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T he meeting dispersed around them, but he stood unmoving before her in the center of it all.

The big beast of a man before her made her heart pound painfully in her chest, and she had to glance away to get her bearings and control the uncontrollable, her reaction to him.

No matter how hard she tried, the ebony-haired giant occupied most of her mind, but she still found herself fascinated by the changes around her. When the council members arrived, they had all seemed to strut in, fighting to dominate the open-air, stone-columned structure with their presence.

However, with the plans they had all discussed over the last few hours, they all began to shift and head back to their territory, their homes.

The Lupines were the first to rip out of their clothing and shift into two massive wolves, Chanin’s smoke gray and his Beta’s black. Then the Ursine left lumbering out as two great bears almost identical in size, just their brown and black coats signaling their difference.

Michaela wrapped her arms around the Dark Prince of the Vampires as Amaros held Avalore’s friend close to his chest before the two vanished, leaving only a majestic swirl of black smoke in their wake.

Avalore gasped but was glad that Mich, her friend, appeared happy and safe.

The Fae were the only ones who simply glided out of the meeting space with ethereal whispers of movement, their wings wide and translucent as they disappeared into the dense trees.

When she glanced over at the last person whose shoulders seemed to challenge the strength of the heavy stone columns he stood between, Aodh offered her a nod.

“I’ll meet you later in the territory, Liekki.” Aodh, the leader of the Drahk, stared at his brother, a wealth of thoughts converging in his features, but none Avalore could truly decipher.

His brother’s voice broke into the intense stare of the massive man before her and offered her a moment of relief when Liekki turned his gaze to his Mckenna.

She could finally draw in a full breath.

Less than two of his huge feet away from her, the man seemed to consume everything around her and feed it back to her in his own way.

She wasn’t breathing air but him. His dark, aged-whiskey-cinnamon scent filled her lungs and made her lightheaded.

It was doing things to her. Hell, it always affected her, but she’d told herself she’d done a good job of pretending it didn’t.

Allowing her annoyance with his domineering attitude and behavior to be the target of her focus.

It was easier that way. Easier to stir up emotions in one direction to keep them from overtaking her in another.

But it wasn’t just his scent causing her mind to fuzz and her knees to forget how to keep her standing, but the man’s heat rivaled the sun.

She told herself that it was because the sun had been filtered through the purplish haze covering the sky for so long, but even as the sun became stronger, it didn’t compare to Liekki’s warmth.

The dragon-shifter's nearness, even at a distance when he wasn’t touching her, caused her skin to tingle and her nerves to dance, twirl, and stretch to get closer to him.

The urges in her body demanded she move in closer, rub herself all over Liekki’s imposing form, and draw in his heat.

His sculpted, well-built form was hidden beneath the button-down shirt and slacks.

Even dressed conservatively casual, she thought he was captivating, but she preferred him in the vest or shirtless with all his gorgeous, black-scale markings and ripples upon ripples of muscles on display. He looked proud and formidable.

Liekki held his brother’s gaze, and Avalore could have sworn the two men were talking, even though their mouths weren’t moving and they made no gestures.

“I’ll be there,” Liekki forced out on a growl. Then he stared at her again, and the Mckenna stepped out into columns and the clearing. A second later, a massive, burnt-orange dragon launched into the sky and caused the ground to quake from the force.

The disturbance of the air by the big wings caused Liekki's ebony strands to lift away from his shoulders and her hair to whip around her face, as the heavy wind caused her to stumble forward closer to the behemoth man.

Liekki tracked her movement with those violet eyes but remained as still as a marble statue.

She brushed her long, wavy locks away. Tempted to follow the dragon’s flight path, since the three of them had walked quite a way through the territory to get to the meeting grounds, she was interested in the direction he went.

Avalore understood why Aodh needed to rush back. After the long meeting and all the plans the council discussed, the dragon leader would need to get back quickly to brief the Thunder. Something big would be going down soon.

She swallowed, nervous. “Um...don’t you think we should start on our way back? I’ve walked the forest in the dark before, and I don’t particularly like it.”

“Are you scared of what could get you, little lure?” A wisp of white smoke twirled out as he spoke, as if there was a furnace fire trapped inside of him.

There probably was. The man was a dragon after all.

She felt the brush of it like a finger caress over her chin before it dissipated. Swallowing again, she licked her lips. “Well, the last time didn’t go well for me.”

Liekki let out a guttural, low-pitched chuckle. “I’d say you ended up right where you need to be. With whom you needed to be with.”

The salacious grin and the cerulean-blue flame flickering in his eyes made her heart beat.

“The bees may have something to say about our initial encounter,” she responded saucily, trying to keep the intense moment light.

Telling Liekki she’d have been better off if she hadn’t fallen under his dragon’s radar and continued to search for human survivors.

But after the meeting today, witnessing all the territorial leaders with barely contained violence in this meeting space, she doubted any humans were roaming around free.

Then, Liekki took a step, leaving only one of her size feet of space between them.

“Little Lure, you should know by now that I’d never see you hurt by anything.”

“Yes.” He’d demonstrated that clearly with his rage over Mich’s need to bite her. Being a new vampire and around so much blood constantly couldn't be easy. But Liekki had been there in an instant to protect her.

“And you realize my not claiming you puts you at great risk?”

“Yes.” Micheala using her like a baby’s sippy cup was the least of her concerns, but her government was a real threat. “They want us back.”

“Never,” he growled, and this time, the dense puff of smoke that came out was charcoal gray with a pungent sulfuric smell.

Avalore shivered at the scent even though she knew Liekki’s threat was not directed at her.

“They will not have you. No one will touch you.”

She wanted to remind Liekki of the plans the council had devised, but seeing the illumination of his scale markings now a blood-orange hue, she decided not to agitate the dragon-shifter further.

The last thing Aodh and the other leaders needed was Liekki’s dragon flying over to the Wall and burning the entire place down, which had been one of Liekki’s suggestions during the discussion.

All the leaders had been clear that the civilians in the Dispatch District needed to be protected. Liekki, in this state, would put everyone at risk.

“I know you’ll ensure I am safe.” On instinct, she reached out and placed a hand at the center of his chest. Avalore could feel the tension in the big man’s form release and settle.

Did my touch do that?

He raised his hand to cover the back of her hand, keeping it against him, his warmth heating her palm and surrounding her. “To do this, I must claim you. Mark you in all ways as mine.”

“Liekki, I—” She wanted to deny it and tried to pull her hand away.

Liekki held her firm. “I never wanted a mate.”

She couldn’t bear seeing the truth of those words in his eyes, so she trained her gaze on his chest where their hands rested. Hurt, she bit out, “No one’s asking you to take one now.”

His hand flexed around hers, and the sound he made in his chest was the settling of rocks and boulders at the bottom of a valley.

It made her breath catch.

“No man denies what the Great Spirit gives for long.”

She shook her head. His words weren’t the balm to her core as he may think. There was still a tightness inside of her. Doubt strangled all hope within her heart. She’d believed her family would be there for her always. She’d hoped the sacrifice in the lab would provide her with financial freedom.

Now, she couldn’t put credence in anything else.

“I won’t be a burden you must deal with to appease your Dragon God.”

Avalore knew what she had to do; she had to work harder to learn to fight and protect herself.

A war was coming, and she refused to be anyone's responsibility. An obligation. Hell, she volunteered for the lab because she knew if she didn’t willingly decide to be a breeder to unburden her family and increase their balance on their bank book, she was another mouth to feed, another body to house.

Avalore refused to take their grudging charity then, and she wouldn’t do it now.

It felt like her soul was being cleaved from her as she kept herself away from Liekki.

Liekki growled. Released a flurry of white smoke that draped over her head and shoulders like a shroud, some cloak of protection. He squeezed his massive hand around hers and held it so tight against his chest that she could feel his heartbeat so strong she imagined she was holding it in her heart.

The pulsing sensation in her palm caused quakes to move through her body. At that moment, it was like Liekki was giving her something, entrusting her with something valuable and precious in his heart.