Panic surged to the forefront of all my convoluted emotions as I was reminded of one miscalculation.Dominance. It never factored for me, as it didn’t work on omegas. But it worked on alphas. It worked on any who were weaker, and while shifters rarely used it these days—no need to start fights that could come back to bite you on the ass—it remained a solid option in battle.
And Talon knew it. “Return her to me,” he said, releasing an even stronger wave of dominance.
Finley’s paws shook, and I clutched one of them with both hands. “You are strong enough to resist,” I whispered to him. “Fight him, Fin. Fight him. Call on the strength of the rest of your brothers.”
He tried his best, but in the end the dragon was stronger. Maybe if we’d all been bonded in a complete quintet, Finley would have stood a chance, but there was no way to know for sure.
His staggered steps moved us closer to Talon, who remained still and patient, as if he wanted to draw out the humiliation of the bear being forced toreturn me to him.“Release me,” I said to Finley, and while his paws flexed against my skin, he couldn’t free me to any but Talon.
Glaring at the dragon, I snarled, “I will fight you. If you hurt Finley in any way, I will never stop fighting until one of us is dead. I don’t care if it’s you or me, but it will end in blood.”
Talon tilted his head, giving Slade vibes, and I hated how much the bastard reminded me of my pack mate. “If he returns what is mine, then he is free to leave.”
The spark of anger that had been simmering since I woke and found myself once again at the mercy of my mom’s old pack and theiralpha, flared to life in an inferno of fury. “I’m not yours,” I shot back, heat building in my center. “Not yours. Not now or ever.”
Talon’s gaze landed on my covered neck, and the mark tingled at the reminder. We were no more than two feet apart now, Finley’s ability to fight extending only so far as in how slow he moved. “You are mine. Always.”
The dragon shocked me with that simple statement, and my stomach flipped in a way that I didn’t like or understand. My wolf even piped her head up, and I wanted to scream at her forabandoning me when I needed her the most, only to return at that fucking declaration.
Still, her return was enough to have that ember of energy in my chest flaring harder, emboldened by the beast within me. My torso ached at the sensation of my essence pulsing.
When Finley finally reached Talon, the dragon reached for me, and as his fingers connected to my chest, I lifted my legs and kicked him. The energy surged with that strike, and it was as if I suddenly developed super strength, knocking him back at least a dozen feet, until he almost hit the far wall.
My fingers and toes buzzed as if I’d hit him with a damn spell, but since that wasn’t possible, I decided it had to be pure adrenaline.
Talon wasn’t rattled as he straightened, his focus on me, like nothing else in the world existed. “You’re one powerful omega,” he said softly. “You will be our greatest weapon.”
“Not a fucking chance,” I snarled back, but it was all fake bravado. My wolf had sunk back into my essence, and I’d have panicked that she was fully gone this time, but I felt a flicker of her deep down.
When a bout of exhaustion hit me, I deflated in Finley’s hold, wishing that this day was over.
I just wanted to be home with my pack.
“I can’t let you leave,” Talon said, and it might have been my lack of focus, but he almost sounded torn by this statement. “I am willing to negotiate, though. What would it take for you to stay and work with us?”
A choked laugh was my initial response. He had to be kidding. “A lobotomy,” I said with a shake of my head. “What could you possibly offer that would get me to sign up with the evil fuck who killed my mom and a bunch of other omegas? A shifter who wants to destroy the pack cities and turn the clockall the way back to the Stone Age? All I want is to wipe Fletcher from the face of this planet.”
His eyebrows drew together, and there was a moment where a flash of what looked like vulnerability crossed his features. “I can offer you a true pack and the promise that you won’t ever be alone again. You will have a powerful mate, and we can rule at our alpha’s side. We will be his most trusted weapons. Together.”
The stupid stomach flip returned, and Finley growled behind me, no doubt expecting I was so disloyal that I’d just run off into the sunset with this delusional asshat. “Your plan has one flaw,” I said, my voice softer than I would have liked.
Talon’s eyebrows drew even tighter, as if a flaw would never dare to sully his presence.
“Without my other bonded mates, I will fade away, and so will my power. I’ll be useless to you. My wolf is already broken and mourning, buried so deep in my essence I can barely feel her. You and I alone…” I pointed my finger between us. “…can never be. I’ve already gifted parts of myself to other mates. Mates. I. Love. There will never just beyou and I.”
Of everything that had happened since Finley busted into this room, this was the first time the dragon completely lost control. Ash and maple filled the room, until I was sweating and panting against the dense air. Whatever dominance he held over Finley broke as he lost control, and the bear moved again, racing for the exit.
We made it into the hallway, and while Finley moved fast on two legs, it was an awkward gait. “Let me down,” I hissed, tapping his arm. “I can run, and you’ll fight easier without me in your arms.”
The walls around us shook as flecks of plasterboard and stone fell from above, and there was still no sign of a window.Finley shocked me by dropping me to my feet, and after ensuring I was in front, his snout nudged me to start moving.
I sprinted down the hall as the building shook harder. I couldn’t figure out what Talon was doing until I heard the roar and glanced over my shoulder to find a dragon tearing through the hall, destroying the structure around us as he moved.
When we reached the end of the hall, there was the option to go left and right, and both ways looked exactly the same. Finley nudged me toward the right and I took off again, my body fatigued but my will to get out of here alive and strong.
Not that I was sure what would happen when we made it into the open.
The open skies were a dragon’s domain, and through the broken tendrils of our bond, Talon felt slightly unhinged.
