Chapter 3 #2
He rests his forehead against mine. Embers from his horns fall around us like blackened confetti in our own private marriage ceremony.
“But I’m not being taken from you,” I whisper at the same time that I can’t make myself pull back from Aurelius; I need his touch as much as he’s desperate for mine.
“You offered me as a prize to a monster. Do you think I’ve forgotten that you’re close to feral from suffering through your ruts alone?
Pheromone starved? You need my pheromones to keep you safe.
You’ll be vulnerable and in agony if a rut hits and you go through it without me there. ”
“That doesn’t matter.” Aurelius strokes over my back like he’s trying to map every inch of me and imprint it to his memory. He truly fears this may be the last time we see each other — that he’s losing me. My heart speeds up. “Hate me, but please, give me these moments with you, my fiery Goddess.”
The reverence in his tone takes away my breath.
My eyes burn with tears, but I lean into his hold. “I understand that this scheme is to save our lives. But the way that you can hide yourself from me scares me.”
“If you can never love me again,” Aurelius’ voice breaks, “that’s your right.
But don’t reject me. I don’t know what would happen to the golden threads that bind us.
I am a rough warrior, brutal and trained in war strategy, rather than strategies of the heart.
I know how to push down my emotions, until I am no more than a weapon, but it seems, not how to make sure I don’t turn that on the ones who love me.
I haven’t been loved and I am struggling to learn what love is.
..what it can be. You have shown me. I don’t want to hurt you. ”
“Too late.”
He flinches.
“I have a responsibility to every member of my kingdom, to the shades of those killed in the attack on the Carnival of Shadows, and to my brothers and sisters in the army. Do you know who else?” Aurelius’ eyes gleam.
“I have a duty to every child in the military academy who face pain and death like I did. This never-ending cycle of revenge and war, paid for by the blood of children, must stop. By any means possible.”
“By any means?” I demand.
He looks caught out, before cocking his head.
“It is an arranged marriage, but it’s all theater.
Fake. Maximinus has a trick to capture the fucker before you bond him.
I know Lan better than anyone. Since he was a child, he has been devoured by loneliness.
Like me, he was denied love or the chance to bond.
He thought that he was alone. Yet he still dreamed of having his own vampire nest one day.
It will have crushed him to have been kept separate from you.
It’s why he will lose his war with me for your sake.
After all, he will have been in agony these three years.
I wonder how sane he’ll still be. How feral. ”
My brow furrows. “Why?”
“A Shadow Vampire only has one bonded Omega in their long life, and once they discover them, the need to bond is a consuming hunger. Even the dedication of a fae to their soulmate is nothing compared to a vampire’s devotion to their true Omega. Lan won’t hurt you. He’ll fucking worship you.”
I swallow.
I can’t imagine anyone being more committed to me than Daire is. It makes me shift uncomfortably on Aurelius’ lap to imagine using that dedication against my fated mate.
Even a beautiful monster like Lanlin.
He’s lonely? In pain? Feral?
He’s checking all my boxes for perfect groom material.
I sigh.
Did he attack Bael out of desperation?
“You’re using that against him to get him to bend the knee.” I push myself up, hugging the towel around myself.
Aurelius sprawls back on the velvet seat, as if it’s a throne. “And then I’ll use it to capture him.”
“Doesn’t sound honorable.”
Aurelius smiles, sharply. “What gave you the idea that I’m honorable?”
He stands up, and I am bathed in his shadow; his golden hair falls over his amber eyes.
“This is the prophecy coming true,” I say, softly. “Golden fated mates, an Omega and her Alpha Kings, destined to bleed.”
Aurelius blanches. “It isn’t… I mean… Do you know how hard I tried not to bond?
To avoid that prophecy? What I endured to suppress my emotions?
Needs? I didn’t… It’s Lan who will bleed.
I’ve thought this through. He’s one of the Golden fated mates.
If we do this, then the rest of you are free of the prophecy. We can bond; he can bleed.”
“Are you fucking with me? You’re doing this to protect us from the prophecy...?”
“If I sacrifice Lan, then I will know that my fae King and wolf Queen are safe.” Aurelius gives a dangerous grin. “And it will be my pleasure to make the vampire bleed.”
“You do understand how much groveling you’ll need to do with Daire for him to forgive you for this scheme?”
“A dragon doesn’t grovel, especially to a fae.”
I pat Aurelius on the cheek. “Then learn a new skill.”
“Ehm, how about a gift? What does he like? Flame cakes? Chestnuts?”
“How about returning his crown? You stole Daire’s beautiful bronze and emerald crown of feathers. Actions are better than empty words.”
“Oh, that’s all,” Aurelius says, dryly, “give a rebel and bandit back a kingdom that never belonged to him.”
“Why does it belong to you?”
“Because I defeated it, just like I did Daire.” Aurelius takes a deep breath. “I will consider it. Do you remember what you said to me, when I first brought you into my camp?”
“That I am a wild wolf, and if you try to leash me, I will bite off your fucking hand.”
Aurelius chuckles, deep and rumbling. “I’d forgotten how fierce you were to challenge me even from the start. I meant, you said—”
“That you were pretty. As pretty as Daire.”
Aurelius’ flush deepens. “You also told me to fuck off, and I warned you to hide your fangs at court. It appears that neither of us are any good at listening. I’m talking about when I asked you whether you would take it, if I could offer you a way to take revenge on the vampires?
Against the Shadow Vampire King himself? Do you remember what you said?”
I freeze.
Fuck, yeah.
That’s what I replied.
Without hesitation or thought.
But things are different now.
Right?
I avoid his gaze. “You’re not doing this for me.”
“I’m doing this for all of us.” Aurelius straightens his shoulders. “Once that irritating mosquito Lan is swatted, I can finally concentrate on taking down Maximinus and the Council. They have already promised—”
“Oh well, if they have promised…”
“Could you go heavier on the sarcasm, I almost missed it? I am not a fool. I made Decima take a Blood Oath. She was furious, but if we do this, then I can crown Daire and you as my King and Queen. This is how we get everything we want.”
I reach up to cup Aurelius’ cheek, and he stares back at me in surprise. “You’re calling him Daire and not Kit. Are you showing respect because he is risking his life?”
“That impulsive feathered fuck risks his life every day.”
I narrow my eyes. “But you don’t get to risk it for him.”
“Don’t I?” Aurelius’ gaze becomes heavy and dominant. “He’s mine. I’m the only Alpha between us with a throne.”
I let out a growl of frustration, twisting away from Aurelius and marching back toward the water.
I stare over the sea of rose petals. “If we do this, then it must be our choice. We do this together. You’re caged, as much as we are.
But by the moon, it always bothered me that you returned from the campaign in Rune Forest without a fucking hair on your head out of place. Where was the blood? The bruises?”
Aurelius sounds confused. “You wanted me to be injured?”
“Daire, on the other hand, was a bloody mess.” I remember the sense of desecration to see the beautiful fae’s skin scattered with bruises.
His right eye swollen shut. His lip busted.
“It made me realize that Daire fought in the heart of that battle for his people. But you? Where the fuck were you? Watching from a safe distance? Enjoying the entertainment? I get it now. You succeed by using others, while not getting your own hands dirty.”
“Do you think that I’d rather stay in the Shadow Court with my uncle?
” Aurelius snarls. “That I am any safer here? I would fight any battle rather than… Face death a thousand times, rather than watch the entertainment of Daire and you being sent to the Blood Court. But the cost is too high to save everyone. There is always a choice about who to save and who to sacrifice.”
I turn to study him.
It sounds like Aurelius is repeating something that has been trained into him.
It’s bullshit.
“What raven starving asshole taught you that?” I demand.
Aurelius’ expression becomes as cold as gold.
And his eyes…
They glow. Swirl. Became fathomless.
“Shit.” I shrink back, stepping away.
My foot slips on the edge of the bath, and I struggle not to fall into the water.
Dread grips me at the surge of dark pheromones and the predator gaze of Aurelius, as he prowls toward me.
I can see an entirely different man surfacing.
“You called for Hadrian, when I was trying to save you,” Aurelius’ golden claws grow, sharp and vicious, “as if letting out the tyrant — who would have torn apart my kingdom with blood-stained hands to save you — was the answer to your prayers and not a curse.”
My pulse roars in my ears. “I was wrong.”
“Call again.” Aurelius’ expression hardens. The lines on his face become harsh and forbidding. His lip curls into a hateful sneer. “This is your chance, Wolf.”
“I said that I was wrong,” I scream, grabbing hold of his biceps and attempting to shake him.
I can’t move Aurelius at all, as if he has been turned into one of the golden statues in his uncle’s study.
Shadowed death…
The whispers of the cursed dagger become louder.
Let me out.
Shadows seep out of Aurelius, creeping up the walls and blackening the windows.
They turn day to night. The baths become the nighttime sky; the petals floating stars.
Adrenaline spikes through me.
Aurelius looks both glorious and terrible. I am drawn to him as a moth is to the sun.
Would he burn me to ash like he did the fae? Or would he burn my enemies?
“If you don’t want me, then maybe, I should stop trying and allow myself to become Hadrian for you.
” To my shock, the tips of Aurelius’ golden eyelashes tremble with tears that he doesn’t allow to fall.
“He’ll turn the realms to ash and bone to keep you.
He’ll burn every Blood and rule over the Shadow Kingdoms as a warlord Emperor again.
If you want that, then fucking call him.
I can’t fight this battle to control my emotions — control him — if you can’t love me. ”
I can see the flames — death and destruction — dancing in his eyes.
Heartbroken, I reach for his hand. Suddenly, I realize how to reach him, even though he’s on the blade’s edge of destroying us all.
As his Omega, am I the only person who can save the world, rather than end it?
Tame the Golden Dragon of legend?
Through loving the newly reincarnated dragon?
“Aurelius,” I gasp like his name is an incantation. “Aurelius, Aurelius…my Alpha.”
I raise his hand to my mouth, kissing along his knuckles, before nuzzling against them.
Aurelius sucks in a breath.
Slowly, the room lightens.
His shadows are drawn back into him. The sun shines down on him again, gleaming off his golden tunic and crimson cloak.
I squeeze his hand, and he tenderly squeezes it back.
“Spark,” Aurelius breathes. “My Omega.”
I glance through my eyelashes, and relief washes through me that his eyes have returned to a warm amber.
I push myself onto tiptoes and capture my Alpha’s plush lips in a burning kiss that is filled with hunger and need and claiming.
Aurelius opens his lips, thrusting his tongue into my mouth, dominating the kiss.
I lose myself, allowing him to push his thigh between mine. I can feel his hard cock through his breeches.
He tangles his hand in my hair, pulling me closer. He is shaking as much as I am, taking desperate breaths of my scent and pheromones.
I wrap my arms around him more firmly, tugging him backwards but never breaking the kiss.
He lets himself be pulled into the water.
We fall together into the petals, splashing beneath the oily water.
Neither of us break the kiss, which is life, bond, and desperation.
It’s the touch that keeps Aurelius anchored from Hadrian.
The touch that we are soon to lose.
The touch that he needs at such a deep level that its loss may send him feral.
We rise up together from the water, which drips down from our hair.
I stare into Aurelius’ eyes, as I kiss him desperately, sucking and biting like the wild wolf that I am.
I claw at his back, and he tightens his hold on my hair, baring my neck.
Water streams down his horns and gleaming crown, as this deadly king bends his head before me to lick down the bond mark that he savagely bit onto my neck.
Pleasure sparks through me, and I whine.
Slick gushes from my pussy.
I bite my lip, sensing my Alpha’s joy and desire through the golden collar of our bond.
His all-encompassing love.
“You won’t be in this alone,” Aurelius whispers against my neck, nipping and sucking along my skin and making me shiver. “Bonded dragons never are. I can appear to you in your dreams. I will be with you.”
Relief rushes through me.
He always planned this.
“I haven’t forgiven you.” I press closer to Aurelius, however, kissing down his jaw. “Don’t expect anything but a kick in the balls from Daire.”
“I can live with that, as long as you both live.” Aurelius draws back from me, his expression suddenly serious in a way that makes my stomach swoop with dread.
“Lan will arrive at the end of the week. My uncle is arranging it now. That gives you only one week to train with Wraith in the Spy Guild. She thinks that you will be a natural spy to infiltrate that nest of lying rats.”