The dragon swoops right for us. A motherfucking dragon. With solid black scales, spikes running down its back, and bright purple irises. Rolling my eyes, I look at Nos. “We don’t have time for this shit, we need to find her.”
Panic flutters through me, fuck, only I get to touch her—well, Nos and I. She’s ours, I might not have always liked it, but she had grown on me...more than that. She had grown to be my everything, an unexpected, perfect storm rocking my world and tearing it apart.
And now she’s gone. They took her.
When we had woken up from whatever spell the witches hit us with, she was gone, as were they. I took to the sky immediately, ignoring the aftereffects of the magic, and followed their trail, except it went cold. But I know who they are.
At least one of them is on the council.
Our own leaders took Dawn...why?
I don’t have time for questions, I need to get her back. I know better than anyone what they are capable of and I refuse to let them hurt another woman I love. Refuse to watch another die while I’m unable to help.
I use that weakness, I channel it with my panic and turn it into hate. Rage. I aim it at the dragon and take to the air to meet him. I hear Nos sigh, and then suddenly, the world freezes.
My eyes widen as I’m stuck mid-air, locked in place. I see Nos stroll between us on the ground, his hands held out on either side and eyes bright white. Is this him? What else is the forest god capable of?
He holds us in place effortlessly, anger on his face. “This is not helping,” he screams, and birds take flight and a howl of wolves goes up, the wildlife echoing his pain. He was with Dawn longer than I was and I could see their love, even though I hated it and was jealous. This must be killing him, not that I’ll ever admit that to him.
He looks to the dragon with narrowed eyes. “I do not know who you are, but we mean you no harm. We are searching for our mate, she was taken from here and we are trying to find a trail. A lead. Anything to get her back.”
The dragon blinks and then a voice blasts through our minds. Fuck, that’s why everyone hates dragons. They can get into your head and past your defenses without you even realising it.
Mate? What’s her name?
Nos tilts his head and I see a small smile there. “I have a feeling you already know, dragon.”
HER NAME!
“Dawn, her name is Dawn and she is ours. We are going to get her back.”
The hold on us breaks and we both fall to the ground around the forest god’s feet as he stands there like he’s at worship. The dragon melts, shifting in a swirl of purple and black until a man stands in its place.
Pastel purple hair, short and messy on the top, crowns his head. His eyes are black, the colour seeming to swirl. He’s tall, fucker is even taller than me and bigger. Like a tree trunk. He holds his head up, his chin tilted back like only those fucking rich pricks who sit on thrones can. Daring us to defy him as he takes us both in. In dragon form or not, he’s powerful, I can feel that. I hope he isn’t an enemy, but if he is, I will kill him. Whatever it takes to get our girl back and then I’ll never let her go again.
Fighting or not, she is mine.
“Dawn,” he rasps, voice hoarse. “She is mine.”
Interesting. I knew my little monster would call more mates. She is too powerful not to, she needs them to help balance her, there can be no power without grounding. However, even I did not expect the power of the dragon she has called. To call him forth...the power she holds is incredible.
But none of it matters if we don’t get her back. “Then we can’t fight between ourselves. She is gone, and the longer we take to find her the more damage they will do to her. We do not know what they want, but when I find them, I plan to find out.”
“Then kill them,” the dragon snaps, eyes flaring purple for a moment.
I incline my head and a smile breaks out across his face. “Can’t say I’m surprised she has more mates, but you were both not what I was expecting.”
“Well, whoop-de-fucking-doo,” Griffin snarls and looks at me. “He can sleep on the sofa, I’m not sharing my room. Now stop making pleasantries and let’s get her back.”
Used to the fallen’s grumpy nature by now, and knowing the only one who can make him smile and not kill everything is our mate, I look to them both deciding I need to take charge. Something I don’t enjoy. I like my solitude, my forest, and knowing if something happens to people it isn’t because of me, but for her I will. Someone needs to ensure they don’t kill each other and that individual looks to be me, especially if the daggers Griffin is glaring at the dragon are any indication. I even catch his eyes leaking black as he strokes his blades.
I narrow my eyes at him and he rolls his, but he drops his hand as the dragon starts to stride away, into the forest. Sighing, I call out to him, “Wrong way. Why don’t you follow us?”
He turns and with a lift of his chin, indicates for us to go first. I do, stepping through the forest like I have walked it a million times, which I have. The trees move out of my way and the plants welcome me, all making my journey easier, but I hear growling and swearing behind me and turn to see the dragon struggling over roots and branches, a disgusted sneer on his lips as he glances around before suddenly stopping, his head tilted to the side.
Griffin snorts and storms past me, smashing through the trees without a care. “Do we need a fucking leash for the dragon?” he snaps.
“Be nice,” I warn, and he snarls at me, spinning, his wings flaring out and smacking the trees on either side of us. In his eyes I see the madness from which he hides, one so deep and integral it is a part of him, but I do not fear it. Neither does Dawn, it simply makes Griffin who he is.
“Nice? Fucking nice?” he shouts, stepping closer, mist coating him and wrapping around his form, darkening the forest. The animals go silent, sensing a predator.
“Guys,” the dragon calls out, but we ignore him.
“Yes, nice,” I grind out. “I don’t like it as much as you, but we are going to need all the help we can find to get Dawn back...that is what you want, correct?”
At the mention of her name, he growls, grabbing my throat and slamming me back into the tree. With a flick of my power, I send him sailing through the air, where he smashes through branches and underbrush before he suddenly materialises in front of me again. His eyes are nothing but darkness now, all the blue is gone. I remember how my mate likes him like this, how she can handle it, tame him almost...I cannot. And I can’t kill him, which only leaves talking to him.
“Other mates!” the dragon calls louder, but we don’t break our stare down, knowing if I do, he will strike. He wants an excuse to attack, he is looking for a weakness. He won’t get it from me.
“We have no choice, Griffin. We work together, we will go back to your place and reach out to everyone to see if they know anything and then make a plan. We are getting our fucking mate back,” I snap, his attitude and anger rubbing off on me.
Uncaring about the enraged and slightly mad fallen, the dragon steps between us. “There is a dead body over there, if you didn’t know.”
It makes Griffin laugh suddenly, the sound slightly manic. “Hell yes we do, that’s what happens when you fuck with our mate.”