If I wasn’t careful, I’d end up back at Wyngel Island shining my brother’s fucking sword again. Or stuck on the end of it. I asked Torio what he thought of the man’s condition.
“He’ll be trouble. Thirty years old, I’d think. A prisoner, maybe? Been starved for a good long while.”
“That he has,” I muttered. “For over two years, if he’s who I think he is.” I exhaled all the air from my lungs and allowed my wyvern to surface. Then I inhaled.
The world was filled with scent and sound. The salt of the ocean, and the tang of the sharp breeze. The rot of dying kelp on the water’s surface, and the funk of fish guts and scales in the chum bucket on deck.
And the man… I leaned down and sucked in a breath, feeling my wyvern’s eyelids click behind my own as I let myself taste his essence. I did know him. I had met him when he was a child, at his mother’s funeral.
“Altair,” I breathed. “Itishim. The Goddess-damned heir to the fucking island of Havira.”
Torio stood and began kicking at the mast, cursing in as many languages as he could.
I strode to the stern and let myself breathe again. I shouldn’t have pulled him aboard. Knowing who it was I had in my hands, I now had no other choice but to return to Wyngel immediately, and not just to drop off the foreigner.
No choice but to debark my ship, my safety, and explain who this was to Talon, the brother I hadn’t seen in decades. The one who still thought I had tried to steal his mate from him decades before, and whose best friend, Rabbas—may he rot in the Goddess’s lowest hell when he got around to dying—had set me up to pay for his own crime.
My brother had never learned the truth, and still hated me. His mate had fled the island—to be fair, I had helped her with that—and Rabbas had become his top advisor. I had been sentenced to serve my homeland with my boat, the only thing of value I could claim, by making sure Havira kept the terms of the embargo, and reporting any ships that neared.
Not that I was allowed to report them in person on Wyngel. I had to stay on board my sloop and send one of my men. Talon wouldn’t see me, but he had never let go his grip on my freedom, my life.
I had almost escaped his reach. If only I hadn’t pulled the prince of Havira aboard. I let out a shout of frustration and drew in one last breath… and tasted something I’d only imagined.
It had to be a mistake. A passing breeze from the island, bringing the scent of green, growing things, of blossoms.
My wyvern began to rouse, the heat in my belly coiling up. I sucked in another breath, chasing down the stunning scent.
There!Before I could stop myself, I had kneeled and torn off my cape, unfurling the wings that I kept hidden.
Wyverns were so rare as to be almost mythical, except on Wyngel. We were hunted now. For years, I had only flown at night when no one would see, but now… That scent. It was her. My sky bond was waiting.
And more, she was dying. Torio shouted at me to stop, to explain, but I was on the wind already, my eyes scanning the water for any sign of life.
Finally, I found her. A tangle of golden kelp that was her hair, and a bundle of cloth that somehow floated... Had keptherafloat, possibly.
I dove down to the surface and lifted her into my arms. The bundle began to fall, and she jerked, even in her unconscious state trying to keep it. It must be precious to her.
I hadn’t carried anyone in years, and my wings felt the strain of every added ounce, but I spread them, thanking the Goddess She had gifted me with a body that could carry another. Wings twice as large as most wyverns’ had been, able to lift two.
When I reached the ship, I stumbled on landing, and Whistler stretched out his arms to grasp the woman. Seeing his rough hands on her naked skin, I growled. “Sorry,” I rasped. “She’s my … I’m her…” I couldn’t get the words to emerge.
Whistler let out a short whistle, and the younger man we’d rescued came barreling out of the hold behind him. “Get away from her,” he shouted.
“My ship, my orders, lad.” I felt my wings unfurl and brought them around the unconscious woman’s body.
“What are you?” he breathed. “Those wings…”
“Wyvern,” I replied, not surprised he hadn’t seen one before. My brother Talon and I were the only ones left, as far as we knew. “And stay out of this. You don’t know who this woman is.”
My sky bond.My soul trilled, though I kept my face still.
“I do know.” His voice was as raw as his skin, but the ferocity of his proclamation shocked me. “And I will die for her. She’s my Omega.” His eyes shone with defiance and pride.
My wyvern hissed a denial. How could she be his when she was my soul’s other half?
I clenched my jaw. “I found her. Fished her out of the ocean. Spoils of the deep, lad. She’s mine now, by maritime law.” Torio and Whistler broke into laughter; they knew just how much I adhered to the laws of other men once we were out of sight of land.
The lad was so tired, he was weaving on his feet, but the fire in his eyes was admirable. “I won’t let you hurt her. None of you!” He wheeled to face Whistler, and almost pitched over.
