Taming My Rebel: A Dragon Shifter Romance

by Sadie Sears

  Aro? I whispered the dragon’s name in my mind, and Saul glanced at me, his eyes wide as though startled.

  Mate. Aro’s reply came slowly and with effort, but it was all I needed to hear.

  “That’s a lot to think about.” I tapped my chin, mimicking Saul’s thoughtful expression, and he smiled like seeing himself reflected in my posture pleased him. “You certainly have a lovely estate.” I gestured around me, indicating the room and the land outside.

  He nodded like my opinion mattered. “I’m glad you like it.” He snapped his mouth shut as if he hadn’t meant to speak.

  I ignored his odd reaction. “I do. It’s a beautiful location.”

  He grinned, the twist of his mouth devilish. “Well, soon I expect we’ll have the choice of this home or the property closer to the cliffs.”

  I nodded as I digested what Saul’s words were really telling me. If he took the gesture as agreement with his plans that was up to him.

  “Perfect.” He totally took it as agreement as he snapped his fingers, and a man opened some double doors at the other end of the huge room. He wheeled in a circular frame carved with all manner of runes.

  Draven glanced up, his gaze focusing on the giant wheel-looking thing, and he hissed.

  “Strap him good and tight.” Saul gave his concise instruction as he sat back down. “I don’t want him wriggling free before Mae has time to deal the final blow.” He drew a knife from his pocket, and the blade glinted as he turned it, seeming to examine the intricate carvings along the handle.

  Then he turned it handle out and offered it to me. The urge to grab it from his hand and slash his palm open seized me, but I squashed it down. I had to play this smart, not fast. And Saul needed to die, not just wear a scarred palm.

  The demons holding Draven dragged him toward the breaking wheel. I’d only ever seen them in history books, and I glanced around, wondering what other instruments of torture Saul had lying around, because if I’d learned anything about dragons from day one, it was that they liked collecting things.

  Draven groaned as the demons hoisted him into position and fastened leather straps at his wrists, and my heart seized as a wave of Aro’s pain washed through me.

  I gripped the hilt of the knife as Saul watched me.

  “Now kill him,” he ordered.

  “Mae.”

  I almost laughed at the doubt Grandma injected into my name—like she really wasn’t sure how all of this might end.

  Draven struggled weakly against his restraints, and terror seized me that I might get this wrong. I was essentially trying to play the worst of conmen—one who wouldn’t care if this went very badly for me or Draven. In fact, the greater the corpse count at the end, probably the more enthusiastic Saul’s celebratory jacking off later.

  I paced in front of Saul, tapping the flat of the blade carefully against my closed lips. “And where do you think I should thrust the knife?” My stomach roiled and protested against the question, the idea of stabbing Draven almost too awful to contemplate.

  But I wasn’t thinking about stabbing Draven, regardless of what I told Saul or let him think. I only wanted to know where to best target Saul, the bastard. And wherever he thought would hurt Draven most would also be his weak spot.

  “Hmm…” Saul paused to think, excitement or suspicion glinting in his eyes.

  Perhaps a little of both. After all, he had no reason to trust me, and he was right not to. The desire to kill him, to avenge Draven and all the people Saul had killed, burned deep in my chest.

  I needed to hold my nerve, though. He had to believe I was really considering the murder of my mate.

  “And if I do this, you promise you’ll let my grandma go?” I injected just enough uncertainty into my tone. Just enough innocence and hope.

  “Yes.” Saul was quick to reply, the words almost exploding from him. “Yes, I will. Anything you like. Anything at all. Anything for you, Mae.” He gripped his abdomen and bent over with a low guttural groan.

  When he straightened, his eyes were wide and fixed on me, and his face had paled like all of the blood had drained out of it.

  “My God,” he whispered harshly.

  I narrowed my eyes. What was he playing at now? “So…” I prompted him. “Where’s the best place to stab this thing in?” I twirled the knife between my fingers, hoping my bravado looked real.

  Saul reached out and supported himself against the back of his chair, his face twisting as he spoke. “The stomach. A simple deep stab. Hurts most and certain death—long and agonizing no matter his form at the time.”

  I nodded and closed my eyes, steeling myself against a dry heave. This man truly wasn’t redeemable.

  “Or you could spill his guts,” Saul continued. “It’s painful but messier and quicker.”

  Then he screamed and flung his arms in the air. Before I could react or move away, a large red dragon slumped to the floor in front of me in Saul’s place.

  Mate.

  This time, the voice in my head wasn’t Aro’s. It was slurred and raspy, like it hadn’t been used for a very long time.

  “Mine.” Draven screamed the word, his voice a cry of pain.

  The dragon looked at Draven.

  Weak.

  But I didn’t know if he was talking about Draven or himself. Fragments of conversation drifted back to me, the memory of Draven telling me Saul’s dragon had been dead for a very long time.

  Apparently not.

  What did this mean? Were some of them redeemable, even after years of being controlled by demons? Not Saul… Definitely not Saul. The memory of the bloodbath at his party, the idea of the things he’d made Draven do, the image of the blood smear he’d left when he took Grandma… And he didn’t care about any of it.

  I glanced back at Draven, watching hope fade from his eyes.

  “No,” he screamed again. “You can’t have my mate.”

  The great, red dragon lumbered to his feet and stepped forward, toward Draven.

  Fire.

  I blinked at the odd thought, but his chest swelled and filled on an inhale.

  Kill.

  A cloud of smoke billowed from his nose and swirled around Draven.

  Mate. Once again, Saul’s dragon spoke directly to me, and my chest tightened.

  “No. Never.” I forced the words through my teeth and sprang forward, slicing my knife through the air in a wide arc as I aimed for the dragon’s soft underbelly.

  I would never be that man’s mate. Nor his dragon’s.

  The blade pierced the skin with surprising ease, and the runes carved into the handle glowed with a soft orange light. I slashed a bigger wound than I expected, and the dragon crashed to his knees as a coil of intestines spilled from him, slithering to the floor.

  Before his eyes had even closed, I ran to Draven, using the blood-soaked blade to cut through the leather straps fastening him to the wheel while the demons who’d put him there were distracted for a moment as they examined Saul’s dragon.

  When Draven barely reacted to what I was doing, I lifted onto my tiptoes and pressed my mouth to his.

  “Come on, Draven. Fight. We need to get out of here.” I tucked the knife into the back of my waistband and tugged his hand. “Come on.” My voice cracked, but I sucked in a long breath.

  I didn’t have time to break down now. That would have to wait.

  I glanced over my shoulder at the demons pouring in through the doors of the room, and I gasped another quick breath.

  Then I glanced at the dead dragon, my only regret that I hadn’t looked Saul in the eye as I ended his life. I’d wanted to see that light fade.

  But I shook all fear and regret from my body.

  I definitely didn’t have time for emotion. I had a fight to finish first.

  22

  Draven

  Mae kissed me, and I blinked like I was resurfacing. I’d heard and seen everything like I was watching it from a long way away. Another realm almost, but holy shit, she was s
trong. I glanced at Saul’s dragon, lying motionless on the floor. Holy crap. She’d killed a dragon.

  For me.

  She’d chosen me.

  I clutched her hand and pulled her closer to me as demons surged toward us.

  “Oh, my!” Mae’s grandma’s understated cry attracted my attention, and I staggered in her direction, determination propelling me forward, before tugging her from her chair. I glanced from side to side, trying to find a safer space, Mae’s grandma firmly wrapped under my arm, and still tugging Mae’s hand as we pushed forward.

  I had to get them both to safety.

  Pain seared my insides, and I shook my head, trying to recover my balance. Every good deed was still hurting me, even though Mae had more than demonstrated her love.

  My steps slowed as I fought to keep moving. My strength was draining, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.

  With every passing second, my soul withered more. Pieces flaked off as it tightened and shrank and rotted inside me. It was a visceral pain, and I breathed deeply, trying to ride it out.

  I might have been dying, but I didn’t regret a moment of it. Not if it saved Mae.

  I let go of her hand as I pushed her and her grandma into the safest corner I could find and analyzed the threat in front of us. Then I reached out and grabbed a demon by the throat, curving my talons into his windpipe. His skin gave under the pressure as my fingers sank into it before I threw him across the room then reached for the next one to do the same. They gurgled their last breaths as the room filled with the smoke of the dying. It curled and wound around us before spreading across the floor and seeping away.

  But more demons surged through the house, stronger and stronger, crowding into the room behind us.

  I stumbled as the door burst open in front of us. We were about to be overwhelmed.

  I was about to lose everything—my soul and Mae.

  “The cavalry’s here.” Chloe’s voice filled the room, and she charged in with Ash and half a dozen other guys I didn’t know. “The detective found me.” She explained even though I hadn’t asked a question. “Said you could probably use a hand with a demon problem.”

  I nodded as Ash leapt forward, howling some sort of war cry. He dispatched the first three demons with his bare hands, but if I knew Ash, he had more than one weapon concealed under his clothes.

  That guy from the bar, the one who seemed to bathe in shadow, followed Ash in. Keir. His presence was a surprise. I shook my head again. It didn’t matter whether I’d expected to see any of these guys. My lost soul wouldn’t care. I almost laughed. I would have put money on that guy’s soul being halfway out the door. That said, I would also have put money on me never finding a mate, either, and now look at me. Half dead with it.

  More than half. My life ebbed away with every moment that passed, but maybe that was preferable to simply succumbing to my demon.

  The shadow guy reached inside his jacket and pulled out a wicked curved blade that fit neatly into his palm. He threw it with a wild recklessness I’d never seen, but it struck deep in the heart of a demon, passing right through then striking two more. All three of them dropped down dead, unfurling smoke as they fell and becoming an oily residue on the floor.

  But I didn’t even have the energy to marvel at his talent.

  Plus, I was too busy being thankful that Chloe had arrived with Ash.

  Ash and some other guys I didn’t know but I’d seen drinking in The Lair or talking to Chloe on nights I was only there to get my latest assignment from Saul. They were welcome too, though.

  I grabbed another demon as it rushed past me, heading for Ash.

  Then the room became a blur of demons, black shapes whistling past as they crowded around Chloe. She drew a sword from a holster at her side and swung it, the blade gleaming in the mote-filled sunlight filtering through Saul’s windows.

  “Back to hell, motherfuckers,” she shouted as their heads rolled across the floor before coming to a stop against the great, collapsing carcass of Saul’s dragon.

  Ash leapt into the fray, into the space created by Chloe’s beheading, and spun a quick circle, whatever he held in his hand slicing demon after demon and spraying their putrid black blood in a fountain across the room.

  Mae’s grandma screamed, the first true fear I’d heard from her, the high-pitched sound harmonizing with the death cries of the demons.

  My demon chattered and yelped inside me, wanting to join in, growing stronger and stronger as my soul slipped away. I remained by Mae’s grandma, guarding her and fighting my pain as I watched Chloe and the guys she knew take down demon after demon. Soon, the air was thick with black smoke until I could only hear the cries.

  I staggered forward to keep the demons from reaching where I’d created the safe space. Mae and I hadn’t come this far on a rescue mission to get her grandma for nothing. I slashed out with my claws, and the face of a demon came away in my hands. It hung off my claws, and the hair tangled around my fingers. I flung it away rather than look at the gaping mouth, wide open in shock even in death, any longer.

  One of Keir’s blades whizzed past my ear and embedded itself in the forehead of a demon right behind me. I hadn’t even heard the demon approach, and I nodded acknowledgment at Keir. His face remained stony. Unreadable.

  I glanced around for Mae, panic seizing me when I didn’t see her in the corner immediately. Where the hell had she gone? Maybe one of the demons had her. I threw myself forward before I saw her.

  And of course, she’d returned to thick of the action and was almost concealed by black smoke as she plunged the knife Saul had given her into demon after demon, sending them all back to hell in a burst of orange flame. I paused for a moment, watching her courage and strength as she took on an entire world she hadn’t even known existed.

  “We need to wrap this up. I’m worried about the guys.” Chloe appeared at my side, placing her hand on my forearm.

  I sent a dazed look around the room, expecting to see dragon shifter faces etched in pain at causing so much demon damage, but the majority of the guys were happy beyond anything I’d ever seen, their movements strong and enthusiastic, ebullient cries mingling with demon calls of death.

  “It’s too much chaos,” Chloe murmured. “They could be overtaken by this freedom to destroy without restraint just as surely as they could by the pain of finding a mate they haven’t claimed. It’s a ridiculous high—the chaos of true free will. They could seek it forever, bringing that chaos wherever they go.” Then, still speaking, she looked at me. “Speaking of pain, how are you doing?” Her grip on my arm tightened.

  My vision faded, growing so dim I could only see the room in shades of gray. A burning started in my chest—the fires of hell ready to welcome me.

  “Fuck, Draven. We’re losing you.” She raised her voice, lifting it above the cacophony of noise in the room. “We’re losing Draven. He’s changing and it’s almost too late.”

  My vision changed again, narrowing as my pupil elongated and everything became clearer. Movement happened in bursts in front of me, but I followed it all, tracking it.

  Then Mae. Beautiful Mae.

  She stood right in front of me, but her attention was on Chloe, her face full of a tension I’d never seen. I watched her like I was a great distance away, intellectually interested but mostly numb. There was a hollow where my feelings should have been.

  I’d never expected death to be absence before I’d even gone.

  “What do I do?” Mae looked frantically at Chloe.

  “Have you ever rejected him?” Her response was urgent.

  Mae shook her head. “No. No, I…wouldn’t have done that.” She looked at me, and I could actually see the love in her eyes.

  “Has he ever asked to claim you?” Chloe spoke quickly, and she still hadn’t let go of me.

  Mae shook her head. “No. I thought it was an automatic thing. I thought I just had to be willing, receptive…” She shook her head again. “No more wasting time. W
hat do I do?”

  “Tell him,” Chloe urged, although she spared a frustrated roll of her eyes for me. “Tell Draven, tell his dragon. Tell them what you want. Take them as yours.”

  Mae pressed her palms to my face, forcing me to look at her, and it was as though we were the only two people in the room. The sounds of battle faded, and I could only see Mae.

  Only she existed.

  She pressed herself against me, aligning our bodies until we were almost one. No space existed between us at all, and her warmth seeped into me. I wrapped my arms around her waist, holding her tight.

  I wanted this. I wanted her.

  Mate. My dragon’s voice rumbled through my head. Aro’s mate.

  I almost chuckled. First and foremost, Mae was Draven’s mate, regardless of what my dragon thought. Draven, the man. But the last piece of my connection to my dragon clicked into place as Mae pressed her lips to mine.

  She tasted of love and desperation. “Claim me,” she whispered as she drew away. “Please.”

  A new warmth whipped through me, but it was a fresh breeze, a cleansing wash, not searing pain.

  Mae frowned. “Do it,” she urged. “Do something. I should have told you to do this sooner. I didn’t know I’d wasted so much time waiting and wondering if you just didn’t want me.” She pressed herself against me again, grinding closer, and my dick twitched.

  I growled, and the last tenuous restraint my demon had over my dragon snapped, allowing him forward to make our claim.

  The warmth inside me increased, chasing and burning the darkness lurking there, suffusing me in cleansing fire. It spilled out of me in a white glow, tumbling over Mae and lighting us both from within as she stiffened in my arms then relaxed under the presence of pure love.

  My demon wailed inside me, thrashing in my chest, making one last grab for control. I tensed against it, anchoring myself in my love for Mae, closing my eyes to focus on banishing the demon and recovering my soul and cleansing me of my demon’s touches.

  I threw my head back as my demon’s last wail echoed from my mouth, and then a contented rumble of approval rolled through my chest as my dragon finally had enough room to stretch inside my skin.