Page 6

EMME

W hen the dragon stood, his movements were far too graceful for a male so large.

I scooted off the bed and pressed myself to the wall.

There was no indication that he was going to immediately kill me, and as we were newly bonded, our beasts would suffer greatly if one of us was to die. But now that I was upright, functioning and focused, I was determined to be more careful in his presence.

My breathing eased when he opened the bathroom door and entered. This place was nothing like the house Chelsea, the omega who kidnapped me, had brought me to. This bedroom was much nicer, with its worn beige carpet, dusty white walls, and antique queen bed in the center of the room.

Through the open door of the bathroom, it appeared plain and generic, with small white tiles and basic amenities.

While the dragon was occupied, I headed straight for the other closed door, unsurprised to find it locked.

Leaning back, I kicked as hard as I could, pain ricocheting up my bare foot and into my calf.

I’d been dragged out of the house in sweatpants and bare feet, which still bore the evidence of my forced walk through the mud outside my pack’s property.

Far too silently, the dragon appeared at my side like magic, and thrust a glass of water at me. “Drink.”

Holy goddess, he was huge, and his darkly captivating presence elevated him beyond his almost seven feet height. The heat and power radiating off him was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before, and the scent was stronger. Annoyingly , it took my breath away. Stupid mate bond .

“Trying to drug me?” I drawled, letting my irritation spill out. He hadn’t drugged me before of course, unless it was super slow-acting, but I’d also been all but comatose. Now, I was up and ready to fight. “There’s really no need. I’m apparently trapped here. A fucking prisoner once again.”

When he frowned, it pulled at the scar near his full lips, and I resisted the urge to reach out and trace my fingers along the rough surface.

I hadn’t met many shifters with scars like mine.

Most of them healed minor injuries with ease.

It took a certain weapon, and a certain level of injury inflicted at a young age, to leave a mark like ours.

Not that having anything in common meant I would be forgiving him. Like I’d told Finley, we all had our traumas, but that didn’t give us an excuse to act like an asshole.

“Drink,” he commanded again, thrusting the glass hard enough to spill liquid over the sides.

Ignoring him, I stepped around his towering form and beelined into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me.

Thirst hit hard when the sink came into view, the white basin pockmarked from age and lack of care.

Dipping my head under the faucet, I let the water run for a second before I drank from the stream.

It took a long time to quench my thirst, and when I was satisfied, feeling full and sloshy, my bladder took over complaining to remind me I hadn’t peed in days.

If I wasn’t a shifter, I’d probably have a nice kidney or bladder infection, but thankfully, even with my wolf diminished, I retained enough healing abilities to keep that at bay.

When I was finished with the toilet, I flushed and washed my hands, staring into the mirror over the sink.

Thanks to the dragon, my hair was smooth and shiny, while the rest of me looked like a bag of crap.

My light pink sweats were marked with streaks of mud, and my face was so pale that the dark circles under my eyes stood out starkly, along with the spattering of freckles across my nose.

The icy blue of my eyes was dull, and I could see the pain I felt deep in my essence spilling out in my gaze. It was the agony of mate bonds stretched far too thin. The irony of it all was the dragon’s presence would be helping me cope, as he was technically a mate now too.

Mate. My wolf was sluggish, and I debated shifting to try and rouse a stronger reaction from her.

He’s not our mate , I snarled back, pissed off and exhausted, as my lungs filled with a sweet scent that I couldn’t purge. Someone open a fucking window! Only it appeared that there were none in this bathroom, or the bedroom I’d fled from.

Where had they brought me to?

Why had I let myself fall apart to the point where I hadn’t been aware of my surroundings?

The fact that I’d shut down so thoroughly after the initial attack was disgraceful. In that vulnerable state, it was only sheer luck I hadn’t been hurt or abused far worse. Hunter’s father had already shown he had no morals, and he’d do whatever it took to achieve his end goal.

I’d almost made it too easy for him.

I jumped at the slam of a hand against the door. “You cannot escape from there.”

That was probably the longest sentence I’d heard this asshole mutter, and it just made me all the angrier. “I know that,” I shouted back, enjoying the release of potent fury bubbling inside me. “There’s not even a window in here.”

That locked door out there was the only possible exit, and I was far too weak to bust through it or the tiled walls. And there was no guarantee there’d be freedom on the other side of these walls anyway. No windows often meant you were in the middle of the house, or in a sub-sub-basement.

I fought against the urge to scream. I had no skills to beat a dragon, not even if my wolf were at full strength, which meant my best bet was to play along as the nice, compliant captive, and try to stay alive long enough for help to arrive.

Or even better, if the opportunity arose to escape, knock this fucker out and save myself.

Sucking in a deep breath, I splashed water on my face, wishing desperately for a shower. There wasn’t a chance on this tainted Earth that I’d get naked around that dragon though, so I headed for the door.

When I pulled it open, he loomed on the other side, and as I tilted my head up to meet his gaze with all the false bravado I could muster, I swore I caught a hint of panic, before his expression was once again dark and impassive.

Locked in his gaze, I regretted my decision to meet his stare. It was terrifying being this close to the dark aura he exuded, and the unhinged edge to his actions sent trickles of fear down my spine.

Fear I decided to cover with bright, inane conversation. “I can’t keep calling you dragon or asshole in my head.” Ah, whoops. Staying alive, Emme, I reminded myself. Your goal is to stay alive.

Thankfully his only response was a low rumble, and I hurried on airily. “What do you think about Jason as a possible name?”

Another rumble, and this one held a note of menace. “Okay, okay. Not Jason. What about Richard?” And I’d silently call him dick for funsies. Last name head .

The dragon’s fists clenched at his sides, and it took absolutely every ounce of my inner fortitude not to step away. “Yeah, you don’t really look like a Richard. Okay…” I tapped my chin, as if this was one of life’s great questions requiring all my focus. “Samuel?”

The growl was slower this time, as if he didn’t hate that name, which told me I was on the right track. “Shaun? Michael? Dominic? Talon?”

As the name for a dragon’s claw spilled from my lips, his gaze intensified, and if I’d been a regular shifter, I’d have been swooning or blushing. Alas, this shifter hated his guts for stealing a piece of my soul from me. But I hadn’t missed his reaction to that last name.

“Talon,” I repeated slowly, letting it roll off my tongue. “You like that name?”

When he nodded, I almost passed out from shock. “Okay, Talon it is.”

He rubbed a hand across his face, and I almost lost my resolve to hate him when I saw the confusion tugging at his features. I’d surprised him… and for a brief moment in time, he wore an air of vulnerability.

When he stepped back from where he’d holed me up in the bathroom doorway, I sidled into the room and took a seat on the bed.

With the return of silence between us, I found my pulse racing and my hands clammy.

“What happens now?’ I babbled, desperate to break the quiet intensity.

“You’ve brought me here for a reason… or at least your evil master has. What’s the reason?”

Talon kept me locked in his unblinking gaze. “We must complete our bond.”

As terrifying as that statement was, I appreciated his honesty.

Maybe it wouldn’t be as hard as I thought to get all the information I needed from him.

“Complete the bond? As in… we’re supposed to have sex?

” I shook my head. “I will never let you touch me like that. Not ever. Our souls and beasts are bonded from the bite. Why do you need more?”

Talon’s growl was deep enough to shatter windows—if there’d been any in this room of course. “I don’t want to have to take your omega powers… I want you to give them to me.”

My breath hitched, and while I’d known stealing my powers was the end goal for this forced bonding, it still took me by surprise.

“He wants me to boost your powers and turn your beast into an even greater weapon.” As I voiced the horror out loud, I wondered if Talon understood the full ramifications of what they planned to do. Did he know I could lose my wolf?

Talon didn’t confirm it, but he also didn’t deny it.

I shook my head. “I will never give you one iota of my power. You’ll have to kill me first.” I hadn’t even realized I’d leapt to my feet on the bed until I was meeting his hostile stare. “I won’t comply with you raping my energy. You’ve already taken too much from me.”

Like my quintet, and my free will, and my sense of safety.

All of which was unforgiveable.

“You have no choice.”

He was probably right, but I sure as shit wasn’t about to make it easy for him.

“When will Hunter’s father return?”

Talon took a step towards me, and I shuffled back on the bed, keeping him in my line of sight. “Alpha Fletcher Davenport will return via helicopter in two days. He expects the task to be completed. If we fail, there’ll be consequences.”

A matter-of-fact statement, and now I had the name of the asshole haunting my existence: Fletcher Davenport. I’d been expecting something more along the lines of Evil Motherfucker, but I supposed Fletcher would do.

“Why do you comply with him?” I asked, genuinely curious. “He treats you like an object, a weapon he owns and can do whatever he wants with. You didn’t even have a name, Talon. He doesn’t give a single shit about you.”

When he tilted his head to the side, observing me animalistically, it reminded me so much of Slade that I almost lost my composure.

“He is my family,” he said in a low, strangely soft voice.

Which was wrong on so many levels. “Family don’t call you it . I promise. You deserve better than that poor excuse of an alpha. Just kill him and find your freedom.”

I had no idea what would happen to me if Talon found his freedom , but at least Fletcher would no longer have this extremely powerful weapon under his control. We could save a lot of lives just by removing this one player from his board.

Now all I needed was the dragon to be in on the plan.