Zodiac Binding

by Arya Karin

  A twig breaking made me crouch down behind a shrub, my heart strangling my throat. Sweat trickled down my back and the desire to flee had me trembling inside and out.

  “What did you do?” Caine's voice snapped behind me and I jumped. “Spear yourself and smear your blood in a trail for them to follow?”

  He was back in his human form, along with his sunglasses. Joy burst in my heart so hard and fast that I threw myself at him. My arms squeezed him until he tapped my shoulder.

  “Did you save me only to choke me to death?”

  “Sorry.” I stepped back. The cool air rushing between us and I rubbed my palms down my jeans. “Are you injured?” I inhaled to find out for myself and the scent of copper coated my tongue. His left arm red and swollen.

  However, his erection tenting his pants showed me he wasn’t as immune to the pull of my being in heat as he led on.

  “I'll be okay, let’s go.” He moved forward and winced.

  I placed a hand against his chest and a tingle spread through me like I’d altered every never ending in my body that I was alone with a very powerful male. “Take it easy,” I said more to myself than him. “Let me take a look.”

  His lower leg was twisted in a weird angel, and I swallowed back bile at the image of broken bones. Blood covered his back, and I guessed that’s what had struck first. Had my magic saved him at all? I shook away the thought, it had to of, or he’d have hit the ground too hard to survive, right? His chestnut hair was matted to head and I wasn’t sure from sweat or blood.

  “How is it you’re still standing?” I asked, frowning at his injured leg.

  “Dragons can sustain a lot.” He smiled, lust filling his expression.

  I rolled my eyes. Guess his resistance was down because of his injuries or something. Later, when we were a bit safer and not out in the open, then my body thrummed in anticipation of what we could do alone together. But for now, we had to get out of here. “Whatever, tough guy. The others, even if they can’t fly, won’t be too far behind.” A shiver of dread flicked through me. If the other shifters caught up with us, they’d rip Caine to pieces while he was vulnerable and I was running out of magical charms. I fingered them to see what was left: a shield that would work for a brief time against an enemy or two…never thought when I’d bought it that I’d need it to hold off sixty-plus feral shifters. A flower to help with the spring garden my Aunt Jess and I had planned. Yeah, that would help a lot—here’s to hoping the shifters had hay fever and pollen allergies. Third was a four-leaf clover that I’d had since I got the charm bracelet as a gift from my Aunt. I’d never used it as it was a one-time only charm. Like I could buy a hundred four-leaf clovers and never have the luck of this one. I squeezed my eyes briefly whispering a prayer to the goddess that I’d never have to use it and could pass it onto my daughter. Next was a cat that would help me be nimble and swift. A bronze flame for a quick fire that I used to light the fireplace during winters and a rune of strength that would give me Herculean muscle power for an hour.

  “My lair’s not far from here.” Caine ran a hand down my arm and I shivered.

  Desire snapped through my veins and moisture pooled between my legs. Goddess, I wanted him. Here and now, despite the danger. But a small portion of my rational brain screamed for us to get the hell out of here. Fucking could come later.

  “We need to go.” I took a deep inhale and regretted it. The musky scent of his masculinity, his raw power and danger, making me trip over my own shoes to put some distance between us.

  He hoped on one foot, using the trees around us to help steady himself and get closer to me. “You’re right.” He shook his head as though to clear it, his nostrils flaring. “We’ll be safe in my place at least until tomorrow. By then, I don’t even think my scent will be enough to keep all the others away. Even now, I’m hanging on by a thread not to hoist you to that oak tree and fuck you until you scream my name.”

  “Don’t say that,” I whispered while my pulse quickened. As much as I wanted, needed him to quell this burning fire inside me, we’d be sitting ducks out here in the open. And he needed to heal too. I knew a few healing spells, but I needed ingredients and time to gather them.

  “Well, the scent of your heat will only get stronger until you mate. Then it’ll abate some until you mate again…and so forth until you’ve mated with your entire twelve members of your new coven.”

  So I had to go into hiding for who knows how long. “Peachy.” I waved a hand. “So which direction is your place? And let me help you.”

  “It’s ten miles northeast.”

  I stopped and glared at him. “Are you serious? We can’t make it that far…well, you can’t with your leg and back like that.”

  He gritted his teeth, the muscle in his jawline pulsing. “We’ve no choice. Already, a group of five shifters are headed this way.”

  “What?” I whipped around, sniffing the air, but caught nothing except the faint smells of a river nearby and the foliage around us and of course, our blood. “Are they too far away for my half-breed coyote to smell them?”

  “No, they are too far for even a bear to whiff. About thirty-five miles out, but headed straight for us.”

  My mouth hung open. “You can smell that far away?”

  He lowered his sunglasses, hitting me with that emerald stare. “Once we mate, I’ll be able to track you down by your scent from over a hundred yards away.”

  “That’s impossible. No animal can trail anything that far.” But my insides tightened and jumped that he’d said we’d mate. And damn it if my hormones didn’t sizzle with anticipation at that idea. Did that mean he was one of my twelve then? Not that it would be bad idea to have a dragon lover and protector. But how long would I really be safe if my heat, and now my blood, was being broadcast to every single shifter around. And would the range continue to spread until I’d had sex with all twelve?

  “No?” He weaved on his feet like he was drunk. “A polar bear can hunt a female in heat for up to a hundred miles in the snow.”

  “All right, let’s get the hell out of here. Get you stitched up, then we can discuss,” I licked my lips, “other things.”

  “If we didn’t have so many fucking shifters after you, I’d show you what we could do all night.”

  “Are you feverish or delirious?” I felt his forehead and jerked my hand away. “Ah, you’re burning hot.”

  “For you.” He waggled his eyebrows.

  “Okay, down boy.” We didn’t have time for this, no matter how much my sex pulsed at the thought of riding a dragon all the way. “I’ve got a spell that will allow me to carry you and run fast, but it won’t last. But we’ll need to set your leg first.” Goddess, why hadn’t I studied first aid in school when they offered the courses?

  Chapter Seven

  I bit my lip, looking around for a stick to set Caine's leg. The sun winked through the trees as I searched the forest floor. I found a slightly crooked fallen branch that could work. Just needed Caine to break it into two pieces for me. Couldn't be too hard for a dragon shifter.

  Hurrying back to him, a rustle stirred behind me and I froze. Every sense in my body screamed danger. For a second I debated calling Caine for help but he was injured from the crash.

  “Who’s there?” My voice came out a whisper. I raised the branch to swing at whatever had my heart racing and my adrenaline surging through me.

  Wind whistled past me. A blunt force hit my back, knocking me down. I smacked into the ground. Dirt caked in my nose and mouth. The branch snapped in two. I spun onto my back but a condor swooped down on top of me. It dug talons into my shoulders. Screaming, I swung at the giant bird but could only graze its side with the stick. Terror slicing through me.

  Then it nuzzled my cheek and squawked at me. What the holy hell? With a shiver, its feathers shrunk inside its body. Its flesh and bone morphing.

  While it transformed into a man, its hold on me lessened. The claws turned into fingers, and I whipped the branch a
gainst his face. He careened off me. Until he changed completely, he wouldn't be able to do much. I didn’t know who he was and didn’t want to hang around to find out.

  I tossed the stick aside and ran back to Caine.

  There was no time to set Caine's leg. We had to get the hell out of here now.

  I jerked when an arm grabbed me from behind a tree.

  Caine gave me a nod, holding onto the tree with his other hand. “Care to use that magic speed charm of yours?”

  “Right.” We had to get out of here. Would I ever be safe? Sure, once I had sex with twelve guys. I shivered. Some women might relish with the thought, but I’d be happy in a monogamous relationship. I snapped off the silver wings and blew across it, activating the spell with the words, “Burda Omner Riveron.”

  My feet lifted off the ground. Before I flew away, I snatched Caine's hand. “Where's your lair?”

  “To the north. In the mountains.”

  We leaped through the forest and into the sky. Wind tore at my clothes and hair. My hand shaking from holding Caine but the spell was working. I had the strength, for now, to carry us both.

  “We've got company,” Caine shouted.

  I glanced over my shoulder making us wobble in the air. Holy Fuck! Two condors, a handful of huge owls and hawks flew after us. And something told me they weren't hunting mice.

  “Reveto!” I yelled, jump starting the spell to go faster. We'd burn through the hex quicker but it was better than getting captured by horny bird shifters. If I had to mate with twelve different guy, I wanted to make a choice in who I accepted, not get passed around a flock.

  We zinged through the air so fast bile shot up my throat. The ground below us weaved and spun. I squeezed my eyes shut, praying we would land soon.

  “How much farther should I fly us?” I asked Caine.

  Instead of answering, he pointed to a snow capped mountain in the distance.

  The magic carrying us sputtered and we dipped lower.

  “No, no, no!” A little farther and we'd make it to Caine's lair. At least the shifters behind us were falling behind.

  But I couldn't make it up the mountain with Caine's injury. He wouldn't be able to shift until his dragon form was healed. If I could get us to a safe spot, then I’d be able to do some light healing spells to help him. We just had to make it.

  We fell a foot before the flying spell jerked us to a stop, like a bungee cord tightening. It was a warning system. The third time we lost altitude, we'd be on the ground.

  Tips of trees brushes against Caine's legs and he grimaced each time. I swerved to the left by turning my head that direction. My goal was a small clearing so we could land without being driven onto trees.

  Again, the spell sputtered and we descended down a few feet at a time, continuing until our feet touched the ground.

  Caine grunted as we landed, his forehead glistening with sweat and his face ashen.

  A screech sounded in the distance, and I ducked down.

  “We have to move. They'll track us here if we stay too long.” My insides twisted with fear and the urge to run as fast as I could. Reaching Caine's safe haven would be impossible with his leg broken. But we didn't have time to set it.

  “Go, Karen.” He motioned with a hand as he leaned against a pine tree. “You'll be safe in my home for a week. Time to rest and recover and start claiming your men.”

  A heaviness settled on my chest to where I couldn't take a deep enough breath. My entire body trembled with the need to stay with him. How could I leave?

  He'd saved me several times and had even been injured because of me. And here he was giving up his sanctuary for me. It would only be a matter of time before the shifters broke through his defenses.

  “No, we can make it.” My voice shook. “How far is it from here? Can we reach it before dark?” The sun already hung low in the sky.

  “The others will be here too soon.” He shook his head. “Take the trail a mile from here past an oak with twin trunks. Follow that path straight up until you find a cave.”

  I stomped over to him and grasped his hand. If I couldn’t take him with me, the least I could do was offer him protection by choosing him as my first-mate. As far as I understood, shifters weren’t able to attack another’s mate for merely the sake of being able to have her. The act would kill the aggressive shifter. That was one of a few areas were shifters and the animal kingdom differed. Probably because if there weren’t inborn controls like this and not having sex with nonshifters, we’d have died out a long time ago.

  No idea what I was doing but it felt right. I placed his hand over my heart. “Dragon shifter Caine, I claim you as my first mate, my first love for as long as you'll have me until death do us part.”

  A surge zinged through me from where his hand was on me. Peace settled over me, loosening my chest some.

  “What did you do?” he asked. His mouth a tight line.

  “Yes, I made a choice.” Now I only had eleven more to make and the nightmare of having dozens of shifters trying to mate with me would be over.

  “You did a dragon oath...it can never be broken...not even in death.” His voice was stern, hard.

  My mouth hung open. Death? What the hell was he talking about? I glanced over to him to ask, but his glower stole my words. Was he angry with my decision? Had he not want to mate with me? “Back at the gas station,” I swallowed against the lump pressing in my throat, “I thought you wanted this.”

  “I want you to be happy. Nothing more.” He raked a hand through his dark hair. “I took you away from the council meeting to protect you. To give you a chance to pick your court without coercion of sex or you being in heat. I thought we could ride out the storm in my lair until you were able to control the lust better and make rational decisions and not based on passions or desire.”

  His words stung me like a thousand hornet stings.

  “What do you mean?” I stiffened. “You think I picked you out of pity? Out of some sort of obligation?” I dropped his hand and backed away. “Or that I'm a walking cunt that doesn't care where the cock comes from as long as it fills me up and takes away this burning need deep inside me that grows stronger every moment. That makes me want to rip my clothes off and have everyone around me fuck me until I lose my mind or until I'm satisfied and even then it doesn't feel like I will be. Do you think I asked for this or wanted it?” I turned away from him and headed the direction of the oak he told me about.

  Chapter Eight

  I hiked up the mountain using a path beside the oak with the double trunk that Caine had mentioned. The decision to choose him as my first mate now burned a hole in my gut. Not that I'd made a mistake but that I let him tick me off so easily with his words after I’d selected him. Now though, I kept glancing back, thinking he might follow, but he couldn’t, not with his injury. The fact I'd left him tormented me with images of him dying alone from lack of food or water.

  Logically, I knew he'd be fine. His leg was broken but he had been able to hop around using support.

  Damn it! I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything happened to him. I jogged back down the path toward him. How could I have left him?

  “That's the wrong way, Luv,” Caine's voice sounded behind me.

  I whirled. There he was nearly three hundred yards above me. How the hell did he get that far that fast without me seeing him? “How—you—?”

  “Sorry, Luv.” He winked the replaced his sunglasses. “Can't give away all my dragon secrets.”

  “Whatever.” I marched toward him. “How much farther to your place?”

  “A few feet,” he said over his shoulder, “now, follow me.”

  He didn't even limp as he went up the steep mountain. Did he heal that fast?

  Darkness covered the trail but I kept to the path, glancing up to ensure Caine was still in front of me. Any time I almost caught up with him, he speed up.

  My breath came out in short, white puffs. Really needed to start going to the gym ag
ain. Snow tickled my nose, and I wrapped my arms around myself as a chill settled in my bones.

  A bra and underwear, so not the ideal clothing for a mountain climb. When we left the gas station, my jeans and shirt were too wet from the faucet to put back on and I’d left them when we fled. Now I wished I’d brought them anyway. I pushed forward, my teeth chattering so hard I thought they might break against each other.

  “Here's the entrance.” Caine stood beside a cave opening.

  I could do this. I huffed. Get inside Caine's lair, fall on the dirt floor, and sleep for a week. My legs cramped as I ducked down to crawl through the small opening. Inside, it was so small, I had to crawl along on my belly. Since I was only wearing my bar and panties, thanks to the gas station’s bathroom faucet and having to flee suddenly.

  The heady scent of earth and fire tickled my nose. It was so dark, I couldn't see anything. Where had Caine gone? I hadn't even seen him enter the cave...had I?

  “Caine?” I whispered. Don't know why I was being quiet but it felt like this tunnel might collapse at any moment.

  My hand grazed something hard and long. A bone? Was this how he kept the other shifters out? Having them die in this impenetrable passage? My heart thundered loud in my ears. Panic gripped my throat, and I couldn't breathe. This was a mistake. Why had I trusted a dragon?

  “Caine!” I said a bit louder this time and began scooting backward. No way was I going to get stuck here.

  Something grabbed my foot. I screamed, kicking whatever it was. My heel collided with something spongy like a face but whoever it was didn't let up on yanking me toward them.

  “Stop! Let go!” I yelled. Rocks scraped my arms and stomach as the person kept hauling me out of the tunnel.

  “Come out, little cunt,” a man said.

  My insides coiled at his words. “My dragon is going to kick whatever is left of your ass after I'm done with you!” I smashed the guy with the heel of my boot, earning a grunt.