Page 42 of Cruelly Fated (Princes of Avari #1)

Thirty-Eight

ALLIE

A low, menacing rattle built in the dragon’s throat as his jaws parted, smoke curling between his teeth.

The padlock released with a hiss, and the entrance creaked wide open. I rushed to slam it shut again, but it wouldn’t budge.

The dragon’s eyes tracked my every breath.

I slipped out and circled the cage. The heavy cube between us gave me a sense of some safety.

But his unwavering stare made my skin crawl.

I had to move, or he’d crush me along with the cage.

As if on cue, his wings twitched in the stale air, and a slow growl rolled out of his throat like a warning.

Adrenaline surged through me. This was real. Kyon’s dragon would hunt me through this underground maze like I was his prey. The odds of my outrunning the beast were nonexistent.

Oh, fae gods. When Kyon regained control—if he did—he’d never forgive himself for what he’d done. He’d fall to pieces. And that was exactly what Torian wanted. To destroy his brother’s soul, shatter his life and sanity, while he walked away with clean hands.

Coward.

I wouldn’t go down without a fight.

My gaze darted to the branching tunnels ahead. If I could hide, maybe with time, the dragon’s fury would fade. Maybe Kyon would break through the fog.

His chain hit the ground with a metallic clang , a deep snarl rolling through the cavern like thunder.

The hunt had begun.

I bolted, wasting no time to look behind.

The tunnels swallowed me, dim bulbs short-circuiting and cameras blinking their watchful red eyes.

My feet pounded against uneven stone, breaths tearing from my chest. A crash rang out from the cavern that sounded like the cage being mauled between his monstrous teeth.

His growl chased me into the tunnel, shaking walls, and I shrieked. A big mistake, as the sound signaled my location. The ground beneath my feet quaked. He was onto me now. I pumped my legs even as the heat from his flame warmed my back.

His wings unfurled with a leathery snap, scraping the stone as he surged forward, the impact echoing like a cannon blast. I whipped around a bend, heart hammering, lungs screaming for air. The scent of sulfur wrapped around me. He was closing in on me again.

I ducked into a side corridor and slammed to a halt, facing a dead end.

Shit. Shit .

Spinning, I pressed my back to the wall, chest heaving and fingers curling into fists. My ears rang in the silence that followed. No clawed steps, no snarl, just the hum of danger nearing.

His silhouette rose at the entrance. A massive, unstoppable dragon. His claws scraped the ground like chalk on a board, his eyes wild with the chase. He had me cornered and at his mercy.

Beastly eyes stared back at me. No Kyon in their depths.

I stifled a scream as he prowled closer, the space shrinking by the second. Right as his snout dipped down and his lip peeled to reveal rows of fangs, I whispered his name.

His eyes, still monstrous, flickered. Just once. The tiniest hitch of hesitation.

My throat squeezed.

“Kyon…?”

KYON

Darkness clung to the edges of my mind like tar.

Commands boomed through the static: hunt, destroy, obey.

I couldn’t stop my limbs from moving, couldn’t choke down the snarl building deep in my throat.

The collar cinched around my neck throbbed with power, its ancient magic unraveling everything human inside me.

And still, I fought back.

Her scent sliced through the smoke—peaches and cream. Soft, warm, and undeniably hers.

The dragon inside me stirred, confused. Then it snarled. Prey.

The cage yawned open, and she stepped out.

A jolt ripped through me. This is wrong.

Chase, the command whispered again, from some external place, some outside force driving me forward. I lunged, talons gouging stone, heat rolling through my lungs. I heard her labored breathing, saw the panic in the stiff curve of her shoulders, and I hounded her.

Stones cracked under my weight. The tunnels blurred. She darted ahead with impressive speed and agility and the raw instinct of a creature who wanted to live. My dragon roared his approval. Faster.

Beneath the bloodlust, other emotions brewed to the surface. Flesh we know. Eyes we trust. Mine.

The bond pulsed like a drumbeat through my skull, fighting the fog. A thread of gold in the dark. She wasn’t prey. She was my mate.

My head jerked, wings twitching. Confusion slashed through the fire. The predator wanted to pounce, but my soul reeled back.

She turned a corner and I followed. Then she stopped, trapped in a dead end. I entered the chamber, each tread an inner battle with my beast. Smoke curled from my nostrils. My jaw unhinged enough for the fire to bloom when ordered.

She peered at me.

My limbs trembled. Heat built in my chest, but not the kind I could unleash. Her violet eyes burned into mine. My claws scraped stone, ready to lunge…

She breathed my name.

And I froze.

Not because of Torian’s command. Not because the collar thrummed with a different tune. But because she called on me.

My gaze locked on hers, and for a fleeting second, I felt it. The hollow tear in the fog. The crack in the commands.

Kyon, she whispered across the bond.

Her voice struck a lifeline directly to my heart. Something primal and sacred surged inside me— mine, mine, mate —but not in the way the beast understood. She was my mate. Not a target. Not prey, but the girl I would die for. Kill for.

My claws twitched. My jaws eased as I shoved the dragon aside and came back.

Click , click, click.

The soft sound, no louder than fingers snapping, cracked through the cave like a hammer slamming down on my humanity. The collar ignited in a pale gold blaze. Magic surged through my spine, detonating like firecrackers in my brain. My vision fractured.

No—

I smacked into the wall erected in my mind, the command obliterating my control.

I saw through eyes no longer mine.

Smelled her.

Heard her pulse.

And worst of all… felt the dragon’s lust to maim and kill.

My limbs moved without me. My fire coiled without mercy.

Torian’s voice slithered from the speakers, pleased. “Showtime.”

The dragon crouched low, his tail lashing. Ready to finish the hunt.

ALLIE

I had no weapon, no defense tactics. Nothing that would work against him. Against the beast. In their animal forms, shifter fae repelled all magic. Yet I had to try to reach him. Even if the illusion worked only for me, I’d die happy, immersed in the moments we’d shared.

My magic rose on instinct, frantic and crude, slithering through my veins as I met the dragon’s molten eyes. His pupils thinned into slits, and his shoulders coiled like a predator preparing to strike. I pushed against the dragon’s barriers, harder than I’d ever tried.

The world melted away.

We stood beneath the gray, smoky sky of the prison yard, where I had first dared to approach him. His human form leaned against the chain-link fence, seven feet of brooding danger and impossible strength, his daring stare slicing through me.

My heart had thundered that day; it had taken every ounce of nerve to approach him, make the deal, and pretend I wasn’t terrified. And fae gods help me, the way he looked at me… Like I was a mystery begging to be unraveled.

The illusion shifted. We were closer now—curled together, my body in his lap, my fingers tangled in his hair, lips grazing. My heart ached watching it. The truth of what we were had started there. I’d felt dizzy with something I couldn’t name.

The moment that shattered walls between us followed. Me, kneeling by him in the cave after his first shift. Him, devastated and broken. But even then, Kyon’s eyes had sought mine, not with the hunger of a beast, but with the quiet plea of a man lost in the dark, begging for a tether.

Tears slipped free, hot and fast. I let him see them in the illusion. I wanted him to feel this. All of it.

“You saved me before,” I whispered. “You fought the dragon to protect me. You didn’t let it take over then… Don’t let it now.”

The cavern flickered into view for a breath. The dragon trembled, claws scraping stone, smoke spilling from his nostrils in shallow bursts. The beast huffed, its snout only inches from my face. Heat swelled around me.

I closed my eyes and unleashed everything on him. The grief over my mom, the fury at what Torian had done, the ache that bloomed in my chest whenever I imagined losing him before we ever had a chance to become…something real.

The dragon reared with an agonizing wail. The ground vibrated.

Please. Please come back.

My knees hit the stone. My heart pounded so violently it drowned out everything else. A strangled breath echoed through the chamber, hoarse and human, like something breaking the surface after nearly drowning. The dragon’s pupils dilated. Kyon was fighting his way back.

I surged to my feet and sprinted toward him. Gripping his front leg, I scrambled up his writhing back, inching toward the collar. That cursed thing was choking him, interfering with his shift .

I slammed my fists against the polished metal. It didn’t help that Kyon kept swaying and snarling, jerking beneath me like a live wire. I fell out of sync with his movements and my momentum flung me sideways. I slipped, legs dangling, my grip on the collar the only thing keeping me from falling.

My fingers scraped along the underside, finding an indent hidden beneath the metal. I jammed both thumbs into it, praying I did it right. With a sharp click, the collar split open at the top.

Cursed metal in hand, I fell.