Chapter 26
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Ash rubbed at her temples, trying to block out the pain lodged in her chest as laughter drifted over the island from the kitchen to the long twelve-seater table where she sat. She struggled to shake the sense of being an interloper in a room full of warmth.
“Here you go.” Nia set a steaming mug of tea in front of her.
“Thank you.” Ash met her quiet smile, but hers didn’t quite hold.
Nia headed back to the coffee pot, and Ash curled her fingers around the mug, faintly mortified after nearly colliding with Nia and her mate as she bolted from the lift like a lunatic. But Nia hadn’t pressed or asked questions. She simply suggested tea.
And Ash met Darci, another warrior’s mate. Between her, Nia, and Kira, the kitchen hummed with easy chatter and laughter as they prepared a late lunch. She’d learned their routine ran backward—snacks in the evening then dinner at dawn, when their men returned from patrol.
“I’ll have your brunch ready in a jiffy,” Kira called out from the enormous kitchen.
Nia set down her coffee and took the chair beside Ash, tucking back her long, inky hair to reveal a neat line of tiny gold studs along one ear, with a matching post in her nose.
“Better?” she asked softly.
Ash nodded, taking refuge in her tea.
“I’m still in awe of you.” Darci flashed her a wide smile, her sunflower-hued eyes glowing as she tidied the kitchen island. “The woman who tamed the reclusive dragon warrior.”
“Hardly tamed. More like he knocked me off my feet,” Ash admitted with a wry smile, then grimaced. “Actually, I crashed into him.”
“So, what really happened?” Nia asked, her expression curious. “Kira said it was somewhere in the Himalayas?”
Ash blew on her steaming tea. “I was trying to find a woman who knew my birth mother, hoping to learn why I have these abilities. Instead, I found a village that thought I was a witch after I accidentally made it rain.”
“Oh, I heard about the rain here.” Darci laughed, honey-brown curls slipping free from her messy topknot. “Blaéz still can’t get over how you drenched everyone, and no one dared say a word.”
“They wouldn’t. Race would’ve flambéed them,” Kira said, grinning.
Ash huffed. “Anyway, cue villagers with clubs and me running for dear life, straight into Race, who calmly told them I was his and off-limits. Then he had the nerve to taunt me that I belonged to him—apparently, saving me made it official. I called him an oaf.”
Kira laughed. “Sounds about right.”
Ash snorted. She told them the rest, about the rescue from being tied and burned at the stake.
Darci grinned. “Rescued twice by the same dragon? That’s fate.”
“Or punishment,” Ash muttered, sipping more tea, trying to ease the constriction in her throat.
“Whatever it is, it’ll be okay,” Nia said softly, her amber eyes warm with understanding. “All immortals are like bulls in a china shop in the early stages.”
“I so second that,” Darci said, untying her apron and tossing it on the counter.
“And I third that,” Kira called out, gliding over with a plate. “Here, a true English breakfast. We seldom get to eat this when our mates prefer an entire cow on the spit.”
Despite everything, Ash found herself smiling. Then Kira set a plate with eggs, bacon, sausages, and baked beans in front of her—the same breakfast she used to share with her mum at The Bluebell Tea Rooms on the High Street.
I miss you, Mum.
She blinked her misty eyes. “You shouldn’t have, really. Cereal would have been fine.”
“Nonsense.” Kira waved it off and took a seat at the table. “Going back to the dragon world, you’ll need your strength.”
Ash almost blurted that she wasn’t going—but shame stopped her. These women were so strong, so sure of themselves. They probably wielded their powers with ease.
While she…she was the one who’d nearly electrocuted the whole castle.
Before her stomach sank to her trainers again, she picked up her fork, took a bite of eggs, and changed the subject. “How do you cope with keeping this place tidy?”
She hadn’t seen any staff around.
“Ah, that.” Draci wrapped her hands around her mug and smiled. “Hedori, our butler, bodyguard, and all-around handyman, usually takes care of everything. But he’s gone home for a short break. So we’ve got help for the castle itself, but when it comes to meals, several of us like to cook.”
Kira nodded and drank more of her coffee. “We do. Then there’s Jenna, another psi. She’s currently upstate. Man, the woman makes the rest of us look like amateurs in the kitchen. You might be gone again when she gets back, though.”
Ash swallowed. She couldn’t keep pretending—not when they’d know the truth the moment Race left.
“I won’t be going with him.” She set down her fork. “He thinks it’s too dangerous.”
Nia stilled, her mug midway to her mouth. “But you just came back from there.”
“Only so he could leave me here.” She shrugged, tried for lightness, and failed.
“No wonder you’re upset,” Kira muttered. “I’d be hopping mad, too. Tyr tried that kind of stunt once, but I wasn’t having it—demons or not.”
“Wait. Demons? As in Hell?” Ash gawked at her.
Kira scrunched her face. “Yup.”
“At least you knew how to fight even then,” Darci said wryly, the wan midday sunlight catching the gold in her messy cinnamon-hued bun. “Me, I like books. All my strenuous activities come from turning the pages.”
“What about Blaéz?” Kira wiggled her brow suggestively.
Darci’s creamy caramel skin turned scarlet. “Yeah, that, too. I meant sword fights and such—gah, Kira, you’re a pain in my butt.”
The women burst into laughter, the sound filling the kitchen with lightness.
As the sound faded, Nia asked softly, “What are you going to do?”
Ash picked up her fork again. “I—”
Ash?
At the sound of Race’s voice in her head, her heart tripped, then careened in her chest like a bloody jackhammer.
He’d probably found another bloody reason why she had to stay behind.
She ignored him, stabbed a piece of bacon, and ate it. “When I stormed out of the basement, I was so furious,” she admitted. “I’m not letting him make my decisions for me.”
“Good for you,” Kira said.
“Absolutely,” Nia added. “When Lore fell from grace—”
“What?” Ash’s gaze rushed back to Nia. “Your mate’s an angel?”
“Was.” Nia smiled. “When he fell, we didn’t know where he’d be. Michael didn’t want to take me with him in case it was bad, since not all angels survive the fall, but I refused to take no for an answer.”
“Your man needs to know he’s not alone,” Kira murmured.
“He knows.”
His quiet voice cut through the air. Ash’s gaze rushed to the doorway as silence swept through the open space.
Race leaned a shoulder against the door jamb, his silver hair pulled back in a low ponytail, his gaze fixed on her. “Can we talk?”
Her heart ached at how handsome he was…but so bloody stubborn. She lowered her gaze to her mug, wrapping her palms around it as if it were armor.
Ash, give me a moment. Please, heart-fire.
God. When he called her that, her stupid heart melted—the treacherous thing.
A deep breath, then she rose from the table.
“We’ll be here in the kitchen if you want to hang out later,” Kira called out. “You too, Race.”
He looked at her for a second, then gave a brief nod, and Ash had to bite back a smile at her big, growly dragon being forced to acquiesce.
Because of her?
As she neared him, he stood aside and let her pass, then shut the door behind them.
“You didn’t have to agree,” she said as they walked down the corridor. “I know you hate socializing.”
He exhaled deeply and caught her hand, pulling her to a stop.
“Forgive me. I acted without thought in the basement. I never had anything in my life that mattered to me, not even before Tartarus. And now…” His voice roughened.
“Now the very thought of losing you… Tartarus broke everything I was. But you—” He lifted his hand to touch her face, but then dropped it.
“Flaeron will be waiting. And Malcarion, if he gets a hold of you—”
His dread flooded her through their bond.
“Race?” Her gaze held his as she put her palms to his chest, trying to ground him. His fears were hers too—not for herself, but for him. “I’m not some fragile flower to be put in a vase and kept on a shelf. My powers are growing stronger, and you know it.”
She brushed a fingertip across the tight line of his lips.
“Let me fight beside you. I don’t mean literally next to you, but let me use my powers.
It’s something dragons don’t possess, right?
I can be your hidden asset. Don’t call me that, though.
” A smile sparked in his darkened eyes. “Just help me learn to wield my abilities better.”
“I wish we had more time to hone your powers, heart-fire. Once Michael returns from Gaia, we must leave.”
“Then I’ll just have to train harder in the time we do have.
Also, maybe we could ask someone for help with a spell to hide my humanity.
Wait, Bregga’s morvaen stone!” She grasped his shirt, her excitement rising.
“It’s supposed to conceal a person’s innate nature.
It did for Bregga’s mate when she smuggled children to safety. ”
Faced with the shadows still in his eyes, she added softly, “I promise I will be careful. I’m fully aware dragons are deadly.”
He groaned and pressed his brow to hers. “I’m going to hold you to that. I just found my heart—I can’t lose it now.”
“You won’t.” She caught his hand and tugged him along. “Let’s go get the stone and see what we can do so I can wear it.”
In the lift, the moment the doors shut, he had her pinned against the metal wall, and with a rough groan, his mouth captured hers. Ash responded with the same desperate need burning through her.
The door slid open. Without breaking the kiss, Race scooped her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom. He dropped her onto the bed and moved over her, arms braced on the mattress.
“I missed you,” he murmured against her mouth.