Devoted to the Dragon (The Last Shifters #1)

21. Knox

Chapter 21

Knox

“ I t looks like you’ve been caught, dragon,” I chide, stepping from the shadows.

I’d hoped the dragon would manage an escape during the night. Her door didn’t open until morning, and instead of leaving, she’d marched into the Council and proved herself to be a bigot, like the wolves. Her hatred for my kind is so ingrained that when Sloan offered her an out, she chose to fight with fire.

It’s better this way. It’s easier to ignore the temptation to do something reckless, like kiss her. Instead, I focus on her hatred and try to let it fan mine.

The dragon dangles precariously from a tree by her bound ankle, the net tight around her. The harder she fights, the more it sways. She curses and tries to free herself, but it’s useless. The powerful dragon who mowed down wolf after wolf has been reduced to a tiny human.

I step closer and catch the net. She fights, of course, but she is trapped. And even though it’s twisted, the fact that she’s naked and bound for me makes my dick hard. I pull her closer and hold her head between my hands.

“These traps are the king's idea of security, and I must admit I’m surprised they worked. I prefer shadow-walking, but apparently, that’s creepy and frowned upon in wolf country,” I explain.

Why the fuck am I talking? She is nothing to me. I owe her nothing.

Despite what I tell myself, one of my shadows severs the rope. She drops to the forest floor with a thud, moaning. Before she recovers, I straddle her hips and pin her with my weight.

Up close, she is just as beautiful as I imagined, even though bruises and scratches mar her skin. She is covered in blood. Hers. The wolves’. So much blood that her white hair is streaked black in the low light and her pale skin looks as if it was splattered with paint.

She spits in my face. “Kill me already, snake. If you don’t, know that when I escape, I won’t hesitate.”

Without conscious thought, my shadows open and take a real taste. The moment her energy touches me, it’s ecstasy. Her soul… It sings. It’s an orchestra of blinding light, iridescent and shining so fucking brightly. Her energy is so powerful it rearranges my insides and reorients me to her sun. My serpent slices through the net, compelled to free her.

She surges forward, attacking me with her nails as she struggles against my shadows. Those nails of hers as sharp as fuck. They dig deep into my chest. My face. My dick pulses as a pained pleasure rips through me.

We tumble, and she breaks free, scrambling to her feet and taking off into the forest. The moonlight catches her skin, and where the light touches, she seems to glow. I chase her, compelled, tethered by an unseen leash.

She trips, trying to weave through the thick ferns and foliage, and stumbles on slow human legs over rough branches. In her weakened state, I easily overpower her, pushing her against the trunk of a towering tree.

I’m desperate to understand why I can’t get her itch out of my skin. My hard cock nudges against her back, and the feel of her bound in my shadows makes me shiver. Nothing about this makes sense. Everything is twisted.

My breath saws out of me, but it isn’t the chase. My face, where she clawed me, feels as though it’s on fire. The blaze burns down to my soul, making everything in my body hurt and sing simultaneously.

“What is—” My strangled words falter, the fire so intense it feels as if I’m turning to ash. Everything I thought I knew scatters away in the blaze.

The dragon stops fighting, staring at me wide-eyed over her shoulder.

A long guttural howl fills the air, followed by another and another until the forest vibrates with the sound. The wolves have scented her blood and are coming for her.

The dragon’s eyes lock on mine. Her golden eyes are bottomless, beautiful, and hauntingly sad. Her claws might as well take my eyes out too because I know that I’ll never be able to see anything but her.

The air between us charges with static electricity, and her energy reaches for mine. My shadows lunge for her. I lean in, and for the briefest moment, she meets me, her soft lips brushing against mine before she remembers we’re enemies and she bites my tongue. She pulls away, her eyes dropping to my chest.

Mine follow, and it all makes sense. The rune for mate burns brightly, glowing where the brand of magic has awakened on my skin. My magic responds, my shadows coiling around us, finishing the binding between us. The serpent strikes, my fangs piercing the dragon’s shoulder.

Her lips open with a pained gasp. “What have you done?”

Nothing makes sense. Except she does.

I swallow around the fire in my throat. “Funny, I was going to ask you the same question.”

In the distance, a shout rings out, and a chorus of wolves answers. They’re closing in on us.Without thought, my shadows release her.

“Run, mate. I will deal with the wolves.”

“A serpent will never be my mate.” She curses, slipping under my arm.

“I think that’s a done deal.”

She turns on me. Even without her dragon’s skin, she is all fire. “I will never trust you. My dragon would never accept you. Your people stole our hearts?—”

“And I plan to steal yours?—”

She shakes her head, anger pulsing from her and her voice rising. “They stole our hearts and tore them from us until nothing was left.”

I grab her arm and pull us almost flush. Her breath hitches, and those haunted eyes spear me.

“Those aren’t my mistakes,” I hiss.

Her voice is cold and unfeeling when she spits back, “No. You have already made your own.”

The words hit like a dart, ice creeping into my veins. The truth of her words guts me. I knew I was drawn to her from the moment I spotted her. My serpent was restless and eager to protect her. Did I listen to those instincts? Did I knock on her door and tell her to flee? Did I help her escape? Plead with my sister or mother?

No.

I knew something was different, and I let them hurt her. I hurt her.

The beautiful dragon— my dragon —yanks herself out of my grip and runs from me. This time, I don’t chase. My legs give out, and I fall to my knees, watching her move farther into the shadows. For the first time, I feel shame for what I’ve done. It’s heavy, taking over my limbs and shadows until I’m frozen.

I can feel the wolves in the trees, but my brain is trapped in a loop. The dragon is my mate, and I hurt her.

Sloan steps from the shadows, her posture defensive and her serpent ready to strike. “Where is she?”

I force myself to speak, though it feels as though I’m broken beyond words. “Got away.”

Sloan makes a disbelieving sound, circling me, her shadows a cyclone around her. “In the dark? You’re the best shadow-walker I know.” My sister steps closer, and I know she sees when her hand covers her gasp. “Oh! Knox.” She eyes my chest where the brand sits, a badge of my shame. “The dragon?”

I give a sharp nod.

“She will never accept you.” The hard rattling sound of Sloan’s serpent punctuates her words and gives voice to what I already know—to what I deserve.

“She said as much. It doesn’t change it. You know what this means.”

Sloan scoffs. “There is no way. We tried to capture her. Violently. The forest floor reeks of her blood?—”

“Sloan,” I say, begging her to hear me, “she is my mate. My fated mate . Look at the rune.”

My sister freezes.

“You know what that means. It changes everything. You are bound to honor my mate. We are sworn to protect her.”

She huffs, but the sound is less that of a serpent and more of a sister. “You were supposed to be my ride or die on this while I kicked ass at making the first alliance with shifters in centuries.”

I chuckle, but it’s dark. All the light left with my dragon. “Yeah, well, you brought the fuckboy, and I fucked it up. What did you expect?”

Sloan paces, her shadows going wild in a slithering storm of chaos around her. “She’ll never agree to deal with us. Never accept what we are. And even if she did, once she knows we’ve been arming the wolves?—”

I force myself to be rational and to puzzle through politics only because my dragon needs this. I didn’t protect her, but I won’t fail her again. “We must break our deal with the king. We’ve never traded in weapons until Bash. Our business has always been pleasure.”

Sloan stops pacing and turns on me. “You’re sure it’s her? Not a wolf in the forest or?—”

“Yes.” My eyes burn.

She lowers herself and places a hand on my chest where the dragon has burrowed her way into my soul. Her eyes meet mine, and she sighs. “The wolves will never touch her. As the heir apparent, I recognize your mate claim. I’ll tell Mother we will honor the rune. Go to your dragon. Keep her safe. They’re not only after her scales now.”

Sloan shifts into the shadows just as the pounding of paws cuts into the clearing.