Chapter 2
two
AVERY
Talon’s wings caught the air, but my eyes were on the world below me. The world I was about to become way too well acquainted with if I couldn’t stay upright.
My ass slid a little with the first flap of his wings, and a little more with the second. I screamed again when I started to slide around the side of his neck, but he turned slightly. The turn righted me, and changed the angle of his neck just a little.
The angle change was an immediate improvement.
I still wasn’t sitting securely, but I wasn’t in the process of falling off anymore.
My heart beat wildly, pounding against his scales. The wind felt like ice against my skin.
He flew for a few minutes, leaving Mistwood behind quickly.
A few more minutes passed and, my heartbeat slowed.
I wasn’t going to fall off his back after all.
That was good.
He hadn’t killed me for accidentally knocking one of his scales off. Also good.
The situation could’ve been much worse. Maybe that fact shouldn’t have made me feel better, but honestly? It did.
I wasn’t dead, and I hadn’t been attacked.
And I was going with him for my sisters’ sake, so I knew without a doubt that I was exactly where I needed to be.
Now that I wasn’t in the midst of a panic attack, I let myself look at the view below us.
The world was stunning. Thick, green trees. Giant mountains. Small patches of snow as we flew to higher elevation, and eventually, a thick coat of it.
My heart seemed to swell.
How many people in Mistwood would ever get the chance to fly on the back of a dragon? How many people in the world would?
Sure, I had traded my freedom for the experience. But the experience, paired with protecting my sisters, suddenly felt worth it.
Talon’s body tilted as we approached a group of mountain peaks clustered together. There were six of them, with the largest in the center.
As we got closer, my eyes widened.
The middle peak had no snow on or around it. It wasn’t a peak. Or it was—but it was more.
There were windows built into it. Balconies. Chimneys, releasing smoke into the sky. Water in the form of melted snow flowed in a slow, thin stream around the base of it. Its movement had clearly been planned, because I could see the space for a river built into the stone, leading the water down to a ledge that created a waterfall.
Fog surrounded the mountain, as if our city’s mist had extended itself on purpose. Maybe it had.
My heart was beating again, more wildly, when Talon landed on one of the large balconies and shifted back. I clung to his neck as his scales became skin, one of his hands grabbing one of my thighs to keep me from tumbling off.
He set me down on my feet when he was done shifting, and one of his knuckles was below my chin a moment later. His chest vibrated with a growl as he tilted my face. My skin was stinging a little with the cold, but I knew I was bleeding, too. There was no doubt about that.
I’d tried not to move too much, so his scales wouldn’t cut any more of my skin. But there was no doubt that I had a few dozen small, bleeding wounds. A few of which were on my face.
Talon lifted his other hand to my cheek, and I winced as he slowly peeled something off of me.
When he pulled it away, my eyes widened.
Another scale.
Shit.
How had I knocked one off with my face? They couldn’t have been that delicate. He was a dragon, for fuck’s sake!
He tucked it in my pocket with the first one, and still didn’t look mad.
“I wasn’t trying to—” I began, but he cut me off.
“It’s normal.”
Oh.
Relief rolled through me.
Losing scales was normal for dragons. Having me on his back had probably just triggered it or something. Like brushing your hair.
He pulled another scale off the thin strip of bare belly my shirt left on display. He slipped it into a different one of my pockets.
I should’ve hated the way he was manhandling me, but I didn’t.
I should’ve been concerned about the erection he was still definitely sporting, too. But for whatever reason, I wasn’t.
He captured my wrist in one of his hands and strode toward a sliding glass door right off the balcony. His chest was still rumbling dangerously.
My suitcase had been abandoned a few feet away from us, but I wasn’t going to test Talon again by asking if I could grab it.
Not while he was actively growling at me.
We stepped into an open, expansive room. There wasn’t much furniture—a big couch, a cozy rug, and a gigantic bed with a canopy attached to it—but there was a fire burning in the fireplace, and there were dozens of bookshelves built into the walls.
I assumed it belonged to Talon.
When he pulled me into an oversized bathroom and turned on the shower like he’d done it a hundred times, I decided I was right.
The room was his.
And he was… showering.
While holding onto my arm like he wasn’t going to let go. And growling?
Yikes.
I tried to take a step back, but he had already turned toward me.
“I’m not showering with you,” I warned. “I agreed to go with you to protect my sisters, but?—”
“I never said anything about taking a shower together.” His voice was gravelly, his chest still rumbling with displeasure. “You’re bleeding all over. You’re going to shower until it stops. I can’t fucking handle the blood.”
Oh.
I blinked.
Then frowned.
“I’m not going to shower while you watch,” I said.
He growled again, more fiercely. “I didn’t say anything about that, either.”
He finally dropped my wrist, though it seemed to take a lot of effort, and stalked away. The door shut hard behind him, but it didn’t slam like I expected it to.
I stared at the wood for a long moment before deciding he probably wasn’t going to give me a whole lot of time. I didn’t dare lock the door and risk pissing him off, so I quickly pulled my phone from my pocket, checking to see if I could text my sisters to let them know I was okay. They probably hadn’t noticed I was gone yet, but still.
The tiny symbol at the top of the screen told me I had no service.
Great .
I set my phone down on the counter and peeled my clothes and shoes off. My toes still felt like ice, so the hot water was going to sting blissfully.
I pulled Talon’s scales out of my pockets and placed them carefully on the bathroom countertop, assuming he had only put them there because he didn’t have pockets of his own. They were still warm from being so close to my skin, and when I dragged a finger lightly over the surface of one, I couldn’t help but shiver a little.
Maybe they weren’t like lost strands of hair. Maybe there was something special about them. He hadn’t been willing to leave them on the ground, after all.
I figured I didn’t have much time left before he came back, so I left the scales and slipped into the shower. I tested the water with my hand, and swore, jerking away before it could scald me.
It was insanely hot. Definitely hotter than any shower I’d ever felt before.
I cranked the temperature down, and waited until the crazy amount of steam had retreated some. When I tested it again, it didn’t burn me, so I slipped beneath it.
There was a bar of soap that looked brand new sitting on a built-in tile dish.
Hmm.
When I checked the bottles of shampoo and conditioner, they still had seals over them. They were also new.
Maybe the room wasn’t Talon’s after all.
My bun was precariously loose, but my hair was still tied back enough that there was only a little blood in the few strands that had slipped free entirely. I didn’t bother opening the shampoo to wash it out of them, just using a little water to do it.
The soap had a nice, neutral scent when I used it to carefully scrub the blood off my upper half. It stung a little, but I didn’t slow down.
A few minutes later, I was drying off with a light gray towel that smelled strongly of a laundry detergent that reminded me of the soap’s smell. It definitely hadn’t been used since being washed.
It was clean, and soft. My cuts had all stopped bleeding, except one on my inner bicep that was deeper than the others. I grimaced at the blood that stained the towel as I tried to dry the wound. Wrapping the fabric around my middle, I opened the bathroom cabinets, hoping to find a bandage.
They were empty, other than two extra, folded towels.
So, Talon definitely didn’t live there.
I closed the cabinet again and tucked the towel tighter around me, then opened the bathroom door and peered out into the room.
It looked… empty.
Huh.
“Talon?” I called out.
He didn’t answer.
Was he going to jump me when I stepped out of the bathroom or something? That would seem out of character. The man was big enough and bad enough not to need surprise on his side.
I sent a wave of my magic into the room anyway. If he was in there, he wouldn’t be able to resist the pull of it. That was one perk, and detriment, of being a siren.
There was no response to my power.
Apparently, he had left.
After all but tossing me in the shower.
Weird.
Very weird.
I stepped out of the bathroom and eyed the bed.
The canopy attached to it was a sure sign that the room wasn’t meant for a dragon. I should’ve put that together sooner. Only parasitic magical beings like vampires and sirens needed coffins to sleep, and the canopies that could raise and lower over our beds were the modern-day take on them.
I found a closet door nearby. When I opened it, my eyebrows shot upward.
My clothes were inside.
Talon must’ve grabbed my bag, and put my things away for me.
The room was definitely meant for me.
His clothes weren’t in there, so the room certainly wasn’t his. Maybe mated dragons slept separately or something. It sounded ridiculous to me, considering what I’d heard from my sisters about their mates being unable and unwilling to sleep away from them. But maybe dragons were different.
Because he was going to make me seal a mate bond with him.
Wasn’t he?
I dried off and got dressed quickly, pressing my towel to my bleeding wound between movements so I wouldn’t get blood on the clean clothes. I went with a pair of loose sweatpants and a bralette that covered enough of my ribs to almost count as a top. Though I didn’t want to lean on my appearance, a siren’s sex appeal was her best defense.
And a siren didn’t really have an offense, so defense was usually the way to go.
I was comfortable, and also showing enough skin to help my magic if I needed to, so the outfit was the best of both worlds.
The door to my bedroom opened while I was pulling a pair of socks on. Talon had put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He was carrying a plate of food in one of his hands, and a roll of bandages in the other.
“Whose room is this?” I asked, sitting on the edge of the nicely-made bed. I was pretty sure I knew the answer, but I didn’t want to assume.
“Yours.” He sat down next to me, setting the plate on my lap. “Eat. You’re going to need your strength.”
“Do I want to know what for?” It was the middle of the night, and he definitely wasn’t acting like he was talking about sex. What could I possibly need my strength for?
“No.” He grabbed my arm and my towel, then used the latter to carefully dry the weeping wound inside my arm. “Sorry about the cuts.”
The apology surprised me. A lot.
“Are all dragons’ scales that sharp?”
He grunted.
I didn’t push for more information. If the man wasn’t going to tell me, he wasn’t going to tell me.
I assumed it was a yes, though.
My plate was loaded with something that smelled heavenly. It had a crust on the top and bottom, and seemed like some kind of gigantic pot pie with more structure than I’d seen before. I picked up my fork and cut into it while Talon wrapped my arm.
He was doing it slowly, and precisely. The care he was taking surprised me, too.
“It’s going to heal in a few hours. It doesn’t need to be perfect,” I said, and finally took a bite.
Flavor exploded on my tongue, and I closed my eyes.
Yumm .
Talon ignored my statement, unsurprisingly. “Your socks are thin.”
“It’s colder here than it is in Mistwood. Where is here , by the way?”
“The castle.”
My forehead creased. “I thought you lived in Dragon Manor.”
“Nope.” He finally finished with the bandage on my arm, smoothing it out carefully with his thumb before he stood up. “Clear your plate so we can go.”
“Go where?”
He gestured to the plate, and I dutifully took another bite. “Dragons are solitary creatures. It’s difficult for us to live in a group, and to expose ourselves by living exactly where Mistwood knows to find us is far from comfortable. We rotate who stays there, to make it seem like we live there.”
Wow.
He gestured to my food again, and I forced myself to keep eating. I wasn’t that hungry, considering it was probably around 2 AM, but I ate anyway.
Talon was an asshole, but he didn’t seem like a guy who would tell me I needed my strength without a good reason.
“You didn’t move me into your room,” I said, before taking another bite.
His eyes narrowed at me, like he was suspicious. “Why would I do that?”
“You said you needed a siren mate.”
“I said I needed a siren. I didn’t say anything about a mate.”
“No one needs a siren for anything other than mating, Tal.” I dropped the nickname again, just to see if I could piss him off.
If he was going to hurt me, I wanted to get on with it already.
“Dragons only mate with the person fate chooses for them. I didn’t bring you here to mate with you. When you’re done taking care of my… problem… I’ll take you back to the vampires.”
“What’s the problem?” I was starting to grow curious.
And relieved.
A lot relieved
He wouldn’t go to the trouble of putting me in a separate room from his and pretending he had both a fated mate and a problem if it wasn’t true.
Most magical beings didn’t have fated mates. It had been a thing, a long time ago. Vampires still had their blood mates, but everyone else’s version of that had faded out and disappeared. No one even hoped for them anymore.
Except vampires.
And, apparently, dragons.
Dragons were rare, though. I’d only met one before, in a nightclub, when my sisters and I went out to feed. Izzy had fed on him, and he tried to take her home, but she hadn’t been interested.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he said.
That was ominous.
At least I had good food to prepare me for it. And I wasn’t going to have to fight off Talon’s advances, because he didn’t want to mate with me. That alone was enough to lift my spirits.
“I didn’t know dragons waited around for their fated mates,” I said.
“We don’t wait for them. We live our lives freely, and if we meet them, we seal a bond if both parties are interested.”
“And if they’re not?”
“They don’t seal a bond.”
Guess that was all there was to it. It seemed… easy.
I guess it wouldn’t seem as easy if you were fated to someone you didn’t like, though. Or if you wanted a mate as much as Clementine had, but couldn’t find the person you were fated to.
Maybe it was just as difficult in its own way.
Whatever the case, I didn’t have to worry about it, because I’d be leaving as soon as I dealt with whatever the problem was.
“How many unmated male dragons live here?” I asked.
The flat gaze he gave me told me I wasn’t getting an answer. That wasn’t entirely surprising. He wouldn’t want me telling Hale or any of my other brothers-in-law the answer to that question.
I rephrased the question, asking what I really wanted to know. “Am I at risk of finding out I’m anyone’s fated mate while I’m here? Or are dragons usually paired with other dragons?”
“Fated mates are rare. Most of us aren’t mated,” he said, slightly grudging. “They can be found among any kind of supernatural.”
So I was at risk, then.
“I’d prefer to interact with the unmated ones as little as possible, then. Just to be safe. My family seems to be on some kind of mating spree, and I’m not interested in following my sisters’ footsteps.”
“You’d have to mate with me to do that.”
That was a good point.
“Thankfully for me, you’re waiting for your fated mate.” I scooped up the last bite of my food.
“Not waiting ,” he grumbled, taking the empty plate from me and standing. “Let’s go.”
I stood up, wincing at the cold stone beneath my feet. Maybe I needed slippers or something.
He disappeared into my closet for a moment. When he came back out, he was holding the thickest sweater I had, and tossed it in my direction. I caught it easily and followed him out of the room. Not through the glass door that led onto the balcony, but into a large hallway across from it.
“It’s cold here for people who aren’t dragons,” he said.
“I’ve noticed.”
“It’s worse where we’re going.”
My stomach tensed uncomfortably, and I pulled my sweater over my head.
Where were we going?
What, exactly, could a siren do that he couldn’t do himself? Break into someone’s head? Perform some kind of emotional torture?
I shuddered at the thought, but wasn’t sure those things were even possible.
We wove through a dozen hallways, making our way deeper and deeper into the mountain. The further we went, the icier the air and stone flooring felt beneath my feet.
Some of the rooms we passed were warm, but for the most part, it was freezing cold.
We’d been walking for at least twenty minutes when Talon finally stopped outside a large, metal door and turned to me. He looked down, and I looked up, until I met his gaze.
His eyes were hard, his jaw was clenched, and he almost looked uncertain. “When we step inside, you stay close,” he said. “Listen to every word I say, immediately.”
My stomach tightened. “What’s in there?”
“Do you understand, Avery?” It was the first time he’d used my name, and it felt serious.
“Yes.”
His shoulders went back like he was preparing for a fight, and he turned back to the door. He jerked the handle upward, and after a moment, pushed the heavy door open.
When he stepped inside, I didn’t follow immediately.
My gaze moved down another wide hallway. It looked just like the one we were in, but the walls on the sides looked different. There were thick bars built into the walls at varying places.
Like… windows into cells.
Jail cells.