Page 24

Lucan

This Place Could Use Some Work

“Where are we?” I wrapped my arms over my chest as I stared into the darkened cave. Water dripped down dirty stone walls and moss clung to the sides of the entrance.

“No one asked you to come.” Malachy growled as he crouched over a rock pit, breathing fire onto thin branches.

We had no clothes stashed here. In the lodge where he used to live—the place I’d warded for his protection—I wouldn’t be standing naked shivering my dick off.

“Is this… your new place?” I peered deeper into the cave. A stack of picked-clean deer bones lay in the back corner before the tunnel lined with bat drippings headed deeper into Earth’s depths.

It must’ve been a mid-life crisis.

He’d gone full dragon stereotype. All that was missing was a pile of gold coins under his ass and some screaming princess tied to the walls.

“Like I said, no one asked you to come,” he grumbled under his breath as the sticks caught light, casting deeper shadows around the cave.

Earth Almighty. He’s gone insane.

I inched closer to the fire, holding out my hands as if approaching a wounded beast. “What made you decide to move?”

“Fuck you,” he snarled.

I stopped shivering long enough to glare at my idiot brother. “You show up at my house broken and beat to shit after not speaking to me for years with a MacAlister hot on your heels breathing some dark magic curse. I nurse you to health, even though you cock-blocked me for weeks, and then you fly off in a tantrum forcing me to chase you like some flighty bird. Now you’re going to tell me to fuck off?”

The flames continued to grow making the shadows lengthen and shrouding Malachy in darkness as he rested back on his heels.

I crossed my arms and waited.

Finally, he sighed. “I had to leave.”

“Care to explain why?” I arched an eyebrow.

“You weren’t claiming your mate because of me.” He looked away. “I refuse to play a part in your idiocy.”

My brow furrowed as I replayed the conversation between me and Riley this morning.

“You think…” I glanced up as if the ceiling could give me patience to deal with this. “Is your ego that inflated? Forgive me, King Malachy, but not everything in this world has to revolve around you and the prophecy. Riley needs time to heal before she’s thrust into our world.”

“She begged you to claim her and you didn’t,” he said, confused. “I can understand wanting to protect her from this. From me.”

“But you can’t understand that I’d put her before the prophecy?” I chuckled.

The way my brother stared at me had the laughter dying on my tongue. I knew that face—had seen it before. His mind was warped, far beyond where I’d thought.

He looked just like our father.

“No, you wouldn’t get it,” I whispered, not unkindly. My gaze fell to Earth and I clenched my fists by my side.

It happened at times like this, the overpowering feeling of being too weak to do anything to stop the rushing tide. In these moments, I hated with a passion that I could hardly contain.

It made me young again. A hatchling of no more than twenty, watching my father lash out with fire and burn it into Malachy. The worst part was that he’d done it with love, knowing if Malachy wasn’t strong enough to withstand Earth’s rage, She’d eat him alive.

And they’d tried to shield me from it.

I knew I was lucky in that I’d always had the choice to make my own path. It was this choice I was now extending to Riley.

But my brother wouldn’t understand.

He couldn’t.

So, I raised my eyes and offered a playful grin. “You weren’t cock-blocking me on purpose, then?”

Malachy smiled slightly in return. “Maybe a little. I could feel it, you know? The bond aching to connect you two and pulsing stronger with each day. It’s enough to make anyone sick.”

I rubbed my chest. “She’s perfect.”

“But you still won’t claim her?” His tone was no longer teasing.

“I can’t.” I sighed, squatting down next to him by the fire. “She isn’t ready yet.”

“No one is ever ready to answer Earth’s call.” Malachy picked up a stick from the ground and broke it in half. “I’m sorry I can’t figure out a way to give you both more time.”

“You’re an idiot,” I growled. “And you’re not alone with this anymore.”

Malachy went to argue, but I held up my hand.

“Kieran has a theory and you should hear it out. If Riley presents with the rune mark after our mating, it’d make sense the third woman is tied to us in some way too. Even if Riley and I don’t end up mating, you can still meet Willow. What harm could it do to see?”

“Harm?” Malachy blew out a heated breath. “I don’t think you know how much harm can be done. And a human woman? No offense to Riley, but this isn’t a life most dragons could handle.”

“No one is expecting any human to take this position.” I won’t allow it. I clenched my jaw just thinking about Riley being forced into Earth’s service. “But how long has it been since any of our species found a fated mate? And now of all times. If the rune had never appeared on Ember’s neck, it’d still be too connected to be coincidence.”

Malachy tossed broken bits of stick into the fire. “I don’t want to watch anyone else burn. Let this burden die with me.”

We sat there in silence, staring at the flames.

I didn’t have an answer for him.

Telling him he had to suck it up and fight harder, knowing he’d been fighting longer than the rest of us, seemed hollow and wrong.

He’d never been able to make his own decisions before. How could I stay here and demand he follow this path when I was doing all I could to give Riley her freedom to choose?

At the end of the day, he was right.

And we’d both seen enough to know we were tired of suffering.

I rested my arms on my knees. “Someone hurt Riley. Her ex-boyfriend.”

Malachy looked at me from the corner of his eye. “Why the fuck are you still sitting here?”

“I’d learned his name moments before you flew off with your feathers in a fluff.” I shrugged with one shoulder. “You didn’t give me enough time to hunt him down.”

“I could use a hunting trip.” Malachy nodded.

I smirked as I stretched out my hands. “Bring his pelt back to your cave and pin it on the wall? This place could use a little color.”

“Maybe you should knit me something.” Malachy rolled his eyes.

“Nope. You chose the cave; you don’t get comfort.” I climbed to my feet, watching as the flames danced higher, pulling the magic of the world into my fingertips.

“You’re going to do this now?” Malachy rested back against the stone wall and closed his eyes. “Wake me when you’re done.”

“Yes, oh King Guardian Royal Highness.” I shook off my annoyance as I cracked my knuckles, letting the strength of my protective nature flow through me.

I wanted to hurry and hunt a scumbag human down so I could get back to my beautiful mate.

But first, I had an annoying older brother who needed my wards for protection, since he decided to live in a cave like some feral beast.