“Dom,” he said. “Stop.”
Dom, the stranger, was breathing heavily and only barely managed to pull himself back from delivering a fatal slash to the wolf. Instead, he punched him, hard, knocking his head into the stone floor, and stood, spitting on the wolf’s unconscious body.
The white-haired man walked forward. “Dom, calm down. She’s safe.”
Dom turned to her, still shirtless, still scary with those piercings and that odd-colored hair. Those bright eyes.
He’d saved her. But he was a shifter.
She scooted back on the bed as he walked forward. “Oh no you don’t.”
“You’re coming with us,” he said.
She tried to run for it, but Dom was on her in a second, scooping her up and throwing her over his shoulder as if she were nothing. And she was on the taller side and curvy.
She pounded on his back, and the white-haired man glared at his friend. “Dom, where are your manners?”
“Where’s Bridget, Alistair?” Dom snarled.
Alistair spun on his heel. “Down in the passageway,” he said. “She made me leave to make sure you weren’t getting your ass kicked.”
“As if.” Dom scoffed.
“Then you shouldn’t have been playing with your food,” Alistair snapped.
“Bridget is with you?” Lana asked, ceasing her struggle.
“Yes,” Alistair said, walking down the steps. “Right… here…” He trailed off, and Lana felt her heart go cold. If Bridget had gotten hurt while coming to help her…
Because, of course, Bridget, with her amazing, loyal heart, would never give up on her.
“She was right here!” Alistair said. “Shit. Shit!”
And then he was gone, disappearing down the stairs and through the doorway on the second floor.
Dom looked at Lana. “Guess we better make sure he doesn’t get into trouble.”
“What are you?” she asked, glaring at him, wishing he didn’t have to keep hold of her quite so tightly.
He didn’t answer, just started down the stairs after his partner.
Bridget cursed herself for being so caught up in watching Alistair go after Dom that she hadn’t seen one of the wyverns, if that’s what it was, creeping up on her from behind.
It had grabbed her around her waist and covered her mouth before she could scream, and she’d had to watch helplessly as Alistair disappeared into the room and out of sight.
Dammit, the creature must have just been waiting for an opportunity.
It was human-ish but taller and thinner, with pale scales she could feel over some of the parts that were touching her. Wearing only ragged pants.
It dragged her into the room on the second floor, where the others were fighting,
“Stop!” it shouted out as she looked around and saw many creatures like it wailing and burning as they tried to fight Red and Luc. Some of them were frozen solid, and Red and Luc didn’t even look like they were breaking a sweat. Zach was nowhere to be seen. “Unless you want something to happen to her, you will stop!”
Red and Luc froze when they saw her, both unsure what to do from there.
Several wyverns who were near came closer, encircling her, muttering and reaching out to touch her as she tried to wriggle away. There were still dozens in the room.
“Stop it!” Red said.
“You going to use your fire? Burn her?” the wyvern hissed triumphantly. “Freeze her? There’s nothing you can do.”
There were nearly a dozen wyverns around her now, crowding in, making menacing noises, trying to touch her.
“Get the fuck away from my mate,” Alistair’s angry voice called out as he appeared at the doorway.
He strode forward, eyes glowing, almost as if he were lit from within. He faced Bridget and the insolent wyverns. “Bridget, give me my powers,” he said. “Be my mate.”
His hair was lifting around him again, the way it had when he’d been in the dungeon, watching her with Galen.
She shook her head, still stubborn. He had most of his powers right now anyway, since she was in danger. “No.”
“Bridget, I was wrong. There was one time when I felt you were mine. Before the ring.” He raised a hand and swept one side of the wyverns away with that invisible force he possessed. “When Galen was touching you. I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t handle it.” He wiped the other side of wyverns away, slamming them into a nearby wall.
“It wasn’t because I’m a good person, because I wasn’t until I met you. The only person willing to be kind to me.” He raised both hands and pulled, drawing the wyvern holding her toward him. When they were close, he pulled her against him, shoving the wyvern back with incredible force. “When I rescued you then, I knew you were mine. I’m just stupid, Bridget. Too stupid for you. You deserve better.”
Another wyvern rushed them, having recovered, and Alistair kicked it in the face as he turned Bridget to face him. “If something had happened to you then, I couldn’t have survived it. I should have known then you were my mate. Perhaps that’s why I was so willing to hand over the ring, on a subconscious level. Dragons never hand over their ring. Even then I thought it was odd.”
Another wyvern popped up, and he punched it in the face without breaking stride. “I’m not good with emotions.” He closed his eyes in irritation as a few wyverns attacked from behind, and he forced them back with a shockwave. “I feel most deeply when I’m fighting for you. I have to be honest then. In the stairwell, I wanted to tell you I love you… when you asked why I wanted to be your mate.”
He brushed her hair back as he kicked behind him and took out another wyvern. “I love you, sweetheart, more than life.” One more punch. “So agree to mate me and give me my powers so I can kill these fuckers for even touching you.”
“Okay,” she said simply. “I’ll mate you.” She reached up on her toes and kissed him, and he felt her acceptance and love and felt lucky he had a woman who understood emotions so much better than he did. Who was so much more willing to bend than he was.
And that she was okay and they weren’t fighting anymore.
And oddly, he felt no panic over the fact that they were mated as the collar slipped from his shoulders. No sense of being trapped, no responsibility, just peace. As if everything he’d gone through had been for a purpose, so he could meet and be with this woman.
He felt power flood through him, and a grin spread over his face.
“Shields up,” he yelled to Luc and Red. He waited for Luc to cover both of them with an ice shield and then stomped his foot into the ground, hard. Energy spread from him over the ground, chasing down every unshielded creature in the room, turning them to sparkling, clear stone.
He turned to survey the room, the wyverns stuck in various poses of shock and fear. He didn’t feel bad for them at all. They’d been attacking his friends, his mate, aiding and abetting kidnapping.
“Holy shit,” Luc said as he and Red stepped out of their shields. “What the hell did you do to them?”
“Took care of them,” Alistair said, keeping his arm around Bridget.
“Nice speech,” Red said.
“Thanks.” Alistair refused to be bothered by anything now that Bridget was officially his. He could already see them building a life together.
Dom walked in, holding Lana over his shoulder like some kind of captive as she beat at his shoulders. “Ice sculptures?” he said. “Not bad.” He plonked one with his fist, and his eyes widened. “Oh shit, that’s not ice, is it?”
Alistair shook his head.
“Damn, that’s useful,” Dom said. “Should have just got you two to mate each other and sent you in first.”
Alistair shook his head. It had happened how it needed to. She wouldn’t doubt his love for her now. He’d said it on his own, when he’d been unable to fight it anymore. Though now that he thought about it, she hadn’t said it back.
Hm. Something to discuss when they got back, hopefully.
“Bridget!” L
ana screeched, looking over hopefully. She had tawny skin and dark, curly hair, plus eyes in a light color he couldn’t make out. “Let me down, you Cro-Magnon! I want to see my friend.”
Dom dutifully put her down, and she ran to Bridget. Alistair fought back his jealousy as they hugged. After all, this meant a lot to his mate.
He felt emotion welling in him just watching her shed happy tears over being reunited with her friend.
Dom threw an arm around his shoulder. “So you have those kinds of powers, yet you wasted them for so long just lying around consuming Bon-bons?”
Alistair scoffed. “Not just Bon-bons. Steak, wines…” He laughed. “I have discovered I like fighting. I think I will enjoy being on the right side in this world.”
Dom watched Bridget and Lana thoughtfully.
“Perhaps you’re rethinking it as well?” Alistair asked quietly.
“I don’t know,” Dom said. He turned to Red and Luc, who were walking across the room. “Hey, let’s go.”
“Gotta go find Zach,” Red called.
But just then, Zach appeared on the other side of the hall. “I’m here. The witch got away.”
“Witch?” Luc asked.
“I’ll explain when we get back,” Zach said, looking a little worse for wear and definitely shocked. He glanced at Alistair, noting the collar was gone. “Congrats.”
“Thanks,” Alistair said.
“Let’s go home,” Zach said. He walked to Lana. “Lana, was it? Would you mind coming with us? We could use your help with some info, and Bridget would love to catch up.”
Lana nodded, sending a scowl in Dom’s direction. Still, Alistair couldn’t help noticing the human female was also blushing. “See, some people know how to politely ask you to come with them.”
Dom ignored her. “Who’s she flying with?”
Zach’s eyes twinkled. “Dom?”
Dom looked at her, and she shook her head. “No. No, no, no.”
“Sorry,” Zach said. “We all have mates, and they don’t appreciate us carrying other women in our arms if we can help it. But trust me; Dom’s an upstanding guy.”
Lana locked her arm through Bridget’s but begrudgingly followed them down the stairs and outside. The she walked to Dom, who transformed into a giant, shimmering purple dragon so dark it almost looked black.
Alistair looked down at Bridget. “You ready to fly?”
She nodded eagerly, touching her ring. “Let’s go.”
And then, as a giant, shimmering dragon, he carried his mate into the night.
Chapter 16
“So there’s a dark oracle?” Luc asked, looking perplexed as he sat back in his chair, holding Hallie’s hand. They’d all met at the dining room table as soon as they’d completed the rescue. Everyone but Lana, who’d just wanted to eat her dinner in her room and get some rest after a hug from Bridget.
Zach nodded. “She made a run for it when we showed up, but I caught her just as she tried to fly out the top window.”
“Fly?” Red asked.
Zach nodded. “Do we even really know what the oracle is capable of? Anyway, I got a picture of her, snapped it with my phone as she was trying to get away. I couldn’t get through the window fast enough to take off after her, and besides, she was surrounded by this swirling purple cloud that looked really ominous.” He shook his head. “I’ve sent it to the oracle, though. We’ll see what she says.”
“How can there be a dark oracle?”
“Same way there can be bad dragons or other bad shifters,” Zach said. “We all choose a side to be on, whether we like it or not.”
“Like Aegis,” Alistair said quietly. Bridget squeezed his hand, knowing it was still hard for him to accept his friend was on the wrong side.
“How close were you with him, anyway?” Luc asked.
“Close enough,” Alistair answered. But he didn’t say anything more, and Bridget felt that was a conversation for another day.
“So anyway, we took down that location, and we’ve sent scouts to check out the location where Alistair was being held.”
“Scouts?” Bridget asked.
“Other dragons who patrol the area,” Zach explained. “They’ll take care of it.”
“Are you okay with that?” Bridget asked Alistair. “You wanted revenge.”
He pulled her in against him. “I don’t need it anymore. Thanks to them, I found the best thing in my life.”
“Ugh, is that what I sound like?” Red teased, gazing at his mate.
She nodded. “You’re even worse sometimes.”
Red snuggled Faye, and the rest of them laughed, letting go of most of the tension of the night.
“Let me know what you find,” Alistair said. “And if you need any more info.”
“It’s fine,” Zach said. “Go and rest with Bridget. You two have been through a lot.”
“Thank you,” Alistair said, extending a hand for Bridget to stand with him.
She loved the way his hand encapsulated hers, so warm and strong. And now with a total lack of hesitation. “I would say thank you for saving me again, but it seems kind of redundant.”
“No need to thank me. I like doing it. I plan to keep doing it whenever you need it.”
“Thanks.”
He nuzzled her neck as they reached her large bedroom. “I told you stop thanking me.”
“I can’t,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on tight. “You’ve changed my life. Turned it all around. Rescued my friend. Loved me.”
“You still haven’t said it back.”
“You held back, too,” she said.
He stared at her, eyes a warm green. “How do you want me?”
“What do you mean?”
“My eyes. My hair. What do you want tonight?”
She ran a hand through the coarse locks. “I don’t care. I like all of them. I want to see every color you have.”
“Then I’ll change them as I feel,” he said. “Because you bring out every part of me.”
He shut the door behind them and locked it, and the luxe furnishings all around only added to the ambiance. “Tonight I’ll be blue,” he said. “Just my eyes.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because it’s the color of loyalty, and I’m going to be with you forever.”
She shivered with pleasure as she shed her clothing, wanting to be naked with him. He pulled off his sweatshirt, his tee, and she got a good look at his hot, muscular body in only jeans.
Then he kicked those off, too, and she faced him in just her panties while he wore only a pair of boxer briefs. He cocked his head, and she took in his utter beauty. No longer just the beautiful dragon in the basement. Now he was a flesh-and-blood man, a person she’d gotten to know, flaws and all.
She didn’t know all of his past, all his history, his whole life without her. And he didn’t know what she’d been like before her pursuit of Lana.
But the past was nothing compared to the future they had together.
Every moment she’d had with him had kept her completely in the present, completely absorbed in what was going on between them. And all that mattered was who they were right at that very moment. As they made a physical representation of the forever they were promising one another.
“You’ll learn everything about me,” he said, walking forward until her legs hit the bed and she tumbled onto it. “I want to know everything about you.”
She scrambled back so she was in a comfortable position, and he came over her.
He kissed his way down her arm. “But I know what I need to. I know you’re kind. I know you’re brave. I know you’re loyal.” He lifted her hand and kissed the fingertips. “I know I can’t live without you. I know you taught me to care.”
She blinked up at him, feeling so warm and cared for she could cry. “Doesn’t it seem crazy, though? Being together after so little time?”
“No,” he said. “We’ve been through more than most couples will go through
in a lifetime. We’ve faced death together. Fought side by side. Taken care of one another.”
“Yeah,” she said. “I guess so.”
“You know so,” he said, staring into her eyes. Even with a blue color, they were still uniquely his, with those long eyelashes and the distinct twinkle when he looked at her. He ran a hand over her waist and played with the hem of her panties. “Don’t make me convince you again.”
“But it’s so fun when you convince me of things,” she teased, writhing against his touch.
“But sometimes, I just want to know you’re in this with me. Even when I screwed up so badly before.”
She nodded, putting a hand up to draw it down his chest. “I was always in it with you. Since I put on your ring. Before that, when I kept talking to you in the basement when it wasn’t part of my job. Even then, I couldn’t keep away from you.”
He grinned, and it felt like he could light up the room with his happiness. Oddly, kneeling over her, he seemed even bigger as he swelled with pleasure.
“You don’t know how happy it makes me to hear you say that,” he said, taking her lips in a long kiss.
It reminded her of their first, surprising in its soft intensity, growing hotter by the second. She wrapped her fingers in his hair, keeping him close, swiping her tongue against his, entwining them as he let out a low groan. This hot, tall, powerful, stubborn, sexy man was all hers.
“Take me,” she murmured, bringing her hips up to press against him, letting him feel the heat there. His hand cupped her, teasing her entrance. Then he tore away the panties. “Now yours,” she said, reaching for his boxer briefs.
“Wait,” he said, spreading her legs and lifting them over his shoulders.
She squeaked in shock as his mouth found her, bare and wet, and kissed her deeply, continuing just as he had with her mouth. So intimate, so passionate, but this time sending shockwaves of pleasure through her most sensitive areas. She bit down on her fist and felt her eyes roll back in her head as the first orgasm hit.
“The first of many,” he said, grinning down at her. “During our lives together, I’m going to make them countless.”
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