Chapter 5
Kaylee
We finally touched down inside a small, grassy courtyard that seemed barely large enough for the beast to land inside.
Walls twenty feet high loomed above us and ran the whole way round the courtyard.
He tucked his wings against his flanks and set me on the ground, and I swayed for a moment, torn between collapsing on my ass and losing the remains of my breakfast. As luck would have it, I did neither, but I got the chilling sense that was where my luck was going to end.
By the time I'd regained my sense of equilibrium enough to turn around and open my mouth, ready to unleash a torrent of abuse in his general direction, I found he was back in human form—still fully dressed, interestingly enough, unlike any other shifter I’d ever seen—and regarding me with those steely gray eyes. My words died on my lips.
“Let's go,” he said gruffly, planting one hand between my shoulder blades and giving me a nudge forward toward an aging wooden door that looked like something out of that period movie I’d watched on Dean’s ancient tech when he’d been trying to impress me one time.
Back before everyone knew I was an abomination.
The door had hinges as broad as my hand and made of some kind of very solid looking metal, and a lock that dwarfed them.
I guess the mythical dragon didn’t want uninvited guests.
Too bad I didn’t fall into that category.
He pulled a surprisingly normal sized key from his pocket and slotted it into the lock, and the door opened under his touch.
Another nudge between my shoulder blades sent me across the threshold on unwilling feet, and then the door slammed shut behind him and the key turned in the lock one more time, sealing me inside the dragon’s home.
Truth be told, I'd had better days.
I watched him slip the key back into his pocket, and notions of pickpocketing flitted through my mind again, but even if I managed to get the key from him, I had no idea how the hell I was going to get out of this mansion, or where I would go if I did.
“Turn around.”
I blinked at him, absolutely certain that turning my back on this stranger was the last thing I wanted to do.
He arched a brow, apparently not used to being disobeyed.
Well, he'd better get used to it, and fast, because I wasn't someone’s well-trained puppy. He picked the wrong wolf for that. In fact, he’d somehow managed to walk into a shifter pack, and leave with the only person who wasn't a wolf.
I really hope that didn't screw up his plans. Oh, wait...
“What do you want with me?” I asked. I tried to meet his eye as I spoke, but it was basically impossible, and in the end I settled for staring at one of his broad shoulders.
I’d look at the ground, but I didn't want to give him the wrong idea about how afraid of him I was. Or the right idea, to be precise.
“I have a pact with your pack,” he said.
“I don't have a pack,” I retorted. “Not anymore.”
“Nonetheless, I have a pact with them. I allow them to exist in my shadow, protected from the attention of other dragons—and myself—and in return, they provide me with a Tribute—a shifter from their pack to act as my servant.”
“Servant implies I'm getting paid,” I said, canting my head and, annoyingly, not quite managing to fix him with a glare.
“You may choose a less flattering term, if you prefer.”
I swallowed. I did not, in fact, prefer. As it happened, I would prefer this asshole let me go so I could get on with living the miserable existence that passed for my life. Somehow, I suspected my desires and his didn't quite align.
“Turn around,” he commanded again.
“Why?” I eyed him suspiciously, so far as I could, not being able to look him in the face.
“Not very good at following orders, are you?”
“No. In fact, I'm awful at it. So you might as well just return me to my pack.”
He laughed, a throaty rumble that sent chills through me. Abruptly the sound cut off and his expression grew dark.
“There are limits to my patience, little wolf, and you are beginning to test them.”
A bout of laughter burst from my throat, and the sound echoed back at us around the barren chamber.
“Enough!” His voice was barely raised, but the sharp word cut across my dying echoes, and I flinched back without meaning to. “You will show me the respect I am due. Your pack knows its place. It’s time you learned it, too.”
“Don’t you get it?” I snapped. “They tricked you. I’m an omega. I can’t shift. In case you’re wondering, I can’t cook, either, and I’m pretty shit at cleaning.”
His eyes narrowed. “You can’t shift?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. What sort of shifter can’t shift? This one, asshole.”
“You have quite the mouth on you.”
I quirked a brow and glared at him from under it. “Oh, I’m sorry, should I be quaking in fear?”
“It would have been more expected, given your…circumstances.”
“Well, I’ve got bad news for you, Smaug.
I was rejected by my intended mate in front of the whole pack, and it damn near broke me, but it didn’t.
Then I spent the last year with half the pack taking every opportunity to beat the shit out of me, and that didn’t break me, either.
There’s nothing you can do to me that hasn’t already been done. ”
“Except kill you.”
I swallowed, and my voice came out much smaller. “Except that.”
“Now, for the last time, turn around.”
I relented, turning uneasily so that my back was to him.
I twisted my head to look back over my shoulder as he closed the gap between us.
He pulled something from his pocket and took hold of my wrist, firmly enough that I couldn't have pulled free if I wanted to.
It took me a moment to realize what he was doing, and by then he had released the cuffs.
I pulled my hands around in front of me, rubbing at my aching wrists.
“Thank you,” I muttered sullenly, refusing to look in his direction.
“Well, you can't get on with that cooking and cleaning that you’re so shit at with your hands cuffed behind your back, now, can you?”
I rolled my eyes and pulled a face—with my gaze still averted from him so he couldn't see, because despite appearances, I wasn't completely suicidal. Of course, a week of attempting to cook and clean for this asshole might change that. And a whole lifetime?
A shiver ran through me, and I ducked my head, my eyelids sliding closed on unshed moisture.
Forever was a long time.