Page 45

EMME

“ W e’re going to shift into our beasts for part two of warmups today,” Slade yelled, and I leaned forward to suck ragged breaths into my lungs, pressing my hands to my knees in the hopes it would help keep me upright.

We’d only done three laps and I was wrecked. This shit had to start getting easier soon, right?

It’d been a few days since the attack on the council chambers, and while the witch had been taken in for questioning, she’d managed to kill herself in the holding chamber. Somehow.

She’d had no spells on her or means to stop her heart that they were aware of, but by the time they went to question her she was gone. Jewels had examined the body after, and was of the opinion that she might have been terminated by her coven. Again, somehow .

The other covens were being questioned, but so far, no evidence of another traitor had been found. Every time Jewels showed up at the house to update the alphas, the tingles in my limbs showed up with her, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why my wolf was reacting so strongly to magic.

Not that I had much time to worry about it today, as I faced a row of half-naked shifters.

At least until a broad chest encased in a black shirt blocked my view.

“Time to shift, Snow,” Slade commanded, leaning down to bathe me in his scent.

He always finished warmups minutes before everyone else, but never showed sign of sweat, fatigue, or strain.

The literal only time I’d ever seen him fatigued was when we were kidnapped and he’d had to battle that magical house in Silver City for our freedom.

Despite the cooler weather, I’d come out today in a sports bra and long athletic tights. When my fingers skimmed the base of the bra, Slade’s eyes darkened. “You’re not going to turn around?” I teased.

His response was to lift his shirt, dragging the material up the full length of his ripped torso. Somehow, I managed to keep my tongue in my mouth. “Not a chance, Snow. I’m your security detail, remember? I can’t take my eyes off you.”

“Well,” I choked out, “just call me your security detail then too.”

And could I just say I was very happy with my new position.

His dragon tattoos now reminded me of Slade and Talon, as the dark and light faced off against each other in their beast forms. I had different theories about what this permanent mark on Slade’s body meant now.

I believed that a part of his essence had known all along that there was a missing piece of his soul out there. His twin soul.

When he dropped his hands to his pants, unbuttoning them, my gaze dropped with that movement. This was also the moment I had to lean down and shuck my tights off, which left me closer to eye level with beast number two. Which was still massive. Still pierced. Still terrifying.

Even if those piercings did form a ladder I needed to climb with my tongue…

“You’re drooling, Snow,” Slade drawled, and when I jerked my gaze up to meet his, I found amusement dancing across his features.

Words spilled from me in a rush: “There’s a lot to take in. Too much really. That can’t be survivable.”

I stilled when I realized I’d said the quiet part out loud again, which happened far too often around my alphas. They had a way of flustering me until I was a disconcerted mess.

Slade’s smile grew and I was graced with perfect, if not slightly predatory teeth. “You were made for me, Emmeline. There’s no other shifter in this world who could survive what I can offer.”

His words reminded me of our conversation in the car when he’d admitted he was a virgin. At first it took me by surprise, but with some time and reflection, it made sense, and I fucking loved that there’d been none before me. I was growing quite possessive of my pack—goddess help my soul.

“Surely, there’d be another out there who could handle you too, Slade,” I found myself teasing. Maybe to lessen the tension. Or maybe I just was fishing for the answer. “An alpha female perhaps?”

The hint of his smile turned darker. “I’d kill any other female who touched me. Hence, not survivable. You are it for me, Snow. Now and always.”

With that destructive statement, he stepped away and I felt his powerful energy wash over my skin as he called for his beast. I set my wolf free too and she arrived with ease, relieving tension I hadn’t even known I was carrying.

I hadn’t shifted for a while, and after years of suppressing my beast, it wasn’t good to start doing that again. It weakened us, and weak could get me killed. Or worse, it could get my pack killed.

Slade’s dragon straightened, impressive as always, and I noted that his scales were slightly greener today, shimmering brightly in the sunlight.

His beast tilted its head back and roared to the sky, which must have been the signal for his squad to move.

Some took off on wings, like Horton’s eagle, while the land-bound creatures raced into the field.

There were a couple of wolves, a bear, and a lion in his alpha squad.

Flight Squad , as an ode to Slade’s beast.

Slade didn’t fly this time though, remaining by my side and moving gracefully on all fours across the field.

My wolf loved being out here with him, letting out little yips, and the occasional howls.

She all but purred when Slade’s huge dragon head dipped, his snout tracing down my flank.

Even knowing his beast could gulp me up in one bite, I felt nothing except this warm, fuzzy contentment.

We drew a lot of attention, from Flight Squad, and whichever other enforcers were out training today. Apparently none of them had seen the fearsome dragon’s affectionate side.

I’d barely seen it, but I was officially addicted. With zero plans on attending a meeting, despite having an advanced case of the Slades.

My beast preened as she lapped up the attention of her mate. She’d be insufferable as she reminded me of all the times she’d tried to stop me running from our pack. Yeah, yeah. You were right .

The second part of warmup was over too soon, and I was pumped when I slipped back into my training gear.

“Let’s break off into our pairs,” Slade called, and as I moved toward Horton, I was stopped by a huge arm around my middle. “You’re with me today, Snow.”

Thrown off-balance, I reached out and clutched his arm, my gaze shooting up to gauge how he was handling the contact. There was no sign of his usual flinch or darkening green gaze, and it took him at least ten Mississippi’s to move away from me.

Fuck, I really didn’t need a warmup when Slade was around.

I was currently warm enough to melt into a puddle on the ground.

“Why am I training with you?” I asked, forcing myself to get it together.

“I want to teach you today.”

Don’t freak out. Don’t you freak out.

“But… with the touching and…”

Slade crowded into my space, and it was so overwhelming I started breathing harder than when I’d been running. It turned out that standing in proximity to him was the equivalent of sprinting like my life depended on it.

“There’ll be touching, yes, and I expect you to try and take me down. Fletcher is powerful. Blaine is a piece of shit, but he’s well trained. You cannot let either of them get their hands on you.”

Yes, sir. Thankfully I managed to keep that thought inside my head.

Slade backed away from me and fell into a familiar pose. It was the one I’d been practicing with Horton all week, and I quickly recalculated my stance for a much taller shifter.

When Slade grabbed me, there was no hesitation in his touch, and I was so nervous that I all but slipped over my own feet and landed in a tangle on the ground. The dragon shook his head, his expression serious. “Up, Emmeline. You can do better than that. I’ve seen you do better than that all week.”

Grumbling and ignoring my embarrassment, I got back into position, and this time when he moved, I let my body fall into the series of steps I’d practiced.

I nudged into him, hooked my foot behind his, tilted my shoulder for more leverage, and yanked him over the side so he’d lose balance.

Slade being Slade, he barely moved, but I managed to knock him a few steps back.

Moving a wall of muscle would normally be reason to celebrate, but Slade didn’t encourage celebrations in the middle of training. I’d heard him drill into his squad over and over that an early celebration when your opponent wasn’t dead was a surefire way to get you dead .

With that in mind, I moved on to the next drill to knock out a grounded opponent.

It did require a lot of contact, and my nervousness over that cost me as Slade moved faster than I could track, and encased both of my wrists in his massive grip.

In less than a second, he reversed our positions so I was the one on the ground, under his mercy.

His huge body trapped me against the grass, and my instinct to struggle died off at the sensation of his muscles pressing against my curves.

“You stopped fighting,” he growled, as he lifted my hands above my head and secured them in one of his palms. His gaze was biting as his chest rumbled, and I made a weak, sad attempt to free myself.

Oh no, I’m trapped by a sexy dragon.

With a shake of his head, Slade slid one knee between my thighs, effectively pinning me to the ground, my hands still trapped by his above my head. He’d subdued me so fast that it was embarrassing, and his weight was too dense for me to even hope to buck him off.

I was his prisoner.

“What are you going to do now, Snow?” Slade asked as his gaze bore into me. “You’re as vulnerable as you’ll ever get. My weight is too much for you to lift. You’re too weak to break my hold on your hands. And look at that,” he lifted his free hand. “I can now do whatever I want with you.”

My breath stuttered out from me, and as he pressed his knee into my core, demonstrating his statement, I barely kept a moan from escaping.

“Look, Scary Shifter,” I huffed out in time to the steady throb between my thighs. “You’re not giving me much incentive. I’ve dreamed about being held down by you like this too many times to escape now.”

For the first time since I’d met the infamously terrifying dragon shifter, I witnessed him speechless. I’d have laughed at his astonished expression, but I was too busy trying not to erupt from just being this close to him.

“Slade,” I whimpered.

His shock was replaced by a shadowed expression, and in a flash he was back on his feet. His chest heaved as he stared down at me, pupils slitted until all I could see was dragon in that green gaze. The part of the dragon that everyone feared.

The air sizzled, and with a growl he turned and shouted for Horton.

“Start her on the blades,” Slade said shortly as the eagle hurried over, and then he was gone, leaving me with a strong sense that I’d pushed him too far.

Horton’s gaze darted between me and his boss. “Everything okay?” he asked, reaching out for me. Just before our hands touched, a rumble rocked the ground, and while the dragon wasn’t nearby, we both jumped away from each other.

“Let’s give him a minute to cool off,” Horton babbled, sounding nervous.

He ducked over to grab a case from the ground nearby and pulled out two practice sets of wooden blades. Somehow, I managed to focus long enough for him to explain how to hold them, even though most of my brain was still caught up on Slade.

That dragon was never far from my mind, and as I fought to push down my need and desire once more, I wondered how it would all play out.

Slade might be resisting, but the goddess wanted us to be together, and shifter help me, so did I.