by M. L. Briers
“The curse is triggered – the bear is right – the dragon is already on its way…” she shrugged. “Which is why we need to…”
“Get everyone to the damn castle,” Connor said.
“There’s a castle?” Zana liked the sound of that.
“My castle?” Vicky eyed her mate.
“Oh, yes, love – your castle.” Connor grinned.
CHAPTER NINE
~
“Nice castle. Strong walls, good battlements…” Zana said as she stood up on the roof and eyed the sky all around them.
Inside two wolf packs and a bear clan were preparing for something that they’d never known before. The arrival of a dragon – it didn’t bare thinking about, and yet, it was all that was on anyone’s mind.
“Glad you approve,” Connor offered back.
He kept his distance from the new witch. He could see how her mate prowled beside her – protecting her – guarding her … and Connor had no intention of going head to head with a true alpha when they had bigger fish to fry.
“I’d much rather be heading back towards the watchers, but there might not be much time,” Zana mused.
“We need to ponder over the legend. Find a way that the text helps us to defeat the dragon…” Connor said.
“If it does,” Zana offered back.
“Well, yes, there is that…” Connor shrugged. “And most of it deals with what’s happened.”
“The killing of the mate. The triggering of the dragon awakening…” she agreed.
“Blood on the land – a battle – obviously we are going to fight…”
“Darkness above – the wings of the dragon?” Zana offered back, and just at that moment – there was a deep rumble like a growl that echoed all around them…
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Connor eyed George.
“Not me,” the man said.
“Well, it wasn’t me…” Zana said, eyeing the sky and noting the dark storm clouds that were rolling in towards the top of the mountain.
“Darkness above, seriously?” Connor scowled – but only for as long as it took for lightning to light up the thick black clouds…
“Rain puts out fire…?” Zana offered.
“We can only hope…” Connor offered back with a big dollop of sarcasm in his tone.
“So that takes care of the darkness in the text … but, it also means the dragon will be here soon,” Zana reminded him.
“No one be spared without a one true love – I’m guessing that’s you – you hold the key.” Connor shrugged again. “Otherwise why are you here?”
“Gee, I won’t take that personally,” Zana bit back to another low, deep growl from George that got neutered by another rumble of thunder.
“Stay close – now I know that you’re the key…” Connor said…
“Stay away from my mate…” George growled and his eyes flashed red.
“But not too close,” Connor offered back.
“Got it,” Zana grinned.
She kind of liked the vampire, and she got what people were talking about when they mentioned him.
~
~
~
“The witch is the key,” Connor announced as he strolled into the dining room and eyed the table full of alphas. But it wasn’t just the usual suspects – Dexter’s whole pack were alphas and they were all present and accounted for… “Err, hello?” He eyed them.
“The more alphas the better our chances.” Landon said. He certainly had no qualms about fighting beside any man in that room.
“I agree…” Connor shrugged. It was just a surprise.
“Where’s George?” Brody asked.
“With his mate – trust me, you don’t want to be around Mr Growly Pants – flashy red eyes, right now. I have two of Justice’s pack watching them,” Connor offered back.
“Because…?” Landon asked.
“Because the witch seemed to want to leave – I’d rather she stayed…” Connor shrugged.
“Really? He’d take the dragon with him…” Liam chuckled.
“Constructive…” Connor offered back.
“The dragon not being here would be constructive…” Justice said.
“We’re not thinking of cutting George loose…” Dexter growled.
The man was a part of his pack…
“No,” Connor said. “Then the dragon becomes someone else’s problem, or ours on a different day if it defeats George and the witch.”
“Agreed,” Landon nodded.
“Yep,” Justice said, grinning at the bear shifter and stealing the one word which he liked so much.
“Good,” Connor nodded. “Now, we need the witches to bubble-bubble toil and trouble our way out of this…”
“I thought it was double?” Justice said.
“Double what?” Connor asked.
“The words double-double…” Landon agreed.
“I don’t care what they do, double, bubble, or boil a cauldron of frogs … as long as we have a plan,” Connor grinned.
~
~
~
Roloko’s dragon had been awakened from his slumber. Summoned by the powers that be.
He could feel it within him, eager to stretch its wings in flight, but he resisted the creature’s needs.
It had begun.
A curse had been reignited in the flames of eternity. Twins had been born – one true alpha survived – and it was his task to take care of it.
Rebalance the supernatural world.
If he failed then a new linage would flourish. Another level of supernatural being would begin.
Evolution, but was the world ready?
It was not his place to question the wisdom of the elders – the ancient ones – the Pict.
Harmony must be restored.
He needed to think with clarity of purpose. He’d lived longer than anyone alive, except his kind.
Dragon shifters.
Their beasts were set to slumber until called upon for a higher purpose.
He had a job to do and he’d do it well. Then his beast would set to slumber again until needed.
That was the way of things … but, oh, how he’d missed taking to flight.
CHAPTER TEN
~
Zana was playing cat and mouse with the glances that she was flicking towards her mate as he stood tall and proud at the battlements, his gaze alternating between the night sky and her, and every time that he shot a look at her; she could feel his gaze as if it was his fingertips brushing against her skin.
She wasn’t sure that she liked it. There was a loss of control about the situation that alarmed the part of her that liked to keep a rigid hold on her life…
When all around her turned to chaos and she had a job to do – she knew that she could always control that part of herself that needed to stay distant and aloof from the troubles at hand.
She didn’t have that anymore.
At least, not with him.
George was her mate and that meant that she had more than a vested interest in his wellbeing.
The watchers must have known that – so why had they sent her to do the job?
It was normally so simple – kill the beast – save the good guys – and move on.
She’d had a plan. If she couldn’t kill the dragon then she would kill the source of the dragon’s power – George – the true alpha.
Could she still carry out that plan if she needed to do it?
Could she kill her mate?
Could she feel something for him – something deep within her soul?
Zana wasn’t prone to showing affection – caring was a weakness, and she couldn’t afford to be weak.
She’d live or die by her skills, but when there was someone that you cared about … then there was a chink in your armour.
Emotions made you reckless.
Reckless made you dead.
There was also the knowledge that sat within the back of her mind that if th
ey did mate then her life as she knew it to date would be over. She’d be his and he’d be hers, and they would be a family…
She’d never had a family. She’d had care homes and foster placements – but, people found her strange because her magic always shone through.
At least on the mountain she didn’t stand out among the other supernatural beings like a sore thumb. She’d be with other witches of varying degrees of power and ability, but still, witches.
Zana dismissed the way her mind was going. Not only did she not want to consider mating with the alpha – but, she didn’t even know if either of them would be alive by the morning to mate…
The dragon was coming, and she needed to focus on that and not the man with the soulful eyes and a granite body that she’d kind of like to explore…
Damn it – stop looking at him…
Stop wondering if those biceps are as hard as they look.
Stop following the damn line of muscle and sinew in his powerful forearms…
Stop wondering what it would be like to be caged in by him – out of control – while he …
Yeah, I’m not helping myself any here…
If he’d only stop looking at me…
If I could only stop looking at him.
Damn the mating pull…
Damn the watchers for sending me here…
Damn my mind and body for betraying me…
“I can get closer so you can give me a thorough inspection if you like…” George’s deep tone rang a few bells within her body, but it was his words that set off the alarm bells in her mind.
The thought of him getting closer was both tempting to the extreme and dangerous to her willpower to dismiss him…
“Just checking to see if you have any ticks or fleas – you might need a treatment at the vets,” she offered back, trying to make her tone sound as bored as possible, even if they both knew that she was anything but disinterested.
George shot her a look from beneath his dark brow. He felt his length twitch against the confines of a pair of jeans that he’d been given to cover his modesty, even if nobody had thought to give him a shirt.
He could feel his beast just under the surface of his skin. It still wanted out, but it wanted their mate more.
The wolf had given itself over to him. He was clawing back control from the beast, and he could finally concentrate on her.
He needed to woo his mate, or did he?
He was a true alpha – and he didn’t know what the hell that meant in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps leaving would be for the best, or dying at the mercy of the dragon – if it came.
Hell, he still didn’t truly believe in the true alpha myth – how was he supposed to get excited that there were still dragons out there in the real world?
He had known that he was cursed.
Both brothers had known, but only one wanted to trigger the damn curse just to see what happened … well, now he guessed that he was going to find out.
But why had fate chosen to send his mate to him with everything hanging over his head?
Why when he couldn’t rightly woo her?
Why when everyone’s life was said to be held in the balance?
He’d brought this on the mountain community. He should leave – should already have left…
But, there was his mate looking like a damn tasty treat to his eyes, and as much as he didn’t want to go there with her. He wanted to damn well go there with her.
While the other witches were fevering away in the archives and pouring over books, including the one that Vicky had found, his mate was standing watch on the battlements.
In her hand she gripped a sword like it was her only lifeline to sanity.
She looked formidable.
She looked so damn hot that he wanted to lick her from her head to her toes, and back again.
Hell, he wanted to do more than that – he wanted to be buried balls deep inside of her with those long legs of hers wrapped around his hips as he thrust until they were both sated – then mate her some more, over and over, until the fever within his blood vanished…
George felt that ache within his jaw as his fangs started to elongate, and he shifted his gaze, and his stance to look away from the temptation. It didn’t help the ache within his balls, or the knot within his gut.
“I’ve had all of my shots,” George offered back.
He folded his thick, muscled arms across the expanse of his chest and eyed the sky. He tried to remember why he was standing up on Connor’s damn roof in the first place. It certainly wasn’t with the intention of stargazing with his mate, although, that thought appealed to him as well.
Hell, he’d just about do anything that she wanted so that he could stay within her sphere – be in her presence.
She was everything and more. He knew that – it was written within his DNA.
A mate.
A witch.
His one true love.
George had witnessed his pack finding their mates.
They might have thought that he’d been distracted by his brother, but he’d watched. He’d seen how the big, strong, fierce shifters had lost their hearts and their heads.
There was a part of him that had wanted that.
Maybe, that was why he had ended his brother … maybe he just couldn’t take his sibling stalking him a moment longer.
It didn’t matter why – it mattered that he’d screwed up.
He’d put his pack – the wider community in danger, and for that he was truly sorry.
Dexter had taken him in and given him a home. Family.
He’d done his bit to fight for that family, but he should have gone with his gut and left when he’d killed his brother.
He’d meant to do it.
He’d wanted to do it … but …
It didn’t matter why. It only mattered that he’d stayed.
If the dragon came then he would offer himself up on the condition that the rest be saved.
He didn’t want anyone fighting, or dying for him, because of him. It was his curse and his fight…
CHAPTER ELEVEN
~
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”
“Shut up, Connor. I really don’t need anything more to do with books, even Charles Dickens, when my eyes are blurry and crossing at every opportunity.” Vicky grumbled in annoyance.
She liked to read as much as the next girl, just not speed reading through pages and pages of text that needed to be rationalised in context of the times in which it had been written.
“Touchy…” Connor whispered against her ear, and she reached up and swatted her hand at him, but he was already gone.
“No feely…” she muttered back, scanning the page in front of her, and all because she’d seen the word dragon mentioned in the text – too bad it was dragon’s blood.
And there was the problem – too many spells called for dragon’s blood, and the merry band of witches were all growly and groaning like their mates as they dismissed page after page, and spell after spell, on their search for the answers to their little problem.
Well, it was a bloody big problem by all accounts.
“Wouldn’t dream of it, love,” Connor offered back, distracting her once more. “Just came to check in.”
“Well, bloody well check out again – you know where the door is,” she grumbled.
“Got it. I supposed the copious amounts of coffee and the pile of chocolate wrappers has nothing to do with your mood…?”
Connor twisted his head on his neck the moment that her eyes snapped up to his – he would have made the sign of the cross and kissed his butt goodbye if there had been time, but she zapped him so fast that he didn’t stand a chance…
“Go be gone!” She hissed in annoyance.
“Love you too…” he bit out as her magic subsided enough that his body could just shake it off, and shake it off he did.
“Come back when there’s a bloody big flying lizar
d above our heads and not before – if we find anything, we’ll come to you – unless we’re spelling up something, and then you’re on your own.” She was scowling up at him, and he got the message loud and clear.
“Always to the point. I like that about…”
“Out.”
“Got it.”
“Then go.”
“Going…” Connor offered her his sing-song voice.
“Don’t come back,” she did the same for him.
“Dominatrix…” he chuckled, but he turned on his heels and made haste, before she decided to zap him again.
~
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~
“How’s it going there, alpha?” Zana said as she eyed her mate on the prowl across the battlements once more.
George was more than restless – his beast was back to clawing within him again.
“Don’t call me that,” George bit out.
“Nobody can deny their destiny,” she’d almost said fate, but she was trying hard not to think on her own fate – not that it wasn’t still in the forefront of her mind.
“Fate’s a bitch…” he agreed, shooting a quick look at her and catching the small grimace on her face.
“And then some,” she muttered into the darkness as she turned away from him, but his ears caught her words.
George started to pace in the other direction, but when all of his mind, body, and soul wanted to be where she was – it was like pushing a pyramid up the damn mountain.
He turned on fast feet and started for her…
Zana heard the footsteps behind her that was coming her way. He might have been padding on stone with bare feet, but she caught that sound – she’d been listening hard enough for it the whole time that she’d been alone with him.
She turned in place, eyed the size of the man who only seemed to be getting larger the closer that he got.
His hands were fisted into giant balls at his sides.
His arms stood away from his sides as his muscles tensed.
Those shoulders that spanned wide and blocked out the landscape with a chest that she thought she might just be able to curl up on like a happy cat, and those piercing, bewitching black eyes that were locked and loaded on his prey – her.