Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 136061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 454(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 454(@300wpm)
“Of course I came, Finley,” he said quietly, and a little shiver danced down my spine. “I didn’t do it for your kingdom, though. You have to know that by now. I did it for you.”
Unease coiled through me. I put out my hand to push him back a little, needing some distance. Needing not to do this now.
“Look, Micah—”
He shook his head and put a warm finger to my lips. With his other hand, he grabbed my outstretched hand and pulled it closer to his heart.
Before I could say or do anything, he was talking urgently, leaning much too close.
“I know about your duty to this kingdom. I know you have to claim the other alpha. But all that doesn’t mean you are trapped. I will accept the challenge of his scent. I can overcome it and lay my own atop it. There aren’t many others who could. Don’t give up flying with your mate because of a curse that wasn’t your fault. Don’t give up your chance at real happiness with a complete dragon to save your people. You don’t have to settle.”
I stared at him dumbly for a moment, shock roiling through me at his use of the word complete. At what he meant.
That bastard.
So it took me a moment to register my dragon’s excited flurry. Then another moment to understand the rage pounding through the bond. The uncontrolled aggression. The alpha who saw another infringing on his claim and intended to protect what was his.
“I—”
Micah’s body was ripped away in a rush of brutal violence. He flew to the side and hit the ground rolling.
Nyfain stood just behind where Micah had been, enormous and terrible to behold. His height might’ve been a shade less than Micah’s, but his girth was wider, his body stacked with layer upon layer of hard-earned muscle streaked with scars and ink. His chest heaved like he’d just run a mile, and rage billowed off him in heavy waves.
My dragon purred in delight. I fought to keep from rubbing my thighs together in uncontrolled desire. Holy shit, he was hot when he was worked up.
Told you, she purred.
But this wasn’t the time. He couldn’t upset the balance of the dragons, not when we needed their cooperation so badly.
“Nyfain, wait—”
Hannon grabbed my arm and whipped me back, cutting me off as Nyfain stalked toward Micah, emanating strength and power and incredible fury.
“No, Finley,” Hannon said, his voice soothing but holding traces of anger. “Micah knew what he was doing. He would know this is the response he’d get.”
It was true, but still…
Micah burst into his dragon form, ripping his clothes as he did so, and Nyfain shifted a moment later, his dragon larger, more muscular, and—I knew this for an absolute fact—much, much meaner. Micah should’ve stuck to a human-on-human combat. Nyfain’s dragon was fucking nuts.
“Tamara said that Micah was using erotic pulses with you,” Hannon said, watching Nyfain prowl closer to Micah. “I couldn’t feel anything, but apparently it’s something dragons do to excite their chosen mate. I guess it was always forbidden here, but Vemar said the rules are different in the villages. If the tactic is used on someone of equal or better power, it’s a dragon’s way of showing interest.”
“Why equal or better power?”
“Because it can influence those of lesser power into doing something they might not want to do.”
I remembered the feel of his power, the flutters of my stomach, the confusion of my dragon. It now made a lot more sense. We just hadn’t realized there was any magical influence at work.
“We need those dragons, though,” I murmured.
“A strong showing from the alpha will probably help.”
Damn it, Hannon was right again. He’d learned an awful lot about dragons in a very short amount of time. I said as much.
“It didn’t seem like a short time when we were sitting in that dungeon,” he replied.
Micah rose into the sky. Nyfain lifted his head to watch, and Micah circled him lazily, taunting him, showing him what he lacked as a dragon.
Pain vibrated through the bond from Nyfain. My heart lurched for him. My dragon bristled. I couldn’t fight this battle for him, though. That much I knew.
“He’s drawing a crowd,” Hannon said softly.
Dragons hovered in the air, beating their mighty wings, watching. Others, including the wolves, watched from the ground as the alphas faced off…except only one was participating. The other was watching, unable to engage.
“Fight back, damn you,” I said through clenched teeth, power pounding through me. “Get mad. Where is your rage?”
The pain continued to throb in the bond, worsening, blackening. And suddenly, I saw.
All of Nyfain’s fears were coming true. Micah was mocking him in front of their peers, rubbing his changed appearance in his face.
“I cannot abide by this,” I said through angry tears. I’d never been mocked for what I looked like, but it had always overshadowed my accomplishments. I’d never been seen for me, all of me, including my oddities. Until Nyfain came along.