It was true. Using his fire around Willow didn’t scare him. He didn’t worry that he would get out of control, he didn’t worry he’d enjoy it too much, and most of all, he didn’t worry about the possibility of hurting her. The power didn’t taunt him, and for the first time, it didn’t force the memories of his life before he met his tribe. His heart thudded in his chest, and he shifted his eyes that matched the flames in his hand. “Now do you see the truth?”
He closed his hand, snuffing out the small flame and forced his eyes back to their regular green. He’d proven it to her, and now it was in her hands.
“Bev told me to be careful around you, that you were more than you appeared.”
Zarin rolled his eyes. Bev. Of course. That old witch said she wouldn’t involve herself, but she did. “Maybe you should ask Bev just how she knows that I’m different, along with the rest of my family, too.”
Willow nodded. “She’s different, too, but not like you?”
“It’s her secret to tell, but yes, and she’s known I was different from the first day I met her. In fact, she hated me until she learned I wasn’t here to harm her.”
“She said I came to this strange town for a reason.”
“To fulfill your destiny, as my mate and as Cai’s guardian, though he likes to say Mom and Dad.”
“And Cai is the boy we must protect…but from what?”
“Nymphs. His mom fell in love with a human man. Cai was born, and they’ve been on the run ever since. He spent his whole life preparing for his day to find us. His mother was a seer of sorts and saw us in the boy’s future—her son’s future. Before she was killed, she sent him to us because of her own magic. She was given a vision from the goddess before Cai was even born, so she knew his future was in our hands before we did.”
Willow nodded her head too much. She was in shock, but there really was no time to sugarcoat the truth. He had no idea when the nymphs were coming. “I’m sorry to push all of this on you, but I just found Cai yesterday, and I’m guessing we don’t have long before he’s hunted down by the nymphs that believe he is an abomination.” He felt bad when her body tensed, as if someone being called an abomination affected her someway. And maybe it did, but he’d use whatever it took to get Willow on board as soon as possible. They didn’t have time to take it slow. He didn’t have time to woo her and make her fall in love with him beforehand.
“They want to kill him?”
Zarin wasn’t sure how to answer. He sighed. “From what the letter said. I’m not sure if there are even any nymphs around, but they travel by water, and there’s plenty of that around here.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the letter, thrusting it toward her. “Here, read this letter.”
Willow reached out and took the letter, her ice cold fingers brushing his. He sucked in a breath when her skin touched his. That’s all it took. Both dragons paced inside of him, one wanting her attention, and the other wanting her acceptance so she could go home. It was a battle within him, and until Willow gave the okay, there was nothing he could do about it. When her fingers lingered longer, he peered at her. She stared at him, and then her eyes moved to their skin.
She gasped. “Why—”
“The call of the mate.” He knew she felt it then, and he couldn’t help but smile. “This is what happens, and then things will only get worse if we fight it. I know you’re a fighter; I can tell. But please, don’t fight too long, sweet Willow. Not only does my life depend on it, but so does an innocent boy’s.” He gestured for her to read the letter.
She pulled her hand back from his and unfolded the letter, never taking her eyes from his until the paper was open. She squinted and read the fine scripted letters. He struggled with the words, and he could tell she did too, but her eyes became wider with each passing word, probably when she realized she was named specifically in the letter, as was he.
“The mortal mate to the Red Dragon, Zarin, named Willow. She will fight, and she will deny, but in the end, she won’t be able to refuse the call.”
She folded the letter in silence and held it out to him. He took it, and this time, he grasped her hand and tugged it toward him. He guided her small fingers to his chest where his heart beat.
“Feel it slow. This is what happens to us when we come in contact with our mate. Aris, my king, his heart stopped when his mate touched him. Ilias, he nearly died, and something like that is going to happen to me soon if you ignore the call. That’s why we met. I was dying when I went to the emergency room; you running into me quite literally saved my life, for the time being.”
“But they lived?” Her voice wobbled, and her fingers, as if on their own accord, tightened in his shirt. “I met one of them, right? The one who was with you.”
“Aris. And yes, once their mates surrendered to the feeling, to the call, and accepted their fate. But let me tell you, the more you fight, the sicker I’ll become. My body can’t handle two beasts forever. She needs you.”
“She?”
As if she heard, the Black Dragon slipped into the driver’s seat, shoving Zarin into nothingness.
***
“My Willow, my host. Please let me come home. We need to be strong; the battle is yet to come. We can’t let our Zarin suffer. He already has for too long. He needs to know he hasn’t been forsaken by the goddess, and we are the answer he’s been searching for.”
“Your eyes…they’re gold.” Willow was in shock, she had to be. One minute, she’s talking to Zarin about being fated, which was crazy, and then everything about him changed–his posture, his eyes, even his voice and how he spoke. It was almost as if Zarin wasn’t there.
He chuckled. “That’s because I’m not Zarin,” the voice said, and leaned forward. “I’m you, as soon as you’ll allow me. I’ve been shoved aside for too long. Zarin refused his magic for so long, and my mate has suffered in the darkness.”
“I’m confused.”
“That’s no surprise. Our lives are not easy to grasp, but Willow, know this: you will accept me either now or later, but we are meant to be one. You will be strong, and you will never be hurt again. No man will ever lay another hand on you. Zarin, our mate, will never let it happen. He already loves you, you see; you were made for him, I was made for his beast. Our souls belong together. The goddess deemed it be.”
Tears filled her eyes. She knew deep in her heart, this dragon–God, she couldn’t believe this was happening–was hers. All she had to do was say yes, but she couldn’t. Too many things had happened.
The gold faded from Zarin’s eyes, and his body jerked. She reached out and grabbed him, and when his eyes rolled back in his head, he fell to the ground, taking her with him. Her small body slammed against his, and she ended up slamming her knees into the ground. She cried out as a shock of pain rocked through her. Her body straddled him as he shook under her. He was seizing. She screamed and gripped his face between her hands as tight as she could, trying to hold him still, but he was so strong. She was barely able to hold on.
“No, no, this can’t be happening! It’s not real. Everything is in my head. I’ll wake up now,” she chanted out loud, but the warm skin she held made her tingle. The large body thrashed under her, and it took every single bit of strength inside of her not to fly off of him.
“Zarin, stop!”
It didn’t help. If anything, the convulsions got worse. Willow sobbed as she pressed herself against the strange man who called himself her mate. She had to help him, but she didn’t know how. In her panic, she squinted, searching the area. How was it that there was no one around when she needed someone? It’s how it always worked for her entire life. But in the distance, she saw a tiny figure running toward her. At first, she thought she was seeing things, but then Bev came into view, waving at her.
“Willow, honey, what’s happening?”
“Oh, thank God!”
Bev dropped beside her and laid her hand on Zarin’s forehead. Willow heard her whisper something and then just like that, h
e stopped moving. His body froze. She felt the coldness of his flesh and wanted to yank her hand back, but something told her she needed to hold on to him. She pressed her hand against his chest and curled her fingers into his shirt, holding on. His heart beat against her hand slowly—too slow. Something was wrong, just like he warned her.
“What did you do?” She glared at the one person who had showed her kindness and wondered, was this woman to be trusted? Was she hurting her mate?
Wait…mate? She shook her head. Now everything he told her—or rather, the dragon told her–was taking over her thoughts. The dragon had gotten to her, and now Willow wasn’t sure what to believe. What was real, and what was a part of her imagination? Or as crazy as it seemed, was it all real?
Willow was beginning to realize that everything was different in Stratham, and nothing was quite as it seemed. “You’re not human either, are you? He told me you were different, but that was all. I didn’t want to believe him.”
Bev ignored her. “We must get him off the street before someone notices.” She laid a hand on Willow’s back and whispered again.
Then nothing.
Willow was trapped in darkness. She heard Bev’s voice, but she couldn’t see anything or make out the words she said. The darkness swirled around her. She gasped and pushed out around her, reaching for anything that could help. Her hands slammed against a barrier. She moved her hands, trying to find an opening, but there was no breach.
Her lungs constricted as she struggled to breath. Everything was closing in on her. She murmured and kept searching in the darkness for a hole. Her hands slapped the surface, and a sting shot through her arm, sending tingles down her spine.
She sobbed and kept moving in circles. Dizziness swept over her, and even in the pure darkness she saw the white lights. The ones people get when they’re about to pass out.
“Help me, please.”
Nothing happened. And suddenly, she couldn’t hear. It was a hollow nothingness. She shivered and rubbed her arms, feeling the tiny gooseflesh on her body.
“Get me out of here!”
She couldn’t breathe, and her body shook. As she tried to take in a breath, she realized she was going to die. Whatever Bev did was going to kill her. Panic washed over her body and her soul, and for the first time in her life—if she could really call it that—she prayed for another chance.
In the darkness, she prayed that somehow, she’d live and she’d do whatever she had to. She wouldn’t fight him. No, she would accept him and her fate, and she would do everything in her power to save the boy—the innocent life. She would find redemption. It was the darkness of her soul that was eating her alive.
Chapter 8
Willow screamed and jerked away from the cold that touched her.
“Willow,” Bev cried, “it’s me. Calm down girl.”
She sobbed and jerked her eyes open to see two strange, violet eyes looking at her, and she threw herself into the older woman’s arms. She cried harder than she had in years. “I can’t go back to the dark,” she said between choked sobs. “I need the light.”
Bev petted her head as if she were a child. “Shh. It’s going to be okay now. You’re safe here.”
But Willow wasn’t sure. Was she really safe, or was this town just another trap for unsuspecting humans? She glanced around the room and realized she wasn’t in the diner and she wasn’t in the upstairs loft.
“Where are we?”
Bev chuckled nervously. “Well, we’re in my home. I had to get us out of there in a pinch, and my home is always my first thought.”
Willow looked around the room. It was filled with witchcraft paraphernalia. She gulped and stood slowly, holding her arms out to keep her balance. She took baby steps around the room and looked at all the different colored candles. The room held many different scents, and there was even a crystal ball on a silk cloth-covered table.
“You’re a witch?”
Bev chuckled again. “Well, yes dear. I don’t usually advertise. Most people don’t bother with me. They think I’m a little kooky, but otherwise harmless.
“But you aren’t harmless. You have magic and a lot of it if you’re able to bring us from across town to your what—alter room?”
When Willow was in high school, she studied witchcraft, trying to find out if there was an inkling of real magic in the world. Back then she didn’t believe there was, but now she had solid proof. Proof that things other than humans existed. It was a lot to swallow.
“No, not harmless, but I just want to be left alone. I don’t bother anyone.”
“But you don’t like Zarin because he’s a dragon.”
The older woman glanced to the couch where an unconscious Zarin lay. Willow eased her way toward him, feeling the need to be near him.
“Now him, he’s all right, but there are dragons…” Bev shifted and cleared her throat. “They used my family for generations, and then once they were done with us, they slaughtered us. Witches were second-class citizens to dragons. But these folks, the ones in Stratham, they are different. I learned that after keeping a close eye on them. You see, they aren’t purebred, and I think that takes out the evil that’s inside all pure dragons. They’re cocky, arrogant bastards, selfish, and they think they own everything. These, though, at least Zarin, he’s good.”
Willow was confused. “Then why did you warn me about him?”
A chair appeared, and Bev threw herself down as if she were exhausted, and who knew–maybe she was. She did use magic. “Because being with a supernatural creature isn’t always a choice, and once you make physical contact, there’s no fighting it anymore, your choice sorta gets taken away. You seemed to be a little down on your luck, didn’t think you needed to be sucked into our world—at least not yet. But it appears I’m wrong, and now poor Zarin, rest his soul, is paying for my misinformation.”
Her voice cracked, and Willow looked to see her wipe a tear away. What was wrong with Zarin? Was he going to be okay? “He’s not dead?” She sat on the edge of the couch and laid her hand over his chest. His heart beat so slowly. He’d just explained it to her, sort of.
“No, but he’s not alive really either. He’s stuck, and only you can bring him back. If that’s even possible anymore. I didn’t know how my magic would affect him. I just wanted him to sleep so you could have some time to decide. Rejecting your mate is a tough thing, but it is possible.”
“You think I want to reject him?” she rubbed her fingers over his chest without much thought. “I didn’t get a chance to think. All of this was sprung on me. And I obviously haven’t had the greatest luck with men.”
Bev perked up as if Willow had gotten her point. “Exactly. I didn’t want you to feel pressured to mate before you were ready. I didn’t know about the boy, though.”
“The boy?” Willow knew, but how did Bev know?
She waved a hand. “The boy, a Half-Nymph, needs you and Zarin both, but not the human Willow, the Willow you’ll become when you complete the bond with your beast. Now you have to be able to pull Zarin back before he’s stuck.”
“Stuck where?”
“The other realm. The place I put him so you could have time.”
“So now he’s in danger, and I have this innocent child in danger that needs something I can’t get without Zarin?”
Great, just her luck.
“Yes,” Bev replied, her voice small. “I panicked, you were screaming, and this was all in public, you see? Humans can’t know about us, not yet. You two were about to make quite the scene, and we couldn’t have that. My magic works in a pinch, but sometimes it has a mind of its own.”
“Great,” Willow muttered. “Now I get to explain to a very large, and very broody, king that you somehow magically sent his family to another realm just so I didn’t feel ‘the pressure.’ I highly doubt that’s going to go over well.”
“I’m sorry, Willow. You should be able to get him back in a pinch. Most likely, you just have to declare him as yours or accept
him or the dragon or something. I don’t know how it works with these Halflings. All I know is that pure-blooded dragons don’t need to mate. Mostly, they just flock around with whomever they want, and it doesn’t matter if they’re willing or not.
Willow got it then. This woman—no, this witch—had been abused and hurt by a purebred dragon. That made her very unhappy when a whole lot of them moved to her home. She went into panic mode, and even though she’d known Zarin for a while, she still feared him. “So, you’re scared of this group of dragons just because of your past.”
“Yes.”
Willow sighed. She couldn’t really fault her. Willow was scared of all men because of the two in her life that had planted the seed that all men would hurt her. “Well, I guess we get to go to the dragons’ lair.”
Bev shook her head, and her eyes widened. “Oh no, I can’t go. No matter how nice they are, there are too many. I…I…please don’t make me go.”
Willow watched the woman crumble. Her body shook, and her skin went ghostly pale. Her lips trembled, and tears filled her violet eyes. Willow rushed over to Bev and pulled her into a tight embrace. “Okay, but you’re going to at least have to help me get him home.” She pulled back and frowned. “But no magic.”
“Thank you, sweet girl. I know they aren’t bad, but I still react. I can’t help it. After years and generations of torture, dragons scare the bejeezus out of me.”
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