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“I couldn’t help but be drawn by unfamiliar screams.” His brother continued to speak in the tongue of their beasts as he glanced over to the floor by the glass wall where Kai remained.

Aodh watched the unique beauty from the corner of his eye and realized she had crumpled to the floor at some point. Thump. Thump. His heart reacted to the palpable grief surrounding her.

She sat leaning against the glass, her face and one palm pressed to it as she stared into the darkness. “I’m sorry, Morlie,” she mumbled repeatedly.

“She fears for her sister.” Aodh continued in the same dialect as he met his brother’s gaze. “The magistrate didn’t meet.”

Liekki pushed away from the wall by the door and moved closer to him. “Then how have we come to gain such a...” his brother’s nostrils flared as he inhaled, “pleasurable diversion? Two at that?”

A low warning roar erupted from Aodh before he could stop it.

“Ah...” Liekki’s head tipped to the side as he assessed him. Eyes, a dual color of emerald and ruby compared to the tri-colors of Aodh’s, held him. Something unnamed flashed in the depth of his brother’s eyes as Liekki continued his silent perusal.

Aodh did not have to be one of the wise ones of their thunder to know Liekki recalled every time he’d refused to take an outsider and only satisfied the fierce desires of his beast with those who understood and accepted he only sought pleasure without binding.

Liekki broke his silence. “Have my ears deceived me, or has my brother made a claim?”

“She is mine.” Aodh indicated with his chin toward Kai to ensure his brother understood which female he was referring to.

“It’s about time. You have done well in bringing in several mates for those in our clan. We have long waited for our King to mate and breed . So, others—”

“Spoken from someone who refused to let me match him.” Aodh folded his arms and eyed his brother. He knew where Liekki was going with his words. It was a conversation he refused to undertake at this time for many reasons.

His ears perked at the soft whimpers from Kai.

“I told you I would not claim anyone until you did, brother. It is the order of things.”

“An old order.” When their grandfather and the fathers before him were over the Thunder, they always mated as soon as they got their position and produced heirs.

At one time, they took multiple Drahkelle, female mates, to ensure the expansion of their kind.

It wasn’t until his father found his mate, one female he couldn’t live without, and refused any other.

It was odd that Aodh and his two siblings were all from the same Drahkelle.

Aodh always wanted that kind of connection. Not simply a warm, willing body.

Liekki shrugged. “Thank goodness most Drahk in the thunder are not so selective. You have had time because we are many. We did not face extinction as other kinds after the humans almost destroyed the land.”

Aodh guffawed. He didn’t hate humans but had little sympathy for their current plight. One they had placed themselves in. “Everything will be set right soon.” Aodh looked over at Liekki.

“Is she yours?”

He knew what his brother asked. “Yes.” Ending the conversation for now, Aodh strode in Kai’s direction. “We need to go.”

Snapping out of her grief-induced trance from his words, Kai leaped to her feet and rushed him. “You did this to her. You said you would help, but you kil-l-ed h-er.”

“She’s got fight.” Liekki smiled, his gaze ablaze with curiosity and humor as he folded his arms, standing back to watch the exchange.

For a moment, Aodh bore the strikes of her fists. They barely registered through his tough skin. Finally, not wanting her to injure herself, he grabbed her wrists. “Enough, little flame.”

“My sister is in there dying or dead now. Who are you to tell me when my pain is enough?” She yanked against his hold as she widened her feet for leverage.

Kai wasn’t strong enough to break away from him, but he eased his grip so she could.

Even feeling her soft, delicate skin and the heat of her form close to him caused a desire to fill his core.

He sacrificed the increased want of her for what she needed now.

Besides, he didn’t want her to consider her puniness compared to his people and fear him, believing he would hurt her.

The sour stench of human fear wasn’t something he needed on top of her anger over her sister.

“She is neither. Morlie lives. Her body will revive and be stronger than before sickness set in.” He drove his fingers through his hair in frustration. Like the humans they’d interacted with, Kai did not understand them or their ways. He’d have to pace the flow of information with her.

She shook her head. “How is that possible? In the Dispatch, I have seen what smoke can do to people...”

Aodh picked up on the shadows of pain in her words.

The sadness surrounding her was older and greater than the freshness of what she felt for her sister.

His mate had suffered on multiple levels.

It made him want to grab his broad sword and slay them all, break the treaty lines, sail over the heavy wall they locked themselves behind, and release a blaze of fury on them.

The spirits of his ancestors rose in him, reminding him of the glories of times past. Before another treaty humans had begun to break.

“Not this time, Kai.” He reached out to lightly touch her hand, needing the connection.

She moved away as she faced him. “I’ve been lied to before. Why should I trust what you say? You are a stranger.”

I am your mate.

“You have the word of our McKenna,” Liekki’s chest swelled as he lowered his arms and spoke Aodh’s true name in the language of their beast.

Her hard gaze shot towards his brother. “Am I supposed to understand what that means?”

“Liekki, leave it.” Aodh slashed a hand through the air. It wasn’t because Aodh didn’t want Kai to know who they were. He preferred to discuss everything with her in private in due time.

“Oh, little fighter.” Liekki didn’t follow his command. His brother rarely followed them, to Aodh’s exasperation. “You’ve saddled yourself up with Aodh Brandr McKenna, the God of Fire.”

“God of Fire?” Kai shifted and stared back at him.

Aodh could practically hear her mind processing the information and trying to figure it out.

“Yes. Before you stands the bona fide Dragon King,” Liekki continued, no temperance in his news.

Kai gasped and took a step back.

“Welcome to our world.” Liekki chuckled as he spread his arms wide, indicating more than the room, more than their lair.

Aodh’s growled at his kin’s reckless audacity.

“Be careful of his bite.” His annoying brother tossed over his shoulder as he exited the room.

“Where do you keep them?” She glanced from left to right as if she expected a secret cave to open at any moment. “Was that your plan? Bring us here and feed us to your massive, fire-breathing reptiles?” She moved away from him until her back pressed against the glass door.

Kai’s stance was more about protecting her sister than trying to save herself by running out of the room, screaming like the hounds of hell were after her, as many of the humans brought to them had done.

“I’ve read the old books and seen the movies they made. Your kind destroys.”

Reptile . He had barely heard beyond the slanderous words.

Aodh didn’t hold back the rumble of his awake beast, who rose inside of him, ready to provide proof to her words to showcase his power. Aodh strengthened the leash around him—holding back the beast.

“Fiction. We only attack when attacked. It has been centuries since that has happened.” He moved closer to her. “Shifters have lived among humans since before the recording of time. We were not the ones—”

Kai shook her head, refusing to believe him or hear his words. “If that’s true. Maybe you all are the ones responsible for the Great Catastrophe.”

His laughter roared out of him at her absurdity.

“Dragon shit. Humans are the destroyers. Nature. The planet. Each other. Preternatural entities’ makeup is different.

Not that we were not affected in our ways by the fuck ups of man.

But the fortune of the species kept us from burying our families under the sand. ”

“Well, goodie, goodie for lizards and things. Maybe that’s why your kind has thrived through this, while we...we—”

“Stop calling us lizards and reptiles.” He cut her off. He understood that she was angry, but he wouldn’t allow her to cast the blame on her governing body at his council’s feet. “Humankind is responsible. We didn’t build the wall.”

She faced off with him, her jaw clenched and her lips tight.

He exhaled to release the tension in his body and the room. What was it about this woman? His mate. She stood against him, fierce and bold. It wouldn’t be hard for him to imagine her showing the same force to defend her young.

“Enough. I’ll explain more later. Now you need care and food. We must go.”

“I won’t leave Morlie until I know she is all right.” She glanced over her shoulder. Smog still filled the room behind her. “And I can see her.”

“That will take some time.” He listened in on the young one. Her breaths were still shallow but even.

“How long?”

“Weeks, perhaps, before the room clears and she awakens.” He set his hands on her hips.

Kai jerked at his touch as she snapped her head around but remained. “What did you do to her?”