My eyes prickled with heat.
“All I know is survival,” I told him, bracing my hands on my hips to keep from throwing them around his neck and sobbing uncontrollably. It seemed I was a little fragile at the moment. “To survive, you must pull together as a community. I wasn’t raised a dragon. So no, I’m not like them. And I’m not like the people in my community either. They’re mostly wolves, although I’m not sure about all of them. I always felt different, though. I never fit in. I’m a dragon in wolves’ clothing, maybe.” I shrugged, wishing I was half as eloquent as he was. “You didn’t need to put yourself in danger to bail out a kingdom you couldn’t remember, yet you put yourself—and your pack—on the line. That took a lot of guts and trust. I don’t have a pack, or really much of anything, but if you ever need help, I’ll come. I have no fucking idea how, but I’ll make it happen.”
His smile was slight. “You seem like a person who never knows the how of things when she starts something but always gets where she wants to go anyway.” He paused for a moment. “You can hug me, if you want. It’s not really something we do in the pack with non-mates, but…you’re a dragon, so I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“How’d you…” I didn’t bother finishing the question before I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, squeezing him tightly for a moment, so fucking grateful to him. I didn’t let myself cry, though. I had to have some respect, after all.
Thank fuck for that, my dragon thought drolly.
After I pulled back, Weston glanced at the castle. “I don’t know much about the prince, but I know a strong leader when I see one. A capable leader. What happened to his wings?”
“He wouldn’t let the demon suppression magic keep him from his dragon. Fighting it muddied his scales and ripped the wings from his back. It stole half his strength. But he held on. He used his dragon to protect his kingdom against the creations Dolion kept releasing to kill everyone off. He never said die.”
Fuck my eyes. The waterworks were threatening. All the emotion of being home, the close call with my family, and getting to see Nyfain again were starting to get to me.
Weston didn’t show any signs that he’d even heard me, just continued to stare at me after I’d stopped talking. I felt my eyebrows creep up my forehead.
“That’s why his human form bears scars?” he finally asked.
“Yes. He didn’t have much access to his healing ability, and he didn’t know me yet. I would’ve kept him looking much prettier.”
He studied me a bit longer, nodded, and walked away. No goodbye or any indication he was done with the conversation.
“Okay, then.” I turned, meeting Micah next. I’d have to make this short, though. I could feel Nyfain’s longing for me pulsing through the bond. He was finally on his way; I knew he was. He had met his threshold of resistance, and he was coming for me.
And then I’d make him come for me.
“Hey, Micah,” I said. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Hannon drifting closer. He wasn’t hurrying, though. He clearly wasn’t worried about my dragon being a cheating dickface at the moment. “I need to go tear down this curse, but thank you for helping us free the kingdom. You and Weston and your people didn’t have to put yourself in danger, especially for a kingdom you couldn’t remember, but I’m so thankful you did.”
He looked down at me, his eyes open and inviting. I leaned back a little, put off by his intensity.
“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.