Chapter 28 #3
A sob rises in my throat. I can’t bear to see it happen, and I can’t stand to be under this massive, dazzling, sickening sky and among all these shouting, jostling people a moment longer.
I break through the crowd surrounding me and run to the flare, which is assembled to one side.
I have no dragon on which to make my escape, but an Omega called Calyx is there, a pale, docile, and riderless dragon.
He seems surprised when I jump upon his back, but I urge him into the skies, and he obeys.
Someone is calling my name. There are heavy footsteps behind me. Calyx isn’t used to a rider, and I am out of practice at flying, so we are slow. I risk a glance over my shoulder and see that Stesha has abandoned the glory he earned by winning the Dragon Games and is running after me.
As Calyx soars into the skies, I hear Nilak’s thunderous pursuit, and my panicked heart tumbles through my body.
All I know is the primal fear of being chased.
I can’t feel Calyx’s mind as he’s not my dragon, but my body shifts subconsciously on his back, and I realize I’m guiding him into the Bodan Mountains, urging him to fly faster, though compared to Minta, he flies agonizingly slowly.
Nilak roars behind me, and with my body flaming from anxiety and some other powerful emotion I can’t fathom, I look for a place to urge Calyx to land so that I may hide from my pursuer.
He alights on a mountain slope, and my legs buckle under me when my feet hit the ground.
Everything is so bright that I can’t see.
I feel exposed to the point where I can’t think.
Can’t breathe. I whimper and look for a place to hide, but it’s too late.
The sun is blotted out by Nilak, and then I hear two booted feet hit the ground.
Stesha marches toward me, his pale blue eyes blazing.
I stumble backward, away from him. “Get away from me. Don’t come any closer.”
“I don’t think you mean that, Zen.” His eyes narrow in fury, but he obeys my wishes and stops several feet from me.
“I mean it,” I fling back. Though the words cause me physical pain, I say, “You want Ravenna, not me. And I don’t want you either, so leave me alone.” My pride is wounded. I want him so much that I wish I’d thrown myself from Calyx’s back rather than face the truth.
“You don’t want me? So why did you come here?” He glances meaningfully past me, and when I turn to look, I see the opening to the cave we once sheltered inside through a storm. The cool, dark interior beckons to me.
“What’s this place? I don’t know it.”
“Don’t lie to me, Zen,” he snarls.
Of course I remember what happened here. I can still remember his kisses and remember the way his body felt moving against mine.
“I wish I could forget,” I sob. “I wish it had never happened.”
“I know,” he says, hurt and sympathy creasing his brow. “I hurt you so much. I’m so sorry. But so much has happened since that day. So much has changed.”
“Nothing has changed.” I swipe a hand over my sweating brow. My head is aching in the summer glare. “Nothing is different except that you want Ravenna, not me. You won the games for her. Go and claim your prize.”
“Zen, aash’lin, please, the sunlight is hurting you. All this sky is too much. Let’s go inside the cave and shelter there.”
Aash’lin. Dear heart. I’ve never heard an endearment from Stesha’s lips before, and I don’t know why he would start now.
“What could have possibly changed? I’m the same as always, and you already made it clear that I’m not the one you want.
Go and kill Kane so that you may finally bed your precious Omega. ”
Stesha looks at me for a long time and then takes a deep breath. “I was wrong about everything. You are my mate.”
I think I’m going to throw up. My throat locks tight, but I can’t hold back my cry of despair. “Why are you tormenting me like this? What have I ever done to you to treat me with so much cruelty?”
“It’s true.”
“I don’t believe you. I don’t trust a word out of your mouth. Why are you so sure all of a sudden?”
His blue eyes are as bright and dazzling as the sky. “Because I know my Omega’s scent.”
My mouth drops open. I stare at him in shocked silence, and then I pull back my hand and slap him across the face. He doesn’t stop me, and his head turns to one side, a pink handprint blooming on his clean-shaven jaw.
“How dare you say that to me?” I cry out, shaking with anger that he is mocking me like this.
He turns back to me. “I dare because it’s true, aash’lin.”
I raise my other hand to slap him, and he gently but firmly grasps my wrist and pulls it down. “Don’t, please.”
“You seek to make a fool of me? I’m a Beta, and I’ve always been a Beta. If you’re looking for your precious Omega you know where to find her.”
Stesha holds me tight by the shoulders. “Haven’t you noticed what’s been happening to you, Zen?
Your cheeks are always flushed. You’re sensitive to light.
You’re seeking out small, dark places to crawl into, aren’t you?
Under your bed. In cupboards. Standing here with me now in the open air is torment for you.
I don’t know how you’ve been able to attend the Dragon Games.
You must be exhausted and terrified. Just come inside the cave and you will see how different you feel. ”
“I am hot because it’s summer. I’m flushed because I am so embarrassed for you, simpering over another man’s mate.”
“I have not simpered. Your jealousy has made you see things that are not there.”
“How dare you call me jealous!” I shriek at him.
That would once have earned me a swift telling off, but instead, Stesha’s lips turn up in wry amusement. “I have to admit it’s pleasing, seeing you jealous after all this time. I thought I was the only one who suffered so.”
“When have you been jealous?”
Stesha watches me, still with that teasing smile on his lips. Suddenly he wraps both arms around my waist and picks me up. He cradles me against his broad chest with his hand in my hair.
“Put me down!”
“No. You want my scent, and I want yours. And don’t raise your voice to your Alpha.”
My Alpha.
My whole body floods with liquid heat, but the stubborn part of me, which has grown strong after enduring so many years of his rejection, makes me ball up my fists and beat his shoulders.
Stesha walks forward with the dragons following him.
As the cave closes over my head, I’m enveloped in cool darkness, and I moan in relief and slump against him.
“You asked when I have been jealous,” he murmurs, still holding me in his arms in the blessed darkness. I try to resist how good his rumbling voice feels against me, but I can’t help pillowing my cheek against his shoulder, even as I’m scowling and pushing at his chest.
“Let me tell you when I’ve been jealous,” he continues in a deep, soft voice.
“When your mother was trying to marry you off and people were speaking of Zabriel or Emmeric as your future mate. I hated that. When every dragonrider, every soldier, wingrunner, and every fucking man in Lenhale was staring at you, following you, hungering for you for years and years. I really hated that. When an Alpha in a ruthouse nearly sweet-talked you into his bed. I nearly lost my mind with jealousy that day. Tell me, when have I not been jealous, Zen?”
My arms are locked tight around his neck, and my eyes are wide and staring as I listen to his confession. I don’t know if I believe him, but if he has experienced even one tiny drop of the burning jealousy I’ve known all throughout the Dragon Games, then good. Good.
“I never rubbed your nose in anything like you’ve been doing to me.”
“You think I give a damn about the witch Ravenna? Have I looked once at the witch Ravenna?”
I scream and struggle in his arms, hating even to hear her name in his mouth. “Don’t even speak about her! She’s been waving your colors. How dare she.”
He rubs the nape of my neck, and murmurs soothingly, “I’m sorry.
I understand. You’re too upset from your heat, my sweet girl.
I won’t speak about her. But I will point out that it is your hair ribbons tied around my arm in this silly human tradition.
Anyone else’s, and I would have ripped them from my arm.
I won the Dragon Games wearing your ribbons.
I won them for you. Did you notice?” There’s a curl of amusement in his voice.
“Of course I noticed,” I snarl. “Go back and claim your prize.”
Stesha cups my jaw and draws my face up to his. He smiles at me, one of his rare, devastating smiles. “I already have her.”
While I’m lost in his smile, his mouth descends on mine. Heat explodes through my body. My head swims, but this time with pleasure. The swipes of his tongue are swift and so are the nips of his teeth on my lower lip.
When he pulls away, we’re both gasping. “Sorry, but I must claim my kisses from my furious mate while I can.”
My head clears, and my anger comes rushing back. I don’t believe for one second that he’s changed his mind and wants to mate me. Stesha doesn’t change his mind about anything. I resume struggling. “Put me down.”
Stesha smiles again. “No.”
“Beast.”
“You’ll only run from me, and you need to stay right here, or you’ll make yourself ill.
I’ll chase you all over the skies again when you’re stronger.
Tell me, did you cheer for me during the games?
Did you even once wave white and blue streamers?
Even if you were angry with me, at least you could have supported poor Nilak. ”
“Everyone in Lenhale was supporting you and Nilak!” I exclaim. “Gods, you should have heard the ridiculous things everyone was saying about you.”
He smirks at me. “What, the women?”
I scream in outrage, grasp the hair at the nape of his neck, and yank it. He hisses in pain and pleasure.