Burned (Drake Security #5)

Chapter 13

Chapter

Thirteen

LORD

I n the gray, almost-morning light, I watch the slow, steady rise and fall of my Viking’s chest and the flutter of his eyelids as he dreams. His chest, throat, and jaw are all marred with beard burn and fading love bites. Our small tent is heavy with the smell of sweat and cum, and as I lean in closer to drag my nose down the long column of his neck, I can smell how intertwined our scents are on him. My dragon rumbles with deep satisfaction, tearing everything else inside me in two.

I want to keep him. The feeling grows more intense with every moment I spend with Alrick. But I can’t. I can’t. I can’t.

Am I trying to convince my human side or my dragon? It’s impossible to say.

He aches for the first dragon he watched die.

He never wanted any part of his family’s legacy, but he can’t escape it either. I could help him. I could take him away from all of that and give him any kind of life he dreams of. Longing is so heavy in my chest I almost can’t breathe around the weight of it.

Alrick stirs and I hold my breath. I’m sure if he knows it’s nearly sunrise, he’ll want to get moving so we can reach Xanthis today. But he really should have a few more hours of sleep still. I kept him up far too late last night, unable to get my fill of the taste of his lips and the sound of his moans echoing in my ears.

He doesn’t open his eyes though. He simply murmurs something in his sleep and rolls closer to me, burying his face against my chest. A warm, protective feeling swells in my heart and I wrap my arms around him. It’s cool outside the tent, but I have no problem keeping him nice and warm. I nuzzle his hair and close my eyes, savoring the moment for a few brief beats.

I’m not sure my resolve will hold if I wait much longer. Even another hour and I might convince myself that somehow, someway, Alrick and I can be together. I could lie to my brothers about what he is. He could stay dead in the eyes of his family. The two of us could run away where neither of our families would ever find us.

That betraying my own family like that sounds even remotely appealing is terrifying, so why is my dragon so damn calm? Can’t he sense the danger of this situation? Just because Alrick won’t drive a sword through my heart doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous, even without meaning to be.

I let out a smoky breath then kiss the top of his head. Disentangling myself without waking Alrick is difficult, but I manage it with slow, deliberate movements. I slip out and zip the tent closed behind me. The cool morning air licks at my bare skin and I drag in a few deep, steadying breaths. There’s a pit of guilt in my stomach for leaving without waking him, but I know if I even hear his voice again, I’ll never manage to pull my dragon away.

Besides, I’ll be back, probably before he even wakes up. I’m not going to abandon my Viking all alone in the highlands, I just need to sever our bond before I talk myself out of it. Once that’s done, it will be easier to say goodbye to him.

My throat burns with unspent flames and my skin ripples with scales as my dragon makes his displeasure at the situation well known. My plan is to shift and fly the rest of the short distance to the mountains—I’m just hoping my dragon will cooperate.

“It’s Alrick or our brothers,” I growl quietly to myself through gritted teeth.

My heart pangs and I know my dragon is finally getting the message. Whatever his fascination is with the Viking, this can never work. One day my real mate will come and this strange week with a beautiful, complicated dragon hunter will be nothing but a memory.

Before I can talk myself out of it or my dragon can change his mind again, I start moving through the trees, getting far enough away from the campsite that my shift won’t wake Alrick. Once I’m at a safe distance, I let go of my human form. It’s painful and a relief at the same time, like a good, deep stretch after spending too long in one position. My bones groan and my muscles twist and tug as my body contorts and swells. My soft human skin is overtaken by the armor of my thick orange scales. I bite back a relieved groan as wings sprout from my back and unfurl.

I give a hearty, full-body shake and huff out a noseful of smoke. It takes every ounce of willpower I’ve spent a millennium cultivating not to lumber back to the tent, scoop Alrick up, and fly him far, far away from the dragon mage. Instead, I take a step forward and launch myself into the sky.

For a few minutes, I don’t let myself think about where I’m going or why, I simply enjoy the simple pleasure of drifting through the clouds, the peaceful quiet of being up here all alone with nothing but the wind under my wings. I savor memories of last night, our tongues tangled as we traded muffled moans into the early hours of the morning, as I ride the up and downdrafts that come and go.

Eventually, I drop back below the clouds. All the rolling green has been replaced by the rocky, snow-covered terrain of the mountains. I circle lower and lower, keeping a sharp eye out for any sign of Xanthis’s cave. The book didn’t exactly give an address for the reclusive old dragon, but it doesn’t take long for me to catch the distinct smell of smoke that always gives a dragon away. I follow my nose until I spot a gap between two large boulders on the east side of the mountain. There’s a flattened area leading up to it with deep indents in the loose gravel—distinct signs of a dragon’s landing place.

My manners give me pause for just a minute. There’s nothing ruder than coming to a dragon’s lair uninvited. We’re private, territorial creatures and we don’t much care for strangers. But it’s not like I could look her up in the phonebook to call ahead. Nor could I drop her a letter to warn her of my visit. Showing up unannounced was my only option. All I can do now is hope she understands how desperate my situation is and forgives the faux pas.

I touch down in the landing spot, sending dust and small rocks flying. Then, I shift immediately to human form, so she won’t mistake this for an attack or a confrontation. It’s much colder up here in the mountains, but my inner fire is enough to keep it from bothering me. It would probably seem strange to a human to show up on someone’s doorstep nude, but nakedness is often an unavoidable part of life for shifters, and I’m sure Xanthis won’t think twice about it.

I approach the mouth of the cave, stopping just outside of it, and I clear my throat loudly.

“Hello and apologies for arriving unannounced, but I seek an audience with the great and powerful Xanthis.” I project as much calm into my voice as possible, then I hold my breath and wait for an answer.

The sound of a loud, echoing yawn comes from inside the cave.

A feminine voice with a thick Scottish accent follows seconds later. “What kind of hour do you call this?”

I cringe and give an apologetic smile even though she can’t see me yet.

“Again, I do apologize. My name is Lord of the Drake clan, and I am in desperate need of your help.”

Soft footsteps slap against the stone floor inside the cave, drawing closer.

“Did it ever occur to anyone that moving to a nearly inaccessible cave in the middle of facking nowhere is the opposite of an open invitation?” she grouses, coming into view at the mouth of the cave. I blink with surprise as I take her in, and she smirks. “Not what you were expecting?”

“No, not exactly.”

There weren’t any pictures of her in the book, nor was there a description outside of her immense power and knowledge, but the woman standing before me isn’t anything like I envisioned. If the texts are to be trusted, she’s around four thousand years old, but she looks even younger than I do. A human would likely guess her to be in her midtwenties. Her hair is stark white, long and flowing all the way down her back, and her eyes are a shocking shade of icy blue. Her skin is pale and covered with glowing tattoos the same shade of blue as her eyes. The tattoos are traditional for mages, but I’ve never seen them on a dragon, I suppose because Xanthis is the only known hybrid.

She’s just as naked as I am, but that’s not surprising given she lives alone and likely doesn’t get many visitors.

“Everyone thinks I’m going to look like an old crone. Sooner or later, that’s going to start offending me.” She crosses her arms casually over her bare breasts and leans against one of the large rocks framing the entryway, looking me over with a probing gaze. “Well?”

“Well?” I echo, then I realize she wants me to hurry up and tell her why I’m here. “I need your help.”

“Yeah, I caught that part when you were acting like a bleeding rooster outside my front door.” She sighs and looks over her shoulder into her cave. “I suppose if I’m going to make tea, it’s only polite to offer you some.”

Without waiting for my answer, or even extending a formal invitation inside for that matter, she turns and saunters back into the cave. I hesitate for just a moment, then slip in after her. Just like the dragon mage herself, her home is nothing like I was expecting. The outside might be an unassuming cave entrance, but a few steps in it’s clear that it’s anything but.

It looks like a cozy cottage inside, complete with a full kitchen—presumably powered by magic rather than gas or electric—a small living room lined with overflowing bookshelves, and a fireplace against the wall. She heads straight for the stove, filling a kettle with water and putting it on the front burner.

“Drake, is it?” she asks, but she doesn’t pause to wait for an answer, so I’m guessing it’s a rhetorical question. “Your brother has quite the reputation.” She lets out a throaty laugh.

I frown. It’s telling that she could be talking about any one of my troublemaking brothers. Well, except for Hemingway. He’s always been my favorite because he’s spent his life too busy with his nose in a book to give me any grief.

“Arson?” I guess.

She laughs again. “No.”

I grimace. “Valentino?” Gods know he’s fucked his way through half the supernatural community over the centuries. Is Xanthis one of his scorned lovers? If she refuses to help me because of his former fuckboi antics, I’m going to roast him alive.

“No,” she says again.

I frown a little harder. I can’t imagine what Nico would have done to get on her radar. Sure, he’s prickly, but he mostly keeps to himself. The kettle whistles and she lifts it off the stove, pouring the boiling water into a pair of teacups.

“Next time you see Mac, do remind him that he still owes me a favor. I have a long memory, and I’ll collect eventually.” She winks at me over her shoulder.

I heave a sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. I’m not even going to ask what that little klepto did, mainly because I’m sure I can guess, and I don’t think my blood pressure can take any details this morning.

“I’ll tell him,” I assure her.

She nods, then pulls out a chair at the little round kitchen table and waves at another for me to do the same.

“Enough small talk,” she says. “Tell me what you need my help with so I can get back to my undisturbed peace and quiet.”

“Right.” I sit down across from her, my heart hammering against my ribs. If I tell her, will she break the bond immediately? Is it that simple? Or will she give me instructions on how to do it myself? What if it’s not even possible to break the mating bond? A sense of hope jolts through me like electricity and I wish I could blame it solely on my dragon.

“I hope you aren’t expecting me to guess. Divination isn’t my strong suit.”

“Sorry. Right. A little more than a week ago, in a state of dissociation and grief, I came upon what I believed was a mortally wounded human. Without thinking, I acted on instinct to save his life and I…” My throat tightens and heat rises from my belly at the memory of how it felt to seal my lips over Alrick’s and give him my fire. “Bonded myself to him.”

She arches one of her neatly shaped eyebrows. “‘In a state of grief and dissociation…’ Do you mean your dragon was in control?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm.” She stands and goes back to the teacups, leaving me in suspense as she works on putting loose leaf tea into two diffusers and adding them to the cups. Does she want me to go on or am I supposed to wait for her to say more? I’m afraid to test her patience any further, so I hold my tongue as she makes her way back over to the table.

She sits down and slides one cup across the table to me, and when she doesn’t say anything else, I go on.

“I don’t regret saving his life, but there are… complications.” I stare down at my cup, watching the water slowly change color as the tea leaves saturate and stain the water. “He can’t be my mate. I have to break the bond.”

She leans back in her chair, studying me silently for several of the longest minutes of my life. Her expression is impossible to read. Does she know how to break a bond? Is this magic that even exists?

The silence feels like it stretches between us for an eternity until I can’t take it anymore.

“He’s a dragon slayer,” I blurt out.

Both of her eyebrows jump up this time, but that’s all the reaction she gives me.

“He hasn’t actually killed a dragon, but he will. He has to.” I push my chair back from the table and stand up. “He comes from a long line of dragon hunters, and I suspect his brothers killed a dear friend of mine, which is how he came to be wounded that night.” I pace like a caged tiger, back and forth on my side of the table. “He’s a good man with a good heart, I can feel it, but being together is a betrayal to both our families. It’s a betrayal to our entire species.” I stop pacing and spare another look at Xanthis.

Her lips twitch with a suppressed smile before a soft laugh bursts from her mouth.

“Is this funny?” I growl. I feel like I’m begging her to tear my heart out of my very chest and she’s managing to find amusement in it. I brace my hands on the back of the chair, the wood groaning under my grip, and I bare my teeth at her. “I’m in agony and you’re laughing?”

“I’m sorry.” She schools her features. “You have to appreciate the fates’ sense of humor though.”

“What?” I bark. “What does fate have to do with any of this?”

She gives me a flat, almost pitying look, but doesn’t answer the question.

“The process of breaking a mating bond is actually surprisingly simple,” she says. My heart leaps and twists at the same time.

“Tell me.” I choke the words out.

She snaps her fingers, and a pen and piece of paper appear on the table in front of her. She picks up the pen and starts to write down what looks like a recipe. Is it as easy as a potion? Another wave of relief floods me. If it’s a potion, I can do it when I’m ready and I won’t have to tell Alrick anything more about our bond. He can go on believing it’s nothing more than a side effect of the healing potion.

She finishes and I reach across the table for the paper, but she pulls it back before I can get a claw on it.

“A warning,” she hedges. “If you both drink this potion, the bond will be severed. Your fire in his veins will burn itself out and he’ll be mortal once again. But dragons can only mate once.”

“What?” I think I know what she’s getting at, but it feels like a punch to the gut, so I need to be sure.

“Fated mate, chosen mate, it doesn’t matter. Your dragon chose this human, and that choice is irreversible. If you have a fated mate somewhere out there, their destiny will be changed as well.”

I swallow hard, looking at the paper like it’s a rattlesnake poised to strike.

“That can’t be true. I’ve met dragons with two bonded mates.”

“Fated polyamorous mates have different rules.” She shrugs. “You could try to appeal to fate themselves, but honestly they’re rather smug and cunty and they don’t appreciate being questioned.” She pushes the paper towards me and stands up. “So, if I were you, I would think hard before doing anything drastic. Good luck though.”

With that, she takes her tea and strides into an adjoining room, closing the door behind her.

ALRICK

Something’s off. I peel my eyes open and realize I’m alone. Sitting up, I listen for a moment, quickly becoming aware that it’s too quiet. Panic grips my chest, and I’m on my feet in second, pushing out of the cave to find nothing.

Lord is gone.

Why? I don’t think he’d leave me out here where I have no clue how to get back to civilization. Something else feels off too. I tilt my head back to gaze up at the sky. It’s still gray as night becomes day, but other than a few clouds, I see nothing out of the ordinary.

The hair on the back of my neck stands up and my skin breaks out in goose bumps with the disconcerting feeling of being watched. I peer through the semi-darkness at the treetops, then the ground. Maybe there’s a predator stalking me, but again, I hear nothing. No rustling of leaves or snapping twigs.

Nausea swirls in the pit of my stomach, pushing me to do something, but before I can sprint into the woods with no direction, a flutter of a breeze passes over me and Lord steps out from the shadows, gloriously naked.

His face is marred with worry. “Are you okay?”

“Where were you?”

“Are you okay?” he repeats. “I felt your panic.”

Rubbing the back of my neck, I nod. “I had that strange feeling of being watched. You know what I mean?”

He nods, his jaw set. “I had the same feeling. I looked around though and found nothing.”

The news settles me somewhat. Dragons can see and sense far more than humans can. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. Forgive me, but I went to see the mage on my own. I woke with an urgent need to seek her counsel, and I knew I could fly there faster.”

I wasn’t expecting that, but my reaction to it is even more unexpected. Disappointment bounces around my chest, settling like a stone in my stomach. Did I want to see the mage or did I just want…? The answer hits me like a ton of bricks.

I wanted to see Lord in his dragon form again. Maybe even climb on his back and ride through the night skies. Fuck, some dragon hunter I am.

His breath catches as his eyes soften. “I apologize. I should have offered to take you with me. It was a sudden impulse.”

“Because you want to be done with me?” My own question surprises me, but before I can backtrack, Lord surges forward, stopping just inches from my face.

“No. That’s not it.” He tangles his fingers gently through my beard. “I enjoy your company. I thought, perhaps, you would like the antidote sooner than later.”

Do I? I should. I definitely should.

“Did you get it?”

He nods, but I can see the sadness clouding his eyes. He blinks and they shift to orange, the black slits dilating as his dragon gazes at me.

“I did, yes. It’s not too complicated, though I don’t believe it will be pleasant to rid your body of the medicine I put into it.”

Is that why he’s sad?

“It will sever the connection and then you can go back to your life as it was before you met me.”

My chest tightens again, my stomach twisting unpleasantly. Lord’s dragon is still watching me, as if waiting for some kind of reaction. I can’t find words, so instead, I step forward, closing the distance between us.

Immediately, he relaxes, crushing his mouth to mine. His kiss is hot as fire, smoky and sweet at the same time as his hands roam across my back. In his nakedness, it’s not hard to feel his excitement against my thigh.

I’m tempted to fall to my knees and worship his glorious cock, but the desire to just hold him is stronger. As the kiss slows, he presses his forehead to mine, the unspoken sadness about what we are and what we can never have flowing between us.

“We should pack up and get back to the plane,” he whispers. “I’ll tell you about the antidote on the flight home.” He clears his throat, noticing his mistake at the same time I do. “Back to my home. You’ll need to stay just a little longer so I can have the potion made, then I’ll lend you my jet to get back to your family.”

The resignation in his voice stings, but I know he’s right. We can’t have this. “Yeah. Okay.”

Lord lingers, brushing his lips across my cheek and inhaling as he reaches the crook of my neck. My body tingles with the need to keep him this close, but I hold back. If I touch him again, we won’t be leaving anytime soon.

He backs away, but before he can get too far, I reach out and grab his wrist. “Thank you.”

“For?”

A tumble of words threaten to burst from my lips. For making me feel wanted, safe, seen. For recognizing me as a separate person from my family. For allowing me to exist in a world where death and murder isn’t an expectation, at least for a little while.

“For everything. I know it’s been hard on you.”

“No, it hasn’t. It’s been…” Different emotions flicker across his face until he settles on a happy smile. “A pleasure.”

I release his wrist and the two of us set about packing up the camp, but the weight of what’s next clings to us. His dragon doesn’t want us to do this, that much is clear. What’s less clear is what the man behind the dragon wants, and beyond that, what the fuck do I want?

Does it even matter? Our families would destroy each other, and the thought of anyone, even my own brothers, hurting Lord leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

Lord tilts his head up to the sky, scanning the wilderness around us.

“Something wrong?”

He shakes his head, leveling his gaze at me. “I don’t think so. Just thought I heard something.”

“Let’s pack up and get out of here.”

“Good call.”

Neither of us says a word as we dismantle the tent and pack our bags. Once we’ve cleaned up our campsite, I lug the backpack up onto my shoulder, glancing at Lord as he does the same. We have to get on with it. It’s not like we really have a choice.

This has to end. It’s the only thing that makes sense.