Chapter 34 #2
He stayed until her breathing deepened, then carefully removed his hand and rose. He couldn’t delay any longer.
Three fucking days until this shit burned through him.
He headed downstairs. “Report.”
Attor stood near the table, his weathered face grim.
“The young are secured at the safe house in Mor with a healer.” He shook his head, gripping the back of the chair, his knuckles white.
“Once this world is purged of that bastard, maybe then it will give them hope that this horror is finally over.”
“Indeed.” Race’s voice came out low, taut, every muscle in him stretched to splitting. “Soon, it will. I need to leave for a while. Stay with Ash until my return.”
He strode for the back door.
“Sire.” Rhaedra’s voice cut through the quiet. “A moment?”
It took everything in him not to growl at the delay as he turned.
She glided closer, her copper hair catching the firelight, eyes bright and far too knowing. “I know what plagues you,” she purred, her fingertips grazing his arm. “I can give you what you need.”
“No.” Ice coated the single word, and his dragon surged, furious. “I don’t require your assistance—”
“You’re burning up.” Her tone dropped to a seductive whisper. “The rut is upon you. I felt it in the tunnels. There’s no shame in taking ease with your own kind—”
A floorboard creaked on the stairs.
Race looked up to find Ash gripping the banister, hair tousled, skin pale again, her expression cool. She wore only his shirt, her legs bare, and in the firelight, her champagne eyes burned molten.
And gods help him…she looked edible. He wanted his mouth all over her—
The temperature in the room plunged, the wind rattling the shutters. Through their bond, her anger surged, hot enough to sear.
Her gaze locked on Rhaedra’s hand still resting on his arm.
Fuck!
Ash’s fingertips dug into the banister as Race took a step toward her, dislodging the woman.
Stop, she bit out through their mind-link, stopping him dead.
Every step down had cost her, but Race’s strange behavior and the waves of raging heat flooding their bond had driven her from her bed. Now, watching the scaled viper’s sultry gaze fixed on him, fury burned away the last of her exhaustion.
It took everything in her not to tear into Race for hiding what was wrong from her, and not let the power crackling under her skin slip free and cauterize that she-dragon’s superior little smile.
Instead, cool as ice—English composure sliding neatly into place—she ignored Race entirely. His eyes burned dark with concern…and something wilder. Their bond thrummed with barely leashed violence.
Ash, he rasped.
She didn’t respond.
“Lass,” Attor said then, worry threading his voice. “You should be resting.”
“Should I?” She forced a lighter tone, though her pulse hammered like war drums. “Seems I’m missing all the excitement.”
Rhaedra’s perfect lips curved. “This doesn’t concern you.”
“No?” Ash took another step down, and the room tilted—maybe that was her—but she didn’t slow. “Discussing our leader’s, er, personal matters in the open and during a mission seems like everyone’s concern.”
“The males of our kind have needs,” the she-dragon said, her low voice laced with disdain. “Needs a human cannot begin to understand—”
“Enough,” Race snapped, a dangerous heat radiating off him, thrusting his fingers through his hair, dislodging his hair tie.
But Ash turned that ire back on him with an even colder stare.
What aren’t you telling me? she mind-linked with him, her tone like frost. That a stranger would offer you help for something I—your mate—know nothing about?
She gripped the newel post as another wave of heat swept through her.
He stared at her for a long second.
“Ash is my mate,” his cold voice cut through the tension like a blade. “She accepted my venom and is marked and claimed as mine.”
Rhaedra went utterly still, then immediately lowered her head in submission. “But, sire, you cannot. You can only mate with a noble-born, as the god Pyr’xian decreed.”
“Pyr’xian is no more. The decree is mine.” Race’s voice cracked like thunder. “Ash is my heart-mate—my destined one. My silence was to protect her.”
Her gaze remained downcast. “Sire. I didn’t realize—”
“No one can know,” Race continued, his voice deadly calm. “If any harm comes to her because of this knowledge…” He let the threat hang, sharp as a blade.
Lemuria will fall.
“You have my oath,” Rhaedra said at once. “On my dragon’s blood.”
Attor’s weathered face showed no surprise. “As you’ve always had mine,” he said quietly. “By the way, I left some supplies in the back of your cave. Thought you might need them.”
Race’s eyes snapped to his, but Attor just gave a slight nod before settling into the chair at the table and rolling up the maps.
Ash’s trembling knees finally gave way and she sat on the step—
Race’s growl rumbled through the room as he blurred over and scooped her up. “You, my mate, need rest. We’ll talk later.”
He flashed upstairs and set her gently on the bed, but Ash sat up, watching him. The air shimmered around him in waves, heat rolling off his skin. Scales pushed through his arms, his throat, his cheekbones, glinting in the lamplight. He looked like a creature trapped between two worlds—and losing.
And still, he said nothing, wearing grooves in the wooden floor instead.
Bloody stubborn male.
“What did she mean, Race?” Ash bit out. “That males of your kind have needs?”
“I did speak of it with you,” he rumbled, rubbing the back of his neck—something she’d never seen him do before. His gaze lowered to his hands, to the deadly talons edging his fingers. “Fuck! I have to leave.”
He spun for the door.
Running on nothing but adrenaline, Ash leapt off the bed and planted herself in his path. “Not until you tell me what the bloody hell is going on! You’re fighting your dragon, and from where I’m standing, it looks like he’s about to win.”
“The rut—”
“What?” Her stomach sank. “You said there was time.”
“I was mistaken,” he ground out. “I’m so fucking hard, I fear if I linger another breath, it’ll be disastrous. I have to go.”
“Go where?” she demanded, not letting him pass.
A half-broken laugh tore from him, and he pivoted toward the window. “There’s a trail of active volcanoes in the northern peaks. Three days of solitude there until it burns out—”
“No.”
He spun, his eyes black with barely contained hunger. “Ash—”
“Don’t you Ash me, you impossible dragon! You’re not facing this alone!”
“The rut isn’t gentle,” he snarled, clenching his fists. “I won’t be able to control—” He broke off, his chest heaving. “You’re still weak from the storm.”
“I’m stronger than you think.” She took a careful step closer, ignoring the slight tremble in her limbs. “I won’t let you suffer alone.”
“You don’t understand.” Desperation cracked through the anger in his tone. “I held out too long. I could hurt you. Get you with child!”
“Then I’ll deal with it,” she shot back.
“No!” his shout rattled the rafters. His presence filled the room like a gathering storm, his power pressing against her skin. “I won’t risk you.”
“It is my choice—mine!”
A knock shattered the tension.
Breathing hard, she spun and opened the door.
Bregga stood in the doorway, holding a crystal vial of pale green liquid, his lined features drawn with concern. “The ‘lixir.”
“What?” She blinked.
“I hear, mistress…”
Curse these dragons and their heightened hearing!
“This be preventing a babe during the fever time.” His rheumy eyes held ancient wisdom. “It be what our females take now.”
Race went absolutely still.
“Give it to me,” Ash said, straightening her spine.
“Heart-fire.” Race’s hoarse voice descended to something dangerous and wild. “If you take that, there’s no going back. I won’t be able to stop—”
She held his darkened gaze, popped the bottle, and swallowed the bitter liquid.
With a growl, he came for her like a predator breaking its chains. Ash barely had time to snatch up her pack before his arms locked around her, heat pouring through every layer between them.
The world shifted, and the room warped, darkness completely engulfing her as he dematerialized them.