Page 27 of Into the Dawn (The Arcadians #4)
As soon as Kylie was back on the ground, Ronan and Dominic barely gave her time to say hello to their younger brothers before they whisked her away.
Once her dragon landed, it had taken her several minutes to figure out how to shift back into her regular form. Luckily, the fire she had used to kill the rogues had cleared an area large enough for her to land. It had felt strange having her mates run their hands over her dragon body.
The smooth, golden red scales that covered her beast’s large form were plates of impenetrable armor. Despite the hard shielding, she felt ultra-sensitive when her mates stroked their hands over her. Yet, when Layla and the young princes touched her scales, she felt nothing.
With their safety no longer a concern, Ronan had ordered Axis, Bastion, and Keo to meet up with their father and escort Layla back to the palace. Kylie felt a little bad about leaving Layla with the trio, but her friend was an expert at wrangling wild teenagers, having dealt with her own brothers.
They’d run into a little problem when they realized Layla couldn’t understand the Arcadian language. Kylie had been able to use her magic to help her friend learn the language instead of having to inject her with an L-CON, or language converter unit, that most of the Arcadians used.
Since Kylie had shifted back, Dominic hadn’t released his hold on her hand.
Even when he had dragged her into the dark caverns and squeezed through a space barely big enough for his big body to fit through.
Ronan followed closely behind them, touching her back, shoulder, and arm as if he too needed to keep contact with her.
She sensed the emotions swirling within them but didn’t understand what had caused such strong reactions. “Umm, are you guys okay? What’s going on? Why are you acting so weird?”
“We are angry,” Ronan said.
“At me?”
“Nay, love. Never that,” he denied quickly. “We are angry that the rogues caused us to miss your first shift. And for causing you to have to take lives without us there to help you.”
Okay, she could see why that would have bothered them.
She was no fighter, but she was proud that she had been able to protect her mates.
She was also pleased that she had managed to shift into her dragon form, but the experience would have meant more if they had been by her side.
Better yet, she wished they had been able to soar through the sky with her.
Arriving back on Arcadia only to find her missing had made them feel tense and uneasy. Add in the fact she had been forced to fight their enemies, and her protective mates were definitely feeling all sorts of stressed.
But that still didn’t explain why they were dragging her into the mountain.
“Where are we going?”
“We are taking you to our special hideout we claimed when we were younglings,” Ronan told her.
“Okay. I’d love to see it.” She paused before asking, “Is Layla safe with your brothers? They won’t pull a prank and leave her in the forest, will they?”
“Nay, mate. They would not do that to her. They understand how important she is to you, to us, and to her future mates,” Ronan explained. “Besides, our father and his warriors are with them now. She is safely being escorted back to the palace.”
That was one thing she could stop worrying about, then.
“What about our bags? Shouldn’t we fetch them before some wild animal drags them off?”
Ronan chuckled. “Our father has sent people to collect them for us.”
Satisfied with the answers he’d given her, she poked Dominic in the back. “Hey, why aren’t you talking to me?”
“He gets like this when he is brooding. He really wanted to be with you for your first shift. We both did. Those damned rogues,” Ronan growled. “They all deserve to die.”
“I sort of took care of that for you,” she quipped.
A small part of her felt heartless joking about the matter, but her dragon spirit felt nothing but contentment over what she had done.
If anyone dared to attack her mates, they deserved to face her wrath.
She didn’t mind becoming someone others feared.
If that helped protect the people she cared about, she was all in.
Something had been bothering her about the whole situation, though.
“How are so many of the rogues getting through the protection barrier?”
“We do not know,” Ronan admitted with a sigh. “But someone has to be betraying us.”
“I agree, but what is their goal? They aren’t just attacking randomly.
This was a coordinated attack that had multiple groups working together.
They were after your younger brothers, but why?
To get to you? They already knew you were in the forest, and those other teams you fought had been trying to kill you. ”
“So, what do you think is the reason?” Ronan asked.
“I don’t know. But it seems like there is a bigger plan in play, doesn’t it?”
“They want to take over the kingdom,” Dominic said softly, finally breaking his silence. “That is the only thing that makes sense. Kill us, use the little ones to force our mother and fathers to step down. That is the perfect takeover.”
“That would make sense,” Ronan agreed. “Then, they would have access to the sacred lake and an endless food source. Not only that, they would also have control over the largest population of unmated females on the planet.”
Fuck that.
Knowing what the rogues would do to the females had Kylie feeling a little feral. She’d damn well burn them all before she let that happen.
“Now you are sounding like a true warrior,” Ronan teased. He sobered, and after a few heartbeats of silence, he said, “I think I know who is behind this. If I am right, it is a bigger betrayal than we initially believed.”
“We need proof,” Dominic snapped.
Kylie remained silent on the issue, her thoughts swirling with the implications.
Her mates were visibly angry and hurt, their suspicion clearly directed towards someone they trusted.
If that were the case, they would need to be absolutely certain before taking any action.
Regardless of the outcome, she was determined to help them uncover the truth.
And if it came down to it, she would gladly make the perpetrators pay for betraying her mates.
When they finally arrived at their destination, they entered a hidden grotto that reminded her a little of the magical place she had visited in the Isle of Dreams. It was a serene space where nature’s true beauty was on display.
The walls of the cave were covered in verdant foliage, with vines cascading down from the ceiling like delicate curtains. Glowing flowers bloomed on the vines, adding light to the space above their heads like colorful stars.
The grotto was illuminated by the blue light crystals that were embedded in the walls of the cave, along with the brilliant glow coming from the three tiers of purple pools that were present.
The sound of trickling water echoed through the cave that came from the water spilling from small cracks in the rocks that fed directly into the top pool.
The tiers of pools acted like a large waterfall system, each pool spilling into the next. The air was cool and refreshing, which seemed odd for being so deep in the mountain, especially since there was steam rising from the surface of the lowest pool.
As they moved deeper into the grotto, she noticed a cushioned seating area had been set up in one corner, complete with a stone firepit and shelves carved into the rocks.
She could imagine the two of them hanging out in the grotto with their brother, Eron, when they were younger.
It was the perfect place to relax, share stories, and whisper secrets.
“Each pool of water is a different temperature,” Dominic explained. “The lowest pool is heated by the rocks below, while the top tier is cooler from the water trickling down from a source high in the mountain.”
Deciding that a dip in a natural hot spring sounded lovely, she unzipped her jacket and slowly started to remove the other layers she was wearing. She could feel the heat of her mates’ eyes on her, feel the intensity of their desire for her, and it fueled her with courage.
When she stood before them naked, she held her hands out to them.
They went to her without hesitation. Dominic got to her first, pulling her into his arms and claiming her mouth in a fierce kiss. She met his passion with equal fervor, worshiping him with lips, tongue, and teeth. When she broke the kiss, she rested her head on his chest.
“I love you, Dominic,” she whispered softly, her breath caressing his skin.
“And I love you, Kylie. Even when all the stars fall from the sky, I will remain by your side, loving you.”
She moaned low in her throat when she felt Ronan’s hard body against her back.
She loved the feeling of being pressed between them.
It made her feel safe, cherished, and most of all, loved.
When Dominic turned her around to face his brother, Ronan immediately claimed her lips in another heated kiss.
“I love you, mate. Forever with you is not long enough for me. I will love you beyond the end of time,” Ronan vowed through their bond.
“And I love you, Ronan. You are my mate, my love, my light.”
She had been reborn with them, wild and unfiltered.
And now, she wanted to unleash the magic within them.
They shared whispered words of love as they took turns kissing her, slowly driving her crazy with need. Unwilling to wait any longer, Kylie used her magic to undress them both. Bathed in the soft glow filling the cavern, they looked like gods who had just stepped out of a dark dream.
Feeling their desperate desire to complete the bonding ritual with her, she knew she was finally ready. She wanted to be fully merged with them, body, heart, and soul. And to do that, she would finally get to act out her wildest fantasy by being with them both at the same time.