Page 74 of Burned

“Can’t it wait?” he asks.

I shake my head, glancing at Lord as our bond vibrates. “You need to know in case something happens.”

“Okay.”

“Lord and I are connected. To the point where if something happens to him and he dies, I die too.”

Viggo stumbles. “What?”

“It’s how he saved my life. He tied our lives together to save me. If something happens to me, he dies too.”

My brother’s brow creases. “Why would he do that for a stranger?”

“I wasn’t a stranger. His dragon knew me. My soul was made for his.” I chew on my bottom lip, aware of how crazy this must sound to him.

Viggo’s jaw drops. “It’s… it’s true? They really have mates?”

I nod, pulling my hair off my shoulders. “They have mates. I’m Lord’s.”

“Gods of lore,” Viggo whispers. Reaching down, he grips my hand and squeezes it. “I want you to know, if it’s between you or them, I choose you. I’ll drive a sword through my own dad’s heart before I let him hurt you or Lord.”

I have to blink back the wave of emotion making my eyes flood. “Same, brother.”

Just as we cross the boundary from the landscaped grass to the woods, my chest tightens as if I canfeelmy family. Then I realize it’s Lord’s emotions I’m feeling. He can smell them.

He moves subtly so that he’s in front of me, his brothers and their mates flanking me and Viggo until we’re surrounded bythem on all sides. My heart races as fear prickles across my skin. I know what my family is capable of, and it terrifies me.

Montrose blinks out of sight, returning seconds later with Digby and my dad in his clutches. He drops them at Xanthis’s feet.

My dad scrambles up quickly, drawing his sword. Digby is dazed, taking a few seconds longer to stand and focus on the group in front of him.

I push past Lord, despite his protests, and face my dad and eldest brother. Viggo quickly joins me. My dad glares while a hint of relief colors Digby’s features.

“Traitor,” my dad spits at me. “How are you still alive?” He sweeps his eyes over my torn, bloodied shirt. He looks… enraged to see me standing there unharmed. His face turns crimson with fury when he takes in Viggo’s perfectly healed face next.

His words turn the blood in my veins to ice and for a second, I reconsider my stance on ending his life. Imagine being filled with so much hatred that you’re angry your own sons survived your attempt on their lives. I wish I’d seen what a miserable person he was sooner.

“I’m sure you’re very disappointed, but I’m obviously stronger than you think I am.”

“Then fight me like a man without all these…beasts,” he growls the word like it’s the worst insult he can think of, “backing you up.”

I scoff at that. “Like a man? Like you did when you made Digby hold me still while you beat me? Like when you tied Viggo up so he was defenseless? Is that how men fight?”

“You earned your punishment for turning on your family.”

Lord growls as he grips my shoulder from behind.

“What are you gonna do to us?” Digby asks, his voice shaking.

The momentary distraction gives my dad his opening, and he lunges forward with his sword aimed right at my heart. His cursed sword.

Before I even have a chance to react, I’m knocked to the ground by Lord’s sudden shift, leaving me in the shadow of his dragon. I gaze up at him in all his majestic beauty, vaguely aware of his other brothers shifting at the same time, and hearing the mage lament, “Fuck’s sake, lads. Trouble, the lot of you.”

Lord stomps forward as my dad lunges with his sword, but Xanthis intervenes, shooting light from her hand that crumples the sword right before our eyes. Lord uses his massive arm to knock my dad to the ground with such force that he slides across the forest floor. He releases a growl that shakes the trees, sending a stream of fire that scorches the ground right up to my dad’s feet.

I should stop him, but I’m too stunned by the beautiful rage pouring off him, and frankly I’m not sure I could. Suddenly, Lake kneels beside me.

“Now’s the time to soothe your dragon before he makes daddy a shish kebab.”

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