Chapter 3
CHAPTER
THREE
Something sweet fills the air, the same fragrance I catch wafts of every now and then. It’s the reason I am here, trying to find its source.
I lift my head for a moment, trying to pinpoint the scent, but as always, it eludes me, drifting away on the wind. Boredom and annoyance fill me, so I settle down amongst the ancient trees, my leathery skin offering camouflage.
The forest I inhabit now is filled with old magic and secrets, yet I am the most powerful being here. The others all stay clear of me, but I am used to this because nobody loves a monster.
I have wandered this world alone since birth, looking for the one who is mine.
We are born with half a soul, doomed to look for the other half to complete us and make us indestructible.
One day, I will find my other half. They are close. I can sense it. I just have to be patient. I have waited a hundred years, so what are a few more?
I’m not sure how much time passes before something disturbs my slumber. I expand my mind, trying to figure out what it is. I haven’t been accosted by hunters since I began resting in this forest, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be. They love to hunt my kind.
Other monsters also often try to find me or my kind to make deals or steal from us, needing the magical properties our bodies contain, but I sense nothing of the kind.
Something like a trapped bird flutters in my rib cage—a heartbeat, hammering fast.
Fear.
Other sounds reach me—running footsteps and gentle, if not panicked, breathing. It could be an animal or something else, but I lose interest until the scent hits me.
That aroma is back, and it’s stronger than ever.
One of my eyelids peels open just as there’s a human-sounding grunt as something akin to a rabbit hits my hind leg.
The whimper the creature makes is pitiful, and I consider eating it, but it wouldn’t be worth my time, so I close my eyes again, only to freeze.
My nostrils expand as the smell wraps around me.
My forked tongue darts out greedily to catch the smallest trace.
I open my eyes fully and turn my head ever so slowly, so I do not spook whomever it belongs to.
She’s small, definitely human, or at least able to shift into a human.
She wears nothing but a metal collar around her neck, her long, luscious blonde hair dishevelled with twigs and leaves.
She is far too small to house me or my desires, but she is definitely the source of the fragrance I have been searching for.
She grunts as she climbs to her feet, which are bare and covered in dirt and blood, then her head whips around wildly as she scans the forest.
The acrid aroma of fear pumps from her, laced with her sweet scent.
I rise slowly behind her, and I perceive the moment she senses me. The hair on the nape of her neck rises and she freezes, sensing a large predator. Slowly, as if that will make the threat less real, she turns to face me.
Her eyes widen, but not in terror, in awe.
“Dragon.” Her incredulous whisper wraps around me, her voice husky and beautiful.
“Your dragon,” I correct as I crouch, not wishing to scare her with my full height.
Tilting my head, I watch the human, and she watches me in return. Her addictive scent reaches me over and over, like the waves of the ocean I have flown across.
She is beautiful and wild and something darker.
I inhale deeper, pressing my head against her body and knocking her down on the forest floor. She doesn’t make a noise, but my growl shakes the earth, and the forest falls silent in fear. “You smell of blood and pain.” It’s then I notice her healing body.
This human, this female who belongs to me, has been hurt very badly, and it’s clear from her wide eyes as she glances back into the forest that she is escaping from whoever did it.
I rise to my full height, and her eyes widen so much they are pure white. I know what she sees. I am the largest of my kind and the most feared.
They call me Frost because of my ice-cold control. Nothing affects me . . . but the suffering of this small female does.
“Who did this to you?” The words are a growl, but she understands.
“The ones who are coming after me. I need to flee now!” she replies as if reminding herself of her purpose here, and fear flows through her again. The very idea that this female, my female, was hurt while I was right here makes ice flood my veins and cold air blow from my nostrils.
“I will kill them,” I hiss, my tail slithering protectively around her and dragging her behind me.
“No, you can’t. They are still in my court. If they don’t return, my people will die. Please.” She drops to her knees, looking far too proud to have to beg me.
No mate of mine will beg for anything.
“Please, I need to save them. I will not risk any more of their lives.” She presses her hands together.
“Please. I need an army. I need an unstoppable force. I need someone willing to fight for a home that is not theirs. I need a sure win. I am their queen, but I will abase myself for it. I will do anything for it. Please, dragon.”
“Tell me what you want,” I demand. I wish to slay all of her enemies, but my mate is beseeching me, and I am unable to resist.
“Take me far away from here to somewhere I can find that. I will owe you my life, and you can have anything within my power to give you—riches, power, or status in my court. Whatever you want, I will repay your kindness. Please, dragon.”
“Frost,” I correct.
“Frost,” she repeats in confusion, and when I nod, she swallows.
“Frost, please.”
I hear far-off shouts and footsteps, but they are drawing closer, searching for her. I could kill them and regain her court for her if that’s what she wishes, but it’s obvious she doesn’t think I can win alone. It’s an attack on my honour, but I care little about it.
I only care about her.
The other half of my soul is here, but she’s in danger.
“I will accept your plea. You will repay me after.” I would do what she asked without payment, but something about this female tells me she will not accept my mating or being tied to me.
I will make sure I can keep her in any way I can.
I have not waited this long to let her slip through my fingers.
Lowering myself as flat as possible, I offer her my leg. “Climb on.”
She takes a deep breath then clambers up, using my scales to pull herself up and onto my back, where she settles between my black spikes tipped with blue—the same blue as her eyes. Rising slowly, I hear her gasp. “Hold on.” It’s the only warning I give her as I push off and shoot into the air.
Trees crash as we soar higher, but she doesn’t scream as we burst into the night sky and fly over the forest. Screams echo below us as annoying pellets hit my belly from below.
The fools blindly fire bullets at me, and I make sure to give them a wide target, my wings spread to protect her as I soar away. There is only one place I can think of where she can find the assistance she seeks.
There are whispers in our world for those in need.
It’s where I head now, in hope it’s true.
I soar higher into the sky. The air grows cold, and for once, I wish I could offer heat to my mate, so when we are over the ocean, I descend and speed up. I hear her gasp as she slips down my back, and I jerk my head around to see her scrambling to hold on. My eyes narrow as she slides to my tail.
My mate will not fall.
She is strong enough to endure me or she would not be mine.
Her eyes meet mine, and with a twisted snarl, she slams her palm down on one of my spikes to stop her descent.
Her blood drips down my barb, and with gritted teeth, she drags herself up before yanking it off and grabbing the next spike, pulling herself onto my back again, and this time, she holds on.
She’s injured, but she nods at me and says, “I am fine. Keep flying.”
Turning forward, I cannot hide my smile. My mate is very strong. She is all I have waited for. The place I heard of is only a few hundred miles away, and I cover the distance as quickly as I can.
It’s a place of magic, existing in both this world and beyond.
If the rumours are true, then they can help her.
I land gently and lower onto the softness below.
She slides down my body with a slight whine and crumples to her knees next to me.
Her eyes scan the area around us, her once injured hand healed.
Interesting. I wonder what my mate is, but this doesn’t appear to be the time to ask when she turns on me. “Where have you brought me?” she asks, getting to her feet. I wrap my tail and body around her, trapping her in my coils to rest.
“Rest now, little queen. In the morning, you will see the truth,” I assure her.
“I can’t. I need to save them—”
“Rest,” I order, and despite her insistence, her eyes slide shut and she curls into me, falling into an exhausted slumber.
I keep watch the entire night, protecting my mate, the most precious thing in the world.