Page 34 of Burned

“In the truest sense, yes.”

“Your dragon basically knows then?”

“Yes, often before the man does.” I offer a slight smile. “It’s made for some interesting experiences.”

“Like?”

“One of my brothers matched with his polar opposite. Nico is headstrong and full of rage, but his mate is a bossy little thing who knows exactly how to put him in his place. Arson mated with a wolf shifter, which is most unusual. Wolves and dragons aren’t exactly best friends. The only stranger pairing would be a dragon and a vampire.”

“Or a hunter and a dragon.”

I hold back a gasp as my chest tightens again. Did he actually say that or did my thoughts conjure it?

“Do dragons mate with humans mostly? Or other… uh, species?” he asks.

“There’s no trend. With my brothers, two mated with humans and two with supes.”

“What’s the other supe?”

“An incubus.” I chuckle. “He tried to kill our younger brother, or at least appeared to. Turns out, he was Valentino’s mate. As I said before, fate is a strange thing sometimes.”

Alrick nods as he pushes a leafy branch out of his path. “Incubi are real.”

“Yes.”

“We’ve heard about them, but honestly so much of it sounded like folklore. For the longest time, I didn’t actually believe in dragons. I thought it was some kind of family tradition to call ourselves hunters, but that dragons weren’t real.”

“When did you learn we were real?”

“When I turned twenty-one. We used to be told on our sixteenth birthdays, but over time, someone decided that was too young. Too many young men were lost to dragon fire.”

My dragon reacts with a whimper that I have to choke down.

“Your family members were killed by dragons?”

“I’m told. It was long before my time. Even my dad never directly knew anyone who was killed. When we turn twenty-one, we’re taken on a hunt. It was years before I saw a dragon, but when I did…” His words trail off as he huffs a breath.

Instead of prompting him, I give him space to decide what he wants to share.

After a few seconds, he offers an oddly shy smile. “I was blown away by how beautiful it was. So majestic and…” He shakes his head. “It took my breath away.”

His words of admiration take me by surprise.

“At that moment, I couldn’t understand how it made any sense at all to destroy it. She was just a woman living her life until my dad provoked her into shifting. I watched from behind a rock as my dad fought her, wounding her. She shrieked, and then the sky darkened with a wave of other dragons coming to her rescue. We were told to scatter, that there were too many of them for us, but my feet wouldn’t move. I couldn’t take my eyes off the wounded dragon crawling across the forest floor. Against everything I’d been taught, I went to her.”

I’ve stopped walking now, completely mesmerized by his story. He notices, pausing also.

“Her eyes were filled with fear,” he says. “I told her I was sorry. I apologized to the dragon.”

“What did she say?”

“She told me to go before her family found me. She could have let them attack me, but she didn’t. She let me escape into the woods.” He scratches his beard. “You’re the first person I’ve ever told about that interaction.”

“I’m honored to hear it.”

Alrick huffs a laugh. “Yeah, well, if my dad knew he’d lose his shit. Now here I am, seven years later, unable to draw my sword on a dragon. There’s a ton of pressure on me but…” He averts his eyes, looking at the ground.

“But?” I put my hand on his arm.

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