Page 17 of The Soul of the Dragon

Not going to happen. I reminded myself. The monster and I coexisted with neither fully in control, and neither able to override the decisions of the other. It was a crazy dynamic, unlike other dragons, and manifested in chaotic behavior, but on the weirdest of levels, it worked. Unlike my brother, who had more control over his dragon, and didn't have to fight nearly as hard as I did.

"You truly are a horrible creature. What are you anyway? You don't smell like fae."

"What do I smell like?" I couldn't resist asking the question even though I doubted she would tell the truth. If I'd realized her importance as an omega, then surely she must sense an Alpha. It made me curious to know.

She wrinkled up her nose. "You smell about the same as you look, you evil monster trash. Disgusting," she lied, stinging my nose with the scent.

Of course.

I'd be a fool to believe she'd say anything else. "That's fine, little beast. If that's how you want to play it, I can give you tit for tat. Let's go." I grabbed her bound wrists and guided her back to the path she'd been heading to.

"Where are we going?" she asked, looking back at me with curious eyes.

"You tell me. This is the way you were headed and I'm curious as to where you thought you could go and hide."

Her spine straightened and I all but choked on laughter to watch it happen. "I'm not hiding, you bastard. I'm leaving. There's a difference."

I didn't believe that, but it didn't seem important enough to argue about. "Fine. Where were you going? Show me."

"Why? I thought you were taking me back to the King?"

"If you keep arguing with me about it, I'm going to assume that back to the king is where you actually want to go. Shall I go ahead and take you now?" I had no intention of returning her just yet. Not until I figured out the game they were all playing and I got ahead of them.

Why had the bastard sent me of all people on the hunt for an omega? It made no damned sense. Unless he didn’t know.

She stared at me so long I thought we were both going to atrophy from standing there. But either she saw what she wanted or she gave up and did as I instructed. She headed along the path that led away from the palace and much deeper into the dark forest. As much as I wanted to pepper her with questions about this world, I knew she wouldn't answer. At least not truthfully.

First, she would have to become reliant on me. Then she'd have to believe I cared about her well-being. Then I might get something out of her. Until then, she was my captive and I was going to watch her sweet behind march ahead of me while I fantasized about her potential omega properties and what that meant for her immediate future.

My brother's mate had succumbed to the needs of mating heat quickly and he'd wasted no time laying claim to her. Physically at first, and then totally once he'd proven himself to her. I still thought he should have thanked me for that little provocation. If I'd not challenged him for her, and fought near to death, where would they have been then?

Of course they'd married the next day and her coven had cast a spell that cast out all dragons from their North American homes, so none of that had turned out particularly well. Although if not for mother being left behind it wouldn't have been that bad. I'd had no real desire to lead my father’s shifter kingdom anytime soon. My first decree would have been declaring war on those witches for their use of dark magics anyways.

I shook those memories from my head and focused on the present. I'd gotten the distinct impression that the King had either flat out lied to me about helping me find the amulet or he didn't know where it was either. The smell of deceit had surrounded him in a poisonous cloak that had been impossible to miss.

Either he was unaware that shifters could scent emotions or he didn't care. Both made him reckless and dangerous. And since the scent of the little beast had led me right to her, I had some time to kill to figure out what my next move should be.

"What are you hoping to get out of this?" she glanced back as she asked.

"What do you care?" I grunted.

"Maybe we could help each other. If you aren't taking me back to the King, then that tells me you don't trust him to follow through on whatever it is he promised you. What did he offer you in return? Money? Gold?"

It didn't surprise me that she was sharp. To escape the dungeon of the palace would take some effort.

"First, I'd like you to tell me something. Truthfully," I added. "Were you really locked in the dungeon?"

She didn't say anything right away, and since we had time I was content to let her think before she answered.

"I was."

I could sense more information on the tip of her tongue so I prodded her again. "Why? It seems unusual that a female family member would be locked away in such a foul place. It’s no place for a woman, let alone one of such importance."

She shrugged, and for a minute I thought she was done telling me anything.

"I wasn't lying when I told you he wants me at his side. He was obsessed with my mother from the moment he met her, but she wasn't the only one. I could see from the beginning that he had interest in me as well. It scared me and I guess instinctually I knew that I had to do something about it—eventually. I stayed as far away from him as I could. Always. I practically lived in this forest, although not this far from the palace. But when my mother got sick and died, he forbade me from leaving the palace and I did it anyways. When even locking me in my rooms couldn't contain me, he took more and more drastic measures until I ended up in that disgusting place." She gagged at the end of her story, and I couldn't imagine someone so soft and pretty treated with such disregard.

And yet...

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