Page 55

The day the first tsunami wave struck the East Coast was her father’s birthday.

Her mother had jokingly given him a liter of the whiskey reminiscent of their first meeting.

Avalore’s father had packed the bottle with the things they had been able to bring underground with them.

Annually, she’d watched her father allow himself only a half shot on his birthday.

When she turned eighteen, he’d poured out a full shot, the last of it, depressed that he had nothing else to give her, they shared the drink and talked about her deceased mother.

Then the liquor had gone straight to her head and made her feel off just a little, showing her that if she’d been able to have more then it would have been too potent, too strong for her not to be bowled over.

And now Liekki’s scent was that very damnable thing. Her knees quivered and she felt unsteady.

“Trust me, I have no desire to be your parent, but I’d gladly turn you over my knee if I thought a sore ass would make you listen, little lure.” The flames licking his irises were now a sapphire blue.

Avalore gasped. Not only because of his shocking words, but the heat radiating from his body that seemed to envelope her, making her skin tingle. The mental image he painted didn’t help, either.

I can’t be affected by such...such a nefarious suggestion .

She decided it was best to ignore his taunts and her response. Quickly, she ducked underneath his arm and hustled away from him. “Look. I thank you for all you and your people have done for me, but it's best if I get back on my way.”

He shifted so that he was in that damn devil may care, nonchalant pose again, his body balanced by his shoulder blades leaning back on the door with his arms folded.

“To where, Avalore?”

She threw her hand out at her side. “Anywhere. This is what I was doing when your dragon scared me into the beehive of death. So, I’ll be headed to any place that’s not here or around you.”

“I don’t foresee that happening.”

“Well, you’ll see when my ass is walking out the door at first light.” Avalore pivoted and marched out of the kitchen. She planned to go up the stairs and start packing a couple of things to take. Liekki could return all the rest of the things after she was gone.

Just as she lifted her foot to head up the first step, Liekki’s huge hand wrapped around one of her biceps and held her firmly, stopping her.

“Wait.” His body heat caressed along her back, while his rough voice as beguiling as satin along the skin whispered close to her ear.

Her breath caught and she tried not to breathe him in, to preserve her sanity as she tried to prepare herself for what the infuriating shifter had to say.

“Tomorrow, you leave with me.”

Not a question. An order.

She’d had enough orders in the lab. She placed a hand on his thick forearm and shoved away from him. Even though she knew he allowed it, she used the moment to escape from his scent and heat.

In the space between the stairs and the door she faced him. He took up a lot of area with his size, but she was grateful that he hadn’t followed her retreat.

“You can’t tell me where I can and can’t go. I’m my own person.”

“In this I will, Avalore.”

Instead of the spine-tingling nickname, hearing her name out of his mouth should have warned her that Liekki meant business, but she’d always been a bit hardheaded.

“In this you won’t,” she countered. “If I have to do it tonight, to get it through your thick head that I call the shots for Avalore, then I will.” She reached back for the door handle.

“No.” His growl was low and menacing. “You will not put yourself in harm. You will come with the Mckenna and me tomorrow.”

The Mckenna and Liekki? That gave her pause, her fingers flexed around the handle. “Why would your leader need me to go? I’m not a part of your Thunder.”

Those sexy violet eyes stared at her for a long moment. They were such a pale color that she could swear she could see shadows moving through them like clouds in a sky. She wondered what was going on in the Drahk’s mind.

Then he finally spoke, “You’re a marked human. So, by preternatural council agreements, you must be presented before all the territory leaders.”

All the leaders. Boom. Boom. Her heart pounded with fear. She had barely adjusted to the fact there were dragon-shifters and now she’d have to meet other kinds?

Nope. Nope . “I can’t do that. I won’t do that.”

She turned toward the door and tried to open it. In her fury at Liekki, she’d forgotten that the stone door was too damn heavy for her to do it. She struggled.

“If you don’t, little lure, and you run, it is inevitable that elite shifters will hunt you until they track you down.”

Damn it. Her hands were shaking and sweating, making keeping her grip on the steel handle hard.

His scent and heat were too close again, then she felt his hand cover hers on the handle.

They stood like that momentarily, before Liekki buried his nose in her hair behind her ear and said, “Don’t be afraid. I protect what’s mine.”

His what? His prisoner evidently, because that's how she felt right now, unable to escape being trapped between a literal rock and a hard place—the door and Liekki.

“Let me out, please,” she pleaded.

Wordlessly, Liekki’s hand tightened a fraction around hers before he pulled.

When the door reached the point, it was open wide enough for her, Avalore scooted out and then sprinted away. Relief.

She wasn’t even sure where she was going. But she knew she needed air untainted by his decadent scent and space. Well, sort of, because even though Liekki had let her flee his home, he still shadowed her.

Avalore surprisingly couldn’t hear the big man walking, but she could feel his presence, which was even more intimidating.

Avalore didn’t know many places other than the Great Hall and the textile building; this time, she took another path.

The more Drahks who called out greetings to the guard dragon-shifter behind her, the faster she strutted in her new rubber-soled lace-up shoes.

Which made her walk a lot more comfortably on her feet than the first time she’d left the house.

The fact that she would be wearing shoes instead of slippers when she walked out of the territory had been her only glimmer of excitement.

She had chalked it up to her fascination and discovering more about the Drahks and their territory than her discontent having anything to do with Liekki.

Soon, she heard a clang that sounded like metal striking metal. At first, she thought clanking signaled she was getting close to the Blacksmith’s shop, and with Liekki following her, the last thing she wanted was another confrontation between the two men.

However, when she rounded the corner of a building, she saw a vast clearing with a fenced-off area that took up most of the space. Within the circle were a couple of pairings of men and women sparring with swords.

Mesmerized, Avalore rushed forward. In wonder, she allowed her gaze to feast on the dueling giants, but as she traversed the boundaries of the fence, she stared on in shock as she saw a deep-brown-skinned woman with her head shaved to the skin on both sides of her head and her hair, locs, were braided together over her crown and down the center of her back.

That Drahk wasn’t only calling out commanding instructions to those sparring like she had eyes in the back of her head, but she had a broad sword in her hand, just as massive as the set that adorned Liekki’s mantel over his living room fireplace, as she instructed a medium-brown-skinned woman with a thick mane of coils surrounding her face.

The woman with natural hair wasn’t holding a wide sword like the others, but a shorter, narrower one, and she was pregnant.

No mistake about it, by the distinct swell of her belly.

“Khuzaimah...I feel ridiculous,” the pregnant woman said as she held out her sword and took a few hesitant steps to the side.

“Nonsense, Aguya. Get out of your head.” Khuzaimah, the woman with the locs, spun her wrist causing her blade to make a smooth arc before her as she crossed one sure foot over the other. “Fafner, keep your shoulders down and your sword up.”

Avalore wasn’t sure who Khuzaimah was speaking to, until she heard a guy, who looked a year or so younger than her, groan as he hustled back from his wide-swinging opponent and barely got his sword up to defend himself.

Too fascinated to look away for long, Avalore focused on the sword master and the expectant mother. A human. Avalore knew it, not only because the woman was tall but shorter than the average Drahk, but also because there were no markings on her bare arms like everyone else in the area.

Pure relief at the sight of another human in the land filled with towering bodies, made Avalore smile as she leaned against the fence. The heat along her back, told her that Liekki was close behind her, but she chose to ignore him and pay attention to what was happening before her.

“I told Aodh this training session would make more sense once I have the baby, and my body is not so cumbersome.”

Even though the woman complained, Avalore could see how her hesitant steps were still agile.

Avalore didn’t know how it was possible. She’d seen plenty of pregnant women, the woman’s size and smaller in the district, and they were always wobbly and seemed to groan with each step as if it took great effort to even think about moving.

“The Mckenna knows what I do. While I carried all of my offspring, I still trained Drahk and sparred daily. Of course, it was a taunt in itself for them to be beaten by an expectant female.” Khuzaimah chuckled.

The trainer turned briefly to point her sword toward a teen girl sparring successfully with a boy who appeared the same age and was holding the upper hand. “That is my mate and my youngest there,” her voice full of pride.

She’s good.

“She’s good,” Aguya echoed Avalore’s thoughts as she glanced over at the skills of the young lady.