Page 38

T he dragon that was Apollo snuffled him curiously before a large tongue licked Lachlan from his knees to his forehead.

"Oh my god, why would you do that?" Lachlan said and wiped dragon slobber and blood from his face.

" Mate ," growled the dragon.

Lachlan stumbled back from him. "What? What do you mean by that?"

But the dragon wasn't listening. It launched itself into the air again, landed on the roof of the house, and started tearing into it.

Tor and Ciara ran to get out of the way of the falling masonry.

Apollo was after something, and he wasn't going to stop until he found it.

Valentine appeared through a hole he had made in the wall.

He was grinning like a mad thing, his face flecked with blood.

Behind him, tied with scarlet and silver thread, cametwo people.

"Bellerose and Mercurie," Lachlan snarled and picked up his fallen dagger.

"Look at that. He did turn out gold," Valentine said. He was cheerier than Lachlan had ever seen him and didn't know if it was a good thing or not.

"I don't know how, but he shifted and saved me from Kovacs," Lachlan said, unable to tear his eyes away from the rampaging dragon.

Valentine stared up at his brother. "My guess is he probably saw you fighting him, and he lost it. Suppose we won't find out until he shifts back." He put two fingers to his lips and whistled loud enough to have Lachlan flinching. "Apollo! I got what you want!"

The dragon's head snapped round to them, eyes burning with fury. Lachlan's insides clenched as his monkey brain told him to run quickly in the opposite direction. He stood his ground. He would never run from Apollo.

Bellerose and Mercurie screamed behind the threads of magic gagging them.

"You two wanted my brother to shift so badly.

Here. Enjoy it," Valentine said. He made an elegant sweeping gesture with his hands, and the bound couple flew back into a patch of grass.

The dragon snarled and began running across the broken house.

He opened his mouth, and fire burst free from him.

It was so hot that it glowed blue in the middle as it hit the alchemists.

Lachlan and Valentine both backed up as the heat reached them.

"Fucking hell, is he supposed to be able to do that already?" he asked.

Valentine shrugged, still smiling like a maniac. "Dragons love to burn things. Mostly their enemies, as it turns out. Looks like fun."

It must have been because Apollo wasn't satisfied with torching the alchemists who had captured him. His giant wings flapped up in the air, and he started firebombing what remained of the buildings.

Lachlan and Valentine ran across the bridge, where everyone was standing, to watch the dragon tear the place apart.

"Should we...I dunno...try and calm him down?" Lachlan panted as he caught up with Killian.

Killian looked at him like he had lost his mind. "Gods no. This is a good way for him to work out his trauma."

The dragon picked up a van and tore it in half with his claws before smashing the pieces into the ground like it was nothing more than a soda can.

"Definitely leaving him to work it out of his system. With any luck, it will wear him out enough to shift back. Besides, it will do good for the prisoners to see this."

Lachlan couldn't argue with that. They were all standing on the green, watching the dragon with broken eyes and angry expressions. The griffon had taken a liking to Bron and was sitting beside her, watching the carnage unfold.

Lachlan grabbed one of the canteens of water Bron carried and drank before washing the blood and dragon saliva off his face.

"It doesn't look like it needs stitching, but have one of these anyway," she said, handing him one of Apollo's healing potions. "Who knows what germs dragons have?"

Lachlan didn't bother to point out that it was too late to worry about that because he had already exchanged plenty of saliva with that dragon. He watched Apollo dance in the flames, smashing everything around him.

It said, "Mate." Lachlan's brain prompted unhelpfully.

This was the first time Apollo had shifted, so he was probably just confused because he could smell his scent on Lachlan.

That was all it was. It had to be. Everyone had said they recognized their mates almost instantly, and they had known each other for years. He was definitely confused.

When there were no more buildings or cars to destroy, Apollo glided over them and landed on top of a crumbling ancient wall. He puffed and preened and fluttered his wings.

"He's just showing off now. Typical," Valentine said. "You go first, Lachie, and make sure he's done with killing people."

"What? Why me?" he asked.

"Because you smell like him, and he came to save you. He recognizes you," Valentine insisted.

Lachlan looked pleading at the others who gave him encouraging smiles and thumbs up.

"Fuck. Okay," he grumbled and took a deep breath.

Golden eyes tracked as he moved across the grass. When he got nearer, the dragon stepped down off the wall and moved toward him, his head cocking.

Lachlan took another deep breath and smiled at him. "Look at you, baby. You have to be the prettiest dragon I have seen."

The dragon preened and grabbed Lachlan in its talons. He bit down a scream of fright as it brought its nose down to nuzzle at him.

"No, licking, okay? I'm all right, Apollo," Lachlan said as warm, spicy smoke drifted about him.

"Tell him to shift back!" Valentine called.

Lachlan reached out and patted Apollo on the scales between his nose. "We need you to shift back so we can go home, baby. Can you do that for me?"

The dragon just nudged him with his nose again. A rumbling growl came out behind his fangs. " Mate ."

Lachlan stilled. "I don't understand."

" Mate ," the dragon repeated and brought Lachlan up to hold against the large golden chest plates.

"He's good to be able to talk so soon," Killian said, slowly making his way across the grass. "About time he told you, though his delivery could be better."

Lachlan was still dazed, his heart in his throat. "I can't... He would have known..."

"He did. For fucking months," Killian replied. "Of course he couldn't just say it because he needed to shift into a dragon and be dramatic about it."

A golden tail whipped about to swipe at the Night Prince. He just launched himself in the air on black wings and landed again. "You did too, you little shit! Now, shift back."

The dragon only made a rumbling sound and kept its grip on Lachlan. " Mate ."

"Oh, you are the fucking worst, Apollonius Greatdrakes," Killian bitched as he pulled out his phone. "You wait until Taranis gets here, then you'll be in trouble."

It turned out that Apollo, the dragon, cared for orders about as much as he did as a magician.

In the end, Killian, Valentine, and Taranis had to create a portal large enough for a dragon to get through.

Lachlan dozed in the warmth of Apollo's paw as the portal to Kian's castle in England finally opened.

Taranis looked pissed, but Apollo refused to shift back no matter how much he was threatened.

"Why can't you boys follow orders for once!" Taranis complained. He spared a glance in Lachlan's direction. "You okay there, lad?"

"Good enough. He just won't let me go," Lachlan replied.

Taranis snorted, his red eyes glowing. "You're his mate. Of course he's not going to let you go."

"Did everybody fucking know about this but me?" Lachlan demanded angrily.

Taranis only shrugged. "Not our fault you are dense. Put him down, Apollo. We need to go home."

Apollo refused to put him down and instead lifted Lachlan onto his back and walked through the portal.

Lachlan felt the air shift and cool, and suddenly, they were behind Kian's castle.

He could have wept with relief. He could only watch as the wounded were helped through the portal and handed over to the fae healers.

"Should we put the fire in the Chateau out?" Lachlan shouted.

"Why? It will burn away any evidence that Apollo didn't get to," Valentine called back.

They closed the portal, and Apollo began to move. Lachlan hung onto his golden scales, worried that he was about to fly off again.

"Where are you going?" Kian called, looking tiny from so high up.

"No idea. I'm not driving this thing," Lachlan shouted back.

Some of the magician inside Apollo must have been conscious because they headed for the dragon keep behind the stables.

They had been built for Taranis's knights to use if they wanted.

Apollo found the largest pen and scratched about at the clean straw.

He plucked Lachlan off his back and curled around him like the world's biggest cat.

"We are sleeping? Okay, that's a good idea," Lachlan said, pulling off his weapons and boots. Apollo lifted a wing, and Lachlan took the hint and climbed under it.

"When we wake up, you sure better have a good fucking excuse why you never told me I was your mate," Lachlan said and curled up into the hay.

Post-battle exhaustion claimed him, and he curled into the warm bulk of Apollo's side. It wasn't long before the dragon was snoring softly, and Lachlan finally shut his eyes.