Page 1

Chapter 1

M ariana Reyes stared up into the endless black eyes of the most terrifyingly powerful creature she had ever encountered and saw fear. The Old One. Those were the words Dohal had said that had conjured the icy terror that chilled the room.

No one in the pool house had moved since he had said the name what felt like an age ago. It was eerily quiet, even without any glass in the windows.

Cisco, her stalwart gargoyle, glared from her side, his matte gray wings drawn up as if ready for a fight. Rio, the puma shifter who dealt in quiet words and wicked claws, looked on, his golden eyes narrowed. And sweet, sweet Dante, the unicorn with hair like the spun gold of his heart, looked like he was going to be sick.

Mari inhaled a breath and forced herself to speak. “Who is that?” She couldn’t make herself repeat the name.

“The Old One is who your father and the incubi feared. The genesis of every paranormal that now walks this world.” Dohal’s voice, far from his usual booming bass, was barely a whisper.

Mari clutched Dohal’s coal black arms in a death grip. “He’s the one who killed Argento?”

Dohal nodded. “He’s the one I was chained to keep out. You healed what was broken in me, but those scars were what kept you and this city safe from him.”

Oh no. What had she done?

He must have seen her stricken look, because he reached to touch her face, his claws achingly gentle on her skin. “Make no mistake, I am grateful. It is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

She swallowed roughly. That kindness might have doomed them all. She’d been so, so reckless in her need to save him that she hadn’t even considered there might be a greater danger lurking beyond. “Do we know for sure he’s on his way?”

“He will come. The most powerful nexus on Earth is here, miles under our feet.”

Mari tried to reach for the wards, but her magic was gone. There wasn’t a scrap left, and there wasn’t anything to pull from the men around her either. She couldn’t even feel whether the wards were still in place.

Dohal picked up on her discomfort at once. “I have nothing left to give you, bavi. You took every drop.” He kissed her softly, his breath feathering her lips. “You need rest to recharge. There’s nothing to be done until the morning. We will find a solution.”

She couldn’t tell whether the certainty in his tone was because they were totally and completely fucked, or if he really thought they could somehow fix this. She suddenly felt every single one of the long hours she’d been awake. Her eyelids were so heavy.

He lifted her like she weighed nothing at all and moved her up the bed, tucking her between Dante and Rio, who moved to wrap her in their arms. She hadn’t even realized how cold she had gotten until they both felt so blissfully warm around her.

Cisco pulled the blankets up around the three of them and then rose from the bed. He said something in a low voice to Dohal which prompted a response. She was too tired to piece together what they were discussing and drifted off in a haze of exhaustion.

Mari woke from the deepest sleep of her life, sore and aching all over. Someone traced a design she didn’t quite understand over her back with one gentle finger. Before she summoned the strength to open her eyes, she felt for the magical signatures around her. Three of her men surrounded her, and that eased her roiling anxiety somewhat. But where was the fourth?

She then reached for the wards above her, stretching thin the tiny sliver of magic she still had. They felt intact, though she couldn’t tell if they were functioning the way they should, because her own magic was so weak. She decided that problem could wait for when and if her magic rebounded. She definitely didn’t want to confront the fact that her power still wasn’t back after the discharge the night before and instead looked around.

Rio lay curled on his side facing her, snoring adorably. Behind him lay Cisco, staring over the puma shifter’s shoulder at her.

He watched her silently for a moment before he asked, “How are you feeling?”

She took a few beats to assess. “Empty. Tired. Sore.” She tried to stretch but regretted it immediately. “Saints, so sore.”

He smiled a little, showing his fangs. “Your magic has been unusually quiet. It had me worried.”

She didn’t like the concern in his voice, so she reassured him as best she could. “It still hasn’t recharged all the way.” She left out that she had no idea if it would. The magic she had used last night was far more than she’d ever thought she could wield, and the fact that it hadn’t returned was troubling. Still, she tucked that worry away.

A hand that she immediately recognized as Dante’s smoothed over her hip and came to rest over her pelvis. His skin warmed as he sent healing magic into her.

She sighed with relief as some of the tension left her. “Thanks.” She leaned back into him, reveling in the heat of his body.

“Always.” He kissed her shoulder and then her neck. “Where did Dohal go?”

“I’m not sure. He’s not far.” She widened her awareness, and there was the faintest tugging toward something that she thought must be him. “Maybe at the main house?”

“I woke up about three hours ago, and he wasn’t here,” Cisco said.

Dante ran his finger over her back again. “These look like his wings.”

“What—” She didn’t get a chance to ask further because Cisco grabbed her shoulder and rose to look at her back.

“Holy fuck.”

Rio groaned between them as he was rudely awakened by the movement.

“Someone explain what’s going on,” Mari grumbled.

“Dohal’s wings are marked on your back,” Cisco said after a moment. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

Mari was about to answer that she hadn’t known, when she realized he was asking Dante.

“I didn’t think it was a big deal,” Dante said. “They look just like the ones she gave us.”

Remembering what had happened with her necklace the night before, Mari pushed against Cisco’s chest so she could examine him. A delicate platinum tattoo in the shape of a rose among briars glistened on his skin.

She ran a finger over the curves of the petals and felt her own magic flickering there. Inside her, the goddess was smug. “It’s her mark,” Mari said after a moment.

Cisco placed his hand over hers and squeezed. “It’s yours.”

“I guess it is.” She smiled at him. “I wonder if that means the necklace was something she did, rather than Dohal.”

Cisco frowned, just a bit. “Well, if you manage to find him, you can ask.”

“I’ll go and look for him.” She got out of bed slowly with Dante’s help. While he was looking for his clothes, she went to the bathroom, closing the door behind her when Rio eyed her naked form with interest, before her libido could get any ideas that her body wasn’t up to. Saints, he was always horny in the morning. Usually, she was just as ready to go, but today she needed some time.

As she started up the water, she heard Rio moan, followed quickly by Cisco’s low chuckle. Apparently, Cisco had decided to defuse the situation while she washed up.

By the time she finished her quick shower and had toweled off, Cisco had Rio facedown on the bed, arms held tightly behind his back. He plied Rio with slow, deep strokes that had the puma shifter quivering under him and whispered how much he loved him over and over again in Spanish.

Neither of them noticed as she pulled a robe around herself and slipped out of the room with a soft smile on her lips.

She took a savory pastry from Giselle with a nod of thanks and waved to Dante, who was eating in the kitchen while on his phone, an exasperated expression on his face. She’d have to ask about whatever that was later. Right now, she was on a mission.

She could feel Dohal above her somewhere, his presence drawing her like a lodestone, and wondered if that had to do with the markings on her back. She’d peeked at them in the bathroom mirror after her shower.

They were delicate lines traced in platinum that were unquestionably his wings, anchored where the gemstones had implanted themselves along her spine. Surprisingly, none of that new hardware hurt at all. In fact, she wouldn’t have known they were there if Dante hadn’t said so.

Just another mystery to unravel as she munched on her delicious ham and cheese pastry and climbed the stairs to the guest bedrooms. What was he doing up there?

Mari found Dohal on a bench in the upstairs hallway, sitting across from one of the rooms with a sheet wrapped around his waist. He met her eyes as soon as she came into view, his expression softening. She noticed at once how changed he was from when she’d last seen him.

All the scars that had marked him were gone. His skin was a coal black expanse drawn taut over his muscular frame. The only mark on him was at his neck, the impression of her teeth. The fierce pride she felt over that claiming bite was probably unseemly, but she didn’t care. His horns were smaller, but still curled forward and up, red at the base and fading to the deepest black at the tips. His wings were entirely absent, and his long legs ended in perfectly normal looking human feet, which seemed a little out of place.

“You look different,” she finally said, as she closed the distance to him.

“The magic that held me in that cell also held me in that demonic visage. I’m free to transform as I like now and have assumed something that might blend in a little more.” He took her in from head to toes with a slow sweep of his eyes. “Do you not like it?” he asked, with a self-conscious shifting of balance.

“I do. But I liked you the other way too. You should look however you want to look.” She sat next to him. “What are you doing up here?”

“When the sun came up, I went outside. I had entirely forgotten how good it feels.” He let out a sigh and nodded to the door across from them. “Then I felt his pain, and it drew me here.”

Mari glanced up and down the hall. She had no idea whose room this was. Nova was at the end, then Greta. Last she knew, this room had been empty. She reached out with her senses and felt the remnants of both her own magic and Greta’s. “Luis,” she said under her breath.

She remembered how they had found him, strapped down to a table for Saints only knew how long, with some kind of machine attached to his head prying his mouth open. His pain had been excruciating.

Dohal murmured, “I’m hoping he’ll let me in to help him, but he’s not ready yet.”

Mari hugged herself around her middle. “Is he still in pain?”

“Not the physical sort. You and the life witch did well healing his body.” His generous mouth turned down in a frown. “What pains him now is his soul.”

“And you can fix that?”

“Not exactly.” Dohal shook his head. “It’s difficult to explain.”

When it was clear he wasn’t going to continue, she asked, “Have you tried to knock?”

One corner of his lips quirked up. “He knows I’m here.”

She offered him the remaining half of her pastry. “Well, if we’re here for the long haul, you might as well eat something.”

He eyed the napkin-wrapped parcel with curiosity but no hunger. “I don’t consume food.”

She shrugged and took a bite, then chewed slowly. “What do you eat then?” she asked once she’d swallowed.

“Magic.”

“Oh, I guess I knew that.” Mari stretched into the wards again. Everything up there felt normal, even if she didn’t. She wondered why it was taking so long for her magic to recharge. “Are you angry with me?” she asked as casually as she could manage.

“Not in the slightest.” He watched her carefully, pausing in consideration before he spoke. “Why would you think that?”

“The whole thing with breaking you out of jail without asking and us being undefended now.”

Dohal shrugged. “I might have been hasty in my assessment last night.” He gestured up. “The wards still stand, and they are still feeding me. While I am somewhat…changed since you healed me, I do not think I am diminished.”

“Well, that’s good. I never intended to harm you. I hope you know that.”

“I do.” His eyes searched her face. “What you did was out of kindness.” One corner of his mouth curled up. “And out of a brashness that I rather adore.”

A blush heated her cheeks. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

He watched her mouth as she took another bite, his gaze drifting downward when she swallowed, a strange expression on his face. When footsteps and voices came from the stairs, he shook himself.

Mari turned to see Pricilla and Willow walking toward them arm in arm. They walked toward Mari and Dohal at a sedate pace, as if out for a stroll.

When they finally came to a halt next to them, Willow paused for a long moment and then gestured with their chin. “He’s a dragon, by the way. A really old dragon.”

Mari stared at Willow, dumbfounded. A fucking dragon?

Beside her, Dohal rumbled with a deep laugh. “Was that a point of contention? You could have just asked.”

Pricilla offered her hand to Dohal, her magic unfurling. “Pris-”

Before Mari knew what she was doing, what little magic she had formed a shield between them that Pricilla ran into with a grunt. A growl rose from Mari’s throat.

Dohal eyed Mari with a satisfied smile. “I would advise that you keep your magic to yourself, witch,” he said to Pricilla with good humor. “My mate seems rather possessive today.”

“Oh, fuck,” Mari gasped, trying unsuccessfully to claw her power back. “I don’t know where that came from.”

Pricilla waved a hand. “No, entirely my fault. I let my curiosity get the better of me, and I should have known better.”

Dohal rested a clawed hand on the back of Mari’s neck, turning her toward him. “There is no one in all the realms that I want but you, bavi.”

She stared into his cosmic eyes and felt the tension inside her relax as the truth of his words took hold. Her magic came to heel in an instant. She drew in a long breath. “Oh.”

“A new bond always feels vulnerable, and I did you a disservice by leaving you this morning before it settled. Come here.” Dohal pulled her against his side and wrapped his arm around her.

She buried her face in the crook of his neck and felt immediately better. Yes, this was what she needed—his warm skin pressed against her. She nuzzled in with sigh.

Pricilla murmured that they would talk about the wards later and moved off with Willow in tow.

“I’m sorry I bonded you without your permission,” she said softly, after a few minutes passed. “I guess it’s just a thing I do now.”

“No, bavi.” He kissed the top of her head. “The bonding is mine. The instant you freed me from my cage, I felt it snap into place. You are my True Mate, as I’ve said all along.” He curled his fingers into her side and pulled her closer. “The magic trapping me prevented the bond from taking hold.”

The marking on her back suddenly made much more sense. He had claimed her. The goddess purred contentedly. “So, what does that mean for us?” She didn’t know anything about dragons or how they bonded. No one had even seen a dragon in centuries, as far as she knew. She was going to have to do some reading.

“Little has changed in that regard on my end. I will defend you and any offspring you bear to the death.”

That sounded ominous. “Are you going to try to kill the others?”

Dohal chuckled into her hair. “No. Dragons naturally form mating groups around a single center. Having others to defend you is a boon.” He dropped his voice into a lower register that rumbled through her, “And I very much enjoy watching them pleasure you.”

Her heartrate kicked into a higher gear. She became aware of how much of his bare body rested against her. Her magic that had been languid all day surged through her in a blaze of heat.

Dohal hummed. “That’s better.” He tipped back her head so she looked up at him. “I was a bit concerned that fixing me might have broken you.”

She felt more like herself than she had all morning. “I think I just needed some time close to you to recharge.”

“Whatever you need from me, you are more than welcome to it.” He ran a hand over her hair and smiled. “You expended a large amount of magic to free me. How did you manage it?”

“Most of that wasn’t mine. The goddess was keeping it somewhere, and as soon as she knew what it was for, she offered it up.”

His thumb skated over her bottom lip. “She is a clever creature.”

The goddess preened under his praise but stayed silent. “What do we do now, Dohal?”

“The Old One will come. There can be no doubt of that. But we have more tools at our disposal to fight him than I thought.” His eyes drifted to the door across from them again. He lowered his mouth to her ear and whispered, “He is a feathered serpent, perhaps the only creature in all the realms rarer than me.”

Something tickled the back of her mind about feathered serpents, but she couldn’t remember anything specific. “What are we waiting for him to decide?”

Dohal’s expression turned sad. “If he wants to live.”