by Ginna Moran
He raises an eyebrow, with fire flashing in his eyes. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he’d spank me for calling him out. “If you think I’m even remotely okay with this, you’re wrong. I am only doing as you have requested and refraining from killing them and starting a war.”
It’s my turn to grimace. “You’re doing this for me? Because of the bond?”
“I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not with you blocking me out.” Maddox tilts his head and searches my eyes.
“I’m blocking you out?” I question, my nose scrunching.
He surprises me by smirking and leaning closer, his cinnamon breath warming the skin below my ear. “As you should right now. I don’t want the Darkonians to use that against us if you unintentionally spill your thoughts and any secrets we want to keep. My sole intent is to only accept their help to keep you safe. I don’t want to bond with them.”
My eyes widen as realization sinks in. “And what about me?”
“Fuck no. I’d be lying if I told you otherwise, but I also know that it is what it is. You’re mine, Delphia. You’re a Dreki and our intended. I don’t give a lycan’s ass that these fuckers were misinformed by the fates, but it doesn’t mean we can’t use this to our benefit. Perhaps you can get them to do something about Kash’s deal. The warlock can help us with a cure.”
“So you’re not okay with them coming in here and trying to stake their claim on me.” It’s not a question. I can feel it in my bones. “Yet you’re okay with me working them to get what we need.”
He shrugs. “That’s up to you, cookie. I won’t stop you either way. Just be prepared for a constant reminder of who your true mates are.”
I lean away from him and tilt my head back to meet his fiery gaze. “I had no idea you had a criminal streak in you, Maddox. Look at you turning into a lawbreaker. Asking me to coerce the Darkonians. Tease a warlock.”
He smirks. “Don’t think that will stop me from wanting to punish your naughty ass for tonight. Your constant curiosity over these assholes drives me wild. Makes me want to try harder to keep your attention on me. When I see you checking out the royal cocks...” He growls and tightens his hold on me. “I want to pin you down and fuck you until you only look at them and think of me.”
Heat floods my face at his remark. “Or maybe you should bedazzle your dick instead.”
“They’ve only done so because they want you to be easily persuaded by cock.” He chuckles at his own comment, his voice light and musical, so different than what I’m used to. It’s like he knows what I need in this moment and gives it to me. “I don’t need any help with that. Plus, you’re already a huge pain in my cock half the time. There is no need to add to it.”
“I should kiss it right now and make it feel better, huh?” I tease, reaching between us to playfully stroke my hand over his hardening erection.
“Don’t test me, cookie. You’re hard enough to resist as it is, especially smelling the excitement my brother aroused in you.” He reaches around to my ass and swats me.
I stroke his cock faster, loving seeing the flames light his eyes with his desire. “But messing with you is my favorite pastime.”
He spins me around so quickly that I don’t have a chance to brace myself as he spanks my ass, reminding me that I’m still naked and exposed. “And punishing you for being a bad girl is mine.”
Maddox tries to swat me again, and I run toward the house, my heart feeling lighter now that I know Maddox isn’t just going to comply with the Darkonians, even in this weird situation. And maybe he’s right. We can use them to help Kash. They can also get the High Council to overturn my conviction.
“You better hurry, cookie. You teased my dragon too much. If I catch you, I will bend you over and have my way, and right now, we have other things to worry about. Don’t be the cause of my weakness,” Maddox says, running even faster.
“You can only blame yourself,” I call over my shoulder.
I dash away from him, pushing my legs to run me as fast as I can. Rowan waits in the foyer and throws a fireball at Maddox, sending him crashing into a decorative table. He growls and shoves it, getting back to his feet just as I reach the door to his room, fully intent on teasing him for the rest of the night to distract myself from everything else.
A yell sounds over my giggling laughter, and I freeze in my tracks and spin toward Rowan. “Where are the Royal Dicks?” I ask, fear clenching my chest.
“They followed you out,” Rowan says, glancing at Maddox.
Another yell rips through the air, stealing my breath. It’s Quillon.
I scream and run toward his room, my mind spinning in panic. The floor shakes, and a glass shatters from the living room as something breaks. I don’t even have to look to know that Kash fell off the roof in his dragon form.
“Nova, wait!” Maddox and Rowan yell in unison. “Let us go first,” Maddox adds.
But I can’t stop.
Yanking the door open, I stand in shock, horror, and disbelief.
Blood stains the floor, streaming around the room in a magical current.
I can’t do anything as Ambrose stabs Quillon through his heart.
Chapter 8
Clan Battles
“NO!” I SCREAM, GATHERING DRAGON fire between my palms. “Stop!”
A hulking body crashes into me, knocking me off my feet. My fire smolders across the tiles and scorches the wall. I gasp, my breath escaping me from the force of the crushing weight on top of me. Hot fingers lace around the back of my neck, pinning me down. Bucking my body, I try to break free of the hold of...Tiernan. Theo continues to restrain Quillon as his deep ruby blood gushes from his lycan body.
“Delphia, calm down. He gave us his permission to use his connection to Magaelorum to create a portal home,” Tiernan says, his smoky, sweet breath caressing my skin. It reminds me of roasting marshmallows, like burning sugar, and something else. “We’ve offered him the power he couldn’t refuse.”
“Liar! Get off me, you fuckhead! He’s killing him!” I try to jerk my head back to head-butt him, but he’s too strong. It feels like my self-defense training from when I was younger and the intense combat skills Maddox has been teaching me the last few weeks are worthless.
Tiernan shifts his weight, easing his hand from my neck only to shift it lower between my shoulder blades. “Ambrose is not, so calm down. He knows what he’s doing.”
“Release her, now!” Maddox’s husky voice erupts through the room, his hulking frame seething in the doorway. “She said to get off, and you will respect my mate.”
Tiernan digs his arm under my breasts and rolls with me, using me as a shield like the fucking asshole I should’ve known he’d be. Maddox looms over us, fire crawling up his arm while the scar on his cheek glows red. I grind my teeth, hating the feeling of Tiernan’s hard body beneath me. With him, I still have my good senses. My soul doesn’t scream to protect him, not like it had done with Theo.
I do the one thing I know will loosen his hold on me. I arch my hips up, curling into a half backbend and slam my ass down as hard as I can on the fucker’s junk. I expect him to yowl in pain and throw me off. But he doesn’t release me. He only groans and breathes in a breath of my hair.
And then his body retaliates by hardening against my ass crack, and I clench, stiffening. “You did not just get a boner from my body slamming your cock,” I say, trying with everything in me not to move. If I move, I’ll feel more.
Maddox roars, spewing smoke as his dragon partially breaks free. Grabbing onto my ankles, he jerks me away from Tiernan, hanging me upside down. My red hair cascades toward the floor, and my world blurs as Maddox spins.
“Fist your hand, cookie. This fucker needs to be put in his place,” Maddox says.
I automatically do as he commands, my brain turning into mush. My body submits to his alpha nature. The world blurs even more, dizziness stealing my senses. My fists clock into the side of Tiernan’s head and knock him off his feet and into
the dresser.
Green light buzzes through the air, cutting off Maddox’s roars of anger, his calls for punishment for the man who doesn’t have my soul in a forced mate bond, born of magic and the damn asshole warlock.
“Grab Delphia and let’s get the fuck out of here,” Tiernan says, his voice echoing through the room. “We don’t need the Drekis. They’ll just get in the way. She should be our only concern.”
It’s now that my mind finally catches up with me. I realize Maddox has gone silent only because he’s frozen, and I’m stuck upside down as he still clutches my feet. Ambrose used his power to stop my mate. And now...what the fuck. Did Tiernan just tell someone to grab me?
Two hot hands lock around my calves and pry my ankles from Maddox’s frozen grip. I scream out and flail, trying to get enough momentum to flip out of Theo’s hold and back on my feet. He nearly loses his grasp on me, but instead of dropping me, he catches me in his arms. Our eyes meet, and I stare into his green eyes, and my heart races, my whole body buzzing at his closeness.
“You don’t have to be afraid, firecracker,” he murmurs, rubbing his lips together. He loosens his arms only to wrap me in a different sort of embrace—not one born from control but of affection. “We’re going to get you home and get this all figured out.”
“Home.” The word comes out so softly that I’m not even sure I say it out loud.
“Mmmhmm. You won’t have to worry about any of this bullshit. You’re royalty, Delphia. It pains me to know how you’ve been living with a Cursed One.”
I tighten my mouth. “This is far fucking better than Max. Now, put me down and have your guard release my mate from his magic.”
Tiernan moves into my peripheral vision, his unnerving likeness to Theo stabbing at my soul. I want to yell at him to get his imposter ass away from me, but Theo raises his palm and stops his twin in his tracks.
“Space, brother. She’s upset with you,” Theo says, rubbing his hand along my back. “You don’t want to push her away.”
“I don’t give a shit. She’s my mate too. How can I even try to bond if you won’t even let me within a foot of her? I must make her see reason. You are already attached to her, and it’ll cause us problems. You know what we were supposed to do. Get our princess and leave the Drekis. That’s how this is to work. We can’t take her home and surprise our clan with the fact that our intended has been claimed by others.” Tiernan’s voice lowers with his annoyance.
“I can take care of that,” Ambrose says, his suggestion snapping me out of my haze of curiosity. “We can even finish the lycan off and use him as a sacrifice, so the cost doesn’t fall onto you.”
Oh. Fucking. Shit.
Taking a deep breath, I scream, startling all of them. Fire escapes my mouth, my dragon bursting free right in the bedroom. I slam through the ceiling, my enormous body filling the house. Panic whips through me, my anger giving my dragon control. Because there is no way I’m going to allow these assholes to think they can turn against my mates. It’s like they only cooperated to gain enough of our trust to betray us. And I’m pissed. I’ll eat the fucking warlock alive.
I thrash back and forth, sending debris raining around me. The hole widens enough to give me a view of the electric green light surrounding Ambrose. His wide eyes shine with fear, his shock so strong that I can smell the scent of his panic—like rainwater splattering on hot asphalt—and it ignites something wild in me.
Jerking my head down, I open my mouth, releasing a roar loud enough to startle Ambrose. His magic falters, and I prepare to bite his damn head off.
“Nova, don’t!” Kash’s voice booms through my mind. The realization that Tiernan wasn’t lying explodes relief through me.
I don’t get to enjoy it long.
Pain bursts on the back of my neck as Kash’s huge fangs pinch me hard enough to yank me up and out of the roof. It caves in under the force of the wind from Kash’s flapping wings, and I can’t stop myself from releasing another screech, shooting more fire toward the warlock in my last-ditch effort to ensure he can’t use magic against me.
The ground shakes under my weight as Kash flips me onto my back. He uses his clawed feet to pin my wings at my sides and bows down, stretching his neck to get in my face. Fire reflects in his eyes, and smoke billows from his nose. He doesn’t speak to me telepathically and just remains silent, pleading with his entire soul for me to calm down. I feel it deep inside me, penetrating my anger to fill me with his love and tranquility, his level-headed reason.
“Hey, kitten,” Kash finally says, his voice stroking my inner beast like a dragon tamer.
I puff another breath of smoke through my nostrils. “Those bastards lied to us. They have no desire to work with you as my mates. They were going to murder Quillon as a sacrifice.” I feel like I’m tattling, but I don’t know what else to do. I want Kash to get as riled up as Maddox and Rowan do. I want him to tear the rest of the roof off and gobble up the warlock before murdering the Darkonians. I want—
He snuggles his snout into my neck. “We’re not killers, Nova. We have to think things through. If—”
I wiggle and cut him off, knowing how untrue his words are about at least me. “But I am—”
A whistle shrieks through the air, cutting off my argument. Shadows move in my peripheral vision, but I can sense it’s Rowan. Quillon too. He somehow managed to get to the lycan. I know it’s Quillon because I sense Kash’s soul swelling with anger. Stretching up, Kash launches into the air a dozen feet, sending a gust of his intoxicating scent over me.
Kash lands a couple yards away. The ground trembles under his weight, and the ear-shattering sound of the house collapsing bangs through the air. I dig my talons into the grass, pushing up. My heart feels as if it flees from my body. Maddox is still inside. He was frozen under Ambrose’s magic, and he could very well die as the house implodes onto him.
“Maddox!” I yell, my voice echoing over the cacophonous noise. “Kash, get Maddox. Save him!”
“I’ll get him, Nova,” Rowan says, dusting off debris. “Ambrose is busy protecting his incantation and the Darkonians that he’s safe by default. It’s how I got to Quillon. But don’t worry. I’ll get him. Just transform and watch our backs. This could’ve broken a protection spell.” Rowan rushes toward the burning house, the flames eating away at everything, sending billowing smoke into the night.
I close my eyes, trying to will my transformation into a human to happen, but my dragon heart wants nothing more than to remain in control and ready to burn the world down. I had no idea I’d feel so strong and unstoppable like I do now. The power of my huge frame, of my easy access to my dragon fire, the ability to fly and feel as free as I had as a sky dancer—it’s intoxicating. How can I just suppress who I am when my clan needs me?
“Red, hurry the fuck up,” Quillon calls, clapping his hands from below me.
I jerk my attention to him and growl. I can’t believe how he stands there, still covered in blood, but alive and still his douchebag self.
“I will not carry the damn blame if the High Council shows up and captures you. You’re making it way too fucking easy for them,” he adds, risking his hand by smacking it against my snout.
Nudging my nose into his gut, I knock Quillon onto his ass. He covers his face with his arms, cowering away like he expects me to blast him with my dragon fire. And damn it, is the thought tempting. He’s lucky I can’t snag him by his head to toss him into the destruction of his house.
“Come on, Red. Be a good fucking girl already. Transform and I’ll let Kash free for the night. Just hurry your scaly ass up. If something happens to you, these assholes with devour me. The only thing keeping me alive now is that you don’t want Kash to die, but if you die, I’m pretty fucking certain the bastard would sacrifice himself for revenge.” Quillon peers over his shoulder and hooks his fingers to his bloody shirt, tugging it off. “I’ll even give you my damn shirt.”
A flash of green light brightens the night, startling
me. I flap my wings and let my beast control me to attempt to launch into the air. Despite my instincts and deep-seated nature, my ability to take flight falters, and all I do is smack the ground instead of flying into the sky.
“Nova, transform, now!” Quillon yells.
Hair bursts from his skin with his transformation into a lycan. I try everything I can to get my body to comply, but nothing works.
“Ralloc eht nogard. Emat reh tseab!” Ambrose shouts, materializing in front of me. Green electricity crackles in his hands as he casts some sort of spell.
My body prickles, a strange heat spilling from my chest to flow through the rest of me. I open my mouth to spew fire, but nothing happens. My throat tightens as sizzling pain ignites around my neck.
Quillon roars, drops on all fours, and charges Ambrose. Flicking his hand without even looking, the warlock shoots a ball of energy at Quillon, sending him to his stomach. The world quakes, and I jerk my attention to Kash. His large form crashes into the house, sending a wave of smoke, dust, and debris into the air. With Quillon spelled, Kash can’t do anything either.
“Ralloc eht nogard. Emat reh tseab!” Ambrose shouts again, sending a bolt of green lightning toward me.
I tense and try to open my mouth to breathe fire again, but the same pain radiates from my throat. It’s useless. Ambrose uses his magic against me, and I can’t even fight back. No wonder witches and warlocks control the High Council. No wonder they’re in charge of Magaelorum. And now, I’m starting to doubt Ambrose even serves these supposed dragon princes. It might all be a façade.
Jerking his hands at me, Ambrose sends another bolt of electric magic at me. “Ralloc eht nogard. Emat reh tseab!”
My muscles freeze and shudder, and the edges of my vision darken. Pushing through the pain, I get my shit together and flail backward. If I can’t incinerate this fucker with dragon fire, I’ll crush him under my weight.