Chapter 12
Maze’s tiny hand absently stroked the column of my thick dragon neck as I sailed across the sky, performing a dance in the wind and fading sun for her.
My beast who struck fear into any enemy with his mere presence was trilling and humming for the little human, calling on fierce storms simply by having her on our back. He was determined to show our human what a dragon could offer, and it’d be a lie if I didn’t want the same thing.
My dragon wings stretched wide, and we artfully wove through the clouds so she could feel the power inside them—rain clouds we’d summoned just for her.
Maze’s laughter and awe motivated my beast into grander schemes and bigger shows of strength and skill, into swifter twirls and deeper low-banking sweeps over water and trees.
Every laugh was a reward, and it wasn’t long before my dragon and I sought to impress the little human together, my ideas feeding his own.
“Wow,” she breathed, awe-stricken by the vast ocean at the other side of Black Mountain.
Water Serpent territory. Their islands were only forty or so kilometers from the shore.
Her raspy voice dragged the word in longing.
She’d only ever known the desert lands, and if it were any other day, any other moment, I would’ve shown her anything she desired.
“It’s bigger than you, Onyx,” she teased, finally shedding her guarded personality. The sound of it was almost as beautiful as her smiles.
I caught her out of my periphery staring at the darkening expanse. The sun was nearly gone along the horizon. Her mouth was kicked up in a breathtaking smile that broadened the longer she stared.
My little Moon Beast was as free in the sky as I was.
Her soft, soothing fingers brought nerves to life in my scales that hadn’t existed until she touched them.
It was bloody fucking glorious. I never thought myself lonely, but the week I’d spent away from her and the weeks in her company proved I was.
It made me yearn for more. Crave things I never had. Want differently than what I’d known.
And finally everything clicked into place.
I didn’t believe Iris when she said it. I’d heard the word mentioned among the elite, but I’d never cared enough to learn more. With so few female dragons and a disdain for humans, I never considered it.
Mate.
A primal, instinctual epiphany hit, one that I felt in the very marrow of my bones. One my dragon felt long before I did. Because as soon as she touched me in this form, I knew. As soon as her delicious scent transformed my body, I knew. No, the second I laid eyes on her in that cage, I knew.
Maze was meant to be mine.
Fated mates—a bond strong enough to conquer a king.
The thing Iris said Titus, her father and previous leader, feared more than any enemy.
Mate bonds were strong enough to change a dragon, and they granted abilities to the marked after the claiming bite.
A dragon under the influence of a mate bond became altered, but after being around my little Moon Beast, I no longer saw that as something to fear.
It didn’t matter how she came to me. I could give absolutely fuck all whether or not her disgusting human sector planted her in my home so she’d sway or kill me.
I’d protect my little Moon Beast.
It didn’t matter who she was before we met or how lethal she might be under the guise of innocence, after her lips touched mine, the moment her soft hand stroked my scales, the second her luscious scent registered in this form, it couldn’t be anything else.
She was mine, and no one would take her from me.
I’d never been so confident of something in all my years, or so terrified. She’d be in greater danger now that Vektor was involved. Void would’ve been looped in as he always was. Unless it was all a ruse.
Dreythos thought as much, but I hadn’t confirmed anything, and the accusations being leveled against my brother required irrefutable proof. I couldn’t accept anything less.
Even if it wasn’t, they’d consider her a threat.
I knew otherwise. Maze might be a Rebel, but her fierce protective nature of Iris told me enough—Maze was a good female who’d been molded and exploited by bad humans, and it was them who needed to answer for the crimes committed against me, not her.
She needed to be protected at all costs.
Even Blade would agree.
It was a delicate situation. I’d need to be careful with how I addressed it. First, I’d need to deal with the dragons who oversaw her transfer, find out who ordered them to collect, and then make sure they kept Desert Roseland out of their mouths.
Simple enough.
Then I’d need to personally deal with those vicious humans she called leaders after I did a little digging to find out if there was truly a connection between them and the Stormriders. Though, I didn’t trust the information Vektor gave.
Deception had been woven into every word he’d said, and my innate senses told me it was all said for his own personal gain. I’d still make those Desert Roseland bastards suffer the worst kind of death, slow and deliberately painful.
My dragon would make sure of it.
My instincts were telling me Vektor was conspiring with whomever was at the helm of this devious plan to disrupt me and the faction. I needed to discover his aim, though I was fairly confident I knew.
It wasn’t a secret he and the long-standing family lines in the Sky Demons were desperate to return to the old ways.
Human spies would give them permission to punish and enslave without prejudice—proof that humans couldn’t be trusted and I needed to tighten the reins.
Or perhaps he sought to shake our warriors’ trust in my abilities as leader by suggesting I’d missed the enemy in my own bed.
This wasn’t the first time someone close to me had played a hand like this. I might dislike humans, but I hated traitorous dragons more. And I was malicious when I picked up a traitor’s scent.
Vektor could disguise a lot about himself, but his scent gave him away.
He had the foul stench of lies and desperation to convince me when he came in.
He spoke true about the Desert Roseland sector, so it was obvious he was concealing something else.
Something infinitely more sinister, and if it was as Dreythos said, I’d need irrefutable evidence on my side.
No one would challenge me raining down terror on the feckless dragon scourge if I could prove it beyond a doubt.
It was important to know if the Stormriders were helping him, or if my brother had conspired against me. The more I learned, the less I believed Void was innocent. Too much had been done under my nose, and Vektor wasn’t clever enough to pull off something like that without a powerful ally.
The political landfall would be worse if Void was in on it, and I suspected he was. My brother would’ve smelled Vektor’s lies before I had, and he hadn’t mentioned any of it.
I’d given Void leave to do what he wanted over the decades knowing how truly sick in the head he was.
This was my fault. I’d thought I could tame the monster in him.
He was my half-brother, and it was my duty to bring him back from the brink.
But if he’d truly betrayed me and become a danger to our dragons, to my mate, I’d end him.
I needed to be sure even if I was risking too much by waiting to act.
But I couldn’t make decisions on feelings alone.
I was the leader of thousands of dragons, and they needed to trust that I wouldn’t accuse someone, especially not one of their leaders, without strong, indisputable evidence of their crimes.
The word of a faction whose dragons were under suspicion could easily be seen as a way to divert blame. I needed proof that came from sources that had no stake in the outcome.
So, I’d called on a favor from Rook after the Stormriders commander made the claim.
The dragon under the Wraith king was one of few I could count on to be unbiased and deliver what I needed.
The truth. He was one of few dragons I didn’t despise talking to, and the recluse wouldn’t feel inclined to share it.
It was risky to leave the faction with no one aware of the accusation. I’d hoped to tell Iris because I trusted her to be level-headed and handle it with a discreet touch, unlike Blade, but I was duty-bound to respond to the other factions no matter how much I wanted to tell them to piss off.
The alliances we forged with the factions surrounding our borders were shaky at best, and that was especially true with the Water Serpents.
It was no small secret I didn’t trust that slithery bastard—I didn’t trust anyone, him less than most—but he’d maintained his side of the treaty despite our clashing personalities.
I had to go.
Black Mountain was considered neutral territory, which meant Artemis was fishing for something or looking to strike a deal.
He hadn’t been at the Dragon Border Alliance meeting, supposedly because of the human rebellion in his territory.
If it was his intention to gain support in smothering it, after everything with Maze, I’d be rooting for the humans to win.
He and Void were cut from the same monster cloth, and the bastard deserved whatever he had coming to him.
But my battle-hardened senses were tingling. They only ever did when my dragon sensed a fight. The fact that Artemis asked to meet me, and me alone, despite having every option to speak with me at the meeting had he only appeared didn’t sit right with me.
It felt like a set-up.
And while Black Mountain might be neutral ground, that didn’t make going any less dangerous for Maze. Humans weren’t protected by the neutrality of Black Mountain. They could attack her without basis if they thought it’d bend my will to theirs. I’d need to be careful.