You never were my alpha, but nobody ever will listen to you again.I sank my claw deeper and twisted my finger,a scream of pain going slack and choking in his throat as I withdrew, spitting flame against his flesh to seal the damage done as he clawed at his throat.
I lifted my weight off him and sat back, holding my head high as his screams came out in fruitless breaths.
I’ve severed the nerve to your vocal cords. Nothing else. It will not heal back, and you will be as dumb as you ever claimed I was.I roared out loud, my call for my mate and clan to aid me.
He clutched at his throat, lips and teeth clacking and smacking as tiny hisses brushed over his lips.
You’ll have to pick another alpha.
Still, he flapped his useless lips at me.
Perhaps Lenny. Or maybe Foster.My dragon laughed as I reached forward, toying with his leg, a claw tugging his jeans and flipping him around.
More swearing and unvoiced words.
I slung him from the door to my nesting chamber and blew a stream of fire that had his breathless screech finding friction only in cramping bronchioles.
Want to take his stupid ass home?I stared at a cowering Bartlet.
The omega shook his head violently.
You’re fired, by the way. And send messages to my parents— Because I know you’ll gossip. They aren’t welcome here. They show up wanting to make nice, and I’ll make fire, instead. I had good memories with them a long time ago. They’ll need to be clean for a long time before I even want to look at them. Let alone allow my young to see them.
I snorted as the door to our chambers flew open with a heaving, breathless Marcus in the doorway, scales prickling his arms.
“Well, shit. Cat’s out of the bag…” Marcus sagged in the doorway as Atkin, Lyphus, and Malkim joined him. I shiftedback into my flesh form and threw my shirt on, searching about for pants. “Many cats.”
I grinned, counting off on my fingers. “Dragon. Baby. Mate. Voice.”
Marcus approached me with open arms, giving me a long hug as Atkin and Morris wove around, Atkin escorting Bartlet out while Morris dragged Goober out by an ankle, a snarl of smoke curling from his nostrils.
“We’ll need to handle this with the council. What happened?” Marcus rested a hand on my belly, stroking the rounded surface of it.
Words were not easy to make, not long stories. I could muster simple words, and even they sounded stilted and wrong. But, my dragon helped.When you took me, he wanted me to help him steal from you. He gave me a phone that I left behind so he couldn’t ask me. Bartlet told Goober I was back, and I suppose he’d been waiting for me, and I did my best.
I explained the rest of what happened, my cheeks burning pink. Including the threat to my parents was hard, but I mustered through it. Even if my papa had to pay with his body, if a debt existed, it was not my concern. He’d made his choice the day he forgot about me.
Marcus nodded, gave me a soft kiss, and left.
And a chapter of my life had come and gone, a bitter one. And since I’d tasted fire, the burning thirst I felt to belong somewhere had been quenched.
I was dragon. A gift from the gods to the protectors of the land to keep their bloodlines thriving.
But that was how the story ended. Not with a shout or a cry.
It ended with awhisper.
Chapter Thirteen
Marcus
I wouldn’t forsake my watch duties. The cool evening breeze brushed my cheeks, a little warmth hidden beneath them as I surveyed the land. A dry thunderstorm rolled in the distance and the thin trails of smoke from summer campfires curled miles away in human territories.
Whisper, who I could not stand to leave, hissed as I studied the distance and I turned my head, taking in the curled sight of him on a rolled futon. He was so tired of late, and my dragon knew the egg would come soon. “You okay?”
Whisper bobbed his head from side to side. “No. Roooom.”
His over-enunciated vowels gave me pause, but the sound of them, how he made them for me, it made my heart warm. But what made it warm more was his raising a single hand to make a line of gestures. Atkin had taught him some sign language, where he didn’t have to always rely on his weak voice or dragon. He spelled most things these days, and he gave me a quick note.Coming.
