Chapter 8
Seven days. Seven days of suffering that blood and battle couldn’t satiate. Seven days spent fighting myself not to return here.
To return to her.
My beast had been clawing at my skin, threatening a shift ever since we left her. Nearly sent us soaring back to our territory to check on her when I finally took dragon form.
The only reason he hadn’t managed to was because the danger lurking within the Borderlands and around our faction posed danger to her as well. It was the only reason he permitted me to stay so we could deal with any enemies we found.
The Stormriders.
Or perhaps that wasn’t truly accurate.
Their leader, Dreythos, and his generals insisted they hadn’t ordered the attack.
The commander, as his generals called him, claimed to have no knowledge of the event that took place in the Borderlands.
In our brief conversation, I sensed his unease with the situation, and he claimed it wasn’t them but in fact another.
Something was off with their faction, but I couldn’t ascertain whether or not it was because of him or in spite of him. Power dynamics were at play, so I wouldn’t trust the information they gave.
My gut was never wrong, and at the moment, it felt as if something wasn’t as it seemed. The battle-savvy dragon in me smelled lies, but it wasn’t clear from where. Until I knew for sure what was occurring, I’d have it looked into by someone who didn’t have any stake in its outcome.
Instead of hellbent on discovering the threat looming at our doorstep, my dragon’s singular focus was on the human we’d left behind.
I couldn’t make sense of it. I couldn’t understand the sudden split between us. We’d always acted as two shared parts of the same being, but since laying eyes on the female, he’d been acting separate of my own wishes and interests.
Iris had figured it out, but I couldn’t leave the human alone again. Which meant whatever I learned she would too, and if I was correct about who the human was, the less she knew, the better.
Now the little Moon Beast was on her knees, perched on the edge of my bed like a goddamn offering.
The dress she’d chosen barely hid her toned, golden flesh.
She may as well be a goddess of desire sent to destroy me for how easily she boiled my blood and hardened my cock, especially with her moon-white hair braided with traditional lapilli and wrapped around a delicate circlet.
It was as if the very gods themselves were mocking me.
I’d never craved someone so fiercely. Never wanted someone so much I was willing to do anything to make them mine, body and soul.
I’d spent all bloody week with an erection like a young drake going through his first rut. Another fucking problem I didn’t have time to deal with and a ridiculous sight while disemboweling my enemies. The growly voice in my head who thundered mine every bloody chance he got was another.
“Why were you crying?” I asked again, thunder in my tone. It was all gravel and growl. My dragon was furious with me. Had been for days, but even more so since finding the female crying.
Her head tilted to the side, suspicion and arousal perfuming the air. It was both adorable and absolutely lethal with all that bloody citrus. “You’re angry…” she murmured. “Why, my Liege?”
Bloody fucking shit.
My jaw clenched, cock throbbing violently at the intoned formality. I’d never cared for the old ways of addressing leadership despite some dragons insisting on it. But in her voice, it ravaged my body like a goddamn caress.
“It’s Onyx,” I corrected, far too aroused by the use of the former to risk her using it again. After the week I’d had, familiarity between us was the least of my problems.
The little beast nibbled her lower lip, and I nearly lost the battle with my body and beast. “Mazikeen,” she whispered, lifting her gorgeous eyes to mine. The fierce bravery in her gaze never failed to steal the air in my lungs. “But if it pleases you, Onyx, you may call me Maze.”
Fuck. My name in her sultry rasp was worse.
So much worse.
My chest rose and fell with the effort it took to keep myself rooted to the spot in front of her and not devouring that perfect mouth so that my name was the only thing she could say.
“Maze,” I said slowly, testing her name on my tongue. “Why were you crying? Did someone hurt you?”
Did I sound gentle? How was it Blade spoke to females? I cocked my head to one side, arms folded over my chest, and softened my voice the way I remembered Blade doing with his females. I channeled an absolute twit, but it was hopefully better than a stone-cold killer.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
I didn’t smell blood or see any evidence of abuse.
Disemboweling would be a mercy to anyone who’d touched her.
But in that outfit, if one could call it that, I’d have to be absolutely blind to miss an injury.
Unfortunately, it was difficult to smell anything other than the scent that terrorized my dreams since leaving her.
The beast demanded we ensure she was unharmed, that our time away hadn’t left her vulnerable to the dragons roaming these halls. Despite my reassurance that Iris would protect the human, my dragon wasn’t satisfied with anyone but us protecting her.
His rage fueled my own.
I’d stolen away shortly after arriving to wash the blood from my body and change my clothes, but it wasn’t fast enough. I’d spent the entire time arguing with my beast.
He wanted to show her how strong we were, how bloodthirsty, how capable we were of protecting her, and I’d spent far too long explaining to him that if anything, it’d scare her off.
He’d huffed at me, so confident she’d fall into our arms—or better yet, our bed—and I’d never heard my beast so cocksure despite being horrifically wrong in every possible way.
Still, I washed quickly because I couldn’t stay away from her, not after all these days without her. I might argue it was to satisfy my dragon’s demands, but it wasn’t just him who’d been eager to return to our little human. I’d also wanted to ensure she was safe and uninjured.
Maze didn’t speak at first, not until a growl rumbled inside my chest. My dragon was growing impatient with her silence, sure it was because she was, in fact, injured despite no evidence to suggest it.
Transformation tickled across my skin. My onyx-colored scales solidified and shimmered an elusive blue when the light caught them, while my canines sharpened to dangerous points. Her eyes swept down my body in open interest before staring at me in defiance, too courageous for her own good.
Such a good female, the growly bastard in my head said out of nowhere.
It was the most he’d ever spoken. He’d never uttered more than a word or two since I’d sensed his presence, and here he was, a snarling chatterbox the minute Maze was within view.
He was pleased with her strength and resilience, and if I were honest, so was I.
“Iris didn’t make me cry,” she said, chin lifted, protective of the female dragon she’d only known for a week. “Don’t be angry with her. I’ll take whatever punishment she’s earned.”
Fearless, my dragon crooned in admiration.
Stupid, you mean, I countered, only for his snarling to punish my ears.
Right. That was on me. I should know better than to taunt him. He didn’t care about how it made us look to growl and stomp around in an immature tantrum, and I’d already done enough of that over the last week to last me a lifetime.
Despite the sudden beat of envy in my chest over Maze’s obvious favoritism of Iris, I was intrigued by the change. This human clearly didn’t trust easily, and certainly not this quickly, so what forged the bond between them?
“Not my question, little Moon Beast.” My lips slanted when confusion reached her expression, twisting her nose cutely. She wasn’t sure what to make of the nickname. Hell, I didn’t know what to make of it. “I asked why you were crying and if anyone hurt you.”
She licked her lips, and it was a concerted effort not to groan. “No one hurt me. Iris took care of me.” I nearly growled when she didn’t answer my initial question, but she continued, “I cried—which I never do, mind you, demon—because she…”
Despite her feisty strength, it was the first time her hesitation and fear weren’t for show. Whatever made her cry shook this terrifying beauty in ways nothing had since coming here.
“I just learned things about my sector and the other sectors that differed from what I knew about them, so I got a little emotional about it. Simple as that.”
It wasn’t a lie. I’d know if it was. Which brought me to my next question: “What sector did you come from?”
Her lips thinned. “You don’t know?”
“I didn’t see a need, no”—but now I wished I’d done my due diligence when I noticed the markers of an assassin.
I’d been concerned my sudden interest in her would set off alarms with the dragons who kept me in their purview.
Void, in particular. He’d been watching me carefully since I’d taken her.
Blade as well. But it was Void I worried about.
If he even scented the curiosity in her whereabouts, it’d lead him to investigate her himself. Perhaps he already had.
“That’s rather careless of you,” she retorted before thinking better of it.
My eyes narrowed, but instead of insulted, the feeling of pride was back. Her goddamn cheek. “The same could be said of your impertinence, little Moon Beast.”
Her glacial gaze dropped before rising again, one side of her mouth tilted. It was another hit to my overactive cock. “Forgive me, my Liege.”
Bloody hell, I was in trouble. This little beast was brave and witty and utterly tempting to my deep-rooted urge for a challenge. I could banter with her all day. The mere fact that she wasn’t afraid to let her tongue whip at me was already doing things to my body I couldn’t ignore.
Her eyes strayed to the bed before she did something I didn’t anticipate—and I was never caught off guard. She crawled under the bedding and patted the spot next to her. “You must be tired. Let me take care of you.”
Fuck me.
It was another tactic, honey-trapping. She was all clever beast, and it worked like a fucking charm when she swept her tongue over her bottom lip and settled those icy blues on me, at home in my bed.
Fearless.
I stiffened, taking in the beauty of her face before walking over. “Be careful what you ask for, Maze. I might look this way, but I’m more beast than man.”
Her heated glare was a direct challenge. “I don’t have any idea what you mean,” she lied.
“Sure you don’t.” My lips twitched, seconds from smirking. “Oh, and don’t think I’ve forgotten that you haven’t answered my question. These distractive methods might work on most, but I see right through them.”
I tossed off my shirt but opted to keep my pants on…for reasons. Her eyes followed me as I laid out next to her, the muscles in my torso flexing and reshaping. As much as I wanted to deny it, I was desperate to be close to her and too tired to fight it.
Maze’s greedy gaze took a pointed path down my chest before the scent of her arousal nearly overtook the citrus. “Desert Roseland.”
And whatever arousal I felt was killed with those two words.
Desert Roseland—the wasteland of human gangs Iris begged me to intervene on. The vilest of the humans we oversaw, their cruelty the thing of gossip and scorn with the dragons against enslavement. A gift to those who revered the old ways and wanted their humans compliant.
It wasn’t a secret Desert Roseland’s methods could rival past dragon leadership in regards to human treatment.
What Iris told me they did to their females and children would’ve given even battle-worn dragons like myself nightmares, and now it all made sense.
Because every female who came out of their sector was in pieces.
Broken. A slave before they even reached our gates.
And my little Moon Beast was one of them.
I startled out of my head when her hand glided across my stomach, fingers tracing the strong outline of my abdominals. When I looked down, her sweet pink mouth was already close to mine. “Why do you always smell like oranges? Is it a demon’s trick, or are you as fond of them as I am?”
I narrowed my eyes on her in shock, but my body had already rebelled.
One hand cradled the back of her neck, careful of the gorgeous braids woven around a thin crown of gold, and the other gripped her waist to drag her body into mine.
This close, her delicious, all-consuming scent floated into my nose without hindrance.
It dulled my thoughts. It made lust more important than reason.
Without thinking, I bent down to capture her mouth in a kiss that was likely to be the first of many mistakes.