Page 40

EMME

F inley might have needed therapy, but he wasn’t the only one.

How else could I explain the ease in which I’d fallen asleep beside the shifter who’d forcibly bonded me.

My wolf was a relaxed fluffball, sprawled out and all but purring.

The rhythmic stroking of the brush through our hair, and how careful he was not to touch me in any other way, soothed my exhausted body.

I hadn’t seen Talon in days, and it had taken more of a toll than I’d realized.

My trip down into the garage had been to see my new bike—Hunter had checked the security cameras and deemed it safe—but I’d found myself at the containment room door as soon as I stepped inside.

Hit with an uncontrolled desperation to get inside.

Once I stood under the dark, watchful eyes of the dragon shifter, it was as if I could breathe again.

He should have been with us today, but this was a pretty nice ending to my perfect Christmas and birthday celebration.

I had no idea how long I slept, surrounded by his smoky maple scent, warm despite the hard floor beneath me. Eventually I roused to the sound of low rumbling tones.

“I’m taking her out of here,” Hunter informed the dragon without inflection. “I gave her a moment to ease the strain on your bonds, but she can’t sleep on a hard fucking floor.”

“No,” Talon snapped back, somehow keeping his voice low and modulated despite his annoyance bleeding through. They were both so busy trying not to wake me as they argued that they hadn’t noticed I was awake. “She’ll leave when she’s ready. You don’t get to take her away.”

When she’s ready . That felt like a win from the shifter who struggled with the concept of consent.

Hunter gave that consideration. “If you want her to remain here with you, then you’ll answer my questions.” I barely suppressed my smile at how he lived up to his entitled alpha mantle. Not that I blamed him for using whatever advantage he had to keep our pack safe.

I expected Talon to snarl as he’d done when Slade questioned him, but he surprised me. “If I have the answers, I’ll give them to you. Providing it doesn’t place Emme in any danger.”

The dragons didn’t bother to lie. That was why Talon’s apology before had gone a long way toward opening a connection between us. It didn’t erase the past, but his more considerate attitude of late, was helping to heal wounds. Even if the scars would always remain.

“How did Fletcher manage to keep you a secret from us? Did mother… Donatella… know?”

Hunter didn’t sound hurt over his family’s betrayal, but he was good at keeping his feelings locked down. Even through the bond I got nothing more than a mild sense of annoyance.

Talon answered with ease. “We were kept in a large compound far from the cities. It has above and below ground facilities. I never left, unless it was to kill for him. There was no reason for you to know, and I never saw your mother there.”

This was the second time he’d mentioned this “compound,” and now we knew it was two levels. This was definitely where we’d find our enemies, and I wondered if Talon knew the precise location.

“Where’s the compound?”

This question had Talon sighing. “I can’t tell you that. If you went there, you’d be killed, and that would hurt Emme.”

Hunter’s growl was low, and he cut it off fast. “Did you know about us?”

“Yes.”

I was desperate to look at Hunter and gauge his reaction, but I remained as I was, that rhythmic brushing of my hair keeping me calm.

“What happened with you and Slade at birth?”

The brush slowed in my hair. “That part I can’t remember,” Talon said, his voice unsure.

“But from what I’ve pieced together over the years, we were born in the same egg.

True twin souls. Alpha didn’t know that would be the case, and he decided to experiment on us both.

You know how he is with testing the limits of shifters and our world.

He’s drawn to figuring out the mystery behind everything.

We were the last two dragon shifters, and we were his to control. ”

The sound of Hunter’s wolf almost had me lurching up, but the brush started moving again, and my beast calmed.

“He’s not a god,” Hunter said gruffly, “no matter what he told you. He’s an alpha who believes himself to be above all others, but I promise you, he bleeds red the same as everyone else. And I will not rest until that blood covers the floor under my feet.”

I expected Talon to react negatively to a threat against the alpha he worshipped, but he just continued his story.

“He tore Slade and I apart,” he said. “This scar on my face occurred when we were in our dragon forms. My brother clung to me, but we weren’t strong enough at the time to stay together.

Slade’s claws slashed through my cheek, leaving this scar. ”

Now I just felt sick, and wished I could kill Fletcher over and over again, until even his soul was destroyed.

“Why would you blindly follow that evil fuck?” Hunter asked, his voice softer as a weariness spilled through. It had me wanting to crawl over and wrap myself around him.

Hunter carried too much of our pack’s worries on his broad shoulders, and while he made it look effortless, I saw the weight.

“He tore you from your brother. Your fucking twin soul. How was your life with Fletcher? Was it filled with love and respect? Did he show you care, Talon?” He scoffed.

“How ironic that you only have a name because our omega’s soft heart couldn’t stand for you to be nothing more than a tool used by Fletcher.

She gave you an identity. She gave you a pack. Not Fletcher.”

The brush stilled once more, and the natural heat of a dragon shot up a few notches until I was toasty warm, bordering on sweltering.

“Alpha looks out for the entire shifter community. He has no time to coddle a fucking dragon shifter. I had all the training, food, and shelter I needed.”

Hunter’s laugh was a rasp of broken memories.

“He treats the whole world the same way he treated you. As a possession or commodity to own, trade, or destroy. If he became a supreme alpha, taking us back to the past to live under his control, everyone would suffer the same way we all have as his offspring. Even Emme. He stole her from her pack and then forced her to bond to a stranger. Did Fletcher know you were a scent match at the time?”

Talon’s chest was rumbling, so low I wasn’t sure Hunter could hear, but I felt the fury of his beast through our bond. “He didn’t know until after,” he finally admitted. “They have the means to simulate a scent match, so he wasn’t concerned about it.”

Possibly Fletcher had guessed based on Slade being my match, but apparently he wouldn’t have cared either way.

Hunter must have had the same thought. “He knew. He knew and he didn’t fucking care.

A scent match is a sacred, goddess-given gift, and he ensured you’d violate it through forced bonding.

No doubt he wanted to see if it would impact your connection with Emme’s wolf.

Does your bond feel whole and complete?”

There was a disconnect between us, and I’d figured it was due to the way we’d bonded, and the fact that we hadn’t consummated it.

“The bond isn’t as strong as I expected,” Talon admitted. “But we haven’t sealed it completely yet.”

Hunter’s voice was louder as he moved closer. “And you won’t be fucking sealing it without her express permission. If you ever force Emme into anything again, no matter how much you justify in your head that it’s for her own good, I will bury you alive. Do you understand?”

To my surprise, Talon chuckled at the threat. “Fair enough. I might be new to this whole pack situation, but I’m a fast learner. Emme is our heart, and we don’t hurt our heart. It makes sense.”

“She’s more than our heart,” Hunter murmured, and his voice was so close that he had to be by my side.

“She’s our reason for existence. All of us were a fucking mess before she came into our lives.

I thought an omega would bring stability to our pack, and don’t get me wrong, she absolutely has.

I just didn’t expect the happiness too. Her light infiltrates our darkness, and while our pack always lived for each other, we now live for Emme. ”

We now live for Emme. I’d never heard five more perfect or devastating words.

His hands brushed over me, and I stirred, wanting him to gather me close. Which was exactly what he did. He slid his hands under my body and pulled me into his arms, nuzzling his face into my hair as he breathed deeply. “Love you,” I mumbled, those words easy to say these days.

“I love you too, little omega,” Hunter returned, his lips pressing to my cheek as he held me close. When I opened my eyes, I found Talon watching us closely, a yearning pulling at the corners of his expression.

“You can have a real family too,” I said, shoving down the ache in my heart. “I’ve been where you are in the world, always alone and fighting for survival. I finally learned that it doesn’t have to be this way. You can have more.”

He pressed in closer, his yearning morphing into desperation. “Why can’t we all rule at the top? We’re the strongest alpha pack. We deserve to rule.”

“Fletcher will never share power with you,” Hunter said, his tone resigned. “You’re a weapon, and he will dispose of you the moment your usefulness runs out.”

Talon’s eyes shimmered, and I couldn’t tell if it was annoyance or anger. “He’s the only family I’ve ever known. He’s a hard alpha, agreed, but I’m not disposable. He’s never thrown me away.”

I looked up in time to see Hunter shake his head, and through our bond I sensed a new shred of sympathy for the dragon shifter.

“I think I’m starting to understand the experiment with you and Slade,” he said.

“Slade, he tried to break through pain, with every touch designed to hurt him and create an unstable beast. He never could break our dragon completely though. No matter what he did, he couldn’t get him to kill or fight for him.

“You, on the other hand… His treatment of you might have been an even worse form of control. He gave you nothing and no one, isolating you from the world so all you had was him. He forced your loyalty and used you as an experiment of how to turn shifters into monsters.” Hunter’s huff of laughter was laced in sadness.

“I’m not sure which of you I feel sorrier for. ”

Talon’s expression remained even, but the heat in the room surged. The pulsing of his dragon through our connection was stronger, and I sensed his struggle for control.

“Think about what we discussed here today,” Hunter said, as he went to walk away, only pausing when Talon called, “Wait!”

I was once again turned to meet a darkly penetrating stare. “Will you come back to me, Emme?”

If tonight had proven anything, it was that I couldn’t stay away from him. Not long term. “Are you willing to answer more questions?”

The desperate longing that tore through his expression almost broke me. “Yes. For you. Yes.”

My heart clenched and I nodded. “Then I’ll be back.”

Talon clutched the bars, and I got the sense, even as Hunter walked away and left him there, that he would remain in that position for the rest of the night.

For the first time since we’d returned to Golden Claw, I was broken over the thought of leaving him locked down there in isolation.

Slade might have a touch aversion, which I understood better now that I’d learned of his fucked up past, but Talon bore scars and triggers too.

Including isolation. If we wanted to show that we were better than Fletcher, we couldn’t hurt him in the same way.

But when it was so risky to let him go free, I had no idea what the solution was.