Page 18

18

Saffron

My heart pounded. My throat felt raw with heat as I panted raggedly, swallowing down the flames that threatened to overflow from my teeth. My claws pushed down on Kaskian, pinning him in place like a lion stepping on a mouse.

Rorik lay by the nearby brush, his powerful body collapsed on the ground. The fresh red blood was stark against his white fur. A cold shudder ran beneath my scales. It wasn’t hard to figure out where it came from, and who the culprit was.

Kaskian squirmed beneath my paw, trying to break free of my furious grasp.

I didn’t care. I was furious.

“What makes you think you can attack my mate?” I snarled.

Rorik was already staring at me, but his eyes flashed at the final word.

Kaskian grunted. “I didn’t attack— ”

“Shut the hell up. I see the blood. I know it was you.”

He was damn lucky I hadn’t gone feral. A less restrained dragon wouldn’t have stopped. The only reason I did was because I’d frightened Rorik once before. I wouldn’t do it again.

“Saffron,” Rorik rasped. His eyes rounded as he got to his feet.

He’s fine. He’s okay, I repeated, forcing myself to stay calm. Mostly.

I released Kaskian and rushed to Rorik. My body curled around him in a protective ring, and I licked the wound on his cheek. He blinked in surprise.

“Is it bad? Does it hurt?” I asked, licking him again. When he didn’t respond instantly, I groaned. “Oh, Holy Drake… How many fingers am I holding up?”

Rorik shook himself out of a daze. “Er… No, yes, and none.”

Relief washed over me. If Kaskian had concussed my mate, there would’ve been hell to pay, but Rorik seemed stable enough.

I sighed, pressing my forehead into his thick fur. His sweet scent filled my nostrils. My frayed nerves dissolved into familiar comfort.

“My bear. My mate.”

“Saffron,” Rorik murmured. He sounded genuinely touched. “I…”

“Hello? Can someone get me out of this dump?” Kaskian snapped, looking around angrily.

I didn’t know who he was talking to. The camera crew, maybe?

I raised my head like a cobra to glare at him. “Trust me, you’ll be kicked off the island shortly.”

Kaskian glared back. I hadn’t hurt him physically, but I’d definitely hurt his pride.

Too fucking bad. Mess with a dragon’s mate and you get our wrath.

As if summoned, Jade sauntered out from the woods and snapped his fingers. A gaggle of staff members surrounded Kaskian, escorting him away as he complained all the while.

I noticed that Jade looked particularly annoyed.

“What’s up?” I asked.

Jade crossed his arms and spoke curtly. “I arranged for Kaskian to depart the island after he assaulted Rorik in the nurse’s office, but I found out later that he missed his flight. I suspect he did that on purpose. He must’ve hidden in the forest and waited for a second chance to strike. All because of a ridiculous grudge.” He scoffed, then cast a gentler look at Rorik. “I sincerely apologize for my oversight. Are you all right?”

Rorik nodded slowly. “Yeah. Thank you.”

My heart skipped a beat. It felt so fucking good to finally witness a nice interaction between my mate and my family.

“But I’m worried about Poppy,” Rorik said, brow furrowed in concern. “Let me check on him.”

His worry was mutual. I’d noticed the wolf lying flat against the hilltop when I arrived, but I was too busy dealing with Kaskian to check on him. Unfurling from Rorik, I let him go and followed close behind.

Rorik skidded to a halt near the wolf. “Poppy?”

Poppy didn’t react. He trembled, staring straight ahead at nothing.

I frowned. Something about his current state reminded me of Viol’s weird reaction back in the medical room when I’d mentioned Rorik was a polar bear.

“Poppy,” Rorik called again, louder.

The wolf jolted. He scrambled to his feet. The flat, listless way his fur fell against his frame made him look smaller than normal.

“Are you okay?” Poppy asked.

Rorik grunted. “I’m fine. Are you okay?”

A noticeable beat passed. “Yes,” Poppy murmured. “Don’t worry about me.”

I cast a sidelong glance at Jade, who’d quietly come up behind us. He gave a subtle nod. He’d look into it.

“E-everyone can stop staring at me now,” Poppy said, sounding more like himself. He stood up, then nudged something out of the dirt with his paw. “Here, Rorik.”

Rorik gasped. He leaned down to sniff it, then picked it up. “Thank you, my friend.”

Poppy’s tail wagged loosely.

“I believe this belongs to you,” Rorik remarked. When he turned around, I saw my earring dangling delicately from his teeth.

I snorted in amusement as I took it back from him. “Whose bright idea was it to bury jewelry that goes in your skin?” I blew off the debris, then clasped it in my paw for later. That wasn’t touching my ear without a freaking deep clean.

Rorik opened his mouth to respond, then stopped as if zapped by lightning. A sheepish expression came over his face. “Um…”

“What is it?”

Rorik winced. “I… might’ve swallowed Aurum’s earring by accident.”

“You— what ?”

His voice was thin with embarrassment. “I was holding it between my teeth when I stumbled into Poppy and Kaskian. Everything blew up and I lost track of it.”

I bit my lip hard, but it wasn’t enough to stifle the laugh that blurted out of me. I cackled for thirty seconds straight.

“You’re laughing,” Rorik said flatly. “I swallowed your twin’s earring and you’re laughing.”

I wiped a tear from my eye. “C’mon, it’s funny.”

Rorik was still in bear form, but I could tell he was blushing hard. “I’m a total disaster,” he mumbled. “You should’ve picked a different omega to fall in love with.”

I grinned. Oh, how I enjoyed hearing him admit that I loved him.

“Nope. Sorry. Not happening.”

Despite all the drama, Rorik won the second challenge fair and square. That meant he was entitled to a fancy date with yours truly. From what I knew about Rorik, his life in the tundra had been practical and modest. He’d never done anything fancy in his life. This would be a whole new experience for him, and I wanted him to be comfortable, but also have fun.

When I asked Rorik what he enjoyed doing the most, he’d said, “Spending time with you.”

My heart melted.

“Besides that,” I pressed.

Rorik hesitated, then said, “Eating and sleeping.”

Oh, my sweet simple bear. He didn’t know that whenever Jade pulled the strings behind the scenes, the outcome was never half-assed.

The date was to take place in our castle’s new restaurant that evening. The entire room was renovated last season for one of Jade and Alaric’s dates, so it was the perfect place for a nice dinner. I just hoped Rorik wouldn’t feel out of place.

As I got dressed for the evening, I heard a knock at my bedroom door. It was a familiar one. I wasn’t surprised when Aurum waltzed in a second later.

“Yo,” he said, leaning against my dresser. He grinned at the two identical white button-ups laid out in front of me. “Wow. Tough choice.”

“Impossible,” I agreed.

When I glanced at him, I couldn’t stop staring at the bandage on his neck. It was a guilt-inducing reminder of how hard my journey on the Games had been.

“Knock it off,” Aurum said casually.

“Should I wear a neck bandage, too? Like I did during the challenge?”

He scoffed. “Dude, just ask Rorik to give you a big hickey instead. It’s pretty much the same thing.”

“Aurum,” I chided, laughing.

He flashed a grin. “What? It’s true. Mylo was so jealous that another omega nibbled on my neck like that,” he teased, obviously joking.

I rolled my eyes and shoved him playfully. “Okay, okay, I get it. I’ll stop worrying.”

“You say that, but I know you won’t,” Aurum complained. He knew me too well, as usual.

“Gee, sorry that I feel bad about my fated mate attacking my twin. Imagine if Mylo flipped out and lunged at me and I bled all over the place? How’d you feel, huh?”

Aurum considered this seriously for a moment. “Yeah, I see your point. But I still think you should relax.”

I was about to argue with him when he reached for the bandages and pulled them off. I braced myself for a horrible injury, but only two pairs of pale scars remained on either side of his neck.

“See?” Aurum said. “I told you it looked worse than it actually was. I’m pretty much all healed up.”

A shudder of relief ran through me. He was right. The reality wasn’t nearly as awful as I’d imagined.

“You know what the worst part about this is?” I said gravely.

Aurum dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “What?”

I leaned in further. “People can tell us apart now.”

Aurum gasped in horror. He mocked choking, then crumpled to the ground. “Oh, the humanity!”

I kneeled to join him on the floor. “We’re never gonna recover from this,” I mumbled, shaking my head.

As Mylo walked past my open bedroom door, he stopped and raised an eyebrow. The girls were perched on his shoulders. They giggled at the sight of their dad squirming on the floor.

“Um, what are you two doing?” Mylo asked.

“Lamenting,” we said simultaneously.

“Oh. Er… okay. Have fun,” Mylo encouraged. He held an old game system in his arms I recognized from Aurum’s collection. “I’m gonna play the original Creature Crossing with the girls. Wanna join, Aurum?”

Aurum didn’t move from his silly position. “Ugh. You know I’d love to, but Jade told me I have to join the dinner tonight. All dragon bros have to be there.”

“What?” I asked, surprised. “I thought the dinner date was just for me and Rorik.”

Aurum smirked. “Methinks Jade has an ulterior motive. He wants everybody else to kiss and make up with Rorik after what he did to me.”

An instinctive twinge of jealousy curled in my stomach. “Well, nobody’s kissing Rorik except me. But as for making up… That would be nice. As it stands, I can’t imagine Crimson, Thystle, Cobalt, and Viol have anything nice to say about Rorik. Though Jade seems to have gotten over it.”

Aurum nodded, his face more serious. “He must sympathize with the guy. Remember when Jade went feral and almost killed us when we accidentally hurt Alaric? It’s not exactly the same, but Jade knows people do stupid shit sometimes.”

I groaned at how stupid we’d been back then. “Tell me about it…”

Mylo cleared his throat, then smiled. “For what it’s worth, Saffron… I’m looking forward to knowing Rorik better. Maybe we can throw an omega’s night with him sometime.”

My chest warmed. If Mylo wanted to hate Rorik, he was pretty damn justified. But he didn’t. He was willing to give him a chance, and that filled me with hope.

“I’m sure he’d appreciate that, Mylo. Thanks,” I said, then hauled myself to my feet. “Now, I’d better pick a freakin’ outfit before I’m late to my own date.”