Page 5 of Bound to the Dragon (Wild Fated Shifters #3)

I turn my attention back to my mother and again try to shake off the ever-building tension mounting in my neck and shoulders.

The clash of our two packs is wreaking havoc with my well-honed senses as it is, and I don’t trust my own judgment.

It’s overstimulation, the party, the animosity oozing from the Shadow Pine pack, even from my own mate.

I just want to get out of here, out of this hell I’ve found myself in.

I need to find a moment of reprieve for myself, but I don’t think it’s possible.

“Never mind, Mom. Why don’t I get you a drink?”

“Champagne, of course!” She claps her hands together, her eyes shining. “I can’t believe my baby is a Luna! Your father?—”

“Stop it!” I hiss, cutting her off. “Stop bringing up Dad here, of all places! Mom, do you hear yourself?”

Mom’s face drains of color. “What a thing to say, Madison! Don’t you think your father would want to be here if he could? He would be the first one to celebrate your good fortune! He probably would have set this up a long time ago if he were still with us.”

I pull her away from the bar and toward a quieter corner of the veranda, lowering my voice. “Mom, you can’t be serious right now. Do you think I’ve forgotten what he did? I know you haven’t.”

She blinks at me like I’ve just grown another head. “Where is all this coming from?”

I roll my eyes. I can’t get into this here with her, not when there are all these ears around us. “Just forget it. But please, stop bringing Dad up while we’re here, okay? This whole situation is terrible enough as it is.”

Her eyebrows furrow, but before she can say anything, the Shadow Pine Beta appears.

“There you are. The Alpha is looking for you,” Vigo grunts.

Not for the first time, I notice that Granger is nowhere to be seen. Where is the Alpha from my pack? Had he even bothered to show up?

Vigo’s announcement makes me laugh aloud. “That’s funny. He couldn’t wait to get away from me a few minutes ago.”

“Maddi!” Mom is appalled by my reply. “When your mate calls, it’s your duty to respond to him!”

“Right. If Blaze snaps, I’d better jump.”

Vigo’s eyes narrow, but he wisely says nothing in response to my dripping sarcasm. We weave back through the throng of bodies, some of them quite drunk now and shifting into their animal forms to dance along to the music playing. I’m glad they’re having fun. At least someone is.

“Where were you?” Blaze looks me over with naked disdain. “You know how bad it looks when a mate disappears on her mating day?”

“Disappears?” I scoff. “I was just over there.”

I don’t add what I’m thinking. If I wanted to disappear, I would have done that already.

We have another standoff, but this time, there are witnesses, which Blaze quickly clues into. He immediately lowers his voice and takes on a more even tone. “It’s time for photos.”

His eyes are so narrow now, I can’t make out the color, like he’s expecting me to argue. But I remember the color. They’re ingrained in my psyche. I’m sure I’ll see it when I close my eyes tonight… assuming we’re not in the same bed.

“Okay.”

He growls low in his throat. I must not have responded with enough enthusiasm for his liking.

“That’s how ceremonies work. You take photos. Sometimes, you even put them in frames.”

“Oh, that sounds so nice. Can we put it on our piano and show it to all our friends when they come over? Tell them the romantic story of how we met.”

Blaze seizes my arm, and suddenly, I’m being dragged toward the far end of the veranda. His brute strength takes my breath away, but also excites me, and I don’t resist him as we move away from the crowd.

He waves his hand at the guests. “Give us some space,” he orders.

Without hesitation or question, the guests move toward the other end of the veranda, giving us privacy.

“This ends now.” There’s no room for argument in his steely voice.

“I wouldn’t have chosen you, either. But here we are.

You can either swallow your pride and be the Luna this pack expects you to be, or you can leave.

Now. I will not tolerate your insolence.

You will not defy me in front of my pack.

You have a job to do here. Either do it or don’t.

But I have enough to worry about here without fighting with you twenty-four hours a day. ”

Heat flushes my cheeks, and I lower my head.

“Am I making myself perfectly clear?”

He’s waiting for me to answer, and I nod. “I’m not trying to fight with you, Blaze.”

He continues as if I haven’t said anything. “There is enough unrest without you adding to it. I will not have my mate disrespecting me blatantly in front of my pack.”

Shame overwhelms me as I consider my actions over the past few days. At the same time, I don’t know if I can be the complacent mate he’s demanding me to be.

“I understand.” I won’t fight him in public, but behind closed doors is another matter altogether. He’s not going to get a doormat, but a partner. I’m his Luna, not his concubine.

It’s time to lay it all out between us. “You?—”

A distinct crash abruptly cuts off his words from the center of the veranda.

We whirl to look at the chaos unfolding before us.

For a moment, I don’t know what I’m looking at, the mayhem not registering in my brain.

“Oh, my gods!”

A flurry of fur and feathers flashes across the veranda.

I barely have a second to process what’s happening as the tear of clothing reaches my ears.

Blaze’s massive blue-gray dragon form shreds his tux away, leaving it in tatters.

I barely manage to escape the lash of his thick, scaly tail, taking cover as his eight-foot frame lunges forward.

“What is going on?” My question is a squeak, but Blaze is already gone, charging into the riot.