Or dead.
“Sera?” he said from between clenched teeth. The way she had him held, he couldn’t open his mouth without harming her.
Still she didn’t move. She clung to him with an iron grip as her hot tears fell against his scales. Worried and a lot hornier than he should be given the amount of pain he was in, he forced himself to return to his human body so that he could hold her and not risk damaging her. He took care to conjure a blanket and jeans for himself so that he didn’t scar his children or brothers.
He brushed her hair back from her damp cheeks. “What’s wrong, Seramia?” he asked, using the endearment he’d made up for her long ago.
She was so upset she couldn’t speak. Instead, she rose up on her knees and wrapped her body around his, and held him in a tight embrace with her cheek pressed against his heart. She had one arm draped around his neck and the other beneath his arm, and clutched her hands behind his back so tight, he wasn’t sure she’d ever let go.
Completely baffled, he met Illarion’s gaze over her shoulder. Help?
For the first time, Illarion looked at her with something other than unreasoning hatred. If Max didn’t know better, he’d think his brother finally approved of his dragonswan.
Just hold her, Max. She needs to know that you’re really here and whole. It’s how women are sometimes.
Having been mated to a human female who loved him, Illarion would know better than he. But Max wasn’t so sure about the whole part. He ached so much that he could barely draw a deep breath. And being in a human body was all kinds of special hell.
Not to mention …
“Fang, it won’t take the Arcadians long to track me here and demand you turn me over to them.” As the Dragonbane, the laws of Sanctuary didn’t apply to him. He was the one creature they could legally deny shelter to. It was entirely up to the owners if they wanted the heat of it.
And his personal experience said that no one wanted that kind of misery, and he definitely didn’t blame them for not wanting to go against another patria to shelter him. Especially since he wasn’t family.
Having lived here for over two centuries, he couldn’t ask the Peltiers to go to war for him. They’d already lost enough to this madness of Katagaria versus Arcadian.
“If you’ll protect my family for me—they’re innocent in all this—I’ll make sure I lead the others away from your door. I just need a minute to catch my breath, and collect a couple of things. I promise I won’t draw Sanctuary into the cross fire of my mess.”
Snorting, Fang tucked his hands into his back pockets. “Boy, don’t you dare insult me with that shit. They can kiss my furry wolf ass, which is exactly what Aimee would skin alive if I dared let them have you. I don’t give up family.” He paused. “Well, they could have Fury. I’m not that attached to him. But they’d only keep him till he opened his mouth, then launch his ass back to me with a catapult. He’s like a bad boomerang that way.”
Max laughed at his surly tone, knowing it for the bluster it was. Fang would kill for his brother. “You really don’t want this kind of heat. Trust me.”
Fang glanced around at the other dragons in the room. “You were one of the first residents the Peltiers took in when they moved here. When Eli and his pack used their witch to set fire to the first bar, you’re the one who saved Aimee, Dev, and Cherif from burning alive in it. And you’re the only reason that fire didn’t spread to Peltier House and trap the others who were sleeping there, including a Dark-Hunter who would have been trapped inside by the daylight. I know the stories, too. Brother, there ain’t a shifter in this place who wouldn’t fight for you. Now I don’t know what happened to cause you to get marked and I don’t really care.… The one thing I do know is you. And if you killed him, he had it coming. So you’re free to stay. If they’re dumb enough to attack, I know a bar full of hungry Charonte over in the Warehouse District who would love to chomp dragon meat.” He glanced over to the head on the floor. “And unlike you, they don’t care if it tastes like chicken or not.” Then he scratched his chin. “You are picking that up, right? ’Cause I don’t want to have to explain it.”
Rubbing his forehead, Sebastian let out a slow breath. “I hope you know what you’re doing, wolf.”
Fang arched a brow. “Have you met me? Of course I have no idea what I’m doing.”
Ignoring Fang’s surly comment, Max rose to confront Sebastian. “Go to your Regis and tell him that I’m calling hazard on the ones who took and held my dragonets. They want the Dragonbane? I want their throats. Fair combat. In the circle.”
“No!” Seraphina gasped.
“No?” Max arched a brow at her.
“I want to kill them.”
He smiled at her. That was his dragonswan. Ferocious to the end. “Too late. I called challenge first.”
“I birthed them. I should have the honor of avenging them.”
“And in the event this goes badly, I’d rather they lose the parent they don’t know than the one they’re attached to.”
“I’d rather not lose either,” Edena said. “No offense.”
Hadyn nodded his agreement.
“I’m concurring with the kids.” Blaise smiled.
Ignoring the comment, Sebastian met Fang’s gaze. “If you want me to issue the challenge, I will do so. But watch your back. I have a bad feeling about all this.”
Fang sighed. “We will. Give Channon my best.”
Sebastian inclined his head to them before he vanished.
“Channon?” Seraphina asked.
“His mate.” Fang gestured toward the blood on Max’s body. “You guys need me to get Carson?”
Max shook his head. “I just need to rest. I’ll be fine.” He glanced to Hadyn. “What about you, kid?”
Hadyn glanced to his mother and bit his lip. “Are you good, Matera?”
“How do you mean?”
“About our father?”
She scowled, still not sure what he was talking about.
Edena stepped forward to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Tell her, Hadyn. It’s time.”
Nodding, he bent forward onto all fours as Edena stepped back to give him plenty of room. A second later, Hadyn sprang into a dragon form that was almost indistinguishable from Maxis’s.
With a deep, relieved moan, he rolled over onto his back and let his tongue hang out of his mouth. “Thank the gods. I needed this.” He panted and groaned his misery. “Ah, gah, it was so hard to stay human!” His tail swished like a happy puppy’s.
Seraphina wasn’t sure what to make of him or his comments. “Hadyn?”
Laughing at his anguish, Edena moved to rub his belly. “He’ll be fine, Mom. He’s just a big baby.”
“Baby, my ass. That shit hurt!”
“Hadyn!”
“Sorry, Matera. It was brutal!” He draped one claw over his snout.
Stunned, Seraphina tried to make sense of this. “Are you telling me that you’re Katagaria?”
Everything went still in the room. As if every one of them waited with bated breath for his response and her reaction.
“Yes,” he squeaked.
Seraphina winced at the underlying hesitation in her son’s voice. “Oh, Hadyn.” Choking on tears, she went to him and nuzzled his snout like she’d done Maxis’s earlier. “Precious! How could you think for one moment that I wouldn’t love you for this?”
“Oh, I don’t know. The fact that you’re a dragonslayer who wears boots made from the hides of dragons you’ve slain?”
“Like father, like son.” She held her hand out toward Maxis while she stroked her son’s scaly cheek. “I don’t care what form you take, boy. You are still the baby I carried inside me. The angel I nursed and protected. How could you think for one second that I could ever hate you for something you can’t help?”
Edena slapped his stomach. “Told you.”
Hadyn popped her with his tail.
“Mom!”
“Hadyn, stop hitting your sister
with your tail.”
“She started it.”
Seraphina turned to Maxis. “Would you do something?”
“Like what?”
“Talk to them? What did you do when your brothers fought?”
He shrugged. “Let them. They usually stopped once the bleeding got bad.”
Hadyn laughed. Edena looked horrified.
Laughing, Max brushed past Sera so that he could finally get a look at his children. It was such a strange feeling to be with strangers that were his. Yet a part of him knew it. Could sense it.
“May I hug you?” he asked Edena.
Tears glistened in her eyes before she threw herself against him. Hadyn returned to being human so that he could launch himself against Max’s back and wedge him between them.
Seraphina couldn’t breathe as she watched them. In that moment, she truly hated herself for what she’d done. Tears blurred her vision as she watched her children with the father who should never have been a stranger to them.
As if sensing her sadness, Maxis reached his hand out to her and pulled her into their embrace. She took his hand and allowed them to swallow her with their cocoon.
Until Hadyn protested that his ribs hurt. Stepping back, he returned to being a dragon.
Maxis smiled at Edena, then Hadyn, before he turned to Blaise. “Can I ask a favor?”
“Of course.”
“The gallu aren’t going to stop and neither will the two packs coming for me. This is a blood feud that is centuries old. I need my children where they can’t reach them.”
“You want me to take them to Avalon?”
“Please. It’s the one place I know is beyond their reach.”
Hadyn and Edena immediately protested.
Seraphina wanted to argue, too, but she knew Maxis was right. This was the only way to keep them safe. They’d already been punished by the gods for her actions. She didn’t want them in the line of fire again. “He’s right. It’s just for a few days. I promise. Go with your uncle and we’ll get you soon.”
As Blaise started to leave, Max stopped him. “Tell Merlin not to worry. I have not forgotten my oath or my duties. Should I fall, guardianship will go to Falcyn and then to you.”
He arched a brow. “Not to Hadyn?”
Max shook his head. “I would never do that to him. The curse of it’s too strong.”
“So you give it to us. Thanks, brother.”
Max laughed. “Getting you both back for all the years of hell you’ve given me.”
Blaise sobered. “I’ll tell her. You be careful.”
“And you.” He kissed Edena’s cheek and hugged Hadyn one more time.
It took Seraphina longer to say good-bye. With the exception of Nala taking them, they’d never been separated before. “I will come for you very soon. I love you both.”
“Love you.” Edena kissed her cheek.
Hadyn hugged and kissed her. “Love you, Matera.”
“I love you. Guard your sister.”
“I will.” And then they were gone.
Alone with Maxis and Illarion, Seraphina felt so strangely empty. She’d been a mother for so long that she’d forgotten what it was like to be by herself. To not have to look over her shoulder to make sure her children were keeping up with her and not falling behind.
Now …
“We have to prepare for war.”
Maxis nodded.
Illarion went to the disembodied head. I’ll take care of this. He wrapped it up in a T-shirt. His eyes sad, he locked gazes with Maxis. I’m so sorry I dragged you into this. Then he looked at Seraphina. And I’m sorry I’ve been so rude to you the entire time you’ve been here. You’re not really the one who fucked my brother’s life over and ruined it, my lady. I am. And I swear to you both that I won’t take my hatred for myself out on you anymore. Please forgive me.
10
Max grabbed Illarion’s arm as he started to leave. “You have nothing to apologize for where I’m concerned.” He cracked a chiding grin. “That being said, you could have been a little kinder to my dragonswan.”
The tormented agony in Illarion’s gaze was searing. How can you not hate me? At the very least, blame me or curse me for what I’ve done to you?
Max buried his hand in Illarion’s long hair and locked gazes with him so that he could see the sincerity in his heart. “Would my life without you have been better? Really? Let’s say that none of this had happened. That I remained a fully blooded drakomas. Where would I be now? In a cave somewhere alone like you were, enduring in Avalon? You’re right, Illy. You’re a rank, effing bastard to spare me that god-awful fate. I should take you outside right now and beat the shit out of you for doing this to me.”
Illarion snorted. I hate you.
Smiling, he tightened his grip in his brother’s hair before he released him. “I hate you, too.”
Then Illarion did the one thing he hadn’t done since he was a small dragonet. He pulled Max into a tight hug and held him there.
When he finally stepped back, he refused to look him in the eye, as if the action embarrassed him too much to acknowledge. I’ll check on the others. I’m sure the two of you could use a moment to yourselves to catch your breath, and decide what to do about her tribe and the demons out to claim you.
“Thanks.”
Illarion inclined his head to him, then left.
Suddenly alone with Seraphina, Max turned around, unsure of what to say. She’d blown back into his life like an unseen whirlwind and brought all manner of devastation and revelations in her wake. It was almost as swift and startling as Illarion’s unexpected return after centuries of absence. Honestly, the two of them had left him reeling and feeling ungrounded and dizzy.
While Illarion’s return had required him to reorient his living arrangements—he’d been forced to learn how to share his attic space with another dragon—this …
This changed everything. The fact that he was a father completely redefined who and what he was, as well as where his loyalties and responsibilities lay.
He had a family now.
His first priority was no longer protecting the Peltier members and the Sa’l Sangue Realle. It was protecting his own progeny and ensuring they lived.
Never before had Max regretted being marked as the Dragonbane. He hadn’t even tried to defend himself during the trial.
Now …
His family needed him to not be hunted. For the first time ever, he regretted that long-ago day and the decision he’d made to throw away his life. What had seemed like a simple solution then, now had lethal, unforeseen consequences.
How do I undo this?
He had no idea.
Seraphina approached Max slowly, unsure of his suddenly somber mood. What to say to ease him. There was a peculiar air about him that she couldn’t quite make out. But one thing was obvious …
“You’re bleeding.” She took his arm to lead him back toward his … well, she hesitated to call that straw spread out on the floor a bed. Anything else might insult him. “You need to clean your wounds before an infection sets in.”
“They’ll heal.”
She wanted to argue, but he would know better than she. Still … “I would feel better if you allowed me to tend them.”
Finally, his gaze softened. Some of the rigidity left his limbs.
She brushed her hand against the bloodstain on his shirt and scowled at it. “How are you able to hold human form and be wounded like this?”
He shrugged. “I’m a different beast. With the exception of Illarion and me, the others they caught to form the Were-Hunters were all draconi.” Smaller in stature, they were more animal in nature than their larger drakomai cousins. They also lacked the same magical and psionic abilities.
“How did a god not know the difference?”
“I don’t think he cared. Or maybe he did and he was trying out the different drako breeds to see which would merge better with Apollite DNA before he mixed our blood with Lycaon’s
son.” He sighed. “In the end, does it really matter?”
Not really. Her heart aching for what they’d done to him and his brother, she pulled the shirt over his head to examine the wounds on his human body. Wounds she knew were probably deeper on his dragon form, yet hidden by his magick—as he often did his mark. He must have fought them ferociously for their children. But then, that was what he did best. Fight and bleed for what he protected. “How did you get away?”
“I fought.”
Biting back a smile at his verbal confirmation of her thoughts, she traced the ridges of his hard abdomen. His body had always been among the best of any male. Liberally sprinkled with dark golden hairs, that body had tempted and pleased her to the brink of madness. She’d once spent hours raking her fingernails over the peaks and valleys of his ripped chest and powerful legs. The Greek prince he’d been merged with must have been quite spectacular back in the day. No wonder Lycaon had been so determined to save his son’s life.
Maxis caught her hand in his. “Why do you touch me when I know how disgusted you are by my breed?”
Those heartfelt words choked her. “You never disgusted me, Maxis. You only scare me.”
“Scare you?”
She nodded as she confessed the one secret she’d always kept from him. It was time to let him know the truth. To let him see her heart and real fears. Why she’d pulled away from him when she should have embraced every part of her dragon lord. “I’ve fought enough dragons to know how powerful you really are, even though you try to hide it. The very air around you sizzles with the energy you pull. As I said, the fact you can hold your alternate body while in this amount of pain … No one else can do that.”
“That’s no reason to fear me.”
She let out a nervous, contradictory laugh. “It’s every reason to fear you. You are the Dragonbane. You drew first blood for no reason.”
He pulled back as if she’d slapped him. “So that’s it, then? You judge me without knowing. You’ve seen my heart and still you’re blind to it?”
“No, now you’re the one being unfair.”
“How do you figure?”
“If I didn’t care, do you think I’d have carried your young while never knowing if they were human or dragon? Every day I was pregnant, I was terrified of what would come out of me.”
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