4. Chapter Four
Chapter Four
Ember
Something smelled amazing. I opened my eyes and blinked in the unfamiliar room. Where the hell was I? Two glass doors were open to my left, leading out to a spacious balcony. The view was foreign, the mountains in the distance something I’d rarely seen in my home kingdom.
A gasp escaped me as I remembered being taken from the royal garden.
A dragon shifter had brought me here, but why?
I remembered some talk about fated mates and a kingdom far away.
I had to get away from here! The alpha who’d taken me had used his strong pheromones on me, manipulating me into trusting him!
The audacity! I despised alphas who forced their pheromones on omegas like that, making me all docile and sated.
So sated in fact, that I fell asleep while being flown at an incredible height!
My legs felt weak as I left the bed, hurrying over to the balcony.
The kingdom was vast and beautiful. I had to admit that.
The sun was setting in the distance, the orange hue still visible behind the mountains.
A lush forest loomed in the distance, so peaceful and vibrant.
There were small houses scattered about and I could clearly see the town center from up here.
Closing my eyes, I took in a steadying breath. I had no way of finding home, but I couldn’t stay here either. I’d escaped one prison for another. I wasn’t about to see if this would be worse or better than with the fae prince.
I shifted, feeling my smaller form take over.
My feathers were alight with flames. Red, orange, and yellow glowed from me.
I jumped from the railing, letting my wings out as I soared towards the mountains.
I could hide there as I figured out what to do.
Surely one of the people in this kingdom could guide me home, or as far away as possible from the huge palace I’d just left behind.
My glowing form wasn’t exactly stealthy, so I doubted I would make my escape unseen. Still, I had to try. I’d stayed at the other palace because I knew for sure there would be no escape for me. Here, I had no certainty of that fact.
I flew over the closest town, admiring their pretty stone houses, all covered with ivy outside, making them look like a part of nature.
The town was bigger than I’d expected and extremely inviting and warm.
Not many people were out and about, but I spotted several fae, most of them with wings.
Some even flew a little over the ground!
Never had I ever seen that happen in my kingdom.
My body suddenly shook, something that had never happened to me before.
My wings carried me into the forest near town.
I sat on a branch, shifting back into my human form so I wouldn’t bring more attention to myself.
Flying when it was getting dark was a mistake, but I had to do it.
Now that I was in my human form and no longer a glowing beacon, I took stock of myself.
I was still shaking and an ache was beginning to form in my center, like a slowly building pain.
Had the alpha given me something foul? Or was this my upcoming heat?
I looked down from where I sat and decided I could make the jump without hurting myself.
Once on the ground, I staggered, my entire being feeling uneasy.
I had the biggest urge to return to the dragon alpha, a clear sign that he had given me something.
Something powerful and likely illegal. Determined, I stayed in the forest, walking further away from the town and palace.
I would need to trek to the mountains in my human form, but would shift if I sensed any danger coming my way.
Come morning, I would fly again. I would be okay.
One hour later and I was NOT okay. My body shivered and I felt nauseated.
My feet could barely carry my weight as I ventured between the trees.
It also didn’t help that a dragon roar could be heard in the distance.
It sounded like the dragon was in agony or panic, something I felt weird knowing just from a sound.
I’d never met a dragon shifter before this alpha grabbed me.
I knew there were many rare shifters out there, of course dragons would roam our world as well.
Ten minutes later I gave up trying to walk.
I was a sweating mess, panting against a tree, my body trembling and my stomach revolting.
I had to go back. There was simply no other option for me.
Crawling back on the forest ground was all I could do.I slowly began to feel a little better as I ventured closer to the one place I’d tried to escape from, even if my crawls were pathetic.
Another roar sounded. It was close. Way too fucking close. My body sighed with relief and I fell on my stomach, no longer able to keep crawling. The ground was cold and damp, but I felt amazing as my body cooled and my body stopped trembling.
“There you are!” a man, no, an alpha, declared, his tone beyond relieved.
He ran over to where I lay and my mind faltered as I stared into ice-blue eyes, so pretty and unique.
I lost all thought as I gazed into their depth.
His hair was white and looked so soft. He touched my cheeks, looking me over with evident worry and I sagged into his touch, feeling beyond relieved and safe.
The dragon alpha had found me, and I wasn’t afraid.
No, as his pheromones slammed into me, I felt better than ever. Safe.
This time when I woke, I knew exactly where I was. My eyes opened and instantly found the handsome alpha. He sat by the foot of the bed, looking a mix of worried and guilty as he smiled softly. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
River. I remembered he’d told me his name on our flight here.
“I feel… better?” I said, not really understanding how I felt. I was tired and my bones ached, but I was also sated and… happy? Was that what I was, happy?
River just nodded. “Ember,” he began, looking pained. “Why did you leave?”
I just gaped at him. “Um, you kidnapped me and forced me here, and you’re surprised I tried to escape?”
He blinked. “But you’re my fated mate. I didn’t take you for nefarious reasons, I took you so I could love and protect you, as my mate.”
I just groaned. “Even if I were to believe in fated mates and all of that,” I began, holding up a stalling hand when he opened his mouth to undoubtedly protest. “You still took me without my consent and used your pheromones on me also without my consent.” Alphas weren’t allowed to use pheromones on omegas that weren’t their mates, meaning what he’d done was illegal.
Not that alphas tended to listen to the law when it came to overpowering omegas.
Still, what River had done had been without my consent and illegal.
“But you’re my mate,” River argued.
I rolled my eyes and sighed. It seemed I couldn’t make him see reason. “You asked me why I left, and that was why. I don’t like when alphas force omegas to comply just because our biology forces us to do whatever you alphas please.”
A low growl escaped River. “Have other alphas done things to you without your consent?”
It was funny how he had no qualms about doing it himself, but hated the thought of other alphas doing the exact same thing.
“Some,” I admitted. It had mostly been my father, but River didn’t need to know that I had a fiery temper sometimes and my father used his alpha bark to make me compliant.
It was basically a certain tone alphas could use that forced us omegas to do whatever they wanted.
Biology meant that we would do it no matter what.
Our bodies would respond without our say in it.
My alpha brothers had also used it on me to get their way a few times, something I hated.
It was my responsibility to fight against their alpha bark, but I had no choice in the matter and my parents knew that, but simply hadn’t cared.
Thank the gods that blood relatives couldn’t use pheromones on me, otherwise my upbringing would’ve been pure torture.
River just continued to growl and seemed seconds away from grabbing me.
I wouldn’t mind being touched by him again, a thought I tried very hard to dissect.
Why was this dragon alpha already getting under my skin?
Did I truly believe I was his fated mate?
I mean, it would be nice, sure, having an alpha like River to love and cherish me, but I knew stuff like that was mere fantasy.
A loud knock came from the door and River hurried to answer it. I felt like hiding under the duvet, but decided against it. Whoever it was, it would be good for me to see their faces.
“Thank you,” River said to the man on the other side, someone I couldn’t see because River was in the way. He then rolled a trolley into the room, closing the door behind him. “I had food brought up to you. I hope there’s something to your taste here.”
Food? My stomach growled as the sweet scent of baked bread filled the room. I couldn’t even remember when I’d eaten last. It had to have been at least four hours before I was taken by River.
The alpha sat on the bed next to me, picking out things from the trolley and putting them on a plate for me. There was so much food! Grapes, bread, jams of sorts, what looked like sausages, and other variants of fruits I couldn’t name.
“Do you like Jubilion juice?” River asked once he’d handed me my plate.
“What?”
“Jubilion juice,” he repeated. “It’s a fruit juice.”
“Yeah, I sort of got that from the name juice, but what sort of fruit is it?” I asked, sounding a little irritated, even to my ears.
River just smiled lovingly at me, like I was acting perfectly nice. “It tastes sort of like pineapple and kiwi mixed together, but the sweeter versions of both.”
“Oh, that actually sounds delicious,” I admitted, feeling pleased that it made him smile. He handed me a crystal glass with purple liquid in it. I took a tentative sip and hummed happily. It tasted amazing!
River shot me a heated gaze as I licked my lips and soon the entire room was flooded by his lust pheromones.
I was so fucked.