Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
FIONA
B right sunlight warms my face, waking me from my slumber. We must have left the window open last night. Lord knows when we staggered in from the Compass Point, drunk and shedding clothes like they were burning our skin, we weren’t worried about the window. At least the climate on Cardinal Island is pleasant. The salt air breezes in, blowing back the gauzy white curtains. I move to get up, but Connor’s arm drags me back against his hard chest.
It’s almost embarrassing how fast I settled into my new life with Connor. After watching Roman’s house burn down, we took Vivian home. Connor offered for her to stay with us if she needed time to feel safe. But she insisted all she wanted to do was take a hot bath in her own bathroom, order Indian food from her favorite restaurant, and give herself time and space to recover. She promised though to keep Connor’s existence a secret. Neither of us are concerned. If Vivian has proved anything, it’s her loyalty.
Connor’s condominium felt like home the second I laid eyes on Zaire and Bones. Thanks to dragon energy and Morwyn’s medical care, both are almost fully healed, although Zaire is still walking with a limp. I’ve started to incorporate my things with Connor’s, bringing more of me into the Upper East Side apartment.
I love Diabolique and every member of Connor’s staff, to whom he introduced me as his fiancée. They served us a welcome-home meal I will not soon forget, and Connor gave me a behind-the-scenes tour of the kitchen. I love that he can cook considering I’ve never been much of one.
I’m writing again, too. My editor thinks Milkmaid will be my most successful title yet. I’ve started my next book in the series, Angel’s Share , and it’s pouring out of me.
The fire, though, does make the national news. The authorities suspect arson because of the death of Stefan Cifarelli days before in his apartment from a similar fire. They’re still identifying the bodies and have not confirmed the whereabouts of Roman Cifarelli, although we know they eventually will. We all watched him die.
I think about Roman at times, impaled on that sword, dangling from the wall. I think about his body burned to ash, and I can muster no empathy for him, no remorse. Vivian still hasn’t told me everything he did to her, but I know it was bad. And I know she’s just as glad of his death.
If all of that isn’t blissful enough, Connor brought me to Cardinal Island last night, to his other home, a seaside mansion in the warrior camp here. I’ve never set foot in a more magical place.
Behind me, Connor grinds against my backside, rousing with a deep inhale against my hair.
I laugh. “Hey, today’s Mason’s ascension. I need to get ready. The new human mate cannot be late to her first official dragon ceremony.”
“Mmmm. I’ll be quick then.” Connor pulls me under him, his rock-hard erection nudging my entrance.
I press a long kiss to his lips. “Haven’t you had enough, Aries? I think I’m still covered in you from last night.”
“As it should be.” He nuzzles the side of my neck, coaxing a contented sigh from my lips. “And no, I haven’t had enough.”
He rocks into me. No matter how many times I’m with Connor, sex with him is always grounding, like I’ve found the other half of my soul, my center, my guiding force. I feel it now as he threads his fingers into mine, moving over me in a rhythm of contented breaths and soft sighs of pleasure.
My hands explore his body, the scar on his chest where his wound has finally healed, the velvet-soft webbing of his beautiful black wings that looks purple when the sun shines through.
Soon he’s increasing his pace, his mouth finding mine in a claiming kiss that leaves me breathless and on the edge of a heart-stopping orgasm. One more thrust and I feel like the sun itself, radiant heat, bright, blinding pleasure. Connor follows me over, his wings twitching as he empties himself inside me.
Fully sated, I smile at him as he rolls off me. “Now, I really do have to get ready. I bound out of bed and head to the bathroom. He follows behind me.
I turn on the shower. “I’m serious Connor. I want to make a good impression.”
“It’ll be quicker if we shower together.”
I laugh, glancing down at his already recovering erection. “Why don’t I believe that?”
He shrugs. I slide under the spray, and soon he’s there, grabbing a loofa and lathering my back. I’m not surprised at all when he enters me again from behind and I find myself holding on to the shower wall as my mate gives me three more orgasms.
By the time we’re dressed and stumbling out into the streets of Cardinal Island, I’m power walking to make it to the arena on time.
“Relax, they won’t start without us,” Connor says through a smile.
I flash him an annoyed look. Cardinal Island is the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen, with buildings painted the colors of the sunset. Coming from the warrior camp, we pass through the restaurant district where the smell of freshly baked bread makes my mouth water. “You owe me breakfast.” I cast a wink his way.
He slants me a grin that seems to hold both an apology and a promise. “After the ceremony. I’ll take you to my favorite place and then we can explore the arts district.”
I can’t wait. Cardinal Island is a thriving artists’ community. Last night, the shops were closed, but I spied impossibly delicate pottery, breathtaking sculptures, exquisite paintings, and every manner of fabric from silk to crochet in the windows. Today, the streets are full of both dragons and humans as the population makes its way toward the arena, musicians playing on every corner.
Up ahead, a red temple rises on a hill, with architecture that curves as if the wind carved it from the rock. And all around us, in the distance, behind the buildings, I can see the ocean.
“Will you miss being in charge?” I ask Connor as he takes my hand and leads me toward the entrance to the arena. His alignment is over. Seb officially rises to power over the brotherhood tomorrow.
“Not at all. I find I have better things to do with my time these days.” His grin turns wolfish.
“You’re insufferable.” Something low within me heats, and his nostrils flare with his smile. He knows. He always knows.
“Seriously. I’m okay with Seb taking over. I like to lead, but it’s his time.”
I know what he means. Connor and I have worlds left to discover about each other and lifetimes to do it in. It will be nice to take a back seat for a while. And I feel so lucky, so incredibly lucky, to be his mate, to be part of this new, bigger world he’s introduced me to. If I’d known this existed before, what love actually looked like from the inside, I would have never settled for less.
We follow the crowd into the arena. The shape reminds me of the Roman Colosseum with towering walls of polished marble and tiers of seating for viewing. The field, though, is breathtaking. Built to look like a compass, it appears to be made of sand of varying colors, and I wonder how they do it, how they keep the colors from mixing. Connor leads me to a viewing area on the east end of the compass, a section with the best view and special padded chairs. He leaves to join his brothers at the heart of the symbol.
There are nine empty seats around me. Reagan, Mason’s mate, sits down in one of them, the curvy blonde as awed by our surroundings as I am.
“Is this the section for brotherhood mates?” I ask her.
“I think so,” she says. “How’s your head?”
I got to know Reagan last night over a few bottles of wine. “Surprisingly fine.”
“Gotta love dragon magic.” We both laugh.
A lanky, silver-haired woman on my other side offers me her hand. “I am Jada, Solomon’s mate. I’m afraid this will be my last time in this section, but also my first time in a long while not sitting alone.”
“Your mate is stepping down so that Mason can ascend?”
She nods once. “I’m so happy to see both Connor and Mason mated. Creator willing, I hope the trend continues. The brotherhood needs the steadying force mates bring, especially after what happened with Donovan.”
Reagan grips the arms of her chair. “Does it truly mean we’re at war?”
Jada frowns. “It means the peace accord is no more. Now, with Stefan and Roman dead, it’s the Order’s move. Whoever rises to lead them will either reach out to negotiate a new pact or take the first shot.”
I lean back in my chair and stare out across the sandy field at my mate and wonder what’s to come. Unconsciously, I reach up to toy with the cross around my neck, one Connor bought me to replace the one I lost. We can never know the future, but maybe, with enough faith, we can accept whatever part we’re called to play in it.
“It’s starting,” Jada says, staring up into the sky.
Quiet falls over the crowd. The moon arcs toward the sun and then slowly over it, darkening the sky. A roar comes from the north, and two enormous doors pull open.
“The Oracle,” Jada whispers.
A massive red dragon walks into the arena, wings spreading until her shadow is cast across the compass, and the sands begin to shift, reordering the field into something else, something more.
“In the beginning…” The Oracle’s voice reverberates in my head, coming from inside me like my mate’s purr. When she pauses, I feel the ocean breeze on my face, smell the salt air, but I hear only her when she begins to speak again. “The creator descended from our world and birthed man into being, blessing the earth with fruitful life. Of all their creations, humans were the ones, the only ones, with the power to build, to invent, to design, to make purely for the joy of creation. Art, music, dancing, acting, poetry, stories, and every other beautiful thing belonged not just to dragons and the creator any longer but to man.
“All was well until the destroyer saw what the creator had done. Jealous that they had never been able to create themselves, they brought their own gifts to man: greed, pride, wrath, gluttony, lust, sloth, and envy. Some men began to destroy the creator’s work, scheming for control and hiding the beautiful things from the world, keeping them only for their own pleasure. So the creator sent us dragonkind to inspire, to free humans from the chains of the destroyer, to spark again the creator’s gift within .
“Today we continue the battle for human minds that was forged in our ancient beginnings, by naming these twelve warriors as the defenders of our race and our mission.”
The sands shift, darkening to look like the night sky, and I gasp as constellations form on the field, the wheel of the zodiac taking shape before us.
“As Aries, Connor Drexler.”
Wings out, Connor steps onto the constellation of stars winking from the north, right in front of the Oracle. The image of a ram lights up beneath him, encompassing him in light, and then fades away. My heart swells with pride, and when Reagan squeezes my hand, I realize I’m beaming.
“Sebastian York as Taurus.”
Unruffled, Seb slides into the constellation to the northeast of Connor, releasing a dazzling grin as the symbol of the bull ignites around him.
“Remus Townsend as Gemini.”
Remus’s head is bowed, his tattooed arms coupled at the hands as he steps onto his constellation, the twins lighting up and disappearing.
“Ellison Weber as Cancer.”
I chuckle as Ellison smooths and straightens his suit before taking his position in the crab constellation .
“Lucas Oliver as Leo… Morwyn Fitz as Virgo.”
Memories of Morwyn coming to see me at the lodge warm my heart as the men step onto their constellations.
“Finnegan Bell as Libra, Quinn Adira as Scorpio, Hunter James as Sagittarius, Atlas Moore as Capricorn, Jordon Azzurro as Aquarius.”
Reagan sits up straighter, and I squeeze her hand in support.
“And finally, dragon ascending, Mason Forge, son of Roger Forge, grandson of Beckett Forge of warrior blood, replaces Solomon Chirag in the position of Pisces.”
As soon as Mason steps on to the symbol of two koi fish circling each other, the entire field lifts and rays of blinding light radiate in a pulse from the twelve. I blink when it hits me and I can feel it flow through me, hot and foreign but somehow familiar, as if I’d felt this power in some incarnation of a past self.
“Go forth, Zodiac Dragon Brotherhood. Your time is now.”