“I promise you, children were never received under my orders, and Iwilllook into it, Maze. If she’s in my territory, I’ll find her. If your sister was sent to us as a Tribute, it means someone went against my orders, andI’ll see that they meet a grizzly end for the part they played. At the very least, I will look into it and see if I can track her disappearance. That much I can do for you.”
Her soft hand touched my face, and I stiffened. “Thank you, Onyx. I didn’t want to, but I trust you. Maybe more than I should. But I’ve always trusted my gut, and you’re relentlessly honorable, if not a bit grumpy.”
I would’ve laughed, but her sad smile was a claw around my heart, squeezing. It was impossible to do anything but hate myself for the life my little Moon Beast was forced to live.
Her hand wrapped around my taut forearm, hoping to steal my attention but stealing my heart instead. “I’ll tell you everything I know about the mission I was sent here on. About what they planned and how many were sent. About the Rebel leaders. Anything, I’ll tell you it all. Just promise me not to hurt the other Rebels. I doubt any of them know the truth. Just, if you can promise me that much, I’ll tell you everything. If I can burn those greedy fuckers down with me, I—”
A brutal snarl escaped me as I bent my head toward hers, the shift close to my skin. “No, Maze. You are mine as I am yours. No one will hurt youorthe Rebel females sent to us. Anyone who tries will answer tomydragon.” My thumb stroked her lower lip. “We’re going to speak to Iris and fix this. I vow it. You have the power of the Sky Demons leader behind you, and I’ll prove it when we return.”
I’d right the wrongs for my little beast. Sectors like Desert Roseland would cease to exist, their females and children rehomed and the crimes committed by the many males against them met with my stormy brand of justice. It didn’t matter what it took to convince my faction, what mess it made, or if it destabilized everything, but Tributes, human enslavement, ended in our territory once I returned.
No more excuses.
Iris had all the plans laid out to ensure the process was seamless and that the humans were given suitable reparations and support to start their new lives. If I ordered it, the Sky Demons would bend the knee no matter how they felt about it. Any who didn’t I’d deal with myself. I only wished I’d done it sooner. Maybe if I had, Maze wouldn’t be suffering now.
All I had left was to convince my little Moon Beast to stay. Because no matter how unworthy, I wanted her. I’d do anything to keep her, and I’d start by finding out what happened to her sister, if only to bring her closure.
Maze’s eyes were wide when I cradled her sweet face. Then I sealed the vow I’d made to her under the full moon with a kiss so wild it might as well have been a threat.
Chapter 14
Did he just say he’s…mine?
Pain, regret, heartbreak, rage—those all faded as soon as Onyx’s lips crashed into mine. Thoughts were impossible to catch, so I sunk into his mouth, into his hard body.
My world was upside-down, and he was the only solid, anchoring force keeping me on my feet. This beast grounded me when no one and nothing else could. My enemy had become my savior, one I never knew I needed, and his hot touch brought me back to life.
I swallowed a needy moan, desperate to feel something that wasn’t the loss of my sister. That wasn’t the loss of a life I thought I’d been living. Because everything he said was true. I’d already suspected Jona and the leaders after seeing the Sky Demons territory for myself, but I never imagined my sister’s disappearance might be part of it.
He and the Sky Demons had blood on their hands, but at least it was blood I could see. Blood that was centuries deep and ingrained in their society. Harder to break, yet he’d started to chip away at it from what Iris had told me. And he was right, humans weren’t any better. We’d killed each other before the Fall, and we continued to well after it.
The men in my sector stole children from their homes, used women and exploited their bodies, and sent them to die as Tributes. Before coming here, I’d argue it was a small price to pay for a future we were all working to achieve. But it wasn’t for our collective future that we fought, that we surrendered our bodies and minds. It was for the men and their insatiable greed.
The more Onyx told me, the more the fog in my head cleared. I saw things I hadn’t before and connected dots that had eluded me because I believed what I was told by Jona. Because I wanted to believe what I did mattered. It was easier to ignore the glaring red flags than to see the truth written in the desert floor.
I hated that I hadn’t seen what was right in front of me. I hated that we’d been used to do their bidding—recruiting, training, perpetuating the cycle of abuse, all in the name of rebellion. My hands were drenched in the blood of their sins. I was angry, vengeful, and prepared to do whatever it took to put all those men in the ground.
But the heat of my anger swiftly turned into lust under the dragon’s touch. Onyx’s kiss was a balm on a soul torn apart and a life rendered pointless. On a woman broken into pieces and left scattered on the floor.
The subtle fragrance of water and electricity, the scent of a coming storm, was my demon’s natural musk. It overtook the smell of oranges as his tongue teased across the seam of my mouth, asking permission when he could take whatever he wanted. But this powerful male never did. Onyx might be a monster, but he was a monster I respected.
A monster I wanted.
I opened my mouth and met his tongue with mine. I breathed his luscious scent and swallowed his heady taste in a crazed madness. When I tugged his shirt, demanding that the massive dragon come closer, I was walked back with a hungry growl tickling my tongue.
Mr. Snarls likes that a lot.
The size difference was a never-ending struggle to keep our mouths together. Tasting, licking, biting. Hands tracing. Hearts hammering. Fingers clutching and skating across skin and fabric, muscle and curves. I crawled my way up his body, using years of upper-body strength to cling and hold myself aloft. Anything to get closer. Anything to keep his mouth on mine.
Onyx groaned, the sound of it as desperate as I felt. “Fuck.”
Another frustrated word in a language I didn’t recognize was breathed into my neck before I was grabbed under the ass and pinned to a thick tree, trapped between a demon and a hard place.
“We need to get to the cabin, little beast.” His breath was hot on my mouth. “Teach you how to disable and kill a dragon,” he murmured between seductive swipes of his lips.
Onyx’s blatant reluctance but dissolving restraint were insanely sexy. I wanted to see how far I could push him. How far I could take it before the beast broke through. Before he gave in and lost himself the way I wanted—no,neededto lose myself, too. His total surrender was the permission I needed for mine.
“I shouldn’t be kissing you, Maze. Not after that. Not after telling you everything you knew was a lie.”
