Burned (Drake Security #5)

Chapter 18

Chapter

Eighteen

LORD

“ O h gods,” Alrick groans as the seriousness of our predicament becomes clear.

I have to remind myself to breathe as words I had hoped to avoid finally break free.

“It’s a long story but…” I glance at Alrick, squeezing his hand for comfort. “Alrick is—” I stop short, unable to admit the awful truth to my brothers.

“Lord?” Hemingway says, his voice soft and fearful. “Talk to us.”

Alrick straightens his shoulders. “I was raised as a hunter.”

Nico roars fire, lunging forward while Lake does his best to grab him and I step in front of my mate.

“Stand down, brother.” My tone is dark and protective, enough to stop Nico in his tracks, but the betrayal is written all over his face.

“What the fuck?” Arson whispers.

“And I thought being a demon mate was hard,” Montrose muses.

“Ditto,” Draydon adds, holding on to Arson.

“I’ve never harmed a dragon,” Alrick continues. “I never will. I’ve been at odds with my family’s teachings my entire life.”

Nico scoffs, folding his arms over his chest. “And we’re just supposed to believe you?”

“Does your brother look injured? I’ve been alone with him for weeks.”

“Maybe you’re playing the long game,” Tino says, his eyes narrowed. “You’ll wait until he takes you back to our compound and invite your family in.”

Hurt, guilt, and even anger twist through our bond. It’s time for me to step in.

“I admit this isn’t how I intended for any of you to find out, but…” I glance at Alrick, hoping he accepts this very public explanation. “I found Alrick wounded on the forest floor hundreds of miles from our home. I don’t think I need to explain how I was guided to him.”

Lake gasps, clutching his chest. “Your dragon knew.”

I nod. “He was moments from death, and at the time, I had no idea why I needed to keep him alive. I breathed my fire into him.”

Alrick’s mouth falls open in awe. “Your dragon found me?”

“Yes. Once it became clear what you were, I tried to convince myself that my dragon was confused or simply longing for what my brothers had found, but the more time we spent together, the clearer it became.” It’s time I accept what’s been obvious for some time. “My dragon chose you because fate did first.”

“All the gods,” Nico complains. “Fate must be very bored these days.”

“What does that mean?” Alrick asks.

Draydon stands. “I’m a wolf shifter. Dragons and wolves aren’t exactly buddies.”

Montrose swings his crossed leg, leaning his head back against Tino’s belly. “I’m a demon who was hunting their younger brother. Not a great first impression.”

“Well, I’m absolutely perfect for Nico,” Lake says, smiling, causing Arson to cackle.

“And his polar opposite,” Arson says. “The only match that makes sense here is Demps and Hem. Two book nerds.”

“This is gonna make for some awkward holidays when the in-laws try to skewer us,” Hemingway says.

“But did you sever the bond?” Dempsey asks. “Can you?”

“Dahlia is working on the potion. It’s possible, but…” I can’t get the words out.

“But what?” Alrick asks.

I avoid his pleading eyes.

“But what, Lord?” he asks again.

“A dragon can only be bonded once. If we were to sever our bond, that’s it for me.”

He looks crushed. “Lord.”

“It wasn’t fair of me to mate you without your consent, but you couldn’t give it. You would’ve died, and I couldn’t let that happen. Please forgive me.”

Alrick wraps his arms around me, pressing his face to the crook of my neck.

Lake clears his throat again. “I’m so sorry but we really need to deal with the slayer problem. Then we can work on the mate problem.”

“He’s not a problem,” I growl, twisting around as flames flicker from my lips.

Lake smiles, completely unafraid of me. “You know what I meant. Shall we go? Plane’s loaded.”

“How did you get it from Scotland?”

“How do you think we got it?” Nico grumbles. “We’ll wait downstairs while you guys get decent.”

“Maybe we should stay here,” I suggest. “They’ll probably track him.”

“Better if we’re on our turf,” Nico says. “Unless you want to burn down Paris… again.”

Arson rolls his eyes. “That was an accident . And I covered it up, didn’t I?”

I sigh at my wayward brother then nod at Nico. “Fair point,” I mumble. “Let’s go.”

As my brothers and their mates file out, I’m left in the silence between Alrick and me. Before I can say anything else, he crashes into me, kissing me so hard I nearly lose my balance. I cling to the warmth of him, desperate to hear him tell me he’ll never leave. Our bond twists with pleasure and comfort and my dragon purrs with happiness.

“First things first,” Alrick says, pressing his forehead to mine. “My family is coming for me. They think I’m in danger. I need to go to them.”

“No. Alrick, no.”

He steps back, and the look of determination on his face nearly breaks my heart.

I continue to hold him, accepting that I won’t win this argument. “You have to come back to me. Even if it’s because you don’t want this anymore.”

“Lord. You have to know how much our time together matters to me too.”

“But now you know what I’ve done.”

“To save my life.” He cups my chin. “You saved my life, Balriss.”

The sound of my true name on his lips offers a shred of hope that this isn’t really over.

“You risked your own happiness to save me,” he continues. “You would have severed the bond to release me. That’s a lot to take in.”

“I know. It wasn’t how I wanted to tell you.”

“How were you going to tell me?”

“Just before my family knocked, I had decided it was time. Before we went back, before we were faced with reality again. I was afraid to tell you. I wasn’t ready to lose this bliss.” I touch his face. “I couldn’t even admit to myself that fate had a hand in all of this.”

Alrick’s eyes soften. “I guess a lot of weird shit makes sense now. The way I feel your emotions. That’s the bond.”

“Yes. It’s my dragon.”

He shakes his head as he rubs his sternum. “We’ll pick this up later, but the one in the heels is right. We have a pressing issue. Can I catch a ride with you guys?”

“Of course.”

Alrick kisses me softly, briefly. “Guess we better get going.”

I nod, making no move at all. As soon as we leave this room, this beautiful fantasy is over. Anything could happen. Alrick could decide his family is more important than what we have, and how could I blame him?

“Hey,” he says. “You need to trust me.”

“I do. With my life, Alrick.”

When we rejoin my family in the lobby, I’m met with a flood of silent questions bouncing along our family bond. There are too many to answer in this setting, so I simply wrap my hand around Alrick’s and walk past them to the front door, where an SUV is waiting to take us to the private airport.

We ride in silence and board the plane the same way, settling into our seats. Montrose is gone and back in a flash with a bag of fresh croissants, to the delight of Lake.

Before we take off, Alrick jumps up suddenly. “Can I go sit in the back? I need to get my thoughts together and I’m still a little tired.”

I sense the lie, but I don’t blame him for wanting to get away from the interrogating energy wafting off my brothers.

“Of course, treasure.”

He nods, smiling and glancing at everyone before taking off. I try to settle in my seat, but I know what’s coming.

“Your dragon led you to him?” Nico asks as soon as we’re in the sky.

“As I said.”

“But you love him,” Lake says. “It’s obvious.”

I won’t deny that. “We’ve grown close.”

“Could you tell us what you’ve been doing all this time?” Arson asks. “At least give us that.”

“I don’t owe you an explanation of how I spend my time.”

Tino scoffs. “Seriously, Lord? You found your mate and shut us out from it. This is the most important part of your life that all of us have wanted for you for so damn long, and now we’re just expected to ignore that it happened?”

My chest tightens with guilt. “It was obviously more complicated than I expected.”

“And as usual, you didn’t think you could come to us for help,” Nico says. “You carry the whole damn world on your shoulders when all of us would love to lighten your load.”

My eyes sting with unexpected emotion. “I didn’t know what to say.” I glance over my shoulder to make sure the door is still closed. “I didn’t understand why any of it happened, and I didn’t think there was any chance I could keep him.”

“So you went to Scotland to find a way to sever your bond?” Arson asks.

“Yes, but during our travels…” I close my eyes for a second. “I understood him. He is not what his family is.”

“He’s never killed a dragon?” Montrose asks.

“No. He’s the shame of his family, and I found him the way I did because he refused to strike the dragon attacking him. He’s a good, kind man.”

“Well, he’s certainly pretty,” Montrose says as Tino growls. “Settle down, lover.”

“What do you want to happen?” Hemingway asks. “Do you want to stay mated to him?”

Mate.

My dragon perks up then, making it very clear with the fierce swishing and persistent chanting in my head what he desires.

“With all my heart,” I admit. “But we’re doomed. If he chooses his family, it’s impossible.”

“We could torch his family,” Arson says. “Make it easy.”

“I agree,” Nico says. “They’ve killed dragons. We show no mercy.”

“This is why Alrick and I are not meant to be. I can’t willingly decimate his family. Perhaps Dahlia can give him a memory potion. He’ll forget I exist.”

“What about you though?” Dempsey asks. “You won’t forget.”

“I’ll survive. I always do.” I stretch my neck. “He’s leaving us to go to his family when we return stateside. I suppose we’ll see what happens after that.”

“If they attack, we have to defend ourselves,” Nico says.

“I’m aware.”

“Not to mention the other dragon clans in the area seeking revenge,” Tino adds. “This might get ugly.”

“I know.”

“But we’re with you, Lord,” Hemingway says. “Just like we’ve always been with you. You can try to shut us out all you want, but we’re not going anywhere.”

His words go straight to my heart. “I’m so sorry, brothers. I never meant to?—”

“We know,” Tino says. “You’re forgiven.”

“Could you… if it works out somehow… accept…”

“You accepted us,” Montrose says with an unusual softness in his voice. “How could we turn our backs on your mate?”

I meet Arson’s eyes and he nods. “I think I can speak for all of us. It’s not ideal, but who are we to question fate? Alrick’s your mate. We’ll fucking deal with it like we handle everything that comes our way.”

As my brothers and their mates voice their agreement, the tension in my chest releases, and I feel Alrick relax through our bond.

I have to believe that this wasn’t a mistake or fate’s cruel joke and Alrick is meant to be my mate. We’ll get through this to the other side.

Together.

ALRICK

Sitting in a back room alone rather than subjecting myself to the mix of curious and slightly hostile looks from Lord’s family was a good call. I felt the chaos of his emotions, but they seem to have settled now.

I hate that our time together ended so abruptly, but the reason behind it is even worse. Somehow my family found out I’m with them, I just can’t figure out how. What am I going to say?

Last night’s thoughts of staying with Lord come back to me, swirling around my head like storm clouds. I’m his mate. His fated mate. The thing he’s wanted all his life. Everything makes so much more sense now, but what gets me is that he was willing to sacrifice himself for me. Breaking the bond would leave him without the possibility of ever having another mate. But what if…

My breath catches.

What if it was always meant to be me? He said his dragon led him to me, and that’s how he said they knew it was fate. That’s far more significant than if he was just taking a stroll in a deserted forest and stumbled upon me. It answers how I healed so quickly from a life-threatening wound.

The craziest part of all of this is that I know in the deepest part of my heart that I want to be his mate. I want to spend my nights wrapped in his too-warm arms, and gods, I want to see that gorgeous dragon gazing at me. I’m happier than I’ve ever been, with a life I never dreamed of just within my grasp. Unfortunately, to get it, I have to burn down my entire life. I have to leave my family and figure out how to get them to stop this hunting nonsense. If they’re attacked, I can’t help. To keep Lord, I have to side with the dragons.

My chest tightens with guilt and sadness and the door opens suddenly. Lord fills the doorway, his handsome face marred with concern.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Just processing everything.”

He nods, staying in the doorway. “We’re almost there. Are you sure I can’t reason with you to come back with me? We can go together, talk with your family. I can?—”

“Lord, stop. Reverse the situation and think about how that would go. Your brothers obviously have too much respect for you to torch me alive, but they wanted to. It won’t be any different with my family.”

“I don’t want you to face this alone. I feel responsible.”

“You are. For giving me the best weeks I’ve ever had. Thank you.”

“Treasure…”

“I can handle it.” I hope. “I’ll be okay.”

“You have my heart, Alrick. It is yours. I’ll keep you forever if you allow it, and I’ll keep you safe. You can have a life of soft beds and long baths and anything else you want. We can go anywhere your heart desires.”

There’s no point in denying to myself how much I want that, but I can’t get my hopes up just yet. For all I know my dad will drive a sword through my heart.

“What matters right now is keeping your family and friends safe. Focus on that, not on me.”

“Impossible.” He smiles as his eyes shift and his dragon peers out at me. “Two things can happen at once. You have to stay safe too.” His brow creases for a second. “Perhaps this is a good time to tell you that you’re essentially immortal now. Like me.”

My mouth drops. “What?”

“But if you were to be killed, by a cursed sword perhaps, we would both die.”

“Oh my gods, Lord. What?”

“Our life forces are connected because of the bonding. You’re safer now than you’ve ever been. Your own family wouldn’t harm you, right?”

“I-I don’t think so. But, Lord…”

“It’s okay, Treasure. Don’t get yourself killed and it’ll be fine.”

“No pressure.”

“Of course, you can come back with me, and we can sever the?—”

“No!”

My outburst surprises us both. I clear my throat.

“We need time to make logical, well thought out decisions.”

He nods. “I agree,” he says as he steps back. “Rest. We’ll be landing within the hour.”

He’s gone before I can say anything else or drag him into my arms again. Now not only do I need to make sure I don’t get myself killed for my own preservation, but if I go down, I take Lord with me. That changes my strategy. Somehow, I need to get to Viggo without Digby or my dad finding out. He’s far more reasonable than they are.

He’s my only chance.