“I’m so sorry. That’s sick. It’s twisted. The Order needs to be stopped!”
A dark laugh scrapes up my throat. “I agree, obviously. This is why it’s so important I confirm that Lucy’s death was brought about by the Order and not a rogue member or copycat. If the Order broke the accord, thousands of dragons’ lives could be at stake if they are no longer abiding by the rules. If they’ve broken the accord, we need to take more steps to protect ourselves and our kind.”
“They could slaughter you before you even knew you were at war. Jesus Christ. That doesn’t seem like a very fair peace accord.” She frowns.
“It’s better than outright war. It’s better than being hunted by the Order and every human they can sway against us. Most of us lead normal lives now. We have careers. Human friends. Human mates.” I slant her a knowing look, but her eyes are cast away from me. “The Saint’s Order is powerful. They have more money than any of them could spend in a lifetime and plenty of members in powerful positions. But we have something as well now, a legion of humans we’ve inspired to do things better, faster, more brilliantly. We have the artists, the craftsmen, the engineers. The creator sent us because there’s no replacement for people, for relationships, for love. The Order thinks there is. The Order believes that everything is about money and power, ownership, control. They’re wrong. And as long as we’re here, there will be people who prove it every single day.”
She’s staring at me now, taking me in like she’s seeing me for the first time. Bones chooses that moment to lope back to her with an even larger stick and nudge her hands with his nose. Turning away, she throws it again for him, and he bounds off after it.
“Looks like Bones volunteers to be your stand-in dog until you have your own.”
She tugs at the cuff of her glove. “Who’s running your restaurant while you’re here…guardingme?”
“Guarding. That’s a step up from keeping you prisoner. I think this walk is doing wonders for my reputation.”
She snorts. “Don’t let it go to your head.”
“My manager and sous-chef, Carmen and Ezra, areholding down the place. I usually take some time off this time of year anyway. I like to come here to disconnect.”
She snorts. “Oh? How many women have you kidnapped and told they were your mate?” The edge is back in her voice, her fire rising. She’s smiling, but it’s not a happy smile. She’s wondering if this is a yearly habit.
I shuffle to a stop. I’m sweating and nauseated, using all my energy to hold back my dragon from coming out to play. “Would you believe you’re my first?”
“No.” She turns her fire-filled stare toward me. “No one who looks like you makes it to thirty-eight without finding a mate. I’m sure I’m not the first woman to sleep in that bed.” She cocks her head toward the lodge. “And isn’t it a little convenient that your mate just happens to be the fiancée of your sworn enemy?”
“Believe what you want to believe, but I told you the truth last night. I had no intention of taking you that day. I was there to investigate Lucy’s murder. That’s all.” I look up at the crisp blue sky and decide to lay it all on the table. “The moment I saw you, the world stopped its rotation and the air changed. You were the only thing making it flow in and out of my lungs. You were the center of the universe and the reason for the tides.”
She rolls her eyes and tips her head, but I continue, closing the space between us.
“Deep inside, I already knew that I was yours, your mate. You called to me. You begged for help. You wanted someone to save you from that altar, and I heeded your call, not because I’m some hero who could plainly see you were making a mistake but because I knew, Fiona, from the beginning you were mine. My mate.”
Her throat bobs on a hard swallow, my reflection looming in her widened pupils. “People sometimes have cold feet,” she says weakly. “I might have thought those things in my head, but I didn’t act on them and I didn’t ask you to act on them.”
I reach behind my head, grab the back of my Henley, and pull it off. “Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart. But one thing I know for sure—I’ve never felt about anyone as I have about you. Never.” I reach for my belt buckle.
“What are you doing?” She eyes my bare chest as tendrils of steam roll off my hot skin.
“No secrets, right?” I unbuckle my belt and unzip my fly. “I take time off this time of year because it’s my alignment. I’m an Aries dragon and the sun is in Aries. When a dragon is in alignment, they suffer from mating sickness. When we don’t have sex and don’t have a mate, we burn with fever.” I toe off my boots.
She’s shaking her head. “If this is some kind of tactic to get a replay of last night?—”
“You keep confusing me with a human man.” We’re at least two miles into the woods, in the clearing where I’ve led her for a purpose.
“Connor—”
“I am no human. You still don’t understand, so I’m going to show you. I’m going to make you understand.” I’m naked now, and the cold feels great against my feverish skin.Show her!my dragon growls.
“Your eyes!” She backs up, her boots landing in the snow. “Wh-what are you doing?”
Bones circles excitedly. He loves when I shift.
I move toward her, my dragon surging, desperate to show the other side of our true self. One more step and the shift overtakes me. My arms extend, my hands transforming into two scaly black paws. In seconds, I’m towering above her. I spread my wings, showing off for her, then tip my head back and breathe fire for her, straight up into the Wyoming sky.
The smell of her fear becomes an acrid stench in my nose. She backs farther away from me. Fuck! Terrifying her was not my intention. I wanted her to know me. I wanted to show her my last big secret.
Fiona needs to see all of me so that she can fully accept our bond, knowing exactly who and what I am. We are fated to be together, our mating written in the stars. But her face has paled, and she’s staggering backward, bracing herself on a tree as if she needs it for balance. I’ve overwhelmed her.
To comfort her, I lower my head to her level, my breath blowing back the hair that extends out the bottom of her hat. I nuzzle her neck with my nose.
