As if they were nothing.
And as she’d glanced around the dark cavern and saw his trunks of treasure and lair—the things he valued—she’d realized that this was what he considered his home.
Not her tent. Not her tribe.
Not her.
This was his home. His den.
He’s an animal. The pile of straw on the floor attested to that. Straw like what her horse slept upon. No bed or pillow. Or blanket.
He even had a trough of water.
Disgusted, she’d shoved him away and risen to her feet as the brutal reality slapped her hard.
His expression shocked, he stood. “What’s wrong?”
She didn’t know where to begin. The question wasn’t what was wrong. It was what was right. “You were supposed to be in the village to welcome me home. Why weren’t you there?”
He’d laughed derisively. “Really didn’t want to see the lot of you returning home with the bloody hides and scales of my brethren dripping from the backs of your horses as you dragged them through the village. Damn sure didn’t want to celebrate your sneaky victories and bloodshed.”
Sneaky? That had only made her fury grow. How dare he dismiss the danger in what they did! “I’m your mate!”
Heat had darkened his deceptively human cheeks. “And I’m yours! You just took one look at me in my real body, and screamed for an hour, and then went into shock at the sight of me. How would you have felt had I done that to you the first time I saw you naked?”
“It’s not the same!”
“Isn’t it? Or better yet, what if you’d come here to find human skulls and bones littering the floor and decorating the walls? Huh? How would you react to human fat burning as oil for my torches? Yet you left me alone in your village that’s held together with the remains of dracokyn. And that includes the tent where you sleep. Do you really think it’s escaped my notice that the posts of it are made from the bones and tusks of drakomai? Or that the candles that burn throughout the village are made from dragon fat? You think I don’t know that smell?”
Unwilling to cede the point since he was right, she didn’t bother to contradict him. Instead, she moved on to something he couldn’t argue with. “Your place is at my side!”
“Aye, at your side. Not beneath your feet to be trod upon. I am not an Amazon male who caters to your every whim and begs for a kind word from you. You do not own me. I am not your property! And I will not allow you to treat me as such!”
“And I will not allow you to embarrass me in front of my basilinna or my tribe. I’ve worked too hard to reach my position—”
“As a murderess?”
“Dragonslayer.”
“Nay.” He shook his head. “Sneaking into a lair while a dragon sleeps and cutting his throat isn’t noble. It’s murder. You don’t hunt. You tiptoe to slaughter.”
“And what do dragons do? You attack sleeping villages! Is that not murder?”
“No, we don’t. We don’t attack, ever. Katagaria are not drakomai. Do not insult me by mistaking my brethren for one of them. They are a different breed entirely. Made by an Arcadian king and a psychotic god who wanted to please him. Merged with Apollites by dark magick. ’Tis the bloodline of your kind that taints those poor bastards. Drakomai are not raised to attack unprovoked. We don’t hunt for any reason except to eat, and we don’t prey on man. That is not in our natures. So long as you stay out of our territory and dens, we leave you in peace.”
“You lie!”
He shook his head. “We are solitary beasts who only war when confronted.”
She’d gestured at the trunks of treasure that surrounded them. Gold and jewels that glimmered in the dim light. “And what of that? Are those not your war trophies?”
Sincere shock had marked his handsome features. “Hardly. I have no need of treasure or money. Those are things given over to me for my protection. I hold them in trust for their rightful owners.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Believe it or not, that’s up to you. It’s the truth. Everything I own, I placed in your tent.”
“And why weren’t you in my tent on my return?”
He’d stared at her in sullen defiance.
“Answer me!”
His eyes had snapped the same fire he could have easily breathed all over her. “You don’t take that tone with me. I don’t speak to you in such a manner and I demand from you the same respect I show my mate.”
Fury had simmered deep in her and she’d wanted to beat him for that. In Amazon culture, the men bowed down to their women and were, in truth, subservient to them. But she knew he didn’t come from that kind of environment. And she did her best to understand and respect it.
Yet it was difficult when it went against everything she knew.
“Fine, then. Please, explain to me why you humiliated me today.”
He’d snorted in shocked disbelief and repeated her words back at her. “Please explain how I humiliated you?”
“By not being there when I returned. You showed a total lack of regard for me and my standing in the tribe. And they all laughed at me because of it.”
His jaw had gone slack. “I didn’t know that.” His brow furrowed by earnest regret, he’d closed the distance between them and cupped her cheek in his warm palm. “If this is true, then I’m so sorry, Sera. I had no idea that was your custom. No one told me. I swear, I never meant to hurt you.”
It was so hard to be mad at him when he looked at her like that. When he touched her with such loving sincerity. She felt her anger wilting. But worse than the anger was the underlying hurt, and their mockery that stung much deeper than she wanted to own up to. “Why weren’t you there?”
Then she saw it. The bitter agony in his eyes. His own hurt and embarrassment. “In the future, if you will call out to me on your approach, I shall make sure to be in attendance on your arrival.”
“But you won’t stay in the village while I’m gone?”
He’d shaken his head.
“Why?”
His gaze had burned into hers. “You know why, Sera. My speaking it aloud will only anger you, and solve nothing. And we both know the only thing you can do is leave … which you won’t do.” He’d placed a tender kiss to her lips. “I don’t wish to fight with you any longer. Come, let me make amends for my unintended slight. I promise, by the night’s end, I’ll earn my way back into your good graces.”
And that he had. He always did. No matter how much she wanted to stay angry at him, he had ways of making her smile. Of melting her ire until she was laughing and happy again.
That was his greatest magick of all. His ability to wash away her pain and drive out her demons with nothing more than a teasing smile, warm hug, and tender kiss.
Worse, he’d been right that day. The members of her tribe had always been too free with their hands on his body. Even though they knew he was mated and off-limits—that he couldn’t do anything had he wanted to—they’d constantly tried to corner him so that they could compare him to a “regular” man. Get a “hands-on” comparison.
To Maxis’s credit, he’d done everything he could to avoid them and their cheap caresses. Everything he could to fit in and please her. To make their union work.
If only I’d met him halfway.
Seraphina winced as the guilt of it settled hard on her shoulders. She’d asked things of him that were so far beyond tolerance, she still couldn’t bear to think on them. Things he’d suffered.
To please her.
She hadn’t deserved him and she knew it. Unfortunately, that realization had come too late. She’d listened to the wrong people and allowed their venom to color her heart. Had allowed their beliefs and opinions to interfere with her relationship with Maxis. Instead of trusting herself and her husband, she’d trusted them.
And learned the hard way that too many people spoke jealousy under the guise of “truth” and “good intentions.” When honestly, their only purpose was to make others
as miserable in their lives as they were in theirs.
And instead of having a devoted husband at her side when her children had been born, as Aimee would have with Fang, she’d been completely alone.
The loss of what should have been was what made her saddest of all. Her pride and blind stupidity had robbed them all of the family life they should have had.
But there was no way back. And she had no one to blame for it except herself.
“So how do we find where they’re holed up?” Dev asked Fang, distracting her from her thoughts.
“I called Thorn, and because they’re gallu, he’s clueless. Since they don’t fall under his jurisdiction, he doesn’t deal with them and knows nothing bout them. I tried to call Sin and got no answer, so I left word with Kish to tell him what was going on. He said he’d have him call me ASAP.”
Dev glanced over to his younger brother Kyle, who’d joined them a short time ago. “What about Kerryna? Doesn’t she know them? They are technically her family, right?”
Kyle made a rude bear sound. “Um. Yeah. They’re hunting her so they can enslave and use her to awaken her evil sisters. Needless to say, she tends to keep as far away from the gallu as she can. Kind of like you and Rémi. As much as she loves us, she’s not volunteering to help with this fight. And if we ask for that favor, her hubby will tear our heads off and make us bearskin rugs. Charonte are ridiculously protective that way, especially when it comes to the mother of their young. Xed basically chased me out of the club for even trying to talk to her about the gallu.”
Dev snorted. “But she can give us intel, right?”
Kyle gave him a droll stare. “Let me reiterate. He chased me out of the club … with barbecue sauce. While smacking his lips and calling my name.”
“And?”
Fang answered for him. “Give the kid a break. They basically locked her up from the moment of birth, so she hasn’t really interacted with them … and while she’s born of the gallu, she’s not really one of them. From what she’s said in the past, they’re a separate beast.”
Seraphina felt sick at where this was going. And how slowly. They didn’t have much longer before Nala would return here and demand she leave.
Or worse, discover that she’d lied and Maxis was here, after all. In retrospect, maybe she shouldn’t have come. She could have screwed this up on her own.
Really, she didn’t need any help at all.
Off to the side, Maxis passed a look to Illarion that said the two of them were speaking in their heads. Then he locked gazes with her. “I might be able to find them. But it will require my mate to trust me and do something that’s repugnant to her.”
Her eyes widened at that. “What?”
Illarion took his arm and vigorously shook his head no.
Maxis ignored him. “It’ll be fine.”
Illarion rolled his eyes. He mouthed a silent curse at his brother.
Blaise burst out laughing, then stopped as he realized the rest of them weren’t in on their private conversation. Clearing his throat, he slinked off to a corner to examine a spot on the wall, even though he was blind.
Seraphina scowled. “What’s going on?”
Max hesitated as he swept his gaze around everyone gathered there. This motley hodgepodge was his family and he didn’t want to risk losing any of them. “I can track the children.”
“There’s no way,” Sera said affirmatively. “They have them shielded. If it was possible, I would have done it already.”
“I can find them.” His tone held absolute resolve.
Her doubting expression was as comical as it was beautiful. But then she’d always underestimated his abilities. Most creatures, to their detriment, did. “How?”
“If you’ll trust me. Completely. I can do it.”
Fang cocked his head as if he now understood what was going on. “You’re part Oneroi?”
Max snorted at the assumption that he was one of the gods who raided human dreams so that they could siphon off emotions. “Don’t insult me. I’m not Greek. I was captured and dragged to Arcadia. It was never my homeland.”
Fang’s jaw dropped. “Seriously?”
Illarion nodded. While I’m a son of Ares, we’re related only through our mother. Max is a lot older. His powers much stronger and more akin to those of the gods than a typical Were-Hunter.
Even Dev was awed. “So what are you, then?”
“Xarunese.”
“Bless you,” Dev said drily. “You need a Kleenex? Benadryl?”
Max sighed heavily at the bear’s fucked-up sense of humor. “Land of Xarun. Much like Atlantis, the gods took issue with it. What little remains sits at the bottom of the Black Sea. I’m one of the very few who survived the sinking.”
“Ouch.”
Max inclined his head to Kyle for his verbalizing the pain of that particular nightmare.
“So wait a minute.” Dev cocked his head as if he just realized what Max was telling them. “You’re not Greek or Apollite … how exactly are you Katagaria?”
Carson Whitethunder, the hawk who was also their resident vet and doctor, passed a smirk to Dev. He and Aimee were the only two creatures here who had ever seen the mark that was branded on Max’s thigh. And only because they had treated his injuries. Aimee when Max had first arrived one heartbeat from death, and Carson decades later after a couple of their grittier confrontations with enemies who’d tried over the years to destroy the Peltier family. “Haven’t you ever wondered why, in over a hundred years of living here, Max has never stepped a single foot outside of this building?”
Dev snorted. “We’re all freaks here. I don’t judge.”
Max glanced to Seraphina as he remembered the less than pleasant way she’d handled the news when she’d first learned what that mark was. Why he bore it.
He’d never intended for anyone here to learn about it. But it was time to come clean.
“Remember that you’re all bound by the Omegrion laws. None of you can attack me on Sanctuary grounds.”
“Sheez, boy,” Dev groused. “What are you? The Dragonbane, or something?”
Max inclined his head to him, and as soon as he did, it sucked every bit of oxygen from the room. Half the shapeshifters around him took a step back, as if terrified being near him would taint them.
All humor and friendliness evaporated from Dev’s eyes as he gaped. “Are you shitting me? You’re the sole reason for the war between the Katagaria and the Arcadians?”
Illarion stepped between them. It’s not that simple, Dev. Calm down.
Dev curled his lip. “Not that simple, my ass. You murdered Lycaon’s heir in cold blood and started this bloodbath between our people, and you’re telling me it’s not that simple?”
Max felt that same sick knot in his stomach he got any time someone saw his mark and recognized it.
He was the most hated among his people.
No, not his people.
They were Greeks and Apollites.
He wasn’t. He’d never really been one of them. Forever a hated outsider. An interloper who’d been mistaken for them since the day Dagon had captured him and mixed him in with their ancestors.
Unable to bear their rejection, he met Sera’s gaze and waited for her to condemn him as well.
Seraphina choked on tears as she saw the familiar agony in that golden gaze. The reservation and acceptance of the fact that he didn’t belong to anyone.
For the first time ever, she saw him.
Worse, she saw herself in the way the others reacted as they shouted and accused him of crimes and misdeeds. Judged him without a hearing or without understanding. Like her, they had accepted him only a few minutes ago and now they were attacking him, without listening. They were so busy condemning him over the stories they’d all been told that none of them even asked him what had happened.
They acted as if they knew.
But none of them had been there. With the exception of Maxis, none of them had been born.
; Yet they were the experts, with all the answers.
“Enough!” Fang shouted, holding his hands up to get the others to settle down. “We’ll deal with the Dragonbane issue after this is over. Right now, we need to focus on getting the kids away from the gallu before they convert them. Regardless of anything else, they’re innocent in this.”
His eyes haunted, Max held his hand out toward Seraphina. By the expression on his face, she could tell that he expected her to react the same way she had the first time she’d learned he was the Dragonbane.
To refuse him completely and shirk away as if he were poison.
This time, she did what she should have done then—she took his hand and smiled up at him. “I trust you, Lord Dragon. Lead me to your lair.”
But as he closed his hand around hers, a chill of foreboding rushed over her spine. With this one action, she was either saving all their lives …
Or consigning them to death. And not just them. Her children were counting on her to not screw this up. Yet what choice did she have?
There was no one else to turn to.
Yes, Maxis was the most hated enemy of her people. But he was the father of her children. And he was the only chance she had to save them.
Please gods, let this be the right choice.
7
Seraphina let out a slow, nervous breath as she cast her gaze around the huge attic where Maxis had made his home. It held “modern” things she couldn’t even begin to comprehend, but aside from a few of those, it reminded her so much of his sparse cave that it raised chills of déjà vu on her body.
Those were definitely the same trunks from his cave that lined the right brick wall. This was his home in a way her village had never been.
And that made her saddest of all. He’d found a comfort here with strangers that he should have known with her. His mate.
Maxis used his powers to light four huge iron candle stands. The light flickered and merged with the rays of the dawning sun to cast their shadows against the wall.
Illarion and Blaise followed them into the room and closed the door. By the way Maxis continued to grimace and act toward his brother, she assumed they were having a private conversation in their heads.
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