by R. E. Butler
Not pretty like her fae wings. Even her dragon wings were pink and purple, not all gross and dark-colored.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded. “You promised to stay away from me and my family when I ignored your dragon.”
Ladon folded his arms over his broad chest and gave her a condescending smile. “Think back, little dragon. I never promised anything.”
Her mind was spinning over the conversation with the king before he shifted, and a sinking feeling in his gut told her that he was correct. He’d never fully promised. He’d teased at it and worked his way around it, without actually saying that he would.
“But Drayce cut his hand and promised it,” she said finally.
“Drayce is not the king.”
“Fuck.”
She heard Kevin shouting her name and racing toward the workshop. Ladon flicked his fingers at the door, and a shimmery red haze eclipsed the entire inside of the shed. She couldn’t see through it, and she was betting that Kevin couldn’t see in, either.
Also, she couldn’t hear anything but him pounding on the door.
“Drayce said you wouldn’t want me around because my dragon doesn’t want to bow to you, so I’ll ask you again: What are you doing here?”
Ladon gestured to a chair and one of the males with him grabbed it and brought it over to him. He sat, the wood creaking with his weight. He was getting comfortable. That wasn’t good.
“Sit, please,” she said sarcastically, taking a nearby chair for herself. “But let my mate in.”
“I think not. At least until I’ve said what I came to say.”
“I’m getting pretty damn tired of you thinking you can boss me around. You’re not my king. You’re not anything to me.”
“I believe the reason your dragon doesn’t recognize me is because you don’t have a connection to the fae realm anymore. Your parents are dead. You believe they had no family.”
“My father had no siblings, and all of his family is gone. My mother only had her sister, my Aunt Georgette, who died trying to keep me safe. There’s no one else on either of my parents’ sides.”
“You’re wrong. In fact, this young male here is going to mate a distant cousin of yours. Her name is Trelana.”
Doubt panged within her. How could she have a distant cousin if her parents had no siblings?
“Valor’s father,” the male in question said, “had a sister. She died giving birth to a son, but the son lived. He had a daughter, and she’s my mate.”
“Then that means that my father had cousins who were alive. He said he was the last in his family before I came along.” Disbelief warred with the need she’d always had to have a connection to biological family. She clapped her hands on her knees to stop their sudden trembling. “It doesn’t matter. My life is here. I have my mates.”
“Don’t you want to meet your cousin? Don’t you want to know what it’s like to have family?”
Her chest heaved as she panted for breath, her mind racing over all she’d ever heard her father say about his family. There had been no one. Wouldn’t he have told her if it were true?
“I don’t believe you.”
“You should,” Ladon said. “When your cousin, Trelana, mates with Sidell, he’ll be part of your family by marriage. And his brother, Lewkar, is eligible to be mated as well. You’d make a wonderful couple, and their family is one of the most powerful in our clan. Next to mine, of course.”
Lewkar, who had remained silent up until that point, flashed a smile at Treasure.
Her dragon made a soft sound in her mind. It was longing. Longing for others of her kind. For biological family who understood what it was like to have a creature like a dragon in your subconscious.
She stared at Lewkar, with his forest-green eyes and the stubble on his cheeks. He was handsome. And wasn’t he offering her what her parents had expected her to eventually have – a dragon for a mate?
Temptation reared its head.
But underneath the temptation was the fact that while Ladon might be telling the truth about her father’s family, she wouldn’t trade Brian and Kevin for anyone or anything. Not for biological family. And especially not for a dragon king who liked to play with words and break promises.
She rose slowly to her feet and let out her fae wings. Drawing on her power, she let fire flare from her fingertips. “I’m not buying what you’re selling. I have mates. I don’t need anyone else. Get out, or I swear on everything holy I will burn this shed down around us.”
She turned her hands down, sending licks of fire outward, singeing the floorboards in front of the king.
Lewkar and Sidell jumped back, their wings flapping as they drew weapons.
“You’re a more interesting female than I anticipated,” Ladon said, slowly standing as if she wasn’t going to burn him to a crisp and send his remains home in a gift-wrapped box.
“Don’t come back.”
Although she was trying to sound threatening, her voice was cracking with emotion. She turned her flames to the red haze; it sparkled and crackled as she increased her power, her wings flapping wildly as a deep blue glow came from her hands. She let out a loud roar from her dragon, shaking the walls. She was aware of movement to the side, and the three males retreating to the fae realm. As their portal closed, the red haze disappeared.
She caught a glimpse of the king’s face before the portal closed, however.
And she knew she wasn’t done seeing him.
* * *
Kevin rammed into the door. It splintered with the force, but didn’t open. His voice was hoarse from shouting for Treasure. He’d been beating on the damn door for ten minutes, only taking a tiny break to call Brian.
The door opened suddenly and Treasure raced into his arms. He pulled her in close, aware that she was sobbing.
“What happened? What’s going on?”
He heard Brian running toward them and moved a little way from the shed, setting her on her feet.
In halting words, she told them about her experience with the king.
Brian snarled loudly, slashing the air with his claws. “That fucking bastard!”
Rhett appeared, his chest heaving as he panted for breath. “What’s going on? I smelled fire and I heard shouting after I turned off the tractor. Everyone okay?”
Kevin relayed the story to him.
The four of them walked into the shed. They could see where she’d scorched the floor, but otherwise there was no evidence that anyone but Treasure had been in the shed. He hadn’t been able to see inside because something had covered the windows and also held the door securely closed.
Rhett turned to face her. “Do you believe the king is telling the truth about your father’s family?”
She searched through her memories, and realized the truth was in the home office.
“Let’s find out,” she said.
They followed her to the office, where she took out her father’s detailed family history. She found a page with several photos and hand-written details. It took a little while, but she was able to find the information she was looking for. She removed a grainy black-and-white picture from a sleeve. There were three people in the photo, which she remembered seeing on her father’s desk when he was compiling the history.
Turning it over, she read the back aloud: “Rohnel, Abitta, and Tawnie.”
“Who are they?” Brian asked.
“Rohnel and Abitta are my father’s parents. He called Tawnie his aunt, but she wasn’t biologically related to him. When I asked my father about her, he said that his parents brought her into their home when her parents were killed in a battle with fae. Tawnie died before I was born, when she was sixteen. If she’d had a child before she died, my father would never have allowed it to be taken from the family.” Even though the idea of biological family to an orphan like her was very appealing, something deep inside had told her the king was lying. Which made him a jackass of epic proportions.
“What does he gain from
that kind of lie?” Kevin asked.
“Me, I guess. If I didn’t have this photo, I might have wondered if he was telling the truth. My dragon likes the idea of being around other dragons, but not at the expense of losing you both. I have no family members in the fae realm. Period.”
“Do you think you’re safe now?” Rhett asked, his brow furrowed.
She sighed. “I don’t know. I kind of feel like I’ve got a tarmac on my back.”
Rhett looked at Treasure. “A what?”
“Tarmac.”
“You mean ‘target,’” Kevin said.
“Right.” She rubbed her forehead and blinked rapidly a few times. “I only tried to protect myself from fae. But the dragons know where I am. It’s not like I can wipe myself from their memories or anything.” She gave Rhett a hug. “Thank you for coming to help me. I’m so sorry that danger keeps finding me.”
He squeezed her tight. “Just figure out how to keep yourself safe, honey. Lisa and I want you to have a long, safe, and happy life here in our realm.”
“I want that, too, trust me.”
Kevin and Brian shared a quiet look. He knew without speaking the words that he and his brother were going to do whatever was necessary to protect their mate. Until they were certain that she wasn’t in danger, they’d be by her side to come to her defense.
Chapter 12
The next night, Treasure woke with a start and found herself in a strange room that reminded her of a medieval castle’s audience chamber. She was seated on a plush chair, wearing her tank-and-shorts set with the cartoon llamas on them.
A door clanged shut and she rose to her feet. Her dragon snarled as she saw Ladon walk into the room and onto a red runner that went from the tall double doors to a stage with a throne.
An honest-to-goodness throne.
She knew where she was: inside the dragon king’s castle. “What the hell am I doing here?”
He nodded at her as he ambled by, ascending the steps and turning gracefully to sit on the throne. He motioned with a hand off to the side of the stage and a female walked in with a little girl in her arms.
Treasure left the chair and stood in the center of the runner. It was soft velvet under her bare feet, and she could feel the coldness of the stone floor under it.
“What’s going on?” she asked, trying for a less demanding tone. He might not be her king, but he was a king, after all. “Why did you bring me here?”
“I know you were put off by my visit before,” he said.
“Put off? That’s an understatement.” She folded her arms over her chest and let her fae out enough to unfold her wings.
“There’s no need to get defensive.”
“Excuse me! I was asleep in my bedroom and you opened a portal and brought me here. In my world, that’s kidnapping and wrongful imprisonment, not to mention that when my father and my mates find out what happened, you wouldn’t even make it to a courthouse for a trial.”
“I’m many, many times their size in my shift.”
“Hell hath no fury like a pissed-off mountain lion. Or a dragonfae.” She couldn’t open a portal without making a circle on the ground, and there wasn’t anything in the room to do that with. No handy sticks or rocks.
Ladon let out a growling sigh. “I brought you here to show you what you’re missing.”
“I’m not missing anything by not being in the fae realm, except having a king who thinks it’s okay to sneak into females’ rooms and kidnap them.”
The female standing next to the king tightened her grip on the child and cast a wary look at the king. He dismissed her look with a wave of his hand.
“Your dragon wants to be with her own kind. It’s hardwired into your system, and no matter how much you may feel for the cat shifters, they’re not going to satisfy you. Eventually your dragon will revolt and you’ll have no choice but to come here.”
“You’re wrong.”
“I’m not wrong about this.” He motioned to the female, who whispered something into the little girl’s ear and set her on the stage. In a heartbeat, the girl had transformed into the tiniest dragon Treasure had ever seen, with pretty dark-green scales highlighted with golds and jades. The dragon rose into the air, tilting one way and then the other before righting herself. She headed straight for Treasure, letting out a call that hit the very center of Treasure’s heart.
As the dragon swooped over Treasure’s head with a chirping cry, Treasure nearly fell to her knees.
The longing her dragon had felt in the shed when she was faced with an unmated male of her own kind: it was back with a vengeance. Worse in some ways, because this was about having a child that was like her.
“I can have children with my mates.” She pushed away the longing and ground the words out.
“Not like this,” the king said. “Not fully like you. They’ll be a hodgepodge. Freaks in every circle. Not dragon, not cat, not anything. But you can change that.”
She shook her head. “I will not.”
“You can keep your mates, but first bear a young with one of my warriors. Have a fully dragon child. It’s your duty as a dragon female to carry on our species.”
The little girl trilled as she landed at the female’s feet. “There’s nothing like carrying a dragon baby. I can see your dragon leaking through your eyes. She wants this. Don’t you?”
“I don’t even know who you are. And you definitely don’t know me. What I want is to go home.”
“I can give you what your dragon desires,” Ladon said as he rose to his feet. He strode to her, his gaze boring into her as if he could read her mind. “You want this. All of this. You belong here, under the protection of the clan, bearing young in your father’s name. Treasure, honored daughter of Valor.”
At the low blow, purposely intended to make her feel guilty she was sure, her dragon let out a mournful sound. There was something very special about being with one’s own kind. To not be the ‘only one.’
The king sounded so damn reasonable.
Treasure stared up at him. The temptation to talk to him a little more, stay a little longer, was right there on the tip of her tongue.
But it wasn’t right.
Nothing about what was happening to her was right.
She took a step back, put her hands up and stretched out her wings. “I reject you, King Ladon. I don’t want to have a child with a dragon, or to live here with your clan. The only thing I owe my parents’ memory is to live a happy life. They would never have forced me to choose a dragon. My father chose my mother and walked away from you, so why would I believe that you know anything about his desires for me? I want to go home. Now.”
Ladon stared at her, and for the briefest moment she thought he might attack her. She’d never gone up against a trained male fighter, but she was pretty quick and she had some defensive spells. She might not be able to take him, but she’d try her damnedest.
The doors behind her slammed against the walls as they were opened with force. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Drayce striding toward her with several males behind him.
“I knew it!” Drayce said as he marched up to them and stepped between Treasure and Ladon. “I knew you were up to something. You promised to leave her alone. I made a declaration on my honor that you would.”
“Semantics,” Ladon said. “I hinted at promises but made none directly. It’s my prerogative as king.”
Drayce let out a sharp roar that made the hair on Treasure’s arms stand up. He was pissed.
“Are you harmed?” Drayce asked her.
“No, just angry.”
“I’m sorry, I’ll send you home immediately.”
He opened a portal into her bedroom, and she tried not to be weirded out by how the dragons could so easily see where she slept.
“I want to be left alone. I want what you promised,” she said to Drayce. “There has to be a dragon in this clan who can ensure that even if the king doesn’t think he made a promise, the promises made will be ho
nored.”
“I’ll do my best,” Drayce said.
Because her fae wings were out, she could tap into the power to read auras, and she quickly scanned the king and his son. While Drayce’s colors told her he was being honest and protective, Ladon’s colors told her he was angry and dishonest.
She stepped into the portal. “I hope I never see another dragon as long as I live.”
The portal closed, and she sat heavily on her bed, put her head in her hands, and wept.
* * *
After she’d cried out all the tears she could, she woke up Rhett and Lisa and called her mates. Hope joined them in the family room, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Treasure told them what had happened to her, and how Drayce had come to her aid.
“I just want to be safe in my own home,” Treasure said.
“Come live at the boarding house,” Kevin said. “It’s just a few days until we’re married and mated officially. He wouldn’t dare come into a house full of lions.”
“I agree,” Brian said. “This isn’t about anything but your safety. One of us will be with you at night. We could move into our home, but I feel like the boarding house is a better choice.”
“I don’t want to leave you guys here without me,” she said, looking at her parents and best friend.
“Then we’ll all come,” Rhett said. “It won’t kill us to stay at the boarding house for a few days until the ceremony.”
“I believe that once we’re mated and married, even if the king did try to come to see me again he’d realize it was futile,” Treasure said.
“He shouldn’t have come for you two more times,” Hope said. “What kind of king is he?”
Lisa shook her head and gave Treasure a hug. “The important thing is that you’re safe. That all of us are safe. Let’s go pack. Rhett can call James and we’ll head over in a bit.”
“I’m sorry,” Treasure said.
“For what?” Rhett asked as he pushed buttons on his phone.