Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
DECLAN
M y body is still twitching.
The shock-stick had to have been turned up as high as it could go, to completely incapacitate me like this. Though with the magic it’s imbued with, it’s always rough when they use it on us.
Since I started regaining even a little bit of control, I’ve been trying to break through, to reach out to Brianna. I need to make sure she’s okay. I have to make sure she knows that I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.
I feel like she’s behind a veil, like she put a wall up, and even though I can feel a breath of her love wrapping around me, I can’t reach her. I can’t hear her thoughts. I can’t tell what emotions she’s feeling. Being cut off from her is by far the worst torture I’ve undergone.
Gods, I hope she’ll still come see me tonight. Or at least gives me some kind of sign she’s all right.
I can’t believe I let my dragon get so out of control. I can’t believe I let the beast roar. I know better. It’s not the first time I’ve been silenced.
I’m still in shock my dragon can still roar.
Declan?
Brianna. Her voice, even small and far away, feels like a thousand soothing balms.
I’m here. Come see me.
I’m drying my hair, and then I’ll be down. Do you need anything?
Just you. I’m not sure if I can do much more than just hold her tonight, but I need to see her. To touch her.
I need to know what was going on at dinner, who she was with and why they scared her.
I need to know that she’s still mine, that she knows I would never hurt her.
I need her.
Give me ten minutes. Then I’m all yours.
Ten minutes. Why not ask for a lifetime?
I feel my dragon scratching away at my mind again, itchy like sand trapped under my scales. Neither one of us like that she’s not rushing down here. Neither of us feel even remotely at peace.
If ten minutes can feel like that, how would I be able to survive if something worse happened? If something kept us apart for longer?
Hurry.
I’d know her soft footsteps anywhere. I strain to listen to her move across the house getting closer and closer to the door that will bring her to me. The closer she gets the easier it is to feel her inside of me. Then her scent is like a faint whisper, like a dream fading when you wake up, only it’s getting stronger as she draws nearer.
Gods, I need her. I need her touch, her taste, her calming influence on my soul.
When the door handle to my cell turns, I’m on my feet in an instant, clearing the space across the small room to be close to her. “Brianna.”
She looks up at me, and I swear, I can feel the warmth from her grin all the way to my bones. “I’ve missed you.” Her dulcet voice washes over me and I revel in it.
Not wanting a moment more to pass without her body pressed to mine, I reach for her. Wrap my arms around her. Hold her close to me.
The unmistakable scent of a vampire fills my nose, and I draw up all my will to stop from roaring in fury. He touched her, I know he did. Is he the reason I couldn’t reach her?
“Who did you spend dinner with?” I manage to keep the accusation out of my tone, even though my dragon wants to rip something to shreds over the foreign stench.
“Just some family my father thinks he can use to further his political career.” She shrugs before snuggling in closer to my chest. “I just wanted to be down here with you, and it felt like an eternity.”
“They weren’t human. Or at least one of them wasn’t. Whoever was touching you.”
She pulls back, her brow furrowed in confusion. “No, they have to be human. My father wouldn’t allow non-humans at our table. He wouldn’t trust them anywhere near me. He may keep you as his possessions to fight at the coliseum or whatever, but he hates non-humans. Since the dragon made its appearance on national television, my father has been working with lobbyists and other like-minded men to make sure they have no rights.”
The truth in her words cuts, almost as deeply as when she said he was trying to mate her off to the boy. Of course, her asshole father wouldn’t approve of someone like me.
I’ve seen enough presentations of eligible sons trying to win my sister, Krystana’s, favor, I know it’s an unpleasant experience for females. Or at least it was for Krystana and if Brianna’s tone and facial expression is anything to go off, she hates it too.
But it doesn’t negate the fact that one of them, whether it was her potential betrothed, or one of the parents, is a vampire.
“I shouldn’t be looking forward to any meals with my father-in-law any time soon?” I try to give her an easy-going smile, a playful wink, to show I know it’s not what she wants, that I know she doesn’t think like him. But I worry it doesn’t quite come off right.
Especially as she chews her lower lip, and her brows become furrowed again. “What’s going on, Declan? Why do you think someone non-human was at dinner? Why did you risk yourself to let out that roar, when you know I could never want to be with someone as pretentious, as stuck up and self-righteous as Peter Lee?”
I take a step back, running my fingers through my hair, wishing I could just take back everything I’ve done tonight. Wishing I could just kiss her and make her forget all about anyone and everyone who isn’t me.
“Well?” She crosses her arms over her chest, but it’s not an angry pose. It’s almost like she’s trying to guard herself against whatever I might have to say. Like she needs a shield against me.
“You being gone the last couple of days, even though I knew you would come back, even though I knew I’d be seeing you…” I shake my head, trying to clear the insane rambling of thoughts and images coming from my dragon. “It was hard, Brianna. I don’t feel like myself when you’re not around. It’s like these spells, these runes, are doing more damage than just keeping me locked in my human form. I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to maintain my sanity, to not fall victim to the Craze, or worse, if I can’t figure out a way to get free from here.” I take a deep breath, trying to focus on her. Only on her. “I don’t know if I’ve told you about what we suspect, about who we suspect is responsible for this forced exposure?”
She frowns. “Not yet.” Crossing the room, she sits down at the top of my bed and reaches for me.
Without missing a beat, I move into her space, curling up so that I’m on my side, my head in her lap.
Brianna’s fingers start combing through my hair, gentle touches that help me hold onto the fact that she’s here, that I’m not going so crazy that I’m imagining her yet. “Who’s responsible?”
“There’s a vampire named Grey. He pretended to be an ally, biding his time until he could put his plan into motion.” I look up at her, twisting a little so that she can see my face as I say the next bit. “I think at least one of the people you had dinner with was a vampire, which means it’s more than likely he’s working for Grey.”
“Vampires…are real?” She stops stroking my hair, her fingers stuck entangled in my locks as she turns over the idea in her mind.
I can hear her thoughts, closer again now that we’re in the same space, and even though I doubt she means any of them for me, I can’t help but find amusement in the fact that she’s trying to work all of this out for herself, rather than just asking me to elaborate.
I won’t. Not until she wants me to.
She looks down at me, her brow furrowing a little. “Why are you smirking at me? This isn’t funny.”
“Not funny, no.” I sit up and pull her in close, breathing her scent in again before I kiss the tip of her nose. “You are thinking rather loudly though.”
“Oh, God. How much can you hear?”
“It’s not like I get a constant running commentary. But feeling you, hearing your thoughts now and then throughout the day, makes me feel less alone. Like there’s at least one small thing that makes me feel like a dragon.” I sigh. “I can teach you to block me out, though. You don’t need to share every thought with me, just because you’re my mate.”
Just suggesting it makes my dragon irritated.
“I don’t mind.” She purses her lips, like she’s trying to decide if she really is okay with it, or if she’s just saying that. “But you can hear my thoughts, even when I don’t try to share them?”
I scoop her up, pulling her into my lap. I need her closer. I really want to rip her out of her clothes so that there’s nothing between us, so that we can be connected, but now isn’t the time. Of course, it could just be my impatient dragon, testily pacing in my chest as he aches to rid any remnants of the vampire from her skin.
“It’s usually only when you’re really focused on something, or when it’s a particularly powerful thought. Like the wonder and awe you felt when you learned your college friend is fae. Or the excitement at the possibility of her being able to help remove these shackles.” I hold out my wrists in front of her, smiling softly, barely allowing myself to have a fraction of the hope that she does. “I try not to eavesdrop, but you don’t hide your feelings from yourself, and the stronger you feel something, the stronger it comes through.”
“Why don’t I feel you all the time?”
I sigh, dropping my hands to her hips. “You wouldn’t want to live with the thoughts in my head, princess. Especially not when my emotions get strong.” I couldn’t stomach the idea of sharing the pain I suffer, or the anguish each bout into the fighting rings causes. I couldn’t bear the thought of her hurting, just because I am. “If we had met under different circumstances, I might be less likely to guard my feelings so close, but as long as I’m held against my will, as long as I’m fighting every day, either physically or mentally, I don’t want you to have to hear all that.”
“Don’t you think I should get some say? You’re the one who keeps saying I’m your mate, that you’re mine. Shouldn’t I get to see it all, the good and the bad? You’re not the only one who hurts, Declan. You’re not the only one suffering because you’re stuck down here.” She frowns, and I can see tears starting to well up in her eyes. “It kills me that there’s nothing more I can do for you, nothing that’s within my power to do to save you. I can’t stand that the person who keeps you captive is my fucking father, and that I have to watch those black vans leave with you and the others inside, knowing there’s always a chance that you might not come back. I hate that you can’t release your dragon, that you’re stuck, unable to shift, unable to stretch your wings.”
“And if you had to feel all my pain about it too, it would be too much for you to bear.” I cup her cheek, catching a tear on my thumb as it escapes her eye. “I might hate being trapped down here, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love the fact that you’re here. I have gotten to meet you. My mate. We’ll figure out how to get out of here, both of us. All of us, if you want to make sure Ewan and Kayden can be free too. But I’m not going to make you suffer my pain when you’re already hurting.”
Brianna shakes her head. “I can handle whatever you’re feeling, Declan. You don’t have to treat me like I’m fragile, like I’m weak. I get enough of that from everyone else in my life.” She shifts, pulling one of her legs over mine so that she’s straddling me, looking right into my eyes. “If you’re in pain, if you need something, I want to know. I want to be as connected to you as you are to me, even if you can block me out. I want to know that you’re safe, that you’re coming back to me, no matter what.”
“Trust me, that will never be a problem. I only wish I had my heartstone to give you, so that it could protect you from others who would use our connection against you. Or vampires who would have no issues enthralling you to do their bidding.”
Her hands slide over my shoulders, one moving down over my back, the other up to the back of my neck, tangling in my hair. “We’ll find it together, once we get you out of here. I would be proud to wear it. Honored.”
Seeing her like this, determination in her eyes, my dragon fucking preens. Our mate is strong, and I hope her words are true. I hope we get to break free of her father, and I can’t wait to see what sort of dragon she might become, as soon as I can claim her as my own.
With a low growl, I pull her in closer, both hands on her ass as I claim her mouth, sliding my tongue over hers in a hungry, needy kiss that I can’t wait to take deeper.
I need her. All of her. Her taste on my tongue. The feel of her cunt wrapped snugly around my cock. The possessive calm that comes over my dragon when I make her come.