by K. A Knight
I will follow whatever path she takes, fraught with danger and enemies. Even if it leads me to chains again, even if it leads to my death, I would follow. He nods, promising the same, and we have a moment of understanding. It is hard watching another touch and love the woman who is supposed to be mine, but when they love her, when they want nothing but to protect her and be close to her like me, an understanding forms. I only hope the other mates are as accepting.
Because Jair and I aren’t going anywhere.
She sighs and we both jerk our heads down to check that she is okay. We are so in sync, waiting, watching, offering whatever she needs, but it’s happiness on her face as she presses her palm to my chest and grabs Jair’s hand and drags it across her waist, holding us both close like she can’t bear to be without us.
Our draya, offering and taking. Others might see her as a monster, a feat of evil, but I know the truth. Dawn is an act of God, a true saviour. Come to collect the monsters of this world and save them, to right the wrongs of man.
To some she is a monster, but to us, her mates, she is perfect.
And we will be here to help.
My hooves and horns are hers, and when we get free of this prison, I will kill those who dare to hurt my mate, who dare to make her question herself.
“Likom, Draya,” I whisper, leaning down and kissing her head.
I love you, I repeat mentally. She lifts her head, her eyes wide with understanding.
I love you too, my bull.
The whisper floats into my mind, wrapping around it with such love, such obsession and need, that I gasp. My little mate, how does she hold such emotions in such a tiny body?
That makes her giggle and Jair smiles at that as he brushes some hair from her neck and drops a kiss there, making her shiver. I inhale deeply as the musk of her arousal fills the air. Jair’s eyes flash red, his fangs descending as smoke curls from my nose, called forth by my mate’s need.
My cock hardens, prodding her stomach, and her eyes start to bleed to black again as her breathing picks up, but just then the door is wrenched open. I leap to my feet, dragging her closer as Jair turns, his fangs out as he snarls at the intruder.
Fallen.
“Griffin?” I exclaim. I’ve never seen him like this. His eyes are lost, his body wet and naked, and he looks wild and...scared.
I look to my men. “Leave,” I order. I don’t have time for niceties, he needs me, I feel it. They nod and get to their feet, but Dume doesn’t even tease Griffin. When they go to pass him, he cringes away from them and slides into the room, slamming the door behind him and pressing his head to the metal, muttering to himself under his breath.
Getting to my feet, I step over to him and rest a hand on his back. “Griff—”
He spins, his eyes leaking black. “Dawn,” he whispers raggedly. “Help me.”
“What-what happened? What can I do?” I almost scream, searching his eyes, knowing something is really wrong. This isn’t like my usual teasing or even angry fallen, something is very wrong.
I reach for his mind and see flashes of skin, of a hand before he jerks away, his eyes filling with tears. “Help me,” he repeats, and in those words I hear a plea. He’s asking for something, something he doesn’t even know how to do.
I open my arms and he rushes into them. I fall to my knees, wrapping myself around him. “Shush, it’s okay, I’m here, I’m here, I’m here,” I chant, holding him close.
His hands convulse on my back as he drags me closer, his head burrowing into my shoulder as a sob racks his body.
I hold him, anger burning in my gut. Whoever did this, whoever hurt him, will die.
I hold him as he cries, as he breaks in my arms. I can feel his mind shying away, he wants to speak, to tell me, but he can’t. He feels guilty, wrong, like he shouldn’t be reacting like this. Gripping his head, I pull it away until I can stare into those red-rimmed, tear-filled eyes. “Baby, tell me, I’ll fix it.”
“You can’t,” he croaks.
“Griff, please, what’s wrong?” I beg, gripping his cheeks. He shivers, his eyes closing for a moment in such immense pain and...guilt?
“I can’t—”
“Can you show me?” I suggest and he cringes, staring into my eyes. “Show me, baby, let me in.”
He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, tears rolling down his cheeks as his mind opens to me. I dive in, reliving what happened. As I watch, I feel what he felt. The confusion, the horror, the guilt, the utter hopelessness. He feels like he shouldn’t care, that he shouldn’t be upset. God, my poor boy.
I push away my anger and need to hunt the fucker down—I can do that later. Right now my mate needs me. “Griff,” I murmur, and he opens his eyes, beyond hurt, expecting me to invalidate his feelings. “What happened was wrong. You hear me? It was wrong. He should have never touched you. Do not blame yourself or try to explain it away. It was wrong.”
“I-It was just a touch, though, and it doesn’t happen to boys. It was just a power play,” he whispers raggedly.
“Who the fuck says it doesn’t happen to boys?” I roar, then calm down. “Baby, look at me, did you want him to touch you? Did you consent?”
“No, but—”
“No buts, then it was wrong. You have every right to feel the way you feel, baby. I can’t take it away, God, I wish I could. I wish I could go back so you never have to experience that, but all I can do is offer you my arms. I’m here if you need to rage. To cry or to feel nothing. I’m here, I know what it feels like, baby, and it won’t disappear, but you have to let yourself feel it, no matter how hard it is. You need to, don’t repress this, it happened, baby. It happened.”
Sometimes all you need is someone to believe you. I see the moment he realizes why he feels this way in his eyes, because deep down he knows he was sexually assaulted. He presses himself closer and I hold him, I hold him for as long as his tears fall and then even longer.
Pain is pain, it doesn’t discriminate based on gender.
The door opens and he jolts but doesn’t pull away. Jair and Dume are there, the wolf too. They regard us before they step inside and shut the door. “Guys, not now,” I whisper.
Dume looks at the man in my arms, his face sad and understanding. “I was raped repeatedly by my queen. By a woman others followed and looked to for leadership, she even made me enjoy it. I hated myself for it, hated myself for so long. I still see her face.”
Griffin lifts his head and Jair steps closer, anger flashing in his eyes. He doesn’t glance at me, but keeps his gaze trained on Griffin, and I can feel his struggle at admitting what he shares. “I was turned by a woman who used my body as easily as she used my fangs. I convinced myself I enjoyed it as we killed and fucked. After, I would even cuddle with her surrounded by their corpses and blood. But inside I hated myself, I lost myself. It twisted me, and only now am I able to look back to see that I never, not once, wanted her. I felt like I owed it to her, that she controlled me, and I was so scared that I had to.”
Griffin swallows, his eyes confused at their admissions, at them sharing their deepest, darkest pain for him. “Baby, I was raped, again and again. I was so scared to resist that I used to lie there, that I used to fucking thank him after.” Tears fill my eyes, matching his as I stare into those dark depths. “We are here.”
He licks his lips and presses his head to mine as Dume and Jair step closer and fall to their knees, wrapping their arms around us. I freeze, unsure how he will react, but he shivers and presses closer, accepting their comfort.
We sit like that, together, a tangle of limbs of understanding and shared pain.
Hours later, I lift my head. Griffin is asleep in our arms, his mind peaceful for a moment. I look to the others to see the same anger, same hate there for our hurting mate...friend. Family.
“It’s time and I know whom I’m starting with,” I snarl, losing myself to the darkness. I want his pain, his screams. I want him to pay for what he’s done to my mate.
No one hurts what is mine.
I hop right into the council’s nest, straight to the dungeons below where the dragon insists we are needed. We end up in a hallway and he whirls to me, his eyes flashing purposefully as he barrels towards me. Laughing, I dodge his outstretched hands. “What about your mate?” I remind him, and he stops, frozen in indecision before turning and storming away.
I follow after him, whistling, when suddenly, I stop. I bend over, gasping. Such power fills me, calls to me, courses through me. Lifting my head, I meet the dragon’s gaze. “Your mate, what is she?” I demand.
“A skinwalker,” he answers, frowning.
“No, something down here is much stronger, so much stronger.” I grab him in a blink and hop us to the location of the power, needing to know.
We arrive in a cell that smells of blood, sex, and pain, all my favourite things. That’s when I see her—the woman who called me forth from my slumber, who slipped inside my mind, who restored me. She’s so small, her blonde hair wrapped over a bare, pale shoulder, with a curvy body that men would fall to the floor and worship. She seems harmless as I melt into the shadows to watch her, keeping the dragon trapped with me. But then those black eyes turn my way, and in those depths I see the same hate, rage, and need for violence that swirls inside me.
I suck in a breath, aching to reach through the mist to grab her and hop her away. Take her back to my home and lock her there with me as I peel back what makes this little woman affect me so, to see if she tastes as sweet as she looks. Her eyes flicker away and I want to roar, to drag them back to me…only then do I realise there are others in the room. I was so distracted by her, so taken aback, everything else had faded.
There are three.
I sniff the air—a fallen, a vampire, and a...minotaur. Interesting.
Just then the dragon struggles in the mist and somehow breaks through. Panting, he bursts into the room as I stay in the shadows, observing as he strides towards the woman I can’t seem to look away from. I actually growl when he grabs her and swings her around in an arc.
She giggles, seeming overjoyed. “Aska! You made it!”
“I told you I would, Neriso,” he murmurs, and then lets her slide down his body, still holding her in the air as his lips meet hers. I see red, wanting to rip the world apart, to kill the dragon who, a moment ago, had amused me. My nails dig into the wall as I debate ripping him away from her, but then he pulls back and I have never seen such joy, such happiness. “My mate, I finally have you.”
Mate?
This is his mate?
I should have killed the dragon when I had the chance. I do not share. Not ever. I will find out what the council is doing, kill them if I must, then I will take her from him. She is mine, I feel it now. The pull, the call. Yes, I’ll take her, make her mine. Chain her by my feet as she reveres me, and when I am done or kill her, he can have her body back.
With one last look at them, I hop from the room, intent on killing someone, anyone, to rid myself of this anger, this pure, unlimited chaos raging through me, swirling without purpose and needing to be let out.
Because of her.
Dawn grins, resting her forehead against mine. I can feel the others in the room staring, but I do not care. I finally have her in my arms, after everything, we are finally together. She feels so good in my embrace, her lips against mine like the touch of gold against my skin. There is nothing compared to her, our dreamscape was a pale imitation of the beauty of my mate.
“You told me—” She exclaims, kissing me again before pulling away. “That you would tell me what neriso means.”
“I did, didn’t I?” I whisper, staring into those stunning eyes. “Beloved, mine.”
She shivers and wraps her legs around my waist, holding me close, need and happiness warring in her eyes. I feel the same. I have waited so long to feel her touch, to feel her close, and now I have her.
“Draya,” comes a voice, and I growl, tucking her closer as I snarl at the others. A big man with a nose ring holds his hands up and looks from her to me. “I mean no harm, dragon, she is my mate too.”
I run my eyes over him and the long-haired man standing next to him, noticing a tired-looking Griffin leaning against the wall. “Wing man.” I nod seriously.
He snorts and shakes his head. “Didn’t kill you, did they? What a shame. I was hoping they would,” he taunts, but his voice is almost flat, his eyes sad.
“They could try, we both know they wouldn’t succeed.” I puff up. “Where is the god?”
He shrugs. “Upstairs.”
Dawn sighs and Griffin’s face eases. “Vasculo, I will go find clothes for us both and see what havoc you have caused on the other cells, you can…welcome your dragon,” he addresses her softly, then looks at me, his eyes narrowed as some life returns to them. “I will still kill you.”
He rips open the door and leaves. The other two nod at me and look to Dawn, their gazes softening. “Be back soon, Draya,” the big man calls, before following Griffin.
“Try not to kill anyone without me,” the other man tells her with a wink, before closing the door behind him.
We are finally alone.
She runs to me, her eyes holding questions, but staring into that gaze I am wordless. “You and Griffin seem…”
“He is confused on how to act around a king. It is okay, he is learning, he will make a fine servant,” I declare seriously, and she giggles.
“Oh God, you two are going to kill each other.” She laughs. “Then I would have to bring you back.” She shivers, her eyes locked on mine. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispers.
“Nowhere else I would rather be, Neriso,” I state, pulling her closer, noting how she fits so perfectly in my arms. “I am betting we do not have long until your other mates come back.”
“Then we better make the most of it.” She grins, wiggling her eyebrows. I kiss her tenderly before fluttering my lips over each eye.
“Neriso, I have waited thousands of years for you, I can wait a bit longer. Our first time together, my first time with my mate, will not be rushed in a dungeon. It will be on silk sheets when I can show you just why dragons are worshipped.” I cup her cheek. “I want everything between us to be perfect. You have things you need to do, my dragon and I understand that, we will wait.”
“What if I don’t want to?” she whispers, searching my eyes. “What if we don’t survive and I never get to have you?”
I grin, flashing purple eyes at her. “You do not get to die, my beloved. We will survive this because you are too strong not to, too stubborn to die, and you have a king at your side. A minotaur, a fallen, a vampire, a god, and now Lucifer himself. We can handle this.”
“Wait, Lucifer?” She blinks, pulling back, and I roll my eyes.
“Don’t scream that, he won’t let you live it down, and if he offers to hop you somewhere, say no, he’s a mean bastard.”
“I mean...he’s the devil, right? Kinda makes sense.” She huffs and I scowl.
“If he wasn’t, I would have killed him,” I grumble, and she grins.
“Okay, but after…after?” she asks, intently regarding my expression. “Unless you don’t want me anymore?”
“Do not be foolish,” I growl, my dragon leaking through, scales flashing across my body. “I want you more than my next breath, more than I have ever wanted anything, including a crown, including my first shift. You’re the only thing in this world I want, you are what I woke for, what I searched this whole world for, and I intend to have you until the end of time, but first you have a council to stop.”
She groans. “Your fancy talk is hot.”
I ruffle at that, almost puffing up. “Then I will talk fancy, as you say, forever.”
She giggles and kisses me again, moaning into my mouth as I deepen it. Winding my hand into her hair and duelling my tongue with hers, my dragon growls in satisfaction, wanting me to claim her now, so I rip my mouth away just as my phone rings.
G
roaning, I pull it from my pocket to see a strange notification. “What in the world?”
Dawn blinks lust-filled eyes and looks at the phone, laughing as she swipes. “It’s called FaceTime, so you can see their face while they talk.”
“Why? Why wouldn’t I just see them in person if I wanted to?” I grumble just as Jean Paul’s face comes on the screen. At this point I am beginning to believe he is doing this on purpose to see my struggle.
“Sir, erm, you are upside down.” He laughs and Dawn plucks the phone from my grip and turns it so he is right side up.
“You must be Dawn!” Jean Paul gushes, pushing his face to the screen. “I am so glad he found you! I can’t wait to meet you!”
“Thanks?” she replies with a small smile, as Jean Paul looks back at me.
“Did you, erm…get your ride with Satan, sir? I am bringing the car now.”
“I did, he was rude.” I huff.
“Leave him a bad rating,” Jean Paul quips, and Dawn giggles as I frown at them both.
“I don’t understand. Rating? As in sexually? I didn’t have sexual relations with Satan!” I almost yell, just as the door opens and Griffin strolls in.
“Well, okay, I think the dragon doth protest too much. Vasculo, did you let your little pet suck Satan’s dick?” He laughs.
I narrow my eyes on a chuckling Jean Paul. “I will talk to you later.”
“Yes, sir! Bye, Dawn!” he calls and hangs up, so I pocket the phone.
Dawn slips from my arms and leans against me while her hand reaches for Griffin. He takes it and lets her pull him closer, throwing me a glare which I return.
“I did not suck Satan’s...I did not!” I gripe, making them both laugh.
“If you say so, wing boy,” Griffin taunts. “I wondered how you got the sleeping council to come, now I know...in more ways than one.”
“You two behave, or when this is over, I’ll make you share a bed. Griffin, baby, did you find me some clothes?” she asks sweetly.
He ignores me and looks at her, his eyes swirling. “Yes, though I do prefer you naked.”