her ten days with Samuel, back when she'd still been dreading those days, bracing herself. It felt like an eternity had passed since then, instead of not even two weeks. So much had changed.
She'd had no idea, back then, what she was going to tell Carolyn about where the money was coming from; and now, with everything that happened, she knew even less what to say.
"How are you doing?" she asked.
Carolyn looked exhausted, her eyes tight with strain at the corners, even as she covered it up with a smile. "Oh, you know. Still working on figuring something out. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."
The look in her eyes said she didn't believe her own words.
"Anyway, sit down, take your coat off. Pie's gonna be done in a couple minutes," Carolyn said.
Carolyn's warm, homey kitchen was filled with delicious smells, fresh-baked pie and a stew already simmering on the oven for dinner.
Carolyn put a big slice of apple pie on a plate for her, still steaming from the oven, a generous dollop of vanilla ice cream on top.
"Joey, pie! And your Auntie Theresa's here!" she yelled.
"Coming, mom!" Joey yelled back from upstairs.
"Wash your hands first!"
Carolyn put a slice of pie on her own plate.
"So how was your weirdo top-secret last-minute librarian conference? Don't think I haven't noticed you being all secretive, sis. What, did you all get taken over by the CIA and had to go into spy training or something?"
"Um," Theresa said. Great. Apparently she was even worse at lying than she'd realized. She'd thought the conference was a pretty believable excuse for her sudden absence. She had to tell Theresa something, she knew; but what?