One
Thystle
Ten Years Ago...
As the final song on the album faded out, a tear sprang to my eye.
I took a deep breath as I opened my eyes to stare at the ceiling. My soul felt raw and exposed, but full. TalonStorm made me feelalivelike no other band did.
I wiped the tear away and sat up in bed. Even though the CD had run its course, waiting for me to replay it, that didn’t mean TalonStorm was far. All four of my walls were plastered with posters featuring the band members, although one in particular stood out.
Aquila.
I couldn’t think about him without my heart skipping a beat. He was perfect in every way. The sway of his hips on stage flustered me, and his voice turned my knees to jelly.
And then there were his eyes—the only part of him that wasn’t covered up by an elaborate bird mask.
They were a magnetic, earthy shade of brown, like roasted amber. I stared at them, spellbound. I could only look at him in the poster like this when I wasn’t listening to his music. If I did both at the same time, I got overwhelmed, like staring directly into the sun.
Putting the CD player aside, I sat on my knees and gazed up at the big poster above my headboard. My hand reached out to touch it, running down Aquila’s masked face, down his chest... then I pulled my hand away before I went any lower. I was too shy to touch him like that, even in the privacy of my bedroom.
That wasn’t to say I didn’tthinkabout touching him at night under the covers...
I sighed and rested my head against the wall, my cheek touching the cool glossy paper. Being so close to Aquila—even this printed likeness of him—made my heart race. He was the perfect omega—talented, handsome, kind to his fans.
Of which, I was number one, obviously.
But he didn’t even know I existed. And more than anything in the world, I wished he did.
Nobody else understood. My brothers teased me over it. I was just a teenage alpha dragon living on some random island in the middle of nowhere. Meanwhile, Aquila was a superstar. He was the vocalist in the most popular band of our time, TalonStorm. Despite being a shifter group, they were beloved among humans, too. They kept their animal identities a secret, too, which gave them an extra air of mystery. Fans flocked to him every time Aquila appeared in public, and TalonStorm’s shows always sold out within minutes.
Since I wasn’t allowed to leave the island, I’d never been to one of their concerts before. But that was about to change.
My seventeenth birthday was in a week, and TalonStorm’s next ticket sale was on the exact same day.
It was literally fate. Ithadto be.
I’d convince my brother, Cobalt, I was responsible enough to go if it was the last thing I did.
A rush of determination launched me to my feet. I grabbed my CD player as a comfort item, then marched down the hall to Cobalt’s room. As the oldest, he got a big room in a separate wing of the castle.
My heart hammered anxiously. What if he said no? He couldn’t. There was no way. I may have been young, but I wasn’t as irresponsible as my stupid twin brothers. Cobalt couldn’t lump me in with them, even if we were close in age.
But deep down, I was nervous. Cobalt was so serious that he was hard to read sometimes.
I took a breath. I had to believe in myself. Cobalt was stern, but fair. If I made my case well, he’d have to agree.
And besides, this was fate. He couldn’t say no to fate.
Clutching the CD player to my chest, I stood at Cobalt’s massive door. My nerves were a jumbled mess in my chest, and my stomach felt like a heaving mess of worms.
Everything rode on this. If my brother refused, my whole life would be ruined.
I closed my eyes and pictured Aquila.
You can do it, Thystle, imaginary Aquila told me, flashing me that gorgeous smile.
I instantly felt better. He was right. I’d do it—for him.
