Page 5 of Devoted to the Dragon

He doesn’t say anything as he encroaches on my space. He is all wolf now, unable to hide his wildness. I have the urge to run my palm along his stubbly jaw to see if it’s scratchy or soft. I ache to know if it would burn when his lips tease my skin.

His scent creates a thick blanket, cloaking me in the heady rush of his dominance, and all I want to do is submit, to give him what we both crave. I shift subtly, trying to ease the emptiness the wolf in front of me ignites.

“The newest batch of recruits will arrive within the hour,” Fennik says, voice like fire crackling from a hearth.

I want to close my eyes at the deep, rich sound. It hurts, the way it makes my heart sing.

He steps closer, spearing me with his eyes. “This time, you will take another for your personal guard. We’re having too many nights like tonight, and I refuse to leave you vulnerable.”

“The club guard handled the situation fine,” I scoff, even though the mention of my personal guard is a sopping blanket that douses my fire.

My dragon whimpers, her claws sharp in my mind as she lashes out, sending a shockwave of grief through my body that makes my muscles freeze.

Before Vandera arrived, I lost too many wolves. Even the thought of losing Fennik guts me. How am I ever supposed to accept another in my inner circle?

Fennik has been with me for the last thirty years. A blip in the grand scheme of time. He was the youngest among the first of the wolf guard, sent as part of the alliance when I came to the wolves with the proposal for a rut bar. Fennik was a boy then, barely reaching his twenty-first year. He is also the last of my personal guard.The only survivor.

“I refuse to bury another,” I hiss, my throat burning with unshed fire. Tendrils of smoke billow from my nose. I’m at my limit for loss today.I ignore Fennik, turning back to the lake.

“The Wolf Council will know about the birth soon enough if they don’t already. What you and Vandera have made here is the closest thing to a solution to the lack of omegas. You stave off the rut and find suitable mates with humans. The Council will want full control.” He steps into my line of sight, crossing his arms over his broad chest, bulging muscles tugging at his shirt sleeves.

I brush past his infuriating allure, turning back toward the forest and town.

He tugs on my elbow, twisting me toward him.

“And whose side will you fall on, Councilman?” I spit the words, glaring at him, angry all over again that he isn’t allowed to be mine, that I have to ask this question in the first place.

His eyes flash with a glint of his wolf. The air around us thickens with his amber scent, spicy with anger. “You dare ask me that?”

“You aren’t just any wolf,” I say, my voice now steadier than I feel. I have never questioned his allegiance, but the wolves’ future has never been so bleak. “You’re a member of the Council and represent the wolves’ share in this club. Your people are dying. I would be a fool not to question it.”

“No, I’m not just any wolf… Dammit, Randi.”

He spins me in his hold until I’m looking up into eyes so dark they make the silver center glow like a sliver of the moon. He beats his chest with his fist, right where his guard tattoo lives. His expression is fire and determination, but I feel the plea in his eyes.

I can’t answer it, no matter how much I wish I could, because I knowif I give him anything, I’ll give him everything. And what will be left when he’s gone?

It’s funny how centuries can pass like seconds while some decades take infinities. It feels as though I’ve spent lifetimes with Fennik Weston. But the truth is that if he doesn’t go feral without a bond, I’ll only get another hundred years if I’m lucky,and that will never be enough.It’s the worst cruelty, knowing Fennik is here but he can’t be mine.

Why? Why would fate send me one mate? Why, when it takes at least three mates to form a dragon bond? And why send him when the wolves are dying?

It feels as though I’m being punished, forced to live beside him and not have him. The horror of it is enough to make me want to rage and scream because no matter how much I love him, no matter how much I want and crave him, he will grow old and die without the bond. And there can be no bond without the horde. All in a horde awaken or none do.

His thumb brushes against my cheek, the slow touch as hypnotic as any of Vandera’s spells.

“My wolf has only ever pledged allegiance to my mate.” His voice is sure and smooth, like the first sip of coffee in the morning.

Even his promise isn’t strong enough to push back time.

My dragon remains restless inside my chest as she watches, still unwilling to claim him.Think of the pain of losing our wolf brothers and dragon sisters.Accepting a mate without the horde? A single bond will never take. All mate bonds must be completed before the end of a full moon, or the bond will break. It could kill him.

My heart splinters, little bits getting lost in the swell of hopelessness. Though my dragon feels deeply for Fennik and is pleased by his renewed pledge of loyalty, she will not entertain the idea of a mate bond without all my mates. It’s too risky.

“You know it’s not to be,” I remind Fennik, my words thin and flat.

The words strike anyway, landing a blow that ricochets across his angular face, and for a moment, he is more wolf than man, lost to his wildness.

I know I hurt him by keeping him away. I don’t know why he doesn’t rage and yell, tell me I’m awful.Because I am.I’m cold. Distant. But no matter how much I hate myself for it, each time I look at him, I see a future where I’m alone.

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